15. Lana
fifteen
lana
I stared at my reflection and smiled. I could barely recognize myself. I looked, felt, like I was glowing from the inside out. My hair and makeup were perfectly done even after a night of dancing with Wils under the stars.
The fundraiser his family’s business had hosted was like something out of a fairy tale. It was crazy the things that people with money could get away with. The rooftop had been lit up with warm twinkling lights, and the garden was an overabundance of pink and white roses mixed with eucalyptus and birch trees. It’d looked like an English garden
“What did you think about my family?” Wils asked, nipping a kiss on my earlobe.
I sighed, leaning my back against his front as I looked at his reflection behind me. We looked beautiful together. I was almost tempted to pull out my phone and snap a picture of us.
“They’re pretty cool.” I smiled. His cousins were great. “Lark is funny,” I added, knowing that I was only poking the bear.
“Funny-looking,” he muttered, and I laughed. Wilson turned me around, so I faced him. I never got over how handsome he was. His hair was still perfectly done, and he was wearing a designer tuxedo I was almost positive cost more than I made in a year but was worth every penny with how good he looked in it.
“You jealous?” I asked, and he growled. I rolled me eyes, “My favorite Harding, though, is the one right in front of me. Did I tell you how good you look in a tux, handsome?” I rose on the tips of my toes and kissed him.
Soft and slow. I loved the growl he made when his hand dropped to my ass. I moaned and was about to start to work his tux off his body when a loud obnoxious ring sounded. He groaned and pulled away. I could tell by the ring tone it was his work phone.
“Shit! I’m sorry, Lana.” The regret was real in his voice.
“It’s okay. We can put a pin in this.” I winked, pulling away. “Go take your call.” I stepped away, but he pulled me right back into his arms, pressing his hard body against mine.
“Don’t get out of that dress,” he demanded, and my face heated up. “I have plans for you.”
“Okay.” It was silly to blush, but the promise of what the rest of the night would bring clung thickly to the air between us. “I won’t change out of it.”
“Thank you, beautiful. I’ll make it worth the wait,” he promised.
He held me and looked at me for a long moment. Almost like he was trying to memorize me in that moment. Before I could ask what the matter was, he pressed his lips against mine and walked out of the bathroom.
I looked at myself one more time.
When he bought home the dress as a surprise, I had been ready to tell him he was crazy if he thought I would be able to pull off the beautiful silk sheath garment with a low back and high neckline. I had no idea how he had done it, but the red dress he had chosen for me fit like it had been made specifically for me.
Wils had been driving me crazy all night. His hands never left my bare back. Stroking my overheated flesh up and down, teasing me to the point where I dragged him to a hidden corner so we could make out! So hot and heavy that I’d needed to go to the bathroom and redo my makeup.
I walked into the living room just as Wilson’s private phone went off. I picked it up and frowned. Living room motion detected , it said, giving a preview of exactly where I was standing.
I stared at the notification for a moment, trying to process what I was seeing.
A tiny thumbnail image on the screen. Something came over me, and when I pressed on it, the phone asked for his password. He’d told me a week ago he used my birthday as his password, and I’d laughed thinking he was cute.
My hands shook slightly as I pounded in the keys. And that was when everything inside me went numb.
I didn’t understand what I was looking at. I looked around my living room then back down to the screen. It was me. I was in my living room. There was a camera in my living room!
Motion detected in kitchen, another notification read. I clicked on it. Once again, I knew what I was looking at but couldn’t make sense of it.
I watched while Wils paced my kitchen while talking into his work phone. I switched over to the living room to make sure I wasn’t somehow imagining things.
But I wasn’t.
There I was, in the middle of the living area, holding his phone, looking confused. And maybe a little betrayed. I watched as he came to the threshold between my living room and kitchen area. His eyes were locked on me, but I couldn’t read his expression.
“What’s this?” I asked, not bothering to look up. I had no idea how I managed to keep my breathing steady.
“Lan—“
“Why… what am I looking at here exactly?” I asked, tearing my eyes from the screen.
There he stood by at the threshold, just like he had been on his phone. I frowned and stepped back. Smoothing the front of my dress before I turned and looked behind me. I blinked and looked around.
“Lana—“
“Where is it?” I asked, my voice oddly calm.
This is a bad dream. It must be! This isn’t real, I quietly said to myself. I heard his heavy footsteps behind me. One of his strong warm hands rested on my hip, and my eyes fluttered shut.
“You have cameras in my home?”. He didn’t move. “Wilson.” I said his name, shocked that my voice didn’t tremble. When he grunted his confirmation, my heart was still calm. “How many?”
“Does it matter?” he rasped. His fingers dug into my skin, not in a painful way but a possessive one.
“Wilson,” I clipped. “Six? Seven?”
“Maybe,” he mumbled.
“Does that really mean closer to ten?” I guessed, turning around. I didn’t flinch at how close he stood or the way he towered over me.
Weirdly enough, I wasn’t scared of him despite discovering he had cameras all over my place.
What does that say about me?
“Yes,” he answered. I swallowed and looked around my house, the place where I was safe and secure, knowing he had been watching me… I didn’t know what to feel. Yes, you do , a voice whispered. I wasn’t afraid.
“You need to leave.” I pointed at the door. His hand clenched around my waist, but I ignored the heat and the possession his touch evoked.
“Lana, let me explain.”
“There is no way you could,” I scoffed.
“Please, babe?—“
“Stop. Just stop talking!” I clipped. Anger flowed through me. “Why? Why would you… why?!” I wasn’t sure what I was angry about. The fact he had done it or the fact he hadn’t told me. You know. You know why.
“Baby.” I knew he could charm me into anything. His hands cupped my face. I tried to back away from his touch, but he didn’t let me.
“Forget it! You’re not going to explain. I mean, why would Wilson Harding have to do something as stupid and mundane as explain anything!” I gritted through my teeth, and his eyes softened.
“Lana—“
“Was this some kind of rich guy sick joke?” I was thinking about everything my father had put my mother through.
Shit! Was this history repeating itself? You know that’s not this. You know he loves you, a voice in my head reassured me.
“No,” he gritted.
“Get. Out.” I enunciated each word. He looked at me like he wanted to plead his case. A part of me—who was I kidding? All of me—wanted him to do just that. To hear him out. To understand why he had done it.
But there I was, once again ready to push him away. Push away the man I was in love with. Not because he was stalking me exactly but because I was afraid of this huge thing between us. This pull. This need I couldn’t put into words.
“I’m not going anywhere, beautiful,” he said calmly. Too calmly for someone who had just been caught red handed. His body relaxed, and when I blinked, I saw it. Determination.
“Fine,” I clipped, for some reason losing steam. “Don’t go. Stay and explain to the cops why—“ In the blink of an eye, he took his cell out of my phone and tossed it onto the couch.
“Wilson!”
“Calm. Down.” I looked at him like he was crazy. He had to be! I’d just discovered he’d been watching me for god only knew how long, and he wanted me to calm down?!
“You can’t just tell me to calm down and—“ I didn’t get to say another word. Not when his lips crashed onto mine.
Like gasoline hitting a fire, we went up in a fiery inferno. The kiss was rough, passionate, and messy.
My fingers dragged through his hair, along his scalp, while his roamed my body. We couldn’t get enough of one another. Like we hadn’t been around each other in a year instead of a couple of minutes. It was crazy. Insane. The idea of what he had done did wild things to my body. My sex wept. There was no shame in the need I felt pulsing between my thighs. Not when his touch left a trail of heat and achiness I knew only he could take away. I loved him. Loved Wilson through the good, bad, and ugly. Why did knowing he was so obsessed with me make me horny? The kiss was filled with so much love, all I could do was cling to him. Our teeth scraped as our hands tangled in one another’s hair.
“I told you,” he started to grunt between kisses, “warned you, Lana.” His mouth peppered my jaw. “Told you, you were mine.”
“You’re a stalker,” I moaned. The fact he had been watching me didn’t freak me out. Instead, it did the opposite. It turned me on. His lips moved down to my neck, to the very spot that drove me crazy, and I simply adjusted to give him better access to my skin when I should have been kicking him out. Or at the very least trying to push him away.
But I didn’t do that. Not even close.
I clung to him, rubbing myself on him like a cat in heat like my life depended on it. The idea of not having him, of really pushing him away to never see him again sounded worse than cutting off my own arm.
“You love it,” he rasped. His hands dropped to my ass. He gripped it tightly, possessively. I cried out his name, loving how hard he was. How good he felt against me. We were so close together I doubted a sheet of paper fit between us.
“You love me,” he groaned, as if I needed a reminder.
“Wilson,” I purred.
It was crazy.
I was crazy.
How the hell else could you explain being okay with a man watching your every move?
“Please,” I whispered. His lips pulled away from my neck, and when his head rose and our eyes connected, it was like looking at Wilson Harding for the first time.
And maybe I was.
This was the man, no bullshit, no secrets, who loved me. Who was obsessed with me to the point of putting cameras in my house.
“What else is there?” I asked. But he didn’t say anything. His beautiful deep gaze darkened. “I don’t want any more surprises, Wils,” I panted, trying to catch my breath, but again, he remained silent. He stepped forward, shuffling us slowly towards the wall.
“I’m not kidding. What else is there?” Knowing him the way I did and what I had watched him do these last couple of weeks, there had to be more. The way he threw his money around when he wanted something would give him no limitations as to how far he would go.
My back hit the wall and, quicker than a cat, he had both my hands up above my head, holding both my wrists with one hand. Leaning in closer, he studied me for a moment. “You still thinking about calling the cops?” he asked, almost like he was challenging me to do just that.
“Wilson,” I warned, swallowing hard. We both knew there was no real bite in my tone.
“You think I would be able to have you, even just a taste of you, and be able to let you go?”
“I’m serious. I?—“
“Would you really forgive me? Would you believe me when I tell you that I love you so fucking much I did anything to get your attention? Even have my attorneys threaten with putting a lien on your house all just so you would finally answer one of my calls?”
“Yes,” I answered without hesitation. His nose flared and his lips tipped upward before his nose ran along the line of mine
“Would you still love me if“—his lips pressed against the edge of mine—“I told you I tapped your devices so I could watch while you worked? That I flew us to the cabin not because there was a fundraiser but because I knew there would be a blizzard, and I wanted to be snowed in with you?” I shivered. Not from fear but excitement.
He’s done all that?
For me?
“Wilson.”
“Would you still love me if I told you there isn’t a place you can go where I don’t know where you are?”
“Why?” I asked, trembling in his arms. I leaned forward, needing his mouth on mine, but he stayed just out of reach. Just so we were close enough to share the same air. His breath tickled my lips, and I had a feeling he did that on purpose.
“Because you’re mine.”
“But you don’t have to do all that,” I whispered, and his gaze darkened.
“I do. I need—“ His Adam’s apple bobbed up and down, like he was trying to temper down something inside of him. “I’m a selfish son of a bitch, and you know that. You called me out from the very first moment. But it’s more than that. It’s this overpowering need to know you’re safe. I need to be able to look at you whenever I want, Lana. I told you, you’re different. Never, not once, not even close, have I ever felt this way. You brought me to life.”
“Baby—“
“One look at you, and I knew. I might have tried to fight it, but before I got home that night, I knew you were mine. I just had to talk you into it.”
“That’s why you suggested us pretending to date?” My poor overstimulated brain could only process everything so fast. I still couldn’t believe it.
“I knew the moment you tried to see yourself as mine, you would get it. You would feel what I felt. There was no way this could be one-sided.”
“But the money. You didn’t have to?—“
“I wanted to take care of you. If I’d been sure you wouldn’t return it, I would have bought and sent you a fleet of cars to choose from that very next day.”
“You’re crazy,” I whispered, but we both knew I didn’t mean it. Not really.
“Crazy about you, Lana,” he whispered just a hairsbreadth from kissing me.
I shut my eyes, ready to feel his lips on mine, but the kiss never came. Instead, Wilson spun me around, and I gasped. Pressing my cheek against the wall, I trembled with excitement and trusted whatever Wilson was going to do.
Because right or wrong, I loved him. Cameras and all.