Sacrifice:The Shenkar War Read Online Free Page B

joked that she should just date Liam but then would always add in how her family would kill her and how she would be throwing away her college education by getting involved with someone almost old enough to be her dad. They already felt that her hanging out with Liam was inappropriate. In any case, Leah wasn’t a blind girl, so she had to know Liam was attracted to her. Yet while she was flirtatious with him, she also made it plain that she wasn’t attracted to him in that way--or that’s the way he interpreted it.
    After parking her car, Leah got out and started walking toward Liam, smiling as she went.
                  “ Liam! I didn’t know you were opening today.”
                  “ Yeah, Mike asked me if I could yesterday; apparently, he has his kid’s parent–teacher conference this morning. What are you doing here? Don’t you have class this morning?”
                  “ I did have class, but it was canceled. No idea why . . . in fact, all classes have been canceled until further notice. It’s really weird. Soldiers from the National Guard are all over the city . . . didn’t you notice?”
                  “ National Guard? Never even noticed, but you know me, I tend to get lost in thought. So what brings you here, then? It’s a nice day out--figured you would head to the beach.”
                  “ I forgot my cell phone here last night when I worked, so I figured I would stop by and pick it up.”
                  Liam unlocked the door and held it open for Leah to walk through. Following in behind her, he couldn’t help look at her from behind. Today, she was wearing a tight blue tank top with a short skirt that hugged her bottom so very nicely. After entering, he walked over to the alarm keypad, punched in the deactivation code, then went about getting everything ready for opening. After several minutes, he became aware of someone watching him and turned to see Leah looking at him.
                  “ What?” Liam asked suspiciously.
                  Leah smiled, but then her face became more serious, a slight look of concern on it.
                  “ Are you all right? You looked tired.”
                  Sighing, Liam continued to go about opening the store. But after a few minutes, he turned to Leah.
                  “ I’m as fine as I will ever be,” he said solemnly.
                  “ That’s a load of crap. Lately you won’t talk to me about what you are feeling when it’s so obvious you are depressed again . . . why?” she demanded testily.
                  “ What does it matter? I mean, it isn’t like you could do anything to help me.” He was a little harsher than he meant to be.
                  Leah scowled, and he could see the beginning of anger on her face. When she spoke, it was in a voice only slightly above normal.               “ What does it matter?!? How can you say that? You know damn well I care about you . . .”
                  “ Yeah, like a brother,” muttered Liam before he could stop himself.
                  He suddenly hoped she hadn’t heard him. Looking up, he saw that he hadn’t been as quiet as he hoped. He felt the heat rush into his face at the embarrassment he was feeling. He knew what he said was childish and extremely stupid, but before he could tell her as much, she spoke up first. The anger in her voice was evident.
                  “ Is that what this is about? The fact that I only care for you as a friend? I know you have feelings for me; I’m not stupid, you know. I know when a guy is attracted to me, and by the way you look at me when you think I’m not paying attention, it’s plain that you are attracted to me. I thought you were better than that, but you are just like every other guy I have known. Just because I