Chapter Six
Well, he was definitely an enormous perv but he wouldn’t force that on anyone, never mind a woman he’d just met. Even if she did give off one hell of a little vibe.
He would be a perfect gentleman and not give Lilith any cause to regret her kindness. Because sure this was his house and it was ridiculous that she was the one in a position to decide whether he should stay or go but he’d given her that power and he wasn’t sorry. He knew far too many women who’d had bad experiences with men and he never wanted to be one of those guys. Plus it sounded like Lilith might have some personal experience in that department already and that made him see red and want to rip some asshole limb from limb. How fucking dare.
So yeah, despite her tough shell and her princess of darkness aesthetic he suspected she had a squishy center, one that called to him.
“I swear to keep my hands to myself and I really am sorry about the bat earlier. I was an asshole and it won’t happen again. Would you feel better if I called a friend of mine and she can give you the scoop on me?”
Lilith’s eyes narrowed as she crossed her arms over her chest. “Why should I believe she won’t just say nice things about you when you’re actually a serial killer?”
The noise he let out could only be called a guffaw. “Uh, Nikki’s one of my best friends but she’ll be the first to tell you I can be a stuffed shirt poser who has terrible taste in tequila.”
Lilith’s eyes got wide—what color were they anyway? He could swear they were black but no one had literally black irises. Must be the light.
“If that’s what your friends say about you, what do your enemies say?” she muttered.
“Probably the same. Nikki and I have an…interesting relationship. More like siblings. Sometimes the other partner in our law firm has to settle our squabbles.”
Poor Arthur. But the guy had that daddy thing running thick through his veins. And Vance might not be nearly as adorable as Saoirse but then again who was? He didn’t think Arthur really minded breaking up his brawls with Nikki.
“Okay. Well, it’s late. I don’t want to bother her,” Lilith said, studying him. “And I don’t know why you’d make that up. It’s not flattering. So, anyway, I’ll sleep on the couch and you can—”
“Ah, not a chance,” he told her, setting his bags down since apparently he wasn’t climbing back in the Merc for another two hour drive. “I’ve slept on this couch and it’s not great. Your back will feel like a lamp a kindergartner broke and tried to glue back together so his parents wouldn’t notice. I should replace it, I just haven’t gotten around to it.”
Lilith’s scowl deepened. “Well if it sucks to sleep on, I’m not making you sleep on it either. Besides, you’re too tall, you wouldn’t even fit.”
That was true.
“Look, I’m trying to be a gentleman here, and inviting myself to sleep in the same bed as you is definitely well into presumptuous territory.”
“Well, I’m inviting you. Just…stay over there.”
Lilith gestured to the opposite side of the bed from where he usually slept but he wasn’t going to argue with her. Nope, he was going to shut up and take whatever was on offer.
“Thanks.”
“I feel like it’s the least I can do given that this is your house and I’m technically committing a crime.”
His mouth curled up at the corners. If he didn’t think it would get him a knee to his nuts he’d tell her she was the cutest B&E perpetrator he’d ever seen. But he was pretty attached to his balls and he’d like it to stay that way, so all he said was, “You need to use the bathroom or are you ready for bed?”
He’d slept in the same bed as a woman many times before but there had always been a lot more intimacy developed between them before they did. This was weird. He didn’t know anything about Lilith besides that if she and Nikolina ganged up on him, he’d be a pulp of madras plaid and expensive hair product. But he did know he wanted to make this as comfortable as possible for her. A girl didn’t end up squatting in a stranger’s house because things were awesome and that was more hardship than he wanted anyone to deal with. Especially Lilith.
“I still need to, um, do stuff,” she said.
“Go ahead,” he told her, tipping his head toward the bathroom door. “I’ll plug in my phone so it doesn’t die.”
She looked like she might argue, but then unzipped one of her bags, grabbed something out of it and flounced toward the bathroom. She also took the bat. Which could’ve been insulting because he’d promised not to fuck with the godforsaken stuffed animal, but jeez, the guilt dug deep that he’d messed with something so important to her. No wonder she wanted to keep it with her.
Plus there were some littles who just wanted their stuffies with them all the time. Hopscotch was Cosima’s almost constant companion and if Saoirse wasn’t working, she often had Ziggy with her. Little cuties.
Of course those were adorable stuffies and that bat was…something else but he’d leave it alone. Again with being attached to his nuts and all.
Vance plugged in his cell and checked on everything he usually did when he arrived at his cabin; thermostats, the pipe that’d sprung a leak last year, that none of his deck furniture had blown off into the small yard. Everything seemed to be in order.
He wanted to collapse on the couch or the bed and not get up again but he stayed on his feet so he wouldn’t be two-hundred-seventy-five pounds of snoring when Lilith emerged from the bathroom. She might change her mind about him sleeping here if she knew how much like a saw mill he sounded when asleep…