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Dylan nodded. “Works for me.” Then his thoughts went back to furious contemplation. How horrified was he at the thought of having to go through a big expensive wedding again? Fairly dismayed. But how much more sickening would it be to lose Lilianna because he had all of these irrational fears about commitment?
“Fine.” She turned and looked out the side window, not looking at either of them.
Dylan knew she wasn’t a bad person. The only lingering doubt had been because of all the lies Sammy had spewed earlier, putting bad images in his head. He was allowing the ranting of a murderous, dangerous prick to influence his decision about Lilianna. So stupid.
He probably needed a time-out.
Hunter pulled into the diner parking lot instead of the hotel one, but it was right next door. Dylan jumped out to open her door, but she’d already opened it and had one lovely leg protruding.
Lilianna got out of the vehicle but didn’t touch either one of them. She put her head down and walked to the doors of the café. Pulling the right-side clear glass door open, for herself once more, she strolled quickly inside without waiting for them.
Dylan knew he needed to fix this. He and Hunter exchanged a glance. Hunter’s expression was set for the fiercely obvious fix this right now, and I mean it one.
The sign on the hostess stand said to Seat Yourselves, so Lilianna had at the empty first booth, but she sat in the middle, not allowing any room for either of them to sit with her.
Dylan slid in across from her and Hunter sat next to him. He hated the adversarial position they were currently in. She stared down at the surface of the table and frowned. Not a good sign.
“I’m sorry,” Dylan started out with.
Her head snapped up. “Oh? What are you sorry for?”
“I’m sorry that I’ve been a dick. I’m sorry that I have unreasonable fears about commitment. It has nothing to do with you. It’s all me, and my miserable past. I’m hoping you give me a chance to work through my issues.”
She pushed out a sigh. Her tone was soft and sweet when she responded. “Your fears are not unreasonable, Dylan. I don’t want you to stress out about changing everything or even anything in your life. Not for me.”
They stared at each other for several seconds before he asked the obvious. “But?”
Her gaze strayed away from his face when she answered, “But I don’t think I want to wait another minute to make my dreams come true. There have been lots of things that I’d almost given up hope of ever having.
“But now I finally have money. And I have my freedom from the recent problems that are now resolved. I want to change the drudgery of a life that I was only making the best of day-to-day.
“I can’t help that my lifelong dreams involve having a husband to love, children squealing with laughter in my home, and a white picket fence surrounding a nice cottage with a garden tucked away in a place that makes me happy.”
Dylan smiled. He’d actually once had that dream, too. His had all dissolved in divorce court a decade ago. “I don’t disagree. You should have everything and anything you want.”
Again there was silence.
“But?” she asked with the glimmer of a smile shaping her lips.
“But I also wanted all those things long ago, and instead I lost half of my net worth, most my friends, all of my family, such as they were, and until you, I never even wanted to look back.”
Lilianna nodded. “I know. It’s true. You have great reasons. I don’t want to push you, Dylan.”
“I do,” Hunter said, grumpily.
Dylan sent a glare his direction and leaned back in his seat. What was he afraid of? Losing half of his net worth to Lilianna? Would that truly be a tragedy? No. Not really. She probably didn’t want his money anyway. Truthfully, even half of his current bank balance was more money than he’d ever need.
What was really the worst thing that could happen? That Lilianna would change into his ex the moment he said, I do? Maybe.
“Have you ever been married?” he asked out loud before even realizing he intended to speak.
She narrowed her eyes. “No. Why?”
He shrugged, scraping his thumbnail along the edge of the table in front of his seat because he needed to do something with his hands. “I just wondered if you’d ever committed yourself to someone, and then been burned.”
