Chapter 15

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

LANDON

" T hank you, Vivian," I say as she sets my coffee on the table. It's almost midnight, but I doubt I'll get much sleep tonight anyway. Vivian is much healthier than when I last saw her, with a ruddiness in her cheeks that I'm happy to see.

"You're welcome." She smiles at me, then at Lily. "Lily, isn't this exciting?"

"I told you. We were working together on that case."

Vivian smiles a little manically but seems sober, just understandably shaken up. "I know, but still. Landon in our kitchen after all these years. It's better than the last one, isn't it?" She laughs erratically.

"You did the best you could," I tell her.

I can feel Lily smiling at me, but I'm doing everything I can not to look at her. I saw her when I first arrived, and that was enough for me. She's wearing PJs—a tank top and shorts, no bra. No fucking bra . I still remember her tits bouncing when she ran into the kitchen, the way my mind instantly went to an image of sliding slickly between them, her thickness massaging my rock-hard …

"Sorry about the whole cops thing," Vivian says shakily.

"No, I'm the one who's sorry," I tell her. "I should've told you I was out there."

"Does it have … to do with that man?" she asks with a shudder.

I nod. "Yeah, honestly. I'm probably just paranoid, but I thought being here would be better."

Vivian shudders again. "So there's a chance he'll come back?"

"Like I said, I'm probably just paranoid, but I can stay here all night."

"Really?" Vivian says eagerly.

"Mom," Lily cuts in, making my battle not to look at her even more difficult. "We can't ask him to do that."

"She didn't ask," I say. "I offered."

"You don't have to do that, then," she says with her classic Lily sass.

Finally, I turn to her. It's a mistake because I've got an angle at her tempting cleavage. Fucking hell , her tits are so perfect, round, and creamy, practically begging for me to pull down her shirt. Then, I stop the train of thought and try to derail it.

"I don't mind," I say. "I'll finish my coffee and get back to my car."

"What? Oh, no, no," Vivian says passionately. "You can stay in here if you like. The couch has a pull-out mattress."

"I honestly don't mind the car," I say.

Lily sighs, but it comes out as a breathy, lust-filled huff. Or maybe that's just the savage part of my mind ticking away. "Seriously, you can stay on the couch," she says. "It's not a big deal."

"You watched over us before, didn't you?" Vivian says, with that same gratitude in her eyes I remember. "It's just like old times."

"He never spent the night before, Mom."

Vivian looks at her daughter in shock, probably at her sharp tone. "I know that . I was speaking metaphorically."

"Oh, sorry."

"Are you sure about this?" I say.

"Absolutely," Vivian says. "Aren't we, Lily?"

"Yeah …"

I look at Lily again. Fuck. She's biting her lip just like she did in the car earlier. Except, earlier, she wasn't wearing a tank top that showed those perfect tits. I feel my dick getting hard, my tip pushing against my jeans. Logically, I need to chill, but logic can go to hell.

I don't sleep, just lying on the bed and staring at the ceiling. Now and then, I'll stand up and check all the windows, then return to bed. There isn't any sign of Damon or any of his wannabe thug buddies, but I wouldn't be able to forgive myself if I left and something happened.

But what about tomorrow? What about the day after? I can't stay here forever. In my case, even if I wanted to, my time is ticking.

I sit up, almost grabbing my pistol, when I hear the floorboards creak, but it's Lily. The streetlights come through the window, resting on the outline of her body. She creeps into the kitchen, probably thinking I'm asleep.

She hasn't noticed me. I watch her over the divider which separates the living room area from the kitchen. She pours a glass of water and stands there drinking it, the light dappling her tits now. When she sighs, her tits sway for me. Fuck . I can feel my dick twitching as I stare at her.

When she sees me sitting up, she gasps.

"Sorry," I say quickly. "I should've announced myself."

She places her glass down and walks around the kitchen divider. "No, my bad," she says quietly. "I'm the one who was sneaking around."

For a crazy second, I thought she walked out here because she wanted to be closer to me. When she lowers her voice, I know it's because she doesn't want to disturb her mom.

"It's fine," I say, lowering my voice.

"What happened?" she says. "Why do you suddenly think he's going to target us again? Tonight? I backed off."

I run my hand through my hair. "I went to The Bear," I say with a sigh. "I had a run-in with Damon, the prick. It seems he thinks there's a connection between you and me."

"What sort of connection?"

"I got pissed when I heard he threatened you. He thinks it means something. He made some comments about maybe coming by. I couldn't let that happen."

"He thinks you care about me?" she asks, walking closer.

She can't have any clue how profound her effect is on me. It's like my balls are completely flooded with need, my shaft getting so hard, the come feeling hot as it rushes up my length. Her body is like a goddamn feast, and all just for me.

"I guess so," I grunt. "He saw the photo of us when you were a kid—that Good Samaritan crap."

"You don't like those articles?" she says, moving closer.

She's almost standing within touching distance now. It's because she doesn't want to wake Vivian, but that doesn't change the fact I can smell her. I can see every blemish on her skin. I can see every gorgeous ripple on her thick thighs.

"No," I growl. "I did them for my old man. My dad was starting a real estate business abroad with some high-value clients. I guess they enjoyed hearing about his hero American son. I always hated that crap, but Dad was good to me all my life, so what could I say?"

She moves closer again, actually within touching distance now. "Carter thinks you did it because you wanted to make yourself look good."

"Ah, so he saw me, then."

"You didn't mention that you know him …"

I shrug. "It was a long time ago."

"He told me to ask you about the apple tree."

My blood turns to ice. I stand up, causing her to flinch, which is the last thing I want. Yet, the savage part of me notes that it causes her tits to bounce just like they will when I slip inside of her, make her shiver in lust, and pound her hard and all night long.

"He shouldn't be speaking about that," I snarl. "Carter likes to blame me for things I had no part in."

She licks her lips as she stares up at me. It's like she's trying to psyche herself up. "Why? What happened?"

"I can't speak about it," I snap.

"Why, it'll break confidentiality?"

"Is that what he told you?" I grunt. "There's no confidentiality to break. Maybe he didn't want to tell you the big, bad story of the evil bastard named Landon Cross."

"You're not evil," she says.

I step closer. Damn. That was a mistake. She gasps, but she doesn't take a step back. Her tits are pressed up against me in the most mouthwatering way possible, squeezed to highlight how plump they are. She purses her lips and looks up at me. It's like she finally knows the effect she's having.

"How do you know that?" I snap. "You don't truly know me, just the Good Samaritan." You don't know that I'm going to die. "Maybe I'm not the person you think I am—the person you wish I were."

"I haven't said I wish you were anything," she whispers.

I lean down a hairsbreadth away. I can taste her lips already, somehow. It's like, just by looking at me, I can feel the lust inside her. Or maybe it's that flush creeping across her silky smooth skin. Fuck, I'm leaking so much precome. I'm rock-solid and suddenly feeling dizzy. Nothing, nobody else matters. What am I going to do? Worry about the rest of my life?

She stares into my eyes as I move forward. I grab her legs, making her gasp again, each one even sexier than the last, my dick pushing against the inside of my pants. She feels so thick, so perfect, big handfuls of curviness to sink my touch into.

"You don't want to know about the apple tree," I tell her. "You don't need to know anything except that I can keep you and your mom safe, Lily."

"You always kept us safe," she whispers.

"This isn't about then …" I lean even closer, slight movements, giving her enough time to back out. Maybe I'm giving myself the chance to rethink this, too. "It's about now ."

Now is the only thing that matters to me. It's taken having feelings for Lily to understand that, being this close to her. In my life before the diagnosis, I only ever planned for the future, never stopping to remind myself that I'd someday have to live in it.

"Oh my God," she whispers right before the kiss.

I push heavily against her the moment I taste her lips. It's like she makes me drunk straightaway. She leans against me with the same pressure, breathing quick, muffled breaths as if she can barely contain herself. I feel the same.

That's why I grab thick, greedy handfuls of her hips and gently spin her around, then lay her on the pullout mattress. She groans and tugs on my shirt, pulling me down on top of her. She feels hot, burning up , and I know her slit is going to feel the same. I can sense how hungry she is for it, for us .

I slide one hand up her belly, under her shirt, finding her braless breast and gliding my thumb over her nipple. She moans, breaking off the kiss without meaning to. When her teeth accidentally bump mine, she begins to speak.

"Don't even think about apologizing," I snarl, massaging her tit with more attention. With my other hand, I slide up her leg toward her pussy. With each inch, I can feel how hot she is, how needy. It adds flames to the fire of my desire.

My balls ache as I tug on her shorts.

"Landon," she whispers.

I look into her eyes and wait for her to go on. "What is it?" I ask, my voice low, gruff. I don't mean for it to be, but it's like there's a goddamn demon in me. The end is so damn close—the end of everything—making me realize how much I've wasted.

I'm not going to waste this moment. I won't waste the connection with Lily. It feels so right.

"Nothing," she says.

"Are you sure?"

"I can tell you after."

The word after gets me going. Because after means we're going to do something first. More precome bursts hotly out of my end, my briefs sticky with the lust pouring out of me. She lets me pull down her shorts around her ankles.

I collapse at the edge of the mattress like I'm praying. She sits up, looking down at me as I stare at her naked pussy. Her hole is winking at me wetly, her lips glistening with lust, her clit looking ready for so much attention. Her thighs shine with her wetness.

"We have to be quiet," she whispers.

"Hmm."

It's the only noise I can make as I grab her thighs and begin kissing up her leg toward her center. She lies back and starts moaning in the hottest way, with hitches every few breaths like she's going to launch into an orgasm any second. When I kiss her tight hole and taste her tanginess perfection, I almost lose it.

I almost snap and tear off my pants, then drive my dick into her hole without even getting my tip wet with her gorgeous mouth first. I kiss her heat again, then slide my thumb over her horny nub. She squeezes her legs tighter around me.

"That's … oh … oh my … are we really doing this?"

"Tell me to stop," I growl, kissing her hole, making out with her tanginess as I rub her clit.

"I can't," she confesses with a pant.

"You want it."

"Yes."

"Fucking need it."

"Yes," she cries.

I move my mouth to her clit, taking it in my mouth and pushing my tongue against her. She damn near loses her mind, her legs squeezing tighter around me. I glance up to see her on her elbows, staring down like she doesn't want to miss a moment. The positioning lets me reach up to massage her tits at the same time as licking her pussy.

Her eyes snap open wildly, her hair across her face in a sexy, wild way. She bites her lip just like in the car when I go nuts on her clit, letting my tongue stroke wildly across her.

I stare into her eyes until she can't take it anymore. She falls back on the bed, and then I smooth my hands around to her ass, indulgently sinking my fingers into her thickness as she gets closer to an orgasm. I can fucking taste how close she is.

When she squeezes her thighs again, I know she's about to let go. My dick aches as she pushes her pussy against me. Her hips move in time with my tongue, my mouth, and my hunger. She bucks against me like she can't stop herself.

Then she moans, sitting up again. "Landon …"

I stand up, staring down at her body. Fuck . Her perfect, curvy body, her wetness making her glimmer, her eyes shimmering with the intensity of the release.

"Keep rubbing your horny slit," I snarl.

She cringes at the savagery in my voice, but then her hand moves to her heat. She strokes her fingers over her clit and her entrance.

"Your hole is so fucking wet," I go on, reaching down and grabbing my waistband. "So ready."

She bites her lip, nodding. Her classic Lily blush has spread across her tits, and they're red in places, too, from where I was massaging her. It's like her body is eager to be tattooed by my attention, and she wants to wear a brand of me.

When I take out my dick, her eyes snap open widely again. She glances at my head dripping with precome, then looks up into my eyes.

"Landon."

"Yes?" I say in that same fierce tone.

When she flinches, her tits jiggle around for me. I groan and lean down, taking her nipple in my mouth and sucking. With my other hand, I massage her other tit. She slides her hands through my hair as I suck and then softly bite her nipple.

"Tell me what to do," she whispers.

I stand up again, trembling all over. "Are you sure?"

"Tell me …"

"Take the head of my dick in your mouth. Suck it. Swirl your tongue around it and then move your hand up and down."

She wriggles right to the edge of the bed, looking up at me with an expression that almost makes me blow my load right there. Then she leans forward, opening her mouth, taking a steadying breath that clues me in too late. I realize, or think I do, that she's so damn nervous.

When she wraps her lips around the tip of my dick and starts stroking my shaft, I can't think. Her touch obliterates any doubts I could ever have. She looks up, raising her eyebrows.

"It's so damn good," I groan.

She nods and sucks me faster, working her hand up and down clumsily. I stare down in awe at the sight of her pretty mouth wrapped around my dick. She strokes me so quickly.

I gently touch the back of her head.

"I need that tight pussy. Fuck, if you keep going …"

She nods, moaning, then sucks me even deeper . My hand falls away from her head. She's got all the power here. She looks up at me, nodding, and I know what she's saying without any words. With my dick half buried in her mouth, I know what she's trying to tell me.

Come in my mouth .

That's the message in her eyes. I want to tell her no. I want to explain to her that I need to save myself for her perfect pussy. I can do nothing when she keeps bobbing her head and stroking. I can't even speak. Just standing up is enough of a challenge.

My body floods with heat. Time seems to slow down for an eternity, letting me stare down at her as she works my shaft, as her tits bounce, with her thick thighs exposed.

Fuck. Fuck. FUCK.

I've never felt pleasure like this. My seed surges up my shaft, caressing every inch of me, her hot tongue swirling around my dick. When she tastes my seed, she pulls away.

"Sorry," she gasps, but her hand is still moving furiously up and down, making my dick feel like I'm burning in the best, horniest sense.

My seed erupts all over her tits. She moans when I take my shaft in my hands.

"Push them …"

Luckily, she doesn't need me to go on. She pushes her tits together to take the last of my seed. When it's all over, my breath comes hard, big, heaving breaths that make me feel like I will fall over. She stands up and finds her shorts quickly.

I pull up my pants. She's dressed now and goes into the bathroom to take a big sip from the faucet. "Sorry," she mutters. "I didn't know how it would taste."

"It's fine," I tell her.

After what we just did, things are way too awkward. I approach her, but she shakes her head like she fears me.

"I can't believe we just did that," she says. "That's not why I came out here."

"I couldn't stop," I groan.

"I didn't ask you to," she says, almost like she's angry. "I didn't want you to."

"Are you okay?"

She looks at the hallway and back at me. "It's not a big deal, but, well … This isn't exactly how I planned on losing my virginity."

She rushes out her words like the verbal equivalent of tearing off a Band-Aid. I can sense she doesn't want to make a big deal out of it.

"You deserve more romance for that," I agree. "Something you can look back on."

"Did you know? Could you tell?"

"No, not until toward the end. Then I got an idea."

"Did I seem nervous?"

"You seemed sexy as hell."

"Sexy as hell," she repeats under her breath. "Do you want to tell me about the apple tree now? We can trade, right? What we just did for the truth about the apple tree." She laughs shakily. It's not a genuine laugh. It's almost like she's trying to let out some small pieces of agony, or maybe not so small.

"That wasn't a trade," I snap. "That wasn't for anything."

"So that's a no, then?"

I go to move toward her. Again, she shakes her head in that urgent way that makes me feel like a predator. It pisses me off, honestly. It's not like I'll charge at her when she doesn't want me to.

"This isn't about?—"

"I thought so."

She rushes toward the hallway.

"Lily, what's gotten into you?"

She doesn't answer; she keeps walking. I debate going after her. After what we just did, surely we've got enough intimacy for that, but I feel unsure. I was so confident when the heat was pumping through us both.

I sit on the mattress and put my head in my hands. Did I make a terrible mistake? Does she feel like I took advantage of her?