CHAPTER 39 Penny Wade
Off Market
What a day. What a brunch. What a court appearance. What a man.
I’m in disbelief that things are falling into place so perfectly, and the moment I saw Sammy run up to Liam before he ran to me, I knew what our future would hold.
More of this. More of my boys smiling because of a positive male authority in their lives rather than an absent one.
Well, truth be told, I was pretty sure I knew my answer the very second I spotted him as I turned around to leave the courtroom today.
He showed up for me, and my God, it means so much more than I ever thought it could mean.
And when I held Liora in my arms, I felt an immediate connection to her.
So it’s no surprise that we move right back into Liam’s place before the day is done.
In fact, Dolores arranges to have all our stuff picked up from my mom’s place and the storage unit and brought back to Liam’s, and after we get the boys down and Liora is snuggled in her bassinet in the family room, we finally have a little bit of quiet time together.
He takes my hand in his, and he stares down at our hands. “I have court tomorrow, and I’m leaving Friday for San Diego. I want you and the boys to come with me, but you never told me the specifics of your final agreement.”
“You were there. You heard,” I say.
“I know. I just want to hear you say it.”
“I have sole custody of the boys,” I say quietly. “With relocation approval.”
“How’d you get him to agree to that?” he asks.
I glance up at him. “I woke up in a cold sweat one night and realized it wasn’t more time with them that he wanted.”
“What an asshole,” he mutters.
“He wasn’t always like that, but I think having kids changed him.
It changed me, too—just completely in the other direction.
I’d do anything for those boys. You know that.
But Brent…I don’t think he ever really wanted to be a dad, and the more I look back with hindsight, the more I see that he really never even tried with them. ”
“They deserve so much more,” he says.
I nod. “I thought about what Brent values above all else, and I told him he could keep everything if he’d just agree to granting me sole custody.
He thought it over, and I guess he determined that it was the right call.
It’s more stable this way. I don’t have to worry about who he’s pawning my boys off on every two weekends.
If they want to get to know him when they’re older, I’ll never hide him from them, but for now, this feels like it’s in the best interest of all of us. ”
He pulls out his phone, and he taps on something before showing me the screen.
I glance at the house I fell in love with, and I read the yellow words on the screen. “Off market.” My chin dips in disappointment. “Oh.”
When I glance over at Liam, he’s grinning. My brows pinch together until it hits me.
“You bought it?” I whisper.
He nods.
“Are you serious?”
He nods again. “And it should be all set up for us when we get there. If that’s what you want…”
“If that’s what I want? Oh my God, yes! That’s exactly what I want!” I’m squealing with excitement, and it’s a little too much excitement because it wakes up Liora, who starts to cry. “Oh, shoot,” I murmur, and I run to the kitchen to make a bottle for her.
When I return, I see Liam walking around the room, gently bouncing the baby girl in his arms to calm her down. Man, he’s hot holding a baby. He’s hot all the time, but something about a baby in his arms makes him freaking irresistible. He’s a DILF. He’s making my ovaries explode.
He’s making me want more babies, but ones that have his nose and my eyes.
I sigh. I should probably pump the brakes.
I mean, this divorce was just finalized today.
But my marriage was over much longer ago, and I know what I want.
I don’t want to waste time pretending that I’m not going to end up with Liam.
I know what life is like with him, and I know what life is like apart from him.
I’ll take the first option all day every day.
After he sits with the baby, I hand him the bottle, and he feeds her as he glances up at me. “I realized something, Pen.”
“What?” I tilt my head.
“I realized I asked you the wrong thing.”
My brows push together. “What was the question?”
He chuckles. “I asked you if you would quit your job and move with me, but I never stopped to think that maybe that wasn’t what you wanted to do. And so I’d like to ask you a different question.”
My chest tightens as I wait for him to ask. “What is it?”
“It’s a two-parter. Will you and the boys move to San Diego with me?”
I bite my lip. “What’s the second part?”
“Will you be Liora’s stepmother?”
Tears fill my eyes. I move over to him and gently press my lips to his so as not to disturb the baby. “Yes and yes. Pending a job since, you know, I need to work to support my boys.”
“I realize that, and I think you like to work, too. You’re driven and ambitious, and I know you have dreams, too. But I want you to know that with me, you’ll never have to worry about money, Pen. I do have a job in mind for you, but I don’t want to say what it is until I can show it to you.”
My brows push together. “Show what to me?”
He lifts a shoulder. “You’ll find out in two days.”
“Ugh,” I mutter, and I roll my eyes. “Fine. But I also want you to know that none of this has anything to do with money.”
He offers a soft smile. “I know it doesn’t. You wouldn’t have moved in with your mother if it did. You would’ve at least taken Ev up on her offer to live at her place if it did.”
“I love you, Liam,” I say.
He lifts a hand, and I grab it with mine. He squeezes. “I love you, too, Penny. And as soon as we get this little bunny back to bed, I’m going to show you just how much.”
I squirm a little. “Deal.”
It’s not long before he makes good on that promise. The boys are sleeping. Liora is sleeping.
He takes my hand and leads me up to his bedroom. We have the monitor with us just in case anyone wakes up.
He locks his door as I stand next to the bed, and when he turns around, he pauses for a beat by the door. “I can’t believe I got so goddamn lucky.”
I’m not sure any feeling has ever been more mutual in the history of time.
“Come here,” I beg.
He does, strolling confidently across the small space separating us until he’s standing right in front of me. He doesn’t touch me, though—not yet. I reach out and grab a fistful of his shirt and haul him closer, and he chuckles as he wraps his arms around me.
“I missed you,” I say softly.
“Missed you more.”
“Doubt that.”
His hands move down until he’s squeezing my ass.
“I missed this ass.” His hands trail up to my back and around my torso until he’s grabbing fistfuls of tits.
“I missed these tits.” He drops my breasts and moves upward, burying his hands in my hair.
“I missed this smart mind and these gorgeous eyes.” He drops his lips to mine in a whisper of a kiss.
“I missed this mouth. I missed all of you, Penny. I knew all along I’d come back.
I knew I had to. I can’t live without you, and the last month has shown me how fully, totally, completely, madly, desperately in love with you I am.
” He drops a kiss between each of the adverbs, as if to punctuate the extent to which he felt each one.
His words are fucking poetry, a beautiful song that illustrates how far we’ve come.
He doesn’t allow me to respond to that since his mouth covers mine at the end, but honestly, words aren’t enough at this point anyway.
It’s been so many highs mixed with so many lows over the last few weeks, but this right here tells me that every steep low was worth the battle to get back here into Liam’s arms.
He kisses me until we’re both in a total frenzy, hands moving with need and hips thrusting, and then he flips me around, yanks my pants down, and pushes me down so I’m bent over the bed.
He slides his cock straight into me, as if he can’t wait another second, and I’m soaked for him, waiting and needy as he starts to pump in earnest.
“Fuck, Pen, you’re so goddamn wet. You have no idea how much I’ve needed this…needed you.”
“Oh, Liam! Your cock feels so good inside me. And your hands—” I cut myself off with an erotic moan as he reaches around me to massage my tits.
God, I love it when he does that. He reaches down with one hand to stroke my clit, and that’s it.
My total undoing. It’s too quick, but my body betrays me as I start to convulse with contraction after glorious contraction, my orgasm plowing into me with a force I’ve never felt before.
The way my pussy grips onto him sends him into his own climax, and he grunts as he comes inside me, growling my name as he lets go and holds onto the pleasure.
When he pulls out, he carries me to his bathroom and sets me on the edge of the tub.
He runs the water, adds bubbles, lights a candle, and then we get in together.
He sits behind me and massages my neck and shoulders, and he washes me gently, and it feels like he’s cleansing away my past, cleansing the time we spent apart, and it’s a symbolic clean start for the two of us.
He heads downstairs to check the baby, and I sit with him on the couch until she wakes again for her next feeding. We take her upstairs, and I sleep beside him.
When Liora wakes up three hours later, I get up with her. He gets up three hours after that.
We rotate without ever really talking about it, and it’s like we already have a system down that allows the other one to get a few extra hours of uninterrupted rest. It’s yet another thing that bonds us together, and it’s only the start of our entire future together.
When I found out Brent was cheating on me, I figured I’d never fall in love again. I was certain I was done with that nonsense, that I’d never even think about getting married again, that I was used goods now, who wouldn’t find someone who loved me and accepted the package that comes with me.
And then I ran into the younger brother of my best friend, and now that gorgeous house is off market, and so am I.