I want you out of my home. Do you understand me?

“Oh, yeah, Shauna,” he muttered. “I understand. I understand you’ve lost your power over me.”

It was true. Since telling Kate about his childhood, about his feelings of inadequacy, somehow they’d all but fizzled away. Where he used to grow so enraged every time he pictured his stepmother, he now felt only sadness. Sadness for Shauna, because she missed out on having him in her life, or even having the life she’d wanted.

For the first time, he felt ready to forgive. It defied logic, but in listening to him, in sharing herself with him, Kate had taught him there was so much more to life than recrimination or a need to prove his worth. Hadn’t he been doing just that in building his casinos, trying to prove how important he was, how special? And all because he’d never heard those words uttered by a ghost of a woman.

With Kate’s gentle touches and sweet words, he’d realized he didn’t need to prove himself. He only wanted to live up to one standard now, to be the man who would take care of Kate.

Kate.

She was so fucking beautiful whenever he took her, each and every time. Something incredible passed between them every time they touched. She’d seen it too, he could tell. Something profound and mysterious and strangely binding. For years, he’d kept people away. He’d never shared himself completely with anyone. He was too busy maintaining the cult of Liam Doyle and burying his past. But Kate had helped him see the past wasn’t clawing its way out of the ground, reaching for him. The past didn’t need to be buried again and again.

Of course, he might have already gone and fucked it up a couple of times. He saw the hesitant light in her eyes, knew his intensity scared her. He just didn’t know how else to be with her. He could tell she wanted, needed, to talk to him about their pasts, but he was ready to leave the past behind. He didn’t want to dwell on hate anymore. He wanted to concentrate on how Kate made him feel. She made him soar. She made him despair. She made him dare to love.

He closed his eyes for a moment, floored by the sentiment.

She must think he was a basket case. Good thing she forgave those peculiarities.

As he thought about the nature of forgiveness, Liam realized there might be room in his heart for one more act of it.

He put down the tumbler of Scotch on the bedside table and picked up his cell phone. He dialed and waited until a groggy voice came on the other line.

“Nando? Yeah, I know it’s late. Sorry about that.” Liam paused. “Look, I want you to drop the suit for Michelle’s custody. Yeah, I’ve changed my mind.” He listened to his lawyer’s words. “Don’t worry about the costs, just bill it to me. Cover theirs as well. It’s time to move on. Get some sleep, and thanks.” He ended the call before Perreira tried to talk him out of it. Perreira could talk the devil out of devilry.

Liam sat still in bed and waited for true rock bottom to hit. He braced himself for the lump in his throat.

It didn’t come.

Yes, he would miss Michelle. Would miss her terribly. But he knew he did the right thing. Andy and Bridget weren’t perfect, but they wanted to give their little girl a family, which was more than he often felt he had growing up. He wouldn’t rip it away from them.

“Goodbye, Michelle.”

Besides, as he looked as Kate, sleeping amidst rumpled sheets, he couldn’t help but think he’d found a new family.

She stirred in the bed and reached out a hand to him. He lay next to her, winding his arms about her soft body.

Her lips found his neck and she kissed him. “You did the right thing. I’m proud of you.”

He nodded his gratitude and held her until morning.

Chapter Thirteen

Kate took a moment to admire the soft lighting of their surroundings and the opulent, yet understated furnishings. This was a part of Vice Liam had never shown her before. It wasn’t even officially open, still blocked off and barred to the public.

“What is this place?”

“It’s called Decadence. It’s a piano bar. Do you like it?”

“It’s beautiful.”

He grinned. “I hope to see it open in a month or so. Once I pin down the right talent.”

She ran a hand over one of the velvet bar stools that were cheekily constructed to fit two people. “Lucky talent.”

His grin expanded into a wide smile and her breath hitched. Damn. They’d slept together, bathed together, and spent the wee hours of the mornings together. He’d taken her every which way, yet her heart still pounded every time he smiled at her, even if her brain still occasionally tried to warn her away.

He shuts you down every time you want to discuss something more important than room service. Run.

Ignoring the voice, she let him lead her, his hand at the small of her back, to a booth at the back of the empty bar where they sat.

“Kate, I brought you here because for the first time in a long while, I’m excited about looking forward. I want you to sing for me. Ever since you told me you performed torch songs, I knew I had to hear you.”

“You’re kidding, right?” No way he really wanted her to audition. He must be speaking through the haze of lust that had driven them both the past few days.

He gestured to the small platform next to the piano. “I never kid. Except when I do. Come on. If you managed to get me sexed up with a hideous used car jingle, just imagine what you can do in the right setting with the right music.”

She looked around the room. With the gleaming grand piano, rich upholstery and expansive bar filled with colorful liqueurs, Decadence was the piano bar of her dreams. A real launching point for her career. She could already imagine herself on stage, microphone in hand, wearing a sumptuous gown as she crooned.

“Kate, come on. Just a scale, an arpeggio. I want to hear your voice.”

“You’ve already heard it.”

“Yes, but I want to hear something other than ‘Oh, God, Liam! More, baby, more!’”

She elbowed him in the ribs.

“Don’t get me wrong. It’s music to my ears.” He slid his hand up her thigh, mere centimeters away from her core. He squeezed and her body responded, radiating with warmth. “But I want to hear you sing.”

“I don’t know.” Yes, Liam’s nightclub was a thing of beauty but it still sat in the middle of a Vegas casino, precisely the type of venue she’d avoided for years. She’d had one or two offers to sing in casinos before. Lucrative opportunities, truth be told, but she’d always turned them down. It was one thing to frolic in bed with Liam, but to work for him? To be on the payroll at Vice? It seemed wrong, even unfair to anyone else who might have wanted the job. And the hypocrisy…

“Kate.” Liam’s low voice made her rebel against her common sense. One word from him, and her libido took up arms against her brain. He nibbled her ear, tracing the shell with his tongue. “I’ll keep hounding you until I get what I want.”

Of course he will. It’s what he does.

Her resistance turned to soup. “Okay, okay.” She slid out of the booth and stood, marching to the stage. “You sure are pushy. Do you conduct all your business this way?”

“No, ma’am.” Liam leaned back, watching her through hooded eyes. “I’ve only employed these tactics of persuasion with you.”

She stuck out her tongue and sat on the piano bench. With a tentative hand, she stroked the keys and closed her eyes as she struck a familiar chord. Why was it music always sounded more poignant coming from a grand piano? She launched into a melody she’d played for years, wincing when she came to a part that had always stumped her. Avoiding Liam’s hawk-like gaze, she took a deep breath, drawing from her diaphragm as she’d been taught, and sang the opening notes of “Smoke Gets In Your Eyes.”

She took her time, feeling strangely free even under his intense scrutiny. Ornamenting her phrases, she added a few jazzy syncopations. With him watching, she enjoyed playing with the music, lilting and scooping up to the higher notes, drawing them out to create heartbreaking dissidence. And even though she endeavored to remain distant, not acknowledging Liam’s heated looks, in her heart she sang to him and of him. She poured her heart out for him.