Page 78 of From the Moment We Met

“You looked really beautiful. She looked like she was craving attention, which is what she does.”

“Isn’t that what you all do?”

“That’s not fair, Lilly.” Her words cut him because they were true…at one point. But not anymore. One Yank Ninja Express wannabe gangster had changed his outlook on everything.

“Not fair is saying what you said to me, making me feel those things—”

“I meant every word. Every word.”

Lilly shook her head, running her hands up her legs. Jacob grabbed her foot and began massaging it, his thumbs sliding across her slick skin. “Give me my foot back—”

“No. You’re going to have lay there and endure this foot massage.”

“You never answered my question.”

“What’s that, angel?” Jacob’s hands froze on her foot as their eyes locked on that last word. He never referred to women by anything other than their names, he never let them stick around long enough to receive anything more. Yet he’d been referring to Lilly as angel practically since day one.

Lilly swallowed hard, her eyes lasered on him. “Why do you call me that?”

Time to bare his soul. “Because you are.”

“Am what?”

Jacob felt his heart rate increase. “My angel.”

Lilly’s eyes filled with tears and she shook her head, snatching back her foot. “You can’t say things like that and then act like you do.”

“I’ve never said anything like that to another woman. Just you. Only you. Why didn’t you let me explain what was going on with Victoria?”

“There’s nothing to explain, I saw you two having dinner. I saw her touching you.” Her voice broke with emotion. “I saw you letting her.”

“It’s not what you think—”

“Was it a date?”

How the fuck was he supposed to explain this situation? “Yes, but—”

Jacob regretted the words the instant they left his mouth. Bugger he was an idiot. He knew he should have come clean and told Lilly the situation as soon as he agreed to Victoria’s ridiculous demands.

But he hadn’t. He instead tried to toe the line, keep his Hollywood life separate from his personal life, and now they collided like two cars in a high-speed crash.

He watched Lilly’s sweet face turn to steel, her eyes glazing over as she donned her emotional mask. He realized how the situation sounded like she was another girl in a long line of conquests. There was no way he could explain the situation with her as drunk as she was. Hell, he might not be able to convince her if she was stone cold sober.

Lilly focused her gaze downward, her hands clenching and unclenching, and he worried she might take a well-deserved swing at him. Instead, a tear slid down her face, and he realized he would rather take a punch than see her cry. “It’s time for you to leave, Jacob.”

“That came out wrong—”

Lilly held up her hand. “Please, just go, I’m begging you.”

Jacob gripped the side of the tub, wishing he had kept his big mouth shut. “Lilly, you don’t understand—”

Lilly nodded. “You’re right, and I don’t want to. Please leave. And please leave me alone, Jacob. I told you to be careful with my heart. It isn’t like yours, mine will break. And that’s what you’re doing right now.”

Christ, she was killing him. Jacob wanted to spill his guts, tell her how he felt, but he didn’t know how to describe it. He’d never felt anything remotely like this before, and his situation with Victoria only made things messier. He smacked his lips nervously. “Lilly—”

“No, Jacob.”

He grabbed her chin, forcing her to look at him. “You have no idea how I feel about you, what you’re doing to me, to my life. I had everything planned, a plan to get on track and back on top of my career. Then I meet you, and I’m upside down.”

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