Reforming the Bear

by Vanessa Devereaux

  As soon as they’d gotten the introductions out of the way Lilly sat down at the end of the row cradling Bridget in her arms.

  “Afternoon, everyone,” she said putting the pacifier back in Bridget’s mouth. “I’m on official aunt duty until the reception.”

  “You are so cute. Such a typical little bear,” said Maisey stroking her cheek.

  Liam coughed, hoping that Lucy didn’t hear the bear bit.

  “Are you coming to the yoga open house at Downward Facing Dog tomorrow?” Maisey asked her.

  “If I can get Christopher to babysit Kaitlin, I can.”

  “Maisey owns a yoga studio with Nick who is sitting over there with his wife Ava.”

  “You want to come too?” Maisey asked Lucy.

  She looked at Liam who nodded to her. “I guess I will.”

  “Great … and how about you, Emily? I’ll be holding a prenatal class at three,” asked Maisey.

  “I guess I’ll give it a try but my belly’s already getting in the way.”

  “You’ll be fine,” said Maisey. “Those three little bears will love the movement.”

  Liam coughed again and then saw Bear signal to him to head down the front, which meant the ceremony would be starting soon. He just hoped Sam would be okay walking his mom down the aisle.

  “I’ll see you at the reception,” he told Lucy.

  “Sure and good luck.”

  Liam stood and headed to the front, getting out his camera so he could snap a few shots of Sam. His heart filled with pride just thinking about the responsibility Danny’s son was undertaking today in front of such a large gathering.

  ****

  “That’s my mom and dad playing the violin and cello,” Maisey told Lucy.

  “Really? I was thinking how great they were. Are they professional?” asked Lucy.

  “Sort of … they used to play with the Missoula Symphony Orchestra. And Dane Reynolds is playing the piano. He met his wife Melanie at Christopher and Lilly’s wedding. That’s her sitting in the second row over there with the cute little bear with the sun hat on him. Oh, these little bears are soo-soo cute.”

  Lucy smiled. She’d never heard babies referred to as little bears before but she had to admit there was something about them that did in fact remind her of a bear too.

  The music the trio started to play switched to the bridal march. Bear and his cousin moved to the center front and everyone stood and turned as Kaitlin began walking and throwing petals everywhere but the ground.

  “Honey, throw them on the ground and not at people,” Lucy heard Lilly telling her as she walked by.

  Next Charlotte dressed in a light pink dress and carrying pink roses followed her. She pulled a face at Bridget, who cooed as she walked by.

  Next were Hannah and Sam. Hannah looked beautiful with her off-the-shoulder white lace dress with its fishtail hemline. And Sam…? Well, Lucy didn’t know him that well but she knew what he meant to Liam and she began to tear up again just thinking about it.

  He looked so handsome in his suit, with the shiny black shoes, and the way he held onto his mother was priceless. Lucy spotted Liam stepping out into the aisle and snapped some photos before stepping back. Sam walked his mother over to Bear and gave him her hand.

  “Remember this is just a loan for the day. I still need Momma,” said Sam.

  Lucy smiled and a ripple of laughter spread through the crowd as everyone sat.

  Bear and Hannah looked so in love standing there facing one another as the judge spoke about them starting a new life together.

  “And now we have a reading from Sam’s uncle, Liam Ahern,” announced the judge.

  Liam cleared his throat as he stepped up to the front and pulled out the sheet of paper. Even from this distance, Lucy saw his hands shaking, and she suddenly felt nervous for him.

  “Love is what we all strive for…”

  Lucy listened to the words about the special moment when you know the person you’re with is the one you will spend the rest of your life with.

  “It’s forgiving, it’s about not having secrets…”

  He looked down at Lucy at that very minute. Did he know that she’d spun some lies? The reason she was in town, her not being an interior designer, her heading home one day soon but yet still let the two of them get physically involved … and now the relationship had moved into second gear.

  Liam continued reading and she looked down at her feet.

  Why was life so complicated?

  Chapter Thirteen

  Liam held Lucy close to him as they made their way around the dance floor. Tomorrow, Bear and Hannah would drop Sam off at his place before they headed to the airport and off to their honeymoon in Hawaii. Not that he wasn’t going to savor every minute his nephew was around, but Sam’s presence meant Lucy and he wouldn’t have any privacy. He didn’t know if he could go a whole week without making love to her.

  “You feel like being naughty?” he whispered in her ear.

  “With you, I always feel like I’m naughty,” she whispered back.

  He went hard just hearing those words slip over her tongue.

  “Follow me,” he said, grabbing hold of her hand.

  He knew the cars were all parked a distance from the venue so they’d have no prying eyes. All he needed to do was find the valet parkers and get his keys.

  Liam squeezed Lucy’s hand.

  “Where are we going?” she asked.

  “You’ll see. Wait here and I’ll be right back.”

  He found the young man drinking a soda.

  “I need to get something from my car and then I’ll bring the keys back,” said Liam, handing him the ticket and a five-dollar bill.

  “Sure … no problem.”

  The boy handed him the keys to the car and soon he and Lucy were heading down each of the aisles looking for the blue Mustang.

  “Bingo,” said Liam, finding it in the second row. Just as he hoped, it appeared to be parked away from any spies.

  He opened the door and pushed the seat back.

  “Get in the back,” he told her.

  Lucy slid and then he got in with her.

  “Are we going to do what I think?” she asked.

  “I think we are,” he said lifting her legs up. He hoisted her dress and roughly pulled down her panties, hanging them on the front seat.

  “Wow, a guy who knows exactly what he wants. I like that,” she said.

  “Oh yeah? Well, I hope you like this too.”

  He put his face between her legs, licked her opening and then pushed his tongue inside her channel.

  “Is this payback for the other day?”

  He didn’t answer her because he was too busy enjoying the taste and smell of Lucy.

  ****

  Lucy leaned forwards running her fingers through Liam’s hair. A guy had only given her oral sex once. It hadn’t been all that great and she hadn’t come but right now she was on the verge of enjoying her first climax of the day.

  He pushed his tongue instead her again, flicking it up and down making her almost squeak. She closed her eyes as she squeezed her thighs and let Liam take her over the edge.

  “More, lots more,” she said, shocked that her voice was so hoarse.

  He lapped at her and then playfully bit her clit, running his teeth up and down until she actually felt the nub grow hard and sensitive.

  She held onto the car seat, crying as she came not once but twice.

  “You have a condom?” she asked him.

  “Never without one since I met you,” he said.

  Liam got up, unzipped his pants and with the finesse only he had, sheathed himself.

  “There’s not much room in here.”

  “Turn over.”

  Lucy turned onto her side and then onto her stomach, feeling Liam inch her dress up some more.

  “This really is…”

  She stopped midsentence when his cock slipped into her pussy.

  “I was going to say so naught
y. What if someone walks by?” she asked.

  “Don’t worry, they can’t see your lovely ass.”

  He drove harder into her.

  Lucy held the seat knowing that she’d soon be getting the special Liam vibrating cock trick.

  “I love it when you do that,” she said feeling it hit her G-spot.

  “And how about this?”

  Oh god, he was biting her neck. She loved that too. She didn’t know why.

  He squeezed her breasts as she came and scratched at the leather seats, hoping that she hadn’t ruined them.

  “I think we should go to more weddings,” he whispered in her ear.

  She came again as she heard him whisper three magical words.

  “I love you.”

  “I love you too,” she said. There it was, out –– and soon she’d have to reveal all.

  Chapter Fourteen

  “Let’s rest the window on the ledge here and we can ease it into the gap,” said Christopher, who’d offered to help Liam install the new window in the apartment the following day. Lilly had taken Lucy to the yoga open house at Downward Facing Wolf. So far Sam hadn’t missed his mom, although Kaitlin had accompanied Christopher and both she and Sam were in the living room playing their favorite board game, so that probably helped.

  “You think you’ll rent this place out once it’s all finished?” asked Christopher sticking the pencil behind his ear.

  “I might. Extra income always helps.”

  “Sure does. I bet you didn’t know that I used to come here to party with Danny and his buddies whenever you went out of town to your car conventions.”

  Yeah, that was the first Liam had heard of it.

  “He was a fun guy,” said Christopher.

  “And I wasn’t.”

  “I didn’t say that. You were always a bit intense. A bit like Aiden … but I guess that’s what happens when you’re the older brother.”

  Christopher was right. Being parentless meant you took on adult responsibilities quickly. However, he hadn’t been able to curb his brother’s sometimes rather playful ways. Well, neither had Aiden until Christopher had met Lilly.

  “I wonder if Danny would have married Hannah. I mean if he’d lived and she would have found him and told him she was pregnant,” said Liam.

  “I think he would have done the right thing,” said Christopher. “You want to give me a hand here … we’ll have this installed in no time.”

  He and Liam pushed it into the opening and it fit perfectly.

  “If the graphic design business goes south there’s something else you can do,” said Liam.

  “Yeah, when you buy a house you quickly learn how to do a hell of a lot of things yourself or it gets expensive. Hey, is it my imagination or are the kids sort of quiet all of a sudden? I never like it when there’s silence and kids are around.”

  Liam listened for any sign of noise. Christopher was right. It had been quiet for a good ten minutes.

  “Think we should go see what they’re up to?” asked Christopher.

  “I think we should.”

  Liam opened the door to see Sam and Kaitlin standing over Lucy’s bag. The bag she’d guarded with her life that night he’d found her and the bag she continued to be obsessed with. She’d told them it was dirty laundry and girlie things but clearly that was not the case.

  “Jeez, Sam, what are you doing in Lucy’s bag?” asked Liam.

  “Kaitlin said something was vibrating in it like her mom and dad’s phones so she unzipped it. I told her not to because it was girlie stuff but she wanted to see it,” said Sam.

  “Kaitlin, how dare you,” said Christopher, pulling her to one side.

  She burst into tears. “I wasn’t being bad,” she sobbed. “Just what the hell is all that?” asked Christopher peering into the bag.

  Liam marched over to it and began pulling out charts, bottles of drugs and photos of what looked like dead people having autopsies done. Plus, a cell phone.

  “Geez, what the f … what are those friggin’ photos?” asked Christopher.

  “What do you think you’re doing?”

  Liam jumped, Christopher too when they saw and heard Lucy standing at the door.

  “I’m…”

  He was about to say he was sorry but words suddenly failed him. He thought he was keeping the mother of all secrets from Lucy, but clearly she had a few of her own.

  ****

  Tears filled Lucy’s eyes. She’d been betrayed.

  “Is there something I can do to help?”

  Lucy expected Liam to come running after her when she’d fled his house after she’d seen the contents of the bag spilled out on the floor. However, it wasn’t him who tracked her down, but Lilly. She’d had a fun afternoon, thinking what a great friend Lilly would make, and now her world had fallen apart.

  They’d gone snooping in the bag, were probably asking loads of questions and by now Liam had probably realized that Lucy hadn’t told him the truth about why she was miles from home.

  “It’s okay, really,” said Lucy, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand.

  “I’m so sorry about Kaitlin opening your bag. She’s going straight to her room as soon as she gets home. She’s usually a great kid but…”

  Lilly put her hand on Lucy’s shoulder. “No, please, it’s not her fault. I know how inquisitive I was at her age.”

  “That’s true … but she’ll still need to know what she did wasn’t right.”

  Lucy nodded. “I guess all of you are wondering what all that stuff is in the bag.”

  “Oh sweetie, whatever it is, isn’t really our business.”

  “Have you ever had to keep a secret?”

  Lilly put her arm around Lucy. “Oh, you wouldn’t believe how many I’ve kept. I never told my mother that my first husband used to beat me. I hid that awful secret from everyone.”

  “It tears you up inside doesn’t it?”

  “It sure does. Is it something you can share with Liam?”

  “I guess I’ll have to, but he’s been so kind and he’s going to find out I lied about what I’m doing here.”

  “Just be honest with him, tell him everything and it will all work out.”

  “It’s all to do with my brother. I mean all the stuff in the bag. He’s in danger and trouble.”

  “If you or your brother needs something then everyone in our group is here to help you. They’re the best bunch of people. When I first started my cleaning business and didn’t have one client, they all rallied around and offered to have their houses cleaned. I don’t know what I would have done had I not met Christopher and all his buddies.”

  “Honey, you ready to leave?” Christopher called to her.

  “Yeah, I’ll be right there. I have to go but you go talk to Liam and everything’s going to be okay, really it is.”

  She hugged her and then stood. “Liam has our number if you need someone to talk to.”

  “Thank you.”

  “And once again sorry for our daughter’s bad behavior this afternoon.”

  Lilly left and Lucy’s legs were still shaking from the shock of seeing the bag open and her secret being out.

  “Lucy.”

  This time it was Liam. She turned around to see him standing in the doorway leaning up against the jamb.

  “I’m sorry,” said Lucy.

  “For what?” he asked. “You want to come back inside and we can talk? Sam’s watching TV so we can go into the bedroom and have some privacy.”

  Lucy managed to get back on her feet. She followed Liam into the house and then through to the bedroom. Once she was inside he closed the door. She sat on the bed and he slid up beside her. He took her hand in his.

  “First of all, I’m sorry that Sam and Kaitlin invaded your privacy like they did.”

  “Liam, they’re kids … they didn’t know and I shouldn’t have been so secretive.”

  “The stuff in your bag, what’s it all about?”

  “I told yo
u my brother works for a drug company.”

  Liam nodded. “He’s head of the research department and he stumbled upon experiments the company’s been doing without him knowing. They’ve been testing new drugs on human subjects without their knowledge and people have died.”

  “The autopsy photos?”

  Lucy nodded. “He needs some time to gather more evidence and he was scared that they might know he was up to something and destroy all those notes and photos so he asked me … no, actually I volunteered, to drive out here, miles away where they’d never find me or the evidence until he told me it was okay to go back.”

  Liam squeezed her hand. “That was a brave thing to do. Your brother has one hell of a sister.” He wiped a tear away from her cheek.

  “He’s a wonderful man and a single father who has two children relying on him, and I was scared for him … for them. This is a huge company who probably wouldn’t think twice about hurting him or his kids if they figured out what he’d stumbled upon or that he’d taken all those things out of the office.”

  “And the reason you guarded that bag so well.”

  “I’m sorry I lied about why I was here. I guess you’ve also figured out I’m not really an interior designer?”

  Liam laughed and put his arm around her shoulder. “Oh, I think you’re pretty good at decorating.”

  “I was scared that once you found out about me and my motives for hiding out you’d hate me. And I’d never want you to do that.”

  “So, what’s been going on between us … is that real?”

  She turned toward him, looking straight into those gorgeous eyes of his.

  “It’s been real, all right.”

  “But you weren’t going to stay?” He looked down after he’d spoken.

  “No, I would have needed to leave –– but I would have come back. Well, that’s if you’d have wanted me to.”

  He kissed her. “I have something to tell you. Now’s as good as time as any.” He lifted her hand and kissed it. “Don’t feel guilty about your secret because I’ve been keeping one from you too.”

  It had been too good to be true. Please don’t let him tell me he isn’t the sort of guy for a long-term commitment, or worse, still he has a wife someplace that he never got around to divorcing. Both things were excuses loads of her friends heard all the time from guys they’d gotten serious with.