by Abby Brooks
“Is that a yes?” Ty pinches the ring between two fingers and holds it out to me. “Will you make me the happiest man in the world and marry me?”
I nod. “Yes. Without a doubt. Yes.”
LEXI
Ty’s physical therapist lives up to all the hype. It’s not long before he’s ditched the crutches in favor of a cane, which he seems to think makes him the most badass of all the badasses in the world. We have to rent a storage unit because my house isn’t big enough for all of my stuff plus his stuff, too, but all and all, moving him into my house is very easy. As soon as Ty’s strong enough, we plan a trip to Key West for the three of us.
While we’re there, we get married on the beach. The ceremony is simple--just me, Ty, Gabe, and a minister--but it’s beautiful. The ocean rushes up onto the beach as the sun sets over the water. Gabe and I both cry and I’ve never seen Ty look more handsome than he does that day, in his white button up shirt and bare feet. That night, we start trying for a baby.
Ty decides to start a personal security firm and I fully support the idea. I can’t think of a better way for him to employ all of the leadership and combat skills he earned in the Marines. Liam offered to help him get started, since his old life in LA gave him personal and in-depth knowledge about what makes a bodyguard better than good. The two of them have been hanging out more and more often and apparently, somewhere along the line, Liam started talking to Ty about expanding my house to make more room for the three of us.
“You should be very worried about that,” says Bailey, pointing to where Liam, Ty, and David are inspecting a wall in the kitchen while throwing around words like demolish and load-bearing.
“You think?” I smile at my friend and eye my husband as I take a sip of water.
Bailey widens her eyes and makes a show of nodding her head. “Very. Take it from me. Do not let him start work on one bathroom until there’s a second one in working order. Nothing good can come of it.”
Michelle laughs and shakes her head. “You’re never going to let Liam live that mistake down, are you?” she asks.
“Have you ever tried living without a working bathroom?” Bailey widens her eyes and then flares her hands. “I didn’t think so. It’s traumatizing.” She laughs and smiles before turning to me. “How’s the business coming along? Liam sounds so enthusiastic about everything when he brings up Reed Security.”
I shift in my seat. “Things are going better than I would have expected. Ty’s taking to being a business owner like he was made for it. He’s researched every aspect of starting a business and works harder than I thought anyone ever could. Reed Security is going to be highly successful, I think.”
“That’s what Liam says.” Bailey runs a finger along the condensation of her glass.
“Are you sure Liam is okay with getting Ty in contact with some of his old LA connections?” I ask Bailey. “If not, now is the time to tell me so we don’t overstep.”
She nods decisively. “Definitely. Liam is thrilled to help. He has so many old friends who are in need of well-trained personal security and we have no doubt that Ty will train his men to be the best in the business.” Bailey smiles.
“That’s the goal.”
Michelle nods. “With Ty driving the business, it’ll happen. Reed Security will be the go to firm in no time. I have no doubt about it.”
I laugh and look across the room at my husband. “Honestly, neither do I. I think I’m supposed to be scared to death, but everything just feels right. You know? Like, all the stuff we all have been through, all the heartache and loss, the challenges and hardships, this is why it happened.” I gesture around my crowded kitchen, taking in the men talking about turning my house into a construction zone, the kids playing out in the yard, and me and my friends gathered around my kitchen table. “When you get right down to it, there isn’t much more to life than surrounding yourself with people who love you and then doing your best to make each other happy, you know?”
Ty glances at me, catches my eye, and places his hand over his heart. “I love you,” he mouths.
I smile. “I love you, too,” I mouth in return before giving my attention back to my friends, happiness warming me from the inside out.
That night, after everyone has left and Gabe has gone to sleep, I sit with my husband on his soft chenille sofa in our living room. I’m leaned against him, his arm wrapped around me while he reads a book. His cane is propped up beside him, but he hasn’t needed it since before we got married. He just likes keeping it around.
“Ty?” I ask, sitting up.
“Yeah, love?” He lowers his book and meets my gaze.
“I’ve got something I need to tell you.” I smile and tears well in my eyes.
Ty’s forehead crinkles with concern, but I see him figure out my news before I’ve even spoken the words. His eyes soften. His lips part. His gaze bounces around my face.
My smile deepens and tears trail down my cheeks. “I stole something from you, something important. I can’t ever give it back, not fully, but…”
Ty sits up and takes my hands. “Lexi? Are you pregnant?” His voice catches and he swallows hard.
I nod. “I took a test this morning.”
He puts a hand to his heart, his chest heaving. “You’re pregnant?”
“I am. And all the ways you wanted to be a father, all those things you couldn’t do with Gabe, now you can have them. You can be there for this little one in all the ways you always said you would be.”
Ty stands and pulls me to my feet only to drop to his knees. He puts his hands on my stomach and then grips my hips and presses a kiss just below my belly button. He whispers something, something I can’t make out, and then stands and wraps his arms around me.
“You make me so happy, Lexi Reed.” He cranes his neck and kisses me just below my ear. “So happy.”
“I want to make you happy for the rest of your life,” I say.
Ty draws me close and leads me through a slow dance in our living room. He closes his eyes and presses his forehead to mine and I send a silent thank you out to anyone who’s listening.
This.
This is why we live.
These quiet moments with the people we love most. A slow dance in the living room while our child sleeps safely in his bed. A baby in my belly and the certainty of family, friendship, and true love for the rest of our days.
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Wounded Sneak Peek
BAILEY
“Have you seen him naked yet?” Lexi Stills, my best friend since the first grade, leans forward, resting her elbows on the table in the crowded hospital cafeteria.
“Seen who naked yet?” I ask, feigning confusion.
Lexi purses her cherry-colored lips. “Liam McGuire, you ass.” She picks at the crust of her sandwich and pops a bite into her mouth. “You know, the super-famous singer who just happens to have been admitted here at Grayson Memorial.”
“Oh yeah. Him.” I shrug, playing it cool just to drive her crazy.
“Yeah, him.” Lexi stops chewing and lifts her eyebrows. “So?”
“So, what?”
“Have you seen him naked?”
Laughing, I sit back in my chair and scrape my spoon around the sides of my yogurt cup. “Nope. No hot nude scenes with famous musicians for me,” I say, even though it’s kind of a lie.
Liam has a habit of leaving his hospital gown open and I’ve seen his ass more times than I can count. I just don’t feel like opening that particular can of worms with Lexi right now. Of all the fangirls in the world, she might be the fangirliest and I'm not in the mood for the slew of questions that will follow the admission that yes, I have seen his ass, and yes, it really is as magnificent as she thinks it is.
“Don’t give up hope.” Lexi looks so crushed I almost tell her the truth. Almost. “I think he’s staying here one more day,” she says. “After tha
t, I bet they ship him right back to Los Angeles for some kind of plastic surgery miracle only someone that rich and famous could afford.” She rakes a hand through her honey-blond hair, pulling little wisps back off her face. “It’s such a shame. The accident and all that. I wonder what will happen now that he’s all scarred up.”
“Maybe he’ll learn some humility. That man is every bit as bad as the tabloids make him out to be.”
Lexi rolls her eyes. “Only you would be immune to the awesomeness that is Liam McGuire.” She balls up her napkin and throws it onto the table next to her mostly eaten sandwich.
“So, how’s Gabe?” I ask, carefully enunciating my words so she knows I’m changing the topic now and have no intention of letting her change it back. Being Liam McGuire’s nurse is bad enough. He doesn’t need to become the sole topic of every conversation on top of it.
“That boy is going to be the death of me.” She’s trying to sound exasperated, but the look of sheer adoration gleaming in her eyes ruins the effect. “He’s as hard-headed as he is sweet. Do you know what he said to me yesterday?”
“I haven’t the foggiest.” Lexi’s stories about her five-year-old son Gabe never disappoint.
“He was playing with his truck on the table and then he looks at me, as serious as can be, and says he’s going to need me to talk to him before I find a husband because he wants to make sure the guy’s truck is good enough for me.”
I laugh as we stand and gather our trash. “Sounds like he’s already on his way to being more man than boy. A little bossy, a little protective, and interested in his truck above all things.”
Lexi lets out a long sigh. “Lord help me,” she says, looking towards the ceiling as if expecting an answer.
The hospital cafeteria is busier than I’ve ever seen it. Ever since word got out that Liam McGuire is holed up here, we’ve had an influx of oddly difficult to diagnose illnesses and injuries. Phantom pains and coughs that seem way more serious at home than they do once the patients arrive here. There’s even paparazzi hanging out at the front doors.
Paparazzi.
In Grayson, Ohio.
They scurry forward like a swarm of ants every time the doors open, cameras flashing madly, calling out Liam McGuire’s name like a battle cry. When they discover the infamous pop star isn’t coming out to show off his new badass scar and flash his so-charming-it-should-be-patented smile, they collectively groan and retreat as if to lick their wounds and prepare for the next time those doors swing open.
Lexi widens her eyes at me as she throws her trash in the bin. “Can you imagine how much attention you’d get if these people knew you’re one of his nurses?”
A little strum of panic tangles up with my lunch and bounces around my stomach. “You keep your mouth shut, you hear me?” Lexi loves the spotlight. Me? No thank you.
“Fine,” she says, pouting. “But you’re throwing away an opportunity here. This could be your fifteen minutes of fame.”
I link arms with my best friend and we saunter out of the cafeteria. “Nah. I’m saving my fifteen minutes for something way better than this.”
“You say that now, but I bet when you’re old and gray you’ll realize you squandered an opportunity here.”
“I’m glad to see you have so much faith in me. That you think the best I’m ever going to be is a nurse to some spoiled brat of a pop star.”
“I have more faith in you than you have in yourself, you dingbat,” Lexi replies as we arrive at the nurse’s station.
“Of course, his call light is on.” I let out a little growl of frustration. “When isn’t it on?”
Lexi shakes her head. “You are the only female between the ages of fifteen and one hundred to be upset because she has to spend too much time with Liam McGuire.”
“I doubt that,” I say before I head down to his room at the end of the hall.
I don’t know if it’s because he’s been famous since he was fourteen and all the attention spoiled him, or if he’s just got asshole in his genes, but it only takes a minute or two of being around the guy to get my hackles up. I don’t care how good looking he is or how well he can sing, if you’re ugly on the inside, you’re ugly on the outside.
Although, for as much as I can’t stand the guy, there is a small part of me that does feel a little bit sorry for him. A very small part. And just a tiny little bit. I mean, the guy survived an accident that may or may not alter the course of his life. His tour bus swerved off the road just outside of Grayson and rolled over a few times. Everyone survived, although after seeing pictures of the bus, I don’t know how. The thing was just a garbled piece of twisted metal and broken glass.
Liam suffered a concussion and a wicked gash that runs from his hairline to his chin that should have taken his eye but didn’t. All the doctors keep muttering about how lucky he is, but I don’t know if they’ve really thought it through. For a guy who makes his living off his looks, an injury like that is probably devastating. I don’t think I could be human and not feel a tiny bit bad for him.
But like I said, just a tiny bit.
BAILEY
The security guards stationed outside his room smile and stand as I come near. I know they do it out of politeness, but it unnerves me every time. I want to throw up my hands and remind them I’m just me.
Gary, a tall man with one hell of a potbelly, holds up a hand. “Why don’t you hold off a beat?”
Just as I open my mouth to ask why, a loud crash sounds from inside the room.
“Damn it, Brent! I am not going back to LA. End of story!” Liam’s words come blaring out into the hallway, with the hushed response of Brent—his manager— low, oily, and too quiet to understand, following quickly after.
I give Gary a weary nod and then smile at Josh, a much younger and thinner version of his partner. “Has he been like this all day?” I ask.
Josh lets out a low whistle. “This is an improvement.”
Great. Liam is a challenge when he’s on good behavior. When he’s in a mood? It’s just bad all around. “Wish me luck,” I say as I prepare myself to enter the lion’s den.
“I’ll cross my fingers for you.” Josh smiles a little too widely, the space between his teeth glaring at me like a jack o’lantern carved by a five-year-old.
“And where the fuck is that nurse? I hit the call button an hour ago!”
I cringe. “There's my cue,” I whisper, squaring my shoulders and adding steel to my spine before entering the room.
Liam is up and out of bed, the alarm on his IV pump beeping away. “Took you long enough.” He glares at me and folds his arms over his chest. “You need to make this machine stop beeping. Now.” I can tell by the way his hospital gown flutters at his waist that it’s open in the back. Good god. Does the guy have any modesty?
I roll my eyes and bite my tongue as I hit the alarm mute button. A quick investigation shows me that the cord has been pulled out of the wall. “These things have a really short battery life.” I bend to plug the thing back in. “You shouldn’t pull the cord out of the wall or the alarm will go off like this,” I say, twisting to look him in the face and give him my best don’t mess with me or I’ll cut you look.
Liam sets his jaw and scowls, looking unfortunately sexy despite his shitty attitude. “Yeah, well, I can’t sit still anymore because I’m losing my mind in here. That thing’s going to have to figure out how to hold its charge longer.”
Right. Because that’s even a possibility.
I hold my tongue and study Liam. His auburn hair is bleached blond and somehow, even in the hospital, is swept back away from his face and gelled to perfection. Both ears are pierced and he has enough tattoos to make me wonder what exactly he’s trying to prove. The bandage covering half his face does very little to take away from his looks, and even I can admit he’s gorgeous.
Well, that is, until he opens his mouth and ruins everything.
Keeping it professional, I put on my blandest smile and stare up at him. “Si
nce I’m here, I’ll go ahead and check your bandage. Please have a seat, Mr. McGuire. I’ll get the things I need and be right back.”
He glowers down at me. “I’d prefer to stand.”
I stifle a growl. He’s such a petulant child. If this is how they treat people out in Los Angeles, I’m more than happy with my simple life here in Ohio.
“And I’d prefer not to have to climb up on a chair to do my job.”
He glowers down at me, determined to get his way.
This guy has no idea what he’s getting into. I put my hands on my hips and shift my weight back to my heels, lifting my chin to stare him straight in his face. There’s no way in hell I’m standing on a stool to change his bandage. If he wants to see which one of us has the widest stubborn streak, I am more than ready to dig in my heels until he backs down.
Brent, the manager from hell, saunters toward us, his hands outstretched as if to avert the war he sees brewing on the horizon. “Come on, Liam. Do you really want to have to wait for this girl—”
“Woman.” I glare at Brent.
“Whatever.” He waves a manicured hand at me. “Do you really want to wait for her to find a stool?”
“Nope,” I say. “I will most definitely not be finding a stool. You’ll take a seat so I can do my job and go check on my other patients.”
Liam and Brent’s jaws drop in unison and I turn on my heel to leave the room. As soon as I’m out of sight, I pause and blow a puff of air out from between my lips.
“He is such a pain in the ass,” I say to Gary and Josh.
Josh gives me a thumbs up, a cheesy grin lighting up his face. “You’re doing amazing.”