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She posed playfully. “Thank you. I work hard to look this beautiful. Now you. Let’s get it all out straightaway. You said they didn’t hurt you, but I see the bruises.”
Her intensity was palpable. “I decided to tell youeverythingthat happened. I don’t plan to do the same with Linc and my mum. It would only hurt them and make them feel guilty. But you and I have a different pact, and I’ll never keep anything from you.”
Her anguished exhalation was harsh in the quiet of the bedroom. “Good, because I really couldn’t talk myself into pestering it out of you. All right. Give it to me straight.”
He searched for the best words to share his ordeal, and after he began, the story poured out of him naturally. Her face changed as she listened to him—her eyes shifting from fiery anger, upon hearing about Malcolm and Mary’s taunts, to tears as he told her of his meetings with his father and Sorcha.
She traced his throat after he shared how Malcolm had put his hands around it, the most dangerous moment he’d had in jail, and wiped more tears as he told her that his father and Sorcha had both done their best to heal it. He finished with the news of how a Garda officer had entered his cell in silence, put a hood over him, and then driven him to Caisleán, pausing outside town to take off the hood. She expressed her shock that he had no more information about his release. All Liam cared about was that he was free and that Malcolm hadn’t paid him a final visit. Then she wrapped her body around him as if she were trying to absorb him into her very skin and keep him safe.
“Now you…” he said softly, inhaling the clean scent of her, feeling the warm press of her body against him.
She began with her frustration over her Waterford mural not working, and then she backtracked to how she’d mostly invited herself down to Kinsale to help Arthur Hale, only to discover the Merriam men and Clara waiting to help. Eoghan’s involvement made him smile, and he leaned in to kiss her after she told him about bringing the man into her confidence. Trusting him. Something she’d been forced to do with the Merriam men too. From there, she filled in the pieces of how the people in the pub had come to be wearingI Am VeritasT-shirts with his name on the back and a plea for his release.
“You know…” He had to clear his throat to free the emotion there. “ThisSpartacus.I’ve never seen that movie.”
“How is that even possible?” She rose up on her elbow, her cheeks pinkening from happy outrage. “Spartacusbroke the Hollywood blacklist, some of the darkest days in movies when people accused of alleged communist or subversive ties for having ‘radical ideas’ were denied work. Dalton Trumbo was finally listed in the credits—whereas before his screenwriting was done in secret.”
He tapped her nose. “Sounds like someone else I know.”
She laughed. “Yes, and now I have a T-shirt I can wear with the truth on it, because people will just think it’s cool. Edgy even. Oh my God, I am so going to need to watch that clip of Bono at the Dublin protest again.”
“Go get your phone.” He leaned over and kissed her tenderly on the lips, overwhelmed with love and gratitude and the pure joy of being with her again. “We’ll watch it together.”
She narrowed her brown eyes as she flipped her hair over her shoulder. “Seriously? Like right now?”
“It makes you happy,” he told her softly, “which makes me happy.”
Her enthusiastic kiss rocked him back as she straddled him. “God, thisisa big moment. I’d rather make love to you again than watch Bono at the Dublin protest. How huge is that?”
“Pretty huge,” he said, nudging her with his erection.
She snorted as she fitted him to her and lowered herself. They both groaned, and his hands came up to play with her breasts.
“Speaking of all that blessing stuff, which I can feel you getting to,” she said as she began to move slowly. “We need to do something for Sorcha, because it sucks if she’s in trouble for what she did with Mary. Who do you petition for leniency on a ghost? Because I might never unsee the suggestions the internet gave me when I typed inhow to free a ghost. Do you have any idea the kinds of things that are out there? Liam, I know you have gifts, but it’s called woo-woo for a reason.”
He fought laughter as she took him deep and then stopped, arching into him again. God, she was close, and he was going to come undone under her. “I’ve been thinking about it. I have some ideas.”
“Good,” she moaned, taking his hand and bringing it to where they were joined. “Then I really need to check in with the MIU.”
He dug his head into the pillow as she picked up her pace.“A stór,I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“I told you…about the Merriam Investigative Unit.” Another moan from her split the room, making him fight for control. “We still need to bring Malcolm down. You being released is only step one.”
He fell into his breathing, for it was the only thing that was going to help him enjoy their rhythm longer. “I’ll help you after.”
Her hands landed on his chest as she leaned forward, taking their position deeper yet. She was panting, sweat dotting her face and between her breasts. But it was the fierce love in her eyes that undid him in the best way.
“Then we need to figure out what to do about your aunt Mary because that bitch is so going down. When I think about her visiting you in jail like that and threatening you…”
He rose then, rolling her to her back. “No talk like that when we’re making love,a stór.”
“Sorry.” She lifted her hand and caressed his jaw tenderly. “Did I tell you how much I missed you when I was doing the Waterford mural? I mean, the others were great to volunteer, but only Trevor knew how to paint. Flynn was a complete disaster. I had to stick him on garbage duty. And Connor was really precise, but he took forever. And Quinn—”
“Taylor.” Liam raised her leg and pressed in deep. “Try and focus on us, love. Then you can talk yourself out.”
She twined her hands around his neck as he began an easy thrust and withdrawal. “It’s my version of meditative breathing, which you still do way too much. I mean, only moments ago you had your eyes closed and you were sucking in wind like there was no tomorrow.”
His rhythm broke then, and he started laughing. “You aren’t what I expected. At all. I thought the Universe would send me a female version of myself. Instead, I got the bravest, most brilliant, and funniest woman imaginable, who won’t stop talking while we’re making love.”
