Chapter 18
DAMON
I take the stairs up, and then, instead of entering my bedroom, taking off my clothes, showering, and catching up on my sleep, or picking up my suit jacket, sliding it on, and spending the rest of the night at the club, I go straight to Lila’s room.
She must have waited by the door, with an ear pressed on it.
How else can I explain that the second I push it open, she jumps back, not looking much better than how she looked downstairs, and she stares at me with wide eyes?
“I’m so sorry,” she starts. “I didn’t mean to say that. It just slipped out. I’m really not used to these kinds of situations, and I don’t like lying. Please tell me everything’s all right. Is she all right?’
I close the door and press my back against it, taking her in.
“Go change,” I say quietly.
Her eyebrows move up.
“Are we going someplace?”
I study her face.
“Stop being so afraid,” I say, noticing the fear in her eyes. “Are you afraid of her or of me?”
She bites her lip, pushing her answer back.
She’s afraid of both of us.
“Why are you afraid of Henrietta?”
She hugs her robe closer before she runs a trembling hand over her hair.
“Honestly?”
“Yes.”
“She’s a vile woman. She married my father for his money.”
“You don’t say.”
“It’s not funny.”
“I know it’s not. What was her story? What kind of line did she feed your father?”
“One night she walked into one of his casinos wearing a sexy dress. I think she had everything planned out. She didn’t do much in the casino before she approached him.
She knew exactly who he was. My father was never into gambling or anything like that, but he liked to watch the patrons.
She obviously caught his attention when she sat at a table and won a lot of money.
The whole thing piqued my father’s interest. He chatted with her, and she confessed she had nowhere to go.
Her billionaire boyfriend had just broken up with her and left her with no money to survive. ”
She stops.
“Are you the billionaire boyfriend in her story?”
I push off the door and move toward the patio doors.
“Did she say she owed her life to him?” I murmur, crossing my arms over my chest and staring at the pool.
“No, she did not.”
I turn around, wearing a smile.
“Well, then she must have also forgotten to mention that she had stolen money from her billionaire ex.”
“Are you a billionaire?”
“What difference does it make?”
“It doesn’t. Money is not everything.”
I laugh quietly.
“That’s what she says now. What else did she say to your father?”
“That she had never had luck in love.”
I laugh.
“She has a great sense of humor.”
“My father never thought so.”
“Did he really like her?”
“He didn’t know any better. She was nothing like my mother.”
“I somehow figured that one out.”
“She was flashy and manipulative. For some reason, he enjoyed that side of her. It helped him move on and not think about my mother. It messed with his head and stopped him from being depressed. But Henrietta wasn’t genuine. She liked to pretend she cared about him.”
“Tell me something I don’t know. Enough about her. What about we go downstairs and spend some time at the pool? You need to change, though,” I insist.
She looks at me as if I’ve grown a second head.
“Now? You and me?”
I nod.
“Put on your sexy swimsuit and let’s get going. I have to be at the club in an hour.”
She sets herself in motion.
“So, you’re not swimming.”
“No. You swim. I watch.”
“What about her?”
“Don’t worry about her.”
She keeps her eyes connected with mine as she moves toward the closet. Moments later, she walks in, and I shift my eyes back to the pool.
A few moments later, Lila emerges from the walk-in closet. She wears her sexy swimsuit and shorts, her boobs barely covered by the small triangles of fabric.
My hands itch to move over her chest and remove her bra. I would love to take a nipple into my mouth, turn her on, and make her suck my dick like it’s going out of fashion.
She’d look great with cum over her lips and chest.
With her shorts clinging to her ankles and my mouth between her legs. Nothing turns me on more than seeing her get turned on.
She’s like a little miracle to me.
She lets me do all these things to her, and then, when I expect it the least, she pushes me away by saying something unusual. Doing something out of the ordinary. Standing up to me. Or demanding something I can’t give her, so I don’t get used to the idea of fully having her.
But I do get used to the idea of having her.
I can’t wait to get home these days and play with her.
We’re still playing with each other. Figuring out each other.
“Is it better?” she asks as my eyes slide to her ponytail.
My fingers move in that direction too.
I free her hair and watch it frame her face.
“Who did you meet with this evening?” I ask, moving my hand down from her hair and resting it on her shoulder.
She looks at me with guilty eyes.
“Who was it?”
“I won’t tell you.”
“Nothing will happen to that person if you talk to me. It helps me learn more about you,” I say, stroking her supple neck.
“I thought you were in a hurry and wanted to watch me swim.”
“You’re cute, but learning more about him won’t affect my plans for tonight.”
“He’s a good guy who has no interest in being with me.”
“A good guy? As opposed to…?’
I stroke her skin with my thumb.
“You?” she murmurs.
“Funny. You like insecure guys?”
“I didn’t say that.”
“Good guys are shy. Shy guys are insecure. Some women like them like that. They don’t raise hell or create problems.”
“Bad guys are insecure too. That’s why they do the stupid shit they do.”
I flash a grin.
“Not me, though.”
I look down at the waistband of her shorts and her legs.
“So you don’t like me. I mean, I’m not your type,” I say.
“I never said you were.”
“Fair. Well, you’re not my type either.”
She feigns surprise.
“I’m shocked.”
“Don’t be. There’s so much stacked up against us that we might not last for long,” I joke. “So let’s not waste the little time we have.”
I point to the door.
“Let’s go,” I say.
Moments later, we walk down the stairs. I’m still pondering her words as for the first time ever, I’m also thinking about us outside the timeframe of now.
The differences between us couldn’t be more stark.
Henrietta would love to live in my head now and see what’s going on.
Lila is a good woman, had decent parents, and has no one right now.
Unfortunately, her father tied her to Henrietta, which only proves that he knew nothing about his second wife.
Had she known who Henrietta really was, he would’ve kept his daughter away from her and never left his wife any money, which wouldn’t have worked for me.
Lila likes to believe that her life would be easier with an insecure man. She’d have more control.
I’m not an insecure man, and her life, for sure, wouldn’t be easier with me.
If anything, it would be more complicated, risky, and dangerous.
The prospect of many things going wrong would hover over our heads.
She’d have to get used to it.
She doesn’t have Henrietta's poise.
She lost it just now because she said the wrong words in the kitchen.
Imagine her being picked up by the feds. Or worse, being set up by them. She’d spill out things they wouldn’t even dream of hearing.
Henrietta had always been my best choice in that regard. She has a past.
She’s used to navigating a world of crime.
She knows how to get out of a sticky situation.
Maybe that particularity made me spare her life more than anything else did.
Knowing her, I realized I couldn’t let her go free before she inherited her money.
Despite our agreement, she could’ve simply walked on me and married someone else.
Someone dumb enough to fight for her.
Our marriage should’ve come with penitence and repentance on her part.
It was supposed to punish her.
It wasn’t meant to rekindle anything, or to make her compare herself to Lila.
If I grow fond of Lila, I might need to set her free and not make her into someone that she’s not.
And when it comes to me?
Once Henrietta is gone, there will be other women like her. Someone who understands this life and doesn’t throw me under the bus at the first flicker of fear.