Taste Me Deadly (Sensory Ops) (22 page)

“What did you want to do, Grey?”

She waved at the house, frustrated. “I wanted to sit in the kitchen and watch you cook. I wanted to curl up on the couch and watch a movie with you.”

“You could have done that.”

“No.” She shook her head. “I couldn’t, because Ruby and Simon and your mother and Gara were here. They, or someone else, has been here every moment of every day since we came home. And then there are the wedding plans.”

“They’re here to help you while I’m at work. And I’m not going to apologize for letting Ava get married here. This place holds a lot of shitty memories for her. She deserves some happy ones.”

“I know, and I appreciate every bit of that. I do. But, Liam, I’m feeling claustrophobic. In your huge house I’m feeling smothered.”

“That’s crazy.”

“Yeah? Even Ruby, who hates to go out, has been out.”

“Yeah.”

“Look around right this second. How many people do you see?”

He looked around and counted the people in the lawn, setting up for the wedding. “Six.”

“You missed your mother watching us from the living room window, which proves my point. I am being constantly monitored. I’m not sure if you think I’m going to keel over and die as a result of the surgery or if you’re afraid I’m going to bolt.”

“Both,” he admitted under his breath.

“Well get over it, damn it.”

“You’ve never said you want to stay.” He towered over her, but still he didn’t raise his voice or wave his arms in aggravation. “You’ve never said you want me.”

“I asked you one time why you wanted me here.”

He nodded.

“You told me if I ever decided I was really ready for the answer you’d tell me.”

He nodded.

“Liam, I dare you to send everyone away. Let it be just you and me with no one to watch through windows or listen from the next room. Let it be just you and me so we can talk or yell if we want to. Get rid of your buffers and when you do, if you do, I’ll be ready to ask my question again.”

Without another word, she turned and walked into the house.

His mother turned from the window and smiled. “That wasn’t so hard, was it?”

Grey shook her head with her own smile tugging at her lips. She couldn’t have dropped a heavier gauntlet at his feet if she were Thor’s sister. The question was whether or not he’d pick it up.

Chapter Eighteen

Every step Grey took away from him was a shaft of agony. She’d just stood before him, taken everything he’d done to help her and thrown it in his face. How she could bitch about his actions in one breath and tell him she appreciated them in the next made no sense. Except she was a woman and that sort of logic was a woman’s prerogative.

Watching her through the windows, he watched her smile at his mother. Then he noticed something. His mother was feeling proud, like she always did when she won a match with one of them. And Grey, when she looked at his mom, looked victorious.

“I’ll be damned,” he muttered to himself.

Grey hadn’t been complaining about the help he’d provided. She’d been complaining that he was smothering her, giving her no choices, and she was right. He had taken away every decision she could need to make, because he’d wanted to show her how much he cared.

She’d dared him to send everyone away, which he would do as soon as Ava and H were married and order was restored to his house. No. Their house. She’d called it home in the middle of her rant.

He smiled.

He couldn’t take their venue away from them at this point, not that he thought that was what Grey wanted. No, he couldn’t give her privacy in the house, but that didn’t mean he was out of options.

He met his mother’s gaze through the window and sent her one of her own victorious smiles as he pulled his phone from his pocket. She wasn’t the only one who could make things happen.

Lori had decided after making chocolates with Grey that she should make confections for weddings. It was a brilliant idea, and one he would use, because there’d been a time when Grey had wanted to be a chef.

After a couple of quick phone calls, he slipped his phone back into his pocket and headed inside.

“Mother.” He nodded as he passed his mother.

She nodded in return. “Son.”

“You’re a troublemaker,” he told her as he continued past.

“Only when trouble is what’s needed.”

He laughed as he ran up the stairs, skipping every other one. He pushed open the door to the room he’d shared with Grey. She looked up, wide-eyed, from the book she was reading. Her whole argument had been about him suffocating her and giving her no choices.

What he was doing was risky, because she could see it as more of the same. It was a gamble he was willing to make.

He stalked across the room, pulled the book from her hand and tossed it on the bed. He swept her into his arms and headed downstairs.

“Hey!”

Yeah. She’d gotten good and fired up. So had he. “You had your turn to speak. I’ll have mine.”

“This is so not what I did, or had in mind.”

“You asked me a question. I’m going to answer it.”

“By acting like a caveman?”

He grinned. “You can’t dictate how a message will be delivered, Grey.”

“You are being ridiculous.” She smacked his shoulder. “Put me down.”

“No.”

His mother opened the door to the garage for him and then pressed the button for the garage door. With a nod toward the convertible, that had its top down though it had been up when he’d gotten home, she chuckled. “Key’s in the ignition.”

“Mrs. Burgess,” Grey pled. “Tell him to put me down.”

“He’s pretty great, huh?” his mother asked as she closed the door with a wink.

Grey smacked his shoulder again, which only made Liam want to laugh more. At the convertible, he lowered her over the side, not bothering with the door. When she started to scramble out, he dropped a hand on her shoulder. “Stay.”

One look in his eyes was enough to quell her fight. At least for the moment. After they were on the road and he didn’t have to worry about her bolting, he began to explain. “You wanted me to send everyone away, but I think we both know I can’t make that happen until after the wedding.”

“I know.” She sighed a petulant sigh.

“I can still give you some of what you’re asking for.”

“This should be good.”

The drive was a short one, only ten minutes. It seemed interminable though, because he was getting excited about the idea of being alone with her. Completely alone.

He pulled into the shopping center and parked in front of a vacant storefront. Grey looked from the store to him and frowned. “What are we doing here?”

“I’m explaining.” He leaned over, pressed a kiss to the bottom of her jaw and opened her door for her. “If you let me.”

“I should give you a time limit,” she groused.

He smiled as he joined her by the hood of the car. He took her hand in his and led her to the front door that had been covered with newspapers. It was the only shop in the strip that sat empty.

She stopped, refusing to take another step. “I don’t want to be here, Liam.”

It was a huge gamble to take her back to the beginning, but he believed she was strong enough to face it, to overcome it. “Give me two minutes inside and if you still feel that way we’ll leave.”

“Two minutes.”

He didn’t think it would take that long. He’d gotten to know her pretty well. She froze right inside the door. He stopped with her and kept her hand in his. “The shop’s been empty since that night.”

She rubbed her chest, but said nothing.

“You’ve mentioned, more than once, how you’d wanted to be a chef and how you enjoyed working with chocolate.” He waved a hand at the displays. “Nasty shit aside, this is where you fell in love for the first time. If you were to want to open a chocolatier shop, it’s yours. These cases could be filled with your creations.”

“Liam.”

“You have an amazing talent, Grey. I haven’t signed any papers, so there’s no commitment on the line here, but if you want to start over, maybe you’ll consider starting over where you began. Where you became the woman you are today. Kind of like Ava and H are by getting married at the house.”

She looked up at him with tears glimmering. “I’m not as strong as Ava. I can’t allow this place back into my life.”

“I disagree with the strength argument.” He didn’t move toward the backroom. Even he struggled with going into the backroom and seeing where she’d been attacked, so if she couldn’t do it he wouldn’t force it. “But consider something for me.”

“What?”

“When you were last here, you lacked the inner strength to stand against stress. You struggled with drugs and because of that you feel you lost everything.”

“Yeah.”

“That girl died in this store. A woman walked out, but not just any woman. A one of a kind woman a man considers himself blessed to know.”

She shook her head.

“The woman who rose up from the ashes of this place was strong enough to start over in a new city with no friends. Every pressure she failed to overcome when she was here was magnified a hundred times over. She got clean and stayed clean. She stayed away from her sister when she realized what she’d lost, because she knew it was safer that way. Then, she risked everything in a daring move to save that same sister’s life.”

“This is not what I was asking for.”

“Sometimes what we need isn’t what we ask for, but if you let me finish maybe you’ll get both.”

“You’re a very pushy man.”

He shrugged. “Guess you found a flaw.”

She smiled at that. It was the first hint he was winning so he plunged forward. “You were faced with two enemies at one time and were brave enough to pull a gun on them. You didn’t freeze. You didn’t hide. You didn’t run.

“Damn, Grey. I’ve never been more terrified than I was that night when I came to in the kitchen.” It still pissed him off that Jessup had knocked him out, but he refused to dwell on it. “I’ve never been more fucking proud either.”

Her eyes widened. She swallowed.

“You have faced the worst I think life will throw at you, and look at what you’ve walked away with.”

She shook her head.

“You told me you wanted a tight circle of friends rather than a large group of acquaintances. They may be smothering you right now, but you have those friends. You wanted to be a part of something special.”

She nodded.

He took her hands in his, facing her. His throat burned with the importance of what he needed to say. “I like to think what you and I have is special. I’ve never wanted to be with someone more. Even when you’re yelling at me or lecturing me. Especially when we’re in bed curled close.”

Her tears spilled over and slid down her cheeks. He kissed one away, but he didn’t release her hands. “You want kids. A family. I can give you that, even if we have to adopt or become foster parents.”

“Liam.” She sighed jerkily. “Why do you want these things with me? I’m damaged goods.”

“I want these things with you, Grey, because you’re my wife. More importantly, I want these things with you because I love you. I’ve loved you from the moment you jumped me in Vegas.”

She laughed. “How is that possible?”

“Because in that moment, I saw a woman with an inner strength that meant she’d never be a victim. In that moment, I saw a woman who loved and valued life enough to fight for it.” He lifted his hand, keeping hers prisoner, and wiped away a tear. “You jumped me, which jumpstarted my heart, and then you laughed when you realized your mistake. God. Your laugh is magic, Grey.

“You asked why I wanted you to stay. It’s because I love you. You were surprised I was willing to go into WitSec with you, even hypothetically. It’s because I love you. You’re my family and I would do anything to make you happy.”

“Anything?”

“Anything.” He wiped away more tears from her cheeks. “Even if that’s getting you the hell out of here.”

Her lips curled into a real smile and she blew out a shaky breath. “Thank you.”

She couldn’t get outside fast enough, and as soon as they did she drew in a huge swallow of air. When they were back in the car and her breathing had returned to normal, she turned her head on the seat. “Liam.”

“Yeah, Grey.”

“I’d really like it if you’d make love with me again. It’s been too long.”

“Name the time and place. If you’re up for it, I promise I am.”

“Now. Home.”

“Everyone’s still there.”

“We don’t have to talk to them, though I’m willing to bet your mom has cleared them out.”

He was laughing when he started the car to head back home. He turned around to back out of the spot. She leaned in and kissed him. “I love you the same way. I love being your wife.”

Eyes locked with hers, he slipped the car back into Park. His heart stopped beating. The world went silent. His lungs stopped. When life penetrated the haze, it came in a flood that rained from his eyes.