After a few minutes, the sun peeks through the clouds, and I take advantage of the sunshine by tugging my shirt off. The warmth hits me, permeating my skin and by the time I’ve pushed the full wheelbarrow back up the path, I’m covered in a light sheen of sweat and in need of a cold drink. As soon as I fill the sand table up, I put away the tools and head inside to the kitchen.
I’m pouring myself some of Nina’s homemade lemonade when Lily walks in. She stops when she sees me, letting out a cute-as-hell gasp before her eyes slowly run over my bare chest. A pink blush creeps up her throat before she tears her eyes from me, dropping them to the ground.
“Sorry, I didn’t realize you were in here.”
Trying very hard to not think about how badly I want to be inside her, I take a drink and lean my hip against the counter. “Would you like some lemonade?” She looks up at me while I take another drink. Her eyes lock onto my throat as I swallow. “It’s very good,” I tell her, giving her a wink when she finally brings her eyes to mine.
She scowls at me, and I laugh. I can’t help it. Women don’tscowlat me. They vie for my attention and make it painfully obvious I can have them if I want them, but Lily does none of those things. It’s not the reason I like her, but it does make me laugh.
Ignoring me completely, she grabs a few juice boxes and a couple of bags of animal crackers. Before she can walk out the door, I ask, “How’s Bran doing?”
She turns, clearly thinking this is a trap, but it’s not, and she must see that I’m being serious because she actually answers me. “He’s slowly learning to not be terrified of all of us. He’s very smart and has already learned several signs.”
“How did you learn sign language?” I ask before she can leave. “I mean, I’m assuming you learned at school, but what made you interested in it?”
A soft smile plays at her lips when she says, “The boy I had a crush on in high school was deaf. I became obsessed with learning it because I wanted to be able to communicate with him.”
A sudden spike of jealousy hits me, which is absurd, but I can’t help being envious of this guy she tried to pursue back when she was a teenager. She goes after him, but she slams the door in my face. My ego doesn’t stoically take the hit. It pouts in the corner of my mind like a giant baby. I ignore it and ask, “What happened?”
She gives a soft laugh that has me fighting a grin at how much I like the sound of it while she says, “He moved away and I never saw him again, but my love for sign language didn’t change. I was fascinated by the beauty of the language, and then that fascination changed to admiration at how complex it is, and I quickly decided I wanted to make it my career.”
This time I can’t hold back my smile. I love hearing her, and the passion she has for ASL is obvious when she talks about it. I’m also secretly thrilled nothing happened between her and her high school crush, even if that does make me sound like a jealous ass.
Before she can stop it, she returns my smile, and then tightens her grip on the snacks, clutching them to her chest as she walks out of the room. I watch from a distance as she walks outside, giving all three kids a juice box and bag of animal crackers before she sits down next to them and starts to join in the fun. She doesn’t mind getting dirty with them, laughing when Bran accidentally spills sand all over her lap. His eyes widen in fear at first, but then she gives him a big smile and holds her hand out for his. When he puts his small hand in hers, she brings it to her throat, laughing again while she smiles. He feels the vibrations of her laugh, and another tiny smile breaks through.
I watch them for a long time, and I know Vasya and Nikolai are right. I can’t fuck this up. I can’t treat this like all my other relationships—if you can count one-night stands as relationships. She doesn’t deserve that, and the truth is I don’t want it to be like that with her. I don’t want a fling with Lily. I want to get to know her, and I want her to get to know me. I want things with her that I’ve never wanted with anyone else before. That knowledge alone should scare the shit out of me, but instead I wait for her to leave the house and then follow along like a pathetic, love-struck idiot.
“Lily, wait,” I start to say, but she cuts me off with a quick shake of her head.
“Ilya, what the hell are you doing?”
She doesn’t slow down, so I keep pace with her, trying to figure out what to say while not sounding like a lunatic.
“I just want to talk,” I tell her.
She huffs out a breath, and I swear speeds up a bit.
Incredulous, I ask, “Are you trying to run away from me?”
I get the briefest of looks when she says, “First time for everything, I guess. Bet you’ve never had to chase after anyone.”
We’re already at her door, and within seconds she’s trying to slam it in my face again. I put my hand out, pressing my palm against the wood to stop her.
“You’re not even going to hear me out?”
She stops, resting her hand on her hip in the universalyou’re really pissing me offlook that women can do so well. The words that come out of her mouth surprise me.
“You’re a manwhore, Ilya.”
“What?” I keep my hand pressed against the door so she doesn’t get any ideas about shutting it. “That’s not very nice. You barely know me.”
“I know enough.” She waves a hand in the air around me. “Your whole aura reads playboy. Can you even count on your fingers and toes how many women you’ve been with?”
Like a deer caught in the headlights, I loosen my grip, letting my hand drop while I hesitantly ask, “Like this year or…”
She doesn’t let me finish. The door is swiftly slammed in my face.
Again.
