CHAPTER 41 Penny Wade
Lucky Penny
It’s no easy feat traveling with three kids, but Liam is beyond equipped to deal with this.
It’s still new with him and the boys, so they’re at a point where they actually listen to him.
The more comfortable Liam gets in his role with them, the more comfortable they’ll start to get around him, too—which means they’ll stop listening, and he, too, will have to tell them to brush their teeth thirty-seven times before they actually go to the bathroom to brush their teeth.
Also, snacks. Snacks save the day just about every time, and I’m carrying an entire arsenal for the flight to San Diego.
The boys lose themselves in their tablets, and I’m in between them in a single row with Liam on the end seat in the row next to us. We take turns holding the baby, and we’re both giddy as we make constant eye contact across the aisle.
This is bananas. My life imploded in October when Brent went viral for all the wrong reasons at a basketball game, and I never would’ve thought that nine months later, I’d be cradling Liam Bradley’s baby girl on an airplane as I take my boys to San Diego to move in with him.
Hell, a week or two ago, I was pretty sure that thought was off the table. But here we are.
After I told the boys last night that we’re moving to San Diego with Liam, I also confessed that Liam is my boyfriend.
They ooh-ed and ahh-ed over it. Sammy covered his eyes when we kissed.
But the truth is out, and I no longer feel like I need to censor myself in front of the boys.
I didn’t know that this kind of happiness existed.
And that happiness only multiplies in more ways I wasn’t expecting.
First is the house. It’s every bit as gorgeous as I remember it, and Liam wiggles his eyebrows as he nods to the kitchen counter while we take the boys on a grand tour of the place. Oh, man. As soon as the house is empty, we’re going at it like animals right there.
It looks different than it did when we walked through it empty, mainly because Liam has managed to fill the place with furniture and décor to make it into a home.
And the kids’ rooms are even somehow more outrageous than their room at his place in Chicago was. More Lego sets, more gaming consoles, more sharks for Sammy, and more dinosaurs for Benji.
Even the Lego Disney castle, the retired one, new in the box…for me, right there on the table in the middle of the playroom he created for the kids.
He remembered that once upon a time, I told him it was my prized possession.
He remembers everything.
And it just makes me fall a little harder for him.
“You got any coffee?” I ask casually as my head is pounding from not having enough this morning and not ordering any on the plane since I was holding Liora.
He shakes his head. “I haven’t stocked groceries yet. Should we run out and grab some?”
“The boys are settled into video games upstairs, and Liora is sleeping. I’d hate to bother any of them. Should we just…I don’t know. Maybe Instacart it?” I suggest.
His eyes twinkle as he shakes his head, and a moment later, there’s a knock at the front door.
My brows dip together. “Who’s here?”
We head to the door, and he opens it. “Thanks for stopping by,” he says to the woman standing on the other side. “Olivia, this is Penny. Penny, Olivia.”
I’m sure I look confused as I reach out a hand. “Nice to meet you, Olivia.”
Liam laughs. “Olivia is with player operations at the Storm. She’s been helping me out, and I asked if she by chance is able to babysit. Turns out she’s a former preschool teacher who now runs the player and staff daycare center at the practice facility and at the stadium on game days.”
My brows rise. “Oh. Well, then it’s very nice to meet you.”
She laughs. “Liam said you two might want to run out and get some groceries. I’m all yours for the next few hours.”
“Boys!” I yell upstairs. “Sammy? Benji? Can you come down here?”
“Be there in a second!” Sammy yells, code for I’m in the middle of a game and I’ll come when it’s convenient.
“Liora is napping up in her room,” Liam says. “Why don’t I just take you upstairs to the kids? Then we don’t have to interrupt their game.”
I laugh. He already knows their coded language.
We head up and peek into Liora’s room first, and then we swing by Sammy’s room, where the boys are engaged in a round of Mario Party minigames.
I wait until the round is over, and then I say, “Boys, Liam and I are going to run to the store. This is Olivia. She’s your babysitter while we’re gone. Is everyone okay with that?”
“Mama, don’t go!” Benji says, and he runs over and grabs onto my leg.
I kneel down and hug my little boy. “You’re safe here, Benji. I promise. I love you and I’ll be back in a little while.”
“No! Mama stays!” he shouts.
I had a feeling this move was going too easily.
But I get it. If I were in his shoes, I wouldn’t want to move to another place only to have my mom ditch me right away, either.
I glance at Liam. “Should we go later?” I whisper over Benji’s yelling.
He shrugs, clearly out of his element here. On the one hand, I know that giving in will only perpetuate the behavior. On the other hand, I understand we might be leaving a bit too soon.
I sigh.
“Benji, can you show me how to play?” Olivia asks.
“No! Mama.” He’s adamant. He won’t be leaving my side.
“Okay,” she says. “Sammy, can you show me?”
Either Liam prepped her or she remembered their names from me yelling up the stairs. Either way, it’s impressive.
Sammy glances at me, and then he nods. “Sure.” He hands her Benji’s blue remote.
“Hey! That’s mine!” Benji says, and he lets go of my leg to grab it. “Give her the pink one because she’s a girl.”
I giggle, and Olivia looks up at me with a smile.
I watch as they settle in, and both Benji and Sammy seem to forget we’re even in the room. After I feel confident that the boys are in capable hands, I clear my throat to get Olivia’s attention.
She turns back to me. Go, she mouths.
Thank you, I mouth back.
We get into Liam’s San Diego truck, the one already parked in his garage here somehow, and he cruises down the hill toward town. Or I’m guessing so, anyway. I don’t know my way around here yet.
We pass by what looks to be a strip mall with a grocery store, but he keeps going.
Maybe he knows of a better one, and I don’t question it. Instead, I’m enjoying the salty sea air and the seventy-five degrees of perfection.
He pulls into a parking lot after about ten minutes in the car, and when I glance around, I don’t see a grocery store. I see the water, and I see some little shops and a few restaurants…but nothing that looks like a place where we can get coffee and fruit and milk all in one stop.
“Where are we?” I ask.
He grins. “I wanted to show you something.”
“Show me what? The water?”
He shakes his head, hiding his smile. “Come here.” He holds out a hand, and I grab it. We stroll toward the shops, and he stops in front of one that looks like it’s vacant.
He pulls a key out of his pocket, and he unlocks the front door.
I tilt my head as I stare at him, and he opens the door.
“What is this place? And why do you have a key?” I ask as he steps in and nods for me to follow him.
I look inside, and it looks like it used to be a bakery or maybe an ice cream shop, but it’s empty now.
“I have a key because I paid the rent on this place for the next year.” He walks over to me, and he grabs my hand. He turns it upward so my palm is facing the ceiling, and he drops the key into my hand.
“What’s this for?”
“The front door.”
I laugh. “I know, but I mean…” I pause and wave my hand around the little shop. “This?”
“You once told me that you always dreamed of owning a little coffee shop near the beach but then you got married and you don’t live by the beach.
Well, neither of those things are true anymore.
You’re not married, and you live by the beach, and it’s time to give you the key to your dream.
” He nods toward the key in my hand, which is still upturned the way it was when he dropped the key into it.
I gasp. “What?”
“I had to give a name when I filled out the paperwork for rent, so I hope you don’t mind. I picked the Lucky Penny Coffee Shop.”
“Lucky Penny,” I sob. Literally. Tears are streaming down my cheeks, and I’m completely and totally at a loss for words.
This man.
I said one time to him that owning a coffee shop by the beach was a dream, and he found a way to make it happen.
“I’ve partnered with VanBrad to build both the interior and exterior, and they brought in Everleigh to help with branding, vendors, and launch strategy.
” He steps behind the counter and nods to some boards I hadn’t seen there before.
“She already put together several ideas, so all you have to do is pick the one you like or give feedback if you don’t like any of them, and she’ll take it from there. ”
I join him behind the counter and look at the boards that have several ideas for what the shop will look like inside as well as tables we can put outside. Another board has branding ideas for the Lucky Penny.
He thought of everything.
I can’t believe this is my life.
“I remember asking you to quit your job and move with me to stay home with the kids, but I don’t think that was ever your dream.
If this really is your dream, well, we’ve got a jump start.
And if your dream changed, that’s okay, too.
I can put someone else in here and I guess we’ll own a coffee shop now.
” He shrugs, and I can’t help a laugh as I brush away the tears.
“I can’t believe you did this for me.” I shake my head. “You’re the real dream, Liam Bradley.” I stand on my tiptoes and lean in for a kiss, and it turns heated.
The door is shut. Hopefully locked, too.
It’s just us in here, and the fact that he did all of this for me when he didn’t even know for sure that I’d be able to move here is just something beyond my wildest dreams. He believed in me.
He believed in us. So much that he found me my dream coffee shop right here on the beach and named it after me.
I melt into him as his kiss turns from heated to urgent. I slide my hand down until I feel his hard cock beneath my fingertips, and I rub my hand there with a little pressure until he bucks toward me, grunting with need.
He pulls back and pushes my leggings down my legs with my panties. I kick off my shoes so he can drag my clothes off the rest of the way, and he lifts me onto the counter. He gets down on his knees, spreads my thighs apart, and dives into my pussy face first.
“Mm,” he murmurs against me, like he’s tasting the best meal he’s ever had.
His tongue inside me is enough to push me straight to the brink, but I want to bask in the pleasure a little longer.
I lean back on my palms and tilt my head back as he brings a hand up.
He rubs my clit, then slides two fingers to pump in and out of me as his mouth moves up to suck on my clit.
I’m panting. I’m falling apart right here on the counter of my new coffee shop. The mere thought of how much he loves me sends me into another galaxy, and I’m gone as I shudder over and over through a fierce climax at the mouth and hands of Liam Bradley.
When I come down from the high, he lifts to a stand. “Congratulations on your new coffee house, Ms. Wade.”
I smile softly at him. “Congratulations on your expert oral talents.” My voice is raspy.
He chuckles and takes an exaggerated bow. “Always a pleasure to be of service.”
I slide off the counter and locate my leggings as I giggle, and I’m about to get dressed when he moves in behind me.
“I’m not done with you yet, my lucky Penny.” He slams his hips against my ass, and I feel how hard he is.
I moan. “Oh, God, yes. I’m so lucky. Now fuck me over this counter so we can really break it in.”
“Your wish is my command.” He whips his cock out, and a moment later, he’s sliding into me over the counter in our coffee shop.
Well, those are words I never thought I’d be able to say.
But so much of the last few days have been filled with things I never thought would happen.
I guess I’m pretty damn lucky after all.