AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Hey, aren’t I the one who’s supposed to be saying that to you?” I asked, thinking back to all the times I’d soothed her when she was crying over a scraped knee, and later, a jerk boyfriend. I was the one who’d always been there for her.
“In a lot of ways, you’re more emotionally stunted than me,” she quipped.
“Hey,” I said in protest, but I knew she was right.
“Mom’s leaving messed you up. Probably more than it did me because you had to be the strong one. I could fall apart, but you couldn’t.”
“How did you get to be so intuitive?” I asked her, impressed with her maturity.
“I forced myself to deal with what Mom did to us. You need to do the same, or it’s going to eat you up inside, screw up any future relationships, and who knows what else. You still carry around the weight of her leaving like a chip on your shoulder.”
I didn’t respond because she was right. But I wasn’t ready to deal with my past. Tonight was about Lily’s. Glancing at the alarm clock on my nightstand, I said, “I need to go.”
Hailey sighed. “Good luck.”
“Thanks.” Then I clicked off before she could say anything else insightful. I wasn’t ready to discuss my mother. I liked to keep her in a box at the back of my brain, closed off. I never wanted to open it or explore what might have been or what could be. It was done, and she was out of my life.
Hailey was wrong about one thing: My mother wouldn’t come between Lily and me. I wouldn’t let her.
Sighing, I put on the new dress shoes Ryan insisted I buy. I had to admit it looked better than my dusty boots, but it was one more thing that was shiny and new and didn’t feel like me.
Before I could fall back into negativity, I let my newfound feelings for Lily lift me up. I loved her, and I was going to support her tonight.
I stood, grabbing the tie I couldn’t seem to figure out no matter how many tutorials I watched online. I grabbed the keys to my rarely used truck and headed to Lily’s. When I arrived, she wasn’t on the porch. I tried not to let that affect me.
I knocked on the door, my heart thumping out of control in my chest. Had she changed her mind about me escorting her tonight? Had she finally realized I wasn’t the best guy for this event?
“Come in,” I heard her call faintly through the wood door.
I tried the knob, and it turned easily. Closing and locking it behind me, I took in the room. It looked the same as the first day I was invited inside. Most of her grandmother’s things still sat on the tabletops. Lily was so busy with the barn and planting new flowers on the property, I knew she didn’t have any time for the interior.
I vowed to help her out more around here.
“I’m upstairs,” Lily said, and I followed her voice up the steps and down the hall to the master bedroom.
“In here,” she called as she popped her head out of the bathroom.
I propped a shoulder against the doorframe, relaxing immediately at the sight of her in a tight red dress that accentuated every dip and curve of her body. She moved, and the slit opened, revealing one long leg.
“Wow.” The red color wasn’t her style, but it looked amazing on her.
Lily lowered the mascara wand to look at me in the mirror. “You don’t think it’s too much?”
I moved closer to her, touching her hips as she straightened in front of me. “I don’t think that’s possible. You look amazing in everything you wear. This is just more.”
She turned in my arms, looping her hands around my neck. She kissed me, clearly intending it to be a chaste kiss hello, but I quickly delved inside, needing to be close to her. To bury myself in her.
I kissed her chin and down her neck as she arched into me. “Jake, we don’t have time—”
“We have all the time in the world.” If we stayed home. If we forgot about responsibilities and parties and expectations.
“Jake.” She tugged on my hair in protest, but her voice was weak.
“You need me to let go.”
She nodded as my fingers slipped underneath her skirt and up the soft skin of her thighs. She widened her legs, inviting me in.
I nearly groaned when my fingers met the tiny scrap of lace, sliding the material to the side to separate her folds.
