.
Harrington Mercer gave Drake a half frown and poured himself a drink. Before he could respond, the doorbell rang.
Shelby. And Shane.
“I should have mentioned this earlier—I invited a friend to dinner,” Liam announced. “She also has a six-month-old.” He’d had a few hours to let his mother know. He also could have mentioned it when he’d arrived. But he’d found himself unable to get the words out.
Plus, he’d be hit with a barrage of questions about who Shelby was to him—with the assumption that they were a couple. Liam hadn’t brought a woman to a family dinner in a couple of years, since he’d gotten his heart stomped on as a love-struck twenty-three-year-old bursting with a marriage proposal. Then two years ago he’d finally gotten serious again with another woman, a VP at Mercer Industries whom he’d discovered had been more interested in him as a stepping stone and left MI high and dry in the middle of a merger when she’d gotten a better offer from a rival company. Then a year ago there was Liza, whom he might have fallen for if he hadn’t been so guarded against betrayal. But Liza had always said she had no interest in meeting his snooty, highfalutin family, which had made him laugh. All she’d wanted from Liam was his time and attention, and he hadn’t even been willing to give that. She’d been right to dump him when he told her he wasn’t interested in marriage or children—probably ever.
His mother’s eyes lit up. “Ah, a new love interest!” She turned toward the family room, where her husband and younger son were ignoring each other in opposite corners. “Ooh, Harrington, did you hear? Liam’s bringing home a girlfriend to meet us!” She turned back to Liam. “I had a feeling you’d fall for a single mother of a baby. Gives you quite a bit in common from the start.”
Liam headed toward the door. “Actually, Shelby is just a friend.”
His mother smiled slyly. “Sure she is. You’ve never invited a friend to Friday dinner before.”
Liam pulled open the door, and the sight of Shelby stopped him cold. It wasn’t just that she was beautiful; she was. But she suddenly seemed so...necessary, as if he couldn’t get through the day without being with her and had just realized it when he saw her face.
That was nuts.
They were in the middle of one hell of a thing. That was it. She was like a lifeline. She was the other half in this. Not his other half, of course, but the other half in this insanity. It made sense that he needed her to feel some sense of grounding.
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