When They Weren't Looking: Wardham Book #3 (25 page)

She sucked in a breath, then another, her whole body desperate for new oxygen. She’d probably held her breath for the last minute of that…that…

“That was awesome.” Liam’s arms wrapped around her as he rolled her somewhat awkwardly to her side. She had a vague thought about him still needing to come, but it drifted away as he stroked her arms and legs, entwining them once again. They weren’t done, just taking a break.

“You feel incredible, inside and out,” he murmured.

“And you know all the words to make me melt.” She fluttered her eyes open for a moment, long enough to see a reassuring grin on his face.

“And make you come.”

“And that.” A soft smile played across her face, and she gave in to the joy. “I liked it all.”

“I’m glad. I remembered that working for you the first time, but I wasn’t sure…” He drifted off, leaving the question hanging. Up to her to pick it up or not.

“Before you, it would have only been a drunken thing for me.”

“That’s too bad.”

She couldn’t agree more. “You really don’t think it’s…slutty?”

He started laughing, gently at first, then harder, until he was shaking against her. “You ask that like it’s a bad thing, Evie!” He sighed deeply and pulled her face into his chest. “I hate to bring him into this moment, but when you ask questions like that, I want to punch Dale in the face. And anyone else who gave you the impression that you shouldn’t get off however you want to.”

“You like it?”

“I love it. Bring on slutty Evie.”

“Even with a baby on the way?”

“You know, I never thought I’d have a pregnancy fetish, but this works for me.” He rocked against her.

“What else works for you?” She took a deep breath. “You said some things the other night, but I wasn’t sure how much was the truth and how much you were just trying to get a rise out of me.” She’d been afraid to think too much about it, if she was being honest. “I wouldn’t want to do anything to freak you out.”

“Evie, if you do something that freaks me out, I’ll just tell you that doesn’t work for me. And I hope you do the same. But if you want, we can talk about what we do like, sure. That sounds kinda hot.”

She nodded, too embarrassed to respond out loud.

“Okay. I like the idea of sex outside.” He glanced at the window. “In the summer, so you’re safe today.”

“Have you ever done that before?”

“Had balcony sex once, that was fun. But never truly in nature. Some things work just as a fantasy, you know.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. The thought of you and me, sneaking onto the beach in the middle of the night. Rolling around on the sand, kissing, touching, grinding against each other…” As he started telling her about his fantasy, he kissed his way down her neck to her collarbone. “And then I’d pick you up and toss you into the water. You’d stand up, all righteous and proud, pissed off that I got your dress wet——”

“I’m wearing a dress?”

“Not for long. But then you surprise me, and instead of storming out of the water, you pull your dress over your head and toss it back onto the beach. Then you turn around, your body outlined in the moon light, your breasts bouncing and swaying like a hypnotist’s watch, and you dive in, swimming out to deeper waters.”

“And what do you do?” Evie was breathless and aching between her legs again.

“I pull my clothes off and follow you. Do I look like an idiot? And when I catch you, you wrap your legs around me and I push inside you.” Liam shifted his body, aligning his hips, and entered her in a quick, smooth thrust. “Fuck, Evie…”

“Yes, fuck Evie,” she whispered, and he groaned. “You like the dirty talk, too.”

“Coming from your mouth, you bet I do.”

“My mouth does other things, too.” She pushed herself up on her elbows. The belly between them changed the missionary position into a bit of a challenge, but she still wanted to kiss him. Needed his mouth, and his breath. His eyes, hovering close enough to reassure her that this wasn’t a dream.

“This is how it should have been,” he muttered, snaking one hand behind her neck, using the other to brace himself as he surged into her. “When I made you pregnant, this is how it should have been. I should have known I was giving you my seed.”

And with that unexpected pronouncement, Liam exploded, and Evie went with him.

CHAPTER TWENTY

They’d had a brief nap together that afternoon, then separate showers, and he’d sent her a sweet dreams text that night, but Evie hadn’t spoken to him since.

Of course, it had only been thirty-six hours, but Liam was pretty sure he’d fucked something up. So he was working up the courage to call her, and using hanging drywall as an excuse to put it off for another hour, when his doorbell rang. He wasn’t in his own unit, but next door, so by the time he’d finished securing the sheet he was holding to the wall and set down the screw gun, Evie was standing in the doorway.

“Hey.” He wanted to grab her up in his arms, kiss her hard enough to make her dizzy and forget any concerns she might have. But he held himself back, at least physically. He couldn’t help but let his gaze rake over her body, dressed in snug black yoga wear.

“Hey. I’m sorry I didn’t call yesterday, Max had a little episode and we had to go to Windsor.”

“You should have called me. About that, I mean, not about us. I could have—”

She shook her head. “No, really, it was fine. And you’re way behind schedule here.”

“He’s okay?”

“He’s fine. They warned us that we’d end up at Emerg sometimes, and really, if he was older, we probably could have dealt with it at home. His blood sugar levels came back up and we were home in time for bedtime.”

“Where was he when it happened?”

“At school.”

He crossed the room and pulled her into his arms. “Fuck, that’s scary, eh?”

“Yeah.” She wrapped her arms around his waist. “Maybe I should have called you yesterday. I needed a hug.”

He tightened his grip. He never wanted to let her go. This was agony, because after they’d made love again, he thought that’s where they were, but if she didn’t think of him when she needed support…

“Liam…” If she told him to back off, he was going to have a tantrum, he didn’t care how immature she thought that might be.

“Yeah?”

“You’re not wearing a shirt.”

That was true. He’d gotten warm while working. Hope, and something else, stirred inside him. “I took it off.”

“And you’ve got quite a nice toolbelt…”

He glanced down, taking in her bright eyes. How she was nibbling on her lower lip. Fuck him. “Evie, do you have a construction worker fantasy, by any chance?”

“Little bit.”

“How much time do you have?”

“Not much.”

He could do a lot of things in not much time. If he put his mind to it.

“But that’s not…That’s not why I came here.” She reached up and pulled his head down to hers, giving him a lingering, promising kiss. “And it’s not going to happen. Not today, although…”

“Yeah.” He was going to wear the toolbelt every day until she jumped him. “Okay, we’ll save that for another afternoon.”

She rubbed her hand across his chest, leaving a trail of goosebumps in her wake. “Soon, I promise. Before I get too uncomfortable to care.”

“I like the sound of soon.”

Evie took a step back before she molested him, and got back to the point of her visit. “I’ve got an hour break before my next class, thought you might want to go for a walk, grab a coffee.”

“Be seen with you in public?”

She offered a sweet smile. “Sure, why not?”

“People might get the wrong idea about us.”

“I don’t care what people think, Liam. I truly don’t. I may have in the past, or maybe that was just my heart being silly, but I’m just…it’s
me
that’s complicated, okay?”

“I don’t think you are, not really.” He slung his toolbelt over a nearby ladder, grabbed his jacket and put it on before pulling her close for a hug. “No more than me, anyway.”

She didn’t get a chance to think about that before he was herding her out the door. The air had a decided nip to it, and when Liam wove his fingers through hers, she didn’t resist. Warm and strong, with rough callouses that reminded her of his gentle touches, his hand felt exactly right wrapped around hers. Her resistance had melted, and it didn’t flood her with panic. She nudged her shoulder into Liam’s arm, and he flashed her a smile. “This is nice. Rustling leaves, cool breeze, going for a walk together.” Not wanting to be left out, the baby jabbed her in the cervix, and Evie winced.

Liam immediately stopped and took her in his arms. “You okay?”

“Mmm.” She half-groaned, half-nodded. “Just some baby movements hurt more than others.”

“Anything I can do?”

She shook her head, and they resumed walking. “Want to talk about names?”

“I was thinking Claire would be a good middle name.”

“My mom would like that.” Evie stumbled to a stop again. “Oh god, Liam. I don’t know what your mother’s name is!”

He shrugged. “Amelia, but we won’t be using it.”

The disquiet any mention of his parents caused was something that Evie would have a hard time getting used to. She believed him that there was nothing to talk about there, but it was so far from her realm of understanding that she literally tripped up on it from time to time. But as long as she refused to talk about their relationship, she could hardly press him to talk about his family. “Okay, what about first names?”

“I have some thoughts, but do you have any names you wanted to use with either of the boys?”

“Maya was my girl name for Connor, and Anna for Max, but I’d feel funny
re-using
one of those, if that makes sense.” Evie smiled. “I have tossed up Lexi and Becca, what do you think?”

He winced. “I like Anna better than either of those. I want my daughter to have a name that she could be Prime Minister with.”

“Hey! I can see a Prime Minister Lexi McIntosh!” He didn’t say anything for a minute, and when she glanced over, he was wearing the biggest shit-eating grin she’d ever seen, bigger than at the ultrasound. “You like the sound of that, eh?”

He laughed, a big sound from the depths of his belly. “All but the Lexi part, yeah. You don’t want to give her your last name?”

She nodded. “I will, as a middle name.”

“You didn’t change your name when you got married?”

“No, not really. I answered to Mrs. Simmons at the school and church picnics, but my driver’s license stayed Evie Calhoun the whole time.” She glanced over to gauge his reaction, but he wasn’t looking at her, he was staring straight ahead.

They were almost to the main street when he quietly said under his breath, “Would you ever change your name?”

She didn’t answer right away, although it wasn’t because she needed time to consider her response. She didn’t, but she didn’t want to hurt his feelings, either. “No…it’s just not who I am, ya know? Why…would you want me to?”

“Careful there, Evie. That’s getting dangerously close to a serious talk.” He tugged her close and wrapped his arm around her shoulders. “I’d like to dress you head to toe in McIntosh plaid and slap a Property of Liam bumper sticker on your gorgeous ass. Yeah, I’d
want
you to change your name if we got married. I’d also want to keep you naked and in my bed, making more babies. But that’s just the product of our culture. You can tell me to cram it and that won’t change how I feel about you.”

“You’re something else, you know that, Liam? I…” The main intersection of Wardham wasn’t the place to have this conversation, but it needed to happen soon. “Let’s go grab a hot chocolate and argue some more about names.”

He squeezed her hand. “You sure? Nothing more that needed to be said there?”

“It’s just that I appreciate you, more than you know.” She swallowed hard. What she wanted to tell him deserved to be front and center, a main stage production. Followed by a very private celebration.

He shot her a quizzical look, then nodded. “Okay. Off we go.”

There was a line inside Bun, but Liam pushed Evie toward one of the bar stools. “Save us a spot, I’ll get us drinks.”

“I said hot chocolate but I really want—”

“Carrie’s
Mother’s Tea
blend.” It smelled like moldy hay, how could he forget it? But it made her happy, and if she wanted him to, Liam would drink it himself. Maybe with a heaping spoonful of honey. “How about an oat bar with it?”

“Wow, you’ve been paying attention.” She smiled up at him. If only that smile meant more than appreciation. He tamped down that bitterness. The rest would come in time. For now, he needed to appreciate a bit more himself. That they were finally dating, or whatever this was.
Exactly what you asked of her
. And now that he had it, he wanted more. He wanted her heart, and not at some point in the future. Now. Ungrateful bastard.

He paid the part-timer at the counter for their drinks, then turned to join Evie, but she wasn’t alone anymore. She had her arms wrapped around a man who was whispering something in her ear. Were all the men of Wardham giants? Liam had never felt small before he moved to the sleepy village. He stretched to the full extent of his six feet and took a deep breath. He didn’t have any right to get upset about her hugging a friend, not even one with whom she had an intimate history. Because that’s all that it was—history.