Chapter 17
Lyla
“I love this part,” I sigh.
I’m curled up on Thomas’s couch, my head in his lap while we watch The Abyss. It’s an old movie, but it has always been one of my favorites. We’re at the part where the heroine has to drown, and she kisses Ed Harris goodbye—who, by the way, is the most underestimated actor ever. I feel the tears stinging my eyes, but I’m not surprised. This part always makes me cry.
“Shit, S-Sunf-f-flower, you’re cry-crying,” Thomas says straightening and pulling me up with him. “Wh-What’s wr-wrong?”
“Nothing, it’s beautiful,” I sob, my gaze moving from him back to the television as I watch her die in his arms.
“Jesus, L-Lyla, she dies.”
“I know! But love brings her back!”
“Love?” he asks, drying my tears with the pad of his thumb.
“Yes! They love each other!”
“I think they’ve hated each other m-m-most of the m-movie.”
“They love each other. He fished his wedding ring out of the toilet!” I cry, not comprehending how he doesn’t understand.
“Babe,” he laughs. “He th-threw it there f-first.”
“But they love each other. If it’s real, love will always survive. It doesn’t just die, Thomas.”
“Y-you b-believe that.”
“I think so. I mean, I’ve never seen it up close, but I know that’s what I want.”
“My parents h-have that,” he confesses. “It’s what I always w-wanted.”
“I bet it’s beautiful to see,” I whisper. I feel the urge to kiss him again, but I resist—barely. Instead, my gaze goes back to the television. “Look! He’s going to bring her back.”
“Y-you m-might be a lit-little crazy, honey.”
“A little crazy makes life interesting, Thomas,” I murmur, and I know I shouldn’t, but I stare at him and allow the intense look in his eyes to send heat through my entire body. My heartbeat quickens, and I rub my lips together to moisten them because suddenly they feel way too dry.
Thomas groans, kissing me again. I fall back on the couch. His body stretches out over mine, and I gladly accept his weight. I’ve never felt like this in my life, and I know it’s because of Thomas. I’m falling for him.
Completely and utterly falling for him.
I feel his hand slide up my leg. I bend it, bringing it up and stretching to make more room for his body. He’s hard, and I can feel the rigid outline of his cock pressing against me. I press up against him, rubbing, needing more. My panties are wet, my nipples hard… I’m more turned on than I’ve ever been in my life.
The tips of Thomas’s fingers skim my panties. He pulls his mouth away from me, looking down at me.
“We n-need to sl-slow down,” he breathes.
“What if I don’t want to?” I ask him, my fingernails biting into his back. I need to feel him, let him center me. Right now, I feel as if I might float away on a cloud of pleasure if he lets go of me.
“I d-d-don’t want to hurt you, Ly-la. I c-care a-b-bout you.”
“I care about you, too, Thomas. I trust you. You won’t hurt me,” I respond, and I don’t know why I’m so positive, but I am. Thomas isn’t like Chad. I know it.
He kisses me again, but this one is less intense. His tongue doesn’t slide and dance with mine. It’s a chaste kiss for the most part. He sucks my lip into his mouth and caresses it, but ultimately, he pulls back. “I-I’m n-not ready, Lyla.”
“Oh,” I respond, feeling awkward. I can’t help the way my body tenses.
Thomas turns to his side and pulls me so that somehow, we’re lying side by side on the couch. His hand caresses my cheek before settling against the inside of my neck.
“I j-just need to g-get my head st-straight. If it was g-g-going to be anyone, it w-would b-be with you, Sunflower. It would be w-with you.”
“I’m not going anywhere, Thomas. I have time.”
I don’t understand, but I believe in Thomas, and I don’t want to go anywhere. I want to be right here. Right here with him.
He smiles at me. For as long as I live, I will always remember the way his eyes sparkle when he looks at me.
“The movie is o-over, Sunflower.”
“I guess I should go...”
“Stay,” he argues. “It’s l-late.”
“Are you sure?” I ask, not wanting to rush him.
“Stay,” he says again.
I nod in agreement, knowing that wild horses couldn’t drag me away from him.
I’m right where I want to be.
Chapter 18
Thomas
I look down at a sleeping Lyla and smile. Her blonde hair is spilling over the pillow. Her eyelashes are fanned over her pale cheeks, and her full lips are curled upwards in a smile as she sleeps. She’s in one of my T-shirts. There’s a side of me that I didn’t realize I possessed that likes it.
A fuck of a lot.
I have regrets. I should have never kissed her. It gave her hope, and I wasn’t lying to her. My head is too fucked up to go there with any woman. My body wants Lyla, and I’m drawn to her, but I’m just too fucked up from all this shit with my brother and Gabby. I let out a breath and sit down in a chair across from the bed, watching Lyla sleep. There’s no way to get around the fact that Lyla looks like her. What kind of relationship could we have? There’s no way my family could ignore the similarities, positively no way Gabby or Dom would miss it. I shouldn’t give a fuck, but I find I do. Most of all, I know that Lyla would see it and that would hurt her.