Page 91 of Lorenzo & Lily

“I felt it, you know.”

“What?”

“The fear of losing you.”

His breath caught. “Lily.”

“I’d forgotten what it felt like. I’ve been afraid for so long, lonely for so long. And I realized something. I never stopped loving you.”

“God, Lily.”

“I didn’t. I told you I never dated, not once after I broke things off with you. At the time, I told myself I was too busy to date, that I didn’t want random men in Liliana’s life. And that was all true. But it was true because I only wanted you. I was devastated that I couldn’t have you, and that Liliana couldn’t know you. So, I kept trying to reach out to you.”

“You love me?”

She licked her lips. “I do. I know there are still secrets between us, about our past. I only hope, once you discover what those are, that you’ll still want to be with me.”

“Lily–”

She put two fingers over his lips. “Let me finish. I don’t want to be afraid anymore. I know, with your arms around me, I won’t have to be. You’ll chase the fear away as you did earlier tonight. I’ll tell you all my secrets, because I don’t want them between us anymore. I want us to start, well, as fresh as we can.”

His heart was beating furiously. He hadn’t expected this, not yet. He thought it’d take her more time. He was fucking thrilled it hadn’t, even if he did need to get shot to make it happen. “God, Lily. You won’t regret this. I promise you. You won’t regret this.”

“I haven’t had a chance to tell you yet, but the hotel owners told me they fired John and Calvin and want me to take over running the hotel.”

He’d gotten used to the idea of having her close by at the conference center. However, this was an incredible opportunity for her. “Are you going to do it?”

“I thought about it, but I don’t want to run a hotel.”

“Are you sure? Maybe you should wait until morning to decide.”

She shook her head. “I’m not making a rash decision because you were shot, or not entirely. I know what I want and I’m not going to change my mind. Tonight, I realized that being with you meant being close to you, too. I want to run your conference center, and be near you and Liliana.”

“It’s your conference center now.”

She smiled. “How about ‘our’ conference center?”

“Perfect.” He kissed her, slow and sweet. “I love you.”

“I love you.”

“Will you let me have you? Taste you?”

“Yes. Please.”

“It’ll have to be fast.” He leaned up to whisper in her ear. “I’ll have to enjoy you more thoroughly later.”

She shuddered and his teeth nipped the lobes of her ear. She shuddered again.

His hands dipped to her shirt. He unbuttoned slowly, lightly brushing her exposed skin as he did. When he finished, he pushed the shirt away.

“No bra,” he murmured.

“I didn’t have time. I just wanted to get to the hospital.”

“Makes it easy for me to taste you then.”

He kissed her neck and her head tipped back. Her hands delved into his hair.

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