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“Nico, cut it out. You’re on vacation and don’t need to worry aboutmyproblems. Just leave it alone. Leavemealone.Okay?”
“You need to fucking stop, Lily. I’m here with you, and we’re going to figure this out together.” His voice drops to an uncompromising note. “Whether you like it or not.”
“I don’t like to rely on anyone.”
“Be brave, sweet girl, and try,” he says. “I promise, I got you.”
Chapter31
Nico
My body is stillheavy with sleep, even after succumbing to a two-hour nap.
Lily and I stayed up until dawn. The last time we stayed awake that long was the night of the bonfire in Brazil. I wish we could go back to that night when I first tasted Lily under a starry sky instead of spending the entire evening chewing away at every hypothetical scenario for how Lily’s work was stolen and how to fix it.
I hate that I can’t find the asshole who did this straightaway. It’s fucked up that someone could easily plagiarize her writing and claim it as their own.
How does a legitimate company not have a process for preventing this?
Maybe there’s an idea here. An app that allows authors to upload their book and print it anywhere in the world. Better than going to individual printing presses. A plagiarism scanner would need to be included. If this happened to my author girl, it has to be happening to others.
I’ll have to look into it.
I know Lily hasn’t come around to the idea of me helping directly—her independence is both admirable and wildly annoying—but I’ve managed to hack away at some of that stubbornness for the time being. I’m not planning on stopping any time soon.
She’s my everything. I may not truly understand what it means to be in love yet, but giving her my all feels like the right thing. It’s what I want to do.
“Hey, Lil?” I tap a faint knock on her door before opening it slightly and peeking inside her room.
Where is she?
Our dinner reservation starts soon, and I found two tickets to a local concert right afterward. Staying inside and stewing until we hear back from Villa Printers won’t do either of us any good.
“Lily?” I try again, stepping fully into the darkness. “Princesa, are you in here?”
I flick on the overhead light. A soft moan echoes beneath a pile of covers on her bed. I sit beside the blankets, running my hand over the fabric until I locate her body. “Let’s get going. There’s a steaming bowl of noodles waiting for you.”
She grunts in response.
“I can help you get ready.”
Another grunt.
Okay. Plan B: Make Agent Lily Smile is in full effect.
“Do you want to ditch the restaurant altogether?” I ask.
The smallestyessounds beneath the sheets, and every bone in my body aches to give her a solution.
“Alright, love.” I rise off the bed, only temporarily leaving her in the blanket burrito she’s decided to call home. “We’ll stay in tonight.”
The moment my foot passes the threshold of her doorway, I spring into action.
In a half hour, every pillow in our suite has been dragged into my bedroom and tucked into the small fort I finagled out of some spare sheets. I take one last glance around to make sure everything is in perfect form.
Bowls of instant ramen sit on the table beside as many of Lily’s snacks as I could find at the corner store: the cheesy popcorn that gets stuck in her teeth, the Flamin’ Hot Cheetos that leave radioactive dust clinging to her fingers for days, and every dessert that was available from the Michelin-star restaurant in the hotel lobby downstairs.
Lights are dimmed adequately. Floral candles are spread around the room, creating the perfect cozy atmosphere.
