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I’ll bet that wouldn’t be a bad gig… one I’d enjoy very much, in fact.
Crazy. Absolutely crazy thought, Lily. Knock it off.
“A lawyer costs money; the kind of money I don’t have. And what I do have, I need for more important things,” I mumble, having already forgotten my own chastisement and moved onto cataloguing the acute angle of his jaw and hint of dark stubble beginning to emerge there. “You’ll need a shave soon,” I snicker, then wince, because spontaneous outbursts are wince-worthy.
Eyes staying on mine, alight with something positively bewitching, he raises a hand and lands one sharp knuckle rap on the partition… which immediately lowers. “Sir?”
“Some place nice, close by and not out of the way, Maxwell. Lily and I wish to freshen up before our meeting.”
“Yes, sir.” And with that, we’re again left to our privacy.
“But, we—”
“Have time,” he hums low. “Enough to grab a quick shower, change clothes, and get you fed. Then back on the road.”
“But—”
A single finger, possessing the power of a thousand hands, tilts my chin, aligning my lips with the pair tempting them. “It’s happening, Lily. In that order. And no,” he says, chuckling, “scrunching up your nose while trying to scowl won’t deter me. Do keep trying, though; I find it rather adorable.”
****
One pit-stop at the cutest little bed-and-breakfast later — the owners, Ed and Louise, all too happy to accommodate a couple of middle-of-the-night, no-reservations pop-ins — I’m fed, showered, sporting shaven legs… and dreading having to shed this warm, fluffy robe to put my old outfit on again.
Or…
Um…
Maybe not?
“Trevor?” I call toward the connecting door between our rooms, certain he’s waiting right on the other side.
“I had Louise bring it up. No, I didn’t enter your room,” he answers my unasked question.
Well, the first one anyway.
“All right,” my reply, and suspicion, hang, “but, why? I can’t show up to court in pajamas, let alone pajamas that probably cost more than my car payment! Wouldn’t fare well for my case; the one where I’m claiming I need the money.”
I so wish I could, though — the short, silk nightie, in a gorgeous, delicate shade of pink, and matching overlay, look heavenly.
“Such. A. Waste. A crime, in fact.” I hear his angry murmur, that I suspect was meant for only himself. “Are you dressed?” This is asked in purposeful volume.
“No. I’m standing here, in the softest robe I’ve ever wanted to steal, wondering…”
The door crashes open and a freshly bathed, also shaved, scowling Trevor Kincade is stalking toward me before I have time to decide how I feel… about his easily gained access inside my room… among other things.
“Did he ever once take care of you?” I don’t ask who he means, or why he wants to know, and simply, honestly, shake my head from side-to-side. “Fucking moron. He deserves to lose you, and everything else he’s got coming to him.”
“Um, thank you?” It’s all I can think to say, a bit thrown by the beautiful, overbearing enigma standing mere inches from my body, naked and ignited beneath this robe.
After a long, hefty exhale and a hand running backward through his damp hair, he lifts his eyes to meet mine. “You, you deserve silk, Lily. Soft, like your heart. Pink, like your plush, bee-stung lips. Put it on.” He takes one step in, and I nod. “Good, glad we got that settled. I want you comfortable while we travel. When we arrive, and it’s time to change… you’ll change.”
“Trevor?” My chin, nerves, and resistance all shake in cadence with the word.
“Ask,” he husks, his slow-growing grin tickling my mouth.
“Why?” I hope he understands, and answers, the many layers I left unexpressed.
He does.
“I’m not exactly sure, yet, but I’ve found that my first instinct is almost always the correct one. And of you, I am certain; I could shower you in the finest of everything and it wouldn’t ever come close to measuring up to what you have, are dying to freely give, selflessly, endlessly, to the luckiest of bastards. The one, who will come along, lucky in that he’s wise enough to get out of his own way long enough to recognize it. You. And cherish it.”
That was the most amazing thing anyone’s ever said to me, will ever say to me, but it came with a sting I know I’ll feel forever — a ridiculous burn of premature proportions — because he just made it amply clear that there’s zero chance that “lucky bastard” will be him.
Why the hell not? And why does that hurt so bad, so early in knowing him?
And again… why the hell not him?
“I don’t understand.”
“I wouldn’t expect you to,” he forces a curt, humorless laugh. “More proof of your flawless soul. The likes of you could never make sense of the likes of me, sweet Lily. Get dressed. I’ll wait for you in the hallway.”
