Three Wishes(104)

“Lily –”

“And rugged –”

He couldn’t help himself, he started laughing.

Rugged?

“Lily –” He tried interrupting her again but she stopped ticking off her hilarious list and put her hands on either side of face and what she said next made all amusement flee.

“You’re everything I ever wanted. You’re exactly what I wished for when I was fourteen years old. Exactly. You can ask Fazire, I told him what I wanted and then, years later, there you were. And you were perfect. I knew it the minute I laid eyes on you. I knew who you were and I knew I wanted you and I knew you were mine.”

Nate stiffened, his body going stock-still, and he shook his head, pulling away from her, putting distance between them and he felt his shields go up. He didn’t put them up, they went up automatically.

Softly, as a warning, he told her, “You have no idea who I am.”

She didn’t allow him to retreat. She closed the distance and wrapped her arms around his waist, holding on tightly.

“I know exactly who you are.”

He shook his head again, once, a definite negative but she kept talking, this time her voice was fierce and there was an iron edging her words.

“You’re Nathaniel McAllister, you’re my lover, you’re the father of my child, you take care of your family, you’ll never let us go without again and you’ll never let me go again.” She flattened herself against him and lifted her lips against his. “Nate, you’re mine, you belong to me and I belong to you.”

He felt her words tear through him.

If she knew about him, her words wouldn’t be so fervent, so determined. He lifted his hands to either side of her face.

“You’re right, Lily, I’ll never let you go but you’ve no idea who I am.”

She kissed him silent and then said softly, “You can have your secrets, I don’t care about them. You can tell them or you can keep them. But Nate, I know who you are. I may just have learned your favourite colour but I know you’ll never let me hurt again. And you wouldn’t have done it before if you’d thought it was within your power.” Her gaze, which had been intent, lightened and she finished, “By the way, Jeff doesn’t lean. He slouches.”

At her quick change in topic, her tone moving from impassioned to playfully informative, unusually, Nate lost track of the conversation.

“I beg your pardon?”

On a wicked grin she said, “Jeff, your brother, he doesn’t lean like a sexy romantic hero, like you do. He slouches, like a snotty schoolboy.”

At that, Nate finally allowed himself to give into laughter, letting the rest of it go, burying it deep so after she knew, after she went away, he could take it out and savour it.

Snatching her to him, he threw his head back and roared with laughter, holding her close.

Nate, nor Lily, had any idea that the inhabitants of the room next door went silent and listened to him laugh. Two of them smiled. One of them giggled. The last scowled.

In their bedroom, Lily’s mouth against Nate’s neck, when he stopped laughing, she said quietly against his skin, “Something else you should know, I’ll never let you go either.”

And Nate felt her words were less words and more a vow and his arms tightened around her.

* * * * *

Now he was on his way home, to his most recent surprise, another day bringing him closer to the end, another day he had to relish as he waited for his good fortune to run out.

Chapter Twenty-Three

Lily & Fazire & Nate

“Daddeeee!” Tash yelled, and they heard her crashing through the house to get to the front door.

Lily was in the kitchen helping Fazire prepare dinner. At her daughter’s cry, she knew Nate was home. She knew this because Tash’s exuberant shout had become the nightly ritual upon Nate’s arrival home however tonight there was a bit more excitement behind the mad dash.

Lily’s eyes flew to Victor who was sitting at the kitchen table going through some papers.

It was Thursday, Victor and Laura weren’t due to visit until Saturday but Lily had recruited Victor in her latest strategy to get Nate to trust in her, in their family, in happiness.

She wasn’t lying to him when she told him she didn’t want to know his secrets. She didn’t want to know, she didn’t care what they were. Whatever they were wouldn’t matter in the slightest.

She just wanted him to believe, believe in her, believe in their family and believe in himself. She knew he didn’t. She was shocked by that knowledge but she knew it was there all the same. It held him back, kept him away from her, kept him removed and she wanted, no, it had now become a need, she needed him. She needed him for Tash and she needed him for herself.

She wasn’t making a lot of headway, no matter how hard she tried (and she’d been trying very hard) so she’d decided to pull out the big guns and enlist Laura and Victor. It was a desperate measure but she didn’t care about that either. She wasn’t too proud to admit she was desperate. This was her family she was worried about, Lily would do anything.

Catching her look, Victor grinned at her.

Lily grabbed a tea towel and dried her hands quickly, throwing a nervous smile at Victor, then one to Fazire.

Fazire was watching her closely. Fazire, Lily noticed the last couple of weeks, was watching everything closely, even closer than normal, especially Nate.