He turned and retrieved a robe from a nearby cupboard and wrapped it around her.
“Slide your arms in.”
The fabric was thick and soft. She slid her arms into the sleeves and he wrapped it around her.
“Now drop the towel and the rest of your bathing suit to the floor. You don’t need to get dressed. This’ll keep you warm and cozy.”
Her back was turned to him, so she dropped the towel and tied the robe snugly around her waist. Then she shimmied the wet bathing suit bottom down from under the fabric. Liam grabbed another robe, then while facing the cupboard, dropped his trunks to the floor, revealing his muscular ass.
Oh, God, it was as hard and firm as she remembered. She would love to run her fingers over it, then cup it in her hands.
He pulled on the robe and turned around, tying the sash.
He smiled. “A little better now?”
She pulled the robe tighter. “Yes, thank you.”
“Good. Now let’s go and talk.”
* * *
Liam held her hand as he led her into the living room, then sat her down on the couch beside him.
“Abi, every time we talk about this, we wind up going around in circles, but this time I’d like you to be open to hearing what I have to say. I know you don’t believe I love you, but”—he squeezed her hand—“I really do.”
She drew back her hand back and rested it on her knee, not wanting to feel the warmth of his fingers around hers any longer. Not wanting to be affected by the gentleness of his touch.
“I know you’ve convinced yourself of that,” she said, “but you asked me to marry you because of the baby.”
“That may have triggered it, but I was already in love with you.”
She shook her head. “We hadn’t been going out that long.” She gazed into his solemn brown eyes. “And you’re a good man, Liam. You wanted to do the right thing and you felt that was to marry me. I’m sure you wanted to love me. You wanted us to be a family. But once I lost the baby…”
She sucked in a deep breath, the pain duller than it used to be, but still intense.
“I think you were clinging to what we might have had,” she said. “The family you always wanted to be a part of.”
He took her hand again and drew it to his mouth. The brush of his lips made her heart flutter.
“Can you honestly tell me you don’t love me?” he asked, his deep voice melting through her. “Because no matter how short the time we had together before we found out you were pregnant, I could see it in your eyes when you looked at me.”
He tucked his fingers under her chin and lifted, gazing deeply into her eyes.
“I can see it there now.”
She turned her head, pulling from his tender grip, unable to look into those intense brown eyes any longer.
“I thought I was.” She still did, but she couldn’t admit that to him. Not if she wanted any chance at getting her divorce. “But when you pulled away … when you left me thrashing for a lifeline in the depths of my sorrow for so long, I had to face the fact that if we were really in love, you would have been there for me. That somehow, we would have found a way to make it work.” She gazed at him again, her heart aching. “I tried for over a year, but…” She shook her head. “It did no good.”
“Baby, you’ve got to understand how painful it was for me. I didn’t know how to deal with it. It was an intense blow right to the gut.” His voice grew quiet. “It was like losing my parents all over again. Like when I’d been left all alone.”
“But you weren’t alone this time. I was there with you. We could have shared the pain.”
He drew in a deep, ragged breath and her heart ached at the depth of pain in his eyes.
She rested her hand on his cheek, drawn into the gut-wrenching sorrow in those depths, and the moment his gaze locked on her again, she felt herself falling. Deeper into the mesmerizing emotional chaos.
“Abi…” His voice was wracked with pain and need rumbled through her. Then his mouth found hers and the tender brush of their lips touched something deep in her soul.
She leaned into the kiss. Wanting to be closer. Wanting to help soothe his pain.
Needing to feel what they used to share.
Her heart swelled, because no matter what, she’d never stopped loving this man.
His arms swept around her and he held her close, his lips still moving on hers. She felt cocooned in his warmth. Swept away to a sweet, intimate place. She melted against him with a soft murmur.
His tongue glided past her lips and stroked inside. She sighed into the kiss. The ache pulsing from deep within expanded to a need so intense she felt her will slipping away.
“Oh, baby, I love you so much. I want us to be together.” Then he took her lips again.
Oh, God, so did she.
Her heart pounded. But she couldn’t. She couldn’t lose herself in an emotional riptide that could leave her empty and lost. If she lost this baby … If he abandoned her again …
A wash of agony swept through her.
She flattened her hand on his chest and pressed.
“No, Liam.”
She slid a few inches away, putting a little distance between them.
“I’m sorry. I know how hard it was for you,” she said. “And I want you to know I’m not blaming you. But the simple fact is that … in that desperate, painful time … being together wasn’t enough. I wasn’t enough.”
His expression tightened.
“The fact that you
