Chapter Twenty-One – Liana - Six Months Later
”Okay, Kara, put your books away!” I called through to my little girl, as she darted into her room – there were still stacks of boxes that needed unpacking, but, for now, I knew the best I could do was try and keep Kara busy until our pizza arrived.
”You alright?” Lee murmured to me, slipping his arms around me from behind and drawing me against him. I leaned my head back against his chest and let out a sigh.
”Would you believe me if I said yes?” I asked him, tilting my head back to look at him. He dropped a kiss on my lips.
”I might,” he replied. ”But nobody likes moving. It always sucks.”
”You can say that again,” I agreed, as I pulled away and went through some of the boxes waiting for our attention beside the door. The moving company had pretty much just piled everything past the doorway, leaving us to unpack everything as best we could. I didn’t know what kind of chance we stood of getting this all done in the next couple of days, but I guessed there was no rush – we had the rest of our lives to turn this place into the home I wanted.
I let out a long sigh, trying to pull myself back down to Earth. See? It was all going to be alright. I just needed to remind myself that this was a good thing, a really, really good thing – no matter how stressful it had been to move everything out of my old apartment and into this new little house Lee and I purchased on the edge of Atwood. In the end, it would be worth it.
Because we were going to turn it into a family home.
”Done!” Kara called to me, as she bolted out of her room once more. She had a grin on her face half a mile wide when I’d told her we were getting a real house to live in, She’d clasped her hands to her face in complete and utter shock, hardly able to take it in.
The moment I got the go-ahead from social services to officially adopt Kara, I knew I wanted to buy a real home for her. Yeah, I didn’t have a huge amount of savings, but Lee had been far more careful with his cash than I had – and, as a result, we were able to get a little two-bedroom home, with a tiny yard outside. It wasn’t much, but to me, it felt like a damn mansion, just because of who I was going to be sharing it with.
”Oh, that’s the pizza,” Lee remarked when he heard the doorbell. ”I’ll get it...”
I pulled Kara in for a hug, wrapping my arms around her and holding her close. I knew she would get tired of me lavishing attention on her like this eventually, but for the time being, I was going to enjoy every damn moment I got of her affection. She had become so much more comfortable with getting cuddles and hugs and seeing her opening up to all of it was a gift.
She still asked about her mom, sometimes, and I hadn’t exactly figured out how I was going to explain what had happened to her, but Lee assured me we would find a way to explain it somewhere down the line.He reminded me that she didn’t need to be burdened with the memory of everything that happened to her, not yet. When she was older, and she could understand that her mother had been ill, not just rejecting her, we would explain it.
But for now, I wanted her to have the most carefree, joyous childhood imaginable. And that started right here, with the obscene amount of pizza we had ordered to christen our dining table. Lee carried it in, and the deliciously savory scent had my mouth watering at once. I let out a long groan as I planted myself down at the table.
”Doesn’t this look amazing, Kara?” I told her, but she had already grabbed a slice and stuffed it into her mouth before I could say another word. I laughed.
”I’ll take that as a yes,” I replied, and we all began to dig in.
By the time dinner was finished, I could see Kara’s eyes drooping slightly – much as she wanted to stay up and explore the house a little more, she needed to get some rest. I led her to her bedroom and read her a story from one of the dozens of books that Star had purchased for her. Star had become the sweetest aunt to Kara, wanting to give her all the attention gifts in the world. If we weren’t careful, she was going to get seriously spoiled.
Not that I minded. I tucked her in as she dozed off and dropped a kiss on her forehead before I rose to my feet to join Lee in the kitchen. He was clearing up, but he glanced over his shoulder when he heard me coming in.
”Is she down?”
”Out for the count,” I replied, reaching into the cupboard to grab the bottle of wine I had purchased as a housewarming gift. I poured myself a generous glass, did the same for Lee, and touched the edge of my glass to his.
”To our new house,” I told him, grinning.
”To our new house,” he repeated back to me as he took a long sip I couldn’t help but notice the way his lips slid along the glass. There was something so delicious about the way they looked as the wine brushed up against them.
We settled on the couch in our living room – it was the only piece of furniture we had managed to get situated so far, so it wasn’t as though we had much of a choice in the matter.
”So,” Lee remarked. ”What now?”
”What do you mean?” I wondered aloud, turning to him with a slight frown.
”I mean, what do you want to do next?” he remarked. ”We’ve got the house. What comes after that?”
”Oh, damn, can we wait until we finish unpacking the boxes before we get into all of that?” I laughed, shaking my head. Truth be told, though, I had been giving this some thought – what I intended to do next, what I felt like I wanted my life to look like.
”I guess...I guess there’s no way that I can just go back to work at the Kennels, huh?” I remarked. He grinned.
”They’re going to put together another clubhouse eventually,” he replied. ”But it’ll be a while. If you’re willing to wait...”
I shook my head.
”It’s not about waiting,” I admitted. ”I don’t think that’s what I want to do with my life anymore.”
”Damn,” he muttered. ”Atwood’s going to lose its hottest bartender...”
I laughed. He was such a damn flirt, even after all this time – talking like he couldn’t get enough of me. I had to admit, I liked it. Knowing he was still into me, even after all we had been through, was a gift I didn’t know I’d needed.
”True as that may be,” I agreed. ”I think there are...other things I’d rather be doing with my life.”
”Other things?” he prompted me with interest. I nodded.
”Yeah, I mean...seeing all those women, all those girls who got freed from the brothels,” I explained. ”It really drove home how lucky I’ve been to have so many opportunities in life. I know I didn’t exactly have the most normal upbringing, but at the same time...at the same time, I had a chance to build myself up. Find out who I wanted to be. And I want to give that chance to these women, too.”
”How do you mean?” he asked, tilting his head to the side with interest.
”I know I’ll have to go through some kind of course for it,” I continued. ”But I think I’d like to train to be some sort of...therapist or support worker. For women who are coming out of bad situations.”
He paused, considering the idea for a moment – and then, he nodded, a grin spreading across his face.
”I think you’d be amazing at that,” he remarked. I bit my lip.
”You really do?” I replied. ”You’re not just saying that? Because if you think I’d be better off as a bartender-”
”No, I saw how you were with those girls when we were getting them out of Lombardi’s brothel,” he replied, shaking his head. ”You knew exactly what to say to them. Exactly what they needed to hear. You grounded them as they came back into the real world again. You’d be a great counselor; I know you would.”
I breathed a sigh of relief. His vote of confidence was everything I needed.
”Thank you,” I murmured to him, snuggling up against him. He wrapped an arm around me, planting a kiss on top of my head.
”You don’t have to thank me,” he assured me. ”You deserve it, baby. You deserve the whole damn world.”
We sipped our wine and continued to talk about the possibilities of my new career choice – he was still focused on the Dogs, of course, rebuilding in the wake of everything they had been through, and I was willing to do whatever I could to help with that. But, with their main enemy wiped off the map, it wasn’t as though they were going to have much in the way of competition now.
”Do you think it’s going to change things?” I asked him curiously, and he glanced over at me, a slight frown on his face.
”How do you mean?”
”I mean, now that Lombardi’s gone,” I explained. ”Now that you’ve seen all the shit he was involved in...do you think it’s going to make a difference?”
”I don’t know,” he admitted. ”Chuck was pretty shaken by it, by the extent of it. And he’s getting older now, settling down himself. It wouldn’t surprise me if he wanted to take a different approach.”
”Right,” I agreed with a nod. I was kind of excited, I had to admit, at all the opportunity for growth that this had laid out in front of us – not just for me, but for the Dogs, too. They weren’t going to be fighting just to keep Lombardi at bay, and maybe they could focus on doing some more good around the city, too.
We finished our wine, and I headed upstairs to take a shower; we had a little ensuite in our bedroom, a luxury I wasn’t sure I would ever get used to. I tipped my head back and let the warm water cascade over my face; God, it was such a difference from the shitty shower pressure I had been dealing with back in my apartment.
After a few minutes, I heard the door open, and I grinned as I waited for Lee to join me. He slipped into the shower stall behind me, planting a kiss on my bare shoulder, as the water rushed over us.
”We should christen this place,” he murmured to me, and I grinned as he traced his hand down my waist, caressing my side playfully. Every touch sent a helpless rush of tingles through my entire body, unable to resist responding to him.
”You think?” I replied, playing innocent. He moved a hand into my hair, tugging gently so that he could kiss my neck.
”Oh, I know,” he replied. I could already feel his cock hardening against the small of my back, and I wiggled my butt against him playfully, letting him know how much I wanted him.
He didn’t need to be told twice. He lifted my leg slightly, balancing it on the edge of the shower so that I was exposed to him – taking his time, he stroked his cock a couple of times to get himself good and hard and then planted himself at my entrance.
I moaned, the sound echoing around the small space, as he eased himself inside of me. From this angle, he felt so big, my pussy so full with his cock. He moved a hand to my belly, pulling me against him hungrily, brushing his lips up the back of my neck as he began to move inside of me.
I planted my hands against the wall in front of me so I could push myself back against him, needing to feel more of him – needing as much of him as I could get. We soon found a pace, falling into a delicious rhythm, and I could feel his breath on the back of my neck – the warmth of it, the need of it as it tore out of his throat like he couldn’t contain himself like he couldn’t even imagine containing himself.
”You have no fucking idea how good you feel right now,” he breathed in my ear. I moaned again, and he slipped his hand down between my legs so he could play with my clit as he fucked me. My eyes rolled back, the pleasure shuddering up from between my thighs to consume my whole body. Oh, fuck, I was already close, the mess of sensations starting to build and push to that point of no return inside me.
”I want to feel you come on my cock,” he murmured to me, and he caught my earlobe between his teeth, tugging on it gently. A shockwave of pleasure shivered through me, every nerve-ending stimulated by a mix of him and the rushing water consuming me. I could feel his slick body as it moved against mine, the muscles shifting beneath his skin, his strength as he took me like I belonged to him – like I had always belonged to him, and always would.
And it was that thought that took me over the edge and into my release, the knowledge that I was his completely – sharing this home with him, building a life together, it was everything I had ever wanted, everything I had ever craved. I cried out, the sound contained to the small space around us, as his fingers moved against my clit as his cock thrust deep inside of me. He held himself there as I went over the edge, felt me squeezing around him as the helpless spasms of my orgasm rocked up to take control of my entire body. My hands clawed at the walls, searching for purchase, something to hold on to, when it felt as though I might shatter into pieces at any moment.
He drove himself deep into me one last time, and, at last, I felt him flood me with his seed – there was nothing more intimate than feeling that, feeling him finish inside of me, the warmth of it, the closeness it allowed me. I pressed my thighs together, holding him in place until I was certain I had milked every last drop out of him, and, slowly, he pulled himself back.
He turned me around to face him, and I slumped into his arms, grinning as I gazed into his eyes. But there was something in the way he was looking at me, something that I hadn’t seen before – he parted his lips, and I knew what he was going to say before the words escaped his mouth.
”I love you, Liana.”
The rush of the water dulled around me, and the only thing I could pay attention to was the three words he just said and the way they made me feel, finally hearing him say it. I knew he loved me; he had shown me in all the ways that mattered already, but hearing it? That was something special.
I leaned against him, not taking my gaze from his. He already knew what my response was going to be, but I just wanted to revel in the sweetness of those words for a hot minute.
”I love you too,” I replied finally, brushing my lips against his. He grinned, moving into another kiss, his tongue tracing along my bottom lip as though he was carving out the shape of those words again, and again, and again.
When he pulled back, he chuckled.
”I’m pretty sure we’re meant to use this thing to wash up,” he remarked, gesturing around. I giggled.
”Hey, you’re the one who interrupted me when I was just trying to have an innocent shower,” I protested, shaking my head. He rolled his eyes.
”Oh, yeah, like you didn’t know I would join you...”
”Well, the least you can do is help me wash my hair,” I replied, turning my back to him again and handing him the shampoo. ”Here you go. Get to work!”
He laughed, but a few moments later, I felt his fingertips massaging the product against my scalp, and I closed my eyes and let myself drift off into the blissful comfort of his presence. It was amazing to me that I could feel so safe with a man who had done certain things in his life – but I knew he would only ever do them to protect me and Kara and to protect this life we were making together.
His strength as a protector was everything to me – the perfect father, a man who would do anything for his family. And, as he washed my hair, I knew I couldn’t have picked a better man to raise Kara with.
And I wouldn’t have wanted to do it with anyone else, either.