“Are you okay?”
Unable to speak past the emotions clogging her throat, she nodded. She was still a little sore from the accident yesterday, but she was alive and loved by the best man in the world. No one would hear any complaints from her.
He kissed the top of her head before setting her down. “Do not, in any way, think I’m letting you off for the stunt you pulled. You should have told me about Kline the moment he escaped. Your butt is in serious trouble, Julie Ryder.”
She laughed, knowing he was only half-serious. One dark brow rose. Okay, three-quarters serious.
“Thank you for looking out for her.”
Liam placed his gun in the lock box in the coat closet then held up his good arm “If it wasn’t for Julie and her quick thinking, the outcome might have been different. She was amazing.”
Tears of pride pricked her eyes at his statement. She loved this man so much. If it came down to it, she’d risk it all again for him. No question.
“You okay, man?” Her brother motioned to Liam’s right arm, held up in the sling she insisted he put back on before they fell asleep.
“I’ll be fine.”
She knew he was lying. The doctors at the hospital told him he might have residual issues from his injury. If he couldn’t fully recover to pass his shooting test what would he do? Leave the FBI? In her mind, she never pictured Liam as anything other than a white knight, protector of the innocent. What would he do without the badge?
Something they could discuss at a later date. Right now, she was just thankful to be alive and surrounded by the people she loved.
“We didn’t mean to wake you two. Go back to bed. We can catch up after a few hours of sleep.” Kayla smiled, taking charge the way only a teacher could.
“I think bed sounds like an excellent idea,” Liam whispered in her ear, grazing the shell with his lips.
“Jeeze, man. I said I was okay with it, not that I wanted to see it,” her brother groaned, covering his eyes. “Save that for the bedroom.” His hand fell, eyes wide and horrified. “But not my bedroom, please tell me you didn’t—”
“Gross, Jake. No!” This was so not a conversation she wanted to have with her brother. “I would never do…that on your bed. Liam moved his stuff into my room.”
“Thank God.” Her brother sighed. “I mean, I know you’re an adult and stuff, but I just—”
“Stop, Jake, please. Let’s just go to our rooms and pretend we’re all sleeping.” Because she didn’t want her brother to know she was having sex, but she also didn’t want to think about her brother and Kayla having sex either.
He let out a relieved breath. “Works for me.”
They shuffled about, each going to their respective rooms. It was still early, but she knew she wouldn’t get back to sleep, and there was no way she was doing anything with her brother in the house. Instead, she dressed and decided to make breakfast. Liam offered to help, but she declined, reminding him of his last attempt at cooking the morning meal.
While he caught up with her brother—who also simply went to his room to drop off his bags and came back out—she went to the kitchen. Kayla came out soon after and helped her make eggs, bacon, and pancakes. As they all sat together, eating and catching up, she couldn’t help but feel as if this was the beginning of something wonderful.
Glancing around the table at the man she loved, her brother, and his wife, Julie couldn’t remember a happier time in her life. A small bit of unease slipped in. She and Liam had not discussed the future or what they were going to do once they left Peak Town.
She tried to push the negative thought away. Today was a day for celebrating being alive with the ones she loved. But they lingered throughout the meal, like a ticking time bomb she couldn’t defuse.
Chapter 27
“Maggie, these cupcakes are amazing,” Julie said around a mouthful of strawberry cheesecake-cupcake. “It’s a good thing you don’t have a shop in Aspen or I’d be eating them every day and gain fifty pounds.”
The baker laughed as she swirled frosting on a row of chocolate cupcakes, squeezing the piping bag expertly, not a drop falling where it shouldn’t.
A month had passed since thwarting a crazy murderer. Jason Kline was behind bars once again—this time, in a secure federal prison. In addition to serving his life sentence for killing his girlfriend, he was now being charged with the murder of Pamela and Carrie and attempted murder of a civilian and federal officer. Agent Graves told her they were seeking the death penalty.
No matter what Kline received, he wasn’t getting out ever again.
She’d returned to Aspen and her job; Liam had returned to Denver. The long distance was hard, but they talked every day, texted, and saw each other on the weekends. Sometimes he drove up to her, others she would go to the city. The arrangement worked, but she missed him so much during the week.
More than once, she debated quitting her job, packing everything up and moving to Denver. They needed lawyers in the city. She’d even spoken to an old college buddy in the state department who said he could get her an interview with the DA’s office. The offer was tempting, but she and Liam hadn’t discussed her moving to be with him, and she didn’t want to seem presumptuous or clingy. This was the best relationship she had ever been in, and she didn’t want to screw it up by moving too fast.
“Are those chocolate raspberry tart cupcakes done yet? I’m starving.”
“Lizzy Denning, you have had four cupcakes today alone,” Maggie admonished her business partner as she came out from the back office, papers in hand. “You’re going to rot all your teeth out.”
“Maggie, sweetie, I love you, but you are not my mother. I’ve been doing budgeting all day, running on four hours of sleep because Ellie is colicky, and I need sugar to fuel me. Now, hand over the cupcake so nobody gets hurt. I’m exhaustrated.”
“That’s not a word.”
Lizzy rolled her eyes. “It should be. Exhausted and frustrated. The worst of both worlds. Gimmie.”
The smaller woman shook her head, but dutifully handed over one of the cupcakes she had just finished frosting. Julie laughed, used to the women’s playful banter. She counted herself lucky to call these amazing women friends. After the incident with Kline, they’d brought over two dozen delicious desserts—which her brother and Liam promptly ate most.
“So, Julie. No Liam this weekend?”
Swallowing the rest of the delicious cupcake, she shook her head. “Sadly no. He had some important meeting with his boss. Couldn’t get out of it, but I’ll see him next weekend.”
“Long distance is hard.”
“Yeah, but my job keeps me pretty busy during the week, so I don’t have that much time to think about it.”
Lies. Sometimes it was all she thought about—the time they were missing together. She wanted to come home after a hard day in court and tell Liam all about it, to his face, not over a phone line. Dinner for one, no matter how delicious, was always so lonely now. The need to see him, touch him, was a physical ache deep in her soul. She didn’t need Liam to function, but she wanted him near to share her day, his day. The desire to be with him got so great at times she found herself checking the traffic reports on the highways, debating how quickly she could get to Denver and back.
Long distance wasn’t just hard, it sucked.
“So, how is the summer looking? Getting a lot of tourist business yet?” she asked as a change of subject.
Maggie smiled, batting Lizzy’s hand away when she reached for another cupcake. “The flow is good, shaping up to be very busy. We might even have to hire some part-time workers for the season.”
“What about Jamie? I thought she planned on coming back this summer when school let out?”
The shop got quiet. Both women glanced to the back where their employee Tony was washing dishes. Maggie leaned forward, speaking in hushed tones.
“She was supposed to come back for the summer, but…”
Leaning in herself, she co
pied the whisper. “But what?”
Lizzy answered when Maggie hesitated. “Tony came in one day just after spring break super upset, and then all of a sudden Jamie emails us and says she’s taking an internship and won’t be back this summer.”
Julie glanced toward the back. Tony stood at the sink, scrubbing a mixing bowl vigorously. Now that she thought about it, Julie hadn’t seen the easy smile on the young man’s face the last few times she’d come in. He was always polite and courteous, but the spark inside him had dimmed. She knew he and Jamie had been something of sweethearts.
“Did he and Jamie have a fight or something?” She kept her voice low, not wanting to upset the sweet kid.
“I don’t know,” Maggie replied. “But he’s been very quiet lately, not his usual cheerful self.”
“My guess is the long distance became too much and they broke up.”
Lizzy’s bluntly spoken words hit like a missile to the gut.
“It’s gotta be hard for them. They’re both so young, and it’s such a great distance.”
As the two women talked in quiet voices about their young employees’ relationship woes, Julie couldn’t stop the dread from filling her. She knew her relationship with Liam was different. They were older and closer in distance than Jamie and Tony. Still, the young lovers failed attempt at long distance brought her own relationship into stark light.
How long could she and Liam go living so far apart?
The scrumptious cupcake now sat like a rock in the pit of her stomach.
Pasting on a happy smile, she bade the women goodbye, making the excuse that she had to drive back home. She’d only come up to Peak Town to get her mind off not seeing Liam this weekend. It was Sunday afternoon now, and she really did need to get back before the traffic got too bad.
Julie stopped by her brother’s house for her things, said a quick, “See ya later,” to him and Kayla, and then set out toward Aspen. Her dark, empty apartment greeted her when she got home. It sure didn’t feel like home anymore.
Home was wherever Liam was.
Depression settling heavy on her, she went to her fridge and got out a bottle of wine. It was a cabernet and comedy movie kind of night. Slap-stick, no romantic comedy. Her poor heart couldn’t take any lovey-dovey stuff right now. Not when she herself was being denied the pleasure.
As she settled on the couch—wine in one hand, remote in the other—her cell rang. Her heart leapt, recognizing the ring tone as Liam’s.
Tossing the remote on the cushion beside her, she answered, a smile on her face. “Just the man I was thinking about.”
“Hey, sweetheart.”
She let his deep, soothing voice wash over her. “Hey, babe. How did your meeting go?”
“Went great. How was your day?”
“Oh fine. I went by Cupcakes Above the Clouds and talked with Maggie and Lizzy.”
There was a pause on the line. His voice became hesitant. “Are you in Peak Town?”
She took a deep sip of wine before answering, tucking her legs underneath her on the couch. “No. I was, but I’m back home now. Gotta work tomorrow.”
“Ah, good.”
She bit her lips, wishing with everything in her he was here beside her, holding her tight. “I-I miss you.”
She always felt vulnerable revealing her feelings to Liam. She knew he loved her, but everything with him was so wonderful she was afraid she’d jinx it if she revealed how much she desperately missed him. No one liked coming off as needy.
“I miss you, too, honey. But I’ll see you soon.”
“How soon?” She couldn’t stop the tiny hint of pleading in her voice from creeping through.
A soft chuckle came over the line. “Open your front door.”
“What?”
Heartbeat pounding, she placed her wine on the coffee table, phone still pressed to her ear. Practically running to her front door, she threw it open, heart bursting with joy to find Liam standing there, bag in his hand, smile on his face.
“Liam!” She threw herself into his arms, phone slipping from her grasp to land on the floor. She didn’t care if it broke. She’d break a thousand phones if it meant she would be in his arms again. “You’re here.”
“I am.”
She pulled him inside, slamming the door behind him. Grabbing his hand, she tugged him toward her bedroom.
“Honey, hold on.” He laughed as she did no such thing. “I want to talk to you about something.”
They entered the bedroom, and she released his hand. Too excited to listen to anything he had to say, she reached for the edge of her shirt, tugging it over her head and throwing it to the ground.
“Talk later, make love to me now.”
His golden eyes turned hazy with lust. The bag in his hand fell to the floor with a thud. A sexy grin curved those delicious lips she missed so much.
“Later works.”
He removed his own shirt, grabbing her and pulling him to her for a fierce kiss. They fell onto the bed, clothing flying, hands caressing. It was fast and phenomenal.
After, they lay in bed, breath coming in harsh little pants, skin slick with sweat.
“I gotta say, I like your welcome home.”
“Move in with me, and I’ll greet you like that every night.” She slapped a hand over her mouth. The words just slipped out in the afterglow. She was supposed to be playing it cool, a sophisticated woman of the world in a long distance relationship. Not a needy one, desperate for the man she loved to spend every moment with her.
“Is that a real offer?”
Closing her eyes, she sucked in a deep breath. Cat was out of the bag now. She could play off her statement as a joke or she could woman up and admit this distance thing was really hard on her, and she wanted more.
She gazed deeply into Liam’s eyes, preparing to lay her heart bare. “Yes. I know the distance is only a few hours, but I’m tired of only seeing you on the weekends. I want to see you every day. I love you, and it’s hard to be apart from you. I can move to Denver. I’ve already talked to someone about a job there. I don’t mean to put any pressure on you or anything, I just…I just miss you.”
She waited—breath stuck in her throat, nerves jumbled—for him to respond.
A wide grin split his face. “I miss you, too, honey. But don’t move to Denver.”
Her heart shattered, pain like nothing she had ever known ripped through her. There it was. She put her heart on the line and had it rejected. It had been a risk, but damn, she didn’t know it would hurt this bad.
“It’d be a shame if you moved somewhere I wasn’t.”
Wait, what? “Huh?”
He chuckled, hand stroking her cheek, brushing the hair back from her face. “That meeting I had? It was actually an interview for a new position. Head of the FBI’s new office…in Aspen.” He leaned over to place a soft kiss on her lips. “I got the job. Looks like I’ll need a place to stay. So, I’d say it’s a good thing you offered me one.”
Happiness burst from every pore. Tears of joy streamed down her face. Grabbing his jaw in her hands, she kissed him with every ounce of love in her.
Once she was done kissing him, she leaned back and smacked him on his good shoulder. “You big jerk, how long have you known about this?”
“A couple of weeks. I didn’t want to get your hopes up until it was a done deal.”
She would get him for that later, right now, she was too happy to be mad. Liam was moving in with her! Cloud nine was miles below the happiness she felt.
“When are you moving in?”
“Right now…if you’re okay with that.”
Okay? She wanted to lock the door and never let him leave.
Knowing she was grinning like an idiot and not caring one bit, she nodded. “I am most definitely okay with that. On one condition.”
He glanced warily at her, brows pulling down. “What?”
“You have to agree to always play by house rules.”
Rolling those amazin
gly beautiful golden eyes, he grinned. “As long as the house is ours, I’ll play by any rules you want, honey.”
“Good, then let’s celebrate with some more naked time.” She bobbed her eyebrows, making him laugh.
“You read my mind.”
As Liam rose above her, Julie reflected on how crazy it all was. It took a murderer on the loose to throw them together and finally allow them to reveal their true feelings for one another. Life sure dealt her some crazy hands, but Liam was, and now always would be, the Ace up her sleeve.
A word about the author…
Mariah began writing at the tender age of five. Her first book, George and the Green Glob, received high praise from her mother. Many years, and green glob stories later, Mariah received a playwriting degree from the University of Wyoming. After a few years in Hollywood, working in “the biz,” she came home to the beautiful Rocky Mountains. When she’s not writing, Mariah loves to read, crochet, and play her ukulele. She loves to hear from readers.
You can contact her through her website www.mariahankenman.com or on twitter @MAsbooks
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Love on the Forbidden Side Page 17