Page 19 of Honest Neglect

“And I’ll show the two of you to your room,” Grace added as she bustled back into the room. “Lily, Warren, come with me. You need to get settled and get some rest.”

Lily turned to her mother, her eyes shining with tears.

“I’m going to see you again soon, okay, Mom?” she murmured, managing to put a smile on her face as she spoke.

“I know,” Diane replied, almost as though she was trying to convince herself. She pressed her forehead to Lily’s, and the two of them embraced before they pulled back and Grace led us to our new lodgings to get some rest.

“It’s not much, just a little bedroom and bathroom attached to the stables,” Grace explained as we followed her. “Used to use it for people who wanted to be close to their horses when I was treating them. I’ve changed the sheets, and the bathroom seems to be fully stocked, but let me know if there’s anything else you need, okay?”

“We will,” Lily replied. “Thank you so much, Grace. I don’t know what we would have done if you hadn’t...”

“Don’t even mention it,” Grace assured her, lifting a hand to stop her in her tracks. “You’re okay. I’m going to take care of you as long as you’re here.”

When this was over, I was going to do everything I could to make it up to Leroy and Grace. They had gone out of their way to protect us, and they didn’t need to—they were doing it out of the goodness of their hearts.

Or maybe they just hated the McCarthys enough to put themselves out for us like this.

I sat down on the edge of the bed, bringing Lily down beside me. She collapsed like she had been on her feet for days, leaning her head on my shoulder.

“I’ll leave the two of you to get settled,” Grace told us, backing out of the room and closing the door behind her. Lily let out a long breath the moment she was gone and turned to face me.

“I’m so glad you’re here,” she murmured, reaching up to caress my face. I planted a kiss on her cheek.

“I’m just sorry I wasn’t there to find you earlier,” I replied. “I was trying to, you have to know that. As soon as I realized you were gone, I was out there, trying to bring you back...”

“I knew you were,” she whispered as she stroked my face. “You were the only thing that kept me going in there, when they had me...I was just so sure I had to see you again. I would have done anything to make it happen.”

I kissed her then. It was meant to just be a short, sweet kiss, but the moment our lips touched, all the emotion that I had been doing my best to push down inside of me all this time rose up, and I sank my mouth into hers and kissed her properly.

“I’m never going to let them get to you again,” I murmured to her, and I meant it. I would do whatever it took to keep her safe, go to any lengths necessary.

She wrapped her arms around me and held me close, pressing herself into me like she never wanted to let me go. I parted her lips with my tongue and deepened the kiss, the two of us lying back on the bed together at the same moment. When we were together like this, it was like we were one mind, thinking the same thoughts, needing the same things—and willing to gift each other every single thing we both desired.

She paused for a moment as we lay next to each other and looked into my eyes. I could see that there was so much she wanted to say to me, but she just didn’t know where to even start.

But she didn’t need to speak. No, there was nothing left to say right now—all that mattered was the feel of her body against mine, and the fact that, for now, we were finally safe.

Though how long that would last I had no idea.

Chapter Eleven

Lily

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HE ROLLED ON TOP OF me and kissed me again, and I felt that familiar flutter in my chest as his hardness swelled against my hip. I needed this more than anything right now. I knew there was still so much to be done when it came to what had happened and what was going to happen next, but in this moment, it was just the two of us, and I wanted to make the most of having him in my arms once more.

“You have no idea how much I missed you,” he breathed in my ear. “Every night I was sitting in that jail cell, I was thinking of you. Thinking about how much I wanted you. What I would have done to protect you...”

I moaned and turned my head to kiss him again as I reached down to his zipper. I needed to feel him inside of me. I wanted that intimacy with him, to show him how completely I trusted him. I had never felt this way with a man before, like I could completely let down my guard, but with him, it was different—with him, it was everything I had always been searching for, that feeling of trust when I was here in his arms.

He undressed me quickly, stripping down my clothes and pulling the covers up to keep me warm as he slipped beneath them with me. He ran a hand over my stomach, admiring the sight of me nude in front of him, and I bit my lip and smiled.

“I really want to feel you inside me,” I told him, a little shyly. I was still getting used to asking for what I wanted when it came to men, but I could always tell him what was on my mind. I never felt judged, and he never denied me, like he was only interested in dedicating himself to giving me everything I wanted in any way I wanted it.

“Fuck, I love hearing you say that,” he murmured back, and he rolled on top of me again and kicked off his pants so he could plant himself at my entrance. I arched my back, making it easier for him to slide in, and he didn’t need telling twice. He thrust up and into me, filling me in one stroke, and I gasped and hung on to him for dear life, glad that this little bedroom was far away from the house so nobody would hear the noises I was about to make.

“You feel incredible,” he whispered as he wrapped his arms around me and pulled me in even closer. It was always amazing how well the two of us fit together, as though we had been made for this, his body matching mine in all the ways I could never have imagined before. I moaned back, kissing him again and wrapping my legs around him. I couldn’t get close enough to him, not after what had happened, not after we had come so close to being pulled apart completely. This was what Tony wanted to deny me, a chance to be here with Warren and lost in the moment, and I wanted to make the most of every second of it.