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My stomach rolls at the memory. Again, nothing to be ashamed of. Lilly will laugh her ass off.
Claire wraps her arm around my waist. “Well, I won’t try to embarrass you, baby brother. Lilly is solid gold in my book and you’re lucky to have her. We don’t want to do anything to run her off.”
“You did good, bro,” Damien says, a strong hand on my shoulder where he squeezes. “Now you can settle down and have babies and Mom will get off my case.”
“You’re older than Boone.” Our mother sniffs with mock offense. “You should already be married.”
Both me and Damien roll our eyes because she’s being silly. She’s a progressive woman who doesn’t think marriage or kids have to happen before a certain age, although she’d love more grandkids to dote on.
A waitress approaches and asks if we want another beer. Damien orders another one, but I wave her off. “Lilly and I are going to head out. She’s got an early day tomorrow.”
Claire gives me a knowing smirk but my mom and dad both reach in for hugs to start the goodbye process. They’re going to stick around for game two and we’ll meet up for breakfast tomorrow after I run Lilly back to her apartment. She’s going to spend the day at the deli and Steven will hang with Aiden. Not sure if they’ll return to that schedule but if they do, I’ll adjust. If my evenings with Lilly are to hang out at the hospital, so be it. It won’t be forever.
I glance over to the bathrooms and see Lilly walking out, but she’s waylaid by Bailey approaching her. The reporter sticks out her hand, making an introduction to Lilly that boils my blood. I have no clue what she’s saying but Lilly’s gaze immediately cuts past her over to our section, searching for me.
“Excuse me,” I say to my parents, putting a hand on my mom’s shoulder briefly before I head Lilly’s way.
Bailey says something else to Lilly, getting her attention from me. A slight frown in place, Lilly listens to Bailey and then shakes her head.
As I reach them, I hear Bailey ask, “Is it true that you and Boone met at the children’s hospital?”
“Don’t answer that,” I growl. Lilly jolts and I hold my hand out to her and she skirts around Bailey to take it. Giving my regard to the tenaciously annoying reporter, I glare at her intently. “You’re a piece of fucking work. I told you Lilly was off-limits and you jump her when she comes out of the bathroom.”
“Just a little girl talk,” Bailey says with a smirk.
Yeah, that’s not what that was. “The entire story is off. Go find someone else to hound.”
I tug on Lilly to lead her back to our tables.
“You can’t do that, Boone,” Bailey calls after me. “The media office already said yes.”
I whirl back to face her. “They don’t have power over me to make me do an interview. Surely you know that. But I told you the parameters and specifically that you were to leave Lilly alone. Since you can’t play by the rules, you can fuck off.”
“No, you can fuck off,” Bailey snarls, stepping forward to jab me in the chest.
“Gladly,” I say as I turn away to lead Lilly back to my family.
“And you know what?” Bailey calls after me. “You were a lousy boyfriend.”
Lilly stops dead in her tracks, looking over her shoulder. “No he’s not.”
Irritation ripples over Bailey’s face. “Excuse me?”
“He’s not a lousy boyfriend. He’s a fucking fantastic boyfriend.”
I almost choke with laughter because that’s the first time I’ve ever heard Lilly drop an F-bomb and the look on Bailey’s face is priceless.
“What’s your point?” Bailey drawls.
“You’re a journalist. You’re supposed to report the truth. Boone is the best boyfriend any woman could hope to have. Just keeping you honest.”
Bailey rolls her eyes. “Whatever.” She then spins on her heel and stomps away.
When Lilly turns to face me, she’s grinning. I wipe it off with my mouth against hers… a deep, penetrating kiss. It’s not until someone wolf-whistles that I let her up for breath.
“That was hot,” I profess as I stare down at her.
“That woman was not nice,” she replies, wrinkling her nose. “She was really your girlfriend?”
