Only One (Ward Sisters Book 2) (29 page)

“You should go talk to her. There's no point in putting it off.”

Liam shook his head. No, that was delaying the inevitable and Nina deserved better than that.

“We have a lot to discuss later. Go. Go talk to her.” She kissed him again, a little heat behind it. “I feel bad for her, but I'm glad you want me back. I was lost without you.”

Liam kissed her quickly. “I was lost without you, too. I'll come find you in a little while. Okay?” Jenna nodded. “You want me to send Reggie back here?”

“No. I'll be out in a minute. Find Nina first. I'm sorry.”

“Don't apologize. If I wasn't such an idiot, I'd have called you and found a way to come see you or bring you out here. I love you.” He kissed her again. He wanted to forget the rest and just keep kissing her.

“I love you, too. Go.” She gently shoved him toward the door.

By comparison, that was easy. Now came the hard part.

Chapter 25

Jenna allowed Liam a couple minutes, then she waddled to the deck again. Meg gave her the dirtiest look. Obviously, she was friends with Nina, too. Rob came to her rescue and offered his arm as they walked to the beach, presumably to show her around.

Of course, it was to be alone so that they could talk.

“Why didn't you tell me the baby was Liam's?” he said.

“We have one big secret between us. If I'd asked you to keep it from him, it would've strained your relationship with Liam.”

“Why didn't you tell him?”

“I thought he'd changed his mind! I'd given him every reason in the world to break the rules and call me. He never did.”

“You mean those videos?”

Jenna blushed. “How...? Did he show you?”

Rob laughed. “No. Not that I'd have been shocked. From what he said, it wasn't anything I haven't seen before.”

“No, it wasn't.” She laughed.

“Why didn't you make me videos?”

“Because you called me every day. Even before I worked for you, we talked every week. I didn't need to covertly leave sexy videos to encourage you to call. If I wanted to remind you of all the things we could do to each other, I just had to talk to you when you were alone.”

“Too true. We had great phone sex and excellent Skype calls. You reminded me a lot before you were with Liam. Speaking of which, are you two...”

“Yes. We're back together. We never officially ended it, just stopped talking and then he jumped into bed with
her.
”

“He didn't randomly jump into bed with her. I asked him if you'd met someone else and I think he was convinced it was true.”

“Why would you put that idea in his head?”

“I didn't do it on purpose.”

“Are you sure? Because it was after Emily broke up with you. Were you hoping that you and I would get together again?”

“Honey, don't think I was trying to sabotage your relationship with Liam. That's not what happened.”

“Then why did you say that to him?”

“When you stopped asking about him, I wondered if you'd ended it and hadn't told me because I was in rough shape.”

“You couldn't think straight half the time. I didn't ask about him because I didn't want to know if he was with other people. I didn't want to know if he'd hooked up with Reggie as soon as he got to New York. I knew Emily was going there.”

“I don't think he even talked to Reggie on that trip. He didn't call her until later, and then nothing happened between them.”

“I know. She told me. She said he was still in love with me.”

“I didn't get much time alone with him after I came here. It was always me and Em, and him and Nina. It wasn't until after he found the first video that I finally had a chance to talk to him.”

“What? You're telling me he didn't find it until recently?”

“No! He found the first one the night after Kelly and the kids arrived, and then the second one he found on his computer when he went back to Minneapolis to pack his condo. He was distraught about both of them. I know he wanted to call you, but he thought that was probably inappropriate, given the circumstances.”

Tears sprang.“I'd have taken his call at any time,” she said.

Rob pulled her into an embrace. “I'm so sorry that I didn't help you two get back together sooner. I feel bad that I played a part in keeping my two best friends from finally being together the way they always should have been.”

“We were all pretty stupid about it. Did you know I wondered if I was being punished for my relationship with you, and that's why I couldn't have Liam?”

“Oh, hon. Don't ever think that! Just because we didn't fall in love and make babies together, it doesn't mean you should be punished for what we had or what we do have.”

“Are we keeping quiet about what we are to one another?”

“Yeah. After years of maintaining that we're just friends, it's pointless to say otherwise. We scratched a lot of itches together and adore one another. It's not like we cheated. I think sex with your best friend makes more sense than sleeping around.”

Jenna laughed. “Well, obviously I do, too. Not everyone sees it that way or would understand the fact that we really love each other, despite our failed attempt at romance. I think we love each other more because it didn't work between us romantically.”

“Me too. Let's go back up there.”

“I hope they didn't decide to have one last fling.”

“Don't say that. He loves you, always has. He meant it the first time he said he was committing to you. If I hadn't asked him to stay out here, he'd have been to see you long ago.”

Jenna sighed. “Okay. Fine. I'll try not to obsess about it, but my blood is boiling when I think about her. I don't even know her, and I'm jealous.”

It doesn't help that I'm also jealous of your fiancée and she's friends with the woman who tried to steal my boyfriend. Not to mention I sort of hate Emily for pushing Liam and Nina together.

“Don't be, honey. He was always yours.”

“We'll see if he makes good on his promises this time.”

“Trust me, he will.”

As they walked back to the house, Jenna wasn't so sure.

**********

When Liam walked into the kitchen, he found Nina sitting alone. At the sound of the office door opening, the others must have scurried away.

“Let's go upstairs and find a place to talk,” she said. Though they held hands all the time, she didn't reach for him. She knew what he was about to say to her without him uttering a word.

Instead of going to his bedroom, she stepped into the room where Pat and Anja would be sleeping. Not that he intended to have one last fling with her, but he supposed it was her way of letting him know she wouldn't be okay with it, even if he wanted that. She sat in the chair and Liam sat at the foot of the bed.

“It's your baby, isn't it?” she asked quietly.

“Yeah,” he replied in the same tone.

“Why didn't you tell me that the woman you had been in love with was Rob's assistant?”

“I don't know. It didn't seem important at the time, I guess.”

“It's not like you were never going to see her again. What am I supposed to do with that? Forget it? Feel betrayed because this could have happened at any given moment? The part where you leave me for her because you're still in love with her, I mean.”

She looked so hurt.

“Nina...” God, he felt like such an ass.

“Are you going to deny it? Are you going to
honestly
tell me that you aren't still in love with that woman? Because you passed out when she showed up pregnant, and as soon as you saw her, your face changed. Your eyes lit up and you grinned. Until you realized she was pregnant and then you fainted. You're in love with her. Right?”

How could he deny it? “Yes.” He shook his head. “Nina, I don't want to hurt you.”

Nina put her head in her hands. She took a deep breath, and with tears in her eyes, she said, “Let me save you some trouble. I won't sit around, feel sorry for myself, and wish you'd love me instead. I have too much self respect for that. I don't know how long the two of you had something going, but it was obviously longer than we did. You're in love with her, she's in love with you, and you're having a baby together. If I attempt to stop the two of you from having a family, I'm being selfish. I don't have any hard feelings. You wouldn't have fainted if you knew she was pregnant. I only wish we'd both known that you still wanted to be with her before anything happened between us. Because while I don't regret a single moment of it and never will, it'll be harder to get over this since I can't avoid seeing you.”

“Do you want me to ask Rick to give Emily a new guard?”

“
No.
Emily adores you and she trusts you with her life. She needs you now more than ever. She'll feel very vulnerable while she's pregnant. I'll get over it. I will. I know you didn't love me and I didn't love you, either. I could have loved you and I think that you might have loved me in time. But maybe it's better this way. You can be with someone you love passionately and I can find someone who feels that way about me.”

“I want to be honest with you. She's moving here. We'll get married before the baby comes, and I think you should hear that from me. I'd like to promise I won't rub your nose in it, but that might happen unintentionally. I won't flaunt it around you, but that doesn't mean you won't ever see us kiss or show affection.”

“It's okay. I wish I could hate you, but I can't. Let's end this as friends. I'll miss you. I'll miss kissing you and I'll miss the sex. It was great while it lasted.” She gave him a sad smile.

“It was. The only thing I regret is hurting you.”

“You and me both.” She sighed, stood and left the room.

**********

Before he returned to the party, Liam walked down the hall to his room. He closed the door behind him and sat on the bed.
Shit
. What had he done? He'd broken Nina's heart, and while he was thrilled that Jenna was his again, he detested that it came at Nina's expense. A tear rolled down his cheek, unbidden.

He looked across the room at the photograph Nina had given him – was that only days ago? If he wanted to make things work with Jenna, he couldn't keep such a vivid reminder of Nina in his bedroom.

In
their
bedroom.

He removed the photograph from the wall and stored it in the back of his closet. Jenna would ask why the space was blank, and he didn't want to explain it to her. Not now, not ever. Searching for something to put in that place, he hung his photo of Lila Beth on the hanger.

Now that space looked empty. Not just because it was a much smaller photograph, but because of what the change represented. Nina would leave a hole in his life. Not as big as the one Jenna had left, but she'd opened him up in ways that his relationship with Jenna hadn't. Who knew how long it would take Jenna to fill that space?

If she ever could.

**********

The afternoon passed awkwardly. Lunch was, thankfully, casual – no formal seating, no protracted meal – but it was weird to see Nina sitting across the deck. Christopher, Em and Meg – who was giving him dirty looks – kept her company while she did her best to ignore him.

And yet, as he sat and talked to Jenna, Reggie and Rob, Liam felt like the piece of him that had been missing the past seven months was finally back in place. He was so happy to see Jenna again. Her smile lit his whole world. Every once in a while, he'd subconsciously reach for Jenna or lean closer to her. Once, when her hair fell across her face, he swept it behind her ear and caressed her cheek like he always did. She smiled and his heart felt full.

Until he realized what he'd done, and then he felt awful.

Rob and Emily were diplomatic, alternating hosting duties between the two groups. Regardless, it must have made Nina uncomfortable to be there, because after a couple of hours, he heard Meg tell Emily that she'd head home with Nina. Despite Em's protests that, once the Deacons arrived, the place would be chaotic and distracting, Meg insisted it was time to leave, now. They'd return for the wedding tomorrow.

Liam shifted his weight to stand. Rob put his hand firmly on his best friend's arm and gave a little shake to his head. Instead, Rob stood, walked over to Emily's friends and offered to walk them to the car with his fiancée.

As she left the deck, Nina sadly smiled at him and it broke his heart. If it hadn't meant being with the love of his life and his child, Liam couldn't have walked away from her so easily.

He wondered if she knew that. Or if it really mattered.

**********

After the cousins left, the mood lifted. Though Liam hadn't been around Jenna and Reggie at the same time before, they'd always known the score. Unlike Nina, who'd been blindsided by Jenna and her role in Liam's life.

At one point, when Jenna used the bathroom, Reggie pulled him aside and said, “I always knew you were in love with her, you know. She told me how things were between you and I knew it wasn't like that with us. We were never very serious, but after you met Jenna, you were disconnected.”

“I never meant to use you.”

“I know that. Even if you knew you loved her, you were too chicken to do anything about it. If I wasn't okay with how things were, I'd have stopped talking to you. I wasn't in love with you. Don't think you hurt me the way Nina is hurting.”

“You think Nina was in love with me?” Liam was horrified at the thought that he'd been so cruel as to crush her like that, even without meaning to do it.

She hesitated. “No, but I think Nina thought there was the potential for that to happen between you. I never believed that even before Jenna, but especially after.”

Liam rubbed the heel of his hands into his eyes and swiped his palms down his face. “I'm an asshole.”