Page 16 of Lily
Chapter 5
Lily fidgeted in her seat and tried her best not to stare at Sam as he drove. She looked anywhere and everywhere but at the gorgeous man beside her, and she had thought she was pulling it off successfully until Sam sighed and glanced over at her when they were at a stoplight.
"What?"
Lily looked away again, staring out the window at the building next to them. "Nothing."
"Lily—"
"Hmm?"
"You're staring," he said and sighed at her. "I thought we had discussed that I'm not a serial killer and that you are, in fact, safe with me."
Lily frowned at his words. "I know I'm safe with you," she said before she registered what she was saying. Her mouth snapped shut with an audible click as soon as the words were past her lips, and she stared straight ahead in surprise.
It wasn't that she'd said them without thinking, but that she had meant them. She knew she was safe with Sam.
How? She didn't know. But she knew it.
The man wouldn't hurt her. He would, if Lily's estimation was right, protect her, but why?
"Well…" Sam said after a minute of awkward silence passed between them and the car was once more in motion.
"Well, what?" Lily asked, choosing to press the issue and try to turn the tables on the man. He had an uncanny way of unsettling her, making her think and feel things she had no business thinking and feeling—things a Little felt when she was with a Daddy, someone she might hope was her Daddy.
But Sam wasn't a Daddy Dom, so how was it that she was feeling this?
He chuckled and turned the car down a road that Lily recognized as leading out of the city. They were not going to be in New York City proper. Hell, they weren't going to even be in a borough. When Sam had said that he owned a house, he'd meant a house, and she was sure there would be a sprawling lawn and even real trees, old ones that had deep roots and not a hint of the city smog that hung low in the summer.
"You like to push buttons, don't you, little one?" he asked, and she snapped her eyes to him. There he went again, saying the right words when he had no right to know how much she needed him to say them.
"Why are you calling me that?"
"Calling you what?"
"Little one." She splayed out her hands and kept a close watch on him as she spoke. "You keep saying that and I-I, well, why do you keep calling me that?"
He shrugged, eyes on the road and not her. "Feels right."
"What else feels right?"
He smiled, just a quick upturn of his full lips, and this time his dark eyes moved to look her way. The second their eyes met, Lily felt her breath catch in her throat. She was thankful Sam was driving and he had to look away again to keep them on the road. Just the weight of his stare had her squirming in her seat.
"You're a curious girl."
"So I've been told." And she had been, not that it had ever been said as a good thing. Lily had a penchant for brattiness, which suited her personality just fine, but it wasn't for every Dom. She knew that, but it did make her hesitant when engaging with a new play partner.
He would have to be caring, secure and strong if he was going to last more than a handful of sessions with her. When she clicked with a Dom, it was magic, the scenes and dynamic a source of satisfaction and joy but when they didn't mesh well, it only lent itself to awkward and stilted moments. Lily was relieved to find none of that here with Sam.
"Ah, so then you're aware of the effect you have on men?"
Lily snorted. "What effect? Exasperation?"
Sam laughed and slapped the wheel. "You are not exasperating. A little prickly, but it's not real. Just an act."
"Oh, you think so?" She crossed her arms over her chest and leaned back in her seat. It was easier to keep her head down and enjoy what was all around her.
It was true that she kept her distance, made sure to keep her walls up around new people, because the risks of being hurt by new people was high. She'd always been a little shy when it came to meeting new people.
