Page 80 of Forbidden Mistress

“I need to…” I start down the stairs, leaning heavily on the railing. Sam jumps up to help me like I’m an invalid.

“Be careful, in your condition…”

Haley is staring at me. “I’m so glad you’re up. Can I make you something to eat? Then I’m going to need to dish on your brother. He’s so damn hot.”

She’s rambling, and I’m ignoring both her and Sam. By the time I reach the door, I’m feeling much more steady. I’m light-headed from the lack of eating, but I whip open the front door.

“Hey, where are you going?” Sam asks.

“Be right back, I have to tell him something.”

“Oh, he’s gone by now. He left a couple of minutes—” Haley’s remarks are cut off when I slam the door closed after me in my rush to the street. I’m hoping on the off chance he hasn’t pulled out yet.

Sometime during the evening, it started drizzling and the rain is coming down at a fairly steady pace. I’m barefoot and in my pajamas, but I run across the cold, wet sidewalk regardless. Just before I reach the curb, I hear an engine start and headlights come on. My head jerks toward the car pulling away from the curb. It’s a silver Maserati, and it’s heading straight past the house.

“Hey!” I call out, waving my arm, but Liam doesn’t see me. His eyes are glued to the road.

It’s a quiet neighborhood road so in an act of desperation I dart out to the center of the lane and stand in his path, my arms held out, hands splayed to stop him.

Immediately, the brakes squeal against the wet street and he stares at me through the windshield in shock while the wipers beat at a steady pace. Without even pulling over, he yanks back the parking brake and jumps out of the car.

“What the fuck, Cass? I could have hit you.”

I’m hyperventilating now, feeling a rush of adrenaline hit me. “You didn’t see me. I had to stop you.”

He slams the car door shut, leaving it sitting in the middle of the road. The headlights catch the light fall of the rain.

“Cass, it’s wet and cold. You don’t have shoes on—”

“Shhh. Shut up. I need to tell you this before I change my mind. I need to—just don’t say anything.”

He approaches as I’m talking and stops just a few steps away. “Let’s go inside–”

“No. Stop bossing me around and listen, alright? I love you. I’ve always loved you, and when your actions hurt me it was easier to tell myself that I hated you.” My sentence ends on a sob and soon the rain is mingling with my own tears and my eyes are blurry. “You were my best friend when we were kids. All through school. When you left, it was like I lost a part of myself. I just—I don’t want it to happen again. I love—”

And the next thing I know, Liam’s arms are wrapped around me and he’s kissing me. On my face, on my lips, my neck. My face is between his big hands.

“God, Cass, is this real? It seems too good to be true.”

“You fucked up big time. Big time. But I wasn’t making it easy on you. I get that now. It was too hard. Too complicated. I didn’t…” I shake my head.

“Shhh. Shhh. It’s okay. I’ll work every day of the rest of my life until you can forgive me.”

Those words…I’m not sure why, but they make me cry even harder. He’s pulling me close against his body and then…then…

He does the most stunning thing of all. While still holding me, he falls to his knees, hugging me around my waist tight, he presses his face to my belly. I can’t tell whether he’s laughing or crying. My hands go into his now-damp hair, threading through the thick locks. I hold him like that when he suddenly turns his head and kisses the center of my stomach.

“I love you, Cass. With everything that I am, I’ve always loved you. I don’t deserve you, but you bet that I’m going to thank my luck every damn day. I love you, and I love our baby. I know it wasn’t what either of us planned, but I’m so fucking happy right now I can barely believe this is real.”

I hug him tighter to my stomach, then bend to kiss the top of his wet head. But I have no words for this. My heart is full to bursting with every beat, and I’m sobbing.

Suddenly, whoops and hollers come from the direction of the house, and we both turn quickly to see all my roommates—Sam, Skye, and Haley—standing on the porch, cheering for us.

By the time Liam gets up off the wet street, we’re both soaked like drowned rats, but his grin is as wide as mine and my cheeks hurt.

He takes my face in his hands and places a kiss on the tip of my nose. “I love you, Cassandra Fitzgerald,” he says again.

I pull back and gaze into his eyes. It’s like I’m truly seeing him for the first time. How could I have been so blind, for so long? I smile up at him, my heart swelling. “I love you, too, William Force.”

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