Tell Them Lies (Three Little Words Book 3) (23 page)

T
wo years
later

L
iz rubbed at her eyes
, the grittiness when she blinked getting to her after staring at her computer screen for so long. She cracked her neck to the side a few times, groaning when she got some satisfying pops in each direction.

"Well now, that's the kind of sound I like to hear my beautiful wife making when I enter a room."

She smiled, saving the document she was doing line edits on before spinning her chair around to look at him.

"If you gave me a back rub, I might even make them for the right reasons."

Kieran pursed his lips and narrowed his eyes, taking her in from head to toe. She hadn't showered that morning, her face didn't have a stitch of makeup on it, her yoga pants were coated in hair from their cat, Wentworth, and the coffee stain on her shoulder was probably eight hours old.

He just shook his head and smiled. "Best part of working for yourself, huh?"

Glancing down, Liz attempted to brush some of the short gray and white hairs off her lap. "You had no idea what I would deteriorate to after you married me, did you? It only took, what? A year for me to lose any of the physical features you loved so much."

Out of respect for the deadlines that she was often held captive to, Kieran didn't venture into her office unless the door was open. He'd built it onto the back of her, well,
their
house, about a month after they'd gotten married. Just a small room with large windows so she could see their yard, a comfy chaise lounge for reading, a large desk and insanely expensive chair that he'd bought for her even though she insisted it was too much.

Despite the fact that he was rarely in there, Liz would still probably say it was her favorite room in the house. The large crystal chandelier that hung from the ceiling was one of her favorite parts, along with the chaise, which was covered in a deep blue velvet so dark that it almost looked black. She could read in it for hours and never feel the need to move.

When Kieran grabbed her hands and pulled her out of the chair. "Well, I guess I should take a minute to evaluate that. Because you have a point. The lust at first sight that I felt for you was basically because you weren't wearing yoga pants and a dirty t-shirt."

He smoothed down her hair with one hand, then gently wiped her cheek with his thumb. The deep brown of his eyes were warmed with humor, but his mouth was sober. Something that wasn't the norm with her husband of thirteen months.

So in the spirit of letting him be serious, Liz stood patiently to see where on earth he was planning to take this. When he settled his hands on her hips, she expected him to draw her closer to him, but instead he moved her back a few inches. Then he lifted the hem of her shirt and slowly dragged it up, until Liz either had to lift her arms and continue playing his game, or letting it bunch in her armpits.

Easy choice.

Kieran tossed the shirt behind him, never taking his eyes off of her.

"This all looks pretty similar." Using just the tip of his pointer finger, he traced her collar bone up to the strap of her pale blue cotton bra, then down the strap and along the edge of the cups. Liz shivered and his mouth finally curved into a small smile, so cocky that she could barely refrain from rolling her eyes.

The hand that wasn't dragging back and forth along her chest curved around and cupped one butt cheek.

"This feels the same." Neither one of them were smiling any more when he slowly pulled her flush against him. And one thing she'd learned being married to Kieran, he was always ready for her.

Always. Usually fairly quickly after the
last
time he was ready for her.

He dropped a kiss onto her shoulder and pulled in a deep breath. "I think you smelled better that night though."

Liz pinched his side and laughed when he yelped. Framing her face with his hands, he drew her in for a long, languid kiss.

"That wasn't very nice," he whispered.

"You told me I didn't smell good."

"Angel, you know I always think you smell freaking phenomenal."

"Why are we still whispering?" Their faces were so close together that their lips brushed when they spoke. Just knowing that his lips, his wonderful, strong, so incredibly sexy lips were all hers made Liz feel a proprietary thrill. Kieran loved it when she got all territorial over him, as he proved to her often in those first few weeks of marriage.

Despite their offers to marry in front her, Maggie had insisted that they wait until they were ready. So they had. In a small ceremony with only family and close friends on his Aunt Carol's property, Kieran and Liz got married just shy of a year after they first met, just four short months after Maggie passed away.

Her absence on the day had been bittersweet. But they quite strictly adhered to her wish that nobody cry for the fact that she wasn't there, because as she put it, she was probably having a hell of a lot better day up in heaven. An exact quote, of course. So in the most sentimental thing Maggie probably would have allowed, Liz carried a tiny framed picture of Maggie, tied around her bouquet of pale pink and white roses.

"Where'd you go?" Kieran asked, leaning back to search her face.

"Just thinking about our wedding day."

"Mmmmm. Yeah, that was a good day. I think you should bust out that little lace thingie you wore under your dress again soon."

"Maybe after I shower though."

"Probably not a bad idea." Kieran slapped a hand against her backside, and Liz gasped.

"What was that for?" She rubbed a hand against the slightly stinging skin. Pulling a contrite face, Kieran replaced her hand with his, getting much more vigorous in the attempt to make her feel better.

"Sorry. Want me to make it up to you later in the shower?"

"Why later? Let's go now," she dropped her voice again, sliding her hands up the back of his shirt.

Kieran let out a tortured groan, wrapping her up in a rib-cracking hug. "Because Casey and Rachel are here for your Ladies Night. That's what I came in here to tell you."

Liz laughed, leaning down to scoop up her shirt. "So while they're waiting somewhere in our house, probably eavesdropping, you felt the need to undress me?"

He waggled his eyebrows before he leaned in to smack a kiss on her lips. "I always feel the need to undress you."

Even though she sighed after pulling her shirt back over her head, there was no way she could keep the smile off her face. That was a common affliction being married to Kieran.

When they entered the kitchen, Casey and Rachel looked up from where they were seated around island in the kitchen. Obviously they'd helped themselves to whatever they could find, as they'd pulled out the half full bottles of wine that Liz had in the bottom of the fridge door, and the chips and dip that she'd remembered to grab at the store in preparation for her turn to host.

The three of them used to meet every other week for Ladies Night, watch a movie of the host's choice, and drink more than they should. The last couple years had tempered that a bit though, especially now that they weren't willing to give up their time together to just watch a movie.

"You look really pretty, Liz," Rachel said with a face full of earnestness. Liz lifted her middle finger at Rachel, causing Casey to peal with laughter. Kieran looked ridiculously proud while Rachel looked scandalized. "Dude, you're a bad influence on your wife."

"You have no idea," he replied, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and puffing his chest out. Liz smacked him in the stomach. "But cut her some slack, she hasn't moved from that office for the last nine hours."

"Liz, I hope you ate enough. That's really bad for workplace productivity. I have some homemade granola already divided up into individual portions that I can bring over for you. That way," Casey snapped her fingers, "it's just ready and you don't even have to think about it."

"Orrrrrrr she could just buy granola bars," Rachel interjected.

"Pffft. But then it's not homemade."

Liz held up a hand. "That would be wonderful, Case. Thanks."

Rachel took a large swallow of wine and kept staring Casey down as if Liz hadn't spoken. "But the time you spend on it? And the dishes that you dirty? It cannot be worth it."

"Everyone loves my granola. And I've never had anyone say, oh excuse me, Casey. I think I'll pass and unwrap one of these cardboard chocolate chip bars. Not a single person."

"To your face," Rachel muttered into the lip of her glass.

"Okay," Liz said, holding up two hands this time. "Rachel, you buy me a box and I'll compare. But for now, let's just go into the family room, okay?"

Kieran started chuckling, and all three women looked over at him, like they'd forgotten he was even there.

"Hey, Ladies Night is a husband-free zone," Rachel warned with a lifted eyebrow. "My sweet husband is home with two boys under the age of four, and Casey's is home with
twins
. Don’t you have a lawn to mow or something?”

"Oh, I'm going. But you guys are just funny. It's like a sitcom in my kitchen. You have the friendly one, the peacemaker, and--"

"And
what
?" Rachel crossed her arms and popped out a hip. "I'm friendly. Are you saying I'm not friendly?"

Liz smothered a laugh behind her hand, and Casey grinned.

"I would never dare," he said with a straight face. Then he winked at Liz and walked back to their bedroom to watch tv, or hide, until the girls left.

"He's so great, Liz," Casey said on a sigh. Liz laughed when Rachel rolled her eyes.

"Yeah. He is. I think we all did pretty well with our spouses."

"Totes. But Kieran. Those tattoos make him seem all scary and intimidating, but he's so sweet and funny."

"Do you want to marry him, Case?" Rachel asked, tilting her wine glass at Casey. "Or adopt him?"

They made their way into the family room and settled into their normal spots, Casey on the loveseat, Rachel in the chair opposite, feet propped up onto the coffee table, and Liz tucked onto the couch. They passed the bag of chips around, and quickly polished off two half-full bottles of wine.

"Oh!" Casey sat up, yanking her purse off the floor and pulling out her phone. "Did you see the picture of the girls that I put on Facebook?"

Rachel groaned and Liz motioned greedily for the phone.

"No, and I need to. As much as I'm on the computer, I rarely check Facebook when I'm on a deadline." Liz smiled, a warm swell of love washing over at the pictures of Casey's twin girls, Eliza and Laurel, wearing coordinating yellow and pink outfits with giant headbands wrapping around their identical heads of full, dark hair. They were holding hands, as they often did, smiling toothless, drooling smiles at each other. "Oh Casey, they are so beautiful."

She flopped back and sighed. "Too beautiful. Jake already said he's loading up on ammo so he can be
that
dad. The one cleaning his gun on the front porch when the girls get picked up for dates. Only he won't be kidding when he threatens these poor hypothetical future boys. He'll
mean it
."

Casey's blue-green eyes were so serious that Liz and Rachel cracked up.

"Oh sure, you go ahead and laugh. You have boys, Rach, you don't get it. Just wait until you and Kieran have kids, Liz. He'd be the exact same way if you guys have a daughter."

That sobered Liz a bit. They'd talked about kids, in the abstract. She was nearing thirty three, and she knew she'd want them soon. But actually thinking about a daughter, with her blonde hair and Kieran's dark eyes and charming smile. It actually choked her up a bit.

"Oh geez. Now everyone's going to cry thinking about the future Carter children."

"Rachel, contrary to how you act, you are not allergic to displays of emotion," Casey chided.

Liz smiled. "It's okay. I know it's silly to get teary over something that's not even real yet."

"But it will be real eventually, right?"

"Oh yes, we definitely want kids. We just wanted to have our time just being married first."

Rachel nodded. "Have a clean house and a regular sex life while you can. Smart plan."

"You're right though, Casey. Kieran will definitely be that dad too. I fear for the poor boys who knock on our door."

Of course, that was the moment that the man in question ambled down the hallway and into the family room.

"Wait. I'm going to be a dad?" He wagged his finger at Liz, full well knowing she wasn't pregnant. "You should probably stop pounding the wine."

"No husbands!" Rachel shouted, pointing back down the hallway.

Kieran walked over and rubbed the Liz's shoulders. "What kind of dad will I be?"

The way he looked down at her, like they had no audience, like he'd fully believe that the sun could rise and set by her, Liz teared up for a whole different reason.

"You'll be the best kind."

He leaned down to give her a soft kiss on her upturned mouth. They received a chorus of 'ewwwwww' when his tongue slipped into her mouth.

But Liz just smiled into Kieran's kiss, because with her friends in the room, and her husband next to her, life was about as perfect as it could possibly get. The happiest of happily ever afters.

S
o as I
wrapped up all my final edits of Light Me Up, I realized what a huge error I’d made in the acknowledgments. A group of women that I forgot to thank and it honestly made me a little ill when I thought of it. So, THANK YOU to the amazing bloggers that I’ve gotten to know and who have pimped my books for me. I’m so in awe of how much bloggers do for authors, just out of generosity and a genuine love of reading. They take hours and hours of their busy weeks for US (the readers and the writers) because they want people to know what they love. This is certainly not an all-inclusive list, but these three in particular were so supportive and kind and encouraging with my first two books. And to all the others who read and reviewed and shared, THANK YOU.

-Kristen from Literary Misfit

-Mary Ruth from The Reading Ruth

-Cynthia from Restless Book Obsession

To my writing friends who never cease to be so wonderfully supportive and encouraging, Brenda Rothert, Stephanie Reid, Jade Eby, Katrina Kirkpatrick and Whitney Barbetti. Katrina, Stephanie, and Whitney get extra gold stars because of how much energy they put into giving me awesome (and sometimes frustrating in a completely necessary way!) feedback. It’s wonderful to be friends with people who can be 100% honest with me, pushing me where I need to be pushed, and encouraging me always.

And Whitney, you did NOT pick the shirt color on the cover. Get over it. I still love you though.

Jade, once again, for doing wonderful and professional formatting and listening to all my rambling voice messages when I couldn’t figure out something really easy.

Najla Qamber for putting her magic on the cover, making Liz exactly what I had in my mind. I can’t wait to start another series with you.

Caitlin Terpstra for again being a wonderful beta reader.

A giant shoutout to Shane Madden at Mos Eisley’s for giving Whitney and I the most awesomest tattoos ever, and for wanting to be in our books. You’re my Silas. You know, if the tattoo artist and grey beard didn’t already give it away.

My husband and sons, for always putting up with the fact that I was basically chained to my laptop the months of August and September. My friends and family who are endlessly patient and insanely supportive in this endeavor.

One special person in particular, who was one of the very first readers who made me feel like a legitimate author, my Polish Princess, Katarzyna. I wish I could hug you, but you live on the other side of the world. You are so supportive and kind, and your feedback on an early version of this book absolutely helped me to finish it. Thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Dublin, next year, is gonna be epic for no other reason than I get to meet YOU.

O
ne thing people
might notice in this book (or not, which is fine) is the emphasis on end of life care. I have been so fortunate to work for a senior health care company with an absolutely amazing hospice organization ever since I graduated college. It’s a place that I learned more than I’d ever anticipated, and gave me a passion for palliative and hospice care that took me by surprise. If you need more information on end of life care, please visit
www.nhpco.org.