He crashes his lips down on mine, stealing the air from my lungs and my ability to stand on my own. I melt into him, giving him my weight.
His arms are under me and lifting me off the ground. “You’re mine, baby,” he murmurs against my lips, carrying me toward the house.
And for the first time, I feel the weight of those words. I’d always heard my father say them to my mother. Always rolled my eyes when he said them too. But hearing them slip from Jett’s lips makes my stomach flutter and my heart skip.
I don’t feel like this is all a dream anymore, ready to be ripped right out from underneath me.
24
Jett
“We need to talk,” Lily says while I pour myself a cup of coffee, barely awake.
“About?” My back’s to her as she sits on the stool at the kitchen island.
Last night, we didn’t talk much after I kicked Marcus out. We went to bed, me holding Lily, her rubbing my chest. I knew she had a million questions because Lily is rarely quiet, but last night she was unusually silent.
“Something Marcus said.”
I turn, resting my mug against the granite countertop, leaning my body over the island. “What do you want to know?”
She peers up from her mug, looking every bit as cute as she always does. Her long, wavy, brown hair spills over the straps of her tank top, covering her breasts and disappearing below the counter. “You met him three years ago?”
I nod. “I was in San Diego for a year before he showed up, newly assigned to my ship.”
“Had you ever seen him treating a woman poorly?”
I shake my head. “Never. I’ve seen him be an asshole to other men, but never to a woman.” I rub the back of my neck, knowing everything that happened last night was entirely my fault. “You have to believe if I had any idea, I never would’ve let him stay here.”
She turns the mug in her hands, her gaze dipping down. “I believe you. What he did isn’t your fault.”
“It is my fault,” I tell her, taking full responsibility for bringing him into her life.
“He said something about you that bothered me.” She peers up, her eyes filled with so many questions. “I can’t stop thinking about it either.”
“Ask me whatever you want, Lily. I’d never lie to you.”
“Well,” she says, her tongue sweeping out and over her bottom lip, “he said you two had shared women before.”
I stiffen and close my eyes, knowing his words, especially those, would bother her.
“Is it true?”
I haven’t lied to Lily, and I’m not about to start now. Sure, there’s so much in my past I’m not proud of, but it’s part of me. If we have any real chance at a future, I have to lay all my cards on the table, even the things I’m not proud of.
“Once,” I admit. “Years ago.”
She taps her thumb against the side of the mug, tightening her grip around the outside. “He made it seem like it was something you two did often.”
“We didn’t. It only happened the one time and never again.”
“Will you tell me about it?”
I grimace, wishing she didn’t want any details. The entire thing was a mess and not something I’m proud of. “I’ll tell you anything you want, but do you really want to hear this?”
“Jett, I’m well aware I wasn’t your first. I know I’m probably not even your tenth. I remember how you were in high school. I have no delusions about your sex life, but there’s a giant hole between the time you graduated and showed up out of the clear blue at Inked.”
I reach across the island and take her hand, wanting and needing to be connected to her. “None of them mattered,” I tell her, being totally truthful. “No one mattered before you.”
She gives me a small smile. “I believe you when you say those words, but I still want to know what happened.”
“The details aren’t important, Lily. It happened. We met a girl at a bar, she asked to sleep with us both, and we agreed. I was pretty drunk that night, and I wasn’t thinking clearly or else I would’ve said no. But Marcus was all about banging this chick.”
Lily winces at my choice of words. “Did you ever see her again?”
I shake my head, my stomach twisting over the entire conversation. “Never saw her again, babe. I also didn’t fuck her. Marcus did, though.”
Lily cocks her head, studying me. “You didn’t have sex with her?”
“Depends on your definition. Marcus had sex with her, but I…”
“You did other things?”
I smile, loving that she’s so innocent, and nod. “Something like that.”
“And you only did it the one time?”
I nod again. “But Marcus did steal a girl I’d been seeing for a few weeks, fucking her when I was gone and here on leave.”
“Then why were you still friends with him?” she asks incredulously.
“Well…” I wince, wondering the same thing myself, looking back on everything. “I figured he saved me a big headache. I was going to end things with her when I got back. He just made sure it happened sooner rather than later.”
She blinks, studying me for a moment. “We’re really nothing alike. We’re doomed, aren’t we?”
I jerk my head back and stare at Lily. “Why would you say such a thing? We’re not doomed.”
“I know you like me. God, I know you do, but Jett, come on.”
I tighten my grip on her hand. “Come on, what?”
“How many women have you had a committed relationship with?” she asks.
I’d expected her to ask me this question a long time ago, and I was starting to think anyone before her didn’t count anyway.
“Only a few,” I tell her honestly. “The same as you.”
She shakes her head. “I had one real boyfriend my entire life, and I slept with no one else. While you—”
“None of them matter.”
She reaches over with her free hand, touching my face. “It’s a lovely thing to say and hear.” She smiles, caressing my cheek. “I know you love me too, but do you really think you have the ability to change your ways?”
“I do.”
“If you have any doubt I’ll be okay, I will be. I’ll be sad, of course, but I don’t want to trap you in something you’ll regret.”
“Lily?”
“Yeah?”
“Shut up,” I say quickly. “There’s no one else I want. I’ve lived enough and done enough in the last five years to know who I want, what I want, and how I want it. I want you. I want us. I want this. I’ll never find someone else as good as you. Someone else as beautiful, as sweet, as caring.”
“Fuckin’ right, you won’t.” She smirks, and I finally feel like I can breathe again. “I believe you, Jett. I’m not asking you to marry me, but I want to know I’m the only one.”
“You’ve always been the only one.”
“Liar,” she teases.
“Lily, I’m going to tell you a secret.” I swallow hard, knowing I have to come clean so she understands the depths of my feelings for her.
“You know the photo I had of you?”
“The one the asshole told me about?” she asks, straightening on the stool and dropping her hand from my face.
I nod. “I asked Suzy to send it to me. I asked her to send a few pictures of you to me.”
Her forehead wrinkles. “You what?”
“I was home just before your graduation. It was my first time back on leave from the Navy. Anyway, she started talking about the high school graduation, and I asked her to send me some photos. I wanted to see your face when you finally had your diploma in your hand.”
“You did?”
“I did, baby. I wanted to see the smile on your face. I knew how important school was to you and how you’d be the valedictorian too. But nothing could’ve prepared me for what I saw.”
“What did you see?”
“The girl of my dreams,” I whisper. “The only girl I’d ever loved, with t
he biggest smile, and I knew. I knew I loved you.”
Tears swim in her eyes. “But why wait years to tell me?”
“I wanted you to live your life and not think about some schmuck traveling around the world. It wouldn’t have been fair to tell you how I felt if I couldn’t be here at your side.”
“I would’ve waited for you.”
“Exactly my point.”
She wipes the corner of her eye, sniffling. “But what if I’d fallen in love with someone else?”
I move my hand to her other cheek, swiping away the moisture. “If you’d fallen for someone else, then you were never meant to be mine.”
“You’re crazy,” she says, shaking her head. “You took a big risk.”
I smirk. “Not really. I knew you’d never love anyone except me. I’d known you were mine since you were a freshman.”
“You did not.”
“I did,” I argue.
“How?”
“One day, you left your notebook with Gigi in the lunchroom…” Her eyes widen, but I keep talking. “And I saw what you’d written on the front. Mrs. Jett Michaels was scribbled over and over again. I knew then you were mine.”
“You’re really insane,” she says, giggling softly. “I was a dumb kid with a crush.”
“And now?” I ask, brushing her hair away from her face. “Are you still a dumb kid with a crush?”
She shakes her head softly. “No. Now, I’m a stupid woman in love with a crazy man.”
I release her hand, cupping her face in my palms. “No, baby. You’re not a stupid woman. You’re mine. That’s what you are. Mine. Only mine.”
I pull her face forward, crashing my lips down on hers. She tastes of coffee, cream, and sweetness as she kisses me back, pushing her tongue between my lips, tangling it with my own.
“Always mine,” I murmur against her lips between kisses. “Only mine.”
Lily moans, sliding her arms around my neck. “Only yours,” she repeats, solidifying what I’ve known and felt since the beginning.
Lily Gallo always has been and always will be mine.
* * *
“Yo,” Mike, Lily’s father, says as he rakes his eyes over me, looking like he wants to rip out my throat and dance on my lifeless body.
“Hey, Mr. Gallo.” I’m laying it on thick, but this is Lily’s father, and the last thing I want is for the man to hate me. “How are you today?”
He grunts in response.
“Daddy,” Lily says, tucking herself under my arm. “Be nice.”
“Michael Gallo,” Mia, Mike’s wife, says, walking up behind him. “Stop being rude to Jett.”
“I wasn’t,” he grumbles and lies. “I was being as pleasant as I can be to the man who’s trying to steal my girl.”
Mia wraps her arms around Mike’s middle, holding him as she plasters her front to his back and looks at us from the side. “You know she’s not a little girl anymore.”
I smile at Mia, always loving her strength in dealing with a man like Mike, but I don’t dare speak. I know better and would like to continue breathing.
“I know.” He blows out a breath, relaxing his fist. “But I’m not sure I’m ready for her to grow up so fast.”
“I’m twenty-one years old, Dad. It wasn’t that fast.”
“It felt like yesterday you were born, sweetheart. I remember rocking you to sleep every night, promising you the sun and the moon.”
Lily steps away from me and grabs her dad’s hand. “You gave me everything I ever wanted. I have the best dad in the world. But no matter how much you don’t want me to grow up, I’m going to and already have.”
Mike smiles at her like she’s the most important person in the world to him. The man loves his children. Sometimes he can be a little overbearing, but his devotion to his family is evident and admirable.
“You taught me right from wrong, how to protect myself, how to love myself, and what the true meaning of family is, Dad. But you’ve got to let me go and let me find my happiness like you did with Mom.”
Mike wraps an arm around Lily, pulling her closer. “But, sweetheart, are you sure it’s him you love?”
The him is me. I can hear the unhappiness in his voice, in addition to seeing it on his face.
“Michael,” Mia warns. “You know she’s been in love with Jett since she was in high school, don’t you?”
“But why him?”
“Why not him?” Lily asks her dad. “No one else has treated me as good as he has besides you, Dad. No one makes me feel as loved or as safe as Jett does. He makes me happy.” Lily peeks over her shoulder, her cheeks pink with embarrassment.
“I love your daughter, Mr. Gallo,” I say, leaving no doubt how I feel about her. “She’s it for me. Always has been.”
“So, all the other women you’ve been with…?” He raises an eyebrow.
“Would you have rather I started dating your daughter in high school?”
He shakes his head quickly. “Hell no.”
I laugh. “I wanted her to finish school, live life. I knew we’d find our way to each other someday.”
He scrubs a hand over his forehead, looking like he’s in pain. “You made sure of it, didn’t you? By coming back here, telling her you needed a roommate.”
“I wasn’t lying about that. I did need a roommate,” I tell him, taking a step forward and wrapping my arm around Lily’s middle, hauling her back against me. “But I didn’t want anyone except Lily.”
“I knew you had it all planned out,” he says.
“Let me ask you something, Mr. G.”
“Mr. Gallo,” he corrects me.
“Fine. Mr. Gallo, when you met Mia, did you know she was the one?”
He places his hands over his wife’s as she hugs him from behind. “I did,” he whispers.
“What was that?” Mia asks. “I’m not sure I heard you.” She smirks, winking at me.
“I did,” he says a little louder.
“Well, so did I.” Lily relaxes into me as I speak, resting her head on my shoulder as I peer down at her. “Would you have done anything to make sure she would be yours forever?” I ask, bringing my gaze back to him.
“He did,” Mia answers for him. “God, he was such a pompous asshole, but he wouldn’t leave me alone, and he finally won me over.”
“Lily!” my mom yells as she walks into the backyard, carrying a bowl of something she made for our first official family cookout. “You’re glowing, sweetheart.”
“Hey, Mrs. M.” Lily smiles, leaving my arms to give my mom a kiss and take the food from her.
“Call me Sophia,” Mom tells her. “Mrs. M is way too formal.”
“See, baby, that’s how you should be,” Mia tells Mike, squeezing his waist. “Instead of being a big baby about everything. Being difficult is only going to push her away, not keep her closer.”
“I’d never let that happen,” I tell them. “Nothing is more important than family.”
“At least he understands one thing,” Mike grumbles.
“Mike,” Dad says, holding out his hand to Lily’s father. “You’re looking better than you have in years. I may have to start working out with you.”
Dad’s sucking up. He’s good at it, knowing exactly how much Mike Gallo loves to be complimented.
“I could get you in shape. The older we get, the more important it is we don’t go soft.”
“I’ll never be soft,” Dad argues, and I roll my eyes.
For two grown men, they act like children.
“Will you show me around the house?” Mom asks Lily, ignoring me.
“I’d love to, Sophia.” Lily smiles.
Seeing Lily with my mother, and even her father and my father getting along, makes me happy. For once, I feel like my life is falling into place and everything is as it was always supposed to be.
25
Lily
“I’m so proud of you,” Sophia says, grabbing me by the shoulders. “You two have really made this a
lovely home.”
I beam with pride as I look around the room, realizing this is a home. Not only because of the things in it, but because of Jett and me and the life we’re building together.
“It’s impressive,” Aunt Suzy adds, standing next to Sophia. “I don’t think I had your sense of style until I was much older.”
Sophia snorts, dropping her hands from my shoulders. “You didn’t have any style when we lived together, Suzy. Everything was black or white and usually whatever you could find on sale.”
Aunt Suzy laughs, toying with the pendant around her neck. “I like a good deal. Hell, I still do.”
“I always forget you two were roommates.”
“We were fresh out of college, starting our first year of teaching, and piss-poor broke,” Aunt Suzy says.
“Ah. The good times.” Sophia laughs, shaking her head. “We’ve come a long way, babe.”
“A long, long way,” Suzy whispers, glancing toward Uncle Joe, Gigi, and Pike. “I wish we could turn back time to when the kids were little. I miss those days.”
“Girl, don’t be crazy. I remember those days, and you were a hot mess. You’ve conveniently blocked out all the bad shit like diapers, middle-of-the-night feedings, extreme exhaustion.”
“Maybe.” Suzy shrugs. “But knowing my little girl is moving on, growing up, and maybe getting married is too much for my heart.”
My eyes widen. “Married?” I whisper.
Suzy shakes her head. “I know they’re still a way off, but it’ll happen eventually. Pike’s it for her. I see the way she looks at him.”
Sophia nudges Suzy. “It’s the same way you looked at Joe and still do, to this day.”
Suzy smiles. “He still gives me butterflies.”
“Anyway,” Sophia says, turning to look at me. “Are you going back to school next year, Lily?”
I shrug. “I don’t think so. I’m happy at Inked.”
“She’s doing a wonderful job,” Aunt Suzy tells Sophia. “Mike said she’s really turning into a pro and the customers love her.”
“I’m sure they do. Look at how cute she is.” Sophia waves her hand between us. “The men have to be trampling over each other to get to her. Has to make Jett crazy.”
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