Epilogue

epilogue

APRIL

"How about this one?" I put the phone an inch from his nose. Sure, it's too close for him to see anything on it, but it's in front of the newspaper he's been ignoring my apartment hunt for.

"Seriously, April. What's with the rush? Not many people would complain about living in the Aman Hotel for a while. You have a butler at your service, for Christ's sake."

Liam pushes my arm away and fixes the glasses I didn't graze a finger on. He wears reading glasses in bed. It's hot as hell. Clark Kent has nothing on him.

"It's been three months already. I don't want to live in a hotel, no matter how fancy it is." Boy, it's fancy alright. I open another tab on my phone for this cute two-bedroom in Queens Liam will most likely not go for. "I want to have a home. With you." My voice shrinks with every word I say.

God, I don't even recognize myself. What has he turned me into? I sound so… domesticated? Will someone seize my feminist badge?

Fuck it. It's true. I want to build a home with my man.

"Then stop being a brat and choose somewhere suitable." I close the tab, not deeming it worthy of the fight. The place wasn't that cute, anyway.

"Liam, I'm not part of your world. I don't even know what is it you consider suitable. So far, I've only learned what is not: my perfectly nice apartment and anything outside Manhattan with less than 1,500 square feet."

His head bobs and the corners of his lips edge down in agreement in the most adorable but arrogant fashion. "That's a fair start. If I only buy free-range eggs, it's only fair that I give myself the same courtesy and don't live in a cage either. You only had one bathroom, April. That's unsanitary."

"Shut up, asshole-billionaire."

He ditches the newspaper and pulls me on top of him. "Go on. Keep listing my best traits."

I giggle and poke him so he'll join me, but it's in vain. The man is un ticklish.

"And anyway, Mia arrives in two days. She can make a proper list of houses and apartments for us to view."

That prompts me to do a push-up on top of Liam. "Wait. Mia is really coming? She agreed?"

"Yes. She's about to become the most overpaid babysitter in the world, but she can include it as ‘surgeon's PA' on her resume. I got her a six-month work visa, but I can get her a green card if needed." Time has taught me that Liam doesn't acknowledge the word ‘no', but now I'm thinking he doesn't recognize ‘impossible' either. "I'll convince her to move here and keep working for me." He pauses for pure theatrics. "Once she puts Jett's life in order and I get you back, of course." Callie and I have been taking turns helping Preston with Lily and the house, but since I've also become Interim Chief of Orthopedics while he's off, I'm stretched thin. Liam's patience in sharing so much of my time is wearing thinner. "How's he doing, by the way?"

"Better. Thanks for asking. I don't think he's drinking anymore. But Callie says you've brainwashed me and I'm too optimistic now." I smile like a fool at him, proving her point.

Rolling off him, I lay on my side, head propped on my hand. "She's not as sure. It'll be good to have Mia living there and keeping an eye on him. Lily comes back from her grandparents next Saturday, so that's when the real challenge begins."

"Okay, so Mia gets here on Wednesday. That's plenty of time to help us before the kid arrives. She can put together a list of,"—he eyes me teasingly—"suitable places for us to live and book the viewings. We're buying, not renting."

"Buying?" The word tastes a bit funny rolling out of my tongue. That's the first I'm hearing this. "That feels so… definitive."

Liam brings his mouth to mine. Lips touch, but he doesn't kiss me just yet. "So does this." Then he kisses me, nice and slow.

His tongue is heavy on mine, controlling the pace. It's erotic and leaves me panting, with lips hanging apart and eyes still closed, even after the kiss is over. He may be done, but my senses are still reeling from the feel of him.

"It's not fair," I say once I've gathered enough brain cells to form sentences. "Dirty Talking Liam is already a lot to handle. But Smooth Talking Liam? I don't stand a chance with him."

He gives me that signature half smile of his and my silk pajamas suddenly feel like sandpaper on my skin. Off, I need them off. I assault his lips. There's nothing slow about this kiss. It's desperate, and I'm shameless about it.

We rip each other's clothes and he turns me around, spooning me before entering me from behind.

I'm wet, but he keeps my legs shut together, so it's even more snug. Every push and pull brings me closer to heaven, the friction of our skins making me arch my back to give him some leeway. It takes a few thrusts before he's all the way in.

Liam nips my ear lobe, praises how tight my pussy is gripping him, sucks and bites into my neck. His sinful mouth traces wet kisses down my arm until he reaches my hand and sucks each of my fingers. And then…

"Liam, what the hell?"

"What?"

"What do you mean ‘what' ? Did you just put a ring on my finger? On my ring finger ?!"

I'm frozen in place. He's not.

"Seemed appropriate."

"How come you are still fucking me?"

"How am I ever supposed to stop fucking this pussy?" He thrusts in and out of me, never losing his rhythm, while a blow-up doll would be more interactive than I am currently capable of.

"Liam Gunn, is this your idea of a proposal?"

"No, don't be daft." The tone he takes implies I'm very much daft. Fucking British man.

"Then what is it?"

"An engagement ring."

"That's not how you propose!"

"I know, April. I'm not proposing. That would be stupid. That would imply I entertain the idea that this could be a question. And what we have is not up for questioning." I'm back to meeting his thrusts. Someone book me a therapist, there's something wrong with me. "We're a fact, and we're starting a future as bright as that fucking stone." My focus goes to the ring. I look at it, really look at it for the first time. It's gorgeous. Extravagant, blinding, and unnecessary.

Just what I would expect from Liam.

"I'll call it a wedding ring if you let me. Because you're mine. And I want the world to know it." Fuck, fuck, fuck.

He turns me around and slips his cock right back in. We're looking at each other now and he pulls my left hand between us to kiss it. First my hand, then each of my fingers, and lastly, the ring.

He places my palm on his face and looks deep into my eyes.

"Will you? Be mine?"

I huff a soundless laugh. "You're crazy."

"Another fact, but not the answer I was going for." Liam shifts us again and gets on top of me. "But that's okay." He drives himself in at once, deep, to the hilt, and all oxygens leaves me. "I'll fuck the yes out of you."

He raises his upper body and lifts my legs until my calves are by my ears. I scream at the depth he reaches in this position.

"Do you want me to stop?"

"No. Never." I know he wouldn't, but my tone comes out desperate anyway.

"Do you want more?"

"Yes," I beg in a moan.

"That's my good girl." I clench, knowing I'll never get tired of hearing that. He lowers his lips to my ear. "My gorgeous wife." That's new and makes me clench even harder. His smirk lets me know he felt that too. I fist his hair with both hands and meet his thrusts with the little leverage I have in this position.

"Come on my cock, wife." Fuck, that really does it for me.

I moan and clamp down on him with intention.

"Then I'll fuck every little hole in this tight body of yours to show how I'm going to love you every single day of my life. How I'll cherish you. How I'll drink your concerns away, one orgasm at a time, until you can't think straight, let alone worry. Let me show you how good it'll be to become Dr. Hadden-Gunn."

Boom. Gone.

He holds himself sheathed in me, feeling every grasp of my pussy drawing out his own release.

Liam brought a lot of novelty into my days. Feeling him leaking out of me after sex was one of them. And one of my favorites.

In fact, every day with this man teaches me something I never knew I wanted and corrects my ways about what I always thought would hinder my ambitions.

Liam is not a distraction, he's fuel.

He doesn't want to change me, fit me into a mold that would make him look better, or dim my own light to make his shine brighter. No. None of that shit I've watched and grown to fear.

Liam's all about me doing my own thing. All he asks is for a front-row seat to be as close as possible while I'm at it.

And I gotta say, I feel even more like myself when I'm with him. Because he makes me feel safe. Treasured. Loved.

Before Liam cannonballed his way into my life, all I aimed for was to be successful. Renowned. And if all turned out okay, I'd leave a legacy behind.

After Liam showed me how it feels to be complete, I took him at his word. I'm daring to dream bigger and higher, just like he asked, and with him featuring in every one of those dreams.

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