Dial M for Ménage (13 page)

Hunter’s lips glistened from their kiss. Liam watched Hunter flatten his mouth and press his lips together before nodding and striding from the room. Just like Hunter’s hesitation was an epic turn-on moments earlier, his decisiveness now fanned the same fire. Liam waited until he heard Hunter’s footsteps on the stairs and then he followed.

They met again in the master bedroom. Kat had tidied the bed before heading downstairs. When Liam walked in, Hunter was stripping the comforter and blankets down to the foot of the bed. He had a bath towel in his hand and while Liam watched, Hunter shook out the towel and tossed it across the bed, protecting the sheets.

“You’re fussing like Kat,” Liam said, “which makes me very curious about what you two got up to in North Carolina.”

Hunter removed his shirt, tossed it onto the chair in the corner and gave Liam a sidelong glance while reaching into the nightstand drawer. He produced a bottle of lube and dropped it onto the bed. “This has been a long time coming. It’s going to get sloppy and ugly and wet.”

Liam tried to suppress the grin pulling at his lips. “You didn’t mind any of that when you fucked me raw on the hall rug two months ago.”

“That was different. We had issues to work out.”

“And a metric ton of repressed need,” Liam reminded. Before Hunter could say anything else, Liam circled to stand behind him. He raised his hand and traced the outline of Hunter’s tattoo, following the suddenly tense muscles down from shoulder to hip. Touching Hunter like this was a rare luxury. Closing his eyes to savor the experience, Liam said, “Don’t worry, lover. I’m more civilized than you.”

Hunter said something, so low it was more growl than words. Liam’s cock leaped at the primal response. He dropped his forehead to Hunter’s back and tasted the clean, salty skin, using his tongue to savor the roughness of a scar hidden in the ink of the tattoo. Civilized might have been stretching the truth.

“Liam.” Hunter’s voice was as tight as his body, rigid with a tightly held control that turned Liam on in all the best ways.

“At ease, Marine,” Liam murmured, whipping off his shirt and dropping it to the floor. “I’m almost finished playing with you.”

Hunter’s muscles bunched as Liam fitted them together chest to back. Liam reached around to the snap of Hunter’s jeans, freed it and drew the zipper. Hunter’s dick strained against his fly. Liam closed his hand around the thick ridge and squeezed, eliciting another of Hunter’s sexy growls.

“Fuck, you’re ready. That’s so damn hot.” Liam found another small hidden scar to lick. Hunter’s cock flexed against his palm, preceding his sharp, indrawn breath. A sublevel tremor rippled through Hunter’s body, obliterating Liam’s urge to play. He was finished. If he didn’t get into Hunter’s gorgeous ass soon, he wouldn’t have enough self-restraint to enjoy it beyond the basest physical level.

Straightening to give himself room, Liam shoved Hunter’s jeans and shorts off his lean hips. Hunter stepped out of the tangle without waiting for a prompt, a move that left him nowhere else to go but onto the bed. He braced one knee on the edge of the mattress and looked back at Liam, his eyes hot and wary at the same time.

“On your back,” Liam said to the unspoken question. And because Hunter’s edginess wasn’t what Liam was after tonight, he added, “Face-to-face. Equals. This isn’t about you submitting to me. It’s about giving and accepting.”

Hunter pivoted his body and stretched out on his back, one leg extended straight out, the other bent at the knee. His stomach hollowed on a deep breath, emphasizing the size and strength of his erection. Jesus, the man was hung. The arrow of dark hair angling down from Hunter’s navel gave way to a full, thick thatch. The same fur thinned to a dusting across Hunter’s thighs. Most of Liam’s previous male lovers had manscaped down to nothing, making an effort to showcase their equipment. He loved that Hunter didn’t, but after a glance at Hunter’s drawn features, decided to keep his mouth shut on the subject.

Poetry later. Fucking now.

But first...

Liam shucked his remaining clothes and grabbed a condom from the nightstand drawer before climbing onto the bed. He crawled over Hunter until they were face-to-face. The flared, swollen tip of Hunter’s dick brushed Liam’s stomach, dragged across his pelvis until Liam stopped with their cocks touching, two stiff rods flirting together and away each time he or Hunter drew in a breath.

Liam held Hunter’s gaze. “I love you.”

Hunter didn’t respond immediately. His pale, beautiful eyes narrowed, too perceptive, and he raised his hand to draw his fingertips across Liam’s lips. “Don’t say anything else.”

Closing his eyes, Liam nodded. Probably best, but he was unnerved by the realization that Hunter had been looking. While Liam and Kat were busy touching and talking, Hunter had been studying and learning them like they were a life-or-death mission he needed to complete. God only knew the things Hunter had seen in him, fears and desires Liam could barely bring himself to acknowledge. Didn’t want to acknowledge. Kat had given him a reprieve, but Hunter wasn’t the only one of them who could see things. That morning, Liam had recognized Hunter’s need for answers. Eventually, Hunter would ask, but until then Liam was happy to ignore the inevitable.

Far more pleasurable things waited for him and Hunter, anyway.

Hunter shifted beneath him and their dicks rubbed together. Hunter hissed but didn’t dodge away. Instead, he moved again, deliberately pursuing that contact. It damn near did Liam in. Before he devolved into some kind of sensation-driven animal, Liam eased back until he knelt between Hunter’s powerful legs.

“Your dick is fucking amazing.” Liam’s mouth watered as he eyed the thick, ruddy length.

Hunter encircled the base with his thumb and forefinger. Massaging his balls with the rest of his hand, Hunter tipped the erect column, aiming the glistening slit at Liam’s mouth. “Come have a lick.”

“No need to tell me twice,” Liam muttered. Bracing his weight on his hands, he ducked to swipe his tongue across the broad, gleaming head. The salty flavor made him hungry for more.

In no mood to savor, Liam adjusted for the best angle and opened wide, swallowing Hunter’s cock so deep, he nearly tripped his own gag reflex. Unwilling to back off, he waited there like that, licking and massaging the underside of Hunter’s cock while refamiliarizing himself with the size and shape. Hunter held still for all of three breaths before he flexed his hips and arched up, pushing for deeper, harder.

Liam couldn’t give deeper but he drew his mouth in tight and sucked like his life depended on it, dedicating every muscle in his face to milking Hunter’s dick. While Hunter was distracted by the oral action, Liam shifted his weight onto one arm and slid his free hand high between Hunter’s thighs. Hunter’s balls were a heavy, warm weight against Liam’s palm. He angled to cup the furred sac, a counterpressure to Hunter’s kneading motions. Together, they teased the sensitive skin until it grew taut and lifted, giving Liam clear access to the thin strip of flesh below.

Rolling his eyes up, he cast about for the lube Hunter had tossed onto the bed. Hunter pushed the small bottle toward Liam, then hid it in his fist. Liam, still holding Hunter’s pulsing dick in his mouth, looked up to find Hunter’s gaze on him. Hunter didn’t say anything. He didn’t have to—everything was written on his face. His lips were parted, his pupils dilated, and lust flushed red across his cheeks, down his throat.

Even though Liam held the evidence of Hunter’s arousal in his mouth, it was gratifying to see Hunter either lacked control to hide how much he was into this or no longer felt a need to mask his responses. Entertaining a fantasy that both scenarios applied, Liam slowly withdrew, dragging his tongue up the underside of Hunter’s shaft until the wet, gleaming flesh popped free.

“Are you going to give that to me?” he asked, sparing a second to glance meaningfully at Hunter’s clenched fist.

Hunter dropped the plastic bottle onto his stomach, then flipped the condom packet up to rest beside the lube. “Don’t be stingy with it.”

Lips quirking, Liam murmured, “I’ll take good care of you. Raise your knees for me and play with your dick. I love watching you jerk off.”

Ignoring his own aching cock, Liam flipped the top off the bottle and coated his fingers with the slippery lubricant. When Hunter’s hips came off the bed, fucking up into his fist, Liam slid his hand under Hunter’s ass and eased into the crease. Hunter’s body jerked, a response Liam knew to be involuntary. Liam had reacted that way the first few times he’d gone down this road too.

Interesting thing was even though Hunter twitched, his ass didn’t clench up like a vise. Liam glanced up to gauge Hunter’s reaction to the light pressure of a single fingertip against his pucker. Hunter looked on steadily, his chest rising and falling with even breaths, his forearm pumping with measured strokes. Totally in control of himself again. Liam narrowed his eyes and, embracing the challenge, held Hunter’s gaze as he breached the tight passage with his middle finger.

“Fuck.” Hunter dropped his head back against the pillows stacked behind him. His Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed hard. Gorgeous.

Licking his lips, Liam bent to lap up the precome Hunter smeared across the purple head of his cock. Hunter bucked, seeking the heat of Liam’s mouth, and Liam gave it freely. He also gave a second finger, slowly pumping deeper, scissoring to stretch the delicate tissue. Hunter’s cock seemed to grow larger, filling every bit of space Liam could make for him. The ache in his jaw only went so far toward distracting Liam from the need burning in his groin. He needed inside Hunter, and soon. As Liam put a third finger into play, Hunter unleashed a groan that brought Liam’s balls up tight and hard.

When he released Hunter’s cock this time, he didn’t linger to lick and tease. He was past the point of playing. Hunter was too, with his neck arched and his stomach taut, hips pulsing up to fuck his fist. Without Liam’s face in his way, Hunter increased the length and speed of his strokes.

Under different circumstances, Liam would have grabbed his own cock and joined the fun. Today, that wouldn’t be enough. He could feel Hunter’s ass squeezing his fingers with every jerk of his hips. Liam wanted that tight glove clamping down on his quivering flesh.

“I can’t wait any longer,” he warned, his voice a rasp. Liam grabbed the condom and tore into it with his teeth, using his other hand to keep Hunter open for him.

“Good. Do it. Starting to worry you were going to fuck around all day.” Hunter’s words were strained, his breathing fast and choppy.

“Not this time, lover, but one day we’re going to need a clear schedule and several more condoms.” Liam took a moment to cover his dick. With the condom secure, he slowly eased his fingers from Hunter’s ass. He squirted a new stream of lube onto his palm, coated the condom with it and edged up into position. “Lift up for me.”

Hunter took his meaning well enough, which made Liam wonder how much preparatory action Hunter and Kat had gotten up to. And then thoughts of Kat fled as Liam notched into position at Hunter’s stretched entrance. He flexed, pushing forward, and Hunter angled to meet the first exploratory thrust.

“Jesus fucking Christ.” Pleasure rushed Liam, rippling out from the head of his cock, which fit just right once he worked past Hunter’s tight ring of muscle. His eyes rolled back as he sank deeper, encouraged by Hunter’s ragged groans. When they were locked together, pelvis to ass, Liam took a minute to gather himself.

Hunter had stopped jacking off. His hands were fisted in the sheets. While Liam wasn’t looking, Hunter had angled up onto his elbows. Now he stared at their joined bodies like he’d never seen something so fascinating before. Liam glanced down and his cock jerked at the sight of them, his flesh buried clear to the root while Hunter’s dick stood so stiff and hard, there was no way Liam could get past it to kiss Hunter the way he wanted to.

“Move,” Hunter muttered, dispelling Liam’s fantasies of long, leisurely kisses and slow fucks. Bad timing, anyway. Neither of them were in any condition.

With a short, jerky nod, Liam drew back and surged deep, exercising as much restraint as he could. The tendons in Hunter’s neck stood in sharp relief, like every other muscle in his body. Liam grasped Hunter’s shaft and got them into a complementary rhythm, his fist working up as he drove his cock inside, sliding down as he withdrew. Pressure built quickly and escalated too fast for Liam to control it.

Hunter started to come first, rock-hard and pulsing in Liam’s grip. Thick white strings of semen blew from his swollen head, splashing against Liam’s stomach, spilling over his fingers. The sight tipped Liam over the edge and he lost control of his pace, his hips pistoning frantically as he dropped his hands to the bed and drove himself over the edge. He came with a hoarse cry, the contractions from Hunter’s orgasm milking Liam until the stimulation bordered on painful. Even the weakening aftershocks became too much to bear.

Gasping for breath, Liam slid free and pitched himself onto the bed beside Hunter. He had barely connected with the mattress before Hunter moved, rolling to half cover Liam with his bigger body, to seize Liam’s lips in a deep, plundering kiss. They came down that way, slick with sweat and locked together, chests heaving.

Hunter broke first, trailing his lips along Liam’s jaw before dropping his forehead to rest against Liam’s shoulder. He didn’t say anything. He didn’t need to. The fact that he stayed there, skin to skin, was enough. Liam’s heart ached in the best possible way as he hooked his arm around Hunter’s waist and kissed the damp hair behind Hunter’s ear.

“Thanks,” Liam whispered.

The shadow of Hunter’s morning stubble scraped Liam’s shoulder, rubbing with the motion of Hunter’s jaw. Liam shivered hard, a new rush of heat sweeping over him. Until Hunter spoke and the heat turned to ice in Liam’s gut.

Chapter Ten

Liam didn’t answer. Hunter raised his head, looked down into Liam’s guarded eyes and repeated himself. “I said, I want to know. I want to know about your doubts.”

“I’m going to clean up.” Liam looked away, started to disentangle himself from Hunter’s embrace.

Hunter let him go. He knew how to bide his time. He also knew more than anybody that a man needed time to get his head together.

Liam stood and staggered around their discarded clothes, his pale ass flexing with each uneven step. Despite the gravity of the situation, Hunter smirked. Kat must have been damned entertained by his own escape to the hotel bathroom Thursday night.

The sound of water running drew Hunter up and out of bed. He scrubbed a hand across his face as he crossed to stand in the bathroom door. Naked, Liam soaped his hands and rinsed them under the faucet. While Hunter watched, Liam grabbed a washcloth and cleaned the lube and semen from his stomach and groin.

The irony of this reversal didn’t escape him. He clearly remembered being in this position two months earlier, Liam pursuing Hunter to confront the truths Hunter had tried to ignore, tried to escape. Liam hadn’t allowed Hunter to run and Hunter wasn’t backing down now.

“Talk to me,” Hunter said.

Liam stiffened. When he didn’t immediately respond, Hunter leaned against the doorjamb. “You and Kat have beaten me over the head with the importance of communicating. This is a ‘need to know’ issue. You have doubts about me? About the three of us?”

“No.” Exhaling, Liam turned off the water. He braced his hands on the edge of the sink and hung his head, staring down into the basin. “About me.”

“Explain.”

“I don’t want to be alone. You and Kat are eventually going to realize I’m our weak point and you’re going to leave. And I’ll be alone.” Liam squeezed his eyes shut.

Something knifed into Hunter’s chest as he stood there staring at Liam’s stooped shoulders and pale profile. “You really believe that, don’t you? Fuck, Liam. Kat would cut herself open to keep from hurting you. She’s not going anywhere.”

“If you left—”

“No. That ‘if’ doesn’t exist.”

“The hell it doesn’t.” Liam straightened and faced him. “Valentine’s Day, that fucking hotel bar. You walked away.”

Hunter reacted without thinking, jabbing his finger at Liam. “You as good as told me to get out.
And
I fucking came back and damn near begged you to let go of whatever the hell had crawled up your ass. I. Came. Back.”

“The reality of you leaving scared the hell out of me.” Liam’s voice was so low, Hunter had to strain to hear it. “The thought of Kat choosing to go with you—that I’d pushed you both away with a single dick move—you have no idea. I was nearly pissing myself when I got off that elevator, knowing I had to tell Kat something. I can’t do that again. If I fuck up and tear us apart, it will kill me.”

Shaking his head, Hunter stepped into the bathroom. He and Liam filled the small space. There was a breath of room between them when Hunter stopped advancing. “Not going to happen.”

Liam narrowed his eyes and opened his mouth to speak. Hunter silenced him with a hard kiss, using his tongue—his entire body—to pin Liam in place against the sink. When Liam stopped resisting, Hunter broke off and rested his forehead against Liam’s.

“This is where my military training is going to serve us,” Hunter said, so close his lips brushed Liam’s when he spoke. “If I didn’t learn anything else, I learned how to move beyond being part of a whole, to seeing the whole as an entity bigger than its pieces. The three of us, we’re bigger together than as individuals. We’re bound together and we’re not coming apart now.”

The bathroom got even smaller when Liam released a shuddering breath and wrapped his arms around Hunter’s waist. “You really believe that? It’s only been two months.”

“No,” Hunter said. “It’s been years. And yes, I believe it.”

“Here I’ve been thinking Kat would be the glue that held us together.”

“You’ve been thinking wrong.” Hunter kissed him again before taking a step back, breaking Liam’s hold. “Now, I need a shower before Kat gets back. I can’t face the rest of this day with lube on my balls.”

Liam smirked, but then his eyes took on a guarded cast. “Kat will want words.”

“She deserves them. We’ll all be better for it once they’re said.” Hunter sidestepped past Liam to turn on the shower.

Liam didn’t leave immediately. Hunter didn’t blame him. The rest of the day was going to be a raging bitch.

* * *

“I want you both to know, I’m not trying to be a bitch. I just want us to talk about the stuff we haven’t been talking about, and I’m feeling pretty emotional about it all, so I might come off as a bitch. It’s not intentional.” Kat looked from Liam to Hunter and back again and placed her hands on the cool surface of the kitchen table, which was where they kept gravitating for their relationship meetings.

God, she hated relationship meetings in that moment. Meetings were for even tempers and rational discussion.

“Let’s do this somewhere else,” Liam said, rising from the chair he’d sat on a minute earlier. “Somewhere we can touch each other, because I think we need it.”

Kat glanced at Hunter, who was watching her with an intent, alert expression.

He shook his head. “No. We’re here. Relocating will delay. Let’s get it over with.”

Rubbing her chest, Kat said, “Hunter’s right. And I don’t want to ruin our good places with something stressful.”

“K-K...” Liam sighed but sat back down.

“I have two things to talk about. The first one—Hunter came inside me without a condom when we were in North Carolina. It wasn’t intentional, but it did happen. I’m okay with him not using a condom anymore. I have my IUD, none of us are carrying any STDs and I don’t anticipate any of us having sex with anybody else while we’re together.” She started to ask Liam for his approval but stopped herself because their dynamic was no longer a straightforward husband-wife situation. To his credit, Liam didn’t even blink at her revelation.

“We should all still use them for anal penetration,” Liam said. Hunter nodded his agreement.

“Okay. That was issue number one.” Kat pressed her lips together and stared at her hands. She started to speak but stopped herself a couple of different times before she worked through her emotions enough to ditch the accusations. “So, kids. Yes or no?”

“That’s a shitty question, Kat.” Hunter reached across the table and touched her chin, urging her to look at him. She didn’t want to but met his gaze anyway. When he had her attention, he spoke again. “Do you want kids?”

“I...” Kat licked her lips and forced herself to focus on Liam, to hold his gaze as she whispered, “If I have to choose between having Hunter and having kids, I want Hunter. I’m sorry.”

“Jesus, Kat.” Liam shoved away from the table. A heartbeat later, he hauled her up out of her chair and pushed her face against his chest, one hand in her hair, his other arm locked tight around her back.

She lost control of the grief she had been holding at bay since her flight to North Carolina. Liam held her while she sobbed, hating herself for robbing both Liam and Hunter of kids just so she could keep both men close. For not feeling an ounce of guilt over choosing her life instead of the life of a mother.

Behind her, a chair scraped across the floor. Hunter’s heat enveloped her from behind, his arms slipping around her waist. “Kitten, nobody said you have to choose.”

“And you sure as hell don’t have to apologize,” Liam added. “I didn’t marry you because I thought you’d make a good mother. I did it because I didn’t want to live this life without you.”

She clung to Liam, trying to process his and Hunter’s words, trying to get herself under control, but she’d been holding on to the fear too long. She wasn’t sure how long she stood there crying. Ages, gauging by the raw burn in her throat when she finally started to quiet. Neither Liam nor Hunter had moved, though. They still held her sandwiched between them when she managed to take a breath without shuddering.

Liam pulled away first, releasing her hair so he could wipe at her wet face. His eyes were agonized. “I’m sorry, K-K. I had no idea—fuck. I should have seen this tearing you up. Why didn’t you say something?”

“Why didn’t
you
?” She squeezed her eyes shut. “I’m sorry. That wasn’t fair.”

“Sometimes feelings aren’t fair.” Hunter shifted his hold so he was cradling her against him, shoulders to chest. “Hell, why didn’t I say anything? We’ve talked about all the logistics. I knew you wouldn’t be able to have a traditional family life. I could have asked about kids two months ago. Do you think you think this issue would have made any more difference then than it does now?”

“No,” she whispered, answering Hunter but watching Liam.

“It wouldn’t have changed anything for me either.” Liam rubbed his face. “Kat, you wanted kids when it was just you and me. Do you still want them? Hunter and I have talked about this. It doesn’t have to be one or the other, him or a baby. We can make it work.”

“I want them,” Hunter said when she hesitated.

Surprise rippled through Kat. Liam, she noticed, didn’t share her reaction. His expression barely changed, nothing more than a glance to acknowledge Hunger’s words.

“God. You guys really have talked about this, haven’t you?”

“The subject came up a few times,” Liam admitted. “When Jen told me she wanted us to take her baby, I wanted to know where Hunter stood before I told you about it. And I was afraid to tell you because Jen isn’t trustworthy. I didn’t want you to start planning a nursery and picking out names, only for her to pull her usual shit. Which she did.”

Kat understood his reasons and, despite everything, didn’t hold that secret-keeping against him. She might have done the same thing in his position. Still... “You don’t have to protect me from everything.”

“Yes, I do. I have to at least try.”

“It’s his job, Kat,” Hunter said behind her. “Hell, it’s mine too. I thought he should tell you but his reasons for keeping quiet were solid this time.”

“I know. I’m not angry about that. Or about anything.” It was her turn to wipe her face. She eased free of Hunger’s embrace and turned to face them both. “Yes. I want kids. I don’t want them right now. I don’t know if we’ll ever be at a point where we all want them at the same time. If it’s only ever just us three, that will be enough for me. Will it be enough for each of you?”

“Yes.” Hunter and Liam answered at the same time.

“Okay. That’s good.” Kat leaned against the refrigerator, tapped for strength. “Is there anything else we need to talk about? Because if there isn’t, I would love to spend the rest of the day just being with the two of you and not discussing anything more serious than movies and pizza toppings.”

“Nothing that can’t wait. Let’s go be for a while.” Liam took her hand and led her out of the kitchen, with Hunter close on their heels.

* * *

Hours later, Kat woke with her face buried in Liam’s lap, her feet wedged beneath Hunter’s thigh and her ears ringing with gunfire coming from the television. The living room was closing in on dark.

“Morning, babe.” Liam swept her hair away from her face.

“If by morning you mean dinnertime.” She rolled to sit on the cushion between Liam and Hunter, swaying slightly in her grogginess. Hunter was balancing her tablet on the arm of the sofa. He looked up from the touch screen and reached over to rub the back of her neck, steadying her in the process.

Kat allowed her weight to carry her toward Hunter, who wrapped his arm around her shoulders and tucked her against his side.

Liam turned down the volume on the movie before he stood and stretched his arms overhead. “I’m going to round up takeout menus.”

“Thanks.” Kat flashed a smile, watching him leave the room. He paused to turn on a reading lamp, which her tired, scratchy eyes appreciated. While Liam was hunting for their dinner, she tried to get a catch a glimpse of what Hunter was looking at. She raised her eyebrows at the list of property search results. “House hunting?”

“Checking out options since nothing panned out Thursday. I won’t be able to drive back to Baltimore after next weekend. I want to get you and Liam into a rental sooner than later.” He tilted the tablet so she could watch a slide show of interior photos. “This is a condo pretty close to Lejeune.”

Kat skimmed her fingertips over the screen to enlarge the slideshow and snuggled her head against his shoulder while she watched the pictures scroll past. The rooms were furnished with outdated pieces and they had awful olive-green carpet, but the bathroom and kitchen looked clean. She tapped to close out the images and brought up the listing’s details, trying not to get too excited by the right price and right number of bedrooms. Enough that she and Liam could each have a small office. “What, you just Googled and found it tonight? I scoured area listings and didn’t see this one.”

He shrugged. “I had one of my guys do some digging. He’s been dating a real estate agent. If you’re interested, he’ll go have a look in person and email me some pictures.”

“Seriously? That would be amazing! Thank you. And thank him. I was so disappointed by everything we looked at this week. I really wanted to be in North Carolina by the time you report for duty.” She wedged her arm between his back and the sofa cushions and squeezed tight. “Do you think we could fill out the paperwork here and fax it back to him?”

“Probably. I’ll ask.” He put the tablet aside and forked his fingers through her hair, using the tangled waves to pull her head back and expose her mouth. Kat parted her lips in invitation but all Hunter gave was a fleeting kiss. “Are you good, kitten?”

Liam came back into the room with a handful of menus and his cell phone. He paused in the doorway, watching them. She bit her lip, weighing and considering his question.

Was
she good?

She’d finally gotten off the emotional roller coaster of the past twenty-four hours. While she wasn’t happy Liam had kept Jen’s pregnancy and request from her, she accepted his reason for doing so and knew he had done what he thought was best. His decision stemmed from a need to protect, not a need to control. And the kids thing... God, it was such a relief to have that out in the air. She had no idea what the decision would look like three years down the road, but at least she knew it was a subject that wouldn’t drive anybody away.