Page 68 of Desperate Measures
“Sorry, Sweetheart,” he said, kissing my neck. “She did, huh? Well, your cousin is dynamite in bed, but I don’t feel comfortable discussing that with you four.”
“So, why did you do it?” Andre asked, ignoring the shushing of the others.
“Do what?” he asked.
“Marry her. Why are you married to our cousin?” she repeated slowly.
I waited with bated breath, wondering how he would answer. In true Liam fashion, he knew exactly what to say.
“Because I can’t imagine a world where I’m not married to this woman.”
Chapter 25-Liam
The days I’d spent away from Michaela were harder than I thought they’d be.
I was unfocused and my mind had been filled with her through more than half of every meeting I’d been in. Chen was being an unreasonable prick.
His daughter had tried her best to use her wiles to make me see her father’s point of view. But I wasn’t interested in a partner, and I sure as fuck was not interested in sleeping with his daughter.
I left her in Gansu, so she could figure out where her loyalties lay. With her father. Or with her job at ODI.
She was good at what she did, but she wasn’t irreplaceable. To me, only one woman held that significance, and I finally had her in my arms again.
Only, we had an audience, so instead of bending her over the couch and fucking her until we were both boneless, I had to make nice.
I never understood family the way the Volkov clan, and all its extensions, did. But these women were standing in my living room looking fierce and mutinous, and they were questioning our marriage.
Normally, something like this might amuse me. But I didn’t feel entertained. I was incensed. Not for me. But for her.
For Michaela.
How could they not see how fucking appealing she was? Any man would be lucky if she even looked at them twice, which, considering I was her husband she better not be looking at anyone once. Never mind twice.
I was pretty sure if her attentions diverted elsewhere, it wouldn’t go over very well with this new possessiveness I felt about her.
Where my wife was concerned, I was borderline fucking psycho. What could I say?
So when one of other cousins asked, “Why are you married to our cousin?”
I had only one response.
“Because I can’t imagine a world where I’m not married to this woman.”
A hush fell over the room and four sets of wide eyes with brilliant smiles below them, turned my way.
“Alright, we took up too much of the newlyweds’ time,” the redhead, Clementine, said, rounding the rest of them up and pushing them towards the door amid a flurry ofgoodbyesandcall you laters.
“Oh, Liam?” she turned back to me.
“Yeah?”
“Our family Christmas party is at this farm my dad owns in upstate New York where we keep the horses. Micky knows where. She didn’t RSVP yet because you were out of town. Can I count on you both to attend?”
“When is it?”
“Next Thursday.”
“we’ll be there,” I said, feeling Michaela tense in my arms.