Page 75 of A Love Like Candle Light

“Couldn’t if I wanted to,” I whisper and turn my head to bury my nose in his fluffy pillow.

Moments later he’s back with a huge towel and wipes down the insides of my thighs. When he’s finished, he lets it fall next to the bed, climbs in beside me. I scoot into his open arms and he pulls the blanket over the two of us.

“Hey, babe.”

“Hmm?” My eyelids are so heavy. I cuddle more into him and hide a yawn behind my hand.

“For the record, I also really, really like you when I’m not about to fuck you.”

“Oh.” I breathe, my eyes flying open. My heart warms, as do my cheeks, stomach fluttering and ugh, those pesky emotions are making me tear up again. Still in a good way, though.

I didn’t even know I needed to hear that, but now that I have, it’s just… everything.

“I really, really like you too. Even when I don’t have your huge cock inside me,” I answer him with a teary smile.

“Good.” He chuckles and pulls me to his chest, dropping a kiss to the top of my head. “Just wanted to make sure you knew that.”

“Thank you,” I mumble against his chest and sneak my arm around his hip. The words don’t feel adequate for what I’m feeling, for how he’s making me feel, but there is no way my brain can conjure up any appropriate description. I’m exhausted. Well-fucked and satisfied. Overwhelmed. Happy.

I kiss whatever body part of him is in front of my face and two minutes later, I’m asleep.

Chapter 25

Erik

"Earth to Erik." Aunt Molly waves her hand in front of my face. "Are you with me?"

I blink and refocus on the present. Am I?

We’re spending my lunch break together at Caleb’s, the soft hum of afternoon patrons around us, coffee and pastries on our table. He still has his autumn decorations up and marbled, leaf-shaped cookies for sale up front.

The truth is, my thoughts were about 500 miles away from our conversation. As much as I love listening to her stories about clients or a gallery she's working with, my mind is in about a million different places.

Kylie.

The bones.

And yes, Lilith.

I clear my throat and run my palm over my face. Focus, Erik. "Sorry. Yeah, I'm with you."

She shakes her head with a playfully disapproving pout. Then her eyebrows knit with worry.

"Are you thinking about Lilith?"

The smile slowly drops off my face. I should have known. Aunt Molly was always great at reading me. When I was a teenager, I was convinced she’d dabbled in witchcraft, due to how accurate she was. Turns out she only has scarily-good intuition, no magic involved.

"Yeah. No. Kind of," I admit, rubbing the back of my neck and shooting her a sheepish look.

She takes a sip of her coffee, then reaches over the table and takes my hand in hers, the concerned frown deepening.

"Talk to me, Erik. What’s going on?"

I stare at our hands, try to focus on them to get the words out that I’ve had on the tip of my tongue from the moment she walked into Caleb’s. The words I’ve been thinking ever since my last trip to a supposed Lilith.

"It's just..." I run my free hand over my face, guilt tightening my throat. "I'm starting to lose hope." I can't even look at her and instead keep my eyes on my own coffee. "I’ve been searching all these years, to no avail. I don’t even have a hint of where she could be and what happened. Always getting my hopes up only for them to be fruitless – It’s getting tough." I bite the inside of my cheek in an attempt to keep my emotions at bay and clear my throat again. "I'm sorry."

"What in the ever-loving hell are you sorry for?" Molly lets out a deep sigh and pats the back of my hand. I still can’t bear to tear my eyes away from my coffee.