Page 19 of Easter Daddy

“Then, let’s go.”

* * *

His house is no mansion,but it’s pretty close to it. Admittedly, I was expecting it to be bigger. I always envisioned Liam to be living in the lap of luxury. For someone with his wealth, this is pretty tame.

“What?” he asks when he sees me looking at the house.

“Nothing.”

“You’re lying.”

“I just…expected it to be a little bit bigger and maybe more luxurious.”

He shrugs. “The bigger the house, the more lonely it feels when you’re in there by yourself. In my defense, this is just one of my properties. I enjoy solitude, but sometimes, the silence is unbearable.”

“That’s understandable,” I nod. “I get it.”

“I wouldn’t mind living in a mansion with you, though,” he tells me.

Time seems to slow, and I know whatever I say next is important to him, to us. I grab his hand and touch it to my cheek.

“I wouldn’t mind that, either,” I whisper.

He smiles at me and I yelp when he scoops me into his arms. When we get inside, he leads me up a flight of stairs. I look around me, and he’s right, it’s pretty eerie when you’re living alone in a place as big as this.

“You have no help? No servants?” I ask him.

“No,” he tells me. “Never felt the need.”

“You’re… different,” I say when we arrive outside of a room that I assume to be his bedroom. He frowns.

“How so?”

“You’re not how I expect a billionaire to be. You could have people doing everything for you, cleaning up after you, and there would be nothing wrong with that if you paid them to do it, but you don’t.”

“I like being in control of my own life,” he tells me, opening the door. “In every way.”

Like everything else in his house, his bedroom is minimalist. No junk, pops of color and other furniture save for the bed. It’s all neutral colors and so…Liam.

“If you want to stop at any time, Lily,” he says, “please feel free to tell me.”

“I know, but I won’t.”

He backs me to the bed, and I fall on the soft mattress. Just then, I remember something so I sit and hold up one hand. True to his word, he stops.

“I have to tell you something.”

“Okay.”

I search his handsome features, wondering if what I’m about to say will be a dealbreaker for him.

His heavy-lidded gaze softens. “Is this too much too soon for you? I can–”

“I’m a virgin. I’ve never done this before.”

There.

For a few agonizing seconds, he just stares at me, his eyebrows drawn together. Whether in amazement, disappointment, or confusion, I don’t know.

---