Playing It Close (12 page)

They got out of the car, and he’d just locked it when his mobile buzzed with an incoming message from Frank.
Just got here.
Hope your guest is female.
Charlie brought his wife.

A dark premonition snaked up Liam’s spine, making the short hairs on the back of his neck stand to attention. He tried to brush it aside as he wrapped his arm around Samantha’s waist. She kept up an endless stream of chatter about her film while they walked to the swank Shoreditch restaurant, but his mind was full of the pink-haired pixie and what her relationship might be to his dinner companion. She had to be related somehow. Kijani Adventures had booked him into the hotel in Venezuela. It would be too coincidental for a Countess Chambers to be there without having any sort of relationship with the travel company. Charlie Chambers was the CEO of a successful business. Probably an older man. Maybe Tess’s father?

He hoped not. He really didn’t want to meet Tess’s parents—especially if they were aristocrats.
He’d better not expect me to bow.

Liam pushed open the restaurant’s door and let go of Samantha long enough for her to precede him into the dining room. Her hips rolled confidently as she struck a pose to the side of the door and waited for him to join her, as if they were pausing on their way down a red carpet. Most of the diners turned to stare, not so much at him as at her. He didn’t blame them. He’d been struck dumb the first time he’d seen her freckled face, long locks of golden hair and, well, her tits. Mostly her tits. Her body was a thing of wonder, and right now it was shrink-wrapped in a snug green dress that she’d probably worn because it was one of his team colors.

Or maybe she hadn’t. Maybe that was his ego talking.

Liam scanned the room and found Frank sitting with his back to the door in a dimly lit corner, a man sitting opposite him. Grabbing Samantha’s hand, Liam headed for the table. The man noticed them and waved in their direction. Frank turned around—and that was the first moment Liam noticed the woman sitting next to the waver. She’d been hidden by Swanny’s big body. His gaze was drawn to the top of her head, since she was bent over rooting through her bag for something. She was dressed demurely enough that she didn’t reveal anything that would grab his attention. But she had a presence he couldn’t ignore, as if she were a red-hot flame and he was a helpless moth moving across the restaurant to get to her.

Then the man leaned down to whisper in her ear and her head shot up, and...

“Fucking
hell.
”

Samantha stopped, and only then did Liam realize he had too. “What? What’s wrong?”

“
Fucking.
Hell.
” He’d used up all his breath in his first curse. The second was practically airless. The sight of her gutted him, leaving him floundering like a fish yanked onto a trawler’s deck.

Samantha gave a nervous laugh and glanced around the restaurant. The three at the table had stood to shake their hands even though they were still several steps away—and hopefully out of earshot.

Charlie brought his wife.
Hot, furious blood pumped through Liam, replacing his initial shock with a more familiar sensation, the one he got just before a big match against an old foe. God help her because he was ready for battle.

He stroked the small of Samantha’s back as they crossed the rest of the room. When they reached the trio, he held out his hand to the man. “Hello. Liam Callaghan.”

“Charlie Chambers, CEO and founder of Kijani Adventures. A pleasure to meet you, Liam.”

Charlie Chambers was young. Mid-thirties, tops. Lanky with artfully tousled blond hair. He wore a powder-blue blazer over a white vest. God in heaven, Tess was married to a hipster. A hipster earl. The man wore a scarf in August, for fuck’s sake. No wonder she’d lied about her name.

Charlie’s smile grew as he glanced significantly toward Liam’s side.

Oh. Right. “This is my...friend, Samantha Hughes.”

Charlie stuck out his hand and shook Sam’s. “Samantha Hughes. What an honor.”

Her smile lit the dim restaurant. Seriously, the whiteness of her American teeth was blinding. Clearly not a tea drinker. “Very nice to meet you too, Mr. Chambers.”

He laughed and, before Liam could point out that she should probably call him
Lord Chambers
or
Your lordship
or something equally ridiculous, said, “Please call me Charlie.”

The two of them shared a moment that Liam would’ve had to have been brain dead to miss. Apparently he wasn’t the only one who’d noticed. Tess cleared her throat, wiped her palm down the side of her pinstriped trouser suit and reached across the table. “And I’m Tess...Chambers. Nice to meet you.”

She shook Samantha’s hand then turned to Liam. Her hand was still extended, her expression begging him for something. Secrecy? Understanding? He couldn’t tell. Once he figured it out, he’d be sure not to give it to her.

He took his time taking her hand, making her wait for it. Her hand was freezing and clammy compared to his. Thank God his fury had got his blood pumping again. He was on fire. Had she known he would be here? If so, she hadn’t composed herself particularly well. Her face was pale, her lips looked half-chewed and her eyes were full of pleading. He’d never slept with a married woman before, and Hide the Affair from the Husband wasn’t a game he was willing to play.

He held her hand longer than was polite. He didn’t make pleasantries. She dropped the handshake like a hot potato.

Frank jostled him, reaching in front of him in his eagerness to shake Samantha’s hand. He pumped it up and down so hard Liam half expected water to shoot out of her mouth. “Miss Hughes. Lovely to meet you. Lovely. Lovely.” He shoved his chair back. “Here, why don’t you sit here next to Mrs. Chambers? You two ladies can chat while we gents get down to business.”

Tess’s eyes narrowed, her head tilting as though she wasn’t sure she heard correctly and she needed the words to bounce around her skull some more before she could be sure. Frank didn’t seem to notice, but Liam did, especially since Charlie’s arm snaked around her shoulders like a restraint in case she pounced.

“Isn’t this a wonderful little place?” Samantha asked the table as she lowered herself gracefully into her seat and scooted forward. “So quaint. That’s what I love about London. It’s so full of tiny little quaint places like this.”

Liam took his seat next to her, across from Tess. For a few moments, Swanny and Tess’s fucking husband made small talk as a waiter brought menus and took their drinks order. Tess pretended to focus on what the other two men were saying, but her attention was so obviously split between Liam and Samantha that she needn’t have bothered. Her eyes flicked in his direction, and whatever she saw discomfited her enough to make her swallow so hard he could see the muscles of her slender throat working.

He stayed silent, merely crossing his arms, leaning back in his chair and waiting. Making her wait. Playing a mental game not unlike the one he played every weekend against opponents much bigger than her—hell, much bigger than
him
.

When the waiter brought a glass of water for Liam and a bottle of red wine for the other four to split, Liam waited until they all had full glasses and then held up his glass. “I know we haven’t agreed anything yet, but I’d like to start us off by proposing a toast.”

Charlie Chambers grinned. “Excellent idea. Thank you.”

The man wouldn’t be grateful in a second. “I’d like to propose a toast to fidelity.”

The table fell silent. Liam glanced at the other two men long enough to catch the confusion on their faces.

“Fidelity?” Swanny asked.

“Yes. It’s important in partnerships, wouldn’t you say, Charlie?”

“Of—of course. You have to be able to trust your partners.”

“Exactly. And that’s what a sponsorship agreement is, in a way. We trust that you can fulfill your financial obligations, and you trust that we can get you the exposure you need.”

Charlie cleared his throat. “Well, I’d say there’s a little more to it than that. We can’t just trust each other. We have to examine the details, make sure we’re signing a contract based on facts and figures, not just trust. Isn’t that right, Tess?”

“Yes. Absolutely right.” The corners of her mouth had turned down, and Liam was annoyed that he knew that meant she was disappointed—and even more annoyed that he cared.

“Excellent point, Charlie,” he said. “You should always carefully vet your partners before jumping into bed with them, so to speak. Never know what they might be hiding.”

Swanny shifted his girth anxiously in the seat next to Liam’s, knocking against Liam’s shoulder. “Is there a point to this, Liam? I don’t want to speak for the others, but I’d like to start enjoying this wine and the company of these fine people.”

Liam lifted his glass higher. “To fidelity.”

“To fidelity,” Samantha and the other two men chimed. Tess simply stared at him and put her glass down without taking a sip.

“Now,” Swanny said, “let’s take a few moments to look at this menu before we get down to business.”

Liam skimmed the single-page menu twice before noticing a problem. He flipped it over, but the back was blank.

“Something wrong?” Tess asked.

God, her voice made every muscle in his body tighten. She’d gone all husky, just as she had after they’d spent the afternoon laughing and moaning under the waterfall.

“I think part of my menu’s missing.”

“No,” Charlie piped up, “that’s it. It’s not a particularly varied menu, but I can vouch for the fact that it’s all delicious.”

“Are you sure?” This couldn’t be the whole menu. There was no meat on it.

Charlie chuckled, the fucker. “I’m sure. It’s a raw-foods restaurant. I hope you don’t mind. I’m a vegan, and I try to eat raw as often as possible. I thought it might be a novelty for you.”

Samantha gasped with delight. “Oh! That’s excellent! I love eating raw too. It’s wonderful for detoxing, isn’t it?”

“I couldn’t agree more.” Charlie’s grin grew broader.

Swanny’s laugh was so hearty and fake it made Liam cringe in embarrassment for the man. “That
does
sound novel, doesn’t it, Cally? Well I, for one, am really looking forward to it. A new experience. I always say...um...stay open to new experiences. They’re...the spice of life.”

Liam put the menu down. Not only no meat, but nothing
cooked?
Fan-bloody-tastic. He was going to starve the night before a match. And, to make matters worse, Tess was married to a bloody
vegan
. Liam had gone out with one of them once. By the end of the relationship, he’d figured she’d probably become a vegan just to make his life hell. It had worked.

When the waiter arrived, Liam waited for everyone else to order before randomly pointing to six dishes. The waiter paused in writing them down. “Uh, sir, three of those are mains. Are you sure—”

“Yes.” Apparently he would be eating his weight in sundried tomatoes and raw mushrooms tonight. Hopefully that wouldn’t have any ill effects on his digestive system tomorrow.

Once the waiter had disappeared, Swanny leaned forward and clasped his hands on the table. “Let’s get down to brass tacks. We’re honored that Kijani Adventures is considering sponsoring London Legends. My promotional team and I did some brainstorming today, and I’d love to share with you some of our ideas about how the deal could benefit you.”

He reached into his briefcase as Charlie eagerly looked on. Samantha seemed to grow bored as soon as the topic switched to something she wasn’t involved in. Mesmerized by her wine, she held the stem and gently swirled it around until the liquid danced around the rim. And Tess...Tess gave her full attention to her husband and Swanny.

So many questions sprang to his mind that he didn’t know which he wanted addressed first. She looked totally different than she had in their paradise. She had brown hair now, and, judging by how well it matched her complexion and chocolaty brown eyes, he’d guess she came by it naturally. The older Liam got, the more attracted he was to
natural.
But he would never get the natural Tess. Charlie did.

Her hair wasn’t the only part of her that’d been tamed. Her suit was dark and boring. Gone was his nymph, replaced by a London businesswoman. The fury eked from Liam’s body, leaving a deep, dank emptiness worse than the one he’d gone to Venezuela to try to escape. Even after all the lies he’d uncovered, he still wanted Tess. What the hell did that say about him?

Shake it off
,
mate.
Don’t let her see your weakness.

Her.
She
was his weakness.

The waiter appeared and slid several plates of food onto the table. Liam had three starters, but they were so small and dainty they should’ve been classified as nibbles. “I might have to order more food,” he muttered.

Swanny elbowed him in the ribs, making him look up in time to catch Tess trying to hide her grin behind her wineglass.

Was she laughing at him? What—because he didn’t fit in to this frou-frou Mecca for turf-munchers? His face must’ve betrayed some of his turbulent emotions because she sat up straighter and set her wineglass down.

“How’s yours, Mrs. Chambers?” he asked. “Or, sorry, should I call you Lady Chambers? Or Her Ladyship?”

She blinked. “I—what?”

“I’ve never been very good at knowing how to address the aristocracy. I wouldn’t want to offend you.”

Her husband glanced between them as Frank tugged at his collar like it was choking him. Charlie was the first to pipe up. “Aristocracy? What’re you talking about?”

A bad feeling settled over Liam, as if he were plunging toward Earth and suddenly couldn’t remember whether he’d strapped his parachute on. “You
are
Countess Chambers, aren’t you?”

Tess’s chest rose and fell with quick breaths. A flush spread up her neck and overcame her face.

Charlie gestured between them. “Have you...have you two met before?”

Tess didn’t even give him the courtesy of answering. Instead she tilted her head and arched a brow at Liam, as if to say “You started this, arsehole—go ahead and finish it.”