Page 24 of Irresistible Love

“So that just leaves you, big brother. You’re smart and have job security and you look out for her. That screams favored child if I ever heard one.”

“You’re not going to let this go, are you?” It wasn’t a question.

“Nope!”

“We’ll talk about it when you get here in two weeks. That’s the best I can do.”

“Deal!” Jax readily agreed. “So, any chance we can go clubbing? I don’t like to date any of the locals because it gets awkward when it doesn’t go beyond a single date.”

Noah rolled his eyes. “So you’re just looking to one night it on my fold-out couch?”

“The one night? Yes. On your couch? Hell no. I’ll gladly get a hotel room for that night.” He paused. “Or nights. I promise not to make things awkward in your monastery.”

“Um…my what?”

“Dude, come on. When’s the last time you brought a woman home? Hell, when’s the last time you got laid? Has it been since you broke up with what’s her name like…a year ago?”

“It was six months ago and…”

Shit.

“By the hesitation, I’d say you’ve been leading a celibate life since. We’re going to have to work on that while I’m there.”

Great.

Maybe it had been a long time, but he hadn’t been interested in anyone. Plus, there was his job and his five-year plan.

Lily’s face came to mind and he couldn’t help but wonder if she were anyone but Lucas’s daughter, if he’d be willing to relax on his rigid schedule and be a lot less…celibate for her.

Maybe.

Too bad that wasn’t possible because she was a Montgomery and there was no way he was going to risk his career.

Not even for her.

FIVE

She never gotto confront her grandfather on Friday night because her Uncle Robert showed up and seemed to dominate every conversation.

And he continued to do so for the entire weekend.

The weather had been relatively mild on Saturday, so the two of them went golfing at the country club. Then on Sunday, they went to some big wine tasting event—also at the country club—and again, she wasn’t included. It was hard to say she was offended, but…she was offended.

She’d called a few of her friends, but everyone was busy and so she’d spent the bulk of the weekend on her own. Part of the time she spent just lounging around, curled up with a good romance novel, but after a few hours, she felt restless and decided it was time to get herself moving again.

First, she experimented with doing some of her exercises from PT—something she’d been dreading since getting the cortisone shot—and then dancing. The exercises had felt great, but she’d been careful to ease herself into all the dance movements. While it had felt good to simply let go and give herself over to the music, she was paying for it now. Her whole body felt stiff and sore and it was a painful reminder that she needed to reach out to the doctors that Dr. Mathis recommended to her.

Glancing at the clock, she saw it was after six on Sunday afternoon and, considering she hadn’t heard anything from her grandfather, she assumed she was on her own for dinner again tonight. There wasn’t anything in the refrigerator that she really wanted, so she decided to soak in the hot tub first, and then order some takeout to be delivered.

Feeling good about her plan, Lily walked outside to get the hot tub running and getting the cover off before going back inside and into her bedroom to change into a swimsuit. She glanced at her reflection in the mirror and grinned when she realized eating that BLT and fries with Noah really didn’t affect how she looked. Sighing happily, she went and grabbed a towel and then put her robe on over her bathing suit because now that the sun was going down, it was chillier out.

“Or…cold,” she murmured when she stepped outside. Fortunately, there was a heat lamp next to the hot tub, so that helped warm her up a bit too. Once she had everything situated, she quickly shed her robe and climbed in, letting out a very throaty moan as she sank lower in the hot, bubbly water. “So good…”

She got comfortable, rested her head back, closed her eyes, and let out a long breath. The jets soothed her sore muscles and the hot water felt like a little slice of heaven. The only thing missing was a glass of wine.

And a man.

It had been months since she’d even been on a date, and ever since Noah kissed her the other day, he was all she could think about. It didn’t matter how hard she tried to think of something or someone—anyone!—else; it didn’t work. Years ago, she found out firsthand how great of a kisser he was, but as time went on, she thought she was just over-romanticizing it. Now, she had confirmation that he was still an excellent kisser.

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