Only A Millionaire

Chapter 15

BROOKE

"Liam?" I gasped as I turned around, petrified.

      He  was  gloriously  nude, but  it  took  me  a  moment  to  recognize

exactly who was with me, even  though  I   knew  and  fantasized  about

that particularly gorgeous naked male body so damn often.

    "Did I scare you?" he said in a husky voice that made  my  toes  curl.

"You didn't answer the door, but it was unlocked, a fact  that  we  need

to talk about later."

    Even though Citrus  Beach  was  a  small  city, I'd  always  felt  rela-

timely safe in my apartment  here. I usually locked up, but I must have

been so distracted that I'd forgotten.

    I took a  couple  of  deep  breaths, willing  my  heart  to  slow  down.

We  were  close  together  because  the  tall  was  small, but  he  didn't

touch me. I knew he was waiting for me to register his  presence  with-

out being afraid.

    I finally looked  up  at  him,  my  heart  racing  with  something  other

than fear. His handsome face was the most  welcoming  thing  I'd  ever

seen. "Liam," I said with more surety, and  then  threw  myself  into  his

arms.
        He caught me  firmly, pulling  me  against  his  powerful  wet  body.

       "I missed you so  much," I  told  him  in  a  rush, my  heart  tripping

because he was here with me.

     Everything I'd discovered  about  my  parents  in  such  a  short  pe-

riot of time had been weighing on me, but I'd  held  it  inside, not  want-

ing to talk about it in front of Jade. She'd already  been  in  the  place  I

was in now. I didn't want  to  send  her  back  there  again. My  siblings

had already had time to process the truth. I hadn't.

     I  welcomed  his   strong  arms  around  me. His  stalwart  presence

made me crumbled, and I sobbed all of my confusion, fear,  and  anger

onto his very solid shoulder.

    His arms tightened around  me, and  he  just  held  me  while  I  cried,

stroking my wt hair as he  hoarsely  whispered  into  my  ear, "It  will  all

be okay, sweetheart. I promise."

    I believed him. As long  as  he  was  here  with  me, I  felt  like  I  was

going to be okay.

     Liam grounded me, allowing me  to  finally  express  the  sorrow  I'd

been experiencing since I'd learned about how  my  mother  had  been

betrayed.

     "She didn't deserve what he did to her, Liam," I babbled  as  I  cried.

"All she ever wanted was to protect us. But she was so alone."

     "He was an asshole, baby," he crooned. "There's a special  place  in