Page 115 of Liberating Lily

He started laughing, and she relaxed slightly.

“Baby, you can feel them every day, any way you like,” he told her. “And getting married? Well, that’s going to be some time down the road. But only because you need time to come around to it. I certainly don’t. I’d marry you tomorrow if I could get you to agree.”

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I’d marry you tomorrow if I could get you to agree.

Why had he said that? He lay on the bed, staring up at the ceiling. Idiot.

Yes, she’d been the one to mention marriage, but she’d been joking. And when he’d gone and said it like that, she’d tensed up again, ruining all of his good work.

And then she’d hastily told him that she needed a shower. He’d wanted to point out that she’d already had two showers today, but he didn’t think that was a good idea. Instead, he’d gotten ready for bed, and now he was lying there waiting for her.

She walked out of the bathroom and moved toward him.

“I’m just going to go brush my teeth and stuff,” he said, climbing off the bed.

“Wait, please.” She moved in front of him.

He came to a stop, staring down at her in surprise.

“I’m sorry. I know I overreact to things⁠—”

“Don’t you say sorry to me,” he told her fiercely, and her eyes widened as she took a half step back. But he reached out and grasped the hold of her hips, stopping her. “I’m the one that should apologize to you, Lily. You have done nothing wrong. Now get that pretty ass into bed. We both need some sleep.”

Lily nodded and scampered away, and he took some time to brush his teeth and get ready, hoping to calm down. Lying in that bed with her right next to him was a strain on his control.

Just get it together, man.

You can manage lying next to her. You did it the other night.

Yeah, and he’d woken up with a raging hard-on, and her pressed against him. Then he’d kissed her like she was the very breath he needed to live.

He walked in to find her lying in the bed, looking like a gorgeous goddess.

Fuck, she was beautiful.

He needed to build up her self-confidence and make sure he did nothing to knock her down.

She should be the most confident woman in the room. In every room. Because her beauty outshone everyone. It shone from the inside out.

“Are you all right?” she asked him.

“Of course I am, baby.” He climbed into bed next to her.

“Will you be able to get insurance on all the smashed stuff in your house?”

Here he was, wondering how he was going to stop himself from having his wicked way with her, and she was worried about his house.

“It will all be fine. According to my family, it all looked like shit anyway, so maybe it was time for a revamp. My family can be brutally honest. That’s just the way we are, especially my grandpa. He’s got no social filter whatsoever. Surprisingly, most people don’t take offense. I think it’s because of his accent.”

“Really?”

“Yep. You’ll meet him one day. But not too soon, because I don’t want you to go running for the hills.”

“So, when?” she asked.

“Oh, I was thinking maybe when we’ve been married five, ten years. Something like that.”