Her fingers flew up and sank into his hair.She yanked him back to her.Kissed him.Hard.Desperately.Her lips parted, her tongue met his.She kissed with a frantic, hurried need that electrified him.She didn’t kiss him as if she was afraid.Quite the opposite.She kissed him as if she’d been starving for him.
Where the hell have you been my whole life, Lily?
She ripped her mouth away, breath heaving.“I’m not shivering from fear.”Just those stark words.Then she bolted from the limo.
Well, well, well… He smiled.
She dipped her head back inside.“For the record, I already knew you didn’t kill Conry or William.If I thought you had, I wouldn’t have been in the limo with you.Ground rule one—no lies, not from either of us.From this moment forward, no lies, understand?”
But he lied so well.And so often.
“Two…we trust each other.”
He trusted Desmond.And maybe one or two other people.Would Lily soon be part of that ever-so-elite group?Time would tell.
“Rule three…”
Someone was certainly spouting out ground rules quickly.
Her breath heaved.“We don’t hurt each other.”
He climbed from the vehicle.She backed up.
Not like he could have that.He didn’t want her retreating from him.He wanted her running to him, always.His hands snaked out and curled over her shoulders.He could still taste her, and he wanted ever so muchmore.“Lily, trust isn’t easy for me.It has to be earned.”Usually, earned in blood.So he would make no promises on that score, not yet.“But I vow to you here and now, I will never, ever hurt you.”He smiled at her, knowing the nearby streetlamp would catch his dimples.The smile that reassured others, but not his Lily.My Lily.Oh, what a dangerous but tempting thought.“How about you promise to trust me?And I promise to never hurt you?That fair?”Probably not, but it was what it was.
“Aren’t you worried that Iwillhurt you?”A careful question.
He opened his mouth to respond.
“Atlas!”A bellow from Desmond.“We have a problem!”
Instantly, he’d thrust Lily behind him.He pushed her toward the still open limo door.
“Some bastard broke into her fucking house!”Desmond shouted.
He wasn’t pushing Lily any longer.She’d whipped away from Atlas, maneuvered around him, and she ran straight for her front door.
ChapterSeven
Julia Tutwiler PrisonFor Women
Wetumpka, Alabama
Three months ago…
“Do you still feel guilty?”Magnolia asked her.
Lily looked up from the files in front of her.
“Guilt is a useless emotion,” Magnolia added.“Wastes time.Energy.I personally never bother with it.”
“What, exactly, would I feel guilty about, Mother?”Lily was highly aware of the guard to the right.Blond, slightly rounded shoulders.Tall.Jesse Baker was typically the guard given watch duty when Lily was in visiting sessions with her mother.
“Oh, knowing you…anything.”Her mother’s hand waved vaguely.A light, coral polish on her nails today.“You blame yourself for all sorts of things that aren’t your responsibility.Even as a child, you were far too serious.Always thinking the weight of the world was on your shoulders.”
Her mother wasn’t talking about the weight of the—wait.“Atlas.”
Magnolia blinked her glorious eyes.“Hmmm?”
