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“I’m sorry I’m laughing,” she said. “I’m actually jealous. I wish I had fun, crazy stories from my childhood.”
“You and Sienna were angels?” My tone said I didn’t believe it, for which I got a swat on the arm.
“We tried to be when we were home. Mom always seemed tired or stressed, and we wanted to make things easier for her. The only times we goofed around were when Dad took us out for movies, treats, and water parks. Now that I see my childhood for what it was...” She trailed off, not needing to say more. “Can I ask you something?”
“Anything.”
“Would you change anything if you could? Like have you ever wished your parents were a couple of law-abiding citizens? Or that you grew up in the suburbs and lived the high school television show life?”
“No one has lived a high school television show life.”
“Ugh, you’re telling me,” she cried. “They’re like soap operas with the super gorgeous. In my high school, the guys all had faces like a foot and not nearly as many kids were sleeping with their teachers, doing drugs in the bathroom, or selling test papers as they want us to believe.”
“This is really going to shock you. I went to an exclusive private school for the uber rich, and it was the most boring place that ever stole four years of my life. Nothing like— What was it my six-year-old tried to convince me she was old enough to watch? Oh yeah, Gossip Girl.”
“What?” she gasped. “You guys didn’t all sit around congratulating yourself on being young, rich, and pretty, in between trading partners?”
I shook my head gravely. “I hope this doesn’t change your opinion of me.”
We cracked up. “No,” I said when I sobered. “Strange as it is, I don’t wish things were different. Not in any real way. I wish Elizabeth’s mother didn’t leave, but I don’t regret that we’re not together. And I don’t regret the hell she put me through, because in the end, she gave me Elizabeth.
“When I was young, I hated watching my parents walk out the door and wondering if it would be the last time I saw them. With age and wisdom, I understand that’s why I acted out. If they were home dealing with my latest disaster, they weren’t out on the streets. But despite all of that, I don’t wish we were another boring suburban family.
“It’s a rare parent that truly accepts everything about their kid—good and bad. They never rode me, expecting me to be perfect, and then got disappointed when I wasn’t. When I was sixteen, my dad, Killian, had to go on a business trip overseas. He was gone for three weeks and missed my final football game of the season. So I snuck out in his favorite car and totaled it.”
“What did he do?”
“Sent the jet to pick me up and fly me out to Greece. I acted the surly shit the whole way—bracing myself for the lecture.” My eyes glazed remembering it then. “But when I got there, Dad picked me up, drove us out to the beach, and while we were sitting there on the sand, he apologized. Said he’d never miss something that was important to me again, and that was a promise he was making to my face. Know what? He kept that promise.
“I think if we were a ‘normal’ family, they wouldn’t have been there for us the way they were. They knew every day could be their last, so they made the most of the time we had together. You don’t do that when you think a long life is promised to you. You take advantage. Let too much time pass between talking. Skip this or that event because it’s just the one time and there’ll be other games.”
I laced our fingers together. “I know you still have lingering doubts about if this is the best life for Laurel. I can’t answer that for you, but I can tell you, she just got a family that would burn the city down if she said the pretty colors would make her smile. I can say from experience, that’s worth a lot.”
“I hope my sweet baby girl never makes such a request,” she teased, “but that is worth a lot, Liam. It’s worth everything.”
We enjoyed our meal—talking and laughing over the candlelight. After dinner, we kicked off our shoes and walked barefoot on the sand, letting the chilly water wash over our ankles.
That night and well into the morning, I made love to her on the sand—moving inside her warm, wet pussy like a starving man devouring a buffet. I told myself it’d be sweeter, slower, and gentler, but—
“Fucking hell, yes, baby. Right there.” Mackenzie’s nails pierced my back, pinpricking dots of pain through my pleasure. It anchored me to earth—on this beach where only the two of us exist. “Fill me with that fat cock, Liam.”
