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Caught in the Act (Unexpected Book 1) by Michelle Minikin (20)

Kensley

 

It’s funny.

One moment, I’m dead-set against the whole marriage-this-quickly thing.

I mean, who does that?

Certainly not me.

It’s laughable, the irony. Nope. Not me. Not with my settling into an eight-year relationship that wasn’t going anywhere. I mean, I’d convinced myself I was okay with that!

But then I spend a couple of weeks with another man, and he’s convincing me that marriage is where we’re headed, so why put it off?

Of course, I can’t help but be nervous of it all. Surely, it’s too good to be true.

But then tonight at work, while watching a young family walk through the grocery store it hit me.

When Liam plays with the girls, is that too good to be true?

When he kisses me sweetly before he leaves for the station, thinking that he doesn’t wake me up, is that too good to be true?

If it is…

Then I want to keep living in this fantasy land he’s built for us.

“You’re serious?” he asks before moving so I can roll to my back. Immediately, I roll more so I face him. “Sorry,” he adds automatically, reaching to slide his hand over my belly only to rest on the back of my hip. “What about… the judge, your other arguments? I mean, I get them, Kens, I do. I understand why you want to wait and I can be okay with it. We have our whole lives—”

I cut him off with a kiss, my hand resting gently against his face. “Like you said, why put off the inevitable? If anything, Mark’s lack of fighting for the kids now and only coming after me after the baby is born, that’s got to mean something too. That speaks of his character. That can’t be any worse than the woman moving in with a guy she hardly knows and then marrying him. I mean,” I put my hand over my face and shake my head. “That came out terribly. Because I do know you. I love you. The girls love you.”

Liam takes my wrist and pulls my hand down. Instead of looking joyful though, he looks like maybe he’s thinking twice about everything.

“You…don’t want to anymore, do you?” I ask slowly. I fight the need to push away from him.

“God, no. Yes, Kensley, I want to marry you. I want to stand by your side and fight alongside you for those girls. The whole marriage for insurance thing though…”

“What?”

“You’d have to be on my policy for a full thirty-day cycle before the baby is born, for coverage to start.”

“Okay?”

“We’d have to get married sometime in the next two weeks, in order to hit the cycle correctly.”

I’m nodding as I look around, the rustle of the pillow beneath my cheek the only noise keeping me completely grounded to the moment. “Okay,” I say softly, as I’m thinking.

Two weeks.

In two weeks, I could be married.

To a man who swears loved me—and I believe him.

“Mae said…” But he doesn’t finish the thought.

Suddenly, I’m incredibly nervous. I enjoyed meeting his sister earlier in the day but could feel the negative energy in the room. I’m terrified to hear what she thought, for whatever she told Liam that has him in this down mood.

She must be the reason why Liam’s having second thoughts.

Sure enough, he essentially confirms that with his next words. “She’s afraid I’m moving too fast.”

There’s more that he’s not saying.

It’s evident in the way he’s avoiding my eyes.

“Oh.” I don’t know what to say, what to do.

So, instead of lying there with him—right after I told him I’d do what he wanted, what he had originally brought up—I roll in the other direction and waddle myself up off the bed. This roller coaster…

One moment, I’m up and on a high, and the next, down and ready to cry.

He wants us, or he doesn’t want us.

I can’t play this game with not only my heart, but the girls’ hearts, too.

“Where you going?” I hear Liam sit up, but don’t look over my shoulder.

“I think maybe I’ll crash on the couch.” I grab the throw blanket that normally decorates the end of a made bed, from the floor.

“You are not sleeping on the couch.”

“I can’t be here right now, Liam,” I say, finally turning toward him. He’s standing now, moving toward me.

“I didn’t finish—”

“Your dramatic pause was good enough for me.” With that, I try to leave the room, but Liam is too fast for me. Before I can open the door, he has me pushed to it, his front pressed to my back, caging me in.

“I don’t really give a fuck what Mae has to say,” he tells me, his words directly to my ear. “Not really. But because of what she said, it made me consider the girls. I don’t want to do anything that fucks up the chance for the girls to be with us all the time. Nothing. Now, maybe Mae’s dealing with shit at home, with the Marine Corps and her husband, and that’s why she thinks I’m moving too fast and that you’re using me—”

I gasp. “I am not!” I try to push away from the door, needing to face him, but Liam just pushes back—still mindful of my belly, of course.

Too damn good.

“I know that.” Liam moves one of his caging hands down to grab my hand and moves the other to my stomach. “I know. But if that’s what she sees, I’m afraid a judge will see it too.”

I sigh and drop my head to the door. “Okay. Then we wait.”

“Or…” He takes that damn dramatic pause again. Doesn’t he know better than to mess with a pregnant woman’s emotions? Hell, he’s had a front row seat to my push-pull ones; he should definitely know better. “We talk to a professional. Get a lawyer’s opinion.”

I roll my forehead against the door, a heavy sigh leaving my lips. I’d already had one of those free. The lawyer confirmed that no, under California state law, Mark does not have rights to the girls because he never signed the paternity forms.

But, like I told Liam…

He still could sign them.

“We talk to someone, see if they think it’s a smart idea or not,” Liam continues, his hand rubbing small circles over my belly. The baby is sleeping, or so I figure by lack of somersaults, but if Liam keeps it up, he or she will be rolling around in no time.

And because I want to sleep, I put my hand on top of his, halting it.

“I’m taking Monday off, Kensley,” he continues. “I’m going to go into the station tomorrow and grab that tape, and then after your appointment Monday morning, I think we should find someone to talk to.”

“Don’t take off work, Liam,” I groan, jerking my head back to bump, then rest, against his chest. “We can do it after. I’ll go to my appointment, then I can meet you at the station or something. You don’t have to miss the morning.”

“I’m taking Monday off,” he says again, before kissing that spot where my neck meets shoulder. “If you don’t want me to go to the appointment, that’s fine—”

“No! I didn’t say that.”

“But then we’ll go talk to someone. Then do lunch, you and me, talk about our options. Maybe come back here for a nap…” He squeezes my hand and pushes his hips into my back, telling me exactly what kind of nap he’s talking about. “Then go pick up the girls from Sharon’s. It sounds like a wonderful day to me.”

It did.

But because I couldn’t just fold—oh no, not me—I huff out a sigh. “Fine.”

And when he spins me, to check on the attitude I’m sure, I can’t stop from smiling.

“Yeah,” he says, a grin on his own face. “Fine.”