Page 7 of Lesson In Honesty
Liam’s body heat seeped into her, leeching away the chill.
When she didn’t speak, his thumb stroked her hip. “It’s a difficult situation, Sierra. Asking you to love him, forgive him, after everything he did. Mourning him the way he deserved because he did a selfless thing for once in his life. We should’ve made this move sooner—taken a vacation, gotten away from the memories while they were still raw. Instead, I threw myself into work and you… well, you rehabilitated more stuffies in those first few months than we knew what to do with.”
Her lips twitched. That was true. She’d worked until her skin pruned from washing so many fluffy skins, her fingers callused and blistered from so much cutting and stitching. “The hospital was very grateful for our donation.”
“Yeah, they were. You did good, minx.”
The quiet praise made her brain hum in pleasure. “I don’t talk about him because he’s gone, Liam. He left his mark, good and bad, before he died. When he comes up in conversation, the bad stuff is always what hits first, then the fact he’s dead, and then,that he did something heroic as a parting gift. I just want to remember the good times, the happy memories.”
“Okay. Okay, I understand that.” Liam rubbed his chin thoughtfully over her hair, his beard tugging lightly on the strands. “We’ve never discussed what we want in the future. Children, obviously, however they might come. No,” he said quickly when she tried to pull away. “This is a sore spot that’s been festering for too damn long, minx. Right now, biologically, the dots aren’t connecting. It doesn’t mean they won’t, or that we’ll stop trying. I know fostering and adopting isn’t how you saw us starting a family, but it’s an honorable one. A necessary one when there are so many kids stuck in homes, crying out for love.”
Her eyes began to burn. She had nothing against either option, but holding her own baby? One formed from her blood and Liam’s? Sheyearnedfor it. Years of watching her friends announce their pregnancies, their bellies growing rounder and rounder until they presented the group with yet another addition, was soul destroying on a whole other level.
One she tried so hard to hide because she didn’t want to spoil their joy.
All the while, she died a little inside.
“I don’t… I can’t talk about it.” Voice unsteady, she tried to squirm free, but Liam just spun her around in the cage of his arms and tipped her head back. “Liam, no. Not now.”
With a sigh that was more of a growl, he nodded, giving her a temporary reprieve. “Fine, but we’re not leaving it for weeks again. I’ve let a lot of things slide, Sierra. Too many things, if I’m honest. I’ve been the Dom you needed since Wyatt passed, but we’re both changing. From now on, I’m going to be the Dom you neednow.”
God, she was helpless when he caught her in that patient gray gaze. A tiny mouse trapped in the heated stare of a sleek, hornycat. The hairs on her arms and neck rose, nothing to do with the cold and everything to do with the force of his dominance pressing down on her.
Even her nipples were perking up.
Traitors.
“So I guess the final question before I feed you is…” Liam paused, seemed to gather himself. “We functioned well as a trio, minx. We make an amazing couple. Serenity is an opportunity—either to cement ourselves together as one, or if you want to find someone to play with again, see if we can hook up with a suitable match.”
Hurt struck first, hard and fast, before she latched onto his words properly and dissected them in a way her brain could process. He wasn’t asking because he was bored of her, she realized, or because he believed she was sick of him.
He’d been the first man to bring her to orgasm, to penetrate her when she was wet and willing. Adding Wyatt into the equation had sated two sides of the coin—her love of taking two cocks simultaneously, and Liam’s bisexual needs.
She licked her lips, unsure how to answer. “What makes you think we need a third?”
“Not need, necessarily. But want?” Mouth curving into a smile, amusement sparked in the gray of his eyes like sparklers. “I’m an observant Dom, Sierra. I can read you better than a blind man reads braille. Did you think I’d miss your reaction to Mistress Violet?”
Sierra’s mouth dropped open. “I-I… she reminds me of Connie.”
Shit, shit, shit, he’dnoticed?
“Funny, I’ve never seen you flush the color of a fire hydrant when you get an eyeful of Connie,” he mused playfully. “It’s fine, minx. She’s an attractive woman; it’s natural to feel curious. Look, take some time and think about it. I’m not trying to upsetour balance when it’s perfect, but life is for living, not grieving. We’ve mourned Wyatt for a long time—too long, I think, for it to be emotionally healthy. Serenity is about finding our peace now.”
More sacrifice, she thought, on Liam’s part. How long had he been ready to move on from the grieving period to living again, holding himself back because she’d mired herself in Wyatt’s memory?
She wished she could just say yes and be assertive with it, but that wasn’t her nature. Letting other people make decisions lessened her chance of making them angry if she chose the wrong option. “Doyouwant a third again?”
The love in his expression didn’t flicker. “I like the opportunities we have with a third. You come alive with two pairs of hands on you, Sierra, and that’s what I want more than anything; to watch you bloom and thrive.”
She nodded slowly, well aware she was opening herself to failure. “Okay.”
“Think about it, Sierra,” he repeated. “Don’t rush into it.”
She lifted her hands to his face, cupping his cheeks through his soft beard. It was a little on the wild side—trimming the golden mess hadn’t been high on the priority list, what with all the chaos of moving—and she loved how rugged it made him look. “No, you’re right. We’ve been stuck in a box since Wyatt died. Maybe now’s the time to break it open.”
“Feeling brave today, minx?”
Of course, he knew her well enough to know how out of character it was for her to leap into a decision. In all honesty, he probably knew her better than she knew herself by this point; he read her body, deciphered her emotions in ways she couldn’t comprehend, and navigated the intricate weavings of her mind with ease.