15. Liam
15
LIAM
I shushed Liv, offering her another cool teether from the fridge.
At this rate, Dante would boot us out of the house for a moment of quiet.
“Teething is the worst ,” Danicia said as she grabbed another ice pack for a soldier she was helping next door. She shook her head, pouting at my daughter fussing and crying in my arms.
“Nothing helps.”
She huffed a weak laugh at my reply. “Sometimes, nothing will. Until she’s done cutting through her gums…” She shrugged.
“Is everything okay?” I asked as I struggled with Olivia. I emphasized my question with a glance at the ice packs in her hands.
“Yeah. Yeah, it’ll be cool. Franco brought a guard back home after he was hit.”
I raised my brows. “Hit?” I didn’t tell Dante that I’d work for him expecting an easy job free of dangers. I knew threats were out there, but they’d never come close to home.
“Attacks at the gambling rooms.” She nodded at my phone that buzzed on the counter. “You should’ve gotten the message to stay in by now.”
I frowned, picking up the device I hadn’t been paying much attention to. Olivia wailed louder, proving the point that I was distracted. “Oh, thanks for the heads up.” I didn’t have any plans but to calm Liv down—if it were even possible.
As she headed off to help the guards who were brought next door, I winced at Liv’s cries and skimmed over the text Franco had sent to the group thread of everyone currently staying at the house.
Franco: Attacks at the H&T. Stay in the house until further notice.
I supposed it was a lockdown alarm, and I’d abide by it. But I wasn’t a fan of hiding. I preferred to be a man of action, on the frontline and doing all I could to ensure everyone around me was safe.
I hadn’t started yet, though. Dante wanted me to wait at least a week to settle in further.
As I headed up the stairs, I crossed paths with Eva. She’d been busy since I yelled at her, and now that we would both be expected to stay inside for the night, I had no opportunity to avoid her.
“Hey,” I said as she hurried along the hall.
“Is she okay?” Her eyes were open wide with concern as she looked at Olivia in my arms.
“Yeah.” I blew out a big breath at my door. “Teething. She’s just fussy and no matter what I do, she’s unhappy.”
“Oh.” She pressed her hand to her chest and sighed in relief. “With the lockdown alert, I got nervous.”
I tipped my head toward my room, indicating for her to follow me. “Why would you be nervous?”
“Well, if something happened or something scared her.”
I knew she cared about Liv. I saw it in her eyes when she smiled at her and watched her.
“But wouldn’t you have faith in the guards patrolling the property?”
She furrowed her brow, a telltale sign of her getting ready to argue with me and butt heads. “Yes. Of course, I trust them. But shit happens. Life happens.”
I nodded. “Yeah. You’re right.”
“Like your incident with MC men at the bar.” She looked away and frowned. “That stuff happens.”
Olivia leaned toward her, catching her attention, and I handed her over. It didn’t hurt that she wanted someone else. With the nonstop fussiness, I would take any break that I could get.
“And shit happens like me yelling at you,” I said, appreciating Eva’s willingness to hold Olivia and cuddle her close.
She shot her gaze to me, intrigued but on edge with what I said. “You chose to yell at me. Don’t make excuses.”
I shook my head. I wouldn’t, but it used it as an ice breaker to bring it up. “I did, and I’m sorry that I yelled at you.”
“Just that you yelled?” she asked, rubbing Liv’s back. “Not what you yelled at me for?”
“All of it. I had no right to raise my voice at you like that.”
She smirked. “Really? You gave yourself the right to call me a slut and a brat. A diva, too.”
I rubbed my lips, fighting a smile. She wasn’t tossing that back at me as an insult, but more like a sarcastic reminder. “I think it’s safe to say that was different.”
She shrugged, seeming to agree without saying so.
“That was dirty talk.”
“Uh-huh.”
“But I was wrong to yell at you when you followed me after I was attacked.”
“I…” She exhaled a long breath, gazing at Olivia as she started to calm down. Her little hands gripped Eva’s shirt as she clung to her, seeming to want a woman’s touch, not mine. “I understand. It was a tense moment.”
“It’s still not okay. And I’m sorry.”
“Thanks.” She cleared her throat. “I only followed you because Olivia seemed so scared and worked up.”
I grunted a rough laugh. “Probably because I looked pissed and scary.” I pointed at my black eye.
“Yeah. I wanted to help you with her while you cleaned up and took care of yourself.” Her shrug was delicate, like she wanted to act like it was nothing.
I saw her uncharacteristic action as a sign of nervousness. Was she actually intimidated by me ? Or because of how she was feeling about me?
“She sure seems to approve of your holding her,” I commented, watching how natural she was with her. Holding her close, rubbing her back, and even resting her cheek on the top of Liv’s golden curls.
“I’m glad.” Her smile was soft and tender, and it hit me hard.
Seeing her holding my daughter messed me up. I enjoyed the closeness they were sharing, this relationship that seemed to come out of nowhere. Eva wasn’t the first woman I’d think of as being motherly, but that was only because she kept herself so guarded from everyone else.
Of course she was nurturing. I saw the evidence of it as she swayed and comforted my baby.
And it was an addictive sight to behold. Like… mother and daughter.
The image of Eva pregnant with a child— our child—hit me so swiftly, I couldn’t resist it. I didn’t try to. Instead, I welcomed the immediate daydream, suddenly obsessed with making it happen.
Of seeing her as my partner.
My wife.
The mother of my kids, so loving and generous like she was with Olivia right now.
“Fuck it,” I muttered to myself.
I didn’t want to hold back on the allure of the fantasy. She was right here, gorgeous and stunning within my reach. I got lost in the trusting depths of her caramel gaze as she looked up at me with such vulnerability, such desire. As if she were thinking the same thing. As if she were hanging on by a thread in wanting me just as badly.
One step closer brought me to her. And another one put me right in her space.
She turned, protecting Olivia from my crushing into her as we stood so close together. But she didn’t dodge me or attempt to hide. That sass was clear in her eyes as she defiantly lifted her chin ever so slightly.
I caught it between my thumb and finger and tilted her face up to mine so I could kiss her until she moaned in response, setting my blood on fire with raging need.