Liam wasn’t supposed to be my happily ever after.
He wasn’t even on my radar.
He was my husband’s best friend—forbidden.
But my husband is dead and I’m alone. I ache for him and I
reach for Liam.
One night with Liam changed everything. Now I have to
decide if I truly love him or if he’s just the consolation prize.
Copyright © 2015 Corinne Michaels
All rights reserved. No part of this
publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any
means including electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise,
without the prior written consent of the author.
This book is a work of fiction. Names,
characters, places and incidents either are products of the author’s
imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or
locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental and beyond the
intent of the author or publisher.
Aarabelle sits in her highchair as I
feed her dinner. She’s growing so fast. Already she’s eating cereal and a
little baby food. Soon she’ll be crawling and I have no one to celebrate with.
Her father will never see these milestones and it breaks me apart.
“You should really lock the door,” Liam
huffs as he throws his coat over the chair.
“But then I’d have to get up to let you
in,” I state matter-of-factly and go back to feeding the baby, trying to put
aside my worries. The fact is…this is reality. I have to deal with it.
“Uh huh. Hey, Pumpkin,” his eyes alight
as he crouches down by Aara. It’s adorable hearing grown men use a baby voice.
It gets a little softer and higher pitched.
The corners of her mouth lift and she
throws her arms in the air when he gets close. My heart sputters seeing how
happy she gets seeing him. Liam kisses her head and she giggles.
“At least someone is happy to see me,”
he says playfully.
“I’d be happy if you brought me a
present,” I joke.
He laughs and goes into the pocket of
his coat. “Just so happens I did, but since that’s the only way you’ll be nice,
I’ll hold on to this until you’ve earned it.”
Practically leaping out of my chair, I
rush over. “What is it?” I try to peer around his back as he holds the mystery
item.
Liam’s lips curl as he sees how much I
want this. I don’t even know what it is. Jeez, I’m an idiot. “Nope. We eat
first, then maybe you’ll get it.”
“Watch, it’s a freaking Pez dispenser
or something stupid.”
“Guess you’ll have to be nice to find
out.” He shoves the item into his back pocket and I fight the urge to reach and
get it. “How was work?”
We spend the next thirty minutes going
over my day and Jackson’s return. Liam never mentioned that they spoke, but
he’s surprised to hear he’s in Virginia. After we finish the pizza, Liam
somehow convinces me we should watch a movie. I get Aarabelle to bed and come
down to find him sprawled out on the couch.
“By all means, make yourself
comfortable.”
Liam pulls his beanie higher on his
forehead and his eyes glimmer with amusement. He sits up and puts the TV on. “I
picked the movie.”
“What?” I ask with mock incredulity.
“It’s my house. Why do you get to pick the movie?”
“Ummm, I’m the guest.” He shrugs as if
this should be an obvious answer.
I groan and lean back. “What crappy,
shoot-‘em-up movie do I have to endure?”
“You’ll see. It’s a classic.”
Corinne Michaels is an emotional,
witty, sarcastic, and fun loving mom of two beautiful children. She’s happily
married to the man of her dreams and is a former Navy wife. After spending
months away from her husband while he was deployed, reading and writing was her
escape from the loneliness.
Both her maternal and paternal grandmothers were
librarians, which only intensified her love of reading. After years of writing
short stories, she couldn’t ignore the call to finish her debut novel, Beloved.
Her alpha Navy SEALs are broken, beautiful, and will steal your heart.
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