Touch Me Not (Manwhore, #1)(71)

Once everyone had been fed, Lily offered to help her mom with the dishes. Nikoli was content to sit and talk about baseball with her stepfather. She helped her mom gather up dishes and took them into the kitchen, where she started scraping them. Her mom ran some dishwater for the pots and pans. She always refused to put pans in the dishwasher, proclaiming that was where all the nicks and scratches came from.

“Tell me about this young man of yours,” her mother said without preamble.

“He’s my saving grace, I guess you could say. I would never had learned to control my phobia without him.”

“How did he do it?” her mother asked curiously. “What did he do that we didn’t?”

“It’s not that, Mama. You did everything you could. It was more me. I wanted to change, to be able to let someone touch me. It wouldn’t have worked if I hadn’t needed to change so badly. Nikoli just…he never let me give up. He pushed and pushed and pushed. Sometimes I wanted to strangle him, but he never pushed too far. He knew when to stop. But mostly, he was just there when I needed him.”

“He pushed you?”

Lily snorted. That was putting it mildly. “He pushed my limits, never let me give in to my fear, never let me give up, Mama, even when I wanted to. I never thought I’d be able to let anyone touch me ever again, but I can now, and it’s all due to him. I’m mostly healed because of that man.”

“Oh, baby, I’m so happy for you. I only wish I could have helped you more, gotten you better sooner. I’m so sorry.”

Lily put down the plate she was scraping and took her mother’s hands into hers. “Don’t be sorry, Mama. This phobia of mine wasn’t your fault, and you did do everything you could to make me better. You’re a good mother, and I love you so much. No more tears, okay? Only smiles from now on.”

“It’s good advice, Mrs. Stanton.”

They both turned to see Nikoli lounging in the doorway. Lily felt her heart skip gleefully at the sight of him and cringed a little inside. Not out of fear, but the beginning of pain. This was their last weekend together. She knew it deep down. She couldn’t shake the thought. Intuition. She wanted to curl up and cry.

Lily’s mother went over to Nikoli and wrapped him in a bear hug. He laughed and hugged her back. “What’s that for?”

“For giving me my baby back,” she said, a tremor in her voice. She was fighting not to break down. Nikoli smiled down at her.

Nikoli now understood where Lily got her kindness from. Her mother was one of the sweetest women he’d ever met, coming in a close second to his own mother. He saw the gratitude in her eyes and felt himself blush a little. She had no idea why he’d wanted Lily cured, and looking into her eyes now, he almost felt like a heel. Almost.

“Don’t thank me,” he told her. “Lily is a beautiful woman who deserves to be happy. I only helped a little.”

“You are welcome in this house, young man,” her mother said, wiping her eyes. “Always.”

“Thank you,” Nikoli said and then turned regretful eyes to Lily. “We need to get going, Lily Bells.”

“So soon?” Joanna asked. “It’s barely seven.”

“I have to be up early tomorrow,” Nikoli explained. “I have a race.”

“Race?” Joanna asked sharply.

“Yes, ma’am.” Nikoli nodded. “I came down to Florida to enter a race.”

“You race cars?” Nikoli watched Joanna’s eyes fill up with some emotion he couldn’t explain. She had to be thinking of Lily’s father.

“I do,” he said, keeping his voice calm. “Lily has been helping me get the car ready for the race.”

“Those damn cars.” Joanna shook her head. “Lily was forever under the hood of a car, even after her father died.”

“It kept me sane.” Lily smiled.

“Yes, yes, it did. Have you seen my daughter drive, Nikoli?”

“Yes, ma’am. I let her drive the car I’m entering back to campus when I bought it. She smoked me.”

“That’s my girl.” There was an edge to Joanna’s laughter. Nikoli knew she wasn’t at all happy about Lily in a race car.

“We really do have to go,” Nikoli said gently. “We still have to feed Luther, my partner in crime.”

“Oh my, let me fix him a plate.” Joanna went about doing just that on a paper plate they could take.

He went over and slipped an arm around Lily, loving how she snuggled into his side. He leaned down and whispered, “Happy?”

“More than I could ever tell you,” she whispered back. “Thank you, Nikoli Kincaid.”

He brushed his lips over her hair and caught her mother staring at them. She looked so full of hope he couldn’t meet her eyes. He was, for the first time in a while, starting to feel guilty about his own motives. Lily truly was a beautiful person inside and out. She deserved better than to be used the way he wanted to use her.

“Here you go.” Joanna handed the plate to Lily. It was overflowing under the plastic wrap. She was a good cook, and Luther would be groaning with food orgasms before he’d finished the plate.

“Thank you, ma’am,” he said. “It’s been a pleasure to meet you.”

Lily handed Nikoli the plate and hugged her mother. “Love you, Mama.”