“Have you considered that she might not want to go home?” he continued.
I hoped Aidan had said that simply to annoy Liam, because there was no way in hell I was going anywhere else.
“Ness, now.” Liam’s voice brooked no argument.
“Liam, you’re being rude. I’ll grab a cab.” Dinner was minutes away from being wrapped up. I couldn’t leave now. Because he was still standing there, glaring, I said, “Liam’s been very emotional since his father…passed away.”
“It’s understandable. Especially considering the way he died. Have the police caught the murderer yet?”
“Murderer?” I blurted out. “I thought Heath committed suicide.”
Liam’s face turned to stone.
I blinked at him, then blinked down at the pool of cream surrounding the half-eaten slice of pie. Heath hadn’tcommitted suicide? Someone had killed him? A chill curled deep inside my belly.
“Oh, no.” Aidan’s eyes sparked. “Apparently someone killed him.”
Liam muttered something under his breath and then yanked me up by the bicep.
“Liam!” I tried to bat his hand away, but he held on tight.
Aidan didn’t cause a scene by interceding, but he glowered. I dug in my heels as Liam tugged on me. Even though Aidan was a strange man, the least I could do was be polite. Plus I needed my bag and jacket.
I grabbed both. “Thank you for dinner, Mr. Michaels.”
Aidan studied the place where Liam’s fingers connected with my skin. “I see you treat your women the way your father did.”
Aidan’s comparison made Liam free my arm. Staring at the skin he’d gripped-the skin I was now rubbing-he muttered, “Let’s go. Please.” It sounded painful for him to add that last word.
Without hesitation, I headed toward the exit.
The second we were outside, he said, “I can’t believe you went out on a date with that…that rat.”
I stopped rubbing my arm and fished my phone out of my bag.
“What are you doing?”
“Calling a cab.”
He gestured to his mammoth-wheeled car. “I got a car.”
“I make it a point not to get into cars with strangers.”
“And yet you got in that limo earlier.”
“That was different.”
“Get in, Ness.”
I started scrolling through my cell for the number, but Liam plucked the phone out of my hands. “Hey!”
“Just get in already.”
“No.”
“Look, if you don’t get in, I’ll toss you in.”
“You wouldn’t dare.”
A bold smile appeared on Liam’s dusky face. “Do you want to test that theory?”
I huffed a breath, trod to his car, and climbed in. “You’re a real pain, you know that?”
He pitched the phone on my lap before I shut the door. As I strapped myself in, he climbed into the driver’s side.
“Where did the others go?”
“I don’t keep tabs on my buddies.”
“Just on me, then?”
He didn’t answer, but his eyes flashed to mine before settling back on the road.
“Lucky me,” I grumbled.
Music drifted from his stereo, punctuating the silence with a heady beat.
In the darkness, my phone flashed with the agency’s number. I sighed, anticipating the reason for the call. I turned toward the window and answered in a low voice, “Hello.”
“Candy, is everything all right? I just got a text from Aidan to complain that you’d rushed out on him.”
“Family emergency,” I grumbled.
“Oh. Okay. Anyway, hun, he asked for a discount, and since he’s a real good customer, I had to grant it. I hope you understand.”
“How much less?”
“Half.”
I squeezed my fingers around the phone.
“He was happy with you otherwise. Asked if you’d be interested-”
“No.”
“If you change your mind-”
“I won’t.”