Loving The Temperamental Adonis
Chapter 321 - 59

Chapter 321: Chapter 59

Liam’s impression of her feelings that night was so wrong that Rayne went from being on the verge of tears to the verge of laughter, and she stood up quickly, trying to steady her disintegrating composure.

"I practiced that scene for hours with Lauren because we knew you were going to be there, but ’smug’ definitely wasn’t what I was supposed to convey," she said with a quick smile as she reached for his glass. "Let me get you another drink and then I’ll check on dinner."

He moved the glass out of her reach, and rolled to his feet, trapping her between the table and his body. "What were you trying to convey?" he persisted so calmly and courteously that Rayne assumed he didn’t realize she couldn’t step around him.

"Amusement," Rayne replied, trying to sound offhanded when the collar of her green sweater was an inch from the front of his shirt and she had to tip her head way back to meet his thoughtful gaze.

"I thought you’d used me as a pawn in your game, so I pretended you hadn’t mattered to me any more than I’d mattered to you." She said.

"And your engagement to Everett—that was, what?" He raised a brow in question.

"Max brought the ring to the island," Rayne explained quickly. "He put it on my finger after I cried myself to sleep. At the time, marrying Max seemed like reparation and salvation to me. My reprieve from reality lasted for a few weeks until I found out I was pregnant."

"Max and I hadn’t been intimate after my father died, and although we got engaged the same day I slept with you, we both agreed that we needed to wait awhile before we slept with each other. There was no possibility that you weren’t the father."

"I assume he broke off the engagement as soon as you told him you were pregnant with my child?"

"Why do I always have to do the talking while you keep asking?" Rayne said, feeling suddenly angry at the mention of Max.

"I’ll start talking as soon as you answer two questions for me, beginning with the last one I just asked."

"He did not want to break the engagement; he wanted me to have an abortion," she said, still trying to defend Max as she still held on to the belief that she was at fault for making him behave the way he did the day he took his ring away from her.

"But you wouldn’t?"

"No," she said simply.

"And when you were five months pregnant, you saw a picture of me waiting for you at the wharf, and you thought you’d been in love with me, and yet you didn’t think to contact me and tell me about your pregnancy," he pointed out.

"I’ll go check on the dinner," she said, trying to avoid answering any of his questions. "Excuse me—" she added, putting her left hand against his chest in an effort to get him to step back so she could pass.

To her shock, instead of stepping back, he captured both her upper arms and held her firmly in front of him, but his tone was puzzled, not threatening.

"Why didn’t you take a chance and come to me and tell me you were pregnant?"

"Because I thought that even if you had cared very much for me on the island—even if you still cared for me when I told you I was pregnant—you would probably want me to get an abortion because you don’t want a child."

"And it wasn’t worth your trouble to come to me and find out for sure?"

Rayne snapped her head back, intending to glare at him, but he was staring at her intensely, no longer looking as if he were an impartial investigator.

"I couldn’t take the risk."

The minute she said ’risk,’ an expression of dawning horror tightened his jaw.

"But you took that risk with Max. Why couldn’t you take it with me?"

"Because," she said brokenly, "I was afraid that if you tried hard enough, you’d be able to talk me into having an abortion unlike Max!"

Liam’s hands tightened, pulling her roughly against his chest in a fierce, protective embrace.

Now he understood the real reason she’d not came to him that day in Pineville and why she hadn’t told him she was pregnant, and he believed her.

He believed everything she’d told him in the last few minutes—every heartbreaking thing—and Max and his asshole of a friend Jason were responsible for it all. And he was going to make sure they pretty well regret it.

He laid his jaw against the top of her head, his hand drifting soothingly up and down her spine while long-suppressed memories of their time together in the islands spun through his mind, each one sweeter and more poignant than the one before.

A waiter shouldering a tray laden with dishes walked through the doorway, saw Rayne in Liam’s arms, hesitated, and then backed out of the room.

"Liam—" she said quietly. Her voice pulled him out of his trance, and he realized her hands were flattened against his chest, gently pushing him away.

Refusing to let her go yet, he touched his lips to the top of her head and whispered tenderly, "Thank you for our son."

The tension went out of her body, and she nodded, her cheek rubbing against his chest, her body relaxing against his, the fingers of her right hand spreading over his heart.

Liam’s heart missed a beat and his member hardened and tightened his trouser. Startled by his body’s reaction, he lifted his chin and frowned at her shiny red hair—and then he remembered how easily she’d aroused him three years ago.

His frown turned into an amused grin. Surprise turned into hope. He loosened his arms, and she stepped back out of his reach, which disappointed him until he realized that she couldn’t possibly read his mind, no matter how tightly he held her.

"Rayne," he said solemnly, "Everything Max told you at the villa was a lie. When I met him at that party where he claimed he’d mentioned you to me, he didn’t tell me your name, and I didn’t care who he was dating. Even if he had told me your name, why would I bother to exact revenge on him? He’s an arrogant asshole with a sadistic streak he shares with his friend. At least, that’s all they were to me until tonight."

Liam waited, fully expecting that what he’d said would be enough to remove all her doubts. Rayne shoved her hands into her back pockets, a little embarrassed by the comfort she’d felt in Liam’s arms, but accepting it as inevitable under the circumstances. She was happy he was there, but she was not willing to let herself fall for him again.

She was content with her life along with her son. She didn’t need a man nor a love that would ruin her once something went wrong. He could be the father of her son but not her lover.

"Say something, Rayne," Liam said with a hopeful look, because it was finally sinking in that the delightful redhead standing in front of him now was the same woman who’d spilled a Michelada down his shirt, drugged his senses, and stolen his heart.

And borne his child. From the very beginning, they’d been meant for each other.

They still were. It was so obvious that he had simultaneous impulses to laugh and to pull her into his arms so he could start proving it to her. He wisely decided against doing either when he realized she now looked extremely unhappy with him.

"Nothing I say now is going to change the course of our fate," she said, twisting around and trying to pick up his glass from the table.

"What do you mean?" Liam asked quickly, touching her arm. She hesitated and looked at him.

"Can I ask you a question?" she said quietly, and when he nodded, she asked, "After you waited for me in Pineville for hours, why didn’t you try to reach me by getting my number from Mia or Neil and explain to me why you had to leave? Why did you make me misunderstand in the first place if your feelings for me were real?"

Liam didn’t waste time explaining where the misunderstanding on his part had begun.

"Right after you left, I got the call to come back. I checked out of the hotel with the intention to meet you in person, kiss you goodbye, and tell you that I planned to fly back and forth every night to sleep with you until everything was cleared about Alvin’s death. I also made arrangements to take you to my new home.

"But after I waited for you for hours, I decided to call the vet and he told me you’d picked up Eric along with a man. When I saw you at the banquet, I felt exactly like the heartbroken, jealous lover I announced to you that I wasn’t. How do you think that description happened to come out of my mouth if I wasn’t feeling it?"

"Liam, it doesn’t matter anymore—"

"You don’t believe me, do you?"

Rayne smiled. "Let’s just say that whatever happened back then doesn’t matter to me anymore now. And let’s leave it at that. I have nothing against you being a father to our son, but I don’t want anything more than that."

Liam was dumbstruck, but not angry. "Would you rather let those assholes succeed in breaking us apart without us mending anything?"

Rayne turned her face away, unable to look at him.

The picture he’d painted of what happened that day was too unbearable to face. The possibility that he’d actually planned to fly back and forth every night to sleep with her gave her a stomachache; the possibility that he’d loved her as much as she’d loved him while he waited for her that day made her cringe inside; the thought of how he would have felt at that banquet when she showed off her engagement ring to him was unendurable.

Her overburdened emotions sent her reeling close to hysteria.

In the last thirteen hours, she’d already endured the torment of Ethan’s kidnapping and the turmoil of Liam’s appearance into her life. The idea that, by trusting Max, she had been the cause of all the misery and missed opportunities for Liam and her was just too much to bear.

Liam watched the color drain from her cheeks, saw the tears sparkling on her lashes, and realized exactly why she was reacting that way.

He tipped her chin up and said with a grin, "You’re exhausted, so let’s just step back from this conundrum and then move around it."

"What did you just say after ’you’re exhausted’?"

"I’m suggesting that you get some sleep and we deal with the other things tomorrow. In the meantime, we need to arrange for you and Ethan to stay somewhere with high-ranking security. I can’t have you staying in that apartment anymore for now."

Dealing with normal details was a welcome reprieve from other thoughts, and Rayne rose to the occasion.

"There’s no need for you to help us. I planned to go check on a hotel tomorrow with high security."

That was not the solution Liam had in mind, so he threw in as many complications as he could think of.

"Do you think you can find a hotel with rooms for Dante and Ethan’s nanny to stay in while you also have your room and Ethan’s room?"

Rayne remained silent, as she hadn’t thought about Dante.

"Good," Liam said before he could catch himself. "I’ll make all the arrangements. All you have to do is pack what you need and be ready to leave with Dante tomorrow morning."

"All right," she said with a weary, grateful smile.

"Let me have your phone." He pulled the phone out of her pants pocket before Rayne could react. He then tapped the screen and set it on her face to unlock it all the while she watched him, stunned.

She watched in astonishment as he dialed his phone number on it after unlocking it and then called himself before slipping the phone back into her pocket.

"We have each other’s numbers now," he grinned. "Let’s go, I’ll walk you to the entrance of your apartment."

"What about your meal?" Rayne said, her brain snapping into focus now that she understood that he was about to leave. "I don’t know why the waiter is taking so long to bring the food. Let me go see—"

"The waiter brought it and left when he saw us. I’ll get something to eat on my way to the apartment I’ll be staying. Let’s go."

"I feel really badly about this—your food, I mean."

"Don’t worry about it," Liam said as he picked up his jacket and shrugged it on before he gestured for her to lead the way.

She followed him outside the restaurant, her expression anxious because he hadn’t eaten when he’d said he was hungry earlier.

When they reached the entrance to the back entrance of the Complex Apartment building, they stopped.

"Will you give Ethan a good-night kiss for me?" he asked, smiling into her eyes.

She nodded unhesitatingly.

"Good," he said. He stepped forward. Curving his hands around her shoulders, he pressed a light kiss to her smooth cheek. "That one’s for our son..."

His arms slid around her waist, drawing her against his full length, and Rayne braced herself for what was coming next. She could push him away if she wanted to set boundaries right now, but she would be kidding herself if she said she wasn’t dying to be close to him.

"This one..." he whispered, holding her gaze and very slowly bending his head, "is for...me."

Rayne had expected him to say the kiss was for her, and she smiled an instant before his lips touched hers.

His warm mouth brushed over hers softly and slowly, and then possessively, and Rayne yielded to the sweetness of the moment, sliding her arms around him and holding him close.

He ended the kiss rather abruptly, gazing down at her with heavy-lidded eyes and a warm, thoughtful smile. "Why don’t I take you upstairs and tell you a bedtime story on your bed?"

Rayne smiled helplessly but shook her head. "No thank you."

"I’ll tell you the story of my life," he joked.

"I already know the story of your life."

"But you haven’t heard it in French. It’s much better in French, I promise not to bore you out."

He was so sexy and so endearing when he teased her that she leaned up and kissed the side of his mouth before she could stop herself. "Nice try, but no thanks."

Completely satisfied with the outcome of the evening, Liam stepped away from her and said, "Go on inside."

He stood there watching her as she walked into the building, but when she stopped and turned to him, he smiled and said, "I’ll have a car here to pick you up in the morning."

He didn’t leave until he watched her disappear into the building.

Rayne, who had already walked inside, hurried toward a window and watched him stride toward the other side of the building where the reporters were still waiting, refusing to leave until they’d got a statement. Then she leaned weakly against the wall, filled with happiness, doubt, and disbelief on how everything had turned out.