Their Forever - Chloe Kent Page 0,16

giving a man like Liam a gift like that. But it was too late now.

She shivered as Liam pressed his thumb against the side of it, flipping the lid open to reveal the pebble of a stone inside. He picked it up and examined it in the firelight.

“It's… It's…” she began, then stopped. “It belonged to my great-great-grandmother. It was just an ordinary stone that my great-great-grandfather had picked up off the shores of a beach in Normandy. He was very poor, and when he saw my great-great-grandmother for the first time, he kept the stone with him and rubbed it whenever he thought of her. According to my mother, who gave it to me, the ordinary round stone was shaped into a heart… “Blood pooled in her cheeks. “Because he loved her that much. I mean it's a… a silly thing, of course the pebble must have been shaped like a heart to begin with but… I love you, Liam.” She blurted the words, and it was not how she imagined saying it in her head. “I love you, Liam.” She had said again, but his silence made her think he hadn't heard her.

But she knew something was wrong. His features switched into the stoic, enigmatic one she never thought he would ever use on her, the one he used on his business associates, his enemies. Not her. Not since the moment he had made her his on their wedding night, by taking her virginity.

She had done something wrong.

“Liam?”

He shook his head ever so slightly before he turned toward the door. Something came over her. She couldn't let this go. She wasn't imagining that saying she loved him, sounded like the worst words in the world, to him.

Why?

She couldn't give him riches and boats and planes. She gave him her heart, his forever, and he had turned away from her with complete indifference.

“Liam,” she called after him, lifting the full length of her gown in one hand as she hurried after him. She caught his arm, and thankfully he stopped of his own accord, or she wouldn't have been able to stall him any other way.

“Liam, I love you with my whole heart and soul, and I—”

She cried in shock as he reached out, his large hand circling her throat in an almost deadly vice. Squeezing until she clutched his wrist, tears springing to her eyes. Liam had done this to her before and, putting her trust in his hands, it had been as exhilarating as the hand he'd had between her spread thighs, scissoring inside her hot flesh, flooding her pussy with wetness until, beyond embarrassed, she’d let go and spluttered his clothes with the juices of her arousal. He used to hold her afterward, softly telling her how proud he was of her, that she was magnificent as he gently kissed her neck.

But now there was only fury in his eyes.

How could her telling him she loved him have gone so horribly wrong when she felt in her heart that Liam felt as deep an affection for her. No, she wasn't wrong, dammit, her internal thought cut into her mind even as it began to blank out under the deadly grip of Liam's hand at her throat.

“I love you.” She struggled to whisper the words, her throat hurting, her voice already so hoarse she could hardly hear herself. “Liam…”

For as long as she lived, she'd never be able to get used to Liam's utter speed. For a man well over six feet he moved with the easy litheness of a dangerous animal.

He spun her around, her back crashing into his chest, and the thunderous beat of his heart vibrated through her. He had released her throat, and his hand was planted into the nape of her hair, bunching her tresses as he pulled until fresh tears sprang to her eyes. Even as the depth of her emotional turmoil grew darker and deeper, her nipples had swelled, and her pussy had drenched her panties.

“You don't love me.” His voice was calm and deadly. Her brain absorbed the fact that she had angered him profoundly, but all her body heard was the sensuous husk that it craved constantly. “You're grateful to me for saving your and your family's lives. Don't ever confuse love for gratitude, Little One. I warned you the day I married you.”

The hold on her hair lessened, and she knew he was going to release her and leave.

“I love you, Liam,” she repeated. “I love you.