Life by design, p.32
Life by Design, page 32
“Shit,” I mutter, blinking away the rain that streams down my face as I tug the dogs along at a brisk jog. Just when I think the weather can’t get any worse, the sky seems to open up and sheets of rain pour down over us while flashes of lightning brighten the darkened sky in the distance. I’m constantly blinking and brushing streams of water from my eyes, just so I can see where I’m going.
The dogs pull harder than usual, desperate to get home where it’s warm and dry just as much as I am. It doesn’t take long before I’m soaked through, an icy chill settling deep in my bones until I’m shivering uncontrollably, so I pick up the pace and walk briskly toward the next marked crosswalk. In an effort to ignore how cold and wet I am, I think warm, happy thoughts about the long, hot shower that awaits me.
Alas, I’m mere feet from the front of the building when this attempt is thwarted by a car zipping by, it’s LED headlights blindingly bright, and splashes water from a massive puddle up over the curb, covering more than half my body. Rage and annoyance flood my veins as I make my way for the entrance of my building, shaking the dirty street water from my arms as the dogs haul ass up the stairs.
“Motherfucker,” I mutter under my breath, climbing the first step. The dogs pull excitedly when the front door opens and someone walks through. At first, I think they’re just trying to get in out of the rain, but they sit next to a pair of feet belonging to the person holding the door open for us.
“Sorry about them,” I say, giving my arms one last shake and pushing my rain-soaked hair back off my face as I look up, gasping when I see who it is. “L-Liam?” I look around, still in disbelief this is happening. “What are you doing here?”
He swipes a hand up over his forehead, pushing his hair back, something I’ve noticed he does when he’s nervous. “I came to tell you I miss you,” he says, cutting right to the point. “These last few months have been miserable without you. Every time something good has happened, the first thought I have is how much I want to tell you—”
Everything he’s saying is exactly what I had planned to say and exactly what I’d been hoping to hear in return, and while I’m more than ready to have this conversation, I need to get out of these cold, wet clothes. “Liam,” I interject, my teeth chattering.
“I know.” He steps forward, placing his hands on either side of my face. “You had your reasons, and they made sense at the time, but I can’t imagine a future without you in it.”
“Liam …” I try again, but he looks ready to plead his case further. What he doesn’t realize is it isn’t necessary. My mind is made up.
“Just, give me a min—” I open my mouth to stop him again because I can’t stop shivering, but he doesn’t give me the chance. “Oh, fuck it.”
Before I even know what’s happening, Liam crushes his lips to mine. I’m caught off-guard at first, but within a fraction of a second, I melt into him, placing my hands on his hips and gripping his shirt tightly in my fists. Giving in to the moment, and basking in being able to kiss him again like this, I step up onto my toes and sweep my tongue over his lower lip. Before we can deepen the kiss, Liam pulls back with a smile, his thumbs moving lightly over my cheeks.
His blue eyes dance excitedly between mine and his lips curl up into a smile I hope to see every day. Then his expression shifts to concern. “Isla, you’re freezing.”
I nod. “Yeah. That’s what I was trying to tell you. Can we go inside now? I’d like very much to be out of these clothes.”
The left side of Liam’s mouth curls up into an impish smirk. “Don’t suppose you’ll need help with that?”
A massive shiver rocks through my body. “Less sexy flirting, more walking,” I lecture, grabbing his hand and tugging him inside behind me and the dogs. There’s so much water in my shoes that they make that gross squishing sound with every step I take, so kicking them off as soon as I’m in my apartment is a huge relief.
I release the dogs and am just about to excuse myself to change into sweats and a hoodie when Liam whips me around and kisses me again. His warm hands slowly make their way up under my shirt, and even though I imagine my skin feels like a popsicle, my blood slowly starts to warm and spread beneath his touch.
He breaks our kiss for a half second to relieve me of my sopping wet shirt, which falls to the floor with a heavy splat, and locks eyes with me again. “What do you say we get you into a nice warm shower?”
I trail my fingers up and down the middle of his chest, toying with the top button of his shirt and look up at him through my eyelashes. “Only if you plan on joining me,” I softly insist.
“You’re sure?” he asks. “I know there’s still a lot we have to talk about.”
“Talk later.” I let my hands move down his chest until I’m gripping his hands in mine and leading him down the hall. “Make up sex now.”
Once in the bathroom, I turn the shower on to let the water warm before we get in, and as the room slowly fills with steam, I unbutton Liam’s shirt and push it back over his shoulders and down his arms, taking my time and never breaking eye contact. Yes, I’m desperate and want to be consumed by him, but I also don’t want to rush any part of this. We’ve been apart for months; I want to savor our reunion.
While I move onto the button of his pants, Liam trails his fingers up and down my bare arms, and a ripple of goosebumps arise in their wake. I lean in and kiss his chest, pushing his pants and boxers down over his hips and ass while my lips forge a trail up toward his throat. He swallows thickly, his Adam’s apple bobbing under my lips, and he reaches behind me to unhook my bra, slowly lowering it down my arms until it’s just a wet strip of fabric on the floor between us.
Next to go are my shorts, but instead of just pushing them down, Liam drops to his knees, his lips leaving a fiery trail down my body as he descends. As he kisses a straight line from hip-to-hip, he looks up at me and smirks, hooking his fingers into my shorts and pulling them down. There’s some resistance as the tight, wet fabric sticks to my damp skin, but he eventually frees me before kissing the very top of my inner thigh, right next to where I actually want his mouth.
“Liam,” I manage to pant, one hand falling to his shoulder, and the other splaying against the shower glass to steady myself as his tongue makes it’s first pass between my folds. My legs start to shake as he increases his efforts, licking, nibbling, sucking, motherfucking groaning, and I’m about to succumb to gravity when he stands, wraps his arms around me and pulls me into the shower.
His lips are back on mine as the warm water pours over us, and I wrap my arms up around his shoulders, standing up on the tips of my toes so I can kiss him deeper, the taste of my arousal still on his lips and tongue. Liam slips a hand between us and slides his fingers between my legs, moving them back and forth slowly before sinking two inside, and I gasp into his mouth.
“God, I’ve missed this,” he growls, fingers still pumping, pulling moan after moan from me as my climax builds inside me like I’m a pressure cooker reaching its limit.
I can feel the first wave of pleasure lapping at the shore of my undoing, but I want him inside me when I come. “More,” I plead, my voice barely an audible whimper as I grip his length and begin to stroke slowly … up and then down. I push my hips forward, using the one arm still around his shoulders to give me some kind of leverage. “Please.”
Liam doesn’t object. He grips my ass and steps forward, pressing my back against the cool tile wall. I release his cock and hitch my legs up around his waist with his help, feeling the tip of his shaft slide between my legs and tease my entrance. He looks at me again, eyebrows slightly raised. “You’re sure?” he asks once more, and I nod. He pushes forward slightly, and I close my eyes, enjoying the way he feels and realizing just how much I’ve missed him. “Should I grab a condom?”
I shake my head and roll my hips, pulling him in a little deeper. “No,” I tell him, placing a hand on his bearded jaw. “Don’t leave me.”
Liam brings a hand to my face, and I open my eyes to find him staring at me, his brows pinched together with resolve. “Never,” he replies firmly before pushing his hips forward and entering me fully. We stay like this for a moment, eyes locked, him holding me up, and then slowly, our hips begin to move in tandem until heat flares beneath my skin and the rapidly-building pressure inside me is about to burst.
Liam’s rhythm remains steady, but when he thrusts with a little more enthusiasm … a little more purpose, that’s all it takes to push me right over the edge and into the abyss. My skin tingles from my scalp all the way down to my curled toes, and I can feel another orgasm quickly coming on as Liam chases his. I claw at his back and pull my legs tighter around him, encouraging him with soft moans and cries of ecstasy that echo off the walls of the small bathroom.
Just a few more seconds, and a familiar look of calm washes over his face as he comes, releasing deep inside me. He rests his forehead against mine, both of us breathing heavily and trying to catch our breath. Liam’s eyes search mine, and I lean forward and press my lips to his. “I love you,” I tell him for the first time, running my fingers up through his tousled wet hair.
As my confession registers, Liam’s smile grows and he nods. “I love you, too.” He brushes his lips lightly over mine again. “You warmed up?”
“Mmmm.” I nod once. “Downright toasty, even.”
“Fingers and toes are all working?”
“Fingers, yes.” I curl them against his water-slicked skin as proof. “Toes …” I wiggle them, but they’re still a little numb from all the orgasms. “The feeling is starting to return as the post-orgasmic tingles work their way out.”
“Good,” he replies, slowly easing me back onto my feet and separating our joined bodies, much to my dissatisfaction. “Because a trip to the ER for hypothermia would put a serious kink in our marathon make-up sex.”
I step back under the showerhead and let the warm water wash over me, glancing coyly back over my shoulder. “So ambitious, Mr. Wilde.”
Liam wraps his arms around me, his beard tickling my neck and shoulder as he starts kissing the clean skin. “I’m never letting you go again,” he says, his words firm and resolute, acting like kindling on the still burning embers of my arousal.
“Promise?” I ask, folding my arms over his and leaning my head back against his shoulder.
“Until the day I draw my last breath, Isla,” he affirms. “I’m yours, and you’re mine. Nothing—no one—will ever come between us again.”
I close my eyes and let his words really sink in, and then I exhale a long breath. “That’s all I needed to hear.”
EPILOGUE | COUNTING DOWN

Liam
Ipull the SUV to a stop in front of the closed garage of a large two-storey house at the end of the long, winding driveway, just outside the city, and put it in park.
In the backseat, I can hear Ella singing an odd mash-up of Itsy Bitsy Spider and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, and every once in a while I can see her hands appear above the back of her carseat when she sings a little more animatedly. I decide to let her finish her little musical number before grabbing her bag and my briefcase off the passenger seat and then gathering her to head inside.
“Eye-yah home?” Ella asks, her big blue eyes meeting mine when I open her door and start to unclip her harness.
“She is,” I tell her with a big smile. “You want to go inside and find her?”
“Uh huh,” Ella replies, nodding her head. “And ‘Nell and “Val-tino?”
I chuckle and lift her from her seat. “Yup. They’re probably inside having a nap.”
“Silly, Daddy.” She shakes her head. “Puppies no nap.”
“I assure you, they do, Peanut.” I close the door and make sure the vehicle is locked before we head inside.
The leaves of the trees that line the property rustle in the breeze, and the songs of a few birds reach us. Ella is always so amazed by our new acreage surroundings. Wait until she sees the cedar playground set Isla and I spent all of last weekend setting up with our families.
It hadn’t taken long into our reconciliation a year ago to start discussing what we wanted for our future. As it happened, we both had dreams of living outside the city with enough land to maybe own some horses and other livestock one day. When we started seriously looking six months after Isla’s boutique opened, we found this place and immediately fell in love with the house and the secluded little plot of land.
I push open the front door, and am greeted by both Chanel and Valentino, their claws clicking on the wood floors with excitement. Though it’s not me they’re itching to see; it’s Ella. They haven’t seen her all week since she’s been at her mother’s place back in the city.
Things with Hilary have gotten better. She still has her moments, but she’s definitely become less antagonistic, which has been great for Ella.
“See, Daddy,” Ella says. “Da puppies no nappin’.”
I chuckle and set her down so the dogs can say hello while I set our bags down and hang up my jacket. “You were right, Peanut.”
Giggling through puppy kisses, Ella finally looks up at me. “Where Eye-yah?”
I look down the hall, which is lined with several moving boxes still since we only just moved in a few weeks ago and have both been pretty busy with work. I can’t hear any movement coming from the living room or kitchen on the other end of the house, and she’s not in the office to my right, so I can only assume she’s in one of the four rooms upstairs.
“Why don’t we go find out?” I suggest, scooping her up and climbing the elegant curved staircase in the middle of the house. More boxes line the hall when we reach the second story, several of them open the closer we get to the room Isla claimed as her at-home studio. As we get closer, I can hear her sewing machine whirring, but the door is only open a crack.
“Eye-yah!” Ella shouts, wrapping her tiny hands around her mouth. “Oh, Eye-yahhhhh!”
The machine stops and the door opens a second later before Isla steps out, pulling it closed behind her, which is suspicious and piques my curiosity. She’s wearing a pair of dark green leggings and a pink tanktop with a measuring tape draped around her neck, and her dark hair is piled on top of her head.
“There she is!” Isla exclaims excitedly, reaching for Ella and taking her from me to hug and love on her while she giggles. While they say hello, I slip past and my hand has barely touched the brass knob when Isla clears her throat. “And just what do you think you’re doing?”
“Looking in your studio?”
Isla shakes her head. “Absolutely not, mister. I’m working on something you’re not allowed to see for several months.” She steps up onto her toes and kisses me. “Welcome home, by the way. How was your day?”
“It was good. Super busy, but the new office manager seems to be working out. I might be able to work from home a little bit more,” I tell her before looking around the hall. “How was your day? You get any unpacking done?”
Isla’s nose scrunches up adorably. “I started to,” she admits. “I managed to get the two main bathrooms all put together, and I was starting on my studio when I came across a sketchbook from when I was designing Parker Petrov’s wedding gown, and inspiration kind of struck.”
I smile down at her, loving how her eyes glimmer with excitement when she gets excited about her work. Then I pause. “Isla, the Petrov wedding was three months ago.”
She bites her bottom lip and nods coyly. “I know. There were a few designs I’d shown her that she didn’t love, and as I was looking at them, I realized I loved different elements of each one and thought I’d see if I could Frankenstein them together for my wedding gown.”
Suddenly her not wanting me to go in her office made all kinds of sense. “Oh.”
“Yeah, I need to order more fabric before I can do much more, but I wanted to get a bit of a head-start on it while everything was fresh.”
I glance down at her left hand where it rests on Ella’s leg while she balances her on her right hip, and smile when the sunlight from the big window catches the center stone. We’d only gotten engaged a few weeks ago—the night we got possession of the house, actually. We hadn’t moved anything in yet, so we decided to have a romantic little picnic in the living room, lighting candles and setting them on the hearth of the fireplace.
I’d gotten so caught up in the moment, and before I knew what was happening, I asked her to marry me earlier than I’d intended.
Weeks of planning the perfect proposal went down the drain, I even had a ring. Unfortunately, I hadn’t been planning to ask that night, so it was back at my old place, waiting in my sock drawer.
Neither of us wanted a long, drawn-out engagement, but we were hoping to be able to get married and have the reception right here since we had plenty of outdoor space. And since we wanted an outdoor wedding, summer was our best bet, so we’d set a date for the first weekend in July. It gives us enough time to get everything in order and not feel rushed.
“Well,” I tell her, pulling her against me. Ella looks between us both with a goofy grin on her face. “I can’t wait to see it when you’re walking down the aisle next summer.” I place a soft kiss on her lips and pull her in for a hug.
She tilts her face up and whispers in my right ear, “And I can’t wait for you to peel it off my body later that night.”
And just like that, she has me counting down the hours until we’re alone in bed.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Having grown up in rural Alberta, Canada, Addison Ryan spent plenty of time reading and writing, dreaming that, one day, her own stories might captivate and inspire readers the same way some of her favorite authors did for her.
With the love and support of her amazing husband and children, she’s been able to follow those dreams and bring readers stories that will hopefully make them laugh, cry, and fall in love over and over again.
