Chapter 43 - Lily
CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
LILY
One of my favorite perks of having a mum who’s the university’s head librarian was getting my hands on the much sought-after study room.
It was almost impossible to book one, but Mum tried to allocate me one whenever I needed it.
My dissertation was almost finished. Most of the interview requests I’d made at the beginning of the year had come through, and yesterday I’d completed my last interview with the author of a best-selling book about the impact of social media on our mental health.
I was proud of myself for being so ahead of the curve because I knew from talking to my peers that some of them were way behind on their dissertation.
Being this close to finishing meant I could send it to Professor McAvoy in plenty of time to get feedback.
My conclusions were interesting and worrying.
While there were differences between genders with regard to the impact of social media and that was my primary focus, there was one unifying conclusion to my research.
Governments needed to step in and regulate social media apps more effectively.
The platform themselves, and not merely individual users, needed to be held legally accountable not only for the harassment, bullying, and grooming that were allowed to run rampant, but also for the intentional negative targeting of their algorithm.
I’d interviewed several experts who all confirmed the platforms, having deduced people engaged more with negative content, were deliberately amplifying negative content on everyone’s algorithms to encourage engagement, regardless of the adverse effects on our mental health.
It was complicated and, honestly, a political and social quagmire. If I thought about it too much, it depressed the heck out of me. Instead, I chose to focus on helping where I could. Getting my degree and graduating onto my postgrad was the next step toward helping people with their mental health.
First, though, I had to finish my dissertation, and Mum had promised me a study room at the library when I called to beg for one.
Maddie and Shaun had been fighting a lot recently.
Maddie was convinced something had happened between him and some rugby fan when he was in Europe two weeks ago, and Shaun was convinced she was causing fictional conflict to cover the fact that she didn’t want to leave him behind when she moved back to Newcastle for the job waiting for her in her dad’s architect firm.
Their arguing was loud and interspersed with even louder sex, and I couldn’t take it anymore.
I would have hauled my arse over to Sebastian’s, but yesterday his sister’s arrival interrupted impending sexy times.
If I went anywhere near him, no work would get done, other than the work of stripping him naked and having my way with him.
I groaned under my breath as I approached Mum’s office. The truth was I desperately wanted to have sex with him. Sebastian reluctantly parted ways with me last night because of his sister’s impromptu visit, so I’d spent the night alone and had a very, very vivid dream about him.
As giddy and excited as I was to be embarking on a real relationship with Sebastian when I’d long given up hope we’d ever have that, I had a dissertation to finish. I couldn’t let myself be distracted by my extremely primal need to repeat the best sex I’d ever had.
Not wanting carnal thoughts showing on my face in front of my mother, I tried to shove said thoughts about my boyfriend (boyfriend!) out of my head.
I knocked and entered at her Come in. Usually, Mum was out on the library floor somewhere, but today she was hunched over her computer, rubbing a frown from between her eyes.
“Hey.”
She looked up, her expression clearing into a welcoming smile. “Hi, sweetheart. Keys? Right.” Mum pushed back from the desk, opened a locked cabinet, and pulled out a set of keys. When she handed them over, she said, “Room five.”
Ooh, the best study room. “Thanks. Are you okay?”
She tucked her thick, dark hair behind her ear. “Budget stuff. Total headache. I guess I’m supposed to pull what we need out of my ass.”
I winced. “Sorry.”
Mum reached out to stroke my cheek. “Thanks, sweetie. You look … you look great.” A smile twitched her lips. “It wouldn’t have anything to do with a certain guy declaring himself in front of an entire lecture hall, would it?”
My lips parted in surprise. “How did you know?”
“Faculty gossip.”
Guilt flashed through me. “Mum, I was going to tell you. It’s been a crazy week.”
“I know. So … you happy?”
Biting my lip against the cheeky grin that wanted to overtake my whole face, I nodded.
“Look at you.” Her eyes misted over. “My baby all grown up and falling in love.”
“Mum—”
“I know, I know. Don’t get sappy.” She hauled me into a hug, and I embraced her tightly, breathing in her familiar perfume. I felt safe in her arms. Always had. And I knew how lucky I was to have that.
“I was going to tell you today,” I promised. “I wanted to tell you face-to-face.”
“I believe you.” She kissed my temple and released me. Laughter lit her eyes. “Your dad knows.”
I grimaced. “And?”
“He had his suspicions when you brought Sebastian over to the house. But suspecting and knowing are two different things, so he would like to re-meet your young man and instill in him the utter terror of knowing the consequences that awaits him if he hurts you.”
I rolled my eyes, remembering the way Dad and my uncles acted around Beth’s boyfriend Callan. “That’s ridiculous.”
“No, it’s not.” Mum shook her head. “Your dad loves you more than he ever thought he could love anything, including me, which is saying a lot.”
“Mum—”
“That’s the way it should be. The love you have for your children is like the universe. Constantly expanding and overwhelming and mysterious and terrifyingly beautiful.”
Tears brightened my eyes.
“One day, you’ll get that. And one day you’ll understand why your dad needs to threaten your boyfriend with bodily harm if he hurts you.”
Laughing, I nodded. “Okay. I love you.”
“I love you too. Bring your young man over to meet us soon, okay.”
“I will.” I kissed her cheek and pulled her office door open. “Don’t work too hard.”
“You too, sweetheart.”
Study room five was in the back corner, far from the others. It was a sanctuary for those of us trying to finish dissertations. The first thing I did was switch my phone to silent before I plugged in my laptop.
I’d perhaps been in the room for twenty minutes of my allotted ninety minutes when someone tried to enter, rattling the locked door handle. It was followed by a knock.
“Occupied!” I yelled out in impatient annoyance. There was a freaking sign on the door that said as much.
“Lily, it’s me.”
My pulse leapt at the familiar, deep voice and its posh accent. I quickly saved my document and got up from the table to unlock the door. Sebastian pushed his way in as soon as I did and then slammed the door shut behind him, locking it.
“What are you doing?” I gaped up at him.
“I texted you.”
“My phone is on silent. Did my mother tell you I was in here?”
“No, you told me this morning you’d booked a study room. I knocked on every single one until I found you.”
If he’d made this effort to hunt me down, something must be wrong. My mind jumped to the worst conclusions. “Did something happen?”
“Well, I have a problem,” he said with grave seriousness.
“What’s wrong?”
Sebastian gently took hold of my hips and started backing me toward the table as he spoke. “A few days ago I reunited with the love of my life and on the day she told me she’d welcome my amorous attentions, my sister showed up and cock-blocked me.”
I burst into laughter even as heat licked through my lower belly. “Is that right?”
“Yes. And now I can’t stop thinking about your eyes or your laugh or your smile or the way you moan when I’m inside you.” His voice thickened. “So, when you reported you would be locked in a room with no windows at the library, I must confess I didn’t imagine you in it studying.”
My knees trembled as Sebastian maneuvered me onto the table. My lower belly clenched with need. “Oh?”
“No. And while a better man might wait to get you in his bed where he can gently make love to you … I need you, Lily.” He leaned his forehead against mine. “I need you so much it’s all I can think about.”
Honestly, when my mum had told me stories of booting horny couples out of study rooms or quiet corners of the library, I’d wrinkled my nose in disgust. Who would have sex in a library?
A library was to be respected and the people who were there using it to further their education were to be respected.
Yet I did not think any of those things as I opened my thighs, welcoming Sebastian between them. Truthfully, I couldn’t think beyond how much I wanted him. He seemed to release some kind of magical pheromone that made me instantly needy.
He gripped my hips, pulling me against him so I could feel how much he wanted me too.
“Lily, Lily …” His voice was hoarse around my name.
Then his lips brushed my throat, and my head fell back on a gasp.
Who would have thought the mere feathery caress of his mouth would elicit such a deliciously shivery reaction?
“You smell incredible,” he murmured as he kissed beneath my chin. “You are incredible. You’re all I can think about.”
“Sebastian,” I moaned, my fingers digging into his back, pulling him closer.
“I love the way you say my name. I want to hear you say it as you come.” Hot determination glinted in his beautiful blue-green eyes and his hand slipped between my thighs. At the tug of the zipper on my jeans, tingles exploded to life right where I hoped he was aiming to explore.
A loud knocking lingered on the periphery of my awareness, but Sebastian’s fingers were dipping beneath my underwear so—
“Lily Sawyer, this is your mother!”
Her voice was an icy shower of reality blasting over us both. We froze, eyes wide, and the heat of foggy lust dissipated.
Oh my goodness, was I actually about to have sex in the library?
“Lily!”
“Coming!”
Sebastian’s lips trembled with disgruntled laughter. “Well, you were about to.”
“Get off me,” I hissed, swatting his hand out of my jeans.
His broad shoulders shook with amusement as he moved away while I zipped up my jeans. Sebastian murmured, “Granny naked. Granny naked in a shower with English. Granny naked in a shower with English.” He shuddered in revulsion. “That’ll do it.”
At my mum’s insistent knocking, I threw my boyfriend a harried look before unlocking the study room.
Mum had her arms crossed over her chest as she glanced from me to Sebastian who stood behind me. Her expression was one I knew well from my childhood—unamused and trying not to lose her shit.
“Hi, Mum,” I squeaked out. “What’s up?”
She pressed her lips together and Sebastian took that opportunity to place his hands on my shoulders in support. “Nice to see you again, Mrs. Sawyer.”
She didn’t tell him to call her Liv this time. Instead, she glowered at his hands.
“Stop touching me.” I shook him off.
I heard him try to cover a snort of laughter.
Mum grimaced. “Isn’t this the highlight of my career? Who would have thought the first time I kicked a pair of horny students out of a study room that one day one of them would be my own kid?”
“Mum, we were—”
“I don’t want to know.”
Stupidly, I asked, “How did you know Sebastian was here?”
“I was coming to bring you a coffee.” She raised her hand, and I noted the coffee cup in it and felt even more guilty. “And I saw your boyfriend scurry in here with ill intent.”
“My intentions toward your daughter are in fact honor—”
“Sex with someone’s daughter will always be considered as ill-intended by said parent.
Do you understand?” Mum glared at him. “Even more so in my library. Now, usually I have a pretty good sense of humor about these things, but Lily is my baby girl, and I’d quite like to maim you with a letter opener. ”
Oh boy.
“I can assure you, I wasn’t here to—”
“Don’t lie to me. Please. It’ll only make it worse. Just leave.”
My belly swooped at the unpleasant altercation. Sure, I half expected this was how it would be with Dad, but Mum was always so laid back with my boyfriends.
Then again, I’d never tried to have sex with one of them at her place of work.
I grimaced, my cheeks burning hot.
Sebastian sighed at my back and then stepped around me. He had the gall to cup my face tenderly in front of Mum. His expression told me not to worry. Then he brushed his mouth over mine in a gentle promise before releasing me to leave.
However, he halted at Mum’s side before departing. “I love Lily, Mrs. Sawyer. My intentions really are honorable.”
Mum softened infinitesimally and she let out a long sigh. “I know. I can see that. I think I saw that before you saw it. And we’ll be fine. Just don’t do this again.” She gestured in a vague way to our surroundings.
“Of course.” Sebastian threw me another reassuring smirk and then walked away. He was almost around the corner when he glanced back. Even from a distance I could read the hot promise in his expression.
Once he disappeared, I reluctantly turned to Mum. “I really am sorry.”
“I know. You’re a good girl. Which means you really must be in love to lose all sense of common decency.”
My cheeks were on fire with embarrassment, and even if I wasn’t a blusher, I knew my mum could sense it.
She chuckled, softening even more. “Don’t let it happen again.”
“I won’t. I promise.”
“Bring him over to the house soon. He sounds very serious about you, so I want to get to know him better.”
“Okay.”
“Fine. Here’s your coffee.”
“Thanks, Mum.”
“Do some work.” She waved a hand toward the room.
“I am sorry.”
“I know, kid. Forget about it. Anyway, it’s kind of hypocritical of me considering what your father and I got up to in there.”
Horror most definitely saturated my features and Mum covered her mouth to stifle a bark of laughter as she strode away.
“In here here?” I hissed after her.
Her shoulders shook harder.
“Mum!” I whisper-shouted.
But she was already walking around the corner.
I turned back and stared at the table where I’d almost had sex with Sebastian and the thought that my parents might have had sex on the same table had me quickly packing up my things.
I’d just have to work on my dissertation at home.
“Ugh.” I shuddered as I locked the room behind me.