Page 81 of Love Me

“Grandma, can I talk to you about something that makes me super uncomfortable to bring up?”

“No sense in letting anything make you uncomfortable, my darling girl, life’s too short. I don’t got much left so you had better get to talking before I join your grandpa.”

On that note, I decide to just go for it.

“What happens to Bean Haven when you pass away?”

“Better question—what is that wretched daughter-in-law of mine telling you?”

I give her a puzzled look that clearly expresses my confusion. Shouldn’t she already know? Then it hits me, and I feel even stupider than before. Control.

“She’s been pushing me to settle down, with Levi, and told me that if I didn’t get my shit together and marry him and prove that I could handle being a mother and businesswoman, she was going to sell Bean Haven.”

My grandmother tosses her head back in a deep laugh that I haven’t heard from her in ages. My eyes widen at the sheer boisterous level it reaches. But her reaction confirms what I suddenly suspected. What an evil freaking woman. My own mother.

“My darling girl, that woman doesn’t have a lick of say over what happens to Bean Haven. It’s in my will, and it will belong to you. And now that I know this, we’re going to fix this before I die so she doesn’t try to do anything fishy. You’ve been in this kitchen working your little tush off since you were six. You pour your heart and soul into it, just like I did. It’s alreadyyours. Bean Haven is just as much a part of you as it is me. It’s in our bones.”

I sigh with huge relief, weight lifting off my shoulders. Wiping away my tears, I walk over to my grandma—who has been more of a mother to me than my own—and wrap my arms around her shoulders, whispering to her that I love her.

The lengths my mother was willing to go to trap me in a relationship with a man who doesn’t love me, just so that I can fit into the mold she wants to force me into, is astonishing. She’s been trying to get me to conform by any means necessary for as long as I can remember, but now, she’s really crossed a line she can’t come back from.

My heart sinks as the realization that the entire reason Liam and I got married in the first place no longer exists—or didn’t exist to begin with—hits me. I know now that Liam is in love with me, but that doesn’t mean he would want to stay married. The thought hits me with force and I nearly stagger on my feet. For the first time in longer than I can remember, I’m happy. Liam marrying me wasn’t for nothing, it opened my eyes toeverything. I’m not ready to lose him. I won’t ever be.

CHAPTER 25

liam

After a sleepless nightin my empty house, just me and my dog, I’m up before the sun, ready to get things back on track. As hard as it was, I gave Hannah all day yesterday to think things through, but today, I’m moving forward. After spending the afternoon with Charlie and Billy, I’m even more determined to make her see the light. Those girls are moving in with me, and we’re going to act like a married couple. I’m seeing this through, no matter what. Her head will catch up with her eventually.

As I step into the hot shower, my eyes flick to the clawfoot tub, memories of her spread out under the water while I watched her come over and over again on repeat. Even before she allowed me to touch her, she was giving me parts of herself that no one’s had before.

My dick hardens, throbbing as I replay our first night together, claiming her, finally being able to taste her sweet little pussy. I could have eaten her out all night. Fuck, if she was here right now, I’d pin her up against the shower wall, hook her legs over my shoulders, bracing the weight of herwith my arms, and devour her until she came at least twice. That’s how we both should start our day from now on. Not with her waking up on the other side of town alone. Yeah, fuck this. Hannah is mine now. Sweet, laid-back, easygoing Liam just went out the fucking window.

I pull myself together as quickly as possible, throwing on a pair of denim jeans and a plain white T-shirt with a random plaid button-up thrown over it. Running my hands through my still-damp hair, I push it back the best I can and throw on my backwards hat. Filling up Billy’s water bowl and breakfast, I pat his little head from where he sleeps at the foot of my bed before heading out.

The entire drive to Bean Haven, I’m focused on one thing and one thing only—showing her that I’m the man for her, that I’ve always been the man for her. I’m her person. That starts with me teaching her exactly how a wife should start her day. Everything else can wait.

The sun still hasn’t risen over the mountains by the time I’m pulling my truck into a parking spot on an empty Main Street. The entire town is still fast asleep, except my girl inside the town’s little bakery, working her ass off with no appreciation from her family. That’ll be my next task to tackle with her. Enough is enough from those ass clowns.

Using my key, I let myself in through the front door, not bothering with attempting to keep the bell from announcing my arrival. By the time I pull the door shut and flick the lock, Hannah is popping out of the kitchen, barely illuminated by the lights behind her, everything still dark in the front of the shop.

“What are you doing here so early?”

“I wanted to see you before I started my day. You were on my mind.”

She smiles hesitantly at me, the air between us thick withtension and confusion. That won’t do at all. This isn’t us, and we’ve never had distance like it. She’s standing there in a little navy T-shirt dress that comes down to her knees, an apron over her head and tied around her waist. She’s so damn cute.

“Are you hungry? I can get you something to eat. Chocolate croissants just came out, so did the blueberry scones. I wish I had started your favorite sooner, or I’d have the lemon blueberry muffins done for you.” She’s nervous, fidgety, and trying to occupy herself so that she doesn’t have to face the tension in the room. Faceme.Such a drastic difference from Hannah’s normal desire to take things head-on, not afraid of confrontation. Too bad for her, I’m not letting her hide from me.

“All of that sounds delicious, beauty, but not what I’m craving right now.”

I prowl her farther into the kitchen, not bothering to rearrange my hard, aching cock. I know it’s visible in my jeans as I watch her eyes take in the bulge. She walks backward until her ass bumps into the large butcher block island in the center of the kitchen, her chest starting to rise and fall deeper. I slowly stalk her until I’ve caged her in, placing my hands on either side of her hips, resting on the counter.

I lean down and take her bottom lip between my teeth before descending on her luscious lips completely in a heated kiss. Her body is stiff at first, but it’s only a moment before her tongue meets mine eagerly, my hands moving on autopilot, picking her up by the waist and resting her ass on the edge of the table. Her legs part for me as I step between them, bunching her dress up around her waist to access what I came here for.

My hands move up her body, threading through her hair, pulling the strands to arch her neck, deepening the kiss. Using all of my restraint not to fuck her senseless right here, I kiss her until she’s pushing herself against me, desperate for friction.

“Such a needy wife.”

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