Page 75 of His Kidnapped Irish Mafia Virgin

“You’re exhausted,” I said.“You should sit before you fall over.”

He smiled faintly, then a quiet laugh escaped him. “You’re giving orders now?”

“I learned from the best.”

He crossed the room and lowered himself onto the edge of the bed. I noticed just how tired he looked. There were dark circles beneath his eyes, his shoulders were heavy with fatigue, and the small cut above his eyebrow looked deeper now that we were under better light.

I walked over and stood in front of him. “Does it hurt?”

“I’ve had worse.”

“That wasn’t my question.”

He looked up at me and smiled properly this time. “No. I’ll live.”

I reached out carefully and brushed my fingers over the cut on his forehead. “You scared me today.”

“I know.”

“I kept trying to convince myself you’d come back, but every hour felt longer than the last. I couldn’t stop imagining something going wrong.”

Liam rested his hands gently on my waist. “When we were outside that warehouse,” he continued, “all I could think about was the promise I made before I left. You told me to come back, and I wasn’t about to break my word.”

My throat tightened. “I didn’t realize how much of my heart belonged to you until I watched you walk away. It felt like part of me was leaving with you.”

Liam stood, closing the small distance between us. “You’ve had my heart for a long time, Nora,” he said quietly. “You just didn’t know it.”

Tears filled my eyes again. “I don’t want to lose you.”

“You won’t.”

“You can’t promise that.”

“No,” he said honestly. “I can’t promise what the future holds. But I can promise that every time I walk into danger, I’ll do everything I can to find my way back to you.”

I wrapped my arms around him and rested my head against his chest. We stayed like that for a long time, holding each other without feeling the need to fill the quiet. The fear that had followed us for weeks finally began to loosen its grip, replaced by the simple comfort of being together again.

Liam tilted my chin gently toward him, and when our eyes met, the worry gave way to warmth. He kissed me slowly, with all the tenderness of someone who was grateful for another chance to be together, and I answered the kiss with the same quiet certainty.

I closed my eyes, letting myself relax against him. After everything we’d survived, neither of us needed to prove anything. We simply needed to feel that the other was here.

His lips brushed my skin, slow and tender. He kissed my breasts, and I felt the last of the tension leave my body. His hands remained gentle, mindful of my healing arm, while I leaned into him and let myself forget about everything else.

His touch became warmer, and the quiet tenderness between us slowly deepened into something more intimate as he moved into me.

“Oh, Liam…”

There was something different about being with him now.

Maybe it was because the danger was finally behind us. Maybe it was because I’d spent the entire day terrified that I might never see him again. Or maybe it was simply because I understood, more clearly than ever, just how much this man meant to me.

We moved together, and I breathed in the familiar scent of his skin as his lips brushed my neck. The thought struck me again that he’d come back because of me. I clasped my good arm around his neck, afraid to let go.

When the moment finally passed, Liam gathered me carefully against his chest.

I rested my head on his shoulder, listening to his heartbeat.

We stayed together beneath the sheets, speaking quietly about the future we’d once been afraid to imagine. A home somewhere peaceful. Slow mornings and family dinners. Children running through a garden without ever knowing the fear that had shaped us.