Caught in the Act

by Michelle Minikin

  “Morning,” I say with a grin, lifting my coffee cup to take another sip.

  “Good morning,” Kensley answers.

  “I could get used to this.” I lower my mug again and turn my head, after which, Kensley presses a soft kiss to me.

  “I think I could too.” She unwinds her arms from my neck and walks, barefoot, toward the Adirondack chair beside mine, but I grab and tug her hand. Moving my cup out of the way, I pull her down to my lap.

  Kensley, in a pair of pajama pants and a sweatshirt she brought from her apartment, curls up on my lap like she’s meant to be there. I lean so I can put my coffee cup down on the deck, then wrap my arms around her.

  “You sleep good?”

  She nods, adjusting herself so she can rest her head on my shoulder. “I did. It was a good night.” There’s the smallest flush of pink on her cheeks.

  “It was.”

  “Thank you,” she whispers.

  “Nothing to thank me for, Kens.”

  The happy sigh is all I get in answer.

  We sit there in silence for a good five minutes before Kensley says, “So…propose the girls and I do move in… They don’t go to bed until six-thirty, seven. Will you be upset if they keep you awake during the week?”

  “Nope.” I may answer quickly, but I’m absolutely sure of it.

  “What if someone decides they need to cuddle all night? Or, they crawl into the bed at, say, one-thirty. Two. Right before your alarm.”

  “Still wouldn’t be upset.” I kiss her forehead then turn my head forward again, resting my cheek to the top of her head.

  “You say that now, but Liam, living with those two is different than just hanging out.”

  “You trying to scare me?” I ask with a chuckle.

  “No, just wanting to be positive you don’t get in over your head.”

  “I want you guys here,” I say softly. “And I mean that.”

  “Okay.”

  That sits for a moment, before her single word fully registers. “Okay, like, okay, you’ll move in?”

  Kensley shrugs the shoulder that’s against my chest and turns her face into my shoulder more. I’m pretty sure she’s smiling. Which is cool, because I’m grinning like a fucking fool.

  “Yeah?” I ask, needing to hear her say it.

  “Yeah.” She pushes away then, just enough so we can have a face to face conversation. “I do have to give a thirty-day notice.”

  “That’s cool.” I’m trying to play it cool, but I’m clearly failing because Kensley is obviously amused with me.

  “God,” she laughs, a small shake to her head, “you’re going to be in so far over your head.”

  Chapter Eighteen

  Kensley

  While I had to give thirty-days’ notice, it didn’t mean we couldn’t start shifting our lives to Liam’s place.

  Because I worked throughout the week, and Liam worked early mornings, we could only do moving things on the weekends, and because Saturdays were our park and dinner-out days, that left Sundays.

  It only took two more Sundays before we had everything settled and, because she did so well during our sleepover, I decided it was time for Sawyer to be in her big girl bed—which made her very excited.

  Even if her mama was very nervous.

  Liam pushed her bed up against the wall though, so between the wall and the rail, I was mostly okay with her sleeping arrangements.

  Then, there were the linens.

  London had her linens from the apartment, but this was Sawyer’s first big girl bed. I was okay with her just having the floral ones that were already on the beds, but Liam said no, Sawyer could have girly sheets.

  So, folding, I said okay, but that she could have a plain spread similar to London’s but again, Liam persuaded me differently.

  My girls have Liam wrapped around their fingers, and rather than London with her solid pink bed things and Sawyer with her own set, both girls now have fun girly prints.

  I drew the line at characters though—they’d outgrow them too fast—and while it wasn’t necessarily the easiest thing to give in to, I allowed Liam to buy them fancy new linens.

  It made him happy.

  “I still can’t believe you did this,” Liam says, running his hand over the dresser I redid. It now lived in London’s room; I’d have to do one for Sawyer. “My sister pays a lot of money for these kinds of things on that Etsy site.”

  I shrug, rubbing at a spot that I wish I’d taken more time on. “I enjoy it. If you’re okay with it, I’m going to have to get a second for Sawyer. I can redo it in the car port maybe.”

  “Wherever.” He shrugs. “There, the back deck, the fourth bedroom. I can get a buddy to pick it up with me and bring it here, then, whenever you’re done, I can get it in the house.”

  “I can move a dresser,” I try, even though I know what he’s going to say.

  “You shouldn’t.”

  “I’m only twenty-nine weeks pregnant,” I answer stubbornly, but I know that lifting heavy items when I’m not exactly a power lifter normally, is frowned upon.

  “You’re having that baby in ten weeks. Let’s not have it happen sooner.”

  I cross my arms. “You having second thoughts?”

  I don’t know why, but I always resort to this. It’s like an automatic, snap comment.

  “About you moving in? No, Kens, you know better than that.”

  “About the instant family,” I snap back. Agh! I can’t stop it! “Not ready for this baby?,” I continue because hell, I’m already there; might as well finish this show. “Need it to be ten weeks, so you can wrap your head all the way around it?”

  But Liam, he doesn’t pay any mind to my stress hormones. He just pulls me in and turns me so my back is to his chest. This way, he can stand flush against me, not a single inch of space between our bodies. His hands are locked in mine as he brings one of his arms to cradle below my belly, and the other, banding over my chest.

  Then, his voice low and dangerously on edge, he says, “I love your girls. I don’t even know this baby, but I know I’ll love it like I do them. And you listen real hard right now, Kensley Ann, because I only get to say it the first time, once.” He squeezes my hands. “You listening?”

  I swallow hard, and suddenly the stress hormones are turning to emotional ones.

  I know what he’s going to say before the words even leave his mouth and…and…

  They don’t scare me.

  “I’m listening.” It comes out as a whisper and, knowing Liam, he can hear the emotion in the words.

  “I love you. You, Kensley.” He squeezes his arms around me in emphasis. “I love you, and your kids, and I will not be changing my mind tomorrow, ten weeks from now, or ten years from now. You hear me?”

  I’m nodding as my eyes fill with tears.

  “You hear me?” he repeats, his voice no longer rough but with its own emotion.

  “I hear you.”

  “Okay then.” He kisses just in front of my ear and I’m a little surprised he doesn’t demand the words back.

  But they scare me.

  I’ve loved one person, but what I felt for Mark barely touches the surface of what I feel for Liam.

  It first started blooming to life at the train restaurant. Watching him interact with Sawyer.

  And it only grew bigger and bolder from there.

  I love Liam.

  For who he is.

  For who he is with the girls.

  Who he is with me.

  And who I know he’ll be with the baby.

  Everything Mark couldn’t be bothered to be.

  Everything fairy tales are made of.

  He’s my very own Prince Charming, rescuing me when—

  No.

  He helped me find my way.

  He guided me, letting me make my decisions.

  I turn in his arms and look up at him with wet eyes. He doesn’t ask me if I’m okay, doesn’t ask why I’m crying.

  Just wipe
s at my cheeks, gently, with his thumbs.

  “You’re not supposed to cry when someone tells you they love you,” he finally says, his voice gruff.

  “You’re not supposed to find forever after you already thought you had it.”

  “Forever, yeah?” His grin is cocky again but the emotion in his eyes…

  “I think so,” I say instead of calling him out on it. Then I welcome his kiss.

  * * *

  Later the next week, on Thursday night—really, Friday morning—when I pull into the car port, I known Liam will be awake. Just like he obviously knew I wouldn’t be able to let the girls sleep at Sharon’s.

  The girls and I had been in Liam’s place, officially, for two weeks now, and this was the first non-Friday night shift I’d had at the grocery store. Because Liam worked in the morning, I insisted on the girls going to Sharon’s for dinner and the night.

  I told him I’d probably let them sleep at Sharon’s, but in the end…

  I needed my girls with me, and Liam knew me well enough to guess I’d bring them home when I was done with my shift.

  According to Sharon, Mark left town again, but his lack of communication still makes me nervous. The last thing I want is for London to get hurt and confused over seeing him or talking to him on video chat. We’re in a good place right now; she’s stopped asking when Mark is coming around.

  It isn’t that I don’t want the girls near Mark—he’s their father.

  But I need him to man up and make plans.

  And then freaking keep them.

  I blow out the breath of frustration, and instead focus on moving the SUV into the car port.

  I don’t even have the SUV off before Liam steps out of the house, wearing sweat pants and a hoodie. He’s wearing his typical studio attire, but also looks like he just rolled out of bed.

  Glancing at the clock radio, I figure he must have set his alarm a little earlier than normal.

  “I told you to sleep,” I say, getting out of the vehicle.

  “And I told you I’m not super comfortable with you carrying the girls. Sawyer, sure, but not London.” He sounds tired and he sounds concerned, but he doesn’t sound angry.

  Wordlessly, we each unbuckle a girl and bring them inside, and to bed.

  I meet Liam in our bedroom, as I’m sitting on the bed and toeing off my shoes.

  “You’re swelling,” he says, kneeling by my feet, lifting one and rubbing lightly.

  I moan as I close my eyes. That feels wonderful.

  “I was thinking…” His voice cuts through my pleasure.

  I open my eyes slowly, to where he’s still kneeling at my feet, now rubbing my other lower leg and ankle.

  “I know this has all been a really big change for you, but I think maybe you should quit the store.”

  That wakes me up. “Huh?”

  He squeezes my ankle before moving to sit beside me. “You’re tired all the time, Kens. It doesn’t matter if you’re doing an afternoon shift or a night shift. And it’s not like you girls add that much to my energy bill, so the expense of you being here hasn’t changed.”

  “But—”

  “Hear me out.”

  I puff out my cheeks and throw myself backward to lay on the bed—only to immediately roll to my side. My back is not a fun place to be anymore.

  Liam goes down to lean on his arm but takes my hand in his free one.

  “Your furniture, Kensley…” He’s staring at my hands and playing with my knuckles. “I think you should sell it. Not the girls’ stuff, or the stuff you’re finishing for the baby’s room, but new stuff.” Those green eyes of his lift then. “I really think you could do something with it all, though.”

  “It’s too risky,” I say quickly, a frown on my face. “Who’s to say it would even sell? Then, we’d have all this bulky furniture with nowhere to put it.”

  “Think about it?”

  “I guess.”

  “Please?”

  “I’ve never known a man who wants a kept woman as bad as you, Liam Hardt,” I try to tease but apparently it doesn’t come off that way.

  “I don’t want… It’s not…” He sighs and releases my hand, dropping to his back. “I just want you happy. And you’re so damn tired all the time.”

  “I’m in my third trimester, Liam. Tired is a constant state.”

  “Yeah. You are. And I get that women are working until the day they give birth all the time, but I just think you’d be happier doing something else.”

  I scoot close to him and drop my leg over his hips, adjusting myself so my belly rests comfortably against him. “So, it’s really about my happiness, and not any other reason?”

  Liam slips his arm around me and nods. “Yeah, babe.”

  “Well, okay… I get that, and I’d love to try, maybe after the baby’s born, because insurance—”

  He says something rushed, but I’m pretty sure it’s along the lines of ‘going on his.’

  I push up, so I can look down at him. “Excuse me?”

  He’s looking everywhere but me.

  “Liam.”

  He sighs and looks at me but tugs me back to his chest. “I could put you on mine.”

  That wasn’t all he’d said, and I know it. “You can’t just put someone on your insurance, Liam.”

  “Unless we got married.”

  I bark out a laugh, pushing up again. “Yeah, no. Wa-a-ay too soon, Liam.” I’m shaking my head and pushing away from the bed.

  “Kens.” I hear him moving around but I’m leaving the bedroom before he can reach me.

  But of course, he just pushes into the bathroom behind me.

  “We both know where this is going. Where we want it to go.”

  I point to myself, as I lower my words to a whisper even though the heat behind them is all there. “I’m just coming out of an eight-year relationship, Liam. With a guy I have three kids with. Yeah, Mark’s been quiet but it’s only a matter of time before he comes after me. Do you know what a marriage would look like to a judge? To leave that relationship, accusing Mark of cheating on me, only for me to be the one in a new relationship, and married no less?”

  “Kensley. He. Can’t. Do. Anything. You weren’t married. He didn’t sign the girls’ certificates.”

  “But he still can! And if I deny him that, he can have the courts mandate a DNA test. My character cannot be the reason I lose my girls.” Everything is starting to pile up now, and I feel my eyes tingle with oncoming tears.

  Liam steps close and I let him, but mostly because I have nowhere to go in this small bathroom. “You will not lose the girls.”

  “You can’t promise that.”

  “I can promise that I’ll do anything and everything in my power to keep you and those girls, and this baby,” he palms my stomach, “happy, safe, and loved. Mark has nothing. There is not a judge alive who will grant him full custody. Weekends, sure, but not all the damn time.”

  I turn my head and, with my palm, wipe at the tears starting to fall. Shaking my head, I stare at the wall. “It’s too much, Liam. Just leave everything as it is. It’s good now, right? Why ruin this?”

  He takes my face then and, with those gentle hands of his, forces me to look up at him. “Marrying you would not ruin anything. Forever, Kens.” Liam presses a light kiss to my forehead. “I’m banking on forever.”

  Then, he steps out of the bathroom, leaving me to get ready for sleep—and leaving the house for work.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Liam

  Mae and Josh came over for dinner that evening.

  While the kids all play in the back with Guinness, Mae helps clean up in the kitchen.

  “I’m sorry that I have to go,” Kensley apologizes again, rushing from our bedroom after having changed into her black shirt and khaki bottoms for the store. We haven’t been able to talk about our conversation from way earlier this morning. Between work and the girls, then with my sister and nephew coming over, it’s almost like the conversati
on was forgotten about. “It was very nice to meet you, Mae.”

  My sister smiles and walks over to give Kensley a hug, before stepped aside as I walk Kensley out to her car. “Tomorrow, we’ll go to Goodwill and grab furniture,” I say, ignoring the lingering question and instead focusing on the easier one.

  She agreed to trying to sell one piece of furniture.

  “The baby’s stuff has to happen first, Liam.” This was her argument—she isn’t going to renovate items for sale until she has everything set in the house.

  Which I absolutely agree with…but we’re also buying another dresser.

  Rather than say that, I kiss her. “Wake me when you get home.”

  “You’ve been up since one-thirty, Liam.”

  I kiss her again, boxing her in against the SUV. “Wake me when you get home.”

  This time, she smiles. It’s not her full-smile, and that tells me our early morning conversation has been weighing on her mind, too. “Yes, sir,” she teases instead.

  I wink down at her then pull back, allowing her to get into the car. As she reverses from the port, I tap the hood of the SUV then lift my hand in a wave. Through the window, I can see Kensley smile at me.

  When she’s safely down the road, I head back into the house.

  “She seems nice,” Mae says with a tight smile on her face, when I get back into the kitchen.

  “She is. You guys got along well.” I’m trying for small talk, but I feel like Mae is holding something back.

  It doesn’t take long for her to say what’s on her mind though.

  “I think it’s too fast,” she rushes out, throwing the hand towel down on the counter and crossing her arms. “You’ve known her, what? A month? Two?”

  I don’t bother to confirm.

  Mae glances out the window and, with her voice low, says, “I think she’s using you.”

  “What?” That’s just about the most ridiculous thing my sister could say.

  “I mean, look at it, Liam.” She goes to hop up and sit on the counter. “She’s pregnant, ready to pop. Has two kids already. She needed a place to stay…” Mae lifts her shoulders slowly, like those points answered everything.