When They Weren't Looking: Wardham Book #3 (29 page)

“Then we should go out there and dance.”

“I’m fine right here.” She gazed at him for a moment, her face softening but still full of joy. “I’m not sure my feet are up to it. They’re already swelling.”

“There you are, I’ve been looking for you all night. So glad you came. Are you guys going to dance?” Evan glanced between them, mis-reading their hesitation. “If you don’t care for it, I’m happy to twirl Evie around the floor once or twice.”

“We’re having fun just watching, Evan, thank you.” How many times had Evie had to say the same thing to cover for her ex-husband? From the tightening of Evan’s jaw, Liam knew more than once. And once would have been one time too many.

“No, you should dance with Evan.” He nodded at the other man.

“No, Liam, it’s okay—”

He slid one palm over her belly and the other across the back of her neck. He pressed a quick, hard kiss to her temple before twisting his lips to brush against her earlobe. “Sunshine, after you do a twirl with him, it’ll be our turn. And at the end of the night, I’m taking you home. I’m going to enjoy watching you. Go.”

She twisted in his arms, and all of a sudden he was holding her, their baby squirming between them, and he was tempted to drag her back to her house that very second. “We’ll dance together?”

“Absolutely.” He brushed his lips across hers.

“Do you two want a room?” They glanced as one toward Evan, who was sporting a shit-eating grin. “Cause I can go…”

“No.” Liam pushed Evie toward her ex-boyfriend. “We’ve got all the time in the world.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

“You aren’t concerned that you’re having regular contractions?”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“Because they’re ten minutes apart, and not getting any closer.”

“They’ve been ten minutes apart for twenty-four hours now. I thought the third labour was supposed to be quick. I was worried about having an unexpected home birth, not having days of early labour.”

“Honey, with all due respect, can you not talk about this labour like you’re going through it?”

“Unlikely, sorry, sunshine.”

“Hey, did you buy me a Valentine’s Day present?”

“Maybe, why?”

“Because it’s possible that I might give you a child, and I think that’ll be hard to top.”

Evie wasn’t wrong. Their daughter arrived nine hours later, at five minutes to three in the morning on the fourteenth of February. And there was no way that the pendant he bought her, with the birth stones of each of her children in it, could compete with the perfection of holding his little seven pound bundle of love in his arms.

He’d been blown away by Evie’s strength during labour. When she cried and begged for drugs during transition, and Donna quietly told her there probably wouldn’t be time for anything other than a bit of gas, she harnessed an inner strength that made
him
want to cry. When she sagged back against him between contractions, and then surged forward again, curling over her belly, he couldn’t do anything but hold her and feel humble.

And when baby Ava slipped into the world, it was Evie’s hands that reached down and pulled her home, to her mother’s chest, and Liam knew his face was wet with tears. He’d tell no one, but he’d never forget that feeling. “You’re amazing,” he whispered, as he held his woman, who held his daughter.

They were home by mid-morning, and as soon as his girls were settled, Liam called Claire and she and the boys came to meet the newest member of the family.

“Where did the name Ava come from?” Claire asked him quietly as the boys joined their mother and sister on the bed.

“Evie liked the name Anna when she was pregnant with Max. I like the name Evie. I pushed the two together.”

“Does she have a middle name?”

Liam didn’t tell her how close their little girl had come to being named after her grandmother. “Her full name is Ava Delaney Calhoun McIntosh.”

When Claire gasped and rushed to Evie’s side, he knew his bride-to-be was right—that was the perfect name. He left Evie to her fan club, and went and made tea.

When he came back a few minutes later, Ava was nursing, the boys had drifted off to their room, and Evie was telling her mother about the birth. “He was amazing, Mom. A total rock, especially when it all got to be too much for me. You remember, with Max? How I sobbed and begged for drugs?”

“No epidural this time?”

Evie shook her head. “No time. Whew, that was a thing, I’ll tell you. I guess I don’t have to, eh?”

“Oh, sweetheart, luckily that was so long ago that I’ve forgotten.”

“Mom, I hope I never forget.”

“Maybe you’ll get to do it again.”

Evie laughed. “I don’t know. Maybe. That’ll be up to Liam.”

That was his cue. “Who wants tea?”

“Oh, yes, thank you, Liam, that would be lovely.” Claire patted her daughter’s leg. “I’ll help myself in the kitchen.”

Evie waited until after her mother was safely on the other side of the house. “You heard?”

He nodded. “You’d have another?”

“Today? I say yes. Don’t ask me again for a year, okay?”

“You’ve got a deal, sunshine.”

As much as Liam felt like he’d won the lottery that day, the days that followed were a challenge. The third and fourth days were low points, with midwives and lactation consultants coming and going, and many, many tears. But then the next day was a bit better, and the day after that again so, and by the beginning of March, Evie was whipping the boys to school with Ava strapped to her chest, and then checking in with Stella at the studio before coming home for a morning nap.

Liam finally finished the last two rental units and found tenants, and then it was time for him to call the Wests. He put on a suit for the first time since New Year’s, and set off for the winery. Three hours later, he brought home a bottle of sparkling wine and a six month contract for part-time consulting. While Ava had an afternoon nap, Liam and Evie had their first shower together since the birth.

Evie extended the invitation, but then scurried into the bathroom ahead of him. By the time he joined her, steam had successfully obscured her from his vision.

“Sunshine, you want to tell me something?”

She sighed. “It’s going to take a while for my body to bounce back.”

He reached for her hand and brought it to his raging hard-on. “What does this tell you?”

“I’ve missed you, Liam.” She pressed against him, and he held her, savouring the connection. “I’m not sure about sex, but the midwives gave me the go-ahead.”

That was his kind of challenge. “Now, how many ways do you think I could make you come without us having intercourse?”

She shivered. “I don’t know, uhm, maybe two or three?”

He reached for the body wash and slowly lathered her up, from tip to toe, pausing in a few key middle spots to demonstrate the first way. Then he rinsed her clean of suds, and dropped to his knees, pressing kisses to her belly, then her mound, and after he lifted one leg and draped it over his shoulder, to her very core. That provided orgasm number two, and when his fingers got involved again, number three as well.

They took turns drying each other off, and when they lay down on their bed together, Liam reached for a bottle of lubricant and a condom he’d stashed in a drawer. “Just in case,” he whispered, as he touched and teased and stroked her through numbers four and five, and finally she reached for the lube and gave them each enough to prepare the other.

“I want to try,” she said, and so they did. It wasn’t magical for her, as she’d warned him, but it was wonderful in an unexpected way. When she started to cry, Liam moved to pull out, and she begged him not to. “Please, don’t. I just need a minute.”

He gave her one, and then another, while he whispered how much he wanted her, how beautiful she was, how good she tasted. And slowly, she began to grind against him, which felt out of this world for him, and he had to grit his teeth and hold on for dear life as she slowly figured out what worked the same and what was different. He wouldn’t know, it all felt pretty awesome on his end, but he got that this was an important step for her.

And when she reached for his hand and pressed his thumb to her clitoris, he gave her some help, because he knew that asking was as big a challenge as doing for her. And both were conquered that afternoon, by her.

He was a mere attendant in the presence of a goddess reborn.

THE END

LETTER TO MY READERS

Dear Reader,

Thank you for finishing this first Wardham trilogy with me! If you fell in love with Liam, please write a review. Reviews help other readers decide to give a book a try, and there’s nothing I want more than for new readers to discover Wardham. Have you read the other books in the series? If not, go back and check out
Between Then and Now
,
What Once Was Perfect
, and
Where Their Hearts Collide
.
What Once Was Perfect
is the first book I wrote in the series, and is currently available at most online retailers for FREE! Recommend it to a friend today.

Two notes about Evie and Liam’s story:

1. A few early readers from the
Wardham Ambassador’s Facebook group
noticed that I didn’t write an epilogue. I usually do, but I think Evie and Liam deserve more than a tag on chapter. The plan is to write them an erotic novella follow-up in early 2015, touch base with them a year after their daughter is born, and find out how they’re keeping the passion and love alive in their relationship.

2. American readers may have noticed that Thanksgiving happens before Halloween in this book—I promise, that’s not a timeline error! Canadian Thanksgiving is held right in the middle of harvest season in October. Celebrate it with us…twice as much turkey could only be a good thing. Australian, British and New Zealand readers…you’re missing out on both holidays. Good excuse for a trip to Southwestern Ontario.

Speaking of Wardham, there will be more stories from this little Canadian beach town…Chase, Ty and Evan all have happy-ever-afters to discover. Look for those books starting in Fall 2014. And there will be a summer novella to tide you over as well,
Beyond Love and Hate
, which will come out in June 2014. Beth Stewart meets her match in Finn Howard, the maddeningly delicious marketing consultant who pushes all of her buttons. Can one night of passion change everything?

But before that book comes out, I’m shifting gears a little, and introducing a brand new series. Welcome to
Camo Cay
, a Caribbean haven for Rik Amundson and his new American bride, Calli St. James. We’ll first visit Camo Cay in a Navy SEAL novella,
Fall Out
, which will come out as part of a SEAL romance super-bundle, and then Rik and Calli’s story,
Fall In
, will be published Summer 2014.

To keep up with all of this,
subscribe to my newsletter
today!
Subscribers are always offered a first chance to read my books as review copies before they come out.

From the bottom of my heart, thank you for joining me on this journey.

~ Zoe

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

aka
The People Who Put Up With all My Bugging

This book has been a long time coming. Evie and Liam’s story came to me while I was writing the first Wardham book,
What Once Was Perfect
. But then Karen and Paul’s story started a little sooner, and while I was writing that, Carrie and Ian poked their heads up and…now it’s been a year since I first sketched the outline of Evie’s unexpected pregnancy! Time flies.

First and foremost, I need to thank my critique partner, Molly McLain, who put up with months of chatter about Evie and Liam while she was putting the finishing touches on her own debut novel,
Can’t Shake You
. Cora Seton, Cate Baylor and the rest of the Romance Divas who talked shop and did writing sprints with me also deserve gold stars.

My street team, the Wardham Ambassadors, who make checking in on Facebook a complete joy. Mona, Bette, Shari, Allison, Holly, Tricia, Lori, Betsy, Vikki, Sue, Fawnia, Keri, Shelly, Sadrina, plus my sister, Molly and my Uncle Matt…can you imagine a better crew? I can’t.

Mary Ellen, for finding more typos than anyone else. I promise, I’ll get a character map done as soon as possible!

Julie D, for sharing her personal experiences as a mother of a child with diabetes. It was hard to capture the rawness of having a child in the hospital within the scope of a romance novel, and I freely admit my bias toward the positive moments in life…Evie and Max, and their entire family, had their lives turned upside down with his diagnosis, and any failings in talking about that experience are my own.

JK Harper, for her brilliant blurb writing skills, which helped me see the spark when I’d run out of words. If you like shifter romances, check out her books! Hot wolf action!