Page 27 of Seeking Two Lovers

Nothing worth a damn, anyway.

Lily leaned onto the table, her gaze steady. Searching. “How about you let me decide that for myself?”

Because I could easily fall for you, and where would that leave me when you find out I’m nothing special?

“Blaine.”

“Hmm?” I blinked her back into focus.

“How about we exchange numbers? Text a little bit. Chat some more. I’d love to get together again, but I’m also open to just being friends if that’s all you’re able to give right now.”

I could always use another friend.

Not that anyone would ever take Grey’s place.

“Sure. I’d like that.”

We ambled back toward the cafe a few minutes later, walking closer than before, our sides brushing on occasion. Each and every time, tingles raced through me, and I kept my hands shoved in my jeans pockets so she wouldn’t see them shake.

I followed her to her beat-up blue car, an eyebrow raising at its age.

“She’s old and a piece of shit, just like I’d said,” Lily said with a laugh, “but she’s dependable and gets me to and from work. And she’s all mine.” The possessiveness in her tone layered yet another bit of beauty to the land of Lily inside my head.

She’d escaped too. Experienced freedom from a stifling past.

And goddamn, how I wanted to haul her up into my arms, squeeze her tight, and devour her mouth.

Stepping back, I cleared my throat. “Talk soon?”

Her smile sprinkled a few raindrops over the flowers she’d sown in that garden. “Definitely.”

My legs shook while walking back to the job site to pick up my work truck, but I’d never been happier.

I carried around the secret of Lily in my heart, just as possessive over what she’d created inside me as she was over that POS car.

9

GREYSON

I ended up working late and didn’t have time to run home to shower before my date with Lily.

Heading out for the night, I texted Blaine what I often did when on the prowl for a hookup. He shot back a thumbs up before I even walked out of my office.

He’d been quieter than normal since the evening I hadn’t changed the news station quickly enough. My usual pushing for him to open up and talk about shit went ignored, worrying me even more.

Blaine didn’t do well when he got inside his head, but I loved him enough to respect his boundaries.

Some of the shit he’d gone through he’d shared briefly and never touched upon again. The last thing I wanted to do was bring it to the surface of his mind and start back up the nightmares he suffered from for years after moving to the West Coast with me.

At least he hadn’t shouted out in his sleep since then—not that I’d have minded crawling into bed with him and holding him until he quieted and rested again.

I missed having him in my arms like that but certainly didn’t wish those dreams to return. To have a man bigger than me shivering and shaking, clinging to me with grasping hands, outside sex…

In those moments, I felt needed and loved, able to give the nurturing I missed out on.

And secretly craved.

Perhaps once Higgins dug up some dirt—and hopefully exposed the truth about the cult—Blaine would be able to move on.

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