Total pages in book: 102
Estimated words: 103413 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 517(@200wpm)___ 414(@250wpm)___ 345(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 103413 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 517(@200wpm)___ 414(@250wpm)___ 345(@300wpm)
Wrapping one hand around the back of Nico’s neck, he drew him close to kiss him again as he used his other hand to jack him off. Nico grunted, then Liam felt him come all over his hand and he pulled back. They were both breathing heavily. Liam kissed his forehead. He didn’t do tender well. But sometimes, he managed it.
Nico leaned his forehead against his shoulder and Liam ran his other hand up and down his husband’s back.
“Come on. Shower.”
Nico nodded.
“Better pick up that empty packet of lube. We don’t know that the Malone housekeeper is as kinky as ours.”
“Mitzy would think something was wrong with our relationship if she didn’t find an empty packet of lube somewhere at least once a day,” Nico teased.
Liam turned him toward the bathroom, slapping his ass playfully. Nico glared back at him. “Ass.”
Twenty minutes later, they were both clean and in bed. Liam was exhausted but his mind was still going over everything. They both lay on their backs, staring up at the ceiling.
Nico rolled over, tucking his arm under his head. “We have to make a move.”
“Yep.”
“We can’t just take her. Her mental health . . .”
“She’s struggling.” He’d seen it every time he was near her. Sometimes she didn’t even know he was watching. Which was surprising, considering how aware of her surroundings she was. But Liam knew how to blend into the background when he needed to. And there were times she was just so tired that it seemed to override all of her other senses.
He ran his hand over his face. Fuck.
“We’ll help her.”
“It’s not that easy, Liam. You can’t just wave a magic wand and make it better. It doesn’t work that way and you know it.”
He wished it fucking did. He wished he could throw money at the problem and make it go away. He’d kill whomever he had to in order to wipe that haunted look off her face. To ease the pain and fear.
To make it so she could leave the goddamn house without panicking. He knew she barely left the property.
“She’s not sleeping,” he stated. “Did you see the dark circles under her eyes? And she’s lost weight. It’s like she’s become a prisoner of her own fears and insecurities. She’s a shadow of her former self.”
Had he waited too long? He’d thought she needed time. Had he been wrong? Time didn’t seem to be helping.
“Remember the first time we met her?” Nico asked. “At that god-awful dinner the step-monster held. Michael had been dating her a couple of months. I thought she was the most gorgeous thing I’d ever seen.”
Liam nodded. He hadn’t wanted to go to that dinner. He’d never met Lottie before, but Regent had been an acquaintance, so he thought they had better go to the dinner and check that his brother was treating her right.
It had been the usual disaster. Anything that involved the step-monster usually was. He’d come up with that nickname when he was ten and his father had married her, and it had stuck.
Sometimes, he wondered if he’d have ended up this way, cold and with emotional attachment issues if his mother hadn’t died. He could still remember her laugh, the way she’d sing all the time. Her hugs.
Yeah, maybe he wouldn’t be such an asshole. But he couldn’t blame it entirely on the step-monster. His father could have stepped in to protect him. Spineless bastard.
He could still remember the first time he saw Lottie. She had a timeless beauty. Classic. Elegant. But that wasn’t what drew him in. He’d met plenty of beautiful women. But there was something about Lottie.
She’d been sweet and charming. Sneaky and witty. Far too delicate for his peace of mind, but back then, her personality had made her seem so much stronger. The center of the world with everything revolving around her, just hoping that she might bestow a smile on them.
She’d been raised to believe she was special, precious. Which is exactly what she was.
A jewel.
A princess.
“If I’m not allowed to take her, then we need another plan. We’ll show her that she needs us.”
“Yeah? You think we can do that?”
“Of course, we can. We’ll have to move slowly, though.” Which wasn’t going to be easy when they lived in New York and Lottie never left this house.
“I knew you’d have a plan. This is why we work well together. You’re the planner, the strategist, and I’m the fun one who keeps you from turning into a stodgy old potato.”
“Stodgy old potato?” he repeated. “Is that a dig at my Irish heritage?”
“Yes. Wasn’t it obvious? I was trying to be obvious. FYI, it was also a dig at your age, old man.”
Liam shot out his hand and wrapped it around Nico’s throat. Immediately, the other man relaxed. Pleasure shot through his face and Liam smiled. They were fucking made for each other. Liam could be rough, and Nico enjoyed that side of him. It wasn’t a part of him that he could let loose around Lottie, though. He was well aware she couldn’t handle that. But she didn’t have to.