We both look that way. Unlike the redhead, who grins, I study Lilly’s face and need half a second to understand what she’s thinking.
She doesn’t say a word but walks past me like the devil’s on her heels.
“Looks like you’re alone now,” the woman teases.
“Back off.” I don’t raise my voice, but this time, she gets the message and walks away.
I go after Lilly, realizing this is the first time I’ve chased a woman—and somehow, it amuses me.
I catch up to her before she leaves the VIP area. I grab her arm. “Lilly.”
“I want to go home.”
“We will, but listen to me.”
“I don’t need to listen. I saw. You kissed me five minutes ago, and now what? You’re making plans with that Amazon?” She yanks free and heads down the stairs, bumping into a few couples on the way.
I don’t grab her again, but I stay close. No point trying to talk here—music’s too damn loud for anything serious.
“You can’t leave without me,” I say once we’re outside—not to provoke her, just stating facts. This area is like a second home and one of the few places I move around without bodyguards.
“I don’t plan on walking. I just don’t want to be near you.”
We reach my car, still outside, and the parking lot is mostly empty.
“You don’t want to be near me because you’re jealous.”
“No, I’m furious with myself for letting you kiss me and then watching you flirt with another woman. But I don’t want to feed those feelings. I went to Catholic school. It’s a sin.”
I’m the grumpiest bastard on Earth, so it’s insane how she almost makes me smile.
Almost—because her anger is very real, and I’m not about to make it worse by brushing it off.
“Hating me’s off-limits, but sucking my tongue during the kiss wasn’t?”
She flushes, but I won’t pretend to be someone I’m not. Lilly needs to decide whether she wants to stay the overprotected girl forever or become a woman. If it’s the latter, she’ll have to own her desires.
“You’re not being nice.”
“Back to this, Lillyana?” I ask, cornering her against the car door. This time, I lift her into my arms—she’s so small, and I want to look her in the eye. Her breathing quickens.
“Back to what?”
“The whole proper, repressed good girl thing. That misguided idea that I’m some kind of prince.”
“Don’t worry. If there’s one thing you’ve made clear, it’s that you’re no prince. From the second I got to Boston, you showed me you didn’t want me here.”
“It’s exactly the opposite. I want you in Boston, within reach, because I’m burning for you. And if you stay close, I’m going to fuck you—and not in the way you deserve. I want to fuck you for days. I want to take you hard from behind while I bite your pale little shoulders. I want to lick your pussy until I hear you scream my name.”
“Amos . . .” She’s melting in my arms again, burning with desire—but that’s not the kind of surrender I want. Not just lust. I need her to own this.
“If we’re doing this, Lilly, you need to know what you’re getting yourself into. Sin and I—we go hand in hand. In every sense you can imagine.”
“And what’s the alternative?”
I set her down and force myself to put a little distance between us, though my hands still rest beside her on the car windows. “We stop everything. Keep it just friends.”
“We were never friends. I don’t think we ever will be. You mess with my head too much. I don’t want to punch my friends and rip their clothes off—at the same time.”
