by Rachel Kane
Now the water is ready to add to this work, to do healing of its own. Maybe a more physical healing, more literal and less metaphorical; as Liam sinks into the water, he gasps, unused to the feeling it gives him of being drawn in yet being more buoyant. The water feels different, feels softer, gentler, but seems to lift him up, as though it doesn’t quite want him to sink.
“I love it,” he whispers, before his mouth goes under, nose, eyes, his entire head sinking into the warmth. Oh, to be able to breathe down here. Oh, to live in this warmth forever. When he rises, gasps and inhales, his eyes open and he sees Mason staring, with so much love in his gaze that it threatens to break his heart all over again. Their fingers entwine.
“Listen,” says Mason, and although he means it as a prelude to what he’s about to say, Liam takes him at his word, and opens his awareness to the sounds around him, the gentle lapping of the water against the edges of the great tub, the way the water echoes against the tiles. The pings and ticks of the copper pipes, brought to life again. The subtle hiss of the lanterns, and the low, submerged beating of his own heart. He listens.
“I realize the house is a commitment itself,” Mason says, sliding through the water to get closer to him, “especially if the grant comes through and we can really open this place—”
“When the grant comes through,” Liam assures him.
“But that’s all about our commitment to the place, instead of to each other.”
“Do you feel uncommitted?” Liam asks, murmuring against Mason’s shoulder.
“No. That’s just it. I want more commitment. I want the whole world to know you’re mine.”
“I think we’ve done a pretty good job of showing them so far.”
“Liam—” His hands rise to Liam’s face, holding him still and steady. “I want to marry you.”
Marry.
He realizes he has been avoiding that word. Dodging around it, careful not to hint at it. Another little secret, another little fear. I’ve been married, he wants to say. It just sets you up for more pain, if things go wrong—
He blinks, as Mason touches his hair, his eyelids, his lips. “Spill it,” Mason orders, and so Liam does. He names his fear, he strips the secrecy away from it.
“I’ve done it once…what if it ends badly, what if you—” He can’t quite bring himself to say the word, but when Mason pulls him on top of him, it is with a look of a ferocious species of love.
“I’m not going to drop dead on you, okay? No secrets. No secrets. I’m not Richard, I’m not your dad, I’m not anybody in your life but myself. Hell, if I have to, I’ll go to the doctor for every little sniffle and cold, if it’ll convince you.”
Liam realizes something else. That secret, that fear, has been slowly eroding from underneath. He had been thinking of it as a deep thing, yet every moment he was with Mason, when he saw his openness, his honesty, that fear was being taken away, grain by grain, until the final shape was brushed away by Mason’s words.
“Promise me,” he says.
“That’s the whole point,” Mason replies. “I want to make promises to you. I want to be with you forever.”
“Me too,” he says, “me too. We’ll do it. We’ll get in front of the whole town—”
“Special seats in the front for the Mulgrews—”
“And I’ll vow before the entire world that I’m yours.”
Mason raises his arms. “And look, we already have a perfect place for the reception. Er, that is, if I can get the yard to look less like a jungle.”
“And we could use the great hall…if I can get it cleaned up.”
“God, there’s so much to do.”
“There is,” says Liam, and presses his face in the hollow of Mason’s throat. “It’s wonderful.”
It’s true. If there’s one thing they share in common, it’s this love of big projects, big, complicated things that will take a ton of time and work and attention and care. A wedding reception at Superbia Springs? So much work. The idea gives them a special kind of joy and anticipation.
Love itself is that same kind of project. Big, complicated. It takes forever, if you’re lucky.
Liam realizes, there in the great tub, in the flickering light of the lanterns, held by his new fiance, how much he has been wanting a project like this. The great, grand project of opening your heart for an entire lifetime. The sort of project that requires the help of just the right man. The man whose arms were around him now.
There’s one more mystery: How did Thaddeus and Liam’s dad actually meet? Find out by clicking here to download the exclusive story! https://claims.prolificworks.com/free/OPSEGFkV
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More Romance from Rachel!
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UNLAWFUL ENTRY: Jesse’s had run-ins with the law before, but when Sheriff Wyatt finally gets him behind bars, those handcuffs will take on a whole new purpose.
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LOST WITH YOU — When their plane crashes in the mountain, Eli’s camping trip turns into a disaster…except that now he has met protective, strong Jake, who saves his life. Now Eli’s just waiting for a chance to return the favour.