Chapter 19 – Lilah
Chapter Nineteen
LILAH
T he door opens, and I look up from my desk and smile when I see Lucy bouncing inside. It’s been over a week since her breakdown from the thunder, and thankfully, there hasn’t been another storm since then. It’s crazy that every single day I get up and check the freaking weather now, something I haven’t done I think ever. “Good afternoon, Lucy,” I greet her when she walks toward my desk, dumping her bags on the floor, and the front door is then pulled open by her father.
“Hey, Lilah,” Lucy replies. “Guess what I got on my math test?” She bends to get something out of her bag, and I lean back in my chair, putting my hands on the armrests.
“Ummm, one hundred percent,” I guess, and she shakes her head, taking her test out.
“One hundred and four percent.” She holds the paper up in her hand. “It’s more than a hundred.” She points at the red mark with a sticker on the top and the word excellent written across. “I got the bonus right.”
“Aren’t you a smarty-pants,” I tease her, and she shrugs.
“Tell her what you got on your spelling,” Emmett prods her, and she looks over at him.
“One hundred,” she states. “There was a bonus, but most people got it wrong, so she didn’t count it.” The annoyance in her voice is evident, and I can imagine if he brought it up it’s because she did in the truck also.
“Did you get it right?”
“I did.” She nods at me and walks around me to grab the chair I now don’t move from beside me. “Now I have new words I need to study.”
“We’ll do it tonight,” Emmett states. “Is she good with you?” His eyes go soft when he looks at me when she’s near me.
“Not if she’s going to correct my spelling.” I side-eye her, making her giggle. She puts her hand on her mouth to stop it from coming, and I feel like my heart can’t be fuller.
“Come and get me if you have to go.” He looks at me, and I just smile at him. For the past week, we’ve been teetering on a string. He’s trying not to show how aggravated he gets with me when he sees me riding, and I’m trying my best not to push his buttons.
“Will do,” I assure him softly and watch him walk back out into the barn. Trying not to ogle Emmett in front of Lucy is harder than I ever thought it would be.
“Okay, homework.” I point at her book. “I have homework myself that I have to do.”
We work side by side until Emmett comes back in, and we both look at him. “It’s getting late.” He puts his hands on his hips. “Thought for sure you would come and get me.” I look over at the clock hanging on the wall, seeing it’s almost six. “We should get going.” Lucy pushes away from the desk and walks over to her bag.
“Have a good night. I’ll see you on Monday.” I hold up my hand to both of them as they walk out of the office, and my phone beeps on the desk.
Looking down, I see it’s from an unknown caller.
Unknown Caller: Hey, Lilah, or at least I hope it’s Lilah. It’s Derek.
The phone crashes to my desk with a clatter at the same time the door opens, and Emmett comes back in. The smile on his face quickly falls. “What happened?”
“Nothing,” I lie, feeling the heat on the back of my neck. “I just…” I push up and put my phone in the back pocket of my jeans. “I was feeling a little lightheaded. I didn’t eat today.”
Avoiding his eyes, I grab my stuff and put it all in my bag. “What are you doing back in here?”
“She forgot her lunch.” He bends to pick up her lunch box, and comes to standing again as I stop in front of him. “You didn’t eat lunch?” he asks, and I shake my head.
“Things got busy,” I mutter softly as he takes another step, closing the distance, making my mouth suddenly feel dry.
He looks like he’s about to say something when we hear footsteps coming from the hallway that leads to the barn. We both look over to see Hector come in the room and stop when he sees us, his hand gripping papers. “I was just coming to leave these on your desk.” He holds up the papers as if he caught us doing something we shouldn’t have been doing. He walks over, dumping the papers on my desk. “You coming to grab a drink with us tonight?” He stares at Emmett.
“No, not tonight.” He shakes his head. “Another time.”
“Have a good weekend, Lilah.” Hector nods and then walks out of the room, leaving Emmett and me by ourselves.
“Let’s go,” Emmett urges, grabbing my hand and pulling me with him out the door.
“Where are we going?” I ask but try to keep up with him as he opens the passenger truck door.
“Lilah is having dinner with us,” he tells Lucy, who then cheers. “Get in.” He motions with his chin for me to get into the truck.
“Emmett,” I say his name softly, “I’ll be fine.”
“What do you want to eat tonight? Steak or chicken?” He ignores me and asks Lucy.
“Steak, we had chicken the last two nights,” Lucy answers, unaware of the fact I’m going to murder her dad. “Lilah, do you like steak?”
“Um, yes.” I nod and then look back at Emmett, who puts his hand on the base of my back and ushers me into the truck.
“But my truck,” I counter.
“I’ll have someone bring it over to my house.”
I get in the truck to avoid making a scene in front of Lucy. He closes the door, probably afraid I’m going to jump out of the truck.
He gets in and looks over at me. “Buckle up,” he says, starting the truck, and my body just does what he says without even asking questions.
We get to the house, and Lucy jumps out of the back of the truck as I get out of the front. “Emmett,” I say as he walks around the front of the truck and comes to stand next to us, “this is very nice, but I think I’m okay.” Even though now I am freaking out.
“Good, so you’ll eat and then you can go,” he states, walking away from me with Lucy by his side. “You guys can make a salad while I grill the steaks.”
“Oh, I like salad,” Lucy chirps. “Do you like salad, Lilah?”
“Yes,” I mumble as we walk into the house. I look at Emmett, who stares at me and tries to hide his smile.
“I can show you where all the stuff is,” Lucy states, “but we have to wash our hands first.”
I kick off my boots and put them neatly on the side before I put my purse on the side table and follow her as if I am walking on a minefield to the fridge. He walks over with us, grabbing the steaks out of the fridge before walking to the sink and washing his hands. Lucy grabs my hand and pulls me into the bathroom, where we wash our hands together.
When we walk back into the kitchen, Emmett marinates the steaks while Lucy goes to the fridge and grabs the stuff to make the salad. I stand here like my feet are in cement boots, not able to move. I feel like I’m intruding on their things, yet I'm captivated by the domesticated Emmett.
“You can cut these.” Lucy points at the counter where there is a cucumber, red pepper, onion, and tomatoes. “I’m not allowed to use the knife yet.”
Emmett side-eyes her. “You almost cut off your finger the last time.” She doesn’t argue with him.
Instead, she washes the lettuce while I grab a knife and start to dice the tomatoes for the salad. “Lilah,” she says as she rips apart the lettuce, “do you think you can take me riding?”
I look up from the cutting board, my eyes going straight to Emmett, whose hand has stopped midway adding steak spice to the meat. “Um,” I say softly, “I would love to.” She starts to smile. “But that would be up to your dad.” I know, for sure, he’s going to tell me there is no way in hell I can take his daughter riding.
Shocking the fuck out of me, he adds in, “I don’t see why not. We could do it Sunday.”
“I can’t Sunday,” I tell them. “I have a paper to write, and I have to get it done.” I look at the deflated face next to me. “But how about Monday after school? You come to the barn, and instead of doing homework, we go riding?”
“Can I?” Lucy looks over at Emmett.
“Yeah,” he agrees. “I’m going to put these in the fridge for thirty minutes.” He walks over to the fridge. “I’m going to take a shower.”
My ears start to burn as I think of him in the shower naked. My mouth waters for a whole different reason. “Then I’ll start the grill.”
“You know,” I start to say, “if you want, I could watch Lucy tonight so you can go out with the guys.” I want to seal my mouth shut with crazy glue.
He looks at me. “You haven’t been out in a while and…” I shrug. “We could watch a chick flick,” I suggest to Lucy, “and you’ll be bored.”
“I don’t know,” he says, not sure what to say.
“I miss having girl movie nights,” Lucy interjects. I don’t know if she’s playing him or not, but it works.
“Okay, I’ll go for a bit,” he agrees, and I smile at him as he walks away from the kitchen and toward his room. I catch him pulling up his shirt as the wall now hides it from me.
Lucy and I work side by side as we make the salad, and by the time Emmett comes back out, he’s wearing a clean pair of jeans and a fresh black T-shirt. His hair is wet and looks like he just took the towel and dried it. I’m washing my hands while Lucy sits on the couch trying to pick a movie for us to watch when her father leaves.
“I’ll start the grill,” he announces, and all I can do is smell him, trying to get my words together. He puts one hand on my hip as he leans over me to grab a plate from beside me. His chest on my back makes my knees weak. “How do you like your steak?”
“Um…” I try to focus on my hands that are still under the stream of water. “Medium rare.”
“Got it.” He looks into my eyes, his eyes going to my lips for a split second, and then he’s gone.
Only when he’s outside do I let my head hang and bring my wet hands up to my cheeks to cool them down. My face feels like it’s been set on fire.
“Lucy.” Emmett sticks his head inside the back door. “Set the table, yeah?”
“Okay.” She gets off the couch and comes over to me. I help her set the table and then put the salad in the middle.
I sit down in the chair on the opposite side of Emmett, who sits at the head, with Lucy beside him. “Did you guys choose a movie?” he asks when we finish eating.
“ The Princess Diaries ,” Lucy tells him. “You would hate it.”
“I would not.” He picks up his plate, but I put my hand on his.
“I have this,” I tell him. “Why don’t you take off?”
He looks at me, and then my hand on his, before he nods and goes back to his bedroom. Lucy helps me clean up and put the things in the dishwasher. When he comes back out, he’s wearing boots and he smells of his musky scent.
“I’m not going for long,” he says to Lucy. “I’ll probably be back before you finish the movie.”
“Okay,” she replies, walking to the couch.
“I’ve got her, and if there is anything, I’ll call you.” He looks at me and nods before he walks out of the house.
I glance at the ceiling before looking back at Lucy, who is watching me. “Shall we get this party started?” I ask, walking over to the couch, sitting down, and tucking my legs under me.
My phone beeps in my pocket, and I pull it out, seeing it’s Emmett.
Emmett: Just got here, everything okay?
Me: It’s been four minutes. House isn’t on fire yet.
Emmett: Smart-ass.
I don’t answer him. I put my phone to the side and watch the movie with Lucy, laughing half the time. An hour later, another text comes in.
Emmett: How’s it going?
Me: We just finished doing shots.
Emmett: Why are you such a pain in my ass?
Me: Because then you won’t be able to ignore me.
Emmett: Trust me, I could never ignore you.
I put the phone down when my stomach feels like it’s going to flip over. We finish the movie, and she yawns. “How about you take a bath and get ready for bed?” She doesn’t argue with me, and I look down to see it’s been an hour since his text.
Lucy comes out and says good night to me and goes back into her room while I turn to something on the television, lying down. I close my eyes for what feels like a second when I hear the sound of two truck doors slamming.
I get off the couch, not willing to let him see that I fell asleep while watching his daughter. I start to walk to the front door when it’s pushed open, and I see Bobby walking beside Emmett. “He’s good,” Bobby tells me, “just making sure that he?—”
“I’m fine,” Emmett retorts, and Bobby quickly escapes, closing the door behind him. “I’m fine.” He tosses his keys on the table, and they slide off. I roll my lips not to laugh at him as he huffs and bends down to pick them up.
“You look fine,” I reply, noticing his eyes look different. He definitely smells like he’s had a couple of shots. “Why don’t you—” I point over my shoulder as he walks to the kitchen. He pulls open the fridge, grabs a bottle of water, and twists the top.
“How was tonight?” he asks, taking a big gulp from it, and all I can do is watch the way his Adam’s apple moves up, and I suddenly think that’s the sexiest thing I’ve ever seen. “Hello,” he says, putting the bottle on the counter and then stretching his other hand to the side.
I blink my eyes a couple of times. “It was fine, all good.” I clear my throat. “I was a bit cold, which is why I took the blanket.”
“Shit, you should have gotten a sweater from my room.” He turns to walk into his bedroom, and I stand here watching him. I close my eyes and shake out my hands when I hear him call my name, “Lilah.” I look toward the hallway to his bedroom, wondering if I should go to him or stay there. I’m debating when he calls my name again, “Lilah.”
I walk toward his dark room, my stomach feeling like it’s going to go into my throat, and the back of my neck feels like it’s burning. Getting to the door of his bedroom, I stop and take a deep breath before I walk in. He’s there in his bedroom, sitting on the side of his bed with a sweater in his hands. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine.” He chuckles. “I got you a sweater.” He holds up his hand, and I nervously walk into the darkened room with the big king-sized bed in the middle of it. He fiddles with the sweater in his hand, and it falls. I bend to pick it up at the same time that he does. Both of us hold the sweater and are now face-to-face. “Hi,” he says softly.
“Hi,” I return softly to him. His hand comes off the sweater to push the hair behind my ear. “Did you have fun?” I don’t want to move out of his touch. My heartbeat echoes in my ears, but it’s dim compared to the way my breath is coming out in pants.
“Would have had more fun if you were there,” he declares, and the air I had in my lungs feels like it’s been taken from my body. I instantly stand, the sweater in my hands falling to my feet. “You fucking drive me crazy.” His words feel like they hurt him when he says them. “You’ve been driving me crazy for a while.”
“Is that a good thing or a bad thing?” I ask, standing between his legs, afraid to move even a muscle.
He stands up, stoic. “It’s a very bad fucking thing,” he grumbles, his hands coming up. One of them grips the side of my head while the other gets buried in my hair. “It’s a bad fucking thing when all I can think about is how you taste.” He closes the distance between us. “All I want is to taste you again and again.”
I tilt my head to the side, waiting for him to kiss me, needing him to kiss me. “You aren’t the only one,” I whisper right before his mouth is on mine. His tongue sweeps into my mouth. The taste of whiskey on his lips makes me groan even more. My hands fist his T-shirt. The kiss is unlike any other kiss I’ve ever had before. This time, it’s so needy that it erases all thoughts from my brain.
The only thing that enters my mind is getting closer to him. My hand roams up his chest and into his hair, wanting to touch him everywhere, and I mean everywhere. “Fuck,” he hisses when he lets go of my lips, and his mouth moves down to my jaw and then to my neck. His tongue comes out to trail it. “You make me want to do things to you that I shouldn’t even think about.”
My eyes close as I feel him suck my neck and then bite it, lost in the moment, lost in him, wanting this moment never to end. I say the words I’ve only said in my dreams, “Show me.”