Loving Liam

by Kate Hunt

  But that’s not an option—not with Ruby under my care.

  Liam and I get dressed and get back to those hot fudge sundaes. They’re delicious, although not as delicious as him. Even half an hour after we’ve had sex, it still feels like my body is buzzing from it.

  As I eat the last spoonful of ice cream out of my bowl, Liam leans down and kisses my neck, then whispers, “You up for seconds, Elle?”

  I know he’s not talking about the dessert. I let out a half-sigh, half-moan.

  “I wish,” I say. “But I have to get home.”

  “Right,” he says, planting another few kisses on my neck. “Rain check, then?”

  “Definitely,” I say.

  Liam drives me back to my place. As he walks me up to my door, he asks when he can see me again, and I tell him I’ll check my nanny’s schedule and let him know what nights work this week. I give him one more kiss and tell him goodnight.

  It’s five minutes after ten, and I apologize to my nanny, Evelyn, as soon as I walk in the door. But she just smiles as she gets up from the couch and says it’s totally fine.

  “Ruby went to bed about an hour ago,” Evelyn tells me. “Did you have a nice time on your date?”

  “I did,” I say. “It was really great.” I feel my cheeks warm as I think over the evening—not just the hot-as-hell sex, but how much fun the rest of the date was, too.

  “I’m glad to hear that,” says Evelyn. “Are you guys going to go out again?”

  I nod. “Yeah. Actually, what’s your availability like this week, Evelyn? Would you be able to watch Ruby again?”

  Evelyn’s smile fades. “Well, um…there’s something I need to talk to you about. I just found out tonight that my grandmother is really ill. She’s in the hospital. I think I need to fly out there and see her. I know I’m giving you hardly any notice, and I’m really sorry about that—”

  “Oh, honey,” I say, reaching out to touch her arm. “Don’t apologize. Of course you should go. I’ll figure out something else for Ruby this week. Don’t worry about it.” Inside, I’m kind of panicking, because I don’t know how I’ll find a temporary nanny so last minute. But I’ll figure something out. And right now the most important thing is to be supportive of Evelyn.

  “Thanks for understanding,” Evelyn says. “I’m going to get a ticket for tomorrow morning.”

  “Is there anything I can do to help?” I ask.

  “No,” says Evelyn. “No, I’m fine.”

  “Keep me updated on your grandma, okay?”

  Evelyn nods, and I see her out. After she leaves, I check on Ruby—she’s sound asleep—and then I go into the living room and slump down on my couch. Shit. What am I going to do? I can’t take time off from work—it’s too busy of a week. Could I bring Ruby to work with me? I know she would keep herself entertained and wouldn’t bother any of my colleagues…but no. I’ll be in too many meetings every day. And I wouldn’t have time to pick her up from school anyway.

  I consider my girlfriends. Both Marisa and Lindsay work during the day, so I can’t ask either of them. Aurora works part-time, but I’m pretty sure tomorrow is one of her days in the office.

  My mind wanders to Liam. I couldn’t ask him to watch her, could I? First of all, for all I know, he might have other things going on in the afternoons. But even if he’s available, it would be crazy to ask him, right? I’ve only just started dating the guy.

  On the other hand, he’s so good with Ruby.

  I pick up my phone and give Liam a call. I know it’s late, and there’s a good chance he’ll say no, but I have to at least ask. He picks up right away, sounding happy to hear from me. But there’s a hint of concern in his voice, too.

  “What’s up?” he says. “Everything okay?”

  I explain my situation to him. “I know it’s such a big thing to ask, and I wouldn’t ask if I really needed to,” I say. “But is there any chance…even if it’s just for one day…”

  “Of course I can watch her, Elle,” Liam says.

  I breathe out a huge sigh of relief. “Thank you, Liam. I really appreciate it. I’ll owe you big time for this.”

  “Nah,” he says. “I’m happy to do it.”

  Even with Liam insisting it’s not an inconvenience to him, though, I still feel bad asking him to watch Ruby. The whole next day, while I’m at work, I’m wracked with guilt. When I glance up at the clock on my computer and see that it’s 2:30pm, I feel especially bad, because I know that right then Liam is having to navigate the chaos of the elementary school parking lot.

  Not that I don’t think he’s capable of doing so. I just worry that I’m asking too much of him—and that it might affect what I have with him. What we have is really great, but it’s still so new.

  I have one more meeting that afternoon. Afterward, I work hard to get another handful of tasks done, then check in with my manager about leaving a little early that day. It’s not that early—it’s 4pm—but at least I’ll be home sooner than planned to relieve Liam from the babysitting.

  “That’s fine,” my manager tells me. I thank her and go log out of my computer. Twenty minutes later, I’m arriving home.

  I walk into the house, and as I take off my shoes and set down my bag, I call out, “Hey! I’m back early.”

  “We’re in here,” Liam calls back, and I follow his voice into the living room.

  The room doesn’t look like it usually does, though. It’s been transformed into an elaborate fort made of cushions, chairs, and blankets. At the entrance, Liam stands guard, looking serious and alert.

  “What’s this?” I say, holding back a laugh.

  “Miss Ruby,” Liam calls out to her, in a low, official tone. “You have a visitor.”

  “Who is it, Jeeves?” Ruby’s voice comes from somewhere inside the fort.

  “It’s your mother, Miss Ruby.”

  “One second!”

  There’s some rustling in the fort, and Liam winks at me. I have to bite down on my lower lip to stop from laughing. I never expected something like this—although now that I think about it, I guess it shouldn’t have surprised me. In the short time I’ve known him, Liam has shown me over and over again what a good man he is.

  And to think I considered turning him down when he asked me out.

  Ruby finally emerges from the fort. She’s wearing a princess dress over her clothes and her head is adorned with a crooked tiara. As soon as she sees me, she runs over to give me a hug.

  “We’re having so much fun,” she says. “Don’t make Liam go home yet, Auntie Elle.”

  “Yeah, don’t make me go home yet,” Liam says.

  I pretend to debate it. “Hmm. Okay. I guess Liam can stay for dinner.”

  Ruby cheers and runs off to her room, saying something about needing to change into another dress. While she’s gone, Liam takes a step closer to me and presses a kiss to my cheek.

  “Thanks, Elle.”

  “Thank you, Liam. This is more than I could have asked for.”

  “I’m happy to keep watching Ruby for as long as you need me to,” he says. “Beyond this week, too, I mean.”

  I give him a playful smile. “Are you saying you want to be my manny?”

  Liam laughs. “Not what I meant.”

  “I’m just teasing.” I rise up on my toes to kiss him. He kisses me back, then gently pulls away.

  “We haven’t known each other for very long, Elle. But I already have such strong feelings for you. I know you don’t need taking care of, but I want to take care of you. And I want to be here for Ruby, too.”

  I nod, my heart beating like crazy. “I’d like that.”

  “Elle,” he says, his eyes penetrating deeply into me, “I’m falling for you.”

  “I’m falling for you, too,” I say, my voice coming out in a near-whisper. When we kiss again, I can feel his lips promise me everything.

  Chapter Seven

  Liam

  Two Years Later

  “Happy birthday, dear Grayson
, happy birthday to you!”

  Everybody in our home erupts into applause as we all finish singing. Our one-year-old son, Grayson, looks around in awe at everybody from his high chair and then starts laughing that infectious laugh of his.

  I lean down and kiss our boy’s chubby cheek, and Elle does the same on his other side. When we catch each other’s eyes, Elle mouths I love you, and I mouth the same back to her. Then we blow out the candles on the cake for him and more applause goes around the room.

  “Can I cut the cake?” Ruby asks, her head popping up at Elle’s side.

  “Let’s cut it together, sweetie,” says Elle, smoothing a hand over Ruby’s french-braided hair.

  After the pieces of birthday cake are handed out, I make my way around the room and catch up with everyone. All of Elle’s friends are here, of course, and it’s great as always to see them.

  “Hey, Liam,” says Marisa. She and Gabe greet me with big smiles. “Elle told me you just got a big new client!”

  “That’s right,” I say. “It’s pretty exciting.”

  When I quit my job two years ago, I figured I’d eventually start looking for another one. But after thinking about it for a while, another idea came to mind. I started my own consulting business, and have been working from home ever since.

  Running my own business gives me the flexibility to set my own hours and watch the kids part-time. Two days a week, Evelyn watches the kids for us, and she also babysits one evening a week so Elle and I can keep going on date nights.

  When Elle and I got married, we promised each other we’d keep up our date nights no matter how crazy life got.

  I catch up with Marisa and Gabe a little longer—they tell me about the renovations they’re doing to their house to accommodate their growing family of four—and then I excuse myself and continue to make my way around the room. Once I’ve caught up with everyone at the party, I make my way over to Elle.

  As I walk up to her, I’m struck for the millionth time by how gorgeous she is. I swear, Elle gets more and more beautiful every day we’re together—both inside and out.

  “How’s the birthday boy doing?” I ask as Elle lifts our son out of his high chair.

  She gives him a sniff and wrinkles her nose. “Well, he definitely needs to be changed.”

  “I’ll take him,” I say.

  “You really are the perfect husband, you know that?” Elle says as she hands him over.

  I’m glad she thinks so, but all of this—taking care of her and Ruby and Grayson—it just comes naturally. I can’t imagine it any other way.

  “Come on, bud,” I say, taking Grayson into my arms.

  “Thanks, honey,” says Elle. “I’ll make it up to you later. Promise.”

  I raise my eyebrows at her. A vibration runs through me as I think of this gorgeous wife of mine undressing for me, giving herself to me, gasping out my name.

  “I’m going to hold you to that,” I murmur.

  “You better,” Elle says, a little foxy smile on her lips.

  Thank you for reading!

  * * *

  Want to read Lindsay’s story and find out what Elle and Liam are up to now?

  * * *

  Grab your copy of Marrying Max, Dirty Sweet Alphas Book 4!

  A note from Kate

  Thank you so much for reading Loving Liam!

  If you have a moment, I would love to get an honest review from you on Amazon. Feedback from readers is so important to me.

  Thank you again for reading one of my little romances!

  * * *

  xo,

  Kate