Betrayed: Keeping her in the Dark Vol. 3 Page 6

  “Yes, I remember.”

  “So I was just wondering,” but he didn’t let me finish.

  “Norah, I missed you. I missed so much in the 3 days you were gone I decided to start wearing my ring again. It reminds me of you, it makes me think of you, our wedding, my wife and you.”

  “You just said four things that all mean the same thing,” I smiled at him as he stepped down to me and wrapped his arms around my shoulders.

  “Do I need a reason to honor my wife? I love you and I missed you so much. Are you really going to turn this into a thing?” he kissed me slowly and softly. The butterflies in my stomach were now doing backhand springs. I started to feel a little light headed taking in the scent of clean linen, vanilla and Liam’s natural masculine scent.

  My husband was so sexy and so charming with his smile, his kiss, his accent and his ability to make my knees go weak just by touching me.

  “No, I will not turn this into yet another thing. Thank you for wearing it.” He kissed me again.

  He was lying. I knew he was up to something.

  I talked all through dinner. I told him about every detail of the wedding and just kept talking. He laughed and asked a few questions but for the most part he was quiet. I could tell something was bothering him but he didn’t look like he wanted to talk about it. Usually when Liam had something on his mind it was hard for him not to say it.

  I kept chatting and started clearing the table.

  “So tell me how your meeting went?” I yelled from the kitchen.

  “Tell me about this kiss, Norah?” I knew he was in the kitchen behind me. His voice was close now. I turned to look at him and he was leaning against the door frame between the kitchen and dining room. I wiped my hands on a drying towel and took a deep breath.

  “Liam, nothing happened.”

  “I know that. I don’t doubt that for one second. But I want to know what happened and why did it take you 10 minutes to talk to me and I had to listen to people who were obviously participating in some kind of contact sport?” I walked a little closer to him.

  “My team and I went out after the reception and some of the bridal party joined us. We were in a limo and everyone had been drinking,” I took a breath.

  “Were you drinking?” he asked.

  “Yes. I had two margaritas at dinner and a few more, later at the club.”

  “Oh this just keeps getting better, little one.” He uncrossed his arms and stepped closer to me.

  “Some of the people in the limo started playing twister while the car was still moving. Not me. I was just watching.” He took his eyes away from mine when I said ‘just watching’.

  “The car hit a bump when I answered the phone and I dropped it. The guy that asked for a kiss, was just one of the groomsmen. He was hitting on all the girls. I told him I was married and when we got to the club he found someone else he was interested in.” He looked up at me and took my chin in his hand.

  “Tell me about the club? You were drinking? What else?”

  “I danced.” But I held up my hand to him. “I danced with John. He didn’t feel comfortable in my safety in the crowd because he couldn’t see me clearly.”

  “I agree with John,” his face was stern. “So I dragged him on the dance floor.” We both started laughing.

  “You danced with John?” I nodded and he kissed my forehead. “Well little one, I think I am a little jealous of your driver.” He gave me another slow kiss. “I’m sure he was thrilled about the experience.”

  “He wasn’t happy about it at first, but he loosened up after a while. John’s a very good dancer.”

  “Thank you for being safe, sweetheart. I know you hate all the precautions, but I am glad you take them seriously.” He reached behind me and grabbed the cake Rosa had made for us.

  “Now I am taking this cake and one fork up to our bedroom. I would like to take a shower, lay in bed and eat cake, and then make love to my wife all night long.”

  “That sounds wonderful.” I took a fork out of a drawer and we went upstairs.

  We took our shower together and he washed my body and my hair. His touch was soft and sensual. He dried me off with a big fluffy towel and wrapped it around me.

  “Norah, I have to tell you something.” His voice was cracking and he looked like he had the weight of the world on his shoulders. The last time he had this look on his face, I had just found out I wasn’t his slave and I could leave him if I wanted to.

  “What is it?” I was worried now.

  “I did something, and I have to tell you, I need to tell you, but I just want you to know that you mean the world to me and I love you more than my life.”

  “Liam, you’re scaring me. What’s wrong?” He looked at the floor and took my hand in his. He rolled my wedding rings in his fingers and I could hear his breathing had increased.

  “Norah, while you were gone…” I stopped him. I lifted his head up and put my finger over his lips. His nervousness was making me nervous. I wasn’t sure I wanted to hear what he was about to say.

  “Don’t. Whatever it is you don’t have to tell me now. Whatever it is it can wait.” He closed his eyes.

  “It can’t wait, little one. I need to tell you now.” He still didn’t have the confident look on his face I was used to seeing. I put my hand over his mouth.

  “Take a deep breath and relax. I know you need to tell me something, you know you need to tell me something. So you can tell me later.” He nodded slowly and I felt his body relax a little.

  I turned on the TV and we watched a home improvement show and Liam talked about how he wanted to add a big porch and deck on the guest house.

  He talked like ‘adding a porch and deck’ meant he was going to strap on a tool belt and do it himself. I let him have his fantasy. But we both knew his adding on to anything meant hiring construction workers to do it for him.

  We ate cake and he rubbed my legs.

  “So listen, I was thinking we could plan our getaway weekend for the last weekend of the month,” he panted as he parted my legs and moved between them. “I have never liked celebrating my birthday, but the thought of you and I laying on a beach, anywhere in the world, together where I can do this,” he kissed the inside of my thighs and ran his tongue up to my belly button, “..Makes me want to celebrate.” He pushed his tongue in my belly button and twirled it around.

  I loved the idea of laying on a beach with him. But I had bigger plans.

  “Well don’t pack your bags yet, ok? I might have an event that weekend, so let me check.”

  He pulled my underwear off and we made love all night.

  Chapter Six

  Norah

  To celebrate my big success, I took Monday afternoon off and went shopping. Shopping wasn’t something I usually liked to do but I made an exception this time.

  I bought myself four dresses, six pairs of shoes and three pairs of underwear. I was looking at purses when I ran into Jane.

  “Norah, Oh my God! I haven’t seen you in forever! How are you?” We hugged.

  “I’m good. I’m really good. I’m probably a little too good. I just spent way too much money on myself to celebrate how great I am. I hope Liam doesn’t get upset.”

  “Oh girl, you know you can’t upset Liam. He lets you do whatever you want.” We both laughed.

  “How are things with you and Will?” I asked.

  “Oh they’re good. We are trying new things and making big changes. Nothing like getting married but still big things. I’ll fill you in another time.” She waved me off the subject.

  “Liam and I should have you guys over for dinner soon. You guys are our only friends and we never see you. You 2 stay so busy all the time.” Liam had told me that Will and Jane had been ‘doing a lot of partying’. He didn’t elaborate about what ‘partying’ meant, and I never asked.

  “How is Thursday night? 7 o’clock?”

  “That sounds great! We will be there.” We air kissed each other and she walked away.
The thought of being near Will still made me nervous, not Nick Meyers nervous, but uneasy. Still he and Liam had seemed to have made up so I guess I needed to get over it too. He only assaulted me because he wanted Jane back. He didn’t know it at the time but he loved her. In his own way he loved her. I knew how irrational Liam could be when he was upset over something to do with me.

  I went home and made dinner. I made Spanish chicken with cauliflower, potatoes and carrots. I marinated some mushrooms and put them on the indoor grill and made a spinach salad with avocado and goat cheese.

  Rosa was still helping me with my cooking and I was finding recipes and trying them on my own too. Liam seemed to like my cooking and I liked cooking for him so it worked out.

  Whenever I had the opportunity to cook dinner, I gave Rosa the night off and did it myself. I had never been used to having people cook and clean for me. Not to mention I cared about Rosa and Gerald like my in laws. They were the closest things to parents that Liam had in his life now. I didn’t like the idea of them waiting on us, but I didn’t want them to lose their jobs either. So I adjusted.

  “Something smells wonderful! What are you doing in here, you sexy woman?” I shook my butt at him when he wrapped his arms around my waist.

  “I’m sorry, I thought Rosa was doing the cooking tonight,” then he kissed my neck.

  “Very funny smartass.”

  “Why are you cooking, my darling? I pay people to do that.”

  “I like it. And you like it too.”

  “Maybe I should reduce my kitchen staff, since I don’t seem to need them.”

  “Ah, no you won’t.”

  “I won’t? Well it seems to me I pay them a lot of money to not do a lot of work?” he smirked at me.

  “You wouldn’t get rid of Rosa or Gerald if they never cooked or cleaned anything again and you know it!” I poked him in the chest.

  “You’re right, I wouldn’t.” Liam would never get rid of Rosa or anyone in her family. I was sure I could start cooking every night and he would be completely fine with her and Gerald living in the guest house and him paying them to do nothing.

  He always said he never got close to people. He always told me since both of his parent’s deaths he never wanted to get close to anyone ever again. He never wanted a family of his own that he could lose all over again. But that wasn’t true. He might think he had managed to keep people at arm’s length until he met me, but it wasn’t true. He loved Gerald like a father and looked to Rosa for motherly advice.

  He helped me put dinner on the table and get everything else ready. When we sat down to start eating I told him about my day.

  “I did a little shopping today.”

  “I saw the twenty five bags by the door,” he said as took a bite of the chicken. “This is delicious.”

  “It’s not twenty five,” I said quickly.

  “Is it?” I asked. I honestly didn’t know. “Are you mad?” I squinted my eyes.

  “Why would I be mad?”

  “Because I spent a lot of your money on clothes on other things I didn’t need,” I started in with my salad. “I usually ask permission before I spend a lot of money and I didn’t this time.” I kept my eyes lowered.

  “Well my money is your money, and you never spend it. I tell you all the time to go shopping, get pedicures, manicures, spend the day in a spa, I don’t care. But you never do it. Will can’t keep Jane out of the stores, and I can never get you to buy anything.” He touched my face.

  “And buying yourself things for work or going out to lunch doesn’t count as a big expenditure, Norah. Those are the only things you ever ask me for,” he went back to eating.

  “Oh, mentioning Jane, I ran into her today.” His hands gripped the sides of the table and he actually gulped. “I invited them over for dinner on Thursday, I hope you don’t mind.” He wiped his mouth with his napkin and let out a deep breath.

  “Norah, now that is something I wish you had asked me before you made plans. We can’t have them over on Thursday.”

  “Why not?” I asked. I thought it was a question he should have expected. But he didn’t seem to know how to answer it.

  “What do you mean?” he started eating again.

  “What do you mean?” I asked back.

  “Norah please.”

  “Don’t Norah please me? I’m asking a simple question. Why can’t they come for dinner, do you have plans?”

  “No.”

  “Then why?” again he didn’t answer. He just kept eating.

  “Liam, why don’t you want them over for dinner?” He shrugged his shoulders, he cleared his throat, he coughed, and then he cleared his throat again. Then he drank some water. He was stalling. “Liam, what’s the problem?”

  “I just thought maybe…I was just thinking that you might….I thought it might be…” I tried to help him out because I thought I knew where he was going with this.

  “You thought I would be uncomfortable having Will here?” I asked.

  “Yes. Yes of course, that’s the reason. I thought you would be uncomfortable.” He seemed relieved that I had said it and he didn’t have to.

  “Well I don’t. I wouldn’t have invited them over if I felt uncomfortable.”

  “Ok. Well…ok, then good. If you are fine with it then I guess I am to.” That seemed to end the conversation for that moment but I still felt like he wasn’t telling me something. I thought for a minute it might have something to do with the declaration he tried to make the previous night.

  I don’t know why I stopped him from telling me whatever it was he wanted to tell me. It seemed very important but also emotional. He seemed scared to tell me, like he might lose me if he said whatever it was he had to say. I guess I wasn’t ready to hear it. I didn’t know what it was, but it was something important and I wasn’t sure I could handle it. So I stopped him. He could tell me when I was ready to hear it.

  I came home from work early on Thursday and started cooking.

  Rosa helped me make Saffron chicken and Moroccan rice pilaf with a Spanish bean salad. Then I made a chocolate cake with a strawberry cheesecake icing. I was still placing the fresh strawberries around the edges when Liam came home.

  “Norah, does Rosa ever teach you to cook anything that isn’t a Spanish dish?” I stuck my finger that had a little bit of the chocolate batter and the icing from the bowl out to him. Which he gladly took and licked, rather sucked the goodness off my finger.

  “Do you have a problem with my cooking?” I asked. He shrugged his shoulders.

  “No, not at all. But I was just thinking, that you nor I, nor our guests tonight are Spanish. You never cook regular American dishes or anything from this country as well.” I could sense a little attitude.

  “Are you upset?” I asked as I covered the cake and put it on the counter.

  “No.” He was being very Liam like.

  “You are. You are upset with me about something. What?” I stood right in front of him.

  “I am not upset with you Norah. I am going to take a shower and I will be down before they arrive.” He kissed my nose and walked away. I didn’t know what was up his ass, but I hoped it crawled out by the time our guests arrived.

  Liam was quiet when they arrived. Jane and I hugged and kissed on the cheek and I even air kissed with Will. Liam shook Will’s hand and nodded toward Jane.

  Dinner started off quiet too. Jane asked me about what I prepared and they both told me how delicious it all tasted. Liam agreed. I could feel the tension in the air but I had no idea what was causing it. I talked a little about my business and an upcoming photo shoot we had planned.

  Liam starred off into space and Will looked bored. Finally Jane broke the awkwardness and started chatting.

  “Well we have some news we want to share with you two,” she started. I assumed she was about to announce their engagement.

  “Will and I have decided to get a girlfriend…I mean add a girl to our relationship…so there will be three of us now.”
She was kind of stuttering and I could tell you she was a little nervous about making this announcement.

  “Umm, excuse me?” Liam cleared his throat. "A girlfriend?” he coughed like something was stuck in his throat. Will had a huge smile on his face.

  “Yes. We have participated in many threesomes in our time together and we think adding another person to our relationship will benefit both of us,” it was hard to believe Will was even more of a smug son of a bitch than Liam, but I was beginning to think it was true.

  “Is this proper dinner conversation?” Liam asked.

  “We’re all adults aren’t we? Are we expecting the queen?” Jane stated.

  “Yes, we are adults, but this is my home and my house. You are sitting at a table with my wife talking about devaluing your own relationship by adding another person to it. I think a little respect wouldn’t hurt.”

  Liam stood up and walked over to the buffet and made himself a drink.

  “Liam! Don’t be rude. She’s right, we’re all adults. If Jane and Will want to discuss their relationship then we should be gracious hosts and let them.” He sat his drinking glass back down on the buffet a little too hard and made another drink. “Please sit down and stop being a jerk.” He turned to me and wasn’t smiling at all. But he moved back to his chair and sat down.

  “So are the threesomes,” I cleared my throat, “the only reason you are getting a girlfriend? Or is it something else?” I asked trying to be supportive.

  “Well we had talked about it before, but I guess we just finalized everything,” Jane looked over at Will and he was just smiling.

  “Finalized everything? You sound like you’re buying a house?” Liam was still being snotty.

  “There are a lot of things to think about when taking a girlfriend. Will she be compatible? Will she meet both of our needs? How will it work, will she live with us or in her own place?” Jane said.

  “And how do you even begin to discuss those things?” I was trying to eat and keep up with the discussion since Liam wasn’t doing either. He had stopped eating and was just drinking now.

  He kept getting up and going back over to the buffet and making another drink for himself. Thankfully the glasses were small so I wasn’t expecting him to fall over drunk yet.