Page 86 of Love Me

“You know what, Mom? I really appreciate it. We’re looking forward to it. I think just the two families would be great.”

“Just the two? As in ours and the Hayes?”

“Yes, mom. Just those two. Intimate. Liam and I aren’t crazy about big parties, we’re pretty low-key.”

She sighs loudly, gotta make sure I hear her frustration and disappointment, after all.

“Fine, Hannah. We will see you tomorrow at four. Please try to be on time for a change, I know that it’s difficult for you.”

“Thank you for understanding. See you tomorrow!”

Liam rounds the corner as I drop my head back and look up at the large skylight above me, his arms coming to wrap around my waist. He smells strongly of a rickhouse, the sweet char of the whiskey barrels bleeding off of him.

“Mmm. You smell so good.”

“Damn, baby, so do you. Like vanilla and chocolate.” His teeth nip at the sensitive skin at the base of my neck. “You handled her well. You don’t mind going tomorrow? We don’t have to.”

“I’m okay, I promise. Your family will be there, and I’ll have you with me. I can handle it. It’s not like I’m going to get a new mom. I’m going to have to face her sooner or later.”

“Everything will be fine. No one’s opinion matters but your own. Where’s Charlie?”

“I have to go pick her up from the park with Hailey and Mila in about an hour.”

“Good. Tell me what you want, because I want to bend my wife over and eat her delicious pussy. I’m hungry.”

I’m a goner.

CHAPTER 27

hannah

Liamand I walk up the steps to my parents’ house, the same one I grew up in, and I can’t help but feel like this is my coming out party. The Washington weather is gorgeous today, the sun giving us its last gracious rays as it starts to dip behind the mountains and cloud cover. Liam squeezes my hand as he knocks on the door with the other. He leans in, whispering gently into my ear, “You’ve got this, beauty. Whatever happens, it’s me and you.”

“Me and you.”

Jay and Cynthia Haven meet us at the front door, opening it wide as we walk through the entryway. We’re twenty minutes late, which wasn’t my fault—we had a shoe crisis with Charlotte before dropping her at a friend’s house. Liam’s parents, all of his siblings, plus Ivy and Blaire, my grandmother, and my sisters, stand in the formal dining room with drinks in their hands, except for Ivy, who is rapidly approaching her due date.

“Welcome back to Aspen Ridge. How was California?”Liam asks my parents, starting the next twenty minutes of greetings and small talk. We all move to take our seats at their large dining room table, reserved for hosting dinners just like this one.

“So, Liam, what made you decide to run off and marry our daughter without speaking to us first?”

The fucking audacity. But Liam doesn’t miss a beat, putting her in her rightful place.

“Well, I’m in love with her, and she’s a perfectly sound-minded, twenty-seven-year-old, fully functioning adult who runs her own business, raises her daughter alone, and doesn’t need the blessing or permission of anyone.”

“I see.”

“We had no idea, either,” Liam’s mom, Amy, adds, sensing the tension in the room climbing. “We’re beyond happy for them. It’s so romantic that they couldn’t wait another moment to be husband and wife.”

“My god, I can’t sit here for a second longer and listen to this. You all realize they aren’t even married for real right?” Harlow spews, slapping both hands on the table.

Dallas chokes on his drink and I cock my head at him, did he know, too? My mom gasps and looks at me with a level of shock and disappointment I’ve never seen before. Liam stiffens next to me, his hand moving to my thigh under the table and squeezing, a silent reminder that he’s got me. There are so many reactions and too many people.

“Lo! What the hell is wrong with you? Do you even know what you’ve done?”

“She had a right to know the truth before she gave you Bean Haven! Maybe if you weren’t shacking up with your best fucking friend like some desperate dog, I wouldn’t have had to tell her.”

“Wow. Newsflash, Lo! Bean Haven is already mine! It was never Mom’s to hold over my head to begin with!” Harlow’s eyes get big as she takes in that little piece of information she was missing. “Yeah, idiot.”

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