The Right Reason to Marry Read online

  But she gave him an easy shrug. “I think they call that kidnapping. It’s frowned upon by law enforcement. And people who get kidnapped don’t like it much, either.”

  “Buzzkill,” he whispered tenderly. “Next you’ll be saying I should go get dressed.”

  “Never.” She gave him a slow once-over. “You look so good naked.”

  He braced a hand on the back of the chair and bent close for a quick, hard kiss. “I’ll leave you alone.” He laid his palm gently on Riley’s head, cradling it, encompassing it—but just for a moment. And then he turned for the door.

  She smiled as she watched him walk away. Not only did he look amazing, he was funny and good to her. And every time he kissed her, she wanted to hold on tight and never, ever let go.

  But that would be rushing things, that would be getting all caught up in big emotions, making life-changing decisions without using her head.

  Forever was a long, long time. If she ever headed down that road again, she would be 100 percent certain she’d taken the right turn.

  Chapter Ten

  Otto came to the cottage that morning, as usual, before dawn. Liam turned on the tree lights and the fire. They sat on the hearth with their full mugs of coffee.

  “Karin didn’t come in until almost two this morning,” Otto remarked in a tone so offhand as to be almost humorous.

  “What? You stayed awake waiting for her to come home?”

  “The habits of a lifetime, my boy. They never die.”

  Liam sipped his coffee. “I got orders not to talk to you about what is or isn’t going on between Karin and me.”

  “What she doesn’t know won’t hurt her.”

  Liam scoffed. “Easy for you to say. You’re her dad. She trusts you absolutely. I’m the interloper.”

  “Just ask her to marry you. It can’t be that complicated.”

  “Otto. You have no idea.”

  “I’m on your side. So’s Coco. And Sten. Madison, too. I think you’ve even turned Ben around.”

  He perked up at that. “Ben? Really?”

  “Really.”

  That felt damn good, to think he and Ben were on the right track now. “And Madison, too, huh? Well, she is my sister. She should be on my side—even if we hardly know each other.” Liam had only talked to the newfound Bravo briefly, at a couple of family dinners back in the spring when she first came to town to meet the family. “It’s not right, that I hardly know my own sister.”

  Otto raised his mug in a quick salute. “You’ll get your chance, soon as she and Sten move home to stay.”

  “You really think she’s giving up her career? I read somewhere that she makes millions a year.”

  “They say money isn’t everything.”

  “They say a lot of things.”

  “That’s right. Because they’re true—and yeah. I think Madison is going to finish out those final projects she couldn’t get out of and settle right here on Sweetheart Cove, have a few babies, make a good life with Sten. Just like you and Karin need to do.”

  Liam stared straight ahead. “Not talking to you about Karin.”

  “Come over for breakfast, why don’t you?”

  “For a guy who’s supposed to leave it alone, you’re damn persistent—and no. Even I’m not that pushy.”

  “Karin said to ask you.”

  “Stop yanking my chain.”

  “I’m not. She was up with RG when I headed over here. She said, ‘Tell Liam we’re having waffles and he’s welcome to join us...’”

  Liam got up, grabbed his phone from where he’d left it on the coffee table and texted Karin. Your dad says I’m invited for breakfast. He glanced back at Otto. “You want more coffee?”

  “Yeah.”

  Karin answered as he was passing the tree to get the pot from the kitchen. What? You didn’t believe him?

  Should I?

  Liam, please join us for breakfast. Today. Tomorrow. Any morning the mood strikes.

  Damn. This was progress. It was going to work out for them. She would get past her fear that he would do her the way Bud had. She was learning to trust again.

  He just had to curb his impatience, take it one step at a time.

  I’ll be there.

  She sent back a thumbs-up. He stared at that simple emoji and felt like he’d just won the lottery. Or maybe free soloed up El Capitan and lived to tell about it.

  “Told you,” said Otto with a self-satisfied smirk. “Now bring that pot over here. I need my caffeine.”

  * * *

  At breakfast, he behaved himself. Mostly. Now and then, he would catch himself staring too long at Karin, but he didn’t think he was all that obvious.

  That night, she came over with Riley as soon as the kids were in bed. She’d nursed him at the other house and when she put him in his crib at the cottage, he didn’t even make a peep.

  They had a couple of hours, the two of them, in bed. It was so good with her. He got now why some guys never looked at another woman.

  Why would he want to look at someone else when he could spend every free moment staring at Karin, talking to Karin, laughing with her, kissing her, having great sex with her?

  Sunday morning, he went to breakfast at the main house again. Karin gave him that certain smile, the one that was only for him. After they ate, he helped Coco with cleanup.

  She was Batgirl today, rattling off her special powers, leaning in close to ask with completely adorable and uncharacteristic shyness, “Are you still taking me to see the trucks today, Liam?”

  “You still want to go?”

  “Yes, please!”

  “Can you be ready at nine?”

  “Yes, I can!”

  Karin took him aside to remind him that Coco was only seven and tended to trust everyone she met. She needed closer supervision than nine-year-old, super mature, overly cautious Ben.

  “I hear you,” he promised. “I won’t let her out of my sight.”

  Coco wore her black tights and yellow rain boots for the trip, but Karin insisted that she switch out her towel cape for a coat and a warm wool hat. The red hat had a border of snowflakes and a big, white pom-pom that bounced all the way to Bravo Trucking. Coco pretty much talked nonstop.

  She charmed everyone in the driver’s lounge. Liam hung out with her there for half an hour or so, took her for a quick tour of the offices and the fuel island and then out to have a look at the engine of one of the trucks.

  He showed her how to pop the hood latches and then how easily the giant hood opened with a tug on the front. When he launched into his spiel about how the engine worked, she stared up at him as though transfixed by his every word.

  “Questions?” he asked once he’d given her a quick rundown.

  “Um, no.” Those blue eyes were so serious. “But I would really like to go for a ride in this truck, Liam.”

  “Now?”

  Her pom-pom bobbed and her smile bloomed wide. “Yes, now, please!” She looked up at him like he’d grabbed her a handful of stars. “I’m glad you’re our baby’s daddy, Liam.”

  All of a sudden, he felt kind of choked up. “Me, too.”

  “I think you should get married to Mommy and we can all live happily ever after like in The Wild Swans and Frozen and Beauty and the Beast.”

  Me, too! But that time he didn’t say it out loud. A guy had to be careful about the promises he made. Especially to children.

  Coco had her head tipped to the side now. She stared up at him, frowning a little. “Maybe you should just think about it?”

  “I will—now, how ’bout that ride?”

  Liam boosted her up into the cab and took the wheel.

  They circled the terminal and she pointed out the buildings she’d visited. When they got back where they’d started, she wasn’t ready to quit, so he
drove her across the Youngs Bay Bridge and into Astoria. They rumbled along Marine Drive, circling back using Commercial.

  On the way home to Valentine Bay, they stopped at the same diner he and Ben had eaten at the week before. Coco wanted the works, a burger, chocolate milkshake and fries. She only managed to eat about half of all that before she wiped her mouth with her napkin and gave him one of those looks she was an absolute master at—one of those I’m-the-cutest-little-girl-in-the-universe looks.

  “It was really good, Liam, but I’m really full. My eyes are bigger than my tummy. That’s what Grandpa always says. But Mommy says we have to practice not wasting food.”

  “We’ll take it to go.”

  “The milkshake will melt.”

  Was he getting played? It was starting to seem like a definite possibility. “Hmm. Looks like you already ate most of the milkshake.”

  “It’s my favorite.” She grinned so wide, he could see the gap on the bottom where she’d lost two baby teeth. The white rims of her grown-up teeth had just begun to show. “I like chocolate milkshakes more than french fries and a lot more than a hamburger.”

  Liam leaned in and lowered his voice to secret-sharing level. “What are you telling me that you’re not telling me?”

  She giggled. “You’re funny, Liam.”

  “Did you do something you shouldn’t have done?”

  “Not exac’ly.”

  “So then, what’s going on?”

  Her little shoulders sagged. “Well, Mommy usually says if they don’t have a mini-burger and a small-size fries, I should just skip the fries. And the milkshake was kind of big, too. I was afraid to ask for a mini-shake because maybe they don’t have those and even if they do, I would rather have a big one.”

  Wouldn’t we all? “So you broke the rules about wasting food, is that what you’re telling me?”

  Those eyes were enormous in that little pixie face with that perfect pointed chin just like her mom’s. “Umm-hmm.”

  How big of a deal was this, really? He had no idea. It was all way above his pay grade, parenting-wise. “I’m not about to make you take the leftovers home.”

  She brightened. “You’re not?”

  “I’ll just tell your mom that I didn’t know the rules and I let you order too much food.”

  “Liam,” she chided. “That’s not gonna work with my mom.”

  “Why not?”

  “’Cause my mom knows that I know the rules and I’m s’posed to follow them—and you know what? I’ll just take the leftovers home.”

  He kept his expression carefully neutral though a grin was trying really hard to stretch the edges of his mouth. “You sure?”

  “Umm-hmm. It’s okay if I order too much food as long as I eat the leftovers later.”

  “Problem solved, then?”

  “Yeah, ’cept I have to eat the leftovers.”

  “Life is full of choices.”

  She wrinkled her little nose at him. “That’s exac’ly what Mommy says.”

  * * *

  That night, Karin came over again. She’d left RG sleeping at the other house. Her dad would call when he needed her. “Sorry. I probably won’t be staying all that long.”

  “I’ll take you however I can get you.” He caught her hand, pulled her into his arms and walked her backward down the hall to the bedroom, kissing her all the way. They made love fast and hard, with no preamble, rolling around on the bed, holding on to each other good and tight. It was great.

  And then, when Otto didn’t call, they started again, this time making it last, indulging in deep, lazy kisses and slow, sweet caresses. After that second time, they talked.

  “Coco can wrap the average adult around her pinkie finger,” Karin said. She was lying on her back, the covers pulled up over those breasts he loved to kiss, curling a lock of her hair around one of her fingers. “But you nailed the leftovers issue. Well done.”

  Feeling contented, happy with the world and everything in it, he scooted a little closer to her side of the bed, braced up on an elbow and just let himself enjoy looking at her, breathing in the sweet scent of her that was a little bit musky from all the fun they’d been having. “I wouldn’t say I nailed anything. I just let her talk herself into doing the right thing.”

  “You’re good with kids.” She gave him a teasing little smile. “You’re going to make some lucky woman the perfect husband.”

  And just like that, in the space of a few seconds, all his easy contentment vanished. “What the hell is that supposed to mean, Karin?”

  “Whoa.” She rolled to her side and faced him fully. “What’d I say?”

  “You want to see me with another woman?”

  “Liam, come on. Of course not.” She brushed his shoulder with a tentative hand. He had to consciously hold himself still in order not to jerk away from her. “It was just a figure of speech.”

  Impatience rose inside him, making his skin feel too tight and his pulse throb like an infected wound. “Sometimes I think you don’t take me seriously.”

  “That’s not true.” She ran her palm down the outside of his arm, petting him. Soothing him.

  It worked. To a degree.

  But she’d reopened this can of worms and damned if he was just going to shove the lid back on and pretend nothing had happened. “I don’t want some woman, Karin. I want you.”

  She put a finger to his lips. “Liam, come on, don’t...”

  Gently, he guided her hand away from his mouth. “Marry me.”

  She just looked at him. Her eyes were a thousand years old.

  He said it again. “Marry me.”

  “Because of Riley,” she whispered bleakly.

  “Yeah. Because of our son. What’s wrong with that? Because of Riley and because I want you and I don’t want to be with anyone but you. And because of Coco and Ben. Hell, because of Otto. We can make a good life. We can make it all work.”

  “Don’t.” She touched his mouth again. “Please.”

  “Because I lov—”

  “No.” She glared at him. “Uh-uh. Don’t say it. I really and truly do not want to hear it.”

  He sat up and swung his legs over the edge of the bed—at which point he realized he was staying right here. Because there was nowhere he wanted to be but with her. Even when he was mad at her, he didn’t want to walk away from her.

  And she had it right. He shouldn’t have started in with this, shouldn’t have let himself lose it over some offhand remark of hers.

  Behind him, the bed shifted as she rose to her knees.

  She touched him. He felt her tentative hand on his shoulder. “Liam.” He felt...everything. Her touch, her body behind him, so smooth and soft; her breath caressing the back of his neck. “Liam, I’m sorry. That was a crappy thing I said. I want you, too. I do. I would be so jealous if you went out and found someone else. You’re important to me. So much so that it scares me.”

  “There’s nothing for you to be scared of. I’m not Bud. I’ve had my time to be free, to keep things casual and easy, to answer to no one but myself. I know what I want now and I want to be with you. I want to answer to you, Karin, and to be responsible for you. I want to be the one they have to call if you’re in need.”

  “And I want to be with you. So much. But I’m not just jumping into something permanent. I’m never doing that again. I’m not ready to go making promises about forever. I just need to take it one day at a time. And I do love this—you and me, together. Like this. I love how you are with me. And with Riley. With my family. It’s only that sometimes it kind of feels like it’s too good to be true, you know?”

  He shook his head and a humorless chuckle escaped him. “Do you hear yourself? You like everything about me. You just don’t believe I’m for real.”

  “Look, I’ve got issues, I know it. I’m not blind to m
yself, to who I am. I’m not the easiest woman to be with. I’m not trusting. I’ve got...defenses. And I guess I’m always half expecting you to figure out that I’m a pain in the ass and this thing with us just doesn’t work for you.”

  Her hand was still on his shoulder. He reached up and laid his over it, sliding his thumb in under her fingers to rub the soft heart of her palm. “I’m going nowhere. How am I going to convince you of that?”

  “Liam...” It was barely a whisper. She moved in closer behind him, pulling her hand out from under his, but not to retreat. To get closer. She pressed her soft breasts against him, wrapped her arms around his belly and rested her cheek on his shoulder. “Liam.”

  All he had to do was turn his head. Her sweet mouth was right there. She smelled of citrus and rain and baby lotion. She smelled like all the best things, everything he’d ever wanted all wrapped up in one contrary, difficult, big-eyed, wild-haired woman.

  I love you, Karin.

  No, he didn’t say it. She didn’t want to hear it. But he thought it, thought it over and over, as he kissed her.

  I love you.

  He turned and curved his body over her, carrying her down to the bed again, sweeping his hands along her arms, into the silky curve of her waist, down over her smooth thighs, parting her, touching her, so slick and wet, already primed for him.

  I love you.

  She reached down between them and curled her hand around him, taking command of him. He groaned his pleasure into their kiss as she stroked him, tightly, forcefully. A little bit roughly.

  Just the way he liked it.

  He reached out, grabbed a condom from the nightstand, managed to get the thing unwrapped. She helped him, taking it from him, rolling it down over his aching length.

  I love you.

  The words were there, in his head, pulsing with the beat of his heart as he sank into her. As she wrapped herself around him, pulling him tightly to her, so good. So right.

  I love you.

  As he moved within her, rocking her slowly, taking her higher and higher.

  I love you.

  As she came apart, chanting his name.