Taking It Slow - Reese Knightley Page 0,27

open to see Spencer’s legs floating near his, their feet and calves brushing. The touch was so innocent, really, but his mind raced with every sexy possibility.

God, what he wouldn’t give to have Spencer here full time. The thought took root and he couldn’t stop it. Spencer was attracted to him, he’d have to be a blind man not to see it, and he sure as hell wasn’t blind.

Now, he needed to figure out how to convince Spencer to give them a shot.

Spencer

Liam stretched and Spencer found his eyes drawn to the muscles along the man’s stomach, chest, and arms. The t-shirt stretched around biceps taut with muscles. Liam had more of a lanky build, not bulky at all. Perfect, really, if he thought about it and he’d been doing that a lot lately.

It had been a crazy good day and he couldn’t stop the feeling of peace that had settled in the moment Oliver, Zane, and Isaac had left.

He and Liam were sitting on the couch with a movie playing, but Spencer had trouble paying attention. The teenagers were in the game room playing something that sounded hilarious by the amount of the laughter coming from the open door down the hallway.

Being at Liam’s place wasn’t as stressful as last time. Sure, the expensive furnishings were the same and intimidating, but Liam was so down to earth, Spencer forgot he came from money most of the time.

Liam caught him looking and smiled. Spencer felt heat rising up his neck and grinned sheepishly back.

“So…” Liam began softly. “Now you really know about my crazy family. What about yours?”

He froze. No way in hell was he going to put a damper on things by sharing about his family. Besides, he certainly didn’t want Liam feeling sorry for him.

“Got any more soda?” He reached for his empty can and stood before Liam could answer. Heading into the kitchen, he didn’t need to look back to know Liam had followed him. He could feel his presence fill the room when he entered. Rather than turn on the overhead light, Liam opted for the one over the stove that sent a soft glow through the room.

“Yeah, several kinds. Grab me a root beer, will you?” Liam asked casually and sat at the long center bar that ran the length of the massive kitchen. Earlier, it had been littered with takeout food, but now sat pristine.

Selecting two root beers, he handed one to Liam, and rather than sit, he leaned against the counter opposite the man.

After a few sips of the sweet drink, he met Liam’s searching gaze.

“My family’s a mess.”

The silence stretched between them. He swallowed and took another sip. When Liam didn’t respond, he sighed.

“You really don’t want to know. Trust me.”

“Okay,” Liam said softly.

His eyes jerked to Liam’s. Was that disappointment he saw? Shit.

“I…” He stopped. No, he wasn’t going to be guilted into sharing. Fuck that. It wasn’t in his nature. So why the hell did he suddenly want to spill his guts to Liam?

“You know. I’m a pretty good listener if you ever want to talk.”

He knew that. He’d known it from the first moment he’d met Liam. The guy was all kinds of understanding. Liam made a great leader. People wanted to follow him, not because he was in charge, but because they respected the hell out of him. So did Spencer.

“I can’t be with you,” he gritted out the last thing he expected to say.

“I know,” Liam said roughly after a moment of silence.

“I need stability, I have enough insanity in my life,” he said, the edges of his vision burning.

“You’ll find stability right here, Spencer. I don’t know what I can say to convince you of that.”

Liam held up his hand and stopped his words before continuing. “As a friend. You’ve already set that boundary and I respect that.”

Spencer’s chest tightened.

“Just know that when you and Wesley want to escape the insanity of your life or world or whatever, you can come here.” Liam’s voice cut through his panic.

A lump grew so large in his throat, he had trouble swallowing. A niggling thought kept swirling around in his head; was it too late to want more?

He made the mistake of taking a sip of root beer to counter the feeling and sucked it down the wrong way. The burn was instant and he turned, coughing and hacking into the sink.

Liam was there behind him with a hand on his back, and then beside him bending close and