Twice In A Lifetime

She took another deep breath. This was where it was difficult. She had to be economical with the facts without lying. Even after everything, she would never lie to Liam. “One of my service users has been arrested here on suspicion of drugs trafficking. No, that’s not right…” She shook her head and started again. “There is no suspicion—he did it. He had just under a kilo on him when he was caught trying to sell to an undercover police officer.” She held her breath as she waited for Liam to speak. But he didn’t. He just stared at her as if he was scrutinising every word, every movement. His gaze fell from her face to her clenched hands.

“You still bite your nails when you are stressed,” he said.

She shrugged. “Sometimes.”

He reached for her hands. His long fingers gently coaxed her palms to flatten against his. Heat radiated through her. Her pulse quickened. He was inches from her. It had been over ten years since he had been this close to her, but the effect was the same. Why did he have to be so handsome? Why did he have to have a mouth she never tired of kissing and hands that felt perfect against her body? No, it wasn’t just that; it was something else, something more primal that drew her to him. They were like magnets drawn to each other, pushing aside everything in their path.

“You are stressed a lot, it seems,” he commented as he lifted her hand and examined her nails.

“I am going to stop once I get this sorted,” she said. She pulled her hands away and pushed them to her sides, away from his reach.

“No, you won’t. You will move on to another cause, another victim. There will always be someone you need to rescue.”

Her back stiffened. Those were the same words he had said when he left. God, she was so stupid. Nothing had changed. He was still the same man who ran when things got tough, just like her dad, and her granddad, just like every other man in her life. “Some of us see a problem and try to fix it. Others run.”

“No, some of us are smart enough to get out.”

She sighed. The trip down memory lane was getting her nowhere. “I just need your help and then I will go back to—what was it you said?—wallowing in the shit of my childhood.”

“If he was involved in drugs trafficking, he should be punished. There are consequences to every decision,” he said pointedly.

She didn’t have time for this. They would never see eye to eye on this or anything else that mattered. Liam always thought addicts should be punished and she saw addiction as a disease. “He doesn’t deserve to die. He could be executed. The punishment doesn’t fit the crime.”

“Perhaps he should have considered that before he started dealing drugs in the UAE.”

“Honestly, Liam, you should know better than anyone—”

He put his hand up to stop her. “Let’s get one thing straight. Don’t ever tell me what I should know or not know. Unlike you, I do not live in my past. If you mention it again, I will have you on the next flight to London. Do you understand?” A chill ran down her spine. His voice was so low she would have struggled to hear him if she were not sitting beside him, yet he made the threat clear.

She nodded. He had changed so much. Liam was impossibly hard now. Once upon a time she could read his face, feel every emotion he felt. There was never a need for words; she just knew. But now everything about him was granite and impenetrable: his body, his face, his feelings. The realisation pulled at her, reminded her how much she had missed him. Even now, after all his betrayal, there were few things she wanted more than to spend another day with the Liam she knew before. She tried for years to forget him but seeing him now made her miss the boy she had known even more because he had not just left her life; he didn’t exist any more.

“Do you understand me?” he asked again.

“Yes.”

“Good. Give me his name and I will make a few phone calls. I can’t promise anything but I will see what I can do to save your latest stray.”

She took a deep breath; relief washed over her. He had agreed to help. She had managed to get him on side without needing to lie to him. But now she needed to tell him. A nagging sense of guilt pulled at her. She should have told him who it was before, but she couldn’t. He would not have agreed if he had known who he was helping, but once Liam made a promise, he honoured it. “It’s Sam.”

“Sam Ashton?” he asked incredulously, the anger etched in his tan features.

She ignored the consuming desire to run, mostly because there was no place to go. She forced herself to look him square in the eyes. “Yes, Sam Ashton.”

“Christ, Sarah.” He ran a hand through his hair and swore. He was silent for a long time, just scrutinising her, and then he asked, “Are you screwing him?”

Her jaw dropped. She was sideswiped by the question. Why would he ask that? It took her a moment for her brain to engage again.

“Are you?” he demanded. His accent had slipped, gone broader.

“Careful—your Scottish is showing.”

“No, if I wanted to sound Scottish I would have said, ‘Right, hen, dinnae tell me you shagged him.’”

Chapter Two

It did not escape him that Sarah had effectively avoided the question, but he wasn’t going to ask again. It was none of his business; she had made her choice years ago.

The years had been kind to her. She looked the same, except for the dark circles under her pale green eyes. He hated to admit it, but she was still beautiful. Her honey-coloured hair was pulled back in the same hairstyle she always wore. He used to love it when she would take it down and let it flow in waves down her back, but she rarely did. Even then, Sarah was all business, sorting out the world.

“The answer is no. I am not sleeping with Sam,” she said.

He exhaled; muscles he didn’t know were tensed, relaxed. It didn’t matter to him, he reminded himself. “Glad to see your taste in men has improved,” he said casually.

“It could only get better.”

“True,” he said, knowing she meant anyone was a step up from him. He felt a smile tug at him despite himself. He missed the banter he had had with Sarah. She was never shy about cutting him down to size. It had been years since anyone had openly insulted him; everyone was too busy kissing his ass.

They had been good together, but she had thrown it all away. She should have made it out too. Suddenly a bolt of anger tore through him. It was near enough the same scenario as a decade earlier and Sarah was choosing Sam again. She would never change. But he had—he expected it from her now.

“Very clever not telling me it was Sam I was agreeing to help. Just this side of a lie though, wouldn’t you say?”

“I told you everything you needed to know. I knew you would never agree to help Sam.”

“How do you know? I have never needed to. You have always been there picking up the pieces, enabling him to piss his life away.”

Her eyes narrowed. Colour rose in her cheeks, two red flags painted high on each side of her face. “How dare you say I enabled him? I have spent my career helping people. The only thing I am enabling them to do is live better lives.”

“Your help seems to have done wonders for Sam. I hope you have not have been as helpful to all your clients. But I suppose that is another way to deal with the problem—just coddle them until things spiral out of control.”

“You still don’t get it, do you?” she said sadly. She looked at him with a combination of confusion and pity.

“I will tell you what I get. Life is about making choices and following through.” Christ, why did she look at him like that? He ran one of the most profitable hedge funds in the world; hundreds of people were dependent on him for their livelihood. By anyone’s definition he was a success but she still looked at him as if he were the chavy kid who needed pity.

“Trust me, I know about choices. You made yours and it seems to be paying dividends. Congratulations, Liam. You have everything you ever wanted.”

“Not everything.” He had once been stupid enough to want her more than anything. But that was a long time ago. He had wised up; now the only thing he wanted was to show Sarah how foolish she had been.

“Near enough, then. Keep working at it. I am sure you’ll get there in the end. You always do.”

“Sometimes you realise what you wanted was nothing more than a juvenile mistake.”

She winced. “True.” She stood and picked up her hand luggage again and then turned to face him. She reached her hand out to him to shake. “I am glad to see you, you know. I have wondered about you. I never really got…closure, I guess you could say. But now I know things worked out the way they were supposed to. Thanks for helping. I know you are really busy. I don’t want to take up any more of your time. I will email you and you can keep me up to date on progress with Sam’s case. That is probably the best.”

He stared at her hand in astonishment. That was it. She walked into his life, sirens blazing, and then she expected to walk away again, no questions asked.

No, that was not the way it was going to play out this time.

The annoyance mounted in him. What did she think she was playing at?