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I clench my fists, sighing through my teeth.
“It’s okay, Lola,” Liam mutters, glancing sidelong at me. “It was a long time ago.”
“I just hate that stuff,” I snap. “What sort of person abandons their family? My mom did that, you know. She was supposed to be taking care of me and she left me in some dingy crack den. I was taken into care soon after. Some people don’t deserve to be parents. And it—”
I break off, shamed tears streaking down my cheeks.
They come suddenly like something has just broken inside of me.
“I’m sorry,” I sob. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me.”
Liam pulls the car to a stop at the side of the road, reaching over and wrapping his arm around my shoulders. He leans down and kisses my forehead, and then lays surprisingly gentle kisses against my tear-stained cheeks.
“There’s nothing wrong with you,” he whispers, his warm breath shimmering over my skin. “You’re a performing arts student. If you weren’t a little melodramatic, where would be the fun, eh?”
I giggle through a sob, loving how he can make me laugh even when I’m at my lowest.
“I’d never do that, would I?” I demand, staring at him firmly in the eyes.
“What are you talking about?” he says.
“I’d never abandon my children.”
“No,” he says matter of fact. “You’re not your mother, Lola. You’re your own person. You’re a beautiful, kind, loving, talented person. Kayley is always talking about what a great friend you are.”
We wince at the same time, as though by speaking her name aloud we’ve invoked some sort of curse.
“Kayley,” I murmur.
“Yeah,” Liam sighs. “Are we going to tell her? Soon?”
My heart feels like I’m being stabbed in the chest. My mind floods with Kayley’s face, her features twisted in agony as the revelation tumbles over her, works its way inside of her, and then alters her so that she can never see me or her father in the same way ever again.
“Yes,” I murmur, coughing back another sob. “We have to. It’s gone too far already not to tell her. Tomorrow morning, when she’s back from Ryan’s, we’ll tell her, okay?”
He nods, sighing deeply.
“I hope she understands how much you mean to me,” he says. “I hope she knows that this isn’t just a fling. You’re carrying my child. You are so much more than I ever dreamed I’d have.”
“How do you know?” I say, somehow making myself sassy despite everything. “You really think your sperm’s that elite, huh, that you made me pregnant right away?”
He smirks, smoothing his hand down my body until he’s resting it against my belly. I’m stunned when I don’t cringe away from his touch against my soft body. I feel like – somehow – I’m moving past the self-hatred that has marked me for so long.
“I can feel it,” he says firmly. “Deep inside of you, I can feel my child, screaming out to be heard. In fact – yes, yes – I can feel triplets in there.”
I laugh, slapping his firm-muscled shoulder. “You cannot feel triplets in there, Liam.”
“No, you’re right,” he says. “Yes … There’s more. Four, five, six? Yes, six children, all waiting to grow and make you even curvier and sexier than you already are.”
“Ha, ha,” I say, smiling, lost in the moment. I don’t know how he does this to me. “Let’s start with one and see how we get on, huh?”
“Oh, there’s going to be more,” he chuckles. “Four or five, I’d say.”
My smile gets even wider, my cheeks flushing Valentine-red when I think about a whole brood of children standing around me.
I imagine a little girl with her voice raised, singing gorgeously, grinning gap-toothed up at me when she notices me watching from her bedroom door.
“What’re you thinking about?” he says, smoothing a strand of hair behind my ear. “You just got this faraway, happy look in your eyes.”
“Us,” I tell him. “Our family. Our future.”
“I can’t wait for our future,” he says passionately. “But I’m just as excited about all the space in between. Every moment with you, Lola, it’s a gift.”
“Whoah,” I say, laughing. “Are you saying you’re a convert to Valentine’s now? Because that sounded very Valentine’s-ish to me.”
“Is that a word?” he smirks.
“It is now,” I giggle. “I think Cupid got his arrow into you, Mr. Larson.”
“Miss Fitzgerald,” he says, chuckling, “you know what? I think you might be right. I’m done denying it. Valentine’s has officially worked its magic on me.”
He leans down and brushes his lips along mine. I open my mouth and we sink into the kiss. My moans rise through our lips, my body getting hot, my nipples tingling.
Then Hunter yawns from the backseat, breaking the spell. We can’t lose ourselves with the dog in the car.
“Come on,” Liam says, breaking off the kiss reluctantly. “I need to get you home.”
