“It’s not that simple.” It couldn’t be, could it?
“When it comes to you and me, it’s exactly that simple, Lilah. We’re a team, you and I. Maybe even a team of three if you’re already carrying my baby.”
“You really expect me to follow you to Texas? To live with you. To meet the man who knocked my mom up and scared her off... while I may very well be pregnant with your child? With his best friend’s child?
Sure. Why not? I’m sure nothing can go wrong with that plan.” Sarcasm was thick in my tone, but Ethan didn’t seem to care. He rushed towards me and wrapped me up in his arms.
“Samuel’s not like that. Once he gets used to the idea of the two of us being together, he’ll be happy for us.” He paused to kiss my forehead and drop a hand to my belly. “After he tries to kick my ass, of course.”
“Oh, no,” I gasped. “No way. You want me to meet my father? The only way that’s going to happen is if we keep our relationship a secret for a while. I’m not ready to face two battles at once. Not yet.”
“Fuck no,” he growled. “I refuse to hide what you are to me. Mine.”
“Well, then. I guess you should have told me all of this sooner. Maybe I would have had time to come to terms with it. But you didn’t, so you’re going to have to suck it up and do this my way, ‘cause it’s the only way it’ll happen at all.”
Chapter 7
Ethan
I glanced over at Lilah as we waited for a car to pick us up at the Dallas airport. She’d been quiet since our talk the other night. Too quiet. I missed her chatter and the cute way she blurted out all of her thoughts.
I was grateful that she hadn’t pulled away from me, but I wanted her smile back, the spark of life inside that I fell for the first time I met her. There was a lot to process and she was nervous. I’d called Samuel the day before we left and finally given him the news that Bonnie had passed away and I was returning with the daughter he’d always wanted but never had the chance to know.
It took great restraint on my part not to let any of my feelings for Lilah bleed through my words. Keeping our relationship from him was not going to be easy, especially when I wanted to let the whole world know she was mine. I would have fought Lilah harder about it, but ultimately decided to go along for a little while. Samuel deserved some time with her, and I wasn’t anxious to test our friendship.
I was fucking his little girl, doing my best to put my baby in her, and would be taking her away from him when I put my ring on her finger. It was not a conversation I was looking forward to.
A black Escalade pulled up to the curb in front of us and parked. The driver alighted from the car and came around to greet us. He started loading our bags as I opened the door and helped Lilah climb into the back seat before following behind her. She scooted to the far side and stared out the window, her fingers twisting together in her lap.
The driver returned to his seat and pulled out onto the road. I slipped an arm around her waist and hauled her over to my side. Lifting her chin, I stared down at her intensely. “Do you trust me, baby girl?” I asked quietly.
Her quick nod of agreement filled me with satisfaction, and I rewarded her with a swift but hard kiss. “I would never put you in a harmful situation. I protect what’s mine, and you”—I placed my hand over her flat stomach—“and the little one I’m doing my damndest to put in here, are mine.” Lilah blushed prettily and laid her head on my shoulder.
I had wanted to take Lilah home first, but she’d insisted that she wouldn’t be able to relax until after the initial meeting with her father was done. I almost put my foot down but I was worried about her stress level, especially if she was already pregnant. She’d already been more tired than usual from all the worry and anxiousness. So, we were going straight to Samuel’s house. I was immensely relieved when she quickly fell asleep on the drive. She needed to rest.
A little over an hour later, we pulled into the driveway of a large, brick house with white pillars and shutters. Samuel had built the house for Bonnie after he’d proposed, but she’d never had the chance to see it. When he got serious with Lola, he considered selling it, not wanting to make his new fiancée live in the house he’d built for another woman.
Except, Lola was everything Samuel needed and she knew that it wasn’t actually Bonnie tying him to the house. The truth was, he was afraid to move just in case his daughter ever tried to find him.
The front door opened just as the vehicle came to a halt in front of it. Samuel stepped over the threshold and stood on the top step, hands in his pockets. To anyone other than me and Lola, it would be almost impossible to recognize how nervous he was.
I looked down at Lilah, wishing I didn’t have to wake her. The windows of the car were tinted, so I kissed the top of her head and drew a fingertip down her soft cheek. “We’re here, baby girl.”
She stirred, her eyelids lifting groggily, and she looked up at me with a sweet smile. “Here?” she asked. Before I could answer, her blue pools strayed to the view outside the window and she stiffened. Then she quickly slid back across the bench seat, her hands smoothing her hair and the wrinkles in her mint green blouse.
I frowned at her retreat, but refrained from commenting, simply holding out my hand. She looked at it silently for a moment, her eyes blinking owlishly. Then she met my gaze. “We decided to keep it a secret for now, remember?” she urged. “I can’t hold your hand, he’ll know!”
I sighed. “No, you decided and I gave in. But, that’s not the issue right now. I’m simply helping you from the car, baby girl.”
“You can’t call me that either,” she hissed, slapping a hand over my mouth. My tongue darted out and licked at her palm, causing her to snatch it back. Her eyes heated and I once again hauled her over to me, my mouth slamming down over hers. She went a little boneless, sinking into the kiss, and I ravaged her lips until I felt like she’d been thoroughly claimed.
Leaning back, I smiled smugly at the sight of her pinkened, kiss-swollen lips. It took another minute for me to move while I willed my erection back down. It would be hard to explain away my hard-on.
I opened the door and hopped out, then reached in and helped her down from the car. With her feet steady on the ground, she dropped my hand like it was on fire and a low growl escaped from my throat.
Lilah scowled at me, then faced the house and took a tentative step forward. Then another. Samuel’s face lit up at her approach and he met her at the bottom step. From the tenseness in his arm muscles, I knew he was fighting the urge to pull her into his embrace. Eighteen years he’d waited, hoped, dreamed of meeting his daughter.
I was so fucking happy to give this to him and it made the wait to tell him about us worth it, though it didn’t make it any easier.
“Lilah,” he breathed, his voice filled with awe. “You’re so beautiful, sweetheart. You look just like your mother.”
Lilah flinched at his words and before I could stop myself, I was standing at her back. I didn’t touch her, but let the heat from my body give her comfort, reminding her I was there for her.
“Thank you,” she murmured awkwardly. Some of the elation on Samuel’s face dissipated and he looked between Lilah and I for a moment, his expression telling me nothing. Finally, he smiled at me with gratitude and nodded. I lifted my chin in reply but otherwise, stayed still.
“Let’s go inside and talk,” he suggested. He turned, and I put my hand softly on Lilah’s lower back as we followed him into the house. At my touch, her rigid spine relaxed a little.
We entered a room decorated with neutral tones and comfortable furniture meant to exude a laid-back atmosphere. Samuel took a seat on one of the couches and hesitantly gestured for Lilah to join him.
“Where is your ladies’ room?” she inquired, and Samuel gave her directions. After she left the room, he stood and walked over to where I was casually lounging against a wall by the door.
He stuck out one hand and I shook it as his other clasped my shoulder. “I don’t know how to thank you, Ethan. You know how long I’ve waited.” He glanced at where Lilah had disappeared and sighed. “It’s obvious that you’ve protected her like your own daughter”—my gut clenched in rejection of his summation. I didn’t see Lilah as anything but my soul mate, my soon-to-be wife and mother of my children. But, respecting her wishes, I kept quiet—“and while I’m a little jealous of the relationship you have, I’m grateful. I just hope I can build one with he
r too.”
Voices outside the door alerted us to her return and Samuel went back to his spot on the sofa. Lilah walked in accompanied by a plump brunette in her early forties, with a wide smile and a rock the size of Texas on her left ring finger. Lola was a bright ray of sunshine in Samuel’s life, and I was certain she would be a bridge between father and daughter.
“Well now,” she said excitedly, her brown eyes sparkling. “We’ve certainly gotten lucky, Sam. She’s a keeper.”
Lilah blushed, but as I expected, Lola’s bright attitude and charismatic draw had put Lilah more at ease. “And, I’ve even convinced her to forget this rubbish plan of staying somewhere else. She’ll have the whole guest suite downstairs!”
My body went rigid at her announcement. What the fuck? Lilah wouldn’t be staying anywhere but in my fucking bed, and I’d been completely clear about it from the beginning. I’d agreed to keep our relationship a secret for a while with the condition that she tell them she was “staying with a friend.”
Lilah peeked at me through her lashes and when she clocked my no doubt thunderous expression, her eyes darted away guiltily. She rushed over and took a seat on the opposite side of the couch from her dad, keeping her back to me.
Lola launched into a conversation, drawing both Lilah and Samuel out of their shells, keeping the topics light and helping them get to know each other. All the while I stayed where I was, silently fuming.
Sometime later, Samuel looked up at me and I quickly wiped all expression from my face. “I hope you’ll stay for dinner, Ethan.”
“Absolutely,” I answered evenly, trying to hide my clenched jaw and the anger radiating from my body.
Lola smiled happily and stood. “Great! I’ll go check on it.” As she neared me, she placed a hand on my arm to gain my attention. “Would you mind grabbing Lilah’s bags from the car and take them to her room, Ethan?”
It was on the tip of my tongue to refuse, but I decided to do as I was asked for now. I needed to talk to Lilah alone before I caused a scene. After retrieving her small amount of luggage, since most everything had been shipped to our home, I dropped it in the bedroom of the guest suite on the first floor.