I hug him. “I’ve known spotlights that beam less than your girlfriend. Trust me: You’re knocking this boyfriend thing out of the park.”
We sway to the music for a few minutes, and I know he’s made up his mind about going back to L.A. with her. I’m happy for him, but it doesn’t mean I don’t already miss him.
“Is there a way for me to go with Angel and still stay here with you?” he asks, his voice low.
“No, but that’s okay. It doesn’t matter if life leads us down different paths. We’ll always come back together. You’re my bestie, Josh. Now and forever. No amount of miles between us will ever change that.”
We dance in silence for a while, and when the song finishes, Angel and Liam appear next to us. Judging from their expressions, they’ve just had a conversation similar to ours. Liam’s decided to spend most of his time in New York from now on. I’m thrilled about it, but I have no doubt Angel is going to miss him.
When the next song starts, we share a group hug and sway in unison. It might be the last time we’re all together like this for a while, and we need to make the most of every moment.
* * *
The morning after the wedding, I open my eyes to find Liam already awake. He’s sitting up against the headboard in just his underwear, looking ridiculously sexy in his new glasses as he frowns at the book in front of him. I smile when I see what he’s reading. The Outsiders. It was one of my favorite books when I was growing up. When I first read it, I loved it so much I bought a copy for Ethan. He ended up loving it every bit as much as I did, maybe even more. So when Liam told me he wanted to test out his new dyslexia-busting, high-tech glasses by reading a book for the first time in his life, I thought it only fitting to buy him a copy. Easy to read and short enough to not give him a headache, it’s the perfect introduction to the world of classic literature.
“Hey,” I say, my voice husky with sleep.
“Hey, sleepyhead.” He leans down for a soft kiss. “Just so you know, I’ve been sporting the world’s most painful boner for the past half hour and I plan to fuck you to within an inch of your life very soon, but I need to see what happens in this scene first. The Socs have just cornered Ponyboy and Johnny in the park, and if either of them gets murdered, I swear to God I’m going to launch this book off the top of the Empire State.”
I glance at the clock. It’s only 7.30 a.m. “How long have you been awake?”
“A couple of hours. Worked out. Showered. Now I’m reading. Shush.”
I smile and watch as his eyes scan the page. It’s hard to believe that this is the same man who used to avoid looking at the printed word as much as possible. His new glasses have dark rims, and the lenses glow with faint light. The difference they’ve made in his life has been immediate and remarkable. I love watching him read. I mean, any man who reads is sexy, but Liam reading is off-the-charts hot.
I move over and kiss his shoulder. “You’re enjoying it?”
“Sssh. They’re shoving Ponyboy’s head into the fountain. They’re going to kill him, aren’t they? Goddamn rich, entitled assholes.”
I kiss his shoulder again, and this time I add a flick of tongue.
He sucks in a sharp breath. “Hey. I’m trying to concentrate here. You’re making that impossible.”
“I’ll save you the time. They kill Ponyboy and everyone’s sad. The end.”
He slaps the book down and glares at me. The way the light of the lenses reflects off his incredible eyes makes me warm all over. “You’d better be joking right now, lady. Seriously. I will take you down.”
I lean over and kiss his neck. “As if I’d ruin it for you. But let me give you a spoiler alert about what’s going to happen in this bed right now—I’m going to lick you. Everywhere. Brace yourself.” I start with his neck, and God, he tastes good. I kiss and suck my way down to his chest. I don’t miss the way his breathing speeds up, or the way his boxer briefs now seem a whole lot fuller.
“Uh … is this going to happen every time you see me reading?”
“Probably. It’s super-hot.”
“Then I’m never going to get through my reading list.”
“Oh, sweetie. No one ever gets through their TBR list. For every book you finish, you’ll add five more. That’s just the way it works.”
He groans as I graze my fingers over his abs and finger the edge of his underwear. “In that case, maybe I’ll take a break.”
“Awesome idea.”
He places his glasses carefully on his nightstand before pouncing on me. In a matter of seconds, he’s yanked off my nightie and settled between my legs.
“Now, how should I punish you for your heartless Ponyboy joke?” He grinds against me. God, he’s so hard. So arousing.
I swallow. “Well, usually the sentence for false reports of character death is mind-blowing oral sex. Just saying.”
“Is that right?” He circles his hips. I pant and grip his shoulders. “Why is it that every evil thing you do is punishable by oral?”
“Hey, I don’t make the rules.”
“Lucky for you, I’m more than happy to punish you as often as you like.”
He kisses me before moving down my body, setting every piece of skin he touches ablaze with his mouth and hands as he goes. My breasts get special attention. I close my eyes and moan. This man is a foreplay genius. Within seconds my whole body is aching for him. By the time he starts kissing up the insides of my thighs, I’m already half gone. When he closes his mouth over me, I bury my fingers in his hair and gasp. Sweet Jesus. He growls against me, and I have enough experience to know that when he grips my hips like that and pulls me to the end of the bed, there’s nothing I can do but try to keep breathing and hold on for the ride.
A few minutes later, I’m arching off the bed and screaming his name.
“God, I love you,” Liam whispers as he yanks down his underwear and climbs on top of me. “I seem to love you more every day. How is that possible? It’s driving me insane.”
When he pushes inside me, we both let out a sigh of relief. My whole body seems to melt around him.
Being together like this isn’t optional. It’s essential, like breathing. There’s nothing else in the world as miraculous as having Liam Quinn inside me. I knew it the very first time we made love and I know it now. How we both survived without each other for so many years, I’ll never know.
Liam takes his time as he makes love to me. Neither of us wants it to end.
We end up making love all day. We punctuate it with eating, sleeping, and reading, but barely a moment goes by when we’re not touching each other.
In the late afternoon, we shower and get ready to go to his foundation’s fund-raiser. He’s in his tux and ready to go within five minutes. I take over an hour to bring my hair and makeup to a red-carpet standard. The pressure is extra high, because it’s our first public appearance together. I just hope I don’t get rotten tomatoes thrown at me.
I finish up, and when I ask Liam to zip up my dress, he presses soft, warm kisses to my neck and shoulder. “I have something I want to give you before we go. When you’re ready, come out to the living room, okay?”
I turn and give him a gentle kiss. “Okay.”
It takes me only a few minutes to put all the essentials in my clutch and step into my shoes, and by the time I get out to the living room, there are two bright gift boxes sitting on the coffee table.
Liam leans back on the couch and appraises me as I sit next to him.
“What’s this?” I ask.
“A game.”
“Pick a box?”
“Something like that.”
“How does it work?”
“You pick a box. That’s pretty much it.”
“Huh. Sounds boring.” He gives me a smile that tells me he’s not buying my nonchalance. “Okay, I’ll take the one on the left.”
“Are you sure?”
“I think so.” There’s a smugness to him that’s making me nervous. He was smug the ve
ry first time I met him, and he’s even smugger right now. Considering he changed my life all those years ago, I can’t help but wonder what the heck is going on.
“What if the one on the right contains something amazing?” he asks.
“Then you should have put it on the left ’cause that’s the one I’m choosing.”
“Don’t want to change your mind?”
“Nope.”
God, he’s bought me a car, hasn’t he? Although I have no idea why he would. I’ve lived in New York my whole life. I can’t drive.
“Okay, then.” He passes me the box on the right. “First of all, let’s see what you’re missing out on.”
I open the box. Inside is a joke check for a million dollars and a card written in Liam’s messy handwriting: Thank God you didn’t choose this box. This box sucks. Really. Out of all the boxes in the world, this one is the worst. P.S. I love you.
I look at Liam and smile. “I love you, too.”
“Good. Now, you can choose to keep that check for a million dollars, or stay with the other box.”
I laugh. “Hmmm, let me think if I should keep the bogus check.”
He says nothing and smiles. I look down at the small piece of paper. “Oh my God, Liam, this is a real check for a million dollars?! What the hell?”
“Does that change your mind about choosing the other box?”
I fan myself with the check. “No.”
“You sure about that?”
I just about scream in frustration. “Liam!”
“Okay, fine. Here.” He passes me the box. “Just remember, you turned down a million dollars for this box. I couldn’t be happier with your choice. I just hope you’ll feel the same way.”
I take a deep breath and let it out. When I lift off the lid and peer inside, my breath catches.
Oh, God.
Inside is a black velvet ring box. A very expensive-looking ring box.
I look up at Liam, and he smiles. “Take it out.”
I clasp the tiny box with trembling fingers and pull it out.
Oh my God. He bought me a ring. And knowing Liam and his generosity, it’s going to be a monster.
Okay, Elissa, just breathe. Don’t pass out when you see he’s bought you something that makes the Hope Diamond look like a Cracker Jack prize.
I take a deep breath and exhale.
I’m not prepared for this. Not even a little. It’s not that I haven’t considered marrying Liam, because I have. I still get embarrassed about how passionately I pictured myself walking down the aisle to him when I was trying on wedding dresses with Angel. I just didn’t think it would happen so soon.
Liam leans over and presses his lips against my ear. “So are you going to open that thing or just hold on to it all day?” There’s the smugness again.
I close my eyes as I open the case. When I open them, I can’t believe what I’m looking at.
“Uh … wow. Okay.” It’s not a ring. It’s a quarter nestled in the place where a ring should go. “I’m so confused right now. You said the box containing a million dollars sucked, but you’re happy I’ve chosen the one containing … twenty-five cents? Is it just that you’ve saved yourself a whole bunch of cash, or…?”
Liam reaches over and takes the coin. Then he gets down on one knee and pulls another ring box from his pocket, and this one doesn’t contain a coin. It contains the most stunning engagement ring I’ve even seen. Emotion knots in my throat as he takes my hand and kisses it.
“Elissa, I love you more than anything in the world and desperately want to be your husband. I’ve wanted it for a long time. And yesterday, seeing you walk down the aisle in that church … I’ve never seen anything so beautiful in my entire life. I want to be yours, and for you to be mine. And even though I’m certain you want that, too, I know your sensible side will try to argue that it’s too soon. That the world’s not ready to see me committed to another woman. So, I’m going to challenge you to leave it up to fate. What can be more random than a coin toss, right? Five flips. If it comes up heads every time, you wear that ring to the fund-raiser tonight. You don’t have to make a big announcement or anything, but if anyone asks, you tell them we’re engaged. And if I lose, well then—”
I stop him with a kiss. The kind of kiss that tells him I’m not interested in flipping a coin to prove how much I love him. My love isn’t based on chance or luck. It’s a fact. Solid and irrefutable. I’ll shout it from the rooftops if that’s what he wants.
“Put that ring on my finger,” I say, holding my hand out as I pull back. “It would make me the happiest woman on the planet to be your fiancée.”
He beams at me, and I feel like my heart and my eyes are about to overflow. With the care of handling something precious, he slides the ring onto my finger. When it’s on and glinting in the light, he lets out a shaky sigh of relief.
“You okay?” I ask.
He nods, and I can see how emotional he is. “I wasn’t expecting you to ditch the coin toss. I thought for sure I’d have to convince you, so I went to the trouble of getting a double-headed coin.”
I gape at him. “Liam! What about all your talk of fate?”
He looks at me lovingly. “Sometimes, fate is what you make it, right? And there was no way in hell I was taking any chances with this. I want to be with you, Liss. Always. I’ve even practiced saying, ‘Oh, hi. Have you met my wife, Elissa?’ See how good that sounds? My wife.”
Hearing him say those words gives me goose bumps. “That’s pretty sexy, you know.”
His voice is dark and lustful when he says, “Oh, believe me, I know.”
“It doesn’t seem fair to all the other wives that I’m going to have the world’s hottest husband.”
His expression intensifies, and I see his Adam’s apple bob as he swallows. “You’d better not say that again, or we’re not getting out of this apartment tonight. Jesus, Liss.” He pulls me into his arms, and as our bodies press against each other, I can feel his heart racing and thrumming beneath the surface. The tempo of it matches my own.
To be honest, I’m surprised at my reaction to his proposal. I’ve always considered myself to be a strong, independent woman, immune to the silly giddiness of the traditional gender stereotypes. And yet having Liam’s ring on my finger and knowing it represents his love and commitment … I can finally see what all the fuss is about.
I think it has a similar effect on him.
“I’ve never been turned on by jewelry before,” he says as he pulls back and caresses the ring. “But right now, I’m about as hard as this diamond.”
“If I were to buy you a ring,” I say, “would you wear it?”
“So everyone knows I belong to you?” I don’t even get to answer before he whispers, “Hell, yes.”
Then it’s his turn to kiss me with everything he has, and I don’t even mind that I’m going to have to redo my makeup before we leave. Kissing Liam is worth it.
For too many years I fought against what I felt for him instead of fighting for it, but now I know better.
If there’s one thing I’ve learned in the past few years, it’s this: You can give up on a lot of things in life and still be happy. You can decide that jogging is the work of the devil, or that the super-popular book everyone loves just isn’t for you. Or you can let your gym membership keep ticking over every month without ever stepping foot inside the door. But the one thing you’re absolutely not allowed to give up on is true love. When you find it, you should grab it with both hands and never let it go, because although it might not always be easy or convenient, it’s worth it. I can tell you that much for sure.
There was a time when I thought I’d missed my chance at true love, and I regretted it every single day. But now, here it is, wrapped around me in the form of the most remarkable, loving, talented man I’ll ever know, and I couldn’t be more grateful.
Do I believe we were brought together by fate? Maybe. If anyone could make me believe in fate, it would be Liam. But I also
think Liam’s right in thinking that sometimes fate is what we make it. You get the love you fight for. The one you think you deserve.
Now I know I deserve Liam Quinn, and he deserves me.
Our fate is to keep reminding each other of that, no matter what craziness life throws at us.
Always.
ALSO BY LEISA RAYVEN
Bad Romeo
Broken Juliet
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Leisa Rayven is a freelance actor and producer in Brisbane, Australia, where she’s at work on her next novel. You can sign up for email updates here.
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CONTENTS
Title Page
Copyright Notice
Dedication
Acknowledgments
Epigraph
1. Fool Me Once
2. Mr. Quinn
3. Past Tense
4. Audition Hell
5. Getting Closer
6. The Consequence of Wanting
7. Bittersweet
8. No Excuses
9. Present Tense
10. A Very Bad Plan
11. Dresses and Divas
12. Tactical Retreat
13. Desperate Times
14. Call for Help
15. Scandalous
16. Love and Lobsters
17. Coming Clean
18. Workaround
19. One Small Problem
20. Dirty Rat
21. The Sting
22. The Last Stand
Epilogue
Also by Leisa Rayven
About the Author
Copyright
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.