“You think?”
“That’s what the doctor said.”
“Oh. And along the way, we decided to get married?”
He smiled again. Eva’s heart did the skippy dance. “I married you so I have custody of you. The State would take you to the institution because of your condition. Besides, I fell in love with you. Can’t you see?”
Eva was flustered. He loves me. Here she was, a Jane Doe, a nobody with no memory, no friends and no family, and a man like him was kind enough to care for her and marry her. And how did she repay him? With a tantrum of chucking out the rings and her clothes like a spoiled three-year-old. She thought she deserved to slip in the mud and smash her head. She was a horrible person. “I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I was being unreasonable. With the fight, running away, and bumping my head. You’ve done so much for me and I didn’t appreciate it.”
“Babe.”
She hugged him and hid her face in his chest. “I don’t want to lose you.”
She heard a sharp inhalation from him. She looked up and suddenly he found her lips. He kissed her.
The kiss was exquisite. It turned her brain into scramble and melted all bones into gel. He was possessive, kissing her as if he wanted to brand his soul on hers. Eva couldn’t think. She instinctively wound her arms around his neck. Liam deepened his kiss. She pressed her body against him. She could feel the hardness at the juncture of his thighs. Goodness, he was aroused. And she was too. He touched her, slipping his hand underneath the white shirt she was wearing. Her heart drummed. Heat flushed to her head. And when he was about to touch her breast and nipple, someone knocked on the door.
Liam broke the kiss. He withdrew his hand. Eva lamented her loss.
“Eva? Are you up, child?” Rosa opened the door and poked her head in. “Oh, I’m sorry to disturb you, Mr. Caderyn. I’ll come back later.”
“That’s okay, Rosa. What’s up?”
“I have Ms. Eva’s new clothes.”
“Bring them in and put them on the bed.”
“Yes, Mr. Caderyn.”
Eva locked gazes with Liam. She flushed again. She wanted to get up from Liam’s lap and sit on the other chair, but he didn’t allow her. Liam tightened his embrace instead. They watched Rosa put her purchases on the bed.
“Sorry, again.” Rosa stalked back to the door.
“Never mind. We’re just talking.”
Rosa just smiled. The word ‘right’ emanated from every fiber of her being. She withdrew in silence. When she was about to close the door, a big orange furry thing shot past her, knocking the door wide open.
“Woof!”
It was a big goofy golden retriever. His ears flopped as he braked to a halt in front of them.
“Eva,” said Liam. “I want you to meet Hades.”
Chapter Four
Cod had said Eva Walker had worked as a librarian in Brighton Beach. She was orphaned at eleven and moved from foster home to foster home until she was eighteen. Her parents died in a house fire when she only ten months old. Her aunt took care of her until she had a heart attack ten years later. Eva didn’t have any family.
Cod had planned to fly to New York to dig up more information about Eva. Liam was interested in Eva’s social life, to see if she had been romantically involved in the past. Liam wanted her. And he needed to know if she had someone special in her past life. The last thing he wanted to do was take someone’s girl.
On second thought, it was kind of late for that.
He had given her the blood rite. Whether she wanted it or not, she was bonded to him.
Liam opened Eva’s dairy and started to read it. Anderson Cod had returned to the house with his findings. Cod had scoured Eva’s apartment in Lincoln Park and came back with a few items. Some photos and the diary. Cod reported that Eva didn’t have many belongings. Furniture and clothes were newly purchased and non-descript, which wasn’t surprising considering Eva’s life had been practically uprooted after she witnessed what shouldn’t have been seen. Liam fingered the diary. It was newly purchased and didn’t contain many entries. He felt like a peeping tom reading someone’s diary, but he was curious. He needed to know if it contained anything that gave away Eva’s predicament before he gave it back to her. He didn’t want Eva scrambled when confronting her dire past.
May 23
Dear Diary,