“I didn’t mean that in a dirty way.”

“Sure you didn’t.” He reached over and opened the glove box, pulling out a pen and a pad of paper. He straightened, moving his hand from behind her as he started to go through the pages that were covered in a wiry cursive.

When he got to a blank page he wrote the address and his phone number in the same handwriting she’d seen on the other pages of the notepad.

“Call me if you get lost.” He reached for her hand, placing the paper in her palm. And then he was leaning in, covering her mouth with his.

Yeah, she could forget for just a little bit longer.

Chapter Three A Million Simple Things That Aren’t So Simple at All

The gravel in the driveway crunched at five till seven. Liam stepped away from the kitchen island where he was cleaning up the remnants of his dinner making.

Rosemary and lemon gnocchi, from scratch.

Pan-seared pork chops.

And white chocolate raspberry bread pudding.

Yup, if his career in music failed he could just try his hand in the culinary world. His mother had taught him well when he was growing up, and it was something he’d always enjoyed doing. Since his time in a full functioning kitchen was limited these days, he tended to indulge whenever he could cook. And since Harper was coming over tonight he was pulling out all the stops.

Every last one of them.

He caught a glimpse of her red Cruiser through the windows before he opened the front door. She was making her way up the porch wearing a dark purple dress that hit her about mid-thigh. A bronze belt was buckled just under her chest, somehow making her breasts look bigger.

He didn’t even think that was possible.

Her matching bronze strappy heels clicked against the wood with every step that she took, but she faltered for just a second when she saw him.

“Hey.” Her hand tightened on the railing and she paused at the top of the stairs.

“You look stunning.” His eyes did another perusal of her body as he leaned against the open doorjamb.

“Thank you,” she said as she reached up with her free hand and brushed her long black hair back and behind her ear. “You don’t look half-bad yourself.”

As he was wearing a pair of faded blue jeans, and a black V-neck with a green and white flannel shirt, he didn’t think the comparison was all that close.

She really was the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen, but it was so much more than just looks with her. He wanted to know all of her, more than what he’d gotten last night. More than what he’d gotten that morning.

He didn’t quite understand it…didn’t even really know what to do with it…but he wanted everything. He also wasn’t sure what to do with the amount of relief that was coursing through him at seeing her again.

There was a part of him that really thought she wasn’t going to come, and now that he was looking at her he found that he needed to have her under his hands.

They both moved at the same time, Harper mounting the last step as Liam pushed off the door frame. He crossed to her in three long strides, and then he was leaning down, his hands going to her hips as he pressed a kiss to her cheek.

She was probably five-foot-seven or eight to his six-foot-one, but her four-inch heels narrowed the gap between them. She turned her head and looked at him for just a second before her hands landed on his chest and she stretched up the last remaining inch to put her lips on his. And just like that his arms were wrapping around her and he was pulling her fully into his body.

His mouth opened to hers and he finally had the taste of her on his tongue again. It had been seven hours since he’d seen her. Seven hours. And he’d missed her.

How was that even possible? Who was this woman and what had she done with his sanity?

Oh, who cared?

“I’m glad you’re here,” he whispered against her mouth.

“Me too.”

He pulled back and looked into her face. Her cheeks were slightly flushed and her eyes more than slightly dazed. He had no doubt his face was sporting a very similar look.

Yeah, he had no clue what was going on with this woman. But he sure as hell wanted to figure it out.

*  *  *

“Good Lord you can cook,” Harper said as she ran the last piece of gnocchi through the rosemary, lemon butter sauce before she popped it into her mouth.

Even watching her eat was sexy as hell.

“You cook?” he asked.

She shook her head and swallowed. “Not like this.” She waved her hand at the almost empty plate in front of her. She still had a bite of her pork chop left. “My mother is the culinary expert of the family. She spends hours in the kitchen.”

“Your father?” Well, if she’d opened a door into the personal he was definitely going to walk right on through it.

“Not so much. But I will say that he does contribute nicely to the cause with fresh fish.”

“Your father is a fisherman?”

“Among other things.” She smiled, forking the last bit of food and sticking it in her mouth. She chewed and swallowed before she shook her head at Liam, leaning back in her chair. “I didn’t think it was possible for you to top breakfast, but you, my friend, have managed to exceed yourself.” She tossed her napkin onto the table next to her now empty plate.

Liam had no doubt about the fact that she’d enjoyed her dinner. The woman wasn’t shy about her reactions, and she’d made more than a few moans around her fork as she’d eaten. And they hadn’t even gotten to dessert yet.

“That so?” he asked as he grabbed his glass of wine and took a sip.

“That is so.” The corner of her mouth turned up into a half smile. “You know, you’ve already gotten me into bed. You didn’t need to work so hard to impress me to do it again.”

“My trying to impress you has nothing to do with wanting to get into your pants.”

“Well, that’s good. Because I’m not wearing any tonight.”

Liam laughed. “I picked up on that. You’re wearing that dress like you’re doing it a favor.”

“Is that another one of your pickup lines?”

“It might be. Did it work?”

“I don’t know yet.” She reached for her wineglass that was on the verge of needing a refill.

“You’ll keep me posted though?”

“Of course,” she said right before she polished off the last of the red liquid.

“You want another drink?”

“Sure.”

“Let me clean up and I’ll put something together. You want some more wine or something else?”

“Well, what are the options? Do you bartend as well as you cook?”

“Not really. My skills go about as far as opening a bottle of beer or wine,” he said as he indicated the now empty bottle in front of them. “Adding whiskey to ice, vodka to any juice of your choosing, or a gin and tonic.”

“Gin and tonic.”

“Coming right up.” He pushed his chair back and stood, reaching for his plate. Harper made the same motion, grabbing her plate before he could. “What do you think you’re doing?”

“Helping.”

“I don’t think so.” He pulled the plate from her hand and motioned toward the living room with his chin. “Go make yourself comfortable. It’ll only take me a second to get the rest of this put away.”

“If you insist.”

“I do.”

She turned on those sexy-as-all-hell heels of hers and headed toward the couch. Liam took just a second to watch her walk away, appreciating everything about the rearview.

Harper looked over her shoulder, catching him in the act. “You get your fill or do you want me to do that again?” she asked, raising her eyebrow.

“Honey, I don’t think I’ll ever get my fill.” That was a fact, and the sooner he got rid of these dishes the sooner he’d get more. He somehow managed to pull his gaze from her and went into the kitchen, quickly loading everything in the dishwasher.

He made fast work with the gin and tonics and was joining Harper in the living room in less than five minutes.