Free A Second Chance by Ellen Wolf Page A

he ’ s very worried about you, S hrimp . ’
    He hugged her again, and she giggled, stepping back and looking into his face . ‘ What’s up with this beard, Liam? I t ’ s scratchy , and you look like a robber . ’
    ‘Some people are just too difficult to please, S is . ’ H e laughed, touching h is stubble - covered cheek . ‘And it isn’t that scratchy, is it?’
    He looked at J ade and smiled invitingly, his eyes glittering with mischief . ‘Tell her, Jade. Try it yourself , and tell her I am not that bad, will you?’
    He ’ s just teasing Laura , Jade thought, her fingers reaching up to his face and brushing it lightly, barely in contact with his skin.
    ‘Hey, no cheating . ’ H e laughed again, his hand covering her fingers as he pressed her palm against his cheek. ‘ You can’t review it without actually testing it properly.’
    He felt warm, firm , and disturbingly alive. Trying very hard not to make a fool of herself with her skittish response, she grazed his cheek and nodded with mock seriousness . ‘ Yep , you win. Laura, your brother is officially scratch - free . I can testify , if needed.’
    ‘ See , it wasn’t so bad . ’ H e smile d down into her eyes, and suddenly she had the weird sensation that she was alone with him, the rest of the world disappearing in the distance. Just him and the warmth of his skin against her fingertips, seductive and utterly compelling. She wished nothing more than to touch him again, properly this time. The desire to linger longer, tracing the firm lines of his lips and the straight, elegant nose was almost overwhelming, and she balled her hands into fists, her nails digging painfully into the soft flesh of her palms.
    Luckily Liam’s thoughts were miles away , and she was in no immediate danger of being exposed in her shameful weakness. He looked at his sister and asked, concern coloring his voice , ‘ What do you want to do now, Laura? We can go talk to Dr. Green or leave it for another time, whatever you prefer . ’
    He put his arm around his sister’s slim frame, effortlessly adjusting his long stride to her shorter steps. He said, ‘ We can go home for now . I have something to show you that you’ll like. ’ He smiled again, his eyes warm and compelling. ‘ Remember the house I was telling you about before I left? The one we drove to see ? I got in touch with the agent while in Hong Kong and put a bid on it. The market isn’t the best at the moment , and the owner was quite motivated to sell it fast . I got it, Laura . ’
    ‘Oh, yes, now I remember . ’ Laura’s eyes lit up , and she looked at Jade with an excited expression.
    ‘J adie, you have to see this place . ’ S he looked so happy and full of life , Jade didn’t have the heart to tell her that she didn’t really want to get to o close to anything that had anything to do with her brother. ‘Liam found it just on the beach ; the views are spectacular . Y ou ’ ll love it.’ Dark eyes sparkl ed behind her glasses as she smiled radiantly at Jade . ‘ It is just a bit rough at the moment , b ut Liam resisted the idea of owning anything for long enough . I could smell a real fear of ownership commitment ; a ll those years he insisted on just renting a place instead of owning one. ’
    ‘ Well , that’ s a very nice way to put it . ’ Liam smiled at both of them and led them to the main corridor, his light attitude not fooling Jade for a minute. She knew he was very concerned about Laura and her health, only his self-control keeping his worries at bay as he chatted pleasantly about other things. She felt the same way , eager to find out more about her meeting. But it would have to wait until they left the hospital . Laura’s obvious wish to leave behind all that reminded her of her disease dampened Jade’s eagerness to ask any questions . H ow she preferred to deal with her sickness was Laura’s choice, and if she wanted to talk about other things , it was fine with Jade . She