Move the Sun (Signal Bend #1)(27)
He tried to see her, but all he saw were the flat planes of mortarboards, many of them decorated gaudily.
Lilli had done hers up, too, though hers was much plainer than the others. She’d simply done a wide bar of gold glitter. The rank insignia of a 2nd Lieutenant in the United States Army. His little girl was following his footsteps.
Johnny wasn’t sure how he felt about that, to be honest. There were so many options that lay before her. She’d done so well in school: Dean’s List, Phi Kappa Phi, Magna Cum Laude, the list went on. She could be anything, do anything. But what she wanted was to serve.
He was proud, yes. Busting his buttons with it. She’d been through a lot, his Lillibell. Already, at 22, she’d lost more than most. But she was a strong, smart, brave girl, and she knew her mind. She would excel in the service as she’d excelled everywhere else. But he didn’t want her to know war the way he had. He wanted her to have a bright, happy life of comfort, not the squalid privation of a soldier at war.
These were times of peace, though. Spring 2001. Perhaps she would know only adventure and not conflict.
Finally, he saw the glimmering gold bar, sparkling in the sunlight at it bobbed up the stairs to the wide stage. Her long chestnut hair flowed rich and loose under her cap. Even through four years of ROTC, she’d refused to cut it, preferring instead, while in uniform, to braid it and bind it to her head with pins. Lilli, beautiful as she was, had few vanities, but her hair was certainly one of them.
She was standing on the stage. Then he heard her name echo robustly over the sound system: “Lillian Filomena Accardo, Bachelor of Arts in Renaissance History, Bachelor of Arts in Middle Eastern Studies.
His daughter, his only child, strode confidently across the stage, veritably buried under sashes and cords and medals for her accomplishments during her studies. She accepted the folder that would hold her diploma, shook hands with a short line of men and women, and then, before she descended the stairs at the other side of the stage, she turned and scanned the audience.
Johnny stood, alone in that sea of seated people, and waited for her to find him. She did, and, smiling brilliantly at him, she made their sign, the one she’d made every day before she entered her school building, the one he made every time he left for a business trip. Thumb, forefinger, and pinky extended in the sign language for “I love you,” she laid her hand on her heart.
He did the same.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Lilli felt relaxed, resting against Isaac, her head on his shoulder. His cock was still mostly hard inside her, and she liked the full feeling of him there. She liked everything about this moment: the press of their bare chests together, still heaving from their exertion; the weight of his head lying on hers; the soothe of his hands on her back, his fingers combing through her ponytail. She felt . . . cozy.
She sat up. He looked like he’d been even more relaxed than she; his eyes were heavy as they met hers.
“What’s up?” he asked, his voice no more than a low rasp.
She’d been furious at his intrusion—he really was just about stalking her now—and more than half expecting him to have come on a dark errand. After his “visit” in the morning, feeling threatened, she’d taken two handguns out of the Camaro and placed them, and the one she’d already had inside, strategically through the house.
She’d also sent a coded message asking for intel on the Night Horde and its leader. She hadn’t been especially interested before, but his acute interest in her meant her own security needed offense as well as defense.
When he’d rolled up at nearly midnight, she’d been ready to kill him. But then he was standing on her porch, and the threat she felt dissipated. She didn’t understand it. She was attracted to him, sure. Very much. But it was more than that. Her reading of him rested on the thin blade between danger and appeal, and it perplexed her.
Now, straddling him like this after another bout of hot and unexpected sex, she shook her head. “You have to stop dropping in unannounced, Isaac. It’s not cool.”
“It’s the country way, Sport.” He traced a lazy circle around her nipple. “And it seems to turn out pretty well here, more times than not.”
She rolled her eyes. “I don’t care what way it is. It’s not my way. Next time, I’ll just put a bullet through your eye and be done with it.”
He tightened his arms around her with a force a couple of steps beyond friendly. “Now who’s making threats? You want to be careful, Sport.” The balance between danger and appeal tipping decidedly toward the former, Lilli pushed to get off him, but he held her in place.
She gave him a look that meant she’d dance if that’s what he wanted, and he smiled and relaxed his hold. “Tell you what. Give me your number, and I’ll call first—when I can.”
She considered him. There was a twinkle in his eye, and his expression could best be described as an amused smirk. He was still inside her, his cock beginning to harden again. He was enjoying himself. Rather than make her angrier, though, his mood relaxed her.
“Your guy’s not good enough to find that out for you?”
“Sure he is. Better if you just give it to me, though, don’t you think?” He winked.
With another roll of her eyes, she nodded and pushed again to get up. This time he didn’t obstruct her, though they both groaned when he slid out of her.