by Maddie Wade
A dreamy look filled with love came over Lucy’s face. “I know. I can’t wait to meet her.”
“Me either. Can you believe you’re due on Halloween?”
Lucy laughed. “I know.”
Lizzie sighed. “I’d kill for another baby, but I don’t think it’s on the cards for me any more.”
Lizzie had always wanted more children, loving her siblings and not being able to imagine a life without them in it, even when they drove her crazy.
“Why not?” Lucy cocked her head as Paige spun her sister in her water ring, gleeful screams filling the air and making them all smile.
“Well, one I’m too old. Two, they don’t know if I could carry to term after all the damage to my pelvis and three, even though we shared a kiss, I’m pretty sure Ty and I aren’t there yet.” She ticked off the things on her fingers, laughing at the last but still, a pang of longing for something that may never be nestled in her heart.
“I call bullshit.”
“Lucy!” Meg called pointing to Paige who was watching them.
“Fine, I call bullpoo. You’re not too old. Okay, you might struggle physically, but you might not, and if you can’t, I’d carry a baby for you. As for the last, I’ve known Smithy a while now, and that man has done a one-eighty, and you can see he wants this with you.”
Lizzie felt the burn of salt in the back of her throat at her sister’s words, an emotion so big it was hard to contain touched her chest. “You’d carry a baby for me?”
Lucy gripped her hand as they stood in the shallow of the pool, her face going gentle. “Of course I would. I’d do anything for either of you.”
Lizzie felt Meg take her other hand. “I would too.”
Her gaze swung to her baby sister, who they’d missed so much, and she felt complete. Taking both of their hands, they formed a perfect circle, the power the three of them emitted crackling in the air between them with purity and love. “I love you guys so much.” Her voice was clogged with unshed tears.
“We love you, too,” Meg whispered as they leaned forward and touched heads together, the fizzle of power growing around them in a tornado of controlled energy.
Pulling back, they released hands, each of them aware that their power as a unit grew with every day they were together.
Their moment was broken as Roz and Celeste walked in with Natalia and Katarina. Roz looked more pissed off than usual, which was saying something, but Celeste looked like she was walking on air. Ever since Zin had proposed she’d been beaming from ear to ear. Liz always marvelled at how the tiny woman with so much spirit and energy managed to tame not only Zin, and all his terrifying focus but also Roz.
“Hey, guys.”
Meg waved as Roz, wearing a black bikini, and Celeste, wearing a red and white polka dot one piece with a frill around the waist, walked towards them and slid in the water.
Roz glared at Lucy who laughed at her old mentor. “What crawled up your ass?”
Celeste arched a brow at her sister-in-law, her green eyes dancing with mirth, while Roz looked ready to murder someone.
“Well, are you going to tell them?”
Roz shot Celeste a withering glare that would have most men cowering in terror before glancing at Lucy as if it was all her fault. “Her dumbass brother knocked me up!” She gave the news of her pregnancy in a short sentence filled with accusation.
“Congratulations?” Lizzie asked as if she wasn’t sure it was a happy event. “Was it planned?”
Roz crossed her arms. “Yes, but apparently his swimmers only need one try. I planned on having a few months to get used to the idea.”
“And that’s not all, because Zin and I are expecting a baby too.” Celeste, unlike Roz, seemed ecstatic with the news.
“Oh my god, that’s fantastic news.” Lizzie hugged Celeste and patted Roz on the arm not ready to lose a limb until the scary assassin got used to the idea.
“When are you guys due?”
“Well, Zin and I are actually twenty-seven weeks, but he didn’t want to say anything until we got past the second trimester, and with everything that happened to Mara, we felt it best not to push our news out there too.”
Lucy lifted the frill on Celeste’s costume. “Oh my god, I hate you. That is the tiniest pouch I’ve ever seen.”
“Yeah, apparently he or she is fine for the size. I’m just carrying differently to you I guess.”
“What about you Roz? When are you due?”
“I just found out last week. We’re due in the summer sometime, but I haven’t seen a doctor.”
“Wow, I can’t believe all these pregnancies.” Lizzie was delighted for them all but especially her sister.
“I know, but it’s not great timing with everything going on,” Roz snapped.
“Tell us about Nazareli.” Celeste swam in circles as she asked the question.
Lizzie lay back letting the water take the weight of her body from her pelvis. “Can we go in the Jacuzzi? My leg is aching.”
Meg looked concerned. “Sure, let me get the girls to play in the sprinkler for a bit so I can watch them.”
The five women made their way to the Jacuzzi, but Roz stayed on the edge looking a little green.
Lizzie told them about everything Nazareli had said and about John and his connection to Smithy. She knew she wasn’t betraying a confidence because Ty had already told her he was telling the team everything.
“How could anyone love that witch?” Lucy grumbled.
“She has a side to her that is very believable, and in the early years she wasn’t the woman she is now.” Meg knew her better than anyone, having grown up with her as a pseudo parent. “Don’t get me wrong, she was never cookies and story time, but I can imagine she was normal once.”
“Maybe but I don’t see it and something bothers me about John.” Lizzie pursed her lip as the warm jets of water soothed her body.
Roz perked up, her interest ignited. She hated the Divine Watchers, having lost one of her girls, Angel, to the madness when they’d rescued Lizzie. “How so?”
“I can’t figure it out, but something about him seems familiar, and I can’t put my finger on it.”
“Have you got the picture still?”
Liz nodded. “Well, Ty has it. I can get you a copy though.”
“Do that, and I’ll run some searches on him,” Lucy added as she winced and held her belly.
“Braxton hicks?” Meg asked understandingly.
“Yep and they hurt like a mofo.”
Roz stood, her long legs toned to perfection, her flat belly muscular. “Time I went before you start sharing birth stories and I puke my guts out.”
Liz laughed as she walked away, knowing deep down that as much fuss as she was making, it wouldn’t have happened unless Roz wanted it to. Nobody on earth could make that woman do something she didn’t want. Although if anyone could, it was Kanan.
They spent the next half hour chatting and catching up on the gossip about her and Ty. Although there was little to tell as yet, she hoped that would change soon, she couldn’t wait to taste his kiss again.
Chapter 12
Peyton Lawson looked at him over the top of her black-rimmed glasses. Calm grey eyes were assessing him as she wrote in the notebook on her knee, her bare feet tucked underneath her. She wasn’t like most shrinks or therapists or at least not the ones he imagined in his mind. Peyton, as she’d asked him to call her, was girl next door pretty, with pale blue almost grey eyes and long honey blonde hair which she wore in a ponytail. “So how has your weekend been?”
When he’d arrived for his first appointment, he’d been sceptical and judged her on her appearance. Now though, he knew she was razor-sharp. Her demeanour was her way of making her clients relax and forget who she was. Probing, almost innocent questions, were fashioned in such a way that it was easy to fall into a conversation and admit things he’d never normally admit to.
Smithy leaned back in the armchair she’d positioned opposite a coff
ee table. “Good mostly, a few hiccups but nothing I couldn’t handle.” He hadn’t realised until that moment what a sense of accomplishment he felt for the silly achievements people took for granted. Like not having a meltdown when he’d heard a firework go off last night or being able to stay and let Liz see his vulnerability when she found out about his past.
Peyton smiled a genuine expression of warmth on her face. “That’s fantastic. Tell me about the good first.”
“I went on a brunch date with a woman I’ve loved since I was sixteen and didn’t make a dick of myself.”
Peyton cocked her head. “What made you think you might make a dick of yourself, as you put it?”
Smithy squirmed in his seat, uncomfortable being the sole focus of her intent gaze. “I normally do everything in my power to push Lizzie away, or at least I have in the past.”
“And what changed? Why are you suddenly able to allow her in and picture a future with her?” Peyton cocked her head. “At least I’m guessing that’s what you want.”
“I do, and honestly, it feels awkward to talk about.”
“Okay, let’s talk about the things that didn’t go so well and how you coped with those.”
Smithy let his shoulders relax. It was far easier talking about anything mission-based than he ever was his feelings.
“When I saw Nazareli in Lizzie’s home, I slipped into this zone where I was an operator again, but it was different somehow.” He scrubbed a hand down his face in frustration.
“Did you feel afraid when you saw this woman in your friend’s home?”
Smithy shook his head. “Not for me, no.”
“So, you were afraid for Liz?”
“Well, yes. Nazareli is a threat no matter how she may have come across. Liz is innocent and vulnerable.”
“And you aren’t?”
“No.” He scoffed at the idea he was either of those things.
“Why don’t you believe you’re vulnerable?”
“I’m a killer, Doc. I kill people for a living.”
“The ability to kill another human being doesn’t mean we aren’t vulnerable. Why did you push Lizzie away for so many years?”
Smithy ran his hand over his short-cropped hair in frustration as he sat forward and leaned his elbows on his knees. “Because she was too good for me.”
“And now you don’t think she is?”
“No, of course not. A woman like Liz will always be too good for the likes of me.” He got up and began to pace the room, glad that it had windows as the air in his lungs started to burn.
“Smithy, I want you to find me five things in the room that are blue.” Peyton’s calm command clicked in his head. As he began to list them his breathing slowed until his racing heart began to slow.
“What made you upset?”
He sat slowly, exhaustion suddenly hitting him and the fight to contain his feelings too heavy to carry. His voice was like broken glass when he spoke. “Every single person in my life who should’ve loved me didn’t. My mother was so in love with the man who sired me, that when he walked out on us when I was a baby, she hit the bottle. Became a functioning alcoholic, and then she became a non-functioning human being as the years wore on. I have no clue who my father is, just that he sent money regularly but didn’t give enough of a fuck to take me from the hell I lived in. I want to hate her, my mother, but she was my mum, and she didn’t hurt me. She just didn’t love me.” He looked up at Peyton. “If the one person who is meant to love you can’t, how could I trust that that Liz wouldn’t have got bored and walked away?”
“You can’t, and that is where trust comes in, but that’s the problem. It would leave you vulnerable to getting hurt.”
“Yeah, well done, doc, you figured it out. I’m a scared piece of shit who has no balls.”
Peyton shook her head. “You’re a survivor, a warrior, and admitting you’re vulnerable does not make you weak, it makes you stronger. Knowing and admitting how you feel is brave, Smithy, and shows just how much you want to fix things.”
“But I broke her.”
“No, you didn’t, and we’ll talk about that next time. For now, I want you to spend some time thinking about what made you change your mind about giving Lizzie a chance.” She held up her hand when he went to speak. “Not now, next time. Are you sticking to the diet I gave you?”
He nodded. “Mostly, although I had a cake with Liz.”
“Cake is fine, cake is comfort food, and we all need a little of that now and again. I’ll see you on Wednesday.”
As he went to bed that night, he gave some serious thought to what Dr Lawson had asked him. Why had he changed his mind about Lizzie and him? Was it as simple as he nearly lost her, and it had shocked the stupid out of him or was there more to it? He turned over in bed, looking at the plain white walls of his bedroom and closed his eyes. Perhaps it was that simple. He smiled at the thought of seeing her again tomorrow.
Smithy felt like a dick as he stood in front of the shop Lizzie owned as if he was waiting for his first glimpse of his schoolboy crush. But then, in so many ways, she was all of those things. Maybe not his first crush but certainly the first and last woman he’d ever loved. He glanced up at the store with its two large, double-paned windows and a brick and wood façade which screamed class.
He tried not to remember the last time he’d set foot inside this building, the burn of guilt acrid on his tongue. He had been a puppet then, and not the man he was now who’d beaten the evil that tried to destroy him. He saw her Ford Focus draw up and Dane, who’d been following in his own car, lifted his hand in a wave as he drove past.
The team decided yesterday that Lizzie would be protected at all times, as would Lucy and Meg. He had insisted he be the one to guard Liz. It had been a short battle of wills between him and Dane, but eventually, his stubborn tenacity had won out against her brother. So here he was watching Lizzie walk down the street in slim black trousers, a leopard print shirt, and a camel coloured coat with patent black flats shoes which showed off her pretty ankles. She looked classy, elegant, and so damn sexy he knew he was going to spend the day admiring her ass.
“If you’re applying for the apprentice job, I think you might need to fill out an application form.” Her beaming grin and the heat in her eyes as they travelled over him had his body tightening in need.
Stepping forward, he kept his hands in his pockets to resist the urge to touch her. “What’s the pay like?”
He saw her struggle with her bag and keys. He reached out, took the keys, and opened the door, putting himself between her and the open space around them. Once inside, she locked the door behind her and turned off the alarm.
He followed her into the back room where he was relieved to see she’d totally renovated the space so it looked nothing like the room he’d snatched her from.
She bent to put her bag under the table, and he groaned at the sweet curve of her ass. Lizzie looked at him over her shoulder, a sexy, sultry smile playing on her lips as she spun towards him. Her stride was slow, the heat in her conker brown eyes melting into him. He stayed frozen to the spot wanting her to take the lead, his intention not to push her a flint away from burning.
Her hands came to his chest, the light touch sending bolts of desire through his body. “The pay is awful, but the benefits are outstanding for the right candidate.”
“Hmm, tell me more.” Smithy pulled his hands from his jeans pockets and laid then lightly on her hips, the shiver going through her at his touch almost making him want to drop to his knees.
“Well, there is free tea and cake.”
“And?”
“A staff discount.”
“And?” He was enjoying this light, flirtatious game they were playing. Everything between them had been so serious the last few years, and he wanted this bit of fun.
“I guess you’ll have to apply to find out.” She leaned in close, her lips almost touching his then kissed his cheek before walking away.
Smithy
chuckled, loving the way she had him eating out of her hand with only a few words. Removing his leather jacket, he hung it on the back of the door and followed the sound of movement to the front of the shop, admiring the antiques and period pieces she’d collected.
“That was mean,” he whispered as he went up behind her and pulled her back to his front, making sure she could feel what she’d done to him.
Her dark smoky laugh made his cock ache to be inside her. “So was kissing me in front of every member of Fortis and not touching me since.”
He pulled back, sure that underneath the teasing, he detected genuine hurt and uncertainty.
Smithy twisted her to look at him, tipping her chin up when she dropped her eyes from him. “Look at me,” he barked slightly more angrily than he intended. Her eyes met his, and he saw the defiance and strength in them, but also the guardedness. “I was trying to give you time, not rush you or push you into this when you’re not ready.”
Lizzie lifted her hand to his cheek. “Silly man, I don’t need time, I just need you. Don’t you think we wasted enough time already?”
Her words twisted in his heart, winding around it like a vine made of silk. Each strand was binding him to her more tightly and yet with every twist, he felt freer than he ever had. “Yes, sweetheart, we have wasted too much time.”
With that he kissed her deep and long, pouring every single thing he was feeling into it. His hand tangled in her hair, the satin strands wrapping around his skin as he tugged her head back, devouring her mouth until she mewled into his kiss.
Chapter 13
“Let me take you on a real date. One where we can both legally order a beer.”
Lizzie pulled away, her hands still on the corded muscle of Ty’s forearms, her mind a blur from the kiss they’d just shared in the middle of her shop. “A date?”
Ty looked her with a sexy smirk, which told her he knew the exact reason her brain was short-circuiting. “Yeah, you know, two people getting something to eat, maybe some dancing, a romantic stroll after.”
