Beautifully Cruel (Beautifully Cruel #1)(92)
Liam starts to buck, fucking me passionately, groans working from his throat. I’m building to another climax, too, my head tipped back into the pillow, my body on fire, my heart singing.
He gets there first. His entire body tenses. He jerks, grunting, then drops his head to my breasts and sucks hard on a nipple as he spills himself inside me, groaning into my flesh.
Feeling him throb deep inside me, I tip over the edge. The contractions in my core are hard and rhythmic, leaving me gasping.
“I love you. Baby, I love you so fucking much.”
His voice is a rasp at my ear. His body is huge, surrounding me in heat. His heart pounds against mine as we rock together. I cry out, tears sliding down my temples to catch in my hair.
I was wrong, before. Love isn’t a nightmare. It’s a miracle. A blessing.
It’s knowing you’re finally home.
Afterward, we doze. I wake to the incredible sight of a rainbow arching over the distant pastures, glinting from the recent rain. The sky is clearing to patchy blue. Outside, birds are singing.
Beside me, Liam slumbers, a small smile on his handsome face.
I slip quietly from bed, tiptoeing and trying not to wake him. He murmurs something in his sleep, rolls over, then settles in again.
He’s far more relaxed here than in Boston. I’d never be able to slip out of bed there without him hearing me. I put on a robe and pad barefoot into the kitchen to get the coffee started.
On the kitchen counter, beside a huge bouquet of roses, I find a small black velvet box.
My heartbeat goes haywire. My hand flies up to cover my mouth.
I glance over my shoulder, but there’s no sound from the bedroom. So I creep toward the box. My hands shake as I reach for it.
Inside, nestled against the black velvet, is a gorgeous diamond ring. The center stone is huge and blinding. It’s flanked on either side by a pair of fat rubies, blood red.
I stare at it, water gathering in my eyes.
Big arms slide around my waist and cinch me against a warm, solid chest. Liam whispers into my ear, “I once said I wouldn’t force you to marry me, but I’m taking that back. Consider yourself forced.”
Here come those damn tears again.
I whisper, “You are the bossiest, most aggravating, and by far the most wonderful man I have ever met.”
“I know. Put the damn ring on.”
I slide it onto my ring finger. Unsurprisingly, it fits.
I turn around, hide my face in Liam’s chest, and burst into tears.
Chuckling, he holds me tight, smoothing a hand over my hair. “So when does the bar association notify you if you passed the exam?”
“Can you give me a minute to recover, please? I’m having an emotional moment here!”
Ignoring that, he says, “Because I can tell you now, if you want.”
I pull away and gape at him. “How could you possibly know? I’m not supposed to get the results for two months!”
He smiles. “I know people.”
“Liam!” I pound on his chest with small, useless fists. It doesn’t budge him.
“Is that a no?” He shrugs, releasing me. “Suit yourself.”
I glare daggers at his back as he picks up the remote for the TV that hangs on the kitchen wall, next to the breakfast nook. It comes on to a news channel. I’m about to demand more information about the test, but am distracted by the headline on the screen.
“Texas Judge Arrested for Conspiracy to Murder.”
I freeze when the newscaster says a name I know all too well.
It’s the same judge who ordered the killing of my brother.
I listen in cold shock as the newscaster reports the story of how the FBI raided the judge’s home and chambers, tipped off by an unidentified source. When I turn my astonished gaze toward Liam, he’s leaning against the kitchen counter, watching me with loving eyes, his expression somber.
I whisper, “Did you do this?”
He keeps his voice low and his gaze trained on me when he answers.
“You said you didn’t want blood on your hands. I figured life in prison was the next best thing.”
When my knees give out, Liam’s there to catch me before I fall.
As he always has been.
As I know he always will be.
Forever.
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Acknowledgments
I don’t know where to start with this, so I’ll just begin at the beginning.
The publication of this book was delayed a few times due to several major events that happened, not just to me, but to the world.
The first was my mother’s death late last year. That threw everything off kilter in my life for a long time. You can’t schedule mourning, and her passing hit me harder than I expected it to. She was elderly, and ill, but it still came as a shock when she died. I was alone with her in the hospital when she went, and I’m still processing that. But very grateful to have been there, and to have had her as my mom.
I was adopted at six weeks old. I always knew I was adopted because both my adoptive parents were very open about it, and I was brought up feeling a sense of gratitude and privilege that I had been given this wonderful life. I’ve never met my birth mother, nor have I ever attempted to make contact with her out of respect for her privacy, but the older I get, the more I treasure the sacrifice she made to bring me into the world. Life is such a crap shoot, with luck and chance playing huge roles, and I have been astonishingly fortunate to have not one mother who loved me, but two.