High Stakes (28 page)

Knowing that Liam wasn’t going to let her
ex get to him anymore gave Alisa a sense of peace she hadn’t felt since they
took their vows. “I’m so glad to hear you say that.”

Liam shifted to reach into the back pocket
of his jeans. He withdrew an envelope. “Since I missed your birthday…”

She smiled as she leaned forward. “What’s
this?”

He handed it to her. “Open it and find
out.”

She tore into the envelope, giggling with
anticipation. The exterior pot lights running the length of the house barely
provided enough light for her to make out the words, but she got the gist of
it. “Oh my God, you did not!”

He tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.
“I did a little digging and found out you lease the building your store is in.
That monthly payment represents a huge amount of your overhead.” He grinned.
“Now that you own the building, it’s one less thing to worry about it.”

She threw her arms around his neck,
knocking him backwards. “Oh God, I’m so sorry,” she said when she remembered
his precarious condition.

“Baby, I’m fine, relax.” He smiled up her.
“I just want you to be happy, Alisa. I’ll do anything and everything in my
power to make that happen.”

“I can’t believe you did this.” She glanced
at the date on the papers. “You made this offer yesterday?”

“Yeah. I called the guy from the hospital
in Barbados, made him an offer he couldn’t refuse, and it was a done deal by
midnight. My lawyer emailed me the paperwork this morning.”

“But why? You and I were…” She didn’t even
want to remind him of where they’d been. “In a bad place.”

“I know.” He kissed her hand. “But I knew
if you divorced me, you wouldn’t want anything from me. I figured this was the
least I could do. Besides, I hated missing your birthday.” He pressed his lips
to her palm. “When I woke up in that hospital, my first thought was of you and
then I remembered you’d left me. I almost lost the will to fight in that
moment.”

“Don’t say that; don’t ever say that.”

He closed his eyes. “I never wanted to fall
in love, at least not like this.”

“What do you mean?”

“Giving your whole heart to someone is scary
as hell. It gives them the power to destroy you. That’s what it did to me when
you left, Alisa. It damn near destroyed me.”

She knew how much it cost a man like Liam
to be vulnerable, and she loved him even more for acknowledging his weakness
where she was concerned. “Don’t you know it works both ways? When you said
those things to me earlier…”

“Please, don’t,” he whispered. “If I could
take it all back, you know I would.”

“But we can’t, can we? We can’t change
anything, and you know, I wouldn’t want to ‘cause we’re here now and that’s the
only thing that matters.”

“I couldn’t agree more.”

“So, shall we go in and tell your daughter
her dream’s about to come true?”

“That can wait until the morning.” He
lifted her face with a finger under her chin. “Right now, I just want to make
love to my wife.”

Almost losing her made Liam appreciate
everything about Alisa so much more. The fresh scent of her shampoo, the
softness of her skin, the sweet slide of her tongue against his, the way she
clutched him in her tight heat and rode him so gently, so exquisitely, he never
wanted it to end. They’d spent the better part of the night making love,
talking about the future, stealing kisses, holding each other, and in the
bright light of morning, he still couldn’t get enough of her.

He filled his hand with her full breast and
kissed her neck as he pulled her tighter against him. His heart clenched, but
this time, he knew it was an attempt to accommodate his love for the woman in
his arms, the woman whose love had made his life complete.

She giggled as she wiggled her bottom
against him. “You’re insatiable.”

“Just trying to make up for lost time,
sweetheart. Let’s face it, we’ve been apart more than we’ve been together since
we got married.”

“Not for long.”

He kissed her shoulder. “No, not for long.
I want to make arrangements to go to Nashville later this week so we can start
looking at houses.”

“Are you sure you’re ready for that?” she
asked, turning her head to look at him.

“I’ll clear it with the doctor first.”

“Won’t you have a lot of work to do,
restructuring your business?”

“There are a lot of things I’ll have to
delegate; that’s for sure. I’ll still have to be involved, just not in the day
to day operations.”

She looked around the opulent master suite.
“What are you going to do with this house?”

“I’ll keep it.” He ran his hand down her
stomach and an image of her full and round with his baby appeared, making him
smile in anticipation of what was in store for them. “I’ll keep Mrs. Foster on
to look after things. I’m sure Abby will want to spend some time here during
summer vacation, and when we have to come back so I can attend meetings at the
home office, we’ll have a place to stay. Sound like a plan?” From now on, he wanted
to include her in every important decision he made about their future.

“Sounds perfect.”

“Good.” He lifted her hair so he had access
to her neck. Pressing an open-mouthed kiss to the sweet spot that always made
her moan, he slid a finger inside of her, groaning when he found her wet and
ready to take him again. “No protection this time, sweetheart.” He felt her
tense in his arms and cursed himself for trying to push her too hard, too fast.

“Are you sure you’re ready for a baby?”

“Definitely. Are you?” He kissed her cheek
and was surprised when his lips came away moist from her tears. “Please don’t
cry. If you’re not ready, we’ll wait. As long as it takes.” He reached into his
nightstand for a condom, but she rolled over to stop him.

“I don’t want to wait.” She straddled his
waist, never taking her eyes off his as she descended on his shaft. She reached
for his hands, using them to anchor her as she worked hard to take them both to
the brink of bliss and back again. “I want to have your baby, Liam,” she
whispered.

He closed his eyes, trying to fight the
urge to surrender to his release. He’d never loved a woman without protection,
not even the night Abby was conceived, and feeling the woman he loved clenching
him in her moist heat without a barrier between them, knowing she was ready to
give him a baby he hadn’t even known he wanted until she came into his life,
nearly sent him soaring over the threshold of control he prided himself on
maintaining at all costs. “Yes, ah God, I…”

“Let go,” she whispered, gliding her hands
over his chest. “Come for me.”

He grit his teeth. “Not until you’re ready,
baby.”

“I… uh…” She threw her head back as he
grabbed her hips and forced her to ride out her orgasm before surrendering to
his own.

Her eyes locked with his as he throbbed and
exploded inside of her. “I’m pretty sure the timing is right,” she whispered.
“I hope that doesn’t scare you.”

He pulled her down on top of him, not
wanting her to move, ever. “If you get pregnant right now, that would make me
the happiest man alive. If it takes a little more time, I’m okay with that,
too.” His hands slid up and down her back. “I’m all for practicing, day and
night, if we have to.”

She laughed. “Awww, the sacrifices you’re
willing to make to give me a baby. I’m touched.”

Liam smacked her behind. “Never let it be
said that I’m not a team player.”

Alisa walked into the foyer to tell Liam
breakfast was ready when she saw him scanning a document. Her eyes fell to the manila
envelope in his hands and she knew instinctively what it was. “Oh God,” she
whispered, flattening her hand against her stomach.

He turned around to look at her and the
anguish on his face was painfully obvious. “Divorce papers,” he said, holding
them out to her. “You actually went ahead with it. You filed for divorce.”

“I’m sorry” She reached out to take them
from him. “I thought…” Her voice broke when she saw the look of resignation on
his face. “Liam, please—”

He looked back at the pages he clenched in
his trembling hand. When he stalked past her toward the kitchen, she ran after
him, grateful his daughter was taking a swim so she didn’t have to witness
this.

“What are you doing?” Fear stole her breath
when she saw him reach for a pen. “You can’t be serious. My God, Liam, we
could’ve just made a baby together.”

He scribbled his signature on each of the
lines her lawyer had indicated.

“Why are you doing this?” When he failed to
respond, the harsh reality began to sink in. He’d been stringing her along,
pretending to love her so she would let her guard down and what… have sex with
him again? It didn’t make sense. What had he hoped to gain? Revenge? She
couldn’t think straight with those signed divorce papers staring her in the
face. She had to get out of here, to try and right yet another wrong.

“Where do you think you’re going?” he
asked, following her to the front door.

“To the drug store.”

“What for?”

“I need to take care of…” She threw the
door open. “Forget it, I don’t owe you an explanation.”

He grabbed her arm. “Yeah, you do. What the
hell are you thinking?”

“I need to get the morning after pill,
okay?” Tears flowed freely now, but she didn’t have the energy to care anymore.
He’d already seen her broken-hearted, but this would be the last time. She’d
never let him or any other man do this to her again. “The last thing I need is
a kid with a man who doesn’t want to be married to me anymore.”

“Baby, slow down,” he whispered, framing
her face with his hands. “You’ve got it all wrong.” He lowered his head. “I’m
not gonna deny seeing those papers hurt like hell, but I didn’t sign them
because I want out of this marriage.”

“What other reason—”

He leaned into kiss her. “I signed them
because I need to remember how much I stand to lose if I ever make the mistake
of taking you and what we have for granted again.”

“You mean you don’t want a divorce?”

He smirked. “Seriously? After what just
happened upstairs, you can even ask me that?”

She leaned into him, weak with relief. “Oh
my God, I was so scared when you signed those papers. I thought…” She drew a
deep shuddering breath. “All kinds of crazy thoughts were going through my
head. I thought you were trying to get even with me, that—”

“Ssshhh, it’s okay.” He held her tight. “I
signed those papers because I want us to keep them.”

“But—”

“Trust me, they’ll serve as a constant
reminder to both of us that this marriage is precious and it, like life, can be
taken away from us in a split second.” He led her into the kitchen and handed
her a pen. “Sign them?”

“I can’t.” Her stomach lurched yet again.

“I know it sounds crazy, but knowing how
easy it would be to end it all will only serve to remind us that we need to
work at this marriage every day, to make each other happy. We’ll tuck them away
in the safe and never look at them again, okay?” He held the pen closer. “What
do you say? Do you trust me?”

Her hand trembled as she produced a shaky
version of her married name on the lines beneath his signatures. She flattened
her hand against her stomach. “Oh God, I feel sick. I can’t believe I let you
talk me into this.”

He reached out to pull her back against his
chest as he pressed a kiss to her bare shoulder. “Now we promise each other
that we’ll never, ever have reason to look at these papers again, okay?”

She turned into his arms as she leaned her
head against his chest. “Just seeing those signed papers is breaking my heart.”

“Hey,” he said, tilting her face up to meet
his. “I’m never, ever letting you go. But knowing that you have the power to
end this marriage so easily will serve as insurance that I never do or say
anything as stupid as I did yesterday. When I think of the things I said to
you…” He dropped his head, touching his forehead to hers. “I hate myself.”

“Don’t, please.” She reached up to hold his
face in her hands. “I don’t want to think about that anymore. It’s over.”

Abby walked in just as Alisa uttered those
words and her eyes immediately zeroed in on the papers lying on the counter. “I
don’t believe this,” she said, glaring at her father. “You want to be alone for
the rest of your miserable life, don’t you?”

“Abigail, don’t—”

Alisa pressed a hand to her husband’s chest
to halt his warning. “Honey, you don’t understand. Your dad and I—”

“Just because you’re determined to be
unhappy doesn’t mean I have to be.” She ran past them. “I’m going to that
school whether you like it or not. You can stay here and work yourself to death
for all I care.”

Liam reared back as though she’d struck him
as Alisa reached out to seize her stepdaughter’s wrist. “Stop, you don’t
understand. Your dad and I aren’t getting a divorce.”