And with her moving away… me leaving for college soon…
Sometimes things just aren’t meant to be.
Chapter One
Liam
I stood at the dining room table and flipped through the pages of the quiz.
The quiz.
I shook my head.
Why the hell do I have to take a quiz to get married?
Some of the stuff I had to do just felt… weird.
Like the wedding was turning into some big cliché.
I already told myself if someone showed up with birds and set them free, I was going to walk away. For real.
The apartment door opened and slammed shut.
“Tell that little shit stain to get me the deposition by noon,” Miranda growled. “If it’s not on my desk in perfect order, I will take the elevator to your floor and I will shove your head up his ass. Do you understand me?”
I looked at Miranda and smiled.
She blew me a kiss.
“Thanks, Rich,” she said in a bitchy voice. “You’re so kind.”
Miranda ended the call and threw her phone across the apartment to the couch.
“Fucker,” she said.
“Good morning to you,” I said.
“No, it hasn’t been a good morning at all. This phone has been ringing since four. Four, Liam. Four. As in four in the fucking morning. I’m tired of it.”
“So don’t answer the calls,” I said.
“Who will then?”
“Your name isn’t on the building.”
“Yet,” she said. “And when it is, I’m taking three weeks’ vacation. I’m getting a big office. I’m going to buy expensive perfume. I’m going to walk around like my poop doesn’t smell.”
I laughed. “At least you got your favorite coffee.”
She looked at her left hand. “Yeah. I had to get it on my own though.”
“You wanted me to get it?” I asked.
“It would have been nice.”
“I’m sorry,” I said. “I was sleeping. You said you were getting up at six. I had things planned out.”
“Like what?” she asked.
I moved closer to Miranda. I tucked her hair behind her ear. “I was going to wake you up with my tongue. Start at your neck. Work my way down. Write you a quick love letter with my tongue between your legs. And then I was going to get your coffee.”
“Yeah, good luck with that,” she said.
She turned and walked to the kitchen and put her coffee down.
“What’s wrong?” I asked as I stared into the living room.
“I’m stressed, Liam,” she said. “And you know, when I get stressed… I just…”
“I know,” I said. “It’s okay. If there’s anything I can do to help you.”
“You just want to get laid.”
I laughed. I slowly turned. “It’s not just about that, Miranda.”
“Of course it is. You want me to be young again. Things change. People change.”
“I’m not worried about that,” I said. “I want you to be happy. It’s been a while since we… enjoyed each other’s company.”
“I think you enjoyed yourself in the shower Saturday night.
I stepped toward her. “I did. But you didn’t.”
“Don’t tell me what I enjoy or not,” she said. “It’s actually easier that way.”
“Oh?” I asked.
“We’re so busy, Liam. I know you have needs. I needed a shower. You got a hand job plus a shower. It’s a win for everyone.”
I touched her back and moved closer to her.
I took a handful of her hair and pulled it out of the way with force.
“I don’t like that,” I growled. “I want to fuck you, Miranda. I want to fuck my fiancée so she remembers why she’s marrying me.”
“Which is?” she whispered.
“You’re marrying me for my cock and nothing else,” I said.
I brushed my lips to the back of her neck.
Her knees bent and she spread her hands across the counter.
I shut my eyes and took a deep breath.
My right hand moved down to the end of her skirt. My fingertips moved along her warm skin, all the way up to her panties. I flirted with her panty line, moving along her ass, playing… touching… tempting…
“We need this, Miranda,” I whispered. “Overworked and stress isn’t good. Let’s forget about everything for one day. Just you and me. We can close all the windows and shades and just camp out here. We can put our mattress on the living room floor. Like we used to do. Remember that?” My fingers slipped between her legs. “We’d get high and sip whiskey and just fuck all day…”
Miranda pressed her ass back against me and rocked up and down.
“Oh, fuck, keep going,” I whispered.
I started to lift her skirt.
Her phone rang out from the living room.
“Shit. Liam.”
“No,” I growled.
“Liam,” she said.
She pushed away from the counter and spun around me like a football player making a move to go score a touchdown.
“I have to take that call,” she said. “We’re not in college anymore. We’re adults. Act like it. We can’t have a damn quick fuck right before work.”
I watched Miranda walk away.
Maybe she was right.
Or maybe she wasn’t.
I held the apartment door for her and snuck a kiss to her cheek as we exited.
“That prick is going down,” she said.
“I don’t doubt it,” I said. “My vicious girl is ready to attack.”
“Girl?”
“I always call you that.”
“I’m not a girl, Liam.”
“My vicious woman. My vicious fiancée. That sounds brutal too.”
“Brutal,” Miranda said. “Just what every woman wants to be described as.”
She was having a shit morning and I was the punching bag.
That I could live with.
We walked outside to the busy street.
Miranda breezed by Dale, the doorman, but I stopped.
I put my fist out.
We hit fists, then elbows, then fists again.
He nodded to me.
“How’s the grandson’s science project?” I asked.
“Oh, Liam, you should see it. He made a light bulb light up with a freaking potato.”
“Maybe that’s why I always feel so bright after eating fries,” I said.
Dale laughed. “You’re not eating fries ever.”
“I do all the time. That’s why I have to go to the gym so much. Helps keep my figure.”
“Wait until you get to be my age,” Dale said as he patted his round stomach. “Ladies love the grandpa bod.”
“That’s a thing?” I asked.
“It is for me,” he said with a wink.
We
