“I suppose I can be at times,” he said, leaning back on the sofa with his arms along the back. “I’d like to think that I am a realistic romantic,” he clarified after some brief thought.
“I believe that true love can be found but unlike the movies I think you need to work a lot harder than slaying the evil queen to get the girl,” he said, looking right at her as he spoke and she held his gaze. “But then again the best things in life a worth the work and effort. You just can’t give up or run away when it gets hard or you get scared,” he continued, no longer talking about movies or fairy tales.
“Is that what you think I do, James?” she asked him and he wasn’t sure if she was angry, offended, both, or as he hoped, neither. That wasn’t his intention.
“I think,” James said slowly, giving himself time to think. “You haven’t had many people give you a reason to believe that happy endings are possible, especially when it comes to your happy ending,” he explained and waited to be hit or yelled at, but she let her head fall back with a sigh.
“You’re right I suppose. Can’t say I’ve seen very many of them,” she said. “My biological parents are a good example of that,” she added.
“Lily, I know it’s not your favorite subject, but I was wondering if you’d tell me about them. How did you and up being adopted by the Roberts?” Lily got a sour look on her face and he didn’t think she was going to tell at first.
“My mother came from a debutant type of family- really, really rich. The type that have your whole life planned out before you even take your first breath,” she started. “My mother was in full swing teen rebellion when she met my dad and they totally hit it off. Of course my grandmother despised my father and that tickled my mother pink.”
“When she was twenty she married my dad and my grandmother cut her off the family fortune. At first my mother didn’t mind, she was in love and had her very large trust fund, but things only got worse for her. I came along,” Lily explained and James nodded, hiding how her story affected him. “Poor ole granny couldn’t have a mix race brat tainting her blood lines so my mother was disowned. About that time the money ran out and my mother had to live or she tried to live with the budget of a blue collar worker,” she continued.
“My mom doesn’t do blue collar well at all. I guess that’s about the time they started fighting. I don’t remember much but from what I do it would go something like my mother wanted to spend money for or on something. My dad would say we couldn’t afford it. She’d get furious and then he’d get mad. Before I knew it, they were shouting at each other red in the face.” James wanted to say something, but he wasn’t sure what.
His own family history was a little similar and he knew she wouldn’t want his pity so he just let her continue. “When I was about six she tried to make up with granny and present me as a suitable grandchild so she could get back in her good graces. My grandmother hated me on sight and the feeling was mutual. So the harder my mom tried to get me to be presentable the more I’d act out in front of granny,” she continued.
“Soon granny told her to never come back while I was with her so we never went back. I think that’s when the drugs, parties, and everything started. She blamed dad and me for her loss of status and that was her payback, but Andrew and Sandy always let me stay with them if things got too bad or my dad was away on a job,” She explained and James shook his head slowly.
“That’s rough,” he told her, keeping sympathy out of his tone and posture as much as he could. “So what led to the adoption?”
“Well, I came home one day and found the house empty and no one home. I stayed with the Roberts for a while. The police said my mom was in a rehab center in Miami and my dad had just vanished after he had a fight with one of my mom’s lovers. Social services let the Roberts adopt me when my mother gave them permission. I think she was jumping for joy at the request. The rest is history,” she finished with a shrug.
“Guess that’s something we have in common then,” James told her, sitting up and turning so he could see her better. “The Roberts was a saving grace in both our lives,” he explained at her confused d look. With a deep breath, James told her his rough childhood. His father, the military wannabe who ran his house with an iron fist and his mother who would justify the physical abuse against herself and James.
The bullying he did as a kid so he wouldn’t feel so helpless, the kidnapping by Xavier, and finally the day his family too abandoned him. He was a monster in his parent’s eyes. They refused to let him get near his sister. He was a danger to her they said. It was Andrew and Sandy who managed to keep him more or less sane. “Wow, that’s really tough,” Lily said, looking a little surprised.
“But you came out alright in the end… though if you tell anyone I said that I’ll deny it,” she teased and he smiled at her.
“You’re not so bad yourself,” James replied then added after a moment. “I think you should give yourself a chance to have that happy ever after.” Lily made a dry laugh and pinned him with a skeptical look.
“Is that your best line,” she asked with a challenging tone. James gave her a small smile.
“No lines tonight Lily,” he told her and then took her right hand in his. “Just what I think is the truth,” he added then kissed the back of her hand lightly. Her eyes widen slightly in surprise, but he was happy that she didn’t pull away from him. In for a penny, in for a pound, he thought and decided to charge ahead. “I’ve seen you, Lily. I’ve seen you happy, sad, mad, scared and broken. I’ve seen you and I like what I see,” he told her.
Lily pressed her lips together but she said nothing nor did she retreat. “I’m right here, I will always be right here,” he finished then he slowly leaned forward, giving her time to stop him if she wanted. When she didn’t, James gave her a kiss, a soft, chaste kiss to test her reactions. At first she simply sat there without returning the kiss then he felt her walls fall once more and she not only returned the kiss but deepened it.
He wrapped his arms around her to pull her closer, wanting to feel her against him while he held her in his arms. The fact she wasn’t pulling away from him made the feel of her, the taste of her all that much sweeter. The bond had to work! He couldn’t lose her again. Not when he felt like they were finally getting somewhere. Her hands softly ran over his arms and shoulders, leaving goose bumps in their wake and igniting his desire for her.
By her scent and quiet moans, he knew she was feeling the same. He broke their kiss, took her hands in his and stood up, pulling her with them. “I think it’s time we head to the bedroom,” he told her, not hiding the rough huskiness of his voice. Lily licked her lips with a small nod, looking slightly nervous, and let him guide her into the bedroom. Once in the room she started to undress but he stopped her. “No, let me do this,” he told her, wanting this to be different than the other times.
With a loving gentleness, James undressed her and guided her to the bed. Letting his desire to satisfy her, to make her feel loved to guide his every action and movement. He swore he could feel the mate bond form between them even before he marked her on the shoulder, and her the base of his neck, in the peak of their pleasure.
James stepped up to Lily, he pulled her up against him. Kissing her softly, he slipped his hands under her shirt and brushed his fingers against her soft chilled skin. Remembering something she had done to him once in a hotel bathroom James started to inch up her shirt painstakingly slow but making sure his fingers grazed her skin.
“If I remember right the rules were no touching,” he told her, his lips still close enough to brush hers, and at first she looked confused then a smile spread on her face.