He’d spent so much of his life being afraid of his own impulses, particularly his anger. And all the time he’d been operating under a misconception. He’d thought his father was a strong man, a powerful man with no impulse control. But he wasn’t. Graham Masters was weak. He was a bully who had subjugated his wife and child because he’d had precious little power in the real world. He was a man who crumbled at the first sign of real opposition, a man who couldn’t even meet his son’s eyes and face the truth that lay between them.
Liam ran his hand over his face. He felt as though an enormous weight had lifted from his shoulders. This was what Zoe had wanted him to see. She’d said it, hadn’t she? Go see for yourself who he is and who you are. Because she’d known, and she’d tried to tell him, but he hadn’t been able to see it for himself.
Liam turned for the door. He was halfway through when his father spoke.
“That’s it? You’re just going?”
Liam didn’t bother replying. He strode to the car, started the engine and pulled out into the street.
And all the while one thought was turning over and over in his mind: Zoe.
Zoe, the brave. Zoe, the infuriating. Zoe, the sexy. Zoe, the love of his life. Zoe, the woman he was no longer afraid to love.
He’d almost lost her, but she’d saved him from himself. Now all he wanted was to find her and haul her into his arms and hold her for the rest of his life.
Adrenaline pumping through him, he stepped on the gas. He couldn’t get home fast enough.
ZOE CHECKED HER WATCH for the hundredth time. She’d done the calculations, factoring in traffic and unfamiliar roads. By her figuring, Liam should have been with his father for an hour by now.
She wondered what was happening, how he was feeling. She’d wanted to go with him so badly.
When he’d insisted on going alone, it had killed her to bite her tongue. But she’d known she was asking him to step way outside of his comfort zone. Only her personal plea had pushed him into agreeing to confront his past in the first place. She had decided to be content with that. Then she’d booked herself a seat on the flight that left after Liam’s, and this morning she’d followed him up to Brisbane. She’d been hanging around the airport for nearly two hours now, waiting for him to return from meeting his father, wanting to be there for him if he needed her.
It had taken all week for her to find Graham Masters’s contact details. Simply finding his first name had been a major production, involving reaching out to her mother for the first time in a long while, then roping her into unearthing old paperwork from storage. Then Zoe had tried the Internet for a phone listing, but Liam’s father was either unlisted or not interested in communicating with the world via phone. Eventually she’d leaned on a former client who had joined the police force. It had taken three days and some inter-jurisdictional tap-dancing, but eventually he’d gotten back to her with Graham Masters’s work and home details.
She’d done all she could do. The rest was up to Liam. She had great faith. He was a smart, perceptive man. He would take one look at his father and understand that they were about as unlike as two people could be, regardless of genetics, regardless of nature/nurture, regardless of anything.
An announcement came over the loudspeaker and Zoe glanced anxiously at the departure display again. Liam’s return flight didn’t leave for another three hours but there was a direct flight to Melbourne every hour. If Liam finished early, he could switch to any one of them. Even though she’d positioned herself on the main causeway, she might miss him.
She forced herself to pick up her book again. If she missed Liam, she would see him in Melbourne. It wasn’t the end of the world. It only felt like it right now because she knew he was dealing with the most challenging confrontation of his life and she wasn’t there to support him.
She glanced one more time up the causeway before trying to concentrate on her book and caught sight of a tall, broad-shouldered figure striding toward the departure gates.
Liam.
Her heart thumped against her rib cage as she shot to her feet. His face was set, unreadable.
Oh, God. What if her idea had backfired? What if seeing his father had only further entrenched his belief that he was his father’s son?
She left the waiting area and stepped onto the causeway. She kept her gaze fixed on Liam’s face as he approached, deciding to wait until he got closer to draw his attention by calling to him.
Suddenly she felt stupid for trailing him to Brisbane and haunting the airport to lie in wait for him. She should have waited in Melbourne, let him come to her in his own time. She’d been so determined to be there for him in some way that she’d convinced herself this was the sensible thing to do. But if things had gone badly, if he needed time to sort himself out, she was the last person he’d want to see.
She was about to retreat and hide behind her book when Liam’s gaze slid over her briefly before coming back for a second look.
Her heart seemed to stop in her chest as recognition dawned on his face. He smiled, a slow, devastating smile that made parts of her melt on the spot. Then he was striding toward her. She lengthened her stride to meet him halfway, almost breaking into a run.
“Liam—” The rest of her words were swallowed by his mouth as he kissed her, his arms sliding around her to haul her close.
She sank into the hardness of his chest, letting her hips and thighs press against his. His fingers curled into her body, holding her so tightly it almost hurt.
She didn’t give a damn. Every question she had, every doubt, every concern was swept away by his kiss.
It seemed like a long time before they came up for air. Liam framed her face with his hands and pressed his forehead against hers, his eyes closed. She felt the intensity in him, knew he was having a silent communion with himself. She could guess what he was thinking: this is right, this is perfect and it’s mine.
She knew, because it was exactly what she was thinking.
“Zoe Ford, I love you,” he said when he opened his eyes.
It was the first time he’d said it to her, and she was surprised by how much the affirmation meant.
“I love you, too, Liam Masters.”
He looked into her eyes, his thumbs caressing her cheeks.
“Thank you,” he said, his voice very deep.
She frowned, shook her head slightly.
“For what?”
“For setting me free,” he said.
Tears filled her eyes and he caught them with his thumbs as they fell onto her cheeks.
“You idiot. I was just returning the favor,” she said.
He smiled and she smiled back.
“Move in with me?” he asked.
“Only if you marry me,” she countered.
His smile widened into a grin. “Ms. Ford, so forward.”
“Always and forever, and don’t you forget it.”
His grin faded and he studied her face as though he was trying to memorize it.
“Yes,” he said after a long moment. “Absolutely. As soon as possible.”
She kissed him, offering up her heart and soul along with her mouth and body. Then she stepped away from him and grabbed his hand.
“Come on,” she said, leading him back the way he’d come.
“The departure gates are that way,” he said, pointing in the opposite direction.
“Yeah, but the Airport Hilton is this way.”
He was a smart man; he didn’t need further explanation. Within ten minutes they were checked in and in the elevator, kissing each other like wild things. Liam barely got the door open before she had his jeans unzipped. Time blurred after that as they tore at each other’s clothes until she was naked and he was inside her, stroking them both to fulfillment.
It had been a whole week since she’d had his hands on her body. She came explosively, his name on her lips. He smiled and looked into her eyes as he stroked into her some more, then it was his turn to shudder and lose himself.
He pulled her against him afterward, cradling her against his chest. She waited until their heartbeats had returned to normal before speaking.
“Do you want to talk about it?” she asked.
He kissed the top of her head, smoothed his hand down her back.
“There’s not much to say. He’s old and gray but he looks like me. Or, I guess, I look like him.”
She knew how much Liam would hate that, and she pressed a kiss onto his chin.
“He tried to pretend like it was some big old homecoming, as though I’d been stolen from him,”
Liam continued. “He didn’t like it when I challenged him.”
His gaze became distant. She smoothed a hand across his chest.
“He tried to leave and I wouldn’t let him. He started to cry, he was so scared of me, Zoe. Big, bad Graham Masters, shaking like a leaf.”
“You’re his equal now. He’s a bully—he doesn’t like those odds,” she said quietly.
“No.” He huffed out a laugh, shook his head. “I didn’t realize.”
“I know.”
He touched her cheek. She turned her face to kiss his palm.
“Pretty stupid, huh?” he said.
She shook her head. Then she slid on top of him so that she was staring down into his beautiful, strong face.
“Not stupid. Understandable. No one survives a childhood like that without scars, Liam.”
He nodded. “I was always determined to put it behind me, not let it affect me. I didn’t want it to be the most important thing in my life.”
“It isn’t. But it doesn’t mean it didn’t happen, either.”
He lifted his head to kiss her.
“How did you get so wise?” he asked.
“I’m not wise. I’m the queen of denial, remember? But someone once told me that I was beautiful and special, and I decided to believe him.”
“Now, see, that’s wise,” he said approvingly.
“No, wise is marrying you before you realize you could have anyone now you’ve slain your dragons,” she said.
She was only joking, but Liam’s expression became very serious very quickly.
“Zoe Ford, don’t you get it? I don’t want anyone else. It’s always been you, since I saw you standing in your parents’ kitchen.”
“Yeah? Then what’s taken you so long?”
He smiled, all his love for her there in his eyes.
“I’m a slow learner. But once I get the hang of something, I know how to make up for lost time,”
he said.
“Promises, promises.”
“I’m good for it,” he said.
“Yeah?”
“Hell, yeah.”
And he set about proving it to her.
ISBN: 978-1-4268-3109-6
SHE’S GOT IT BAD
Copyright © 2009 by Small Cow Productions PTY Ltd.
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