Lily leaned back to feel his firm grip massage her backside. If they didn’t break this up really fast, the dinner she’d worked so hard on was going to burn. Wait. Let it go up in a fireball. This is heaven. The sensual rhythm of his massaging hand on the globe of her ass was making her belly flutter and her thoughts drift back to the way he’d snapped the belt on her shoulder. Heaven.
“Test? Ah, yes. You passed with an A plus, plus, plus.” Lily giggled and rose on her toes to press a kiss on his lips. The harder she pushed, the more his mouth opened. She gasped, and he took the opportunity to slip his tongue inside her mouth. When he tilted his head one way, she naturally followed his lead. The sensation felt so right. The ultimate submission of her pleasure with unquestionable trust of the dom she’d always needed.
“Oh, shit!” Adam pulled Lily aside as he stepped over to the stove. “This meal is going to take a nosedive if we don’t cool this off. Rain check?”
Lily smiled, loving the way his lips tilted up in a naughty grin. “Definitely.”
Adam went back to preparing the vegetables while Lily tended to the pots on the stove. “You said your mom liked to cook? I’d love to taste something she’s made sometime. Does she live in New York? I don’t remember Nicholas talking much about her.”
The snap of the knife on the cutting board stopped. “She passed away when I was fourteen. Cancer.”
Lily spun around, almost tipping the pot of boiling water to the floor. “Oh, Adam, I’m so sorry.” She wrapped her arms around his waist, pressing herself as tight as she could against his back.
He hugged her arms against his stomach. “She’s still with me. I can hear her voice sometimes. When I was overseas this last time, the platoon I was with was advancing on a village, and I heard her voice tell me not to go. It was a routine check, houses and stuff. I didn’t think much about it, but when my ears buzzed with her voice, I held back, and it was a miracle that I did. Two guys got shot up pretty bad. There was a sleeper cell of terrorists hiding in one of the houses. I got some good pictures after the scuffle, but I would’ve been injured if I’d been with the group that went into that house.”
Lily couldn’t imagine the sight. She squeezed her eyes shut and pressed her forehead between his shoulder blades. How many times had she wandered through this big empty house and heard her grandma’s voice echoing off the walls? The comforting memories were a lifeboat when her world seemed so off-kilter. “Oh, Adam. She’s your angel.”
“I guess you could say that.” He laced their fingers together, and she felt the warm sensation of his lips pressing against the inside of her hand. “Come on. Let’s get your pasta in the water. We’re never going to eat at this rate.”
Lily hugged Adam with her whole body and willed herself to finally let go. She turned to the stove and started carefully putting the strips of pasta into the steaming pot. “I hate that you have to go back to that horrible place again. It scares me to death.” She gave the pasta a quick stir.
Adam took the bowl on the counter and started piling the contents for the salad inside. “This will be my last trip over there. I’ve got enough prints for my book, and it’s time for me to start working on getting that put together. I want to demonstrate the cycle of the war. I think this is going to be a really great piece to document history.”
Lily grabbed two plates out of the cabinet. “I understand that,” she said as she carried the plates and silverware over to the kitchen table. “But I don’t want you to risk your life to get the ultimate picture. I’m scared, Adam.”
He set the bowl of salad on the table next to the garlic bread and pulled her over into his arms. “I know, baby. I don’t want to go either, but I owe it to the guys. I want their stories told. I want the true side of war to be put out there for everyone to see. It’s not like in the movies or what the news splashes all over the TV. This is real. Real blood. Real lives being lost and heroes being made. I know it’s hard to understand, but I need you to be here for me. Can I trust you to be here for me when I get back?”
Lily knew she’d wait. She’d wait an eternity if she had to. This felt right when everything else felt so unsure. Tony had his own life to manage, and she knew the stress was getting to him. He had been quiet lately. He had never been one to snuggle up in a blanket and share life stories, but at least he always had a smile for her. She’d spent the last several months in an anxious silence wondering if his next visit would be the last.