Chapter 17
seventeen
. . .
Hugh
We’d talked all the way to the city, and that was the thing with Lila. It was easy. The conversation, the laughter, the attraction.
“So, did you get us two rooms?” Lila raised a brow when I pulled into the valet at the hotel and put the truck into park.
“Nope. They didn’t have any other rooms available,” I said, which was not true, but I’d never actually called to ask.
Like I said, I was all over the fucking place with this girl.
I climbed out of the truck and came around to help her out as I pulled our suitcases out of the truck bed, and the valet greeted us and handed me a little card to call when I needed my truck. Another guy walked over and took our luggage, and we followed him inside.
We paused in the grand foyer.
“Wow,” Lila said, spinning around in her yellow sundress, long, dark waves falling down her back. “This is so pretty. Look at the chandeliers.”
I glanced up at the light fixtures overhead and chuckled. “Swanky, huh?”
I moved to the front desk and told them my name as the older woman typed on her keyboard. “Yes, one king suite on the top floor with city views. We have all the wedding guests staying on one floor, per the Wayburns’ request.”
“Sounds great. Thank you.” I took the cardboard portfolio with the keys tucked inside and slipped it into the back pocket of my jeans as we walked toward the elevators. The guy who took our luggage said he’d meet us upstairs.
Once we stepped on, I looked up to see Lila eyeing me as she stood against the opposite wall from me. “Did you try to get two queen beds?”
“I’ve always preferred a king over a queen. I’m a tall guy. I need to stretch out.” I smirked.
“Did you ever call the hotel and ask for two rooms?” she pressed. It made sense. I’d been avoiding her for days, yet here I was, sharing a room with her. Trust me, I didn’t understand it myself.
The doors opened, and I motioned for her to step off without answering her question, just as the guy who’d taken our suitcases came walking out of our room and held the door open. I had no idea how he beat us there, but I slipped him some cash and thanked him for taking care of that.
Lila walked inside first, and I closed the door behind us. Floor-to-ceiling windows with views of the city spread across the far wall. A large king canopy bed sat in the middle of the room, reminding me that I’d made no attempt to change the sleeping arrangements.
And instead of feeling panicked, I felt anything but.
Lila hurried over to the windows and stared outside. “Wow, this is gorgeous.”
I was looking at a much better view as I watched her. As if she knew it, she slowly turned around. “So, we’re sharing a bed?”
“It won’t be the first time, right?” I said, my voice gruff.
“Yeah. You’re right.” She moved to the bed and sat down, but she winced a little, which caught me off guard. I’d thought she’d winced in the truck, as well, but she’d insisted she was fine.
“You okay?”
“Oh, yeah. I’m fine. Just sore from my run yesterday.” I was surprised she hadn’t gone for a run before we left today, but she’d been in her room all morning.
“All right. So, we’ve got a few hours before the rehearsal dinner. Is there anything you want to do in the city while we’re here?”
“I’m easy,” she purred. “What would you like to do?”
Oh, you can’t begin to comprehend what I’d like to do.
“We could grab something to eat. Are you hungry?”
“Sure. I could eat,” she said, her dark eyes searching mine.
I moved closer, my legs bumping hers as she sat on the edge of the bed. My hand reached for her fingers as I looked down at her.
“I heard what you said in the car. I want you to know that, okay?”
“Okay. So, are you going to stop avoiding me?”
“Yeah. I don’t think I can keep it up anyway,” I said, moving to sit beside her, but our hands remained intertwined.
“Why?”
“Because I can’t stop thinking about you. And I’m fucking trying, Snow. I’m trying to do the right thing. But it’s killing me.” There. I said it. It was the truth.
“The right thing for who? For Travis? For someone who isn’t even involved in this? It’s ridiculous, you know that, right? We’re both adults.”
“He’s my best friend. He’s your brother.
So, he’s involved no matter how you look at it.
And you being—” I ran my free hand through my hair and let out a long, tortured breath.
“I don’t want to take anything I don’t deserve from you, Lila.
So, this is complicated for a million reasons.
Plus, you’re not staying, so we’re playing with fire. ”
“First of all, me being a virgin is not an issue. You’re not taking something from me; you’re giving me something.
I would much rather my first time be with someone I feel safe with and care about.
I’ve had lots of opportunities, Bear. They just never felt right.
But this does.” She moved to climb on my lap.
“And since when do you worry so much about the future? Do you normally ask a woman how long she’ll be sticking around? Why is that playing with fire?”
“Because it’s you,” I said, tucking her hair behind her ear and breathing her in. I itched to kiss her. To taste her.
“I’m a grown woman. And I want you. We’ve always been good friends, and that won’t change.
We’ll just be sharing something special while I’m home, and it’s no one’s business but ours.
Nothing will change. We’re together all the time at work and home, anyway.
So, to the outside world, nothing will be different. This is just for us.”
Fuck. She was saying all the right things.
“Just for us,” I said, my lips grazing her ear. “You sure about this? Because once we start, Snow, I won’t be able to stop. I’ve been fighting this for weeks.”
“I’ve never been surer about anything.”
That was all it took. My mouth covered hers.
My hand tangled in her hair, while the other shifted her onto my lap so she was straddling me.
But I felt the way her body flinched when she ground against me, and I pulled her back.
Her lips were plump, eyes filled with desire, and dark waves falling all around her.
So sexy and gorgeous I nearly came undone at just the sight of her.
“Why’d you stop?” she asked. Her breaths were coming hard and fast, and her eyebrows pinched together with concern.
“You flinched. I felt it. We’re not doing this unless you’re certain, Lila.”
She groaned and covered her face with her hands. “I did not flinch because I’m hesitant.”
I tugged her hands away from her face. “Look at me. Tell me what’s going on. Are you nervous? We can take things slow.”
My hands moved down her sides and settled on her hips.
“No. Nothing like that. I did something stupid,” she whispered.
“Tell me. What did you do?”
“I wanted this to happen,” she said with a shrug, and her cheeks pinked. She was so fucking sweet sometimes, and her vulnerability and honesty was something I was drawn to. “And I hoped it would happen, you know? So, I went to this place yesterday with the girls. It’s called The Pretty Kitty.”
My eyes widened. “What the fuck is The Pretty Kitty?”
“It’s a waxing place. And I got my bikini area waxed just in case you were to see me.”
“I have seen you, and you’re fucking perfect,” I said, searching her gaze and trying to figure out where this was going.
“You saw me in the dark, in the water. I just wanted to be ready.” She shrugged.
“So, you went to a waxing place and got waxed?” I asked.
“I did. But the wax was having some issues and was maybe hotter than normal, and I don’t know. Oh my god, this is so embarrassing.” She shook her head and covered her face again with her hands.
“Hey,” I said, wrapping my fingers around her wrists and pulling her hands down. “If we’re going to do this, you have to be able to talk to me. There’s nothing to be embarrassed about. So, the wax was hot? Isn’t it supposed to be hot?”
She chuckled. “Yeah, I guess so. But it was hotter than usual, and then she used this healing salve that I think I possibly had a reaction to, and so it’s a little irritated on the sides of my—er, vajazzle.”
I barked out a laugh. “Your vajazzle? Do you mean your pussy is irritated, Snow?”
Her mouth gaped open, and it was fucking adorable. She was sexy and innocent at the same time, and it turned me the fuck on.
“You’ve got a dirty mouth, Bear. But I like it.
She did say that I should have my boyfriend blow on it.
” A smile spread across her face, and a pink hue covered her cheeks.
“Of course, I told her I didn’t have a boyfriend.
And yes. That’s the situation. So, I didn’t flinch because I’m hesitant.
I’m just a little uncomfortable in my bikini area. ”
“You want me to blow on your pussy, Snow?” I chuckled at how awkward she was when it came to talking about this shit. Hell, I was a sexual man. Nothing about this bothered me—her being a virgin. Her being my best friend’s little sister?
That bothered me.
A bad wax job. I didn’t give a shit, but I didn’t like the idea of her being in pain.
I pushed to my feet, holding her in my arms, and gently set her down on the bed as I hovered above her.
“What are you doing?” she whispered, her eyes wide and wild with need.
“Let me see what’s going on.”
She shook her head and squeezed her eyes closed. “I can’t believe this is happening.”
“Open your eyes, and look at me,” I demanded, and I waited for her dark brown gaze to lock with mine. “You don’t need to be shy with me. I think you’re the most beautiful fucking woman I’ve ever seen. Let me just check it out, and maybe I can help.”
She slowly nodded. “Okay.”