Page 130 of Fighting With Light

***

It’s dark and the doors are open in front of the dinner table to let the breeze in. I set the table and lit some candles. While the roast finishes baking, I shower and change, putting on the dress Liam bought me in Bali.

The timer beeps, and I hustle into the kitchen to pull it out. While the roast cools, I pour each of us a glass of wine. He’s been on the phone with his family since I started cooking. Then the sponsors started calling, already talking about next season. Being a professional athlete is not at all what I expected and involves a lot more than just playing a sport, or in Liam’s case, surfing.

“Liam!” I call, setting our plates on the table.

He brushes into the kitchen from the deck and inhales deeply.

I stand next to the dinner table and say, “Dinner is served.”

He looks between me and the table a few times and picks me up. Tucking his nose in my neck, I feel him take a deep breath. “I love you, princess. Thank you,” he says.

I lean forward and kiss his crooked nose. “You’re welcome, my love.”

He grins and slides me down his body, taking my hand to spin me around. The dress flares out, and he yanks me back into his chest.

“I’m so glad I bought you this dress, and I can’t wait to take it off of you,” he says, grinning and kissing my shoulder.

“Let’s eat first?” I offer, tossing him a wink.

He nods and sits in his seat.

The candlelight glows against Liam’s already tan skin and the flame flickers against his hazel eyes. I notice how at peace I feel when I’m with him. I figured that out when we were in El Salvador. He feelsright, and I don’t care what my family thinks about it.

After we finish dinner and clean up the kitchen from my mess, we head off to bed. I have something in mind for Liam because I want to celebrate his major win in every way he can think of. After I change into some lingerie I haven’t worn in months and brush my teeth, I find him shirtless, still in his board shorts, passed out in the middle of the bed.

Careful not to wake him up, I slip on one of his t-shirts, flip the lights off, and pull a blanket over both of us. I close my eyes and feel him move, pulling me into his chest. “Thank you, baby. I love you.”

“I love you, too.” I didn’t know I would enjoy saying those words so much. Having the opportunity to say them to someone and mean every word is so special and it blows me away that I’m saying them to Liam, of all people.

***

The next morning, Liam was up early and got right to work. He has all the evidence we’ve been able to acquire over the months of traveling and surfing. It’s time to write it up for the Feds.

“I think we have a solid case and it’s all evidential. Only it feels like we’re missing something. We need irrefutable proof of how my father connects to yours. It’s obvious with the Costas, but not my father,” he says.

I nod and sip my coffee.

“The arms trafficking is somewhat circumstantial because it’s the port and a congressman doesn’t exactly have control over that. However, I found evidence showing his work with the port authority regarding illegal drugs and cracking down on the distribution. So it’s not too far of a leap to provide a connection that he could be allowing illegal arms through.”

“The pictures show conclusively that unmarked arms were being sent to the port. Then we have what we found in Colombia, which is good, and I had hoped it would be the slam dunk we needed to be able to send this, but now I’m not sure it’s enough.”

“I don’t know how showing United States Embassy containers filled with cocaine in the middle of the Andes mountains and then having documentation of it being shipped to the border isn’t a slam dunk, Liam.”

He shrugs and types something on his computer.

“We should have taken pictures of the women and children we helped. I didn’t want to because they don’t deserve to be dragged into this even more, but it would have helped.”

“I know, but it was safer for them that way.”

His jaw ticks. “Maybe we need some kind of correspondence between Marco and Fred.”

“That would be hard, like I said. Dad is old school. There may be some phone records, though.”

Liam frowns. “I mean, it could definitely raise some eyebrows, but I don’t think it would be enough to seal the deal, is what I’m saying.”

I nod. “Let me think about it. I might be able to talk to my brothers.”