When We Kiss (25 page)

Mom smiled as she dabbed at her eyes. When she was done, she looked at Liam. “Forgive me. We don't blame you at all. Just like we don't blame Alex. He was ill. What happened was a tragedy. Was it preventable? Perhaps, but we'll never know. The way it played out, it wasn't. He went when it was his time.”

Liam looked between them. “Do you both really believe that?”

Dad stroked Mom's back. “We do.” He withdrew his hand from her and leaned forward, resting his elbow on the table. “To do anything else is absurdity and results in nothing good. Just look at you.”

Yeah, look at him. He was practically crawling out of his skin. Anything was preferable to this. He imagined jumping out of a plane, the air rushing over him, the thrill of taking flight. The perfect way to lose himself.

Which is why he did it.

He ran his thumbs along the wood of the chair's arms and looked down. “Mom, Dad. I do all these extreme sports for Alex. He asked me to jump out of an airplane back in college because he couldn't. He wanted to experience it, so he asked me to go and film it. I did, then I showed it to him. We were both hooked.” He looked back up, and Mom was staring at him, her mouth open.

“Why didn't either of you say anything?” she asked.

Liam shrugged. “It was just our thing. Now it's just my thing.” That admission carved a piece out of his heart. It was, maybe, the first step in accepting that Alex was really gone.

“You didn't do it just for him,” Dad said. “Otherwise you would've stopped when he died.”

“It's my lifestyle now, but I wouldn't have stopped anyway. It . . . gave me something to focus on.”

“Instead of your grief.” Dad reached over and touched Liam's hand. “I get it. I was there. I did everything I could not to think about him or the fact that he was gone. For months, I drove everyone insane with my dark cloud. Your sister did the same sort of thing last year. I imagine it's been ten times worse for you. And I'm sorry. I should've known.”

“
We
should've known,” Mom said, her voice cracking. “You were his twin. You shared a bond. I should've come to stay with you in Denver for a while.”

Liam almost laughed. He could just imagine his mom hanging around his ultra-modern high-rise condo, maybe joining him on an extreme hike or waiting up for him when he went out to a party. “Mom, it's okay. I wouldn't have let you. I wanted to be alone.” He'd been about to say, “I
still
want to be alone,” but he realized that wasn't true.

He wanted to be with Aubrey. With his family. He'd said more about Alex in the past day than he'd said in the past year. And it hadn't broken him. At least not any more than he was already fractured. Maybe he
could
come home. The mere thought provoked a surge of anxiety. Where would he fit in this new Alex-free world? Would he ever be able to work through the guilt and the shame? Most of all, how would he deal with the grief? Because if he came back, he didn't think he could keep it at bay any longer.

Mom sniffed again and blew her nose. “I think I understand why you moved away. I know it was difficult for you and for Alex. But I always thought you'd come home eventually. Why haven't you come home, especially since you have Aubrey now?”

The argument they'd just had arose in his mind. He tried to articulate it for his parents. “I've kept myself separate for so long, I don't know that I belong. Everyone here is happy. They've moved on.”

He took in his mother's splotchy face and realized he was wrong. Yes, they were happy, and yes, they'd moved on, but they'd hadn't forgotten about Alex. They'd found a way to grieve and to appreciate and celebrate his memory. Could he do that, too? He hadn't thought it was possible. But maybe, with them and with Aubrey, he could.

“We've coped,” Dad said. “You'd fit in anywhere you wanted, so don't use that as an excuse. You just have to want to try.”

Emotion welled up in Liam's chest, but he didn't want to succumb to it now. “There isn't even a job for me here—you're selling Archer Real Estate.”

“I wanted to give it to you plenty of times, but you always turned me down, so I stopped offering. I'm not offering it anymore. If you want it, you have to take it. You have to
try
, son.”

Suddenly things clicked. It wouldn't be easy to confront the things he'd worked so hard to avoid—Alex and the guilt and grief associated with him and with the place he called home. But he did want to try. “I want it.” Everything. The job. His family. His home. Aubrey. He could maybe stop subconsciously believing he didn't deserve those things. No, he
had
to stop believing that. “If you want me to buy it, I will.”

Dad laughed, and it broke the tension in the room into such small pieces, Liam doubted anyone could find them if they tried. “Even you can't afford it. I'm happy to turn it over to you. If you really want it.”

Liam sat up in the chair. “I do.”

“What about Denver?” Mom asked. “Lion Properties?”

Liam's brain was already working. “I'll merge the two and put someone in charge down there.”

Mom's face lit. “Does that mean you're coming home?”

He nodded, feeling as good as he had last night in Aubrey's arms. “If you'll have me.” Hell, even if they wouldn't. He was retaking Ribbon Ridge by storm.

Mom jumped up and rushed to hug him, practically tackling him off his chair. “I'm so glad.”

Liam laughed as he hugged her back. “Thanks.”

They straightened, and Liam stood. Dad joined them, hugging Liam for himself. “Congratulations. You're the new owner of Archer Real Estate.”

“And you can stay here as long as you like,” Mom said, stroking his arm.

“Actually, I think I'll be staying somewhere else, if she'll have me. I know we have an awful lot going on this year with two weddings and a baby, but you might have to add another wedding in there.”

Mom started to cry again, but these were happy tears. “I honestly didn't know if I'd ever see you get married. We couldn't ask for a better daughter-in-law than Aubrey. She's already part of the family.”

Yes, she was. It was one of the many, many reasons he loved her.

A
UBREY MADE IT
through her client meeting. Then she made it through a phone call with a judge. By lunchtime she was ready to pull her hair out, thanks to Liam Archer and his stubbornness.

She left the building to get lunch at Barley and Bran down the street. After treating herself to her favorite roasted turkey sandwich with goat cheese and fig jam, she was feeling a bit better as she walked back to her office.

She was trying really hard not to be angry. While Liam had said he couldn't come back to Ribbon Ridge, he'd also said they would talk about it. Maybe she could change his mind. Maybe there was the slightest chance he was open to compromise. She'd do her damnedest to convince him—hadn't he told her she was a great orator?

As she climbed the steps to her office, she worked to push Liam from her thoughts for the rest of the workday. She had a trial memo to finish and a deposition to read. Oh joy.

She went inside and said hello to the receptionist on her way to her office. When she hit the threshold, she stopped short. Sitting on her desk was a vase of long-stemmed red roses. She counted them—not a dozen, but seventeen. What an odd number. Red roses could only be from one person, couldn't they?

She stepped into her office, and the door swung closed behind her. Liam stepped away from the wall.

“You brought me roses,” she said. “Eighteen of them?”

He came toward her. “There's a reason for that.”

She took off her jacket and hung it on the hook on the back of her door. Then she rounded her desk, eager to put something between her and him. His presence here reminded her dangerously of their first encounter. She couldn't help glancing down at her desk.

No, she couldn't go there with him. There were too many things that needed to be resolved. But he
had
brought her roses. Red roses.

“What's the reason?” she asked.

“I heard the number three on your tattoo isn't your law-school rank.”

One of the girls had to have told him that. When? Why? What they'd shared that night was supposed to be inviolate. “You aren't supposed to know that.”

“Blame Sara. I ran into her at the florist—she was doing wedding stuff. I was trying to decide how many roses to buy you, and she told me to buy eighteen because it would mean something to you.”

Aubrey frowned. “It doesn't mean a thing.”

“It should—it means family. There's you and your aunt and uncle—that's three. My parents—that's five. All of my siblings plus Derek—that's another six, plus their significant others—that's five more for a total of sixteen. And I had to include baby Archer to make seventeen.”

“There's one missing.” Her heart soared as the math finally made sense.

He came around the desk and took her hand. His fingers were warm, his gaze full of love. “Eighteen is me. You can't have your family without including me—sorry.”

“But I don't understand. Earlier you said you can't live here, and I said I can't move. What happened?”

“I realized I
can
move home, I just didn't want to. More accurately, I didn't want to move on.” He dropped to his knee, and she gasped, her hand rising to her mouth as tears stung her eyes. “It's time for me to move on. From Denver, from Alex—
to
you.”

This couldn't be happening, could it? She'd just barely gotten her head around him loving her, was trying to process how they were going to make this work, and here he was down on one knee.

“This isn't just a proposal. This is a promise. I promise I'm going to get help with my grief and my anger about Alex—I've already asked Maggie for a referral. I promise I'm going to spend as much time here as possible—I'm taking over Archer Real Estate and folding Lion Properties into the company. I plan to put someone in charge in Denver, but I'll have to travel there from time to time. I promise to scale back my hobbies—I've already canceled the FJC this weekend.” He kissed her hand and looked up into her eyes. “But most of all, I promise to love you for the rest of my life and beyond. I know this might seem fast, but as Derek said to me once, ‘When you know, you know.' Aubrey, will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?”

She was quite literally speechless. Gibberish swirled in her brain, and her mouth opened and closed like she was some fish out of water.

He smiled at her, that sexy little grin that hinted he was maybe enjoying her utter shock. “I called your uncle while you were at lunch—he sounds great, by the way—and he gave his permission, provided you agree.”

Why wouldn't she? Everything she wanted was right here. All she had to do was say yes. “Yes. I'll marry you. Tomorrow. Next month. Next year. Five minutes ago.”

He stood up. “How about fifteen months ago, when we broke in this desk?” He nudged his thigh against the wood, and she was instantly overcome with desire for this man.
Her
man.

“I don't know if I was quite ready to marry you then. We started out wanting to choke each other.”

He tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and gently tugged the lock between his fingers. “I don't know. The minute I saw you walk into our house, I thought you were the sexiest woman I'd ever seen. You had this air about you—confident and crisp, but warm, too. Approachable.” He put his arm around her waist and pulled her against him. “Plus your legs. And this red hair. Also your incredible eyes.”

“We can't do that here,
now
. Everyone would hear—the office was empty the first time.” Still, she was pretty sure the rest of her workday was absolutely screwed.

“I can be quiet when I have to be. The question is, can you?” His lips curved up, and his eyes glinted with trademark Liam sex appeal.

She slipped her hands beneath his leather jacket and dug her nails into the shirt on his back. “I'm not as fun when I have to be quiet.”

He chuckled low in his throat. “I doubt that, but I do love the noises you make, especially when you have my cock in your mouth.”

She felt that cock against her, hard as a rock, ready to go.

He let go of her and stepped back. She pouted in disappointment. “Where are you going?”

“I almost forgot.” He turned and went to the loveseat beneath the front window. He came back with a shiny emerald-green helmet tied with a bow. He'd been a busy boy today. “I didn't want to pick out a ring without you—seemed like something we should choose together. Plus, I didn't have time to get to a jewelry store. Ribbon Ridge needs a jewelry store.”

“Yet you had time to get a helmet?”

“I ordered it two weeks ago, and it arrived yesterday afternoon.” He'd ordered it before he'd gone back to Denver.

“I guess that means I have to go for a ride.” She imagined sitting behind him, her thighs pressed against his ass. There were worse things.

“Just a short one—your house isn't very far.”

She grinned. “No, it isn't.” She pulled the bow off, then set the helmet on her head. “How do I look?”

“Gorgeous. Perfect.
Mine
.”

He pulled her close and kissed her, his mouth warm and eager. She held him tightly, never wanting to let go. Luckily she didn't have to.

She tugged her lips from his. “Let's go. How fast does this bike go?”

“Hey, I'm moving out of the fast lane, remember? From now on, I'm getting my adrenaline rush from one source: you.”

She cupped his cheek and kissed him. “I hope that's enough.”

“Baby, when we kiss, it's all I ever need.”