Liam

This day turned out more perfect than I could have ever planned. All is forgiven between Kit and me after he called and gave me the heads up that Lourdes needed help.

I can hear Toby playing in his room. It’s five o’clock. I should wake his mother, but she’s sleeping so soundly in my arms that I can’t pry my body away from hers. Every soft curve of her fits perfectly against me like we are two pieces of a puzzle meant to be together. The familiar scent of cinnamon on her skin has been driving me crazy for two hours. I haven’t slept at all. I have the strange sensation that she might disappear at any moment, and I need to soak up every second of time with her before she does. We haven’t discussed my offer since yesterday, and I won’t rest easy until she says yes, because no is not an option.

I’m so hard against her ass that there’s no ignoring my arousal. If she wakes up and so much as moves, I’m not sure I can hold onto this thin thread of control. I slide my numb arm out from under her pillow and pull a body pillow down from the top of the bed to replace me behind her as I leave her warm side.

When I have my hand on the doorknob and I’ve pulled it open just enough to peek in on Toby, I hear Lourdes’s muffled voice.

“That pillow is no substitute for you, ya know.”

I smile to myself. “Yeah? How so?”

She rolls over and gazes at me with sleepy bedroom eyes and my cock twitches. Fuck, it’s hot in here all of a sudden. I want her so badly that I think my temperature just shot up to 102 degrees.

“It’s cold, and soft, and . . . boring.” The corner of her mouth curls up in a half-smile, and I grip the cheap doorknob so hard I’m pretty sure I’ve dented it.

“And I’m warm and hard and exciting?” I play along, because I know we have Toby as a buffer, and I think maybe she’s thinking the same thing too, because I haven’t seen her be quite so openly seductive.

She rolls over onto her back with one knee bent and pushes the body pillow away, leaving her arm stretched out and draped over it. She’s wearing a spaghetti-strapped tank top and cut-off shorts with shredded strings that feather over the sienna colored skin of her thighs. The thighs I wish I were between right this second, with no denim barriers separating us.

“Yes to all three—one in particular.” She blinks slowly, and her knee sways a centimeter outward and then back in as if to tempt me with what’s waiting between her legs.

Toby bolts past me at that very second and crawls up onto the bed, right into the spot I would kill to be in right now. She wraps her legs around him and sits up, snuggling the little wild-haired moment killer against her chest. It’s in that moment that I learn that it’s possible to be jealous of a two-year-old.

She looks up at me with one of his wild curls sticking to her chin.

“What time is it anyway?”

“A little after four.”

“Four? I slept for two hours in the middle of the day? Shit, I can’t afford to go out anymore. I’ve wasted an entire day recovering from last night.”

“Shit, shit, shit,” Toby chants, scooting off the bed and running past Liam into his bedroom.

Lourdes rolls her eyes and throws her hands up.

“See? He repeats everything, I swear,” she says.

“Yes, you did.”

“What?” she asks.

“Swear.”

Her forehead crinkles as she tries to catch up with my teasing.

“Oh, shut up,” she says with another eye roll when she’s there.

“Only if you promise to give me an answer to my offer. I have to go to work, but I’ll call and have somebody take my place if you haven’t decided. I can’t leave you alone, you see, because you might start thinking silly thoughts and end up making the wrong decision, and I can’t afford for that to happen.”

“So . . . there’s only one right decision?” she asks, cocking her head to the side.

“Yes there is.”

“So I may as well say yes, because if I say no, you’re never leaving my apartment, right?”

“Essentially.”

She slides her hands under her thighs. I’m starting to recognize her nervous tells.

“Okay.”

“Okay, yes, you’ll do it?”

“Yes, I’ll do it.” Her face is all screwed up like she can’t believe what she just said, and I’m a little shocked she didn’t put up more resistance. I want to hug her, spin her around, kiss her, fuck her, and kiss her some more, but all that has to wait.

I shove my hands in my pockets to keep them in check and open the bedroom door wide to remind myself there is a toddler in the next room building with blocks and pretending to read board books. I bite my lip through the massive smile on my face and watch as she grips the comforter on either side of her.

“You made the right decision. Are you sure you want to be a lawyer though? You didn’t argue much.”

Her mouth falls open and she reaches behind her for the closest throw pillow to hurl at my head. I duck and she misses, the pillow flies down the hall, and I see Toby look up out of the corner of my eye. I laugh when she huffs. Messing with Lourdes is fun.

“I can’t believe you just said that. I’m not argumentative by nature. I just want to help people!”

I hold up my hands, palms out, and surrender.

“I was simply making an observation.”

“Well, you’d better watch yourself, Mister. I can still change my mind, you know.” She crawls off the bed and slips past me into Toby’s room. When she passes, we lock eyes for a split second, but it feels like it’s happening in slow motion. An unspoken promise flows between us, and I’ve never been surer of anything in my life. This is the real deal. She’s special, and I will stop at nothing to make her mine.