Chapter 27 – Lilah
Chapter Twenty-Seven
LILAH
I pick up my phone and bring up her text thread.
Me: Hey, sorry, I’m going to have to bail on book club night. I have to get my thesis done and work has been insane.
I leave out the part about me living with Emmett because I can’t get into it right now, and I know she’ll have a million questions. To be honest, I don’t want to give her or anyone the answers. Also, I don’t even have them to give her anyway. I’m in uncharted territory, as usual, with Emmett.
She texts me back right away.
Sierra: Sounds good, let me know if you need any help.
I put the phone down on my desk and turn to look at the computer screen when the front door opens and Lucy comes running in. “Lilah,” she chirps, “I’m going to go ride Rosy now.” Her eyes are big. “Do you want to come with me?”
I look at the corner of my computer screen and see I’m technically supposed to be at my desk for another ten minutes. “I don’t know.” I look over and see Emmett saunter in, looking all sexy and shit. Even in dusty fucking jeans and a dirty-ass T-shirt, he’s still all that. It doesn’t help that now I know he’s got everything in that package to make him a fifteen out of ten. “My boss doesn’t like when I’m not at my desk.”
“Charlie!” Emmett yells from in front of my desk toward the hallway that has Charlie’s office and also an office for Emmett he never uses. He actually took the desk into the barn and now the only thing in there is a chair.
I hear boots coming toward us and glance at Lucy as we both share a look. “You rang?” Charlie says, walking into the room and then looks at Lucy. “Hey, Lucy.” He smiles at her. “How was school?”
“Good,” she answers softly, not sure what is going on.
“What are you hooting and hollering about?” Charlie looks back at Emmett.
“Lilah is going to go riding with Lucy,” he tells him, and Charlie’s eyebrows pinch together. “She said her boss doesn’t like it when she’s not at her desk.” Charlie’s head whips to me. “So can she go?”
“Okay, first of all, you are the one who yells at her all the time.” He points at Emmett.
“You yell at Lilah?” Lucy joins the conversation; her voice is low as her eyes stare at her father.
“I don’t yell at her.” He puts his hands on his hips, and I lean back in my chair, knowing this just turned around and bit him in the ass. “She never does what she’s told.”
“Real mature, Emmett.” I shake my head and get up. “Let’s go. You ride Rosy, and I can ride Juliet at the same time.” I hold out my hand for her, and she slips her hand in mine.
“See you two later,” I say to both of them as we walk into the barn.
“Hey, Sammy,” I call out when I see him walking toward us, “we are going to go and ride Rosy and Juliet.”
“Sounds good.” He smiles at us. “I’ll head over there and saddle them for you.”
“You don’t have to do that,” I tell him. “I’ll do it with Lucy.”
“You sure?” He picks up his hat and scratches his head. “I don’t mind.”
I look down at Lucy. “We’ve got it, don’t we?”
“We’ve got it,” she agrees with me and smiles at Sammy.
“Have a good night, you two,” he says, walking back toward the other stalls.
“Let’s go,” I say, walking to one of the golf carts they use to go between the two barns. “I’ll come back and get my truck after.”
“Okay,” she replies, getting in beside me as I make my way over to the barn. We work side by side as I show her how to saddle a horse. She listens to every single word I say, so much so that on the second one, she’s giving me instructions, which makes me laugh.
I walk out first with Juliet and then go and get Rosy, putting Lucy on the horse before I get on my own. The sound of truck doors being slammed has us looking back outside. Emmett gets out of his truck while Sammy gets out of mine and then jogs toward the golf cart. They both hold up their hands to say goodbye while Emmett makes his way toward the barn. “I’m coming!” he shouts to us before going into the barn.
“He just wants to make sure I don’t go fast,” Lucy mumbles, making me laugh.
“There is a time and place when you’ll go fast,” I reassure her, “but you have to learn a bit more before you do it.”
“When did you learn how to go fast?” I listen to her question, and the memory of so long ago comes crashing back. It was me winning the horse race that brought me to this moment.
“I started riding horses when I was younger than you,” I say, “but only went fast when I was thirteen.”
“Ugh,” she groans, “that’s like forever.”
All I can do is laugh at her as Emmett comes out of the barn on his horse. His horse is so beautiful. If he’s in the right angle of the sun, his coat looks blue and not black. “Okay, are we going for a ride?”
“Yes,” Lucy says, “finally.”
Emmett and I share a look, and all I can do is shake my head and laugh while he starts leading us onto one of the paths. I ride beside her, just in case Rosy gets a little frisky.
“What are we having for dinner?” Lucy asks when we are headed back to the barn some two hours later.
“What do you feel like having?” Emmett asks her, and she shrugs. “I took out some pork chops and was going to bake them.”
“I can do dinner since you did it the last two nights,” I offer. “I just need to shower, and then I can do it.”
“I can help also,” Lucy adds, “but I have some homework.”
“How about I cook, and you do your homework on the island?” I suggest to her and look over at Emmett. “If that is okay with your dad.”
“It’s fine. I’ll get the horses situated,” he says to us when we get to the barn. He dismounts his horse and then goes over to Lucy and helps her down.
I pet Juliet’s neck and give her a kiss. “See you tomorrow, my girl,” I say as Lucy and I walk into the house.
“How about you get in the shower,” I say, “and I’ll go marinate the pork chops?” I kick off my boots and place them beside Lucy’s.
“Okay, Lilah,” she replies, walking toward her bedroom and bathroom. I head to the kitchen and look out the window above the sink while I wash my hands. It’s been almost a week that I’ve been here, and strangely enough, it feels like I’ve lived here all my life. Like I was made to be in this kitchen. Like I was made to eat with them. I grab the towel hanging on the oven handle to dry my hands before heading to the fridge, taking the chops out before placing them on the counter. The front door opens and slams shut as soon as I place the bowl with the marinated chops back in the fridge.
“Where is Lucy?” Emmett asks when he walks into the kitchen, going to the sink to wash his hands.
“I sent her to shower first so I can go shower after,” I explain to him as he looks over at me.
“All your stuff is in my shower,” he reminds me, “so go shower, and I’ll go after you.”
“Isn’t it going to be weird?” I ask.
“You showered in there last night.” He turns the water off and grabs the towel to dry his hands.
“Yes, but that was because she was in the shower. She’ll be done soon.”
“So you should get in there before she comes out and it becomes weird.” He smirks at me, and I roll my eyes at him. “Hurry, I want to shower.”
“Whatever,” I retort, wanting to step up to him and kiss him, but knowing Lucy is up and can walk into the room at any minute makes me stop. I mean, we’ve slept with each other every single night. I don’t even know what the bed in the other room feels like.
After Lucy goes to bed, we usually wait an hour before we head to his bed. It’s as if the minute we step into his room, it’s okay for us to touch each other. In the morning, before leaving, we share a soft kiss, but once we are out of the house, it’s as if we’ve never seen each other naked.
I walk into the bedroom, seeing the bed made again, and I have to laugh. I would never have thought Emmett would be a “make your bed every day” type of guy, even with the throw pillows. But every single day the bed is made when I come back home from work. I walk into his closet and grab the loungewear I left in there the night before. Once we fall asleep, I usually grab his T-shirt to walk back to the room in the morning. I now have about four of his T-shirts in my bag. A bag that is slowly becoming empty as the days go by while I’m here. I wonder how much longer I’m actually going to be here.
I shower as quickly as I can and get dressed in the long gray jogging pants and matching shirt before heading out and seeing Lucy with her homework on the island. “I put some green beans in water to eat with the chops.”
“Sounds good,” I say as he passes by me toward his bedroom. I watch him walk as he takes off his shirt before he gets to his bedroom. He catches me watching him and smirks.
“Later,” he assures me, and I smile, knowing after Lucy goes to bed, I get to have him all to myself.
Lucy finishes her homework at the same time the chops are ready, and we eat together. When she goes to bed, Emmett waits ten minutes before he gets up and turns off the television. “I was watching that,” I object to him as he grabs my hands and pulls me to his room.
As soon as we are over the threshold, he turns me so I’m in his arms, his mouth on mine. “But this is much better,” I admit, smiling as he kisses my neck. We spend the rest of the night wrapped up in each other.
The next afternoon I get up to walk to the barn to drop off papers when my phone rings, and I see it’s an unknown caller. My hands immediately shake as the ringing stops and then the notification pops up that someone has left me a message. I bring the phone to my ear to listen to it.
“You have one new message,” the automated voice tells me. “To listen to the message, press one.”
I press one and close my eyes when I hear his voice. “Hey, Lilah, it’s Derek.” His voice is low. “I’m…” He stops talking. “I’d like to talk to you.” The hair on the back of my neck stands up. “If you can, call me back.” I close the phone right away and put it down on my desk before I walk back to the barn.
I’m about to go around the corner when I hear the whisper, “Yeah, I don’t know.” I hear one of the guys say, “They live together now, there is no way they aren’t fucking.”
“He pretends he doesn’t like her”—another voice snickers—“but she probably rides his dick every night.” I swallow back the bile that is rising and walk into the room. “She probably made it all up so she could finally fuck him.” The two guys laugh.
“Hey, guys,” I greet them, pretending I didn’t just hear them gossiping about Emmett and me.
“Hey, Lilah,” Freddy replies, holding up his hand, “how’re you doing?”
“Great.” I smile at him. “It’s a nice day, isn’t it?”
I walk deeper into the barn to Emmett, who is talking to Sammy and Bobby about something. “Hey,” I interrupt, “this is the list Charlie wanted me to give you.” I hold it out for Emmett. “It’s for the next load of horses coming through.”
“Thanks.” He grabs it from me. I turn on my boot and head back to my desk, trying not to let their words bother me as I focus on my work. But their words do get to me, especially since Emmett and I haven’t spoken about the elephant in the room. I have no idea what the fuck this thing is between us. I didn’t care before, but now, now the gossip is spreading to my colleagues and they're talking about me like I did this on purpose. I think maybe it’s time to head back home.
The thought alone makes my heart speed up. I get up from my desk and head toward Charlie’s, finding him behind his desk. “Hey, can I have a second?” I ask, and he looks over at me.
“What’s up?”
“It’s been almost a week,” I say, and he leans back in his chair. “When do you think it’s safe to go back home?”
“Why?” He sits up. “Did something happen with Emmett?”
“No,” I refute immediately. “It’s just that I feel like I’m in his hair,” I lie to him. “He and Lucy just got to know each other.”
“Pops wants to send someone over to your place and put in some cameras and stuff.”
“Okay, do you know when he’ll do that?”
“He said it would be done soon, but I can see if he can have it done this weekend.”
“Thanks, Charlie,” I tell him, “and if it’s okay, can I head out early today? I’m not feeling so hot.”
“What happened?” He gets up. “You either tell me or I’ll go to Emmett.”
“Nothing.” I shake my head. “I’m working on my thesis, and it’s weighing on me,” I lie to him, and I know he knows I’m lying, but he lets me get away with it.
“You can clock out now and come in later tomorrow,” he states right away. “I’ll handle it.”
“That won’t be necessary.” I smile at him. “I’ll be back tomorrow.” I turn to walk out of the office and head to my desk, grabbing my purse and my phone before heading out the front door for once, not wanting to see the guys again.
I unlock the door, and when I open it, I see the single red rose on the passenger seat. I look back into the barn but see no one there. Smiling, I get in the truck and pick up the rose, bringing it to my nose. “Well, I’ll be.” I close my eyes and put my head back. “Isn’t this nice?”