Page 50 of The Morally Grey Billionaires Boxset

Isla

How could he do this to me? I can’t do this.

I brush past Liam and out the living room, then through the kitchen and the backdoor to the yard beyond.

I reach the grass and come to a stop. I stuff my knuckles in my mouth to stifle my sobs.

I hear the backdoor close a second time, and then he’s there in front of me.

"LadyBird," —he grips my shoulders— "please, baby, don’t cry."

I only sob louder.

"Isla, please. Each tear of yours is like a hot knife being stabbed into my heart."

I try to pull away, but his grip tightens. He pulls me close, and I bury my face in his chest. He holds me. He wraps his big arms about me and holds me tightly… And it feels so right, and that only makes me cry even more.

He scoops me up in his arms and carries me over to the swing on the porch. He sits down with me in his lap and begins to rock me.

My tears finally slow down. I keep my fingers entangled in the front of his shirt, press my cheek into the solid warmth of his chest, and stay there.

He rubs circles over my back and the action is so soothing, so…

Everything. The tension slowly fades from my shoulders.

I rub my nose against the collar of his shirt and inhale his scent.

The familiarity of him cocoons me; the heat of his body surrounds me.

We stay there, not saying anything, and in the silence, I hear the thump-thump-thump of his heart.

It echoes the pulse at my wrists, the thrum of blood at my temples, the beat of my own heart behind my rib cage.

When I finally sit up, he releases me. I tip my chin up, and run my palm up his face and over his head. His very bald head.

"Liam, all that beautiful hair of yours…" A fresh sob bubbles up my throat.

"I wanted to know."

He holds my gaze and in his eyes, I see the pride, the respect, the empathy… The love. He doesn’t need to say those three words. I just know.

"You didn’t need to," I choke out.

"But I had to." He lowers his head and bumps my nose with his.

"How could I let you go through this alone, Isla? How could I possibly allow you to face the world on your own? I needed to understand how it felt, even if for just a short time. I needed to feel a fraction of the kind of pain you’re going through. "

A warm sensation pools in my chest. It bleeds into my veins, permeates my cells, and extends to my extremities until every part of me seems to be overrun with that melting feeling.

"Liam, I—"

He places his finger on my lips. "You didn’t want me to protect you. You wanted to face the world with your truth, and I respect that."

"You do?"

"I bow to your courage of conviction, your fierce determination to show everyone your reality, to share your truth, no matter how much it was going to hurt you."

I swallow. His words form an invisible fortress around me, one in which there’s only me and him and our intimacy.

This thing that connects me to him—it feels bigger than love.

Bigger than each of us. Because it is. When we’re together, we’re more than the sum of our parts.

We’re unassailable, indomitable, invulnerable… At least, it feels that way.

"But you have to realize, I can’t just stand by and let you carry the load. I’ll never be the kind who can look on as you go through the biggest test of your life and not try my best to alleviate the distress it’s causing you."

I sit up, then straddle him with my knees.

I loop my fingers around his neck, then rise up and kiss him on top of his head.

I place my cheek on his smooth shaven pate and marvel at just how much my life has changed.

When I finally lower myself into his lap with my knees on either side of his thighs, a familiar hardness pokes into the flesh between my legs.

"Oh!" I blink. "Oh, my."

His lips kick up. "I’m still only a man—holding the woman of his dreams in his arms. I fucking adore your soul. I worship your spirit. And when you combine that with your body, baby, that… is my downfall."

I laugh. "These words of yours are everything. You are everything."

"But without you, I’m nothing."

He slides his hand into his pocket and holds up the ring. Then, he takes my other hand and slides the ring onto the finger on my left hand.

I weave my fingers through his, then reach up and kiss him.

He lets me brush my lips on his once—then takes charge.

He pulls me close, slants his mouth over mine and kisses me so deeply, every pore in my body seems to open, every cell seems to catch fire, and every last molecule in me sighs in happiness.

When he finally lets go, we’re both panting.

A burst of clapping reaches us. I glance over my shoulder to find my mother, his mother and the rest of the Knitting Club gathered behind us.

I flush and try to rise, but he doesn’t let me go. "Liam, they’re watching us."

"Let them."

My flush deepens. "Liam, please," I hiss.

He smirks. I blink. Without his hair, he looks like a younger, hotter, more arrogant version of Bruce Willis a la his Die Hard days.

Bruce Willis meets Tom Ellis meets Jason Stratham if you want to be specific.

Those grey eyes of his seem even more piercing.

Of course, Mr. Alphahole would look devastating any which way.

"You’re staring, baby," he drawls.

"So are you."

"I’m looking at the woman who occupies my dreams and my every waking moment. To have you with me, in my arms, to be able to hold you and know we have the rest of our lives together, forever, every day, makes me so fucking happy."

My heart feels like it’s filling my chest, extending to my stomach, and filling every cell in my body. I feel like I’m floating.

"I want to kiss you so badly again. In fact, I can’t imagine a scenario where I don’t want to jump on you, kiss you, tear your clothes off, and fuck you every time I see you."

"Keep going; don’t stop."

"If I had to dream of the person I was going to share my life with, it wouldn’t have been you."

I blink. "No?"

"No." He cups my cheek. "You meet so many people in your life, and none of them touch you. And then you meet the one, and you realize you don’t deserve her."

My cheeks grow fiery. I wriggle about in his lap, and that rod in his crotch seems to grow bigger, thicker, more stabbier, if that’s possible.

"Don’t move again, or I might embarrass myself."

I bury my face in his throat. "Liam, you’re embarrassing me."

"Don’t be. You deserve every single, last compliment and more. You’re the bravest, boldest, gutsiest, most stubborn, exquisite, bewitching, beautiful woman I’ve had the privilege of knowing.

“I’ve spent so much of my life angry with what happened to me when I was still a teenager. I’ve spent so much of my life trying to compensate for the hubris of my youth.

“I focused my efforts on my father’s company over everything else, trying to prove myself to the world.

I told myself if I had more power, more money, and more influence, it would fill that gaping need inside of me.

But then, I met you, and that part that had been so dead inside of me burst to life, and it was a shock.

All of those feelings, those emotions I’d refused to contend with, came to the fore.

It’s what made me so angry at you. It’s why I thought I’d fuck you out of my system. But one taste of you, and I knew."

He leans in closer until his eyelashes brush mine.

"I knew I was trapped. I knew I wanted to be trapped.

I knew even one more second without you in my life would be like the earth without rain—parched, dry, thirsty, waiting for your touch, your scent, the feel of your lips on mine, your skin against mine, your body curved into mine, your breath fluttering on my cheek, your arms entwined about my neck, your thighs cradling me as I bury myself in you.

“You are mine, LadyBird. Mine. I hate what I am without you. I’m amazed at what I become when I’m with you.

You make me the kind of person I never thought I’d have the opportunity to be.

You’re my other half, my better half, the twin to my consciousness, the reflection of my soul, my match, my mate, my partner.

Every day we’re together is the best fucking day of my life because I spend it with you. "

That feeling of floating picks up speed. I’m flying through the air, soaring to the top, drawing in oxygen so rarified I feel lightheaded.

I lean back in the circle of his arms and look up into those features which are as familiar as my own. "Liam."

"Yes, LadyBird."

"Shut up and kiss me again."