the task less than a month ago, he was obviously just filling his day with busy work.
Fuck!
He’d chosen to work in this part of their land because most of the cabins this far out were still empty, and he didn’t want to face his family. Which wasn’t really out of the ordinary—he preferred to be alone most of the time—but they had already begun to realize what he wasn’t yet ready to admit.
He liked Elle, and he didn’t mind being married to her.
Hell, maybe he more than liked her…or maybe he was just being stupid because Gavin had sent her. Liam still didn’t understand his friend’s motives for creating that contract—why not just give his sister the money—but at the same time, he felt honored that Gavin had picked him to be her husband.
Not that he was worthy of any honor.
Not when he was so messed up inside.
Although, if he were being honest, the dreams didn’t come like they used to, and he didn’t feel as fucked up as he once had. In fact, until Elle arrived a couple of days ago, he couldn’t remember the last time he’d woken up in the middle of the night. The only difference was, now he wasn’t waking from the horrible images that never seemed to leave his brain. Instead, it was because he knew Elle was in his bed, and he wanted to be with her.
And it wasn’t just about sex, either, although he did want to have sex with her. Hell, he wanted more than sex. He wanted to fuck her hard, and make love to her slowly—over and over again—but it was more than that. He also wanted things he hadn’t dared to hope for since he got out of the military.
Things like a woman, a wife and partner…someone to love.
Hell, even now, he just wanted to be by her side. To know what she was doing, and to hear about her day. He wasn’t much of a talker, but for some reason, he liked the idea of speaking to Elle. Of sharing parts of himself with someone other than his family. His friendship with Gavin had been like that, to an extent, but what he felt for Elle was different.
He briefly wondered if it was because she reminded him of his friend, or because he was lonely, but deep down, he knew the truth. After only a couple of days, he was falling for his fake wife.
Lael sniffed the air and then shifted into his human form. The change was instant, and their clothes stayed intact during the transition, which was convenient, so a second later, Lael stood in front of him wearing a pair of Bermuda shorts and a huge grin on his face.
Liam rolled his eyes, aware of the ribbing that was about to follow, but he also liked seeing his brother so happy. Out of all his siblings, Lael was the most well-rounded, and usually had a smile on his face. There was a time when the younger man had thought about a tour in the military, too, and Liam would always be grateful that he and Levi had been able to change their brother’s mind.
“So,” Lael laughed. “Rain gutters? Didn’t you just clean those last month?”
“It never hurts to be prepared,” Liam countered, collapsing his ladder.
“Right,” his brother laughed again. “I’ve never seen you care so much about the gutters in the past. Or the lawns, or the dirt on the cabins.”
Damn it!
He knew he should have saved the mowing and power-washing for a different day. Normally his nosey siblings didn’t pay attention to anything he did, but he knew they would be keeping an eye on him today—especially after their weekly staff meeting the day before.
In an effort to keep busy, he had discussed starting a big project early—putting in a paved path around the lake—when he had been the one to originally push the project back toward the colder months. After his announcement, the knowing looks of his siblings had unnerved him, and he’d kept his mouth shut the rest of the meeting, agreeing to only perform routine maintenance for the next several months.
“Well, then you haven’t been looking hard enough, brother. I care about all of those things, and perform those tasks more often than you know.”
“Okay,” Lael laughed again, but then his face turned serious. “Can I ask you something?”
“Of course.” Liam put the ladder back in the golf cart, and faced his brother. Lael seemed to want to discuss something