Only One (Ward Sisters Book 2)

by Lucy Gage

  The desktop was clean, with few icons and shortcuts, but a video file with the filename OpenMeLiam sat in a conspicuous place. He shook his head at her. She was unpredictable, for sure.

  When he clicked on the file, heart racing, he braced himself for what might be in it. He had no idea what to expect, given the last one he’d seen.

  The video loaded and he saw Jenna’s image in a still. She sat on his bed in the condo, and he couldn’t quite tell what she was wearing yet.

  As the video loaded, he noted that it spanned several minutes. Wondering what that meant, he swallowed, hard, and pushed play.

  “Hi, Liam. I don’t know if you saw the video on your phone yet. If you have, this won’t be as much of a surprise, and if you haven’t, look through your phone. You’ll find it. By now, you’ve figured out that I upgraded your OS from crap Vista while I was here. I can’t believe you still used that. I also replaced your RAM. You didn’t have enough to watch HD videos. You’re welcome. This file can’t be shared, copied or moved, or it will self-destruct. Likewise, you’ll need a password to view it more than once. Contact me if you want the password.”

  It was the same spiel as before, more or less. Which probably meant something racy was about to happen. Liam’s heart beat faster. He pushed out a breath.

  She stood and turned around so he could see what she was wearing. “Remember this skirt?” she asked. Not that she could hear him answer, but he did. She’d worn it the night they said goodbye in L.A., when they first met. “Remember what I was wearing underneath? I planned to wear this to the homecoming game, but it’s too cold, so I need to change. Plus, I thought maybe you might not like me going commando at a football game. Or maybe you don’t care.”

  He would have cared. Did care. He didn’t want her wearing a skirt with no panties underneath unless she was with him.

  Wait, what was he saying?

  “So, I thought you might like to see me change. Then I’ll be naked. In your bedroom. I’ll be thinking about you and the last time we were both naked in this bedroom. And I don’t know…I’m not so sure I’ll be able to control myself. In fact, it’s getting me excited just thinking about it. By the way, just so you know, for both this video and the other one, I did several takes. Yes, full takes.” She laughed. “I can see your jaw on the floor right now.”

  It was true, his mouth was agape, because that meant she’d done this numerous times. In his bedroom. In his condo. His dick stiffened just thinking about that fact, and he had no idea what she was about to do.

  Her voice became seductive. “Are you ready? Ready as you’ll ever be? Good.”

  Music began. Liam had listened to this song so many times in his life, he knew it by the first three chords. She knew he loved the Stones and that Beast of Burden was his favorite Stones song.

  Damned if she didn’t do it again.

  As he watched her strip and touch herself while his favorite song of all time played, Liam thought his heart might burst from his chest. He wasn’t over her. No matter how much he tried, he couldn’t get over her.

  Now, she was making it impossible for him to move forward and find happiness with anyone else, because he either had to give up Jenna or give up the Stones.

  What kind of choice was that?

  The video escalated and so did his heart rate when she waved her vibrator at the screen, the one she would tease him about when they’d been apart for a while. This was the first time he’d ever seen her use it, but he’d never forget it, even if he only watched the video once.

  Now, every time he heard Beast of Burden – and it was such a popular Stones song, he heard it often, even if he wasn’t playing it on his iPhone – he would remember this. He’d think of Jenna and what he was watching her do. Like Pavlov’s dog, he’d find his dick hard as steel, aroused from just images in his head.

  She’d accomplished her goal.

  He didn’t know if he loved her or hated her for it.

  **********

  Later in the week, he was with the Deacons at Rob’s house on a glorious, late-summer day in Minnesota, one last true vestige of warmth before the cool temperatures set in and fall swept away all traces of the season of fun. Rob had set his iPod to shuffle and the outdoor speakers blared a funky mix of everything from 50’s, 60’s and 70’s rock, contemporary R&B, Frank Sinatra and even disco.

  Liam hoped that with Rob’s huge collection, he might avoid hearing Beast of Burden, but he had no such luck. At least he was in the water at the time.

  The situation got worse when Rick started singing to Kelly nearby and she giggled, wrapping herself around him. His boss’ wife’s resemblance to Jenna was too much for his heart to take, and Liam couldn’t handle any more. He dove underwater and surfaced twenty feet away, then swam, hard, toward the dock farther out.

  When he pulled himself onto the dock, he heard Rob yell, “Liam, what are you doing?”

  He turned, facing away from the house and waved his arm to beg Rob off. It didn’t work. Seconds later, he heard a splash in the water and he knew Rob was swimming to where he sat. At least one of the women wasn’t asking what was wrong with him.

  Rob pulled himself onto the dock then sat beside Liam. He said, quietly, “What’s going on with you? You’ve been weird all week. Are you missing Nina, or is it something else? Are you thinking about that video of Jenna again?”

  Liam huffed a laugh. “No. She made another one.”

  His eyebrows shot up. “Did she? Where did you find it?”

  “On my laptop. Remember, she stayed at my place last fall?”

  “Was it like the other one?”

  “Worse. Or better. I’m not sure which yet.”

  “How so?”

  Liam inhaled. “This time, she included her vibrator.”

  “She has a vibrator?”

  Liam shook his head and laughed. “Yeah. Last time, she used some 80’s song for the music on the video. This time, she picked something I’d know a little better.”

  “Which was…?”

  “The song that just played on your iPod.”

  “No way.”

  “Yeah.”

  “That’s your favorite Stones song!”

  “No shit. And she knows that.”

  “She did it on purpose. She wanted you to think of her every time you heard that song.”

  “She wanted me to think of that video every time I heard that song. I haven’t decided if I love her or hate her for it.”

  “When did you find the video?”

  “Friday.”

  “No wonder you’ve been off the whole week. Em said she thought you were missing Nina.”

  “I was the whole way here. Then I stepped into my condo and…I don’t know, Rob. I’m trying so hard to get over her. I really like Nina, and the sex had gotten even better the week before we left. But I just…can’t stop thinking about Jenna. It was difficult enough before I saw those videos.”

  “And now it’s impossible.” Liam nodded. “Do you want to get over her?”

  “Do I have a choice? Why am I finding these videos now?”

  “I don’t know. What are you going to do? Stop listening to that song?”

  He sighed. “No clue. I wish it was that simple.”

  Rob nodded. But it wasn’t.

  Chapter 22

  Harpswell, Maine, one week ago…

  When he returned from Minnesota, Liam determined to be a good boyfriend to Nina – he owed it to his girlfriend to put his best foot forward. He might not be able to forget the videos Jenna had left him, but it was probably best that he couldn’t watch them without contacting her. The feelings he’d had in Minneapolis he chalked up to a combination of being without Nina and seeing those videos.

  Nonetheless, he intentionally still hadn’t listened to Beast of Burden since he heard it that day at Rob’s house. No point in poking the bear.

  Liam hadn’t realized how much he’d missed Nina until he got back to Maine. He was so happy to see her at the airp
ort when she picked them up, that he kissed her passionately right at baggage claim. She pulled away and said, “I missed you, too,” giving him a huge grin.

  The returned to a flurry of activity between Emily’s work and packing her apartment. Over the following weekend, Em came to the same conclusion Liam had, that she was pregnant. As soon as Em officially told her fiancé, Liam knew Rob would push to move the wedding light years ahead.

  Rob’s family had a track record of babies before marriage once the commitment to get married was made. Inevitably, it resulted in what Liam’s family called a shotgun wedding, and that meant his best friend was about to be taken off the market, much to the chagrin of half the world’s female population. If news of it leaked, the photographers would be as bad as they had been after the Lola disaster, maybe worse.

  The last night he’d be able to stay at her house, he and Nina had sex all night long like they did the day they met. Except, now they were making it last longer for both of them.

  Morning arrived and Nina walked out of the bathroom with a frown. “What’s wrong?” Liam asked.

  “I just started my period.”

  “Well, that’s a good thing.” It means no baby.

  “Except it means no sex this week. I was hoping to christen your new bed while we were getting the house ready.”

  Liam slipped his arms around her. “We’ll have to wait until the wedding, then. We can christen my bed after Rob and Em get married. How is that?”

  She pouted. “Okay. I guess I can wait. At least we had a good night last night.”

  Liam smiled. “That we did. Let’s get ready to go. We’ve got a ton of stuff to do this week.” Nina nodded and they were off.

  Luckily for Nina, she could get off with kisses. There were several times during the week when they found a quiet corner and he kissed her senseless until she came apart.

  “You’re so naughty,” she whispered once.

  “I wish I could take you upstairs,” he said.

  “In a few more days. I promise it’ll be worth the wait.”

  A little later, she tugged him toward his new room. “What are you doing? I thought we couldn’t have sex yet?”

  “I have a surprise for you.”

  “Should I be worried?” he teased.

  Nina shook her head and opened the door. She bit her lip and flicked on the light. Across the room hung a black and white version of The Beehive photo they’d seen at the Art Festival.

  “You asked him to make me a special print?”

  Nina nodded. “I knew you liked it and I wanted you to have something in here that would remind you of us.”

  Liam was touched. “Thank you. I love it.” He kissed her gently and hugged her tight. “Now, whenever I look at it, I’ll think of you.”

  She smiled. “That was the idea.”

  They pushed hard to prepare the house for the move and to receive guests. In a week, a housewarming party would be turned into Rob and Emily’s wedding. Em had the idea to invite the entire Deac Roberts full-time staff, providing an excuse for Christopher to attend. Which meant that Jenna was coming, too.

  With all those nights alone, Liam had time to think. He found himself restless, unable to sleep. His mind wandered, and no matter how hard he tried to think about Nina, Jenna would creep into his thoughts.

  After a couple of nights tossing and turning, he pressed play on his iPhone, and listened the Stones while he killed pigs on Angry Birds. Since he’d seen that last video, he’d avoided this.

  When sex with Nina wore him out enough to crash, that was fine. That wasn’t happening, and he didn’t know what else to do.

  At least, that’s what he told himself.

  The reality was, he wanted to get off – regular sex made him want it all the time – and thinking about Nina wasn’t working, for some reason.

  So, he turned on his Stones playlist and pressed shuffle. Sure enough, almost as soon as the first three chords of Beast of Burden played, his dick hardened like steel. Instead of fighting it, he let himself become swept into the memory of watching Jenna on that video. Before he knew it, he was grabbing himself and stroking. And the orgasm, like the ones after he’d watched the videos in the first place, was intense and powerful.

  Jenna was still a part of him, whether he wanted that or not.

  As Friday approached and the time to see Jenna drew near, Liam became increasingly unsure that he wanted her out of his life, and he had no idea what to do with that.

  Chapter 23

  Los Angeles, California, one month ago…

  “Hey gorgeous,” Rob said, the smile in his voice evident across the expanse of country that separated southern California and Maine. Though he’d used the term of endearment saved for her, Jenna knew his happiness was about Emily.

  A tiny part of her ached at that thought.

  “Hey, honey. You’re alone, finally.”

  “I am. Rick and Kelly are here with the kids. I’m at the beach right now. Emily is at work with Liam.”

  “Oh? Sounds like fun, being at the beach. I wish I could go to the beach, but my boss just made a lot of work for me.”

  “Sorry about that, hon. How are you feeling? How’s my baby boy? Does he miss his Uncle Rob?”

  Jenna laughed and rubbed her belly where the baby leveled a swift jab to her abdomen.

  “Of course he misses you. He’s kicking me now because I’m hearing your voice. I miss you, too. You miss me?”

  “Always. You know I miss you when we’re not together. Who else would keep me sane? Or protect me from myself?”

  Jenna nearly cried at that. She was glad he couldn’t see her furrowing her brow, trying to hold back the tears. “I think Emily will do that for you if you ask.”

  “You’re right. She will. Especially now that she’s going to be my wife.”

  She tried to keep the tears from her voice, even though they were running in streams down her cheeks.

  “Finally took the plunge, huh? Are we getting ready for a big announcement? I assume this time I’ll hear from Amy instead of you directly. Which means we’re keeping it quiet for now?”

  “I had to tell you. It’s not like I think you can’t keep a secret.”

  “No, you know I can do that. Are you going to tell her, Rob? About us? That we’ve been lovers? That the only thing preventing us from getting married all this time has been our inability to fall in love with each other?”

  “I don’t see what purpose it serves. We haven’t been lovers for four years. It’s not like we’re planning to run away together and this is me tiding things over until then.”

  No, Jenna knew, after what had happened when Emily left before that Rob was over whatever he’d felt for her.

  He reassured her, “You know I love you. If all I wanted was a wife who was an industry outsider, I’d have married you.”

  “That assumes I would have been willing to marry you.”

  “Would you? If I’d asked? If I’d wanted to make a life with you, would you have said yes?”

  “Maybe if you had asked right after our love affair, I’d have believed you fell in love with me and I’d have embraced it. But you didn’t do that, and now we’ll never know. The genie is out of the bottle. You’re in love with Emily and that’s that.”

  “Me being in love with Em and marrying her doesn’t change the fact that I love you. You know I will always love you.”

  “I know, Rob. I’ll always love you, too. There isn’t any point in lamenting what never happened between us. That ship sailed the moment I suggested that we should just be friends.”

  “It didn’t, Jen. I seriously thought about it for a long time after that. I wondered if maybe I had been reluctant to fall in love with you because of everything with Rachel. And the more I loved you, the less I understood why it was that we couldn’t get there. Then I introduced you and Liam, and I got it.”

  Jenna’s breath caught. She inhaled. “Well, you’ve finally found your One, honey, and I’m happy for
you. Really. I’ll be looking for an announcement to post. And I’ll be there when it’s time for you to make it official, I promise. Now, let’s talk shop…”

  She had to change the subject, fast, because she couldn’t talk about Liam. It hurt too much to think about him at the moment, with Rob winning Emily back and getting engaged. Now, if Liam wasn’t an option, she was really on her own with this baby.

  And that was terrifying.

  Will You Still Love Me?

  Present Day

  Chapter 24

  He was standing on the deck, talking to Nina and Rob, when the guests started to arrive for the wedding festivities. Em’s family was coming on Saturday morning and the Deacons would be here Friday night. A small group was joining them for lunch on Friday, including Nina’s cousin, Meg, Christopher, Reggie and Jenna. Meg and Reggie had arrived a few minutes earlier and were in the house grabbing drinks.

  Liam heard a commotion and he guessed that the other two guests had just walked through the front door. Christopher liked to make an entrance. Rob had said that Christopher and Jenna had arranged to fly together so that they could share a car.

  The first thing Liam saw when Jenna stepped onto the deck was her face. His heart skipped a beat. She was more strikingly beautiful than she had been seven months before, wearing an adorably nervous smile. Then he felt bad, because his girlfriend was standing in front of him and it wasn’t nice to be happy that another woman was anxious to see him.

  Was it?

  The next thing he noticed was that her boobs looked bigger. Noticeably bigger. And then he saw the giant belly below her newly huge boobs, and things swam in his vision. He suddenly felt lightheaded and sounds grew tinny. The last thing he heard before everything went black was Emily saying, “Grab him, Rob!” as though she was underwater.

  **********

  Liam blinked away the bright sun, looked around and realized he was lying on the chaise on the deck. To his left, Rob sat in one of the Adirondack chairs holding a cloth to his nose.