Page 103 of False God

“No.” She sits up, mirroring my posture. “Been a while actually. Since … high school?”

“Surprised your family doesn’t have a place here.”

“We have one on the Amalfi Coast,” she tells me a little sheepishly.

“Do you go there a lot?”

“At least once a year usually. My dad owns part of AC Milan, so that’s always where he wants to take our family trips.”

I sort of … forgot how wealthy Lili is. And that she’s from the kind of family that takes vacations together.

The reminder of how different our lives are dims my mood a little. All I have to offer her is a title—one she doesn’t care about.

She glances at me when I say nothing. “You follow football, right?”

“Is the king English? Yes, I follow football.”

She rolls her eyes. “I don’t know much about the Premier League.”

“It’s where all the best teams are. That’s all you need to know.”

Lili scoffs. “Don’t mention that to my dad.” She reaches for the tube of sunscreen someone left on the deck. Holds it toward me. “Do you mind putting some on my back? I want to lie out for a while, but I don’t want to get burned.”

I take the bottle from her. “If you wanted me to touch you, you just had to ask.”

She tries to grab it back from me. “Never mind. I’ll ask?—”

“You already asked me. Turn around.”

She huffs but listens. I squeeze some of the white lotion into my palm, then start rubbing it over her right shoulder. She groans softly when my thumb digs into her deltoid, and the sound shoots straight to my dick.

If we were alone, I’d flip her over and fuck her right here.

“Are you okay?” she asks me quietly.

“Yeah. Why?”

“I don’t know. You seemed … extra serious when Theo was talking about that guy you went to school with.”

I’m startled—pleasantly surprised—that she was paying close enough attention to me to notice.

I squirt more sunscreen out, then move to rub her other side, careful not to disturb the scab on her shoulder. It’s almost gone, revealing the new, pinker skin beneath.

“I didn’t injure my kneeplayingrugby,” I confess. “I was in a car accident when I was seventeen. Piers Colborn, the guy Theo mentioned, was the one driving.”

Lili’s back expands with a sudden breath under my palm.

“It was an accident. The other driver wasn’t paying attention. Ran a red. Piers and I just happened to be on the wrong sideof the car. Hadn’t heard his name in a while, is all. Took me by surprise.”

“Were you friends?” she asks.

“Friendly. Teammates mostly. We were on our way to practice when it happened. My father was furious. He’d never wanted me to play rugby in the first place. Tried to sue the Colborns and everything.” I shake my head.

“I’m sure he was worried about you.”

“Worried about not having an heir. With good reason, as it turned out.”

“I’m sorry that happened to you, Charlie.”

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