All in all, it was an excellent start to the day.
She washed the smudged makeup off her face and, using her finger and Liam’s toothpaste, scrubbed at her teeth. She stood naked in front of the mirror and saw the big problem with her plan. Wearing only a sexy teddy, stockings, and stilettos under a trench coat hadn’t left her with many wardrobe options for the next day.
Right now she needed something to wear to cook breakfast. She wanted to make up for the burned enchilada dinner and prove she knew her way around the kitchen. Lorelei didn’t have a lot of talents, but she could cook. Unless, of course, she was distracted by a gorgeous man.
Stepping into Liam’s closet, she found his discarded shirt from the previous night. She slipped it on and rolled up the sleeves until they came to her elbows. The shirt reached down to her knees, providing adequate coverage for cooking bacon.
When she reentered the bedroom, her gaze flew to the bed. Liam lay on his stomach, stretched across almost the whole bed. She was tempted to crawl back in with him, but she had a mission. They said the way to a man’s heart was through his stomach. She doubted Liam could be bought so cheaply. At this stage, though, it was worth a try. It was also something few of his other girlfriends had probably done.
With that mission in mind, she headed toward the kitchen. Thankfully, it was laid out exactly as she would have done it, and she found everything she needed quickly. Tiptoeing back to the bedroom, she checked on her man. He was still fast asleep, so she figured she had at least half an hour before she needed to start cooking.
In the meantime, she should call her mother. She hadn’t spoken to her yesterday in her rush to go out with Liam, and she certainly hadn’t called her last night. They’d never gone more than two days without talking, and her panic-prone parent had probably called the FBI by now to report her missing. Her handbag was still beside the front door and after a few minutes’ rummaging she found her cell. She pressed the on button to no avail. Damn, she’d forgotten to charge it.
Tossing her phone back in her bag she searched for Liam’s home phone. There was no handset in either the living room or kitchen, and thinking back she hadn’t seen one in the bedroom either. Then again, she hadn’t been concentrating on the decor. After a fruitless ten-minute search she came to the conclusion Liam didn’t have a landline. She found his cell phone, but it was turned off. When she powered it up, the screen was locked and she didn’t want to wake Liam to ask him the password.
She could always wait for Liam to wake up to call her mother, but she figured she’d have a lot of better things to be doing with him around than speaking with her mom. Email. She’d send her mother an email, then she wouldn’t have to actually speak with her in person. No FBI, no interrogation on where she was—double win.
Although she hadn’t seen Liam’s office or computer room, she had a fair idea of its location as both he and David had disappeared down the other corridor often enough when she was here last. She hoped the equipment wasn’t too complicated and she could open a browser and access her email account without destroying half of California’s Internet service.
First, she needed caffeine, so she made herself a cup of coffee in the kitchen with Liam’s high-tech coffeemaker. If she had it at her place it would be on the table like a prized sculpture. She hadn’t even been aware they made coffeemakers so beautiful. Liam lived in a different world. Could she fit in? He’d made her no promises about the future but she couldn’t help feeling they had one—together.
With the heavenly aroma of fresh coffee in hand, she wandered back along the mysterious hallway. A distinct hum was coming from one room. She cracked the door a fraction and was instantly hit with a blast of cold air. The hum increased to a low roar and she stuck her head around to see a server room that would rival a giant corporation’s. Three air conditioners were working full-blast and the oversize computers were set up on metal shelves. Wires flowed in a tangle of what were to her knots, but to Liam were probably a well-organized pathway. If she needed any further evidence he was a consummate professional, then that was it.
She shut the door and wandered down to the next one. It opened onto a large room with a huge oak desk, piled with papers. A corkboard at least twelve feet long took up one wall. Pinned to it were schematics and articles ripped from magazines. Barely a square inch of cork was left uncovered. At the far end of the room was a pool table. It looked as though a game had been interrupted mid-play as the stick things sat on the edges and the balls were scattered on the table. Another coffeemaker sat on a counter at the end of the room, next to a bar sink with a mini-fridge underneath.
Whereas for most people the kitchen was the heart of the home, this was definitely where Liam did his living. The curtains were closed and she resisted the urge to open them and flood the room with natural light. This was his space, and if it wasn’t for her mission to stop her mother from sending out the troops, she had no right to be there.
She sat on the comfortable leather chair and pulled out the sliding drawer at the front of the desk to find the keyboard. She wiggled the mouse, hoping at least one of the six monitors on the top of the desk would come to life.
Three of the monitors lit up and she scanned the screens. The first was a black screen with lines of what she figured was computer code because none of it seemed to be in English. The second monitor displayed a spreadsheet with Liam’s company’s quarterly financial report, according to the header. The third screen displayed a document in what appeared to be a word processing program. A column on the left had chapter headings, the central space had lines of text, and over to the right was a series of boxes with various details about the chapter and scene. Below the document she recognized the symbols to access the Internet. Now if only she could figure out how to open one of those programs on that screen.
As she wiggled the mouse, the cursor moved over the text so at least she was on the right monitor. Before she could click on the Internet button, her name on the screen caught her eye. Curiosity and respect for his privacy battled within her. While it was Liam’s work and she had no right to read it, it seemed to be about her. What could he be writing about her? She read the paragraph that contained her name. Then she read the next one and the one after that.
Liam seemed to be writing about her interaction with someone named Todd. It made no sense. She clicked on the folder that said “Chapter Twelve” and read from the beginning. The name Lorelei disappeared but a character named Lisa burned a dish of enchiladas. The hero, Todd, still tasted the ruined meal.