I pushed off from the counter and moved to her. Attempting to take the bag from her, I said, “I’ll look for it. You finish the casserole.”
She clutched the bag, refusing to let it go. “You don’t know what it looks like.”
“Fuck, Lily, it’s a fucking necklace. I know what they look like.”
Her eyes widened. “Don’t you take that tone with me.”
Jesus fuck. I’d had a headache before I got here, and it was only getting worse. “Pass the fucking bag.”
She scowled and pushed past me so she could dump the entire contents of the bag on the counter. After a quick inspection, she shook her head. “It’s not there.” A moment passed before she said, “Oh shit, maybe it’s in the laundry.” She then bolted out of the kitchen, presumably to head into the laundry.
“Just ignore Mum,” Holly said, joining me in the kitchen. “This happens all the time with that necklace. She always finds it.”
I couldn’t recall ever seeing Lily wear a necklace. “What’s the importance of it?”
Her eyes met mine, a sad expression in them. “It was her grandmother’s necklace. They were close, and she freaks out in times of stress if she can’t find it.” She shrugged. “I don’t know why. It makes no sense to me, but that’s Mum for you. She can be a little crazy sometimes, you know?”
I nodded. I was getting a feel for that side of Lily.
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I followed her into the laundry and found her madly going through a jewellery box. Seemed like the oddest fucking place for one of them, but what the fuck did I know? Moving behind her, I placed my hand over hers and halted her progress. I brought my other hand to her neck, wrapping it around her throat. Meeting her questioning gaze in the mirror on the wall, I said, “What’s going on? Why are you stressed?”
She jerked her hand out from under mine and snapped, “You’re slowing me down. I’ve got a million things to do tonight, so please just let me find this necklace so I can get back to my freaking to-do list.”
“Stop,” I growled, turning her to face me.
She winced, tensing under my grip of her neck. It drew my attention there, and being the bastard I was, her pain turned me on.
Without easing my grasp of her, I demanded, “What the fuck is going on? When I left here this morning, you weren’t like this.”
“Yeah well, when you left here this morning, I hadn’t had a shitty day at work, or a son who isn’t really talking to me, a daughter who skipped school to hang out with her boyfriend, or a missing necklace. On top of that, I just discovered I have to bake ten freaking cakes by Thursday for a bake sale I didn’t even know was on because not one of my children told me about it. And I am no freaking expert when it comes to baking cakes. I would have preferred time to practice the cakes they want me to cook.” She reached for my hand around her throat. “And can you please let me go. I’m all for your hands on my neck when you’re fucking me, but right now, not so much. Right now I just need to be able to breathe a full freaking breath so I can get my shit together.”
I stepped closer to her, forcing my body hard against hers. She had me fucking hard for her with the bullshit she just threw at me. The urge to spin her around, bend her over and hold her down while I slammed inside of her overwhelmed me, so I was hanging on by a fucking thread here. Gripping her neck harder, I said, “None of that shit is the real reason why you’re in a fucking panic, so stop bullshitting both of us and start fucking giving it to me straight.”
She drew in a ragged breath as she curled her fingers around mine at her neck and tried to prise them off. I gave that to her because I wanted her to talk. When I let go, she said, “I’m not bullshitting you, King. That stuff stresses me out. Some days it feels like I’m drowning. Like I literally can’t breathe under all the stuff I have to deal with.” She glanced down for a moment, turning silent, before meeting my gaze again and placing her hand to my chest. “I’m also feeling a little overwhelmed by you, I think. Like, not in a bad way. It’s just a lot so soon, you know? A month ago, I didn’t even know you, and look at us now.”
“So you bring that to me when you’re feeling like this. You don’t ever shut that shit down and hide it from me. I’m not a fucking mind reader, Lily.”
Her brows shot up. “Are you fucking kidding me, right now? I just laid my feelings out for you, was as honest as I could be, and you give me that? And for the record, I wasn’t trying to hide it from you. I was trying to process it all myself so I didn’t have to worry you with it. I know these feelings are just because this is so new and so fast.”
I gripped her waist. “My job is to worry. Your job is not to fucking worry. I don’t care if what you’ve got to tell me will rip shit apart, because I will put that shit back to-fucking-gether. So in future, you bring me your feelings and anything else you’ve got, and hand them to me.” I bent to growl into her ear. “My job is to take care of you, and I don’t give a flying fuck how long I’ve known you, you are mine now, and I will go to the fucking ends of the earth for you.”
When I pulled my head back, I found her staring at me. This lasted for a good few moments, and then it was like a switch had been tripped. Her hands landed on my cheeks, and with the kind of force that caused my gut to tighten, she dug her fingers in and pulled my face to hers. Our lips smashed together, and she kissed me with wild fucking recklessness. She wrapped one leg around my body and used it to fucking climb me, adding her other leg until she’d positioned herself where she wanted to be, arms and legs encircling me, mouth still kissing the fuck out of me.
I dragged my lips from hers. “You wanna kiss me like that, you need to be prepared for me to fuck you,” I rasped. This was not the fucking time for sex. Nor the place. But hell if I would be able to stop myself if she continued down this path.
She squeezed her legs around me. She was fucking panting with lust. “Lock the door. You can be quick, but fuck, I need you inside me right now.”
I ground my teeth together. “Your kids are right the fuck out there, Lily. You really want them to hear me fuck you?”
“King, for the love of all things good, just fuck me already. I guarantee you they all have their headphones on. Most of the time that pisses me off, but I’m starting to think it might not be such a bad thing.”
I was no fucking saint. With her clinging to me, I took the few steps to lock the door before sitting her on the washing machine that was shaking its way through the spin cycle. She reached for my jeans and madly pulled my cock out, like a fucking starved woman. That shit only got me harder. Pulling her off the machine, I spun her around, forced her down over it, shoved her dress up, and yanked her panties down. And as the machine vibrated and shook, I grabbed her hair and pulled her head back while pounding into her so fucking violently that she would feel me for days.
It didn’t take either of us long to come. I couldn’t recall any time in my life that I’d orgasmed so fast. That was the effect Lily fucking had on me.
As she pulled her panties up, her eyes met mine. “When I said I was overwhelmed by you, I just meant that I wasn’t looking for a relationship when you came along. And you aren’t like other guys. You’re intense and fast. It’s not a bad thing, though. I like that you’re always here and that it feels like I’ve known you forever even when I know hardly anything about you. I mean, I can’t even explain it—I just feel like this is so right, this thing between us. Like it was meant to be. God, and now I’m rambling and—”