Page 71 of From the Moment We Met

Lilly took a moment and dug deep, finding every last drop of her strength. "I'm busy Jacob. As are you. I suggest you return to your business meeting and leave me to enjoy my dinner." Her gaze swung up to his, her jaw set and her stare steely.

Jacob’s tongue flicked over his lips and Lilly cursed her body for reacting to the innocent move. “Lilly, please. This isn’t what it seems—” He reached out his hand to grab hers, but Enrique stopped him dead in his tracks.

"The lady said no. Now, if you'll excuse us.”

Jacob’s blue eyes shot daggers at Enrique. “I’m speaking to Lilly. So, if you don’t mind, stay out of our personal business.”

“When your behavior causes my friend to shed a tear, it becomes my business.” Enrique’s dark eyes lobbed grenades right back at Jacob.

Jacob’s face fell at Enrique’s statement. “Please don’t cry, angel.”

That did it. Lilly could handle only so much and his use of such an intimate pet name broke her last defense. To make matters worse, the surgeons at their table were now focused entirely on their exchange…as was Victoria across the room.

"I can't speak to you now," she said, and with that looked away, picking up her glass and offering a toast to the surgeons at the table, effectively shutting out Jacob—and his excuses.

She heard his whispered expletive before he turned and walked away, and although her jaw trembled, she held her head high. Fuck Jacob Edmonton.

∞∞∞

The next hour passed by so slowly Lilly swore the clock must be moving backward. She did her best to ignore the table with the two golden-haired celebrities, but her eyes kept moving in that direction, and every time her eyes locked with Jacob’s fiery gaze.

She darted her gaze away every time, but they both knew the truth—her face was incapable of deception. Her mouth could tell a lie, but her face would never back it up. Jacob would be able to read the heartache etched on her features from a mile away.

Lilly closed her eyes and flashes from the night before flew through her mind—his mouth worshipping every inch of her body, his whispered promises that she was unlike any woman before her. Lies, all lies, spouted by one hell of an actor.

By now, her bladder was begging for mercy, but as luck would have it—and luck is such a fickle bitch—she had to walk right past Jacob's table to reach the lavatory.

Holding her head high, she walked past the table at a fast clip, her eyes focused straight ahead. She sure as hell didn't want to see the radiant and statuesque Victoria draped all over Jacob, her mouth caressing the same body parts Lilly kissed the night before.

She was washing her hands when the door swung open, and someone moved to the sink beside her. "Quite the little scene your surgeon friend pulled earlier."

Lilly groaned inwardly. It was Victoria, towering over her in five-inch heels.

"I'm sorry if it ruined your dinner." What the hell else could she say? Sorry but seeing you two together destroyed my appetite as well?

She dried her hands and turned toward the door, but Victoria caught her arm.

"What ruined my dinner was Jacob's incessant puppy dog stare towards your table. Do you want to tell me what the nature of your relationship is with my boyfriend?"

Lilly swallowed around the nausea threatening to erupt all over Victoria’s insanely expensive dress. Her boyfriend? “We don't have any sort of relationship. I took care of his sister, remember?"

Her green eyes pinned Lilly. "You're a bad liar. Now I know that Jacob is hung up on someone and I'm guessing that someone is you. But he has much more on the line than just his heart, Ms...Lilly, is it?"

“Yes.”

"He's in contention for a huge movie role. One that will ensure he goes down in history as one of the greats—like Humphrey Bogart great. You are a distraction to that goal, a goal which Jacob and I have spent years building."

Lilly focused her stern brown gaze on Victoria. She was tired of being a shrinking violet—fuck Jacob and his blonde bombshell. "You think my presence in his life is affecting his choices?"

"Yes, I do. And I would appreciate it if you would back off and let him focus on his real priorities—me and the movie.”

Victoria's words stuck in Lilly's craw. Real priorities, which Lilly was not. It sounded like a page taken directly from the playbook of her earlier relationship.

"Do I make myself clear?" Victoria dabbed her lips before meeting Lilly's gaze in the mirror.

"Crystal. I just find it amusing that you consider me such a threat to your little world.” Lilly wasn't sticking around for more veiled threats; she had heard enough. She turned and walked out of the bathroom.

She hadn't taken three steps out of the loo when arms wrapped around her waist, pulling her to an empty closet. She initially freaked, thinking an attack was imminent, but Jacob's familiar scent wafted to her nostrils.

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