I was taken aback by her fierce declaration. Clearly, Bonnie had been bitter about Samuel and apparently, passed it along to her daughter. It wasn't the time to get into it all, though, so I changed the subject.
"What about college?"
Lilah sighed. "I've been accepted to Harvard, Princeton, Columbia, and Yale."
Again, this wasn't news to me, however, her complete lack of emotional response to her answer was. "You don't sound particularly pleased over that impressive list," I teased.
She giggled. "It's not that. It's just..." she trailed off, looking uncertain.
"You can be honest with me, baby girl," I urged, taking her hand once again and giving it a gentle squeeze.
"My mom was so proud. It was everything she wanted for me. She even had an inheritance that she set aside specifically for my college, never once touching it." Her eyes misted, and I wanted to pull her into my lap and cuddle her close to make her distress go away. "I feel so guilty."
I raised an eyebrow at that. "Why?"
She leaned forward, almost conspiratorially, and whispered, "I don't want to go to college." She said it like she'd just confessed to murder, and I had to compress my lips to keep from chuckling. She was fucking adorable. Every minute, I was more and more convinced I needed to keep her.
Lifting her hand, I brushed my lips across the back and smiled at her pleased blush. "I'm confident your mother wanted what was best for you, Lilah. I didn't know her, but I can't imagine the woman you've described wanting you to be anything less than completely happy."
She shrugged, but I saw a spark of hope light her crystal blue eyes.
"What do you want to do, Lilah?" I queried.
Her cheeks tinged pink and she glanced down shyly. "I've always loved to draw, and I think it would be amazing to be an illustrator for children's books." She became animated as she continued. "Not only would it be fun, but I could do it from home and be with my kids-" she broke off abruptly and red engulfed her face. "Um, not that I have kids, or am planning them anytime soon. I mean, it's not like I want to get married and have babies right now"-she blushed even harder as she prattled on-"I shouldn't have mentioned marriage. It's too soon to be talking about-not that you would want to marry me-oh, sweet heaven, please let a hole in the earth open up and swallow me now."
I lost it. Threw my head back and belly laughed so hard that my stomach hurt and my face ached. Lilah sat silently, looking completely miserable, and it was only her sadness that curtailed my amusement so I could stop laughing. I stood abruptly and picked up her hands, lifting her to her feet as well. "C'mon, baby girl. We need to go." I tossed some money on the table and led her from the restaurant, ignoring her crestfallen expression.
Outside, I stepped off of the curb and raised a hand, hailing a cab. It zoomed up next to us and screeched to a halt. "Midtown Hilton," I barked after we were both securely inside.
Twisting my upper body, I grabbed her around the waist and dragged her over until she was straddling me. She gasped as she settled on my lap, clearly feeling my physical reaction to her as it pressed against the heat of her pussy. There was nothing left for me to hold onto, I'd thrown caution and logic out the window. I was going to get inside her that night or I was pretty sure I would fucking die.
Palming her cheeks, I looked straight into her blue pools. "You are too young, too beautiful, and I'm nowhere near good enough for you. But fuck, Lilah, I can't resist you." Then I slammed my mouth down over hers.
Chapter 4
Delilah
Holy moly! One moment, I was mortified about embarrassing myself because I'd spewed word vomit about babies and marriage to Ethan. And the next, I was on his lap in the back of a cab, his tongue in my mouth, while we were on our way to his hotel. My lips had parted in surprise, and he'd taken full advantage, his tongue tangling with mine and taking my breath away.
He didn't lift his head until we pulled up in front of his hotel. "Come upstairs with me."
It wasn't really worded as a question, more of a demand. What I should have done was tell him to take me home, but I couldn't make myself do it. Not when I wanted more kisses and to keep him looking at me like he wanted to take me right where we sat.
"Yes," I whispered, and he dragged me from the cab after swiping his credit card to pay for our ride.
His dark, penetrating gaze didn't leave mine, except to sweep over my body and linger at my chest, the entire ride up in the elevator. His stare had my nipples hardening under the scrutiny. The tension between us was palpable, the air around us practically crackling as Ethan led me into his hotel room and the door closed behind us.
Then he was behind me, and I felt the whisper-soft touch of his lips against the back of my neck. His fingers sifted through my hair, loosening it from the low side-bun I'd pulled it into earlier. "I told myself I wasn't going to do this. That I should stay away from you for your own good. But I can't do it. You're just so fucking perfect."
"Perfect?" I repeated, stunned. I really had thought I'd managed to ruin everything at the end of dinner. "I'm a mess. I was literally talking about babies and marriage on our first date. You shouldn't think I'm perfect, you should be running in the opposite direction from the crazy woman you took to dinner."
He spun me around in his arms, staring down at me with a blaze of fire in his eyes. "If you think I haven't imagined what it would feel like to fill you up with so much of my come that it would be impossible for you not to be pregnant, then you really are crazy."
"But you laughed at me," I breathed out.
"I wasn't laughing at you, baby girl. I'd never do that," he swore. "I was laughing because you're so fucking adorable. Because your openness is a breath of fresh air when I'm used to dealing with liars and cheats. And because it was just more proof that my decision to make you mine was the right one. It made me so damn happy."
"Holy crap." Any thoughts of walking out the door with my virginity intact flew right out the window. I wanted him too much, and as impossible as it was to believe, he wanted me right back. I'd never experienced anything like it, and I wasn't willing to let go of how he made me feel.
"Tell me I can have you, baby girl. That you want to be mine. I swear, I'll make you feel so fucking good." His fingers drifted up my side to cup my breast through my sweater, making my breath catch in my throat. Then his thumb rubbed over my pebbled nipple, and my head fell back, my eyes drifting shut.
"Yes," I gasped.
"Thank fuck," he groaned. "I'm not sure what I would have done if you'd said no. I want you too fucking much." He pulled me against his hard body and rocked into me, his hard-on pressing against my stomach and showing me exactly how much he wanted me. If we were judging the depth of his desire by the size of his dick, it definitely was too much because he felt huge.
"I don't think you're going to fit." When I was nervous, I tended to blurt out every thought in my head, and there I went, doing it again.
He lowered his head, leaning in close to my ear. "I'll be gentle."
Then he lifted me in his arms and carried me to the king sized bed, carefully laying me down on the mattress. He lifted one of my feet up, slowly unzipping the side zipper of my boot and pulling it off before doing the same with the other side.
"I'm going to want you to wear these again, just so I can see you in nothing but these hot-as-fuck boots."
It was an incredibly sexy thought, but my lack of experience worried me. Made me nervous. "I don't know what to do."
"I know, baby girl, and I love it. But I do, and I'll show you."
His hands lifted from my legs and he took a step away from the bed. I watched, riveted by the sight of him unbuttoning his shirt. My gaze ate up all the muscles he revealed, but then dropped lower when he moved his hand to unzip his pants after he'd toed his shoes off. He allowed them to fall to the floor, joining his shirt in a quickly growing pile.
His hard-on pressed against the material of his black boxer-briefs, making me swallow hard. I could barely breathe when his thumbs eased both sides down and his thick length was bared. He was even bigger than he'd felt. I tried to swallow again, but my throat felt swollen and my mouth was dry. With a quick shuffle of his feet, his socks were off and he was crawling onto the mattress with me.
His eyes met mine, and they were filled with so much heat. But as he looked down at me, there was a softness in them as well.
"Lilah," he breathed against my lips. "My baby girl." He dipped his head lower, his mouth devouring mine. His hands plunged through my hair, tugging at it. All my worries slipped away when he moaned into my mouth, and I was wholly focused on making him do it again.