Because of Lila(61)

He winced. "Could we not discuss my past? That's behind me. I'd like to leave it there."

Ophelia stood up and let out a heavy sigh. "This is going to end badly. Then Grant Carter will murder you. Mark my words," she said as she carried her suitcase and bag to the bedroom that was to be hers.

I slipped an arm around Cruz's waist and leaned into him. "She'll be more positive soon."

He kissed the top of my head. "That's what I expect we will get from everyone in our life."

He was probably right. So I just kept my mouth shut and hugged him to me. "I'm happy. I've never been happier," I assure him.

"Me too. And honestly that scares the hell out of me."

"Why?" I asked tilting my head back to look up at him.

"Because I know what this feels like and I can't live without it or you."

"You'll never have to so that's not a problem. I'm not going anywhere."

That desperate, haunted look shadowed his eyes again. I wished I could soothe him and his concerns. I was the one who should be worried. Not him.

"Can y'all put on clothes at least while I get one of the boxes out of my car?" Ophelia reminded us of her presence.

Cruz jerked the towel around me off and I scrambled to get it from him. "You are taking all the fun away," he told Ophelia. "I like her in a towel. Easier to get her naked."

"God! You are a pig," she replied and went back down the stairs.

I slapped at his chest and grabbed the towel from him. "Stop that!"

He pulled me to his chest. "Think she'd care if we went up to your room and went another round?"


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As tempting as that was, I wasn't doing that to Ophelia. "Get dressed Cruz," I told him, then grinned and left my towel off as I walked up the stairs to my room.

"Damn, you are asking for it," he threatened.

I glanced back and winked at him. "Save it for later."

"I take it back," he said staring up at me.

"What?"

"You're not a china doll, and nothing about you is cold."

I smiled and bit my lip to keep from grinning too big.

"You are incredibly tough, and that body is so fucking hot I won't ever get enough."

They weren't words you'd ever hear in a sonnet but coming from Cruz Kerrington it was poetry.





Cruz Kerrington

OPHELIA MOVING IN with Lila Kate wasn't ideal, but over the next week we made it work. I even started getting along with my dad better, but that was mostly due to my showing up on time to work. Being at the meetings he required and all the other shit I had been ignoring.

Thinking about August when I had to go back to school sucked. Lila Kate was finished. She'd be here, and I would leave. I didn't like it. Worrying about it right now just gave me more to stress over. Avoiding Kelsey had been my biggest hurdle at work. She hadn't said anything to my dad, or I would know. I was hoping that she had been bluffing to scare me.

Regardless, the kid wasn't mine. I was willing to do a paternity test to prove it. That was if there even was a baby. I doubted that too. When I was sixteen, she'd been the sexy, exciting older woman. However, over the past year I had started noticing the crazy boiling under the surface.

The summer crowd was already up and in full swing when I walked out of Lila Kate's studio at eight in the morning. I had planned on walking to the coffee shop across the parking lot and getting Lila Kate one of those fancy teas she liked and a muffin. I definitely hadn't been expecting Grant Carter to be standing against his truck with his arms crossed over his chest glaring at me like he wanted to take the life from my body with his bare hands.

Shit.

"Grant," I said trying to not look guilty of staying the night with his daughter

"Not here for bullshit, boy."

I didn't assume he was. "No, sir. Don't imagine you are."

He dropped his hands to his sides and looked up at the windows to Lila Kate's loft. "That girl in there is the other half of my world. She and her momma have been every dream, every wish, every damn thing that means anything to me from the moment I held her in my arms."

"I understand that," I began and he took a step toward me his scowl deepening. "No. you don't. You don't understand a goddamn thing boy. You've never had a woman you loved more than life itself nor have you held a precious baby girl in your arms that is a miracle and knew that your life would be to protect her. You do not know what that is." 

He was right there. I nodded afraid if I said anything until he was ready for me to he'd break one of the bones in my face. I liked my face the way it was.