Tyler leaned over, kissing her on the cheek. One day Drew would have his own family, and he would understand the love of a woman. Tyler hoped with everything he had that it was a woman like Meredith. She’d grown and changed, and she’d become the best person he’d ever known.
Walking over to the backdoor, he grabbed the tennis shoes he kept there and shrugged a T-shirt over his body. He slept in workout shorts for the most part, so it only took a few minutes for him to be ready. “Be back later,” he told her as he pulled his long hair back in a ponytail.
“Bring him back for breakfast. I’ll have it ready for you two.”
He nodded and walked out onto the back porch. Drew looked up, almost surprised to see him standing there.
“I didn’t mean to wake you up,” the younger man apologized.
“You didn’t.” Tyler grinned. “The babies took care of that.” He walked down the porch steps and stood in front of the boy who had become a man and a friend. “You look like you could use a workout.”
Tears popped into Drew’s eyes. He licked his lips and nodded quickly. “Anything,” he breathed out. “Anything to get rid of this pain.”
“I can’t guarantee it’ll get rid of the pain, but it’ll make you feel better.” Tyler clapped him on the back and urged him into a run.
“Feeling better is all I can ask for.”
Tyler understood that because at one point that’s all he’d wanted to do too. Feel better and live for the moment. Now, though, he understood what being a husband and father was all about, and with Meredith at his side he knew nothing would ever come between them. They were building a life and a love that would last forever. Thinking back to the first meeting they’d had, Tyler couldn’t help but shake his head. Who knew that changing a passcode on an iPhone would be the beginning of forever?
The End
Book 7.5
Back to Basics
Heaven Hill Book #7.5
By
Laramie Briscoe
For all the readers who’ve loved Liam and Denise since the beginning! If this is your first introduction to them – I hope you love them as much as the rest of us do!
Summary
Family
Community
Club Duties
All their responsibilities are time-consuming. They take hours, minutes, seconds away from time that could be spent strengthening their relationship.
When Liam realizes he and Denise have done precious little communicating and loving lately, he takes her on a little road trip with one goal in mind—getting to know each other all over again, body and soul.
Amongst waterfalls, adult conversations, visits with old friends, and childless hotel rooms, the two of them get back to basics.
Prologue
“It’s been a long time since we saw the sun rise for any reason other than waiting up to make sure that Drew or Mandy came in from a date. Or because Tatum had a stomach flu and she cried all night.” Denise wrinkled her nose. “In fact, I can’t remember the last time we stayed up just for ourselves.”
Liam Walker smiled as he thought about the truth of those words. He chuckled softly as he pulled his wife, Denise, under his chin, kissing her on the top of her head. As parents of seventeen-year-old twins and a three-year-old daughter, they spent a lot of time watching the sun come up in a much different way than they used to. What once was them naked watching fingers of light filter through the curtains of their bedroom was now them sitting in the living room trying to figure out how they were going to punish the wayward brother and sister for being out too late or getting the youngest back to sleep after a bad dream. It didn’t happen often, but it was often enough, now that he thought about it. It happened enough that it interrupted their normal schedule, and when their normal schedule was interrupted, there was no alone time.
Grabbing her hand, he lead them over to his bike before checking that their belongings were stowed in the saddle bags he’d packed earlier. Once he was sure everything was where it needed to be, he got on the bike and held it steady for her so that she could get on. When he thought about it, it’d been even longer since the two of them had gone riding together. And what a damn shame that was. At one time it had been one of their favorite things to do together, second only to hanging out on their screened-in back porch.
“You ready?” Liam asked as he took the bike off the kickstand and moved to start it. Her fingers gripped his shoulders, and he stopped, looking back at her.
“You’re sure they’re going to be okay without us?” She pulled her bottom lip between her teeth. A wrinkle of worry in the middle of her forehead made him reach out and smooth it the best he could with her sitting directly behind him.
“Roni, Tyler, and B have this. Roni and B will make sure Mandy and Tatum are taken care of. Tyler will make sure Drew keeps Charity out of this house while we’re gone.” He tried to soothe her and put all her worries at bay. If they didn’t get out of this driveway and spend some time alone, he was going to murder someone who didn’t deserve it.
It had taken months to convince her they needed this road trip. Him being husband, father, and president of the Heaven Hill MC pulled him in a million different directions. Her being wife, mother, and the person everyone came to when they had a question pulled her in a million other. Two years into their marriage and they needed some time away. They needed it alone—without the stress of a three-year-old, without listening to the twins fight, without being interrupted by someone in the club who needed something. For this long weekend, they would put their relationship and marriage to the forefront of everything. All other issues would take a backseat, and they would do nothing but concentrate on each other.
“If you think it’s okay, then I’ll trust you, Liam, like I always have.” She leaned forward on the bike and placed a soft kiss on his neck.
It was enough to make him shiver, enough to put him right back to the moment she’d walked into his life. Bent over, trying to find change in her car so that she could feed her hungry kids on her birthday. She was beautiful then, and goddamn if she hadn’t blossomed since. The years had not only given her confidence in their love and relationship, but it had given her a self-esteem she hadn’t had before. It turned him on in ways he couldn’t explain if someone had asked him to. All he knew was that his wife was his world, and he couldn’t wait to make that world his entire focus for three full days.
Reaching back, he squeezed her thigh, letting her know how on board with this he was. “Things are gonna be fine, babe. We have our cells if things go tits-up here, but I think it’s going to be great. I think you’ve yelled at the kids enough for the past few months, and I’ve lost my cool the last four times we’ve tried to get our groove on. If nothing else, hopefully we come back in better moods.” He felt horrible saying that, but he needed to be an adult with her, and there were too many things happening for them to do that. The three years since Tatum’s birth was a long time not to let his freak flag fly, and he needed this more than he needed his next breath.
She nodded, even though he couldn’t see her. If there was one thing Denise had learned in their years together, it was to trust her husband, because everyone else did. No one questioned him or his authority, and he always made sure things worked out. There was absolutely no reason she should be doubting that. Hell, she hadn’t doubted it when he came into her life four years ago and turned it completely upside down, around, and sideways.
“Alright, I’m ready to go.”
Finally. Liam grinned to himself. It had only taken her an hour to relent, and he’d planned for two before they made it out of the driveway. Things were already going better than he’d thought they would. Maybe she needed this even more than he’d thought. In the end, she wasn’t putting up much of a fight.
“Where are we going, by the way?” she asked as he turned around to wave at their friends, who provided a strong unit with their kids. She tried not to think about how happy the twins looked as they got ready to drive away
.
“Trust me, babe. It’s a surprise.”
He effectively cut her off by starting the bike and pulling down their driveway. If he had his way, they wouldn’t see this stretch of land for three full days, and he had to admit to himself, that felt good.
Chapter One
Denise tightened her grip around Liam’s waist as they traveled the Warren County backroads leading them to the interstate, which would eventually take them to the Louie B. Nunn parkway. She wasn’t sure where they were going past that, but she would love it—wherever it was. Any place in the area was gorgeous. They could go down further into Tennessee and be in the mountains, they could stay closer to home and see the Cumberland Falls. None of it mattered to her as long as they were together. Her fingertips ran along the material of his shirt, feeling the hard muscle underneath. She ached to lift the hem up so that she could feel his bare skin. Casual hugs or an arm slung around a shoulder only went so far. It had been way too long since she’d seen him without clothing on and touched him in a way that said they would end up between the sheets of their bed.
When had she forgotten that riding bitch on the back of his bike, hair blowing in the wind, was one of her favorite pastimes? She could remember when they had first gotten together, before she got pregnant with Tatum, they’d done it almost nightly. Somewhere in the past few years that had stopped. Between being a mom to their three kids, a sounding board for all the women in the club, and a wife to Liam, she’d lost the part of her that he’d helped her find in the first place. The part of her that had wanted to take a walk on the dark side—where was she? Denise was pretty sure that woman hadn’t been around in a long time. Her mind couldn’t even conjure up the last time she was just a woman and he a man. That’s what she wanted on this trip. To be. They’d never had a chance to just be.
She remembered saying something to Meredith about it a few weeks ago. They had been sitting in Christine’s shop, both waiting to get their hair done. Denise had sighed as she caught a text from Liam that said the club members were scheduled to go on a run, and he wasn’t sure what time he’d be home. Meredith had asked if she was okay, and Denise had brushed her off until her friend had started digging deeper.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” Meredith asked as she took a good look at her friend. Since Denise had taken up the role of old lady, become Liam’s wife and the face of the females of the club, she’d taken it upon herself to look her best whenever she could—especially now that Tatum was becoming self-sufficient. The dark circles Meredith saw under her eyes, along with the pair of yoga pants and loose T-shirt she wore, said a million things to her, even if her friend said nothing.
Denise sighed, obviously hating to bring it up. She opened and shut her mouth at least half a dozen times, until finally it all came out in a great big rush. “Exhausted. I feel like I’m being pulled in a million different directions. Liam needs me to be his partner, the kids need me to be their mom, the ladies use me a sounding board—not that I don’t enjoy it,” she was quick to point out. “But I can’t tell you when the last time was I had husband-and-wife time with my man, if you know what I’m saying. It gets pushed to the side every time someone needs something from either one of us.”
Meredith nodded in understanding. “It gets harder the older the kids get.” She was starting to see that, just by watching the situation her two friends were in; even as an outsider she could see it. In the back of her mind, she hoped it would never happen to her and Tyler.
“Oh my God, don’t I know it? For some reason,” she took a deep breath through her nose and pushed her hair back from her face, “I had assumed that when the twins were able to drive they wouldn’t hang at the house so much, but shit, now they just bring their friends there. I love Dalton and Charity like they were my own, but sometimes I wanna come home, lie in my pajamas, and veg on my couch with my husband. Instead I have two teenage couples trying to act like they don’t want to make out all the time sitting there watching TV.” She rolled her eyes, inhaling deeply again. “I want to make out too, but I can’t because they’re taking up valuable real estate.”
Meredith laughed loudly, holding onto her sides. “I know this isn’t a laughing matter.”
“It’s not,” Denise warned, her eyes flashing. Leaning in, she hissed to her friend, “Four and a half months, Mer. It’s been four and a half months.”
Meredith spit her drink out, amazed at what she was hearing. Realization dawned on her, and she shot her friend a sympathetic look. “Are you kidding me?”
“No, that situation is becoming serious. If we get stuck in this rut and don’t make it a choice to get out of it, we’re doomed. We’ll become best friends who share a bed. You and I both know that. These kids are gonna be the death of us. I thought Tatum was a cock blocker, but Drew and Mandy? Ten thousand times worse.”
Denise sighed again, wondering what in the hell she was going to do to change things, how she was going to break this routine they were in. It wasn’t like she could even blame it solely on Liam or the outside forces; it was her too, not making the effort. Some nights she was asleep before her head hit the pillow, and ninety-five percent of the time she was asleep before Liam even came home. It used to be he’d wake her up and they’d spend a couple of hours together, but now he was tired too. It was a bitch of a situation they were in.
“You’ll figure it out,” Meredith assured as she reached over and took her friend’s hand in hers, offering her strength and compassion. “If there’s one thing I know, it’s that Liam is probably missing the closeness as much as you are and he’s trying to figure out a way to fix it too. He’s a problem solver, and if he realizes this is a problem, he’s going to make it better.”
Denise knew that Meredith was right, but it didn’t make her feel much better.
Little did they know, across town, a similar conversation was taking shape between a set of male best friends, and they were all thinking almost the exact same thing.
“It’s insanity.” Liam huffed as he handed Tyler a socket wrench.
“It’s your house,” Tyler fired back, grasping the piece of metal and using it to tighten the bolt he was putting back in place.
“It’s these fuckin’ kids.” Liam got up and walked in circles, trying to calm his irritation. “Not that I wouldn’t give anything for ’em man. They saved me; I have no doubt in my mind that they saved me. Drew is like my twin, and you know Mandy and Tatum are my princesses. But these fuckin’ teenagers are living at my house all the damn time. Tatum we can put to bed and lock our door. The other ones though, they are in and out—all the fuckin’ time. I thought getting them a license would mean they were outta my damn hair twenty-four seven. Call me crazy, but I thought that meant I’d get to spend a little more time with my wife.”
Tyler grinned over. “You’re crazy. You and I both know the kids hang at your house because you’re so easy-going. There’s no tellin’ what’s going on when the lights go out, my man.”
“Well I know what ain’t happenin’ when my lights go out.” Liam growled, pointing a finger at his chest. “I’ll be damned if my seventeen-year-old son is getting more than me. For real.”
Tyler laughed at the injustice of it all.
“Go ahead, big boy, laugh it up, because in a few years, this is gonna be you.”
“Then do somethin’ about it, pres. Take your lady away and let the kids fend for themselves. Stop your whiny ass bitchin’ and take what you want. Tatum will be fine. Me and Mer will make sure of that.” He tilted his head to the side and gave Liam a bored look. “Problem solved.”
“Sometimes you’re such an ass.” Liam shook his head as he handed Tyler the next tool he would need to finish the job.
“At least I’m gettin’ ass.”
Liam had had enough and got up, grabbing his cut and the bottle of beer he was drinking, flipping his friend a middle finger. That act of defiance felt good for a man who’d had little defiance or debauchery in his life for too long. “Fuck y
ou, dude. I’m out.”
“Think about what I said,” Tyler yelled at him as he walked through the garage. When he could no longer see Liam, he mumbled under his breath, “Gotta get his ass in a better mood somehow. Otherwise we’re all gonna kill him, and I’m gonna be pres.”
Those two conversations with their best friends had lead them to where they were right now. Finally alone, on the back of his bike, heading east. To where, she wasn’t sure, but as Denise lay her head on his shoulder, she knew she’d follow Liam Walker, Jr. wherever he went with no questions asked.
Chapter Two
Liam checked the lane to his right, merging when he saw no one there. The Cumberland Parkway was a quiet road, never had too much traffic, and the only thing you had to worry about was going too fast and the blue lights of a Kentucky State Trooper in your mirrors. It was one of his favorite roads to travel because he could enjoy it. There wasn’t the speed and congestion of I-65. He was able to sit back and enjoy the ride instead of watching out for other drivers.
The further they got away from Bowling Green, the more his mind cleared and the easier it became to breathe. He hadn’t realized how tightly wound he was until he looked ahead and saw nothing but road, looked behind and saw nothing but his woman. It was the best feeling in the world. Tension and stress had eaten at him for too long; this was a physical relief he hadn’t felt in a long time.
As they approached the exit he wanted to take, he slowed the bike and carefully took the sharp curve. He had the most precious cargo in the world behind him.
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