Chapter 25
Chapter Twenty-Five
TRISTAN
I’m going to put those handcuffs to use on her little ass.
I create some of the best tech in the world, and I can’t stop one tiny blonde from giving me the slip.
I run my hand down my face and sit up. I sleep hard when she’s in bed with me.
It only goes to show that not only is my head messed up over her, but my body needs her for survival.
I touch the other side of the bed. She’s been gone long enough that the sheets where she slept have lost her warmth, but her scent still lingers.
There is no way she made it out of this house without me knowing. I made sure of that before I let myself really fall asleep. There’s no way in hell we are going to have a repeat of yesterday. She’s lucky I let her leave this bed without following her.
I roll from the bed and grab my phone off the nightstand.
With one swipe, it brings up the feed. There she is, rifling through the office closet where I keep hard copies of documents and photos.
I walk down the hall and pause at the open doorway.
She has pulled a box onto the floor and is flipping through photographs, her bottom lip caught between her teeth.
My shirt she picked up off the floor and is now wearing hangs off one shoulder.
She pauses at an image and tilts her head, curious, relentless.
I could watch her all morning. She is every bit the disaster I adore. She can’t help it if she’s unable to let boundaries stand. It’s who she is. Always pushing until she gets answers or whatever it is she’s seeking.
I shift my weight, and the floorboard creaks, letting her know I’m there. My girl goes still. Slowly, she turns, the photograph clutched in her hand like a shield. Her cheeks flush pink, having been caught digging through my personal items.
I lean against the jamb of the door and fold my arms. “You find anything interesting?” I tease.
I’m coming to terms with the fact that I’m not going to be able to keep things from her.
All it does is drive her curiosity, and if I know anything about Lily, even when she was younger, if she wanted to find or know something, she would.
Her father was the same way. It’s why he was so successful in his career.
Her eyes narrow. “You have a file on my drink preferences.”
“I have a file on everything when it comes to you. Can you add champagne to it for me?” I step into the room. “Keep looking. You might find the one about how you snore.”
“I do not snore.” She glares up at me. Does she not know my dick enjoys the hell out of those glares?
It means she’s close to unleashing on me and giving me that smart mouth of hers.
It’s like foreplay. If she knew I often enjoyed that, she might stop doing it, so I will be keeping that one from her, for now.
“I’m teasing you.” I make my way over to her. “You only drool a little.” She doesn’t protest when I pluck her off the floor. Without a thought, her legs wrap around me. It’s as natural as breathing.
“How do you feel?” I ask. I made sure she drank some water last night along with taking a few pills to prevent a headache.
She wiggles slightly against me, a small smile playing at her mouth, her cheeks going pinker. It’s now my favorite color. “A little sore.” Her voice drops, becoming more intimate. “But worth it.”
Oh fuck. If I weren’t already hard, that would have done it.
She thinks I’m asking about the roughness from last night.
When I’d all but snapped. The way I had her against the wall, my hand at her throat.
The memory surges through me, and I feel her notice my body responding to hers.
Since she’s come into my life, that’s how it’s felt.
Everything she does I have a reaction to.
I should clarify that I meant the champagne.
But her answer hangs between us, and suddenly I don’t care what I meant.
I want to shove everything off my desk that I’ve used to stalk her in the past and fuck her, but like she’s said, she’s still a little sore…
but she also said it was worth it. I swear she does this shit to me on purpose.
Lily is the only person that can get a live reaction out of me.
I make myself calm down. Controlling my dick was never a problem until she came along.
“I meant your head, princess.”
“Oh, yeah, I’m good.”
I settle her against the edge of the desk, her thighs still locked at my hips. Her hands find my shoulders, her delicate fingers curling into the muscle there. I’ll never tire of her touch. At the way it both eases something inside of me but also stirs up a reaction.
“I need to feed you.” That might help my dick go down. “The two a.m. mac and cheese isn’t going to cover it.”
“It was good, though.”
“You did a phenomenal job.” She had not. Lily was insistent on making food for us last night. I almost had a couple of heart attacks as she was doing it. I’m going to throw all the pans out so she can never boil anything again. “A perfect trad wife.”
“Oh God.” She face-plants into my chest, making me smile. “That was a joke; it’s like a whole TikTok trend thing people follow.”
“So you don’t want to be my trad wife then?”
Lily drops her head back to stare up at me, her eyes soft around the edges. “I don’t know what I want.”
I brush hair from her face and tuck it behind her ear. “You know. Tell me.”
She’s quiet for a moment, her fingers absently stroking patterns on my shoulders. “I wanted this. You. For so long.” A shaky breath leaves her. “When I was younger, I used to—”
“You’re still young.” I always try to remind myself of that.
A small huff leaves her, but her eyes stay on mine. “I had dreams about it. About you.” Lily’s cheeks manage to get pinker. “Stupid teenage stuff. I didn’t grow up with it—I don’t know how to be, you know.” I don’t fill in when she pauses. “Domestic. Whatever that TikTok thing is supposed to be.”
“You’re supposed to be whatever you want to be.”
“Not what I think others believe I should be?”
“Never.” I tighten my grip on her thighs. “I don’t need a trad wife, Lily. I need you. Nosy, defiant, boiling water until the pan smokes.”
She laughs, small and surprised. “I almost burned your kitchen down.”
“I know.” I lean in, close enough to feel her breath. “I’m wealthy. We’ll get a chef.” She smiles against my lips.
“Still hard to believe this is all happening. That you tracked me and—”
“And I’m sorry,” I cut her off. She pulls slightly back, not to get away but to see my face.
“Sorry?”
“Yes, sorry. I made us both miserable. I was stuck between doing right by your father and wanting you so badly.” My need for her ached down to my bones, and it grew heavier each day I denied it.
“But doesn’t that mean you still feel that way?” she asks tentatively, like she’s scared of what my answer might be.
“I do still care what your father would think, but I shouldn’t have cared more about it than you.”
A slow, easy smile forms on her lips.
“You know, I’m not always the most subtle.” Her smile turns mischievous. “My dad knew I was crushing on you. Big time. But still he wanted me under your care, even when I was an adult.”
“He was worried.”
“Dads worry about boys trying to get in their daughter’s panties. I wanted you in my panties.”
“Lily—”
“What’s sad is, he’s not here to hear me say it.” A laugh leaves her. “But Dad was good at those things, always so many steps ahead. If he didn’t want us together, he wouldn’t have put us together.”
I take in what she’s saying. It’s been a thought lingering in my mind for a while now. He was more of a father than mine has ever been. Lily is still smiling, but her eyes fill with tears. I wish I could take the sadness away from her, but I know there’s nothing I can do about it.
“And he had to know how you are. I even recall one time him talking about how when you lock in on anything, there is nothing that will get in the way of that.” Her tongue comes out, wetting her bottom lip. “I fantasized about what it would be like if you locked in on me.”
“Princess.” I press my forehead to hers.
“We fit in our own strange way.”
“Why do you sound more grown up than me?”
“I think it’s because we’re both new to this whole dating thing.”
“Dating?”
“Or whatever.” She rolls her eyes playfully. “I did, however, think you and Sasha were hooking up.” The thought alone makes my stomach turn. I’m shaking my head no before she fully gets all the words out.
“No, I have never seen her that way. I have to tolerate her. It’s a favor I did for my mother but one that will be ending.”
I’m not keeping Sasha around to appease my mother anymore. Lily comes before anyone else’s wants or needs. Plus, I think it’s probably best for Sasha’s safety at this point. God only knows what kind of hell she and Teddy will unleash on her going forward. They’re like twin tornados. Unpredictable.
“Oh my God!” Lily’s eyes widen, panic taking over her face, but it quickly fades before she bursts into a fit of laughter. “Yesterday, Teddy and I—” She keeps laughing, trying to talk, but it’s not working so well.
I simply watch her, enjoying this. Lily’s happiness is so full of light it warms everything around her. When it’s gone, you feel the cold, and that cold reminds you what you need to survive. What I need to survive: Lily.