“The song?”
“Everything.”
“I meant every word.”
She squeezed my hand and then burrowed close to my side. “I know you did,” she finally replied.
***
After the funeral and graveside service, we went back to Lily’s house. Once again, it was overrun with family and friends, and once again, we escaped to the treehouse. I let Lily take the lead and decide how we would spend the afternoon. Surprisingly, she began to ease me out of my suit the moment we got up the ladder. When I started to protest, she brought a finger over my lips. “I need to be as close to you as I can right now.”
“If you’re sure.”
She smiled at me before sinking to her knees. When she took me in her hand, I groaned. She worshipped me with her tongue and mouth until I felt I would explode. Thankfully, she eased back and then I dropped down beside her on the blankets. I made quick work of getting her out of her dress.
Instead of diving right in like I wanted to, I took my time palming and kneading her breasts, licking and sucking the nipples into hardened points, and then finally burying my tongue deep between her legs. After she cried out my name and came around my tongue, I gripped her hips and brought her across my lap to straddle me.
She set a slow, sensual pace where we kept our eyes locked with one another. She sought out my hands, which were at my sides, and then she intertwined our fingers together. I realized in that moment what a complete fool I had been. Money, cars, fame—none of it compared to being with Lily.
We came together, sharing the moment of absolute pleasure. Afterwards, Lily rested her head against my chest, her fingers tracing over the tattoo. “You didn’t get it removed,” she whispered.
“I thought about it. Even made two appointments to go get it covered it. But I couldn’t.” I kissed the top of her head. “I think the universe or God was trying to tell me something with that one.”
Propping up on her elbow, Lily rested her head on her hand. “And what was that?”
“That you were meant to be written over my heart just the same as you were meant to stay in my heart.”
Tears pooled in her eyes before spilling over cheeks. “Fuck, I didn’t mean to make you cry.”
She shook her head. “They’re happy tears really.”
“They don’t look it to me.”
She hiccupped a laugh. “Well, they are.” At what must have been my continued skeptical expression, Lily drew in a breath. “I never imagined in the last year that you still actually cared about me. When you never called but that one time or came to see me after I left you in California, I figured you had totally and completely moved on. It never occurred to me that you might be missing me.”
“Trust me, I did. Even in my new asshole form, I did.”
She grinned. “I’m glad to hear that.”
After a few moments of not speaking, Lily’s rumbling stomach interrupted the silence. “I think we need to get you something to eat.”
“I’m fine.”
“No, you’re not. You need to eat.”
“But I would rather lie here with you.” Her bottom lip poked out in her usual pout. “You’ll be leaving me tomorrow, won’t you?”
A ragged sigh escaped my lips. “I do have to get back.”
“God, I’m going to miss you,” she moaned.
An idea popped in my head, and I acted on it. “Come back with me.”
Lily’s brows shot up in surprise. “What?”
“You heard me.”
“You want me to come on tour with you?”
“Yeah, why the hell not?”
“Do you really think that’s a good idea? I mean, we just got back together. Do we really want to jump right back in the frying pan, so to speak?”
I laughed. “It’s something we’ll have to face eventually. Why not get it over with now?”
“I guess you’re right.”
“Can you get away from teaching?”
Lily nodded. “I have the rest of the week off. Of course, my principal told me to take as long as I needed.”
“Then there’s no reason why you shouldn’t come.” When she started to protest, I shook my head. “It’ll be good for you to get away. It won’t do you any good to be sitting around the house right now.”
Lily’s chin trembled. “You’re right.”
“So is that a yes?”
She gave me a tentative smile. “Yes, it is.”
With a whoop, I rolled us over and began kissing her madly.
LILY
The Past
Our plane landed in Vegas around noon. After we got our luggage and headed to the chauffeured driven car, my excitement started to wane. It was replaced by apprehension and fear. Brayden reached over and took my hand in his. “It’s going to be all right.”
“I hope so.”
“What are you worried about? What the guys are going to say?”
“Maybe a little.” Deep down, I wasn’t worried about AJ or Rhys. They had always been so kind to me, especially when Brayden was treating me horribly. Mainly I was worried about Jake, along with Runaway Train’s handlers like Marcus, who had never liked me. Well, there was a time that Jake had been just as sweet and kind to me as the others, but then something had changed when Brayden and I got engaged.
Rolling the window down, I stuck my head out to take in the sights of the Strip. “This is amazing!” I cried, as the slight breeze blew my hair.
“It’s a seedy shithole really,” Brayden replied.
I turned around to grin at him. “What?” he asked.
“That’s exactly the kind of thing the old you would have said.”
He laughed. “You’re making me sound crazy like I had some multiple personality disorder.”
“I think it was more an asshole specific syndrome, but I think you’ll make a full recovery,” I teased.
“I’m glad to hear that. I hope you’ll be my nurse and give me the best care you possibly can.”
I reached over to kiss him. “I’ll do anything in the world for you.”
“And I’ll do everything I can to make up for being such a heartless bastard.”
“I’m glad to hear that.”
The car pulled into the Bellagio. When I walked open-mouthed through the lobby to the elevators, Brayden couldn’t help laughing at me. Of course, he also found it funny when I ran in to some people while staring up at the ceiling. “Sorry,” I mumbled, my cheeks warming with the extreme mortification I felt.