Before Sunrise (43 page)

Harper grinned. “Dinner,” she said, holding
up a bag of takeout from a rib spot up the street. She wore a gray
trench that stopped at her ankles and sexy pink pumps. He could
smell her floral beauty in the wind that blew a bone-freezing chill
through his door. Was she on her way out and just passing
through?

“
Are you going to let me
in?” She shivered.

“
Yeah, sorry. Come in.” He
held the door.

Harper strutted inside. She was bold. He and
Liam used to joke about how defiant she could be. Once Liam and
Kennedy married, she wanted to live with them immediately, and
visited often. Eric had always thought she was cute. A cute, sweet
kid with a crush. Just a crush.

He needed to send her on her way. Tonight
he’d been in an unsettling mood, and could use little restraint
with this princess. She disappeared through his house to the
kitchen. Eric followed. He found her at the dining room table,
placing the bag on top. “Harper, it’s late, love. You shouldn’t
have come here.”

“
I brought you dinner.” She
looked over to him and smiled. “And dessert.” She undid the tie to
her trench coat. It opened, revealing the sexiest lingerie he’d
ever seen.
Damn
.
Pink was definitely her color. One look at the lacy undergarment
against her chocolate skin and his dick stretched between his
legs.

“
Fuck,” mumbled Eric. He was
in trouble.

***

“
How long can she keep this
up?”

Kennedy snuggled closer.
Their backs were pressed against the wall. Her right thigh was
against his left. Other than that, he didn’t touch her and that in
itself was torture. They were sharing a plastic cup of wine,
watching their daughter, who sang in front of them. When she got
excited she would bounce and grin, then run around the living room
jumping over nothing. It started with
The
Wheels on the Bus
, and moved to her ABCs.
Now she was on Rudolph again.

“
How much candy did you give
her?” Kennedy whispered.

Liam frowned. “Not a lot.”

“
Mmmhmm, look and learn. I
told you no sweets.”

Liam put his hand on her leg, slipping his
fingers between her thighs.

“
Couldn’t help myself. I’m a
sucker for my girls.” He kissed her shoulder.

At last! Contact. Kennedy released a deep
sigh. She had half a mind to get on his lap and take another kiss.
One like the sweet kiss he gave her when she walked through the
door. She glanced at him. His eyes slid back over to her.

“
I’ve missed this. Us. You
know that, don’t you?” she asked.

“
Yes. I’m sorry, Kay. For
everything. I could have handled things better. Give me another
chance. We can go slow, at your pace.”

“
Of course we can, Liam. I
ended things with Phil. It’s over. I’m yours. I was going to tell
you tonight and then you surprised me.”

Liam stared at her in stunned silence. Maybe
he hadn’t thought she’d choose him. Maybe he just didn’t have as
much faith in them as he used to. She didn’t blame him. Life had
dealt him a bad hand since he was a kid. Nothing ever came easy to
him. She planned to make up for so much. She would love him so hard
and so strong that he’d never have to worry or suffer a minute of
loneliness. She couldn’t wait.

“
I love you,” she said
softly.

He gently put his hand to her face and
dropped his forehead to hers. “Kay, I love you too, always. I never
want to make you cry again, hurt you. I feel like shit for what I
said to you. You’re the only person on this planet who understands
me. I missed you so much when I was gone.” He kissed her once,
twice, three times, then slipped his tongue in and claimed
hers.

“
Mommy! You not listening to
me! Stop that!” Mackenzie began to whine, she rubbed her eyes as if
she were on the verge of tears. Kennedy sighed. She broke the kiss
first. She wasn’t even sure Liam heard his daughter. “She’s sleepy.
I need to take her home and put her to bed.”

“
No,” Liam said, a little
too abruptly. “I have a room. What I mean is, I put an air mattress
in her room and one in, um, our room, or what I want to be our
room. You can stay here tonight.”

“
Really?”

“
Yeah, c’mon. Let me show
you.”

“
Come here, baby,” Kennedy
said. She picked up Mackenzie. She noticed Liam limp over to a new
cane he must have purchased and followed him up the stairs. The
place was small. There were only two bedrooms that faced each
other, and a bathroom to the back center. Liam walked into the room
on the left. Kennedy was surprised that he had thought of
everything. The air mattress had a blanket and cover, even pillows.
He had been one busy boy.

“
No!” Mackenzie cried in
horror. “I want to go home.” She looked up, pulling on Kennedy’s
pants leg. “I don’t want to stay here. I don’t like it
here.”

She smiled at Liam. “I’ll have to lie down
with her. Turn off the light and close the door and I’ll put her to
sleep.”

Liam looked a little disappointed.

“
Welcome to being a daddy.
You have to share mommy.” Kennedy put down a now crying Mackenzie,
who struggled to get back up once laid out on the mattress. “Close
the door, Liam. I’ll come find you when she’s sleep.”

“
Okay,” he said, and the
door shut.

“
Mac, lie down. Come here to
mommy. It’s okay baby, you’re tired. Mommy isn’t going anywhere.”
She sighed.

***

“
What are you doing?” Eric
demanded.

Harper walked over to him. He couldn’t take
his eyes off her young, ripe body. Her skin was flawless. Her pink
bra with the lace half-cups pushed her breasts up nicely but he
could see her erect dark nipples straining against the thin lacy
fabric. Her flat tummy had a piercing in her navel and a strawberry
tattoo had been stamped on the right side of her hip bone. The
thong panty barely covered her pussy, but thankfully it did enough.
Eric closed his eyes and reopened them, trying to get his cool in
check. He was in it deep now. She stood close, put her hands on his
chest, and lifted in her heels but remained a inch or two shorter
than him. She kissed him on the chin.

“
Look at me,
Eric.”

He grabbed the collar of her coat and forced
it closed. “Harper, I want you to go home. Do you understand? This
won’t happen.”

“
Why? Give me one good
reason? Why it won’t.”

“
Liam’s my best friend.
Kennedy is too. They trust me with you. I’m just not that big of an
asshole, okay?”

Her thick lashes lowered and her lip poked
out in a pout. She was so beautiful. Why would she play these
games? He didn’t like attachments, told himself he didn’t need
them. But Harper made him laugh, made him feel young. She
challenged him on his politics and lone wolf lifestyle. Some of the
conversations he’d had with her made him forget her age.

“
Hey.” He cupped her face.
“I’m flattered. But you can do a helluva lot better than me.” He
nearly choked on the words. The idea of another man touching her
hit him in the gut. Still, any man was a far better choice than he
was.

“
Can I at least sit down and
eat with you? Please?”

Eric looked over at the table of food. He
hadn’t eaten anything all day. “Yeah, sure, let’s eat. But keep
that damn coat closed.” He saw the light of excitement spark in her
almond-shaped eyes. “Then we call it a night. Okay? Agreed?”

Harper gave him a sly smirk. “Sure, Eric.
Whatever you say.”

***

It wasn’t exactly as he had envisioned. He
had worked out every detail but this one. Of course his daughter
wouldn’t want to sleep in a strange room on an air mattress while
he seduced her mother. Liam wiped his hand down his face. What had
he been thinking? He headed down the stairs. His mind did a
playback of the evening. The episode at Fun World gnawed at his
confidence. Paranoia wasn’t something his conditioning as a SEAL
allowed, not even in the most dire of circumstances. Trained
against second-guessing himself, Liam always dealt with the facts,
even while in captivity. It was how he’d remained focused, hadn’t
broken, stayed the course, and survived the bullshit. He considered
the facts now. Between a Zombie Destroyer arcade game and a wall
unit to toss hoops, he’d seen someone, the person saw him, then
fled. He engaged, and—nothing? Had someone really been there and he
was too juiced up to see him through the maze of kids? If the
person was there, he wanted to be seen, followed. But why? Could it
be a setup? One question led to another and soon he had nothing but
questions. There was another fact. Vasquez had seen nothing. The
only proven fact was that Liam had slipped into one of his blackout
states where he’d lost time. Therefore, only one conclusion
remained. It had to be all in his head.

Eventually the tightness Liam felt in his
face dissolved and he managed a smile. The day wasn’t a total bust.
While they ate, he listened to Mackenzie’s tales. Mackenzie was
where he found his healing. She reminded him of the time he’d cared
for his little sister, how needy and trusting kids were.

Liam felt pangs of anger. It wrapped around
his lungs at the thought of anyone hurting his child. There were
different forms of abuse, some of them not physical. The harsh
words and neglect of a parent could do far greater damage. No
matter how hard he tried to protect his little sister, she’d
suffered as he did. He would be a far better parent to
Mackenzie.

Liam walked through his empty living room.
He tried to set aside his disappointment. Why would he be angry
now? Kennedy had chosen him. She was his. Tonight he’d love her
long and strong and remind her of how she belonged to him. Phil’s
face emerged in his mind and he saw him kissing Kennedy, touching
her, fucking his woman whenever he pleased.

Liam closed his eyes.
Stop it man, just let the shit go. It’s done. Let
it go
. Sure he could try to forget Phil
Freeman’s creepy moves, but could he really forgive? Kennedy had
betrayed him. She said she would never stop believing in him and
she had. Ego or not, the fact she’d moved on without him hurt bad.
She
was
his and
that bastard had no right to ever touch her. He would give anything
to wrap his hands around Phil Freeman’s throat and squeeze until
the pain his chest went away.

Liam stopped near the wall. He put a hand to
it and sucked down deep breaths. He didn’t understand what went
wrong with him. Why his mind kept going there. Why it was harder
now to keep things in perspective, harder than it had been in
captivity. He sniffed and blinked away the tears building behind
his eyelids. He needed to be stronger than this. Much stronger. He
didn’t break in that desert hell, and he sure as fuck wasn’t going
to go to pieces in heaven.

Tonight had been perfect. Kennedy smiled so
much it actually felt like old times. He loved making her happy.
She and Mackenzie had the same smile with dimples that sank in
round cheeks and eyes that danced with radiance. Something in him
stabilized. The angry beast he kept caged stalked away.

Liam went toward the kitchen and got a
garbage bag. He managed to gather all the trash and empty cups and
the wine bottle. He did a little more straightening in the kitchen.
His time spent only rounded out to ten minutes. He sighed, thinking
it would take an hour or more for her to come back to him. He
considered going back upstairs to help. He wouldn’t touch her; he
just wanted to be close. Maybe lay behind her and let her warm body
comfort him to sleep. He didn’t sleep much. The nightmares made it
hard. How he craved putting his head in her bosom and just getting
one solid night’s sleep.

“
I’m losing it.” He blew out
a deep breath. He wasn’t that needy. He survived for five years on
nothing. Less than nothing. Now he had the shakes because he wanted
to be babied by his woman? It was nuts. So he shut off the lights
and decided to sit by the Christmas tree and wait.

They needed furniture, a place to sleep and
sit. His daughter’s room should be first priority. He would make it
just like the one she had at home. That might work. He sat back and
nervously waited. He wiped his hand down his face and tried to
relax. “Cool it man, just keep it cool.”

A familiar wave of nausea began to build in
his gut. He closed his eyes and fell into complete darkness. The
darkness had become quite close to his bleak existence in his
desert hole. Therein the putrid stench of death waited for him and
his fallen brothers. Death had always been the fourth man in the
hole. Crouched down in a corner it snickered, hissed, and taunted
them. It would even whisper to him. Tell him to give up, to let go.
Tell him there was no escape. He could never beat fate. You were
born to die this way, it would tell him.

Liam sucked down several deep breaths as
time and space imploded and he once again sank into an oily, black
abyss. It filled his ears and clogged his nostrils, forcing his
mouth to open and for him to swallow the putrid taste of evil. He
strangled on it. Trapped in such hopeless despair, he wished
secretly for death to win. When would it stop? If it was never to
stop, then let it end him. Then he’d hear her voice, asking if he
was okay, if he needed her, and his wish changed. He wanted a
second chance at life. Hadn’t he earned it damn it. What would he
need to do to have it again?