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I roll my eyes. “First, you can stay here tonight and you’ll be perfectly safe. Second, how do you not see you’re fearless?”
Lilly throws an eye roll back at me. “Because… I’m afraid an evil spirit will get me tonight.”
I laugh and tug on her hair playfully. “You’re adorable. But you are seriously fearless. The way you’ve handled your entire life has been so brave and you’re the most determined person I know. So what if a little Hollywood horror gets your heart racing? It totally doesn’t take away from your badassedness.”
“Is that even a real word?Badassedness?”
“It is now,” I assure her. “My point being, I’m sure you’d ultimately talk yourself into a good night’s sleep if you went home because you’re not afraid of anything. However, I’m going to take that choice out of your hands since I’m gallant and all, and tell you that you are going to stay here tonight. I refuse to take you home. You can sleep in the guest room or if you’re brave and aren’t afraid of cuddling, you can sleep in my room. I promise I’ll keep it PG-13.”
“You do realize PG-13 movies have sexual situations in them, don’t you?”
“Well, we already sort of agreed we’d make out tonight.”
Lilly laughs and her gaze drops to her hands clasped in her lap. She rubs one thumb against the other as she ponders something, and when she looks back up at me, she asks, “Can we have a serious talk?”
I nearly choke because I wasn’t expecting that. We’d been joking about all of it but honestly, I wasn’t going to do much more than give her a quick kiss if she stayed the night. She’d be too much temptation and I’m not all that resolved to leave her alone if she gave me the slightest indication she’d want more.
“Of course,” I reply, reaching over and taking her hand. “We can talk about anything.”
Her eyes bore into mine. “About sex?”
My hand reflexively grips hers before relaxing. “Sure.”
Once again, her gaze falls away from mine but only to come right back up. Lilly takes a deep breath. “Okay… so the thing is, I feel like you view me as being very inexperienced—”
“I’m sorry,” I blurt out, as I don’t want to offend her.
“No, you’re correct. I am inexperienced. I mean… I’ve had…” She pauses, raises her eyebrows and dips her head as she lowers her voice. “I’ve had sex, you know.”
Christ, she’s fucking adorable. All embarrassed and yet bold at the same time. “Yeah… I know.”
“But, it’s true that I haven’t been around the block probably as much as you have, if you know what I mean.” I’m successful at keeping my laugh at bay. I squeeze her hand, this time for encouragement. “But you’ve taught me something about myself these last few weeks.”
I tip my head, more curious than ever. “What’s that?”
“That I deserve good stuff in my life. That I can have a complicated life and good stuff at the same time.”
“I’m glad you see that.”
“I wouldn’t have if it weren’t for you,” she replies, her expression softening with gratitude. “The friendship you give Aiden, helping with my dad, giving me the courage to release my tight hold on the deli so I could be with my brother, I can never thank you enough for all of that.”
“There’s no need.”
Lilly tips her head, a subtle acknowledgment. “But when you kissed me in the hospital, it set my head spinning and it hasn’t stopped since. Once again, you’ve made me believe in the possibility of more. I guess… I’m just wondering if you think this is more as well?”
Oh, sweet Lilly. I think we’ve only just begun to explore whatmorecan really mean.
CHAPTER 16
Lilly
There.
It’s out.
The burning question that I must have the answer to.
He blinks at me, seemingly caught off guard, and I cringe internally, mentally berating myself for sounding so needy. Because I amnotneedy.
