14. Felipe

14

FELIPE

E ven through her lovely smile, the wonder that shone in her brown eyes at the sight of the limo, I could tell something was bothering Lila the second she took her seat beside me. She was missing the sparkle that had drawn me to her from that first meeting on the street. Something had happened, and I needed to know how to fix it. The limo began to roll down the busy streets toward our destination, and I turned to the woman beside me.

"Lila, mi amor , you look stunning," I told her first, because it was true. The dress she'd chosen hugged her curves deliciously, and though her face was always beautiful, I could tell she'd put extra time into her makeup. The thought that she put in that effort to get pretty for me sent a bolt of warmth through my body. "But there's something bothering you, no? Did something happen?"

"I'm okay," she lied pitifully. She tried out a gentle smile. "I just… let's have a good night, okay?"

"We'll have a wonderful night," I assured her. "But I don't want this sadness hanging over you like a cloud. I want you to know you can tell me anything." I scooted closer to her, taking her hand in both of mine and pulling it up to my lips. I pressed a kiss to the back of her hand and then didn't let it go, and Lila sighed into the affection, her face relaxing ever so slightly. "Please, tell me what's wrong so I can help."

"I'm not sure you can," she let out in a miserable whisper. "I–I'm sorry. I don't want to be a downer."

I moved ever closer to her, releasing her hand with one of mine so that I could be free to cup her cheek. I tilted her face up to meet my gaze, since she'd been trying to stare down at her lap this whole time. Her eyes shone with unshed tears.

"Lila, you could never bring me down. Just your presence fills me with a joy I can't express. But when you're hurting… damn, it's hard to watch. You're safe with me. Please, let me comfort you."

She smiled at me, gratitude shining through even as the first tears began to fall, slow rivulets cascading down her cheeks. "You're so good to me."

With that declaration, she finally told me about the phone call she'd received from Aaron Pierce. I admired her strength as she recounted it through her gentle tears, her voice steady all the while. "I'm just… I'm so worried he's going to fire me, and even though I still have Miles, I need this job, too. And I'm already so attached to Jamie…" Her lip trembled, a small sob escaping.

"Oh, darling," I sighed, pulling her into me like I'd wanted to all along. She felt right in my arms, and she curled into my chest with perfect ease, accepting the comfort I was all too glad to provide. "I'm so sorry."

All I wanted was to tell her that she didn't need to worry about her job. That I had more than enough money for both of us, and I'd gladly take care of her. If she wanted, she could never work again—well, besides on her writing, since I knew she'd never want to give up on her dreams. I'd never dream of asking her to.

But I knew that now wasn't the time. My romanticisms were rarely practical, but this was our first ever date, even if it felt like I'd known her for years at this point. There was no part of me that was quite delusional enough to think I could convince this smart, sensible woman to give up her life as she knew it before we'd ever even kissed.

Instead, I tried to channel my logical friend, Miles, even as I continued to stroke Lila's hair and hold her close.

"You don't deserve to be spoken to that way by anyone," I told her fiercely. "Aaron was out of line. He's been under tremendous stress as he helps navigate this new direction for his company, and through working with him, the two of us have grown rather close. I know that blowing up on someone with less power than him is out of character, and I bet he feels terrible about it. But that's no excuse, and he should learn to control his emotions better than this, rather than taking out all of his stress on someone as wonderful as you."

"My roommates think he's just a jerk," Lila let out with a humorless laugh.

"It would be easier if that were true," I told her, pressing a kiss to the top of her head. "No, he is a good man, really. I've seen a kindness in him that I wish he'd show more freely to others. Especially to you, sweet Lila."

" You're a good man," she told me, pulling back from our embrace just enough to look me in the eyes. Some of the darkness that had clouded her when she arrived had dissipated, and her sunshine was breaking through. "I'm so… there are no words for how special you make me feel. Thank you for being so lovely to me, always. I hope that this all blows over, and Mr. Pierce shows me some of the kindness you see in him soon. I want that for his sweet nephew, at the very least."

"You have a beautiful heart, Lila Dawson," I told her sincerely. "Always looking for the best in everyone. It is amazing to see."

Though I knew this wasn't the way things should be done, suddenly, I could not resist. Tenderly, I tilted her chin up so I could have better access to her lips. Slowly, I leaned in to kiss her for the first time.

It felt like coming home after a long absence. The sweetness of her lips, the subtle sigh as she melted into me, her gentle but eager reciprocation… it was perfection. I let my arm encircle her, my hand coming to rest at the small of her back, while my other hand tangled in her soft curls. She wrapped herself around me, her arms snaking up around my neck and finding my own hair, giving me a small, pleasurable shiver when she tugged lightly at the roots.

The world seemed to melt away as our kiss deepened. Even as I tried to keep it semi-chaste and comforting, my body reacted to the nearness of hers, and I longed to tear off her clothes and make love to her right there in the limo, driver and passersby be damned. Lila moaned softly into my mouth as our tongues collided, and she spread her knees apart as if inviting me in. I pulled her closer to me, the press of her breasts against my body almost too much to bear.

But then the car began to slide to a stop, and I heard the slight buzz of the partition rolling down. Lila and I broke apart, and the driver told me, "We've arrived at your destination, Mr. Rojas."

Right. Our date. The proper, gentlemanly way to treat someone like Lila Dawson was to at least take her to dinner first. But from the dazed, slightly disappointed look on her face, I could tell she wanted to skip to the good part, too. Later, I promised myself. There would be so much time for us to explore every part of one another after the romantic night I'd planned.

The first part of the romantic night—but certainly not the last—was dinner. I knew Lila would be intimidated by someplace overly high-end, so while my instinct was to spoil her with the very best, I instead chose a well-reviewed but cozy Italian restaurant where I knew the chef. The food was exquisite, the prices still higher than Lila would probably be able to justify paying herself, but the atmosphere didn't feel quite so formal. I'd learned that Lila's favorite was Italian food from our near-constant texting, and when I guided her into the restaurant and to our table with a hand at the small of her back, her grin was incandescent.

"You remembered," she marveled when I pulled out her chair for her. The hostess who had brought us to the best table in the place—one with comfortable mismatched chairs and a view of the city thanks to the large picture window near which it sat—and smiled at us, too, wishing us a pleasant evening before she walked away.

"I make it a habit to remember everything a beautiful woman dares to share with me about herself," I told Lila as I settled in my own seat. The way her cheeks flushed such a fetching shade of pink in the low light was true perfection.

"I try to notice things about you, too," she told me quietly. She struggled to meet my gaze, her bashfulness only adding to her charm. "Like how you smile from the side of your mouth when you're being kind to strangers, but you smile with your whole face when you look at me."

Her observation earned her exactly such a smile.

I ordered a fine bottle of champagne for us to share, and our server brought us fresh bread and herbed oil in which to dip it. While we ate, our conversation flowed just as freely as it had over text, easing any remaining worries I had about our real-life chemistry.

I noticed how Lila's comfort with talking to me grew throughout the night, only in part because of the warmth of the champagne. She playfully recounted stories from her days with the children, the clear affection she felt toward both little ones more than apparent. It really sank in as she spoke of their milestones and accomplishments that she would be a fantastic mother someday. Just like my fantasy-dream as I flew home at the very start of our text-courtship, I could see a vivid image in my mind of Lila with a couple of rugrats of her own, giving them all of the love and nurturing that any good mother would. I craved that future for her, and of course, in my ideal future, I would be her loving husband, the wise father helping to provide stability for them all. Maybe my romantic heart was getting the better of me again, but I was at least pretty certain that our first date was going very, very well.

As Lila and I split a tiramisu that was absolutely decadent, as sweet as her smile, she couldn't hold back an amused, disbelieving smile. I longed to know what she was thinking, but since we hadn't yet gotten to the point of reading one another's minds, I simply asked.

"What's funny, Lila?"

"Nothing. Everything," she said with a soft laugh. "I don't know. It's just… I always sort of thought I had this boring, normal life. But in just a few weeks, I met you, I got these great jobs working for billionaires… and now we're on this magical date." She shrugged, cheeks flushing again, and my smile was automatic. She finished with, "I guess I'm just feeling a little out of my depth here."

"Just wait, mi amor ," I told Lila as I gestured for her to take the last bite of our dessert. "The night has even more magic in store."