"Liam," she groaned. "Matthew was so not dangerous."

"Get dressed," I ordered as I finished buttoning my pants. Grabbing my shirt from the floor, I walked out of Kennedy's room and down the hall. I stepped into the living room at the same time Rhys stepped out of Kira's room. Like me, he was finishing getting dressed.

In the two weeks since Kennedy and I had walked in on Rhys and Kira, things had gotten easier. Kennedy still mumbled about how weird it was to see them together, but she was no longer mad at them, or afraid for Kira. It was obvious how much Rhys and Kira meant to each other, and I think that made the transition easier for Kennedy. But it was still awkward. For the most part, if we did anything, we did it at my apartment. I didn't like the idea of Kennedy's ex-husband being able to hear us, and I didn't think she liked hearing him and Kira. But last night we'd had a late dinner here after going to a concert, and after a lot of drinking, none of us really cared. In silent agreement, Rhys had taken Kira-who was already taking her shirt off-into her room, and I'd taken Kennedy into hers.

This morning, however, was beyond uncomfortable.

I followed Rhys to the door and stood next to him while he opened it.

If I thought I was uncomfortable before, that couldn't begin to explain how I felt when I saw an older version of Kennedy and Kira standing right in front of us, with a man at her side who looked like he had already thought of different ways to kill me. If only he knew what I'd just been doing to his daughter.

"Who the fuck are you?" the twins' dad asked as he eyed me.

"Kash!" their mom scolded. "That's Liam." Her wide eyes found me, and she shook her head. "I'm so sorry, he-"

"Who the fuck is Liam?" Kash looked at Rhys and gestured to me. "Who the fuck is he?"

"That's Kennedy's boyfriend, Kash, now shut up. I'm sorry, I'm Rachel-"

"No, Rhys is her boyfriend."

"Oh, Kash," Rachel mumbled.

"Uh, not," Rhys answered. "I'm actually with Kira."

"No, you're not," Kash said confidently.

"Actually he is." I extended a hand toward Kash and said, "Liam Taylor, nice to meet you. Eli Jenkins is my boss; he and Mason were the ones who talked to me when the girls first moved here. They work at my dad's gym."

"Isn't that convenient for you," he scoffed. "Why the hell are the two of you here at nine in the morning?"

"Anyway!" Rachel chimed in. "We came to surprise the girls for Christmas next week. Are they . . ." She trailed off and her eyes shot over to Kash. "Um . . . here. Are they here?"

"Yeah, of course." Rhys and I stepped back, and I whispered to Rachel as she passed, "They're decent too."

"Thank God," she whispered, and sent me a thankful smile.

"Mom!" Kira said excitedly at the same time as Kennedy rounded the corner and screeched, "Dad!"

Kash looked at Kennedy and pointed to me. "Who the fuck is he, and why is Rhys with Kira?"

"Oh Jesus," Rachel mumbled. "Coffee anyone? I'll show myself to the kitchen."

I had the urge to join her. I could only imagine how this day was going to go. I just hoped their whole trip wasn't a constant repeat of the first few minutes.

December 19 Kennedy "DAD, STOP IT," I hissed.

He hadn't stopped glaring at Liam for the last hour and a half since he and Mom had shown up at our door. Kira and I should have known that they would come to California; we got together every year for a vacation around Christmas. But my parents hadn't mentioned anything, and I would have thought with Juarez's guys being able to find Kira and me, that would have prevented my parents from being anywhere near us now. Then again, I hadn't forgiven my dad up until a couple weeks ago for his role in the whole Rhys situation, and we had only talked once more since then on the night Matthew had shown up. So there was a chance that he knew there was no longer a threat against us. Regardless, a little warning about their arrival would have been nice. It was awkward sitting across from my parents with the guy who had just finished satisfying me minutes before their arrival.

"I don't like him," he stated.

"Dad!" Kira and I snapped at the same time Mom said, "For Christ's sake, Kash!"

"Mason didn't like me either, if that helps at all," Liam said with a shrug.

"Is it supposed to?" Dad asked. "If Mase didn't like you, then I have to wonder what you did to make that happen. It's weird that the only person who likes you is Eli."

"And us," I blurted out. "Kira and I like him, Dad. Even Rhys likes him."

He rolled his eyes. "Don't get me started again on the Rhys thing. I didn't send him here so he could go from one daughter to another."

We all groaned, and Mom just sat there shaking her head like she didn't know what to do with Dad anymore. "How about we go get some lunch?" she suggested.

"It's not even eleven," Dad shot back.

"I swear to God, Kash, you are still such a child. Get up and take us all out for some damn lunch."

I bit back a laugh when Dad immediately stood up from the love seat.

"I don't know how I put up with you sometimes," Mom mumbled, and then turned to look at Liam. "Do you see this? Take it all in because that daughter of mine is just like her daddy," she said with a nod in my direction.

"Wow, thanks, Mom."

She winked. "Love you, sweet girl. Okay! Everyone get ready, and let's go eat. I am in need of some Mexican food from California."

Dad sat right back down when he realized we all still needed to change, and Mom turned to glare at him. "What? They're not ready to go!"

"Get. Up. I need to talk to you outside."

Dad grinned at her, and I knew exactly what he was doing and what he was about to say. "Aw, come on, someone needs to be hard on him to get him initiated into the family. Don't be mad, Sour Patch."

And there it is, I thought to myself before making a gagging sound.

Liam burst out laughing at hearing Dad's nickname for Mom, and both my parents turned to look at him.

"Can I help you?" Dad growled.

"No, sorry. I just-I finally understood something that Kira and Kennedy told me awhile back, and I see why it's funny now."

"I don't like you," Dad reiterated.

Liam nodded and bit back a smile. "Understood."

BY THE TIME we got back from the restaurant, Dad was so in love with Liam he wouldn't let him stop talking. In Dad's defense, he had tried to continue hating him. He'd made sure to talk only to Rhys, and then it was only about stuff that was going on in the department and about undercover operations. I don't know how, but Liam had somehow injected himself into their conversation with a comment I hadn't been able to hear. All I knew was that my dad had looked shocked for about ten seconds before smiling and including Liam in on every conversation he'd had throughout the rest of lunch.

I'd asked Liam what he'd said to him when we were on our way back to the condo, and he had just looked at me with a serious expression and said, "I'd rather not be killed, so I can't tell you."

"Who would be killing you?" I'd asked in amusement. "Dad or me?"

"Guess we'll never know," he'd mumbled. That had been the end of that.

"Girls, we have something we're excited to tell you about," Dad announced suddenly after we'd been back at the condo for about half an hour.

Mom smiled widely and sat up on the love seat as she waited for Dad to tell us the news.

"I know originally we didn't know how long you'd have to be here, and I know this wasn't exactly something you wanted to do." He cleared his throat and looked pointedly at Kira. "But after almost seven months, I can now say that it's safe for you to come back to Florida."

"Really?" Kira screamed excitedly. "Oh my God, finally!"

But only she and Rhys looked happy about the news. My stomach dropped, and even though I wasn't looking at him, I could feel Liam's eyes on me.

"It's safe now?" I choked out. "But how do you know? Matthew found us." I wasn't worried about more guys finding us, but I wasn't ready to leave.

"Out of the five men who had the possibility of getting out, two of them were denied parole, one is dead, and the other two are already back in jail-as of a couple days ago. There was only one other man helping Juarez's crew, the guy funding that Matthew kid, and he was caught when we looked up the bank card Matthew had been given. He was one of the gang members' sons, and he didn't make it three days in jail before a couple members from a rival gang had him taken out. The three members who had been released retaliated, and it obviously didn't go well. One was killed, the other two killed a man and were caught."

"That's a nice bedtime story," Kira said sarcastically, but her face still showed how excited she was to be going home.

I finally turned to face Liam, and my chest constricted at the terrified look in his eyes. It looked like he wasn't even breathing as he waited for my reaction. Cupping my hand against his cheek, I said, "It's time for me to go back to Florida . . ."

He exhaled heavily as if someone had hit him, and his gaze dropped to my lap.

" . . . so that I can pack all my things and move to California for good."

Arctic-blue eyes shot back up to mine and widened. "Are you serious? You hate it here."

"It's not so bad." I shrugged. "But I do need to get everything from back home. I mean, after all, I have to get my cow."

Liam's lips twitched up before spreading into a wide smile. "Hell yeah, Bessie." He grabbed my face in his hands and pulled me closer to kiss me thoroughly-never once caring that my parents were sitting a few feet away.

"Hell. No. You're not staying!" Dad yelled.

"Kash, stop. I moved to Florida for you," Mom reminded him, and he scoffed.

"It's official. I don't like him again."

I leaned back an inch to look into Liam's eyes and laughed softly. "You really thought I would leave? I'm yours," I whispered.

"You are," he agreed, his voice equally soft. "And I'm so fucking glad you're staying, Moon."

Epilogue.

December 23 . . . One year later Liam I OPENED UP the door to our new house and called out for Kennedy as I stepped inside. There were still random boxes scattered throughout the place that I knew I needed to unpack since Kennedy couldn't, but right now I needed to do something that was more important.

"Moon?" I yelled.

"In here!" she called back.

"Where is here?" I mumbled to myself as I walked through the house trying to find my wife.

Although our parents had tried to stop us, we had our wedding in Vegas at the beginning of July. We didn't have the cliche Vegas wedding, that had never been the plan. We just wanted to get married in the city where we'd met. Thanks to Kennedy devoting all her time to planning since we'd set a date that was only two months after we'd decided to get married, the night ended up being amazing.

Once our parents understood that we would be having an actual wedding, and that everyone was invited, they stopped trying to push for a wedding that was in California or Florida, and just tried to get us to wait. We didn't see the point in waiting. We were already living together, we knew that we would eventually get married anyway, and as we revealed to our families at the reception, we'd found out that Kennedy was pregnant in May.

We'd bought a house and moved in just a couple weeks ago; and thank God we were finally in here, because Kennedy was already a few days past her due date.

I turned the corner into the nursery and found her folding clothes and putting them away.

"Hi! How was work?"

"Long. How are you feeling? How's Chase?" I asked as I came up behind her and wrapped my arms around her.

Kennedy placed her hands on her swollen stomach and sighed. "He's good. I'm just ready for him to be here."

"Do you think it'll be tonight?"

"We'll see. But the doctor said if it's not within the next few days, she's going to induce me on the twenty-sixth."

"Good," I whispered against her neck, and placed a kiss there. "I have a Christmas present for you." I brought the small, wrapped gift around her and held it up for her to take.

"It's not Christmas yet!"

"It's for you and Chase. Just open it." I let my hands rest where hers had been, and waited as she tried to find a spot to start opening the wrapping paper. "It's small, and kind of more for us than for him . . ." I trailed off when she opened the present and inhaled sharply.

"Oh my God," she breathed, and I knew those pregnancy hormones were about to kick in at any second. "It's perfect," she choked out, and held up a copy of Goodnight Moon before turning in my arms to look at me. "Thank you. I love it and I love you."

"I love you too." I smiled and wiped away the tear that had fallen down her cheek. "Merry Christmas, Moon."

THE END.

Acknowledgments.

AS ALWAYS, A very big thank you to my husband, Cory. I know I must have driven you crazy with this one! Thank you for helping out with even more than you usually do as I've sat around doing nothing but writing while waiting for our baby girl to arrive. I will never be able to repay you for how much you have done. Love you!

To my editor, Tessa Woodward, and my agent, Kevan Lyon . . . you're both incredible! Thank you for cheering me on through this story, and thank you for not getting annoyed with me when I trashed the first draft, just to do the same with the second draft a month before it was due. I think we can all agree that we love the third draft so much more.