Before Sunrise (45 page)

Liam smiled. He had his girls. They had him.
Things were as they should be. His hand moved under the sheet.
Slowly and gently he undid the button to Kennedy’s jeans and eased
down her zipper. He saw her eyes move under her closed lids but she
didn’t wake. Not until he eased his hand inside, over the trimmed
hairs of her mound. She hadn’t had time to put her panties back on.
They were still down by the Christmas tree.

Kennedy’s eyes slowly opened. She blinked, a
little confused. He rubbed her clit with his finger and then
awareness flashed in her eyes. Her hand went to his.

“
Stop…Mac is right there,
Liam—”

“
Shh,” he said, kissing her
nose. I have to touch you Kay, please. We won’t wake her if you’re
quiet for me.”

She looked a bit uncomfortable but she
removed her hand. Liam put his head to her forehead as he stroked
her slit. He liked the way her small nostrils puffed and flared and
her sweet breath came out over his lips and mouth. And she was
moist already. He forced her jeans open, pushed them down her hips.
She opened her legs a bit and his hand moved in between. She
grabbed his shoulder when his middle finger thrust into her pussy.
Liam smiled, liking the way her lip quivered, her eyes fluttered.
He remembered how tight and wet she was when he got in. He gave her
another finger and she gasped softly. Her pussy was in the cradle
of his hand as he thrust two fingers in and out of her slick
tightness.

“
I want you so bad, Kay, you
know I do. I want to fuck you babe, and then make love to you. Do
you remember?”

She nodded, moving lightly, gripping his
shoulder so tight her nails cut into his arm. “When will it be my
time?” he asked, teasing her. She opened her mouth to answer and he
just kept fingering her pussy until she could only grunt a half
reply. “This is my pussy, isn’t it?”

Kennedy nodded. She kissed him, her body
responding to him. He remembered waking up most mornings with her
on his dick, forcing him to rise to the occasion. He could feel the
tension coiling tighter in her. He teased her with quick kisses,
delaying a full onslaught. He had so little restraint. If she
didn’t come for him soon he’d get on top of her and fuck her right
there.

“
Come for me, Kay. Come on,
babe. At least give me this.”

She groaned, holding tighter to his arm and
then creamed herself. With deep, hard shudders, her pussy
unleashed. Liam withdrew her hand and brought her to him. He held
her until she shook through the last of her climax. Now he could
sleep.

Chapter Nineteen

Kennedy rolled under the
blanket and sheet. She smiled in her sleep. The awakening for her
this morning was pleasantly slow.
He’s
home
.
He’s
here
. She walked her hand over the mattress
to him and found empty space. It was only after his missed presence
brought a wave of disappointment that she peeked out from her
lashes to find him gone.

She was alone.

It was cold.

Kennedy was freezing. She rolled to her back
and drew the sheet and blanket up over her shoulders. Where had
Mackenzie gone? She, too, was missing. Normally when Mackenzie
rose, so did the entire house. Kennedy smiled. How did Liam manage
to get her daughter out of the room without her waking her? That
took skill.

Liam is going to be such a good father.

Kennedy snuggled back under the warm heat of
the covers and the inflated mattress squeaked. She conjured images
of her future family. Liam would put Mackenzie to bed. She’d be
waiting for him in their room just across the hall. He’d join her,
covering her body with his, making love to her tender and slow at
first. Then passion would overtake them and she’d get him every
which way they could achieve.

Yes
.

And together they would build a life for
themselves and their daughter. Raise a family with love and
patience. She’d have Halloween parties, and soccer games, and PTA
meetings. He’d put bikes together and build a tree house in the
backyard. They’d have family dinners and holiday celebrations where
everyone would come. Instead of a new house, they’d build on this
one, as their family grew. She’d get him to attend church.

Kennedy smiled to
herself.
Maybe the church is pushing
it
.

How did she get so lucky? So blessed?
Kennedy hugged herself. She wasn’t smiling, she was grinning. He
had been such a temptation. Last night they’d come close. In fact,
she felt sticky between her thighs, thanks to his touch. She wanted
him so bad. He drifted to sleep soon after but she couldn’t. She
was left to toss and turn between him and their daughter. It was
torture. Eventually, she settled on spooning him from behind, her
hand easing over his chest as she pressed all over him, against his
broad back, inhaled his hair, his neck, his skin. He felt so warm,
strong, good. If Mackenzie hadn’t been there, she would have woken
her man. Loved him like she did in her dreams.

“
Ugh!” she moaned. Where was
he?

“
Wake up, mommy.” Mackenzie
bounced in through the door. Kennedy sat up on her elbows. Her
daughter was bundled up in her coat, her elf hat pulled down on her
head. Liam entered behind her with bags of McDonald’s. “We got you
breakfast, mommy.”

“
Oh, this is a treat.”
Kennedy laughed. She and Liam lived off McDonald’s the first year
of their marriage. She lost her taste for it shortly thereafter.
Liam never seemed to do so.

Kennedy sat up and accepted the cup of
coffee he handed her. She took a sip and inhaled. It was strong.
The caffeine knocked away all the cobwebs of sleep from her head.
She watched as Liam got to the floor with their daughter and began
to fix her hotcakes. She was about to object and remind him that
the cakes had to be cut in small squares, but he had it under
control. She was proud of him.

“
I got you an egg muffin in
the bag. You still like them, right?” Liam asked.

“
Love ’em,” she said. It
wasn’t necessarily a lie. It was the only sandwich she could
tolerate from McDonald’s. She dug out the wrapped, greasy sandwich
and hash browns. Her mouth watered at the smell.

“
Mommy, in three more days
it’s my birthday and Christmas. Daddy say we gonna have my party
here.”

Kennedy frowned. “Well, we’ll see.”

Liam’s head lifted and their
eyes met. Kennedy looked away.
We need to
talk.
The house was nice and yes, she
wanted to move in. But they would need to furnish it and
everything. She had already planned the party for Mackenzie at her
house.

“
Daddy said Santa will bring
me a dog.”

“
We’ll see,” Kennedy
said.

Liam cut her another
look.
What did he expect?
He made decisions without discussing them with
her. A dog was work. They needed to get on their feet before they
bought in another mouth to feed. She didn’t know about his military
salary. And her salary as a legal assistant was just barely
bringing in 40K a year. Hell, she didn’t even know what rent was on
this place.

“
Mommy?”

“
Yes.”

“
Daddy said you getting
married.”

Kennedy stopped mid-chew. She swallowed, her
eyes wide. To this, Liam didn’t look up. He just fixed the straw in
the small bottle of milk for Mackenzie and passed it to her. “You
told her that?” she asked.

“
I think I want a
recommitment ceremony,” he mumbled.

“
Gee. That sounds nice.
Couldn’t you at least tell me? Ask me?”

“
Ask you?” Liam frowned.
“You said you were mine. Why do I have to ask?”

Kennedy sucked in her bottom lip and
narrowed her eyes. “Why? Did you say why?”

“
Kay, I didn’t mean it that
way. It’s just an idea.”

“
Ask me. Propose. Make it
romantic, Liam. I’d like to hear you want to re-commit to me from
your mouth, not our daughter’s.” Mackenzie stared at her. Kennedy
adjusted her tone, pouring a little sugar on it. “Until you ask
properly, there’s no need. It can be just one of your
ideas.”

Liam rolled his eyes.

“
Mommy has an idea, Mac.”
Kennedy smiled at her daughter. “Let’s eat and then take you home
to get bathed and dressed.”

“
Why?” Mackenzie replied,
chewing with her mouth open.

“
Granddaddy’s here. He will
want to see you.”

“
Oooo! Granddaddy’s
here!”

“
He is?” Liam
asked.

“
He and grandmama came
yesterday. I think I should take her to spend some time with them.
Then you and I need to sit down and have a
long
talk.”

Liam smirked. “That’s not all we need to
do.” He tore a large bite out of his sausage biscuit. Kennedy threw
the crumpled-up hash brown wrapper at him. She had five days for a
positive test result. She would feel a whole lot better if the
pregnancy issue was addressed before they made love. But she knew
he couldn’t be denied much longer, and neither could she.

Mackenzie began drilling her father for
information on his superpowers and Kennedy listened for Liam’s
creative answers. Soon her thoughts drifted to the upcoming
challenges they faced. Liam had a way of controlling their lives.
It was totally different from Phil. With Liam, he had to be the man
in her life and though he supported her, all decisions ran through
him first. His method had been okay when she was eighteen and
scared of her own shadow. But she was different now. She’d become
more independent than he knew. He’d have to learn not to hold on
too tight. She was certain they’d get past it. Setting her sandwich
down, she crawled over to him. When he looked over, she kissed
him.

“
What’s that for? You’ve
been given me the stink eye all morning,” he half-joked.

“
For making me so happy. I
love you,” she said.

Liam, blushed. “Sorry. I should have done it
right. Proposed, I—”

She kissed him again.

He smiled and kissed her back. She pressed
her forehead to his and released her lips to rub her nose with his.
Liam looked her in the eye when he spoke. “Will you marry me?”

“
I want to marry you too,
daddy!” Mackenzie said.

Kennedy laughed. “I guess that’s a yes from
both your girls. Get ready, mister. We got you now.”

Liam grabbed her and brought her over to his
lap, tickling her side. Kennedy laughed. He bit her cheek, and then
kissed it.

“
I was born
ready.”

***

“
Gail? What are you doing
here?”

Phil accepted a hug from his mother-in-law.
He’d found her in his office, pacing before his desk. A large
Visitor badge with a big, red V was clipped to her lapel. As much
as he cared for her, he was in no mood for this visit.

“
Hi, sweetheart. How are
you?” Gail gave him a tight hug.

“
I’m okay. When did you get
in town?”

“
Yesterday. You didn’t see
the news?”

“
News?” Phil frowned and set
his briefcase on his desk. He couldn’t stomach the news about Liam
Flanagan The Great Hero. He avoided the television at all costs.
“Why the news?”

Gail tugged on her suit jacket. She wore a
lavender designer dress suit and it hugged her curves. Phil
couldn’t recall if he’d ever seen her with her hair out of place,
or without make-up.

“
I gave an interview.” She
smiled sweetly.

Halfway around his desk, Phil froze. He
looked at her. “You did what?”

“
Kennedy’s angry. Andrew
isn’t speaking to me, and Harper has her head in the clouds as
usual. But I did what I had to do.”

Phil closed his eyes and released a deep
breath. He knew Kennedy would be livid. He dropped in his chair.
His headache was back, in force. “What did you say?”

“
That you and my daughter
are married. A family. That your priority is to Mackenzie and each
other, first and foremost.”

Phil shook his head. “I wish you wouldn’t
have done that.”

“
Why? Because it makes
everyone uncomfortable? It’s the truth. I know it has to be, from
your standpoint at least. Kennedy, well she’s not listening to me.
She never listens to me.”

“
No, Gail. You’re wrong.
Kennedy left me.”

“
She has not.”

“
She has. I have to accept
it and so do you. We’re done,” Phil said. When he said the words he
could look nowhere but down. He began to fiddle with things on his
desk. Opening his briefcase he removed his laptop. He’d stayed up
all night in bed thinking, dreaming, and wishing for it to be
different. He didn’t want to give up. Hell, Alexa’s plan would have
been an option. But what then? Having Kennedy by default would be
worse than not having her at all. He realized what he wanted most
was what Liam had. Unconditional love.

The truth had been painful to accept. The
first time he made love to Kennedy, he felt it. Her holding back,
pretending, giving him her body but not much more. He loved her,
but he couldn’t live with having half of her, not anymore.

“
My daughter is so naïve.”
Gail lowered to the chair.

“
She’s not. She loves him.
You and I both know it.”