Their Forever - Chloe Kent Page 0,10

unconquerable situation, where her family's life hung in the balance to tremendous luxury and never-ending comfort. No, it was because from the moment she had set eyes on Liam Stone, she knew her destiny began and ended with him.

“Look at the screen, Little One,” Liam said, breaking into her anguish over using her safe word for something as mundane as marking his handkerchief with her wetness. Sad that she had already disappointed him once, she raised tear-clouded eyes to the screen before them.

Images of the pictures which had already been shown before came into view. They looked the same. And yet... it was as if some optical illusion had cheated her from seeing the details before. The other man had been in all of them before. How had she missed that? How had she missed the look in the woman's eye when she gazed at her husband and the man standing behind him. He had been there all along and she loved them both.

Liam kissed her hand again, and this time she swung her head in his direction, but his gaze remained fixed in front of him.

*~~*~~*

“You want to tell me what the fuck is going on?”

Liam Stone smiled to himself. Those were the exact words in the exact tone he expected Kade Tremayne to use to make his entrance. After a slight pause, Liam continued pouring the single-malt scotch whiskey into two handblown double-walled borosilicate glasses, then turned around and offered one to Kade.

Kade took the glass from him, then without missing a beat, picked up the bottle from Liam's bar, scanned its details, and raised his eyebrow.

“What?” Liam smiled innocently. “This moment deserves something extraordinary.”

“What's so extraordinary it deserves a... what... eighty-thousand-dollar bottle of scotch?”

“It's not the price that matters, Tremayne. It's the rarity of it that gets me always.” Liam sipped his drink and notes of chocolate and oak from the Glenfiddich 1937 tantalized his taste buds. There were not even sixty such bottles available in the whole world, and Liam owned two of them already. “True wonders. Much like my Olivia,” he added.

“Yes, your Olivia. Your wife?” Kade rubbed his hand down his jaw once and Liam noticed the tautness in his shoulders at the mention of Olivia. Kade Tremayne, when required, could school his features into a blank slate at any time. He trusted only Liam and the same could be said for Liam about him. No one would know what he was thinking, except possibly the man whose life laid in his hands.

“I'm off the grid for eight months, and I discover the great indomitable Liam Stone has gotten himself married. Why is that?” Kade sat on the edge of Liam's desk, took a sip from his drink, and regarded Liam with frank scrutiny.

“She captivated me.”

“I see.”

“I think you do.” Liam seated himself opposite Kade, leaned back in his wide leather-bound armchair.

He had met Kade ten years ago, right in this very room when the younger man had bypassed what Liam had considered a superior protection detail in a fortified mansion and held a knife to Liam with the sole intention of slitting his throat.

He didn't.

And so began a friendship that had stood the test of time and beyond.

Liam eyed the younger man before him. There were no other men like him, perhaps because even though they were so different, at their core, they were very much alike.

“Want to tell me how that happened?”

“How I ended up married?” Liam smiled.

Kade usually worked deep undercover for long periods of time in a very volatile atmosphere, where life was inconsequential, and death the final means. Liam would know. He had once completed an assignment for Kade when Kade himself couldn't do it. If nothing else, that strengthened an already deep bond between the two of them. And ultimately, no man should have to kill his own father, merely two years into the job as a licensed government operative.

Kade owed him one now, and he wondered if the moment to ask for a return on that favor had arrived.

When Kade had come back home, taking early retirement from the Secret Service wing, Liam had offered him half of his companies to run. Of course, Kade had refused. He wanted something low key, mundane, something that would keep the nightmares Liam knew obliterated Kade night in and night out, at bay.

When he offered to be Liam's chauffeur on a whim, Liam had laughed, but the man was dead serious, so Liam retired John, who was happy to work