Page 78 of Backup Plan

He laughs. “Well, if it doesn’t, it will by the time we’re ready to use it.”

We get the boys down, and Benji is surprisingly emotional as he says goodbye to Liam. Sammy acts tough, but I can see in his eyes that he’s going to miss him, too.

Liam heads up to his room to finish packing, and after twenty minutes, I check the boys to find them both sound asleep, so I head up to join Liam in his room.

I find him in his closet, kneeling on the floor as he zips up a duffel bag, and I’m reminded of a moment we once shared in this very closet. I lean on the doorframe and cross my arms over my chest, and he glances up when I say, “Hi.”

“Hi.” He lifts to a stand and walks a few steps in my direction.

“The boys are asleep,” I say, all the innuendo of what that means very clear in my tone.

“We should definitely do something about that.” He takes another step toward me.

“You mean like wake them up?” I pretend to act confused.

He chuckles as he closes the final step between us and reaches out for me. “Not quite.” He hauls me against him, leaving me breathless.

“Oh, I see where you’re going with this now.”

His lips drop to mine, and butterflies flap wildly in my chest. I will never get tired of kissing this man.

His tongue brushes against the seam of my lips, and I open my mouth to his. The kiss is intense and feels meaningful as our bodies start to join in the rhythm. His hand snakes up into my hair, and he fists the strands near the roots, pulling roughly but in a way that’s so full of passion that the pleasure outweighs the pain. He tugs so my head is forced back, away from our kiss, and he runs his tongue down from my mouth to my throat.

He’s never been rough like this, and I like it. The intensity, the urgency. All of it, all of him.

He’s consuming me at a time when I wasn’t sure I was consumable. He’s making me feel alive again after being dead inside for far too long.

He’s making me feel wanted again after the person who vowed forever with me made me feel wholly unwantable.

His mouth dips from my throat into my cleavage, where he breathes me in with a growly moan, and then the clothes start flying. He rushes me out of my shirt, which he tosses on the floor, and I do the same to his shirt, running my fingertips along the cut muscles of his abdomen in the half a second he allows before he’s fumbling with my jeans.

Soon enough, we’re both naked in his closet again, but this time instead of taking me right here, he sweeps me up into his arms and carries me over to his bed. He gently lays me down, a heady contrast to the way he was so rough and quick with me in the closet mere seconds ago.

He hovers over me for a few beats, and his eyes meet mine. His eyes say the words we’ve both been afraid to say, and it’s enough for now. I don’t push it even though the words are on the tip of my tongue.

He slides into me, and I tip my head back as a warm glow fills me.

His mouth trails down my neck, and his voice is close to my ear when he murmurs, “Fuck, Pen, you always feel so good. So perfect.” He moves over me in the perfect rhythm, like our bodies were made for each other, and this feels so good, so right. This can’t be goodbye.

I don’t want it to be goodbye, but I also don’t know how to make it work when I’m here and he’ll be there.

I don’t know how to make it work when I’m not even divorced.

I don’t know how to make it work when he’s my best friend’s brother.

There’s so much stacked against us.

So how do we fight against all that to find our way to make this work?

CHAPTER 23: Liam Bradley

What I Already Know

It’s Wednesday evening when my phone rings.

Izzy.

I blow out a breath.