Page 73 of Under His Control

I wanted to be there for her if she woke, and I wanted her close if I did. After facing the fear—even slight—of losing her, I would be clingy. And I wouldn’t apologize for it.

“I love you, lil Liv.” I kissed her forehead after I laid her down. Then I shed my dress and slipped on some pajamas before I cleaned off my makeup.

Snuggling in with her was heaven, and I couldn’t help myself. I kissed her head again and fought the tears of relief that she was okay. That she was safe.

Olivia mattered so much to me, and I knew that I had to tell Liam. It felt wrong to know that I loved him and his daughter and not share that revelation.

Late in the night, he trudged into our room and showered. I was so sleepy that I didn’t get up, but I felt the weight of his stare before he went into the bathroom.

Without a word but yawning heavily, he climbed into bed and spooned me. Keeping his arm over me, his hand over mine on Olivia’s belly, I was sandwiched between the two people who’d come to mean the whole world to me.

And when I slept, it was a blissful darkness of no nightmares.

Olivia woke us in the morning, and I would never in my life forget how.

“Mama. Mama, Mama,Mama!”

I blinked at the new name and smiled instantly.

Until she paired the wakeup call with a smack to my face. It was likely intended to be a pat, but she hadn’t mastered the fine art of measuring her strength.

“Mama?” I asked her, wincing as I rubbed the eye she’d smacked.

She clapped, proud that she’d gotten me to reply. “Mama wake. Mama wake.”

Oh, my heart.I sniffled, on the verge of happy tears.

“Mama’s awake, huh?” Liam asked her.

His voice was husky with sleep, and I smiled wider at the sound of him like this. I loved how drowsy and relaxed he was. His bedroom eyes were potent, but his sleepy voice never failed to jumpstart my libido.

“I guess so,” I told him. As I rolled over to face him, I smacked into his hand.

“Ow,” I said, rearing back to rub my other eye. He must have been up for a while, despite that sleepy, sexy voice. As I slumped onto my back, Olivia dropped onto me and hugged me at an awkward angle. Her diaper rested on my forearm, trapping me, and I blinked at two realizations at once.

Her diaper wasn’t soggy. Liam had already gotten up and changed her.

That wasn’t all he’d done, rising before me.

He’d procured a ring box. It was open, showing me a sparkling diamond ring. That was what I’d rolled over to smack into.

“What do you say,Mama?”

I blinked slowly, wondering if I was still dreaming.

It was a gift of the highest manner for Olivia to take it upon herself to call me mama. No one ever used that word around her except when reading books. Maybe some pre-k cartoon shows, like the one with the annoying voice for the cow character.

She’d put it together to call me mama, and I was honored that she saw me as a mother in her young life.

But a ring? Liam had been hinting at getting serious with me, and we were loosely planning to move in the spring.

I told Tessa and Nina that I wanted to commit, but he was proving how much he intended to connect himself with me.

“Wait a minute.” I scooted up on the bed to sit facing him. “Was that a proposal?”

He sighed, wincing a little bit that endeared him to me all the more. “Well, it wasn’t my original proposal.”

You sweet, sexy man.“Yeah? How’d that one go?” I smiled, eyeing him with so much love that I swore I’d burst.

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