Chapter 16 Liam
LIAM
Why did it feel like I had lost her, yet she was here every single fucking day?
Dark hair that trapped bits of sunlight when she turned her head the right way.
Her green eyes, bright with laughter when she spent time with my daughters.
Baking––fuck––she was baking so much. Fluffy, buttery pies, scones, cakes, and biscuits.
She kept trying new recipes, and every time I caught her in my kitchen, hips pinned to the counter, all I wanted to do was wrap my arms around her and hold her to my chest.
I wanted to tell her things I had no business feeling so soon.
Day in and day out she came into my life then drifted out like a wave that’s turned to foam, kissing the shore with nothing but fragments of what was once carried within it.
The girls only fell harder for her.
I only fell harder for her.
Because while I was pissed as hell that she’d done this, I also respected her for doing it.
No one put my kids first––not even me, most of the time.
My daughters just rolled with whatever I decided, whatever happened; they just took it all better than any fighter I’d ever faced in the ring.
Here was this woman, pulling my girls off the ropes, sitting them down and baking them cupcakes while braiding their hair.
They loved her.
I loved her.
Even if I wasn’t ready to really accept it or face it. Deep down I knew it to be true.
Which was why I needed to leave.
I couldn’t do this—not when I wanted her so badly and there was no reprieve from her scent that filled my halls. Her small touches were everywhere.
I had lasted two months.
The Community Center had its grand opening, and I watched her.
I examined her every move as Jeffery fucking Akers flirted.
I watched as she brushed him off, hating how relieved it felt to know that in the end she was still mine.
Just frozen for now, like a time capsule I could bust open when we’d finally hit the right date.
Whenever that fucking was.
Haley never told me, not that I actually thought she had an exact timeline. She wanted a foundation with my kids, and since she was with them nearly every day, I assumed she had it.
But the last time I tried to kiss her, she turned me down telling me, “Not yet.”
I had to get some space, and I also needed to make some money, so this was going to be the best option for all of us.
Haley had just stepped into the house, and I wasn’t supposed to be here.
“Hey,” I said, catching her off guard.
She spun and gasped.
I couldn’t help but laugh. “Sorry.”
She slapped my arm, walking past me. “You’re not supposed to be here right now.”
“I know.” I followed her into the kitchen, where she began unloading groceries. Fuck if I knew what she ordered half the time. I didn’t fight her anymore about what she spent or got for the house.
“Listen…”
Her head popped up from digging into the paper bags.
“What’s up?”
“I have a gig that’s paying me…it will help take care of some of my debt, until I can research a new backer.”
She slid a tray of raspberries out and then another.
“Okay…what sort of gig?”
“Boxing. There’s some international circuits my agent told me about that’s doing a ‘retired heroes’ thing.” I cleared my throat. “The tour’s in Europe.”
The box of graham crackers slipped from her hands as she stared at me, mouth slack, her dark brows high on her forehead.
“Wait…Europe?” she shook her head. “I don’t understand.”
She did, though, she just hadn’t processed it.
So, I waited and drank in the sight of how beautiful she looked. Her hair, that small slice of skin showing near her stomach. That gloss on her lips.
“How long would you be gone?”
My chest might as well have cracked and revealed how deeply she’d embedded herself into me. Her voice was so full of worry and fear that I wanted to close the space between us and erase that line between her brows, smooth out the crinkles near her eyes.
Instead, I gripped the back of the chair and rasped, “Ten weeks.”
Haley fell into the nearest seat as if her legs wouldn’t hold her up anymore.
“Ten weeks?”
I ground my molars and nodded.
“What about the girls?” Her eyes watered but she quickly swiped at them.
I gestured toward her. “That’s where you come in. I was hoping you’d be able to stay here with them.”
“Of course I can, but—”
I moved, kneeling in front of her. “They love you like you belong to them, you’re the best person for it.”
She shook her head, more tears falling. “Liam…why?”
I couldn’t help it. I leaned forward and kissed the tip of her nose, then her jaw, until finally I claimed her lips. I moved slowly, deliberate and sensual.
Her fingers sunk into my hair, pulling me closer as she moved her head to the side, and she met the slide of my tongue against hers.
When we finally broke apart, I confessed. “Because I can’t keep walking around here not having you. It’s too painful. This is the best option.”
I stood and grabbed her chin. “Besides, I wanted to earn some money, and it will give me an excuse to check in on my dad.”
She watched me as tears gathered in her dark lashes.
“When do you leave?”
I needed more space because I wanted to taste her again.
“Tonight.”
“Liam.” She pulled her chin down, and a sob cracked her voice.
I turned away and grabbed my bag.
“I’m going to pull the girls out of school early to tell them. If you want to go pack your things at Nora’s, then you can just plan on staying here with the girls until I get back.”
She nodded sadly then whispered, “Of course.”
I gave her one last look before turning to go, knowing damn well my heart would be staying here with everyone I loved.