It’s after nine in the evening when Lily gets a call on her phone. She steps outside before she answers it, closing the door so we can’t hear.
It shouldn’t really be something to be concerned about, if it weren’t for her worried glances back towards the house. The twins have no idea what’s happening, paying her no attention. But I don’t miss it.
Something is going on. Something she’s not sharing with anyone.
Well, except maybe with Barrett. Even after they were practically at each other’s throats the other night, they ended up putting their differences aside because something more was happening.
When she comes back inside, she throws on a fake smile, something I guess she’s probably perfected over the years of being a hairdresser and also married to Alexander. I hate that she uses it now, though, with me.
Even if the twins weren’t here, she’d be using it on me. And I fucking hate that.
“I’m going to ask you a question,” I say in a hushed tone as I stand near her in the kitchen, peering into the fridge. “And I need you to be honest about it, because I know you’ve been lying to me.”
In my peripheral, I see Lily’s head dart towards me, but I keep my focus on the inside of the fridge as I keep talking.
“Please, just be honest,” I say. “Is everything really okay?”
Even though the volume of the game the twins are playing isloud across the room, I still hear Lily’s sharp intake of air, and when she doesn’t answer, I risk a glance at her, not caring if the twins see.
“Asher—”
My eyes narrow and her brows hitch.
“I asked you not to lie to me, Lily. So the words that fall from your mouth betternotbe that everythingisokay, because I can tell it isn’t.”
With panicked eyes, she darts them to her sons before returning to me, and then right before my eyes, I see her expression morph into something different.
Something wild and lethal.
She takes a step closer, and fuck, I have the urge to step back, because what I’m seeing is not the sweet version of Lily.
“Don’t make the mistake of thinking you can speak to me that way.” Her voice is so low, so quiet, that I have to strain my ears to hear it. “My pussy might like the magic you wield, but you don’t own me, Asher. You have no right toanyof my secrets.”
Fuuuck me.
I’m hard in an instant.
Lily’s words… her tone… the way she holds herself… it’s something she rarely shows the world.
Her reaction tells me two things.
One is that there is a very real issue she is dealing with that is more than just business concerns.
And the other is that she’ll protect her secrets with everything she’s got.
I knew it before, yet now, as I stare at her fierce stance, her blue eyes dark with threat, I am absolutely certain that Lily Bennett is the love of my life.
That doesn’t seem to matter, though, because she walks off, leaving me standing with the fridge door open.
She keeps her distance from me for the rest of the night, going to bed early and locking her doorandwindow. I know this because I check before accepting defeat… for now.
I’d already settled on giving her some space because I want her to see me as more than a dick to ride, but the cold shoulderwasn’t what I had in mind. It successfully plummets my mood again, so I turn in early, having a hot shower before staring up at the ceiling in Ronan’s old bedroom for a few hours.
It’s around three in the morning when the bedroom door creaks open. I squint in the dark, making out the slender figure that I’ve gotten to know so well lately as Lily.
I fucking grin as she sneaks in, clicking the door shut behind her.
She couldn’t stay away. Fuck, knowing that makes me want to pound my chest like a fucking caveman.
