Excerpt: 'Trusting Liam' by Molly McAdams

Molly McAdams shares an excerpt from her new release, Trusting Liam, a Taking Chances and Forgiving Lies novel.

First, here's the blurb (courtesy of William Morrow Paperbacks):

A night they will always remember…a connection neither can deny…a secret that could destroy it all…

When Kennedy Ryan moves to California, she never expects to come face-to-face with Liam Taylor—the intriguing man who has haunted her thoughts for a year. A man who led her to breaking every one of her rules for a single night of passion that ended up meaning more than it was ever supposed to. Accustomed to disastrous experiences with men, Kennedy shields herself before he can break down more of the carefully built control she's clung to for the last four years. But every time she sees Liam, she feels her resolve weakening.

Liam Taylor has been asked to help socialize his boss's nieces. But what he thinks sounds more like a babysitting job ends up leading him to the only girl who ever slipped away before morning—a girl he thought he'd never find again. And now that she's within reach, Liam's determined to never let her go.

But when a secret from her past tests their relationship, will they be able to cling to the trust Liam has worked so hard to build?

Molly sets the scene for us …

Molly: I have always had a deep love for Brian, Chase's close friend and co-worker at the tattoo parlor, in the Taking Chances series. It could be his hair — I made him after the amazing Claudio Sanchez, lead singer of Coheed and Cambria — or it could just be Brian's awesome attitude; but he is one of my favorite secondary characters ever. He's funny, absurd, wise in his own crazy way, and always there for you. We got to see his personality so much more in Stealing Harper, and there was no question, he had to be a huge part of Trusting Liam. To be honest, I don't think Chase would have wanted it any other way for his son.

In Trusting Liam, every single scene with Brian is my favorite. They pulled at my heartstrings while making me laugh, and I cheesy-grinned through them all. So here is a little snippet from when Kennedy first met Brian.

EXCERPT

Kira and I didn't get matching tattoos often. Our tastes were too different, just like our polar opposite personalities. But our deep love for art on our bodies was something we'd always shared with Dad, and every now and then something in our lives called for "matchy-matchy," as Brian had called it. This was definitely one of those times.

Because of the relationships that had been life consuming and life altering for both of us, we were getting "free hearts" tattoos to show how we felt like we'd finally been released from the past. A tattoo of a small red heart with free in black inked across it, as if the word had been stamped on top.

After Kira was done and Brian was set up again, I was lying next to him with the outline on my left collarbone, and the familiar buzzing started up. Nothing was more soothing to me than the buzzing of these machines, and I couldn't help but smile as I waited for the process to start.

"You in love with my boy yet?"

And there went my smile.

A short laugh bubbled past my lips, and my eyebrows pulled down as I looked over at Brian. "Uh, what?"

"Have you finally figured out you're in love with him?"

"No," I responded, slowly drawing out the word. "Why?"

"Because it's gonna happen," Brian said, like the fact that I didn't already know this was blowing his mind.

After a few minutes passed with him focused only on what he was doing, he moved his head so it was directly above my face. "He loves you, you know."

"Really?" When Brian nodded, I laughed again—but this time there was no humor behind it. "Liam Taylor loves me," I stated blankly. "I think you might be high, Brian."

"Not today," he boasted proudly, and sat back to mess with the ink before he started tattooing again.

I'd been joking, but his response had my forehead pinching. "Liam said you don't do drugs …"

"No, ma'am, not for thirty years. No drinkage or druggage. Not since the night I almost lost my lady love when I was twenty-three. She gave me an ultimatum, and that was it for me. Doesn't mean I don't feel like I'm high most days. This job and my life give me all the high I need, dude number one. What else did LC tell you about me?"

"Your hair," I replied immediately with a smile.

"Dude. The hair is me. I am my hair. I made this hair look cool way before Troy Polamalu started getting paid mad bucks for his."

"Who?"

"Eh." Brian leaned back and shrugged. "Football player who jacked my style. Retired when you were just a young'un. So, what else? Did LC tell you how dead sexy I am?"

"Oh yeah," I mumbled sarcastically. "That was our very first conversation."

"Damn straight it was. LC knows what's up."

I bit back a laugh, and let another minute pass before I said, "He told me about his tattoo for Chase, and what you said after you finished it."

"Was I high?" he asked teasingly, but the humor quickly died and he stopped tattooing and sat back. After a few beats of silence, I turned my head to find him staring at me with a look of shock. "He told you about the initials?"

"And the entire story behind it," I confirmed with a nod.

"No s***?"

"No s***."

"Dude, number one, LC doesn't tell anyone that story." Brian was silent again for a while, and with a laugh, he shook his head and got ready to keep going. "Christ. I knew my boy was in love with you. But, homie, he is in love with you."

"You're wro—"

"No, I'm not," he said, cutting me off. "You in love with him yet?"

"Again, no, Brian."

"That's okay. I'll ask again when I'm done to see if you've realized it yet."

Find out more about Molly and her books at www.mollysmcadams.com.