Lorenzo & Lily (Royals of Valleria #8)

by Marianne Knightly

  His breath caught. “Lily.”

  “I’d forgotten what it felt like. I’ve been afraid for so long, lonely for so long. And I realized something. I never stopped loving you.”

  “God, Lily.”

  “I didn’t. I told you I never dated, not once after I broke things off with you. At the time, I told myself I was too busy to date, that I didn’t want random men in Liliana’s life. And that was all true. But it was true because I only wanted you. I was devastated that I couldn’t have you, and that Liliana couldn’t know you. So, I kept trying to reach out to you.”

  “You love me?”

  She licked her lips. “I do. I know there are still secrets between us, about our past. I only hope, once you discover what those are, that you’ll still want to be with me.”

  “Lily–”

  She put two fingers over his lips. “Let me finish. I don’t want to be afraid anymore. I know, with your arms around me, I won’t have to be. You’ll chase the fear away as you did earlier tonight. I’ll tell you all my secrets, because I don’t want them between us anymore. I want us to start, well, as fresh as we can.”

  His heart was beating furiously. He hadn’t expected this, not yet. He thought it’d take her more time. He was fucking thrilled it hadn’t, even if he did need to get shot to make it happen. “God, Lily. You won’t regret this. I promise you. You won’t regret this.”

  “I haven’t had a chance to tell you yet, but the hotel owners told me they fired John and Calvin and want me to take over running the hotel.”

  He’d gotten used to the idea of having her close by at the conference center. However, this was an incredible opportunity for her. “Are you going to do it?”

  “I thought about it, but I don’t want to run a hotel.”

  “Are you sure? Maybe you should wait until morning to decide.”

  She shook her head. “I’m not making a rash decision because you were shot, or not entirely. I know what I want and I’m not going to change my mind. Tonight, I realized that being with you meant being close to you, too. I want to run your conference center, and be near you and Liliana.”

  “It’s your conference center now.”

  She smiled. “How about ‘our’ conference center?”

  “Perfect.” He kissed her, slow and sweet. “I love you.”

  “I love you.”

  “Will you let me have you? Taste you?”

  “Yes. Please.”

  “It’ll have to be fast.” He leaned up to whisper in her ear. “I’ll have to enjoy you more thoroughly later.”

  She shuddered and his teeth nipped the lobes of her ear. She shuddered again.

  His hands dipped to her shirt. He unbuttoned slowly, lightly brushing her exposed skin as he did. When he finished, he pushed the shirt away.

  “No bra,” he murmured.

  “I didn’t have time. I just wanted to get to the hospital.”

  “Makes it easy for me to taste you then.”

  He kissed her neck and her head tipped back. Her hands delved into his hair.

  God, the taste of her. He kissed her collarbone, then her cleavage.

  She was practically panting. He wondered how fast he could make her climax after a five-year dry spell.

  His mouth covered one nipple and she moaned.

  “Shhh. You don’t want anyone to hear.”

  “I can’t help it.”

  He smiled against her breast before he continued sucking and biting her nipple. His hand slipped down, and caressed the scar from her C-section. He wanted to taste it, and he would another time. He’d devote hours to worshipping her body, and making sure she knew how beautiful she was, scars and all.

  For now, however, his hands unbuttoned, then dipped into her jeans. “Is your cunt as tasty as I remember?” He rubbed against her folds and brushed her clit. “Is it?”

  She started rocking against his fingers. “Lo.”

  Her wet heat on his fingers had his cock twitching, but he kept still. He wanted her to move. “Shall I taste?”

  He pulled his fingers from her jeans and she mewed in protest. He licked his fingers clean while she watched. “It tastes even fucking better than it used to.”

  She squirmed against him.

  “Later, when we get home, I’m going to taste your sweet fucking cunt. Then I’m going to fuck you for hours.”

  Her hands were brutally fisted in his hair. “Lo.”

  “Right now, you’re going to take it hard and fast. Take your jeans off. Now.”

  She staggered off the bed, kicked off her shoes, and pulled down her jeans and panties. Lorenzo pushed his pants and underwear down to his knees.

  She climbed back and plastered herself against him. He held her there, their hot skin now scorching, their breath short and panting. Just the feel of her skin against his made his cock rock hard.

  Fuck! “I don’t have a condom.”

  She groaned. “I’m on birth control. Are you clean?”

  “Fuck yes.”

  “Lo.”

  “I would not fuck with you about this. I haven’t been with anyone for at least six months, and a month ago my last checkup came back clean. You want to wait, we’ll wait. But I’m still getting you off, with either my fingers or my mouth on your cunt.”

  She jerked in his hold.

  “Or maybe both.”

  She jerked again. “I trust you. I want you.”

  “There’s no shame in waiting. Are you sure?”

  “You make me wait for your cock, I’ll hurt your other arm.”

  He grinned. “Come on my fingers, baby, then you can ride my cock.”

  She whimpered. “Yes. God, yes.”

  His thumb rubbed her clit while his fingers delved inside. She was a little looser than he remembered – he supposed that was due to giving birth – but she was still fucking hot.

  After a minute of rubbing and her riding his fingers, he had barely any control left. “Now, Lily. Come on fucking fingers, baby. That’s it. Let me feel your sweet fucking cunt squeezing my fingers.”

  He leaned over and took a nipple in his mouth, biting lightly and tugging it.

  She finally came, and it. Was. Glorious.

  He pulled his fingers out and impaled her on his cock fast. “Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.”

  She was already riding him. “Lo?”

  “You feel so fucking good, baby. Ride me.”

  She started shifting on top of him.

  “Harder.”

  She shook her head.

  “Harder.”

  “Your arm.”

  He growled. “My arm is not the body part needing attention right now.”

  She huffed a laugh which turned into a moan. “Oh God. Lorenzo. I missed you. God, I missed you.”

  Fucking hell. “I missed you, too, baby. God, I missed you, too.” He thrust up and her head fell back.

  “Lo.”

  “Faster.”

  “Lo.”

  “Faster.”

  “Lo!”

  He covered her mouth with his, and swallowed her scream as she came again. Lorenzo thrust once, twice, three times, then filled her.

  Fuck, it felt good to fill her.

  She collapsed on him, and he adjusted the recline on the bed to lay flat. He ran a hand through her damp hair while she gently rubbed his hurt arm.

  “Did we make your arm worse?”

  He kissed her forehead. “No. Stop worrying.”

  “I’ll never stop worrying about you.”

  His arms tightened around her. “Thank God for that.”

  She kissed his chest and got up. “I’m going to go clean up.”

  He cupped her face and kissed her, long and sweet. “Hurry back.”

  While she cleaned up in the bathroom, he used the other paper towels and small sink in the room to clean himself up. He’d just fixed his pants when a knock came at the door.

  “Who is it?”

  “It’s me,” his mother replied.

  Lore
nzo caught Lily’s eye as she exited the bathroom and whispered. “My mother.”

  She sucked in a quiet breath, then frantically put on her clothes. After running her fingers through her hair a few times, she nodded.

  He opened the door. “Mama.”

  His mother rushed to him and wrapped her arms around him. “Lorenzo.”

  “Mama, I’m fine. It was nothing.”

  “It’s not nothing. You’ve been shot. Again.”

  “I’m not the only one of your sons who’s been shot through the years.”

  She pulled back and started pacing. “That doesn’t matter!”

  She ran her shaky hands through her hair. He’d rarely seen his mother so upset. Angry, annoyed, happy, sad, loving – all of those he’d seen, and most of those away from public eyes. For her to lose control like this was rare; the last time was when his father had been in the hospital.

  Lily whispered in his ear. “Maybe I should give you both some time.”

  “Oh. Lily. I didn’t see you there.” His mother eye’s darted between him and Lily. “I thought you’d gone back to the castle.”

  “No, I couldn’t.” Lily linked her hand with his. “I’m never leaving Lorenzo again.”

  His mother sucked in a breath.

  What was going on here? “Lily.”

  “I just wanted to make sure she knew that.”

  “Why?”

  Lily’s hand was fused to his. “Remember my secrets?”

  His mother shook her head. “Please, Lily, don’t.”

  “I know this isn’t the best time, but there will never be a good time for this. He needs to know, Genevieve. None of us can move forward until we make peace with the past.”

  Every cell in his body went rigid. “Are you telling me that my mother was the one who forced you to leave me?”

  Lily bit her lip, then nodded.

  He faced his mother. “Did you interfere with my relationship back then? Did you?”

  “Yes.” His mother’s voice was a terrified whisper. “Yes, I did.”

  She turned to Lily, who’d gone so pale, Lorenzo worried if she’d faint. “I didn’t know about the baby. I didn’t.”

  His mother turned to face him again. “I didn’t know. I didn’t know.”

  “And that gave you the right to interfere in my life?”

  He turned his back on both Lily and his mother. Four years of his daughter’s life gone. The woman he loved, afraid of his mother, of the queen. Of course, she hadn’t wanted to tell him who’d come between them. Everything suddenly made sense in glaring technicolor.

  “I’ll never have those years back. Never. Not with Liliana. Not with Lily.”

  “Lorenzo, you needed to focus on healing. You were so broken when you came back and–”

  “I was healing!” He started pacing the room. “I was getting better, for myself. Not for you, not even for Lily. For me.”

  He stopped to gaze at Lily. “Falling in love with you helped me, saved me in a different way, but I was healing on my own. When you left, I regressed. I know that. I don’t say that to hurt you.”

  Lily’s voice trembled. “I know. I know.”

  He turned back to his mother. “There was nothing you could have done to help me or keep it from happening. All I ever wanted was your support. Your love.”

  “You have that,” his mother said quickly. “You always have.”

  “This is manipulation. Haven’t you learned your lesson yet?”

  “I have. Absolutely. As soon as I reached out to Cecilia and learned about the baby, I realized what I’d done and arranged for her to meet you at the wedding. Your father and I both know how you’ve suffered. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”

  “Why the wedding? Why didn’t you set up a meeting as soon as you found out?”

  His mother sniffled. “I thought a meeting in a public place would be better, easier for you. You wouldn’t–”

  “Fly off into a rage, or some other made-up shit?”

  Her words were measured and deliberate. “I thought you’d be able to handle things better if you first saw her in a public setting. I had doubts even then, and decided it was the wrong way to go.”

  She took a deep breath. “However, with everything that happened before the wedding – your father fell ill, Arianna was having pregnancy complications in another country and I couldn’t be there, and Rebecca got hurt, and the Royal Council was trying to stop the wedding…I just forgot about changing the meeting. I was being pulled in so many directions and I’m only human. It slipped through. I’m sorry.”

  He was ashamed, but he hadn’t thought about how difficult that time must have been for her, having to choose between caring for her husband or her daughter, then all that mess with the Royal Council and the wedding. However, all that didn’t excuse her behavior all those years ago. “Why did you push Lily away in the first place? It wasn’t just because I was healing.”

  His mother dried her eyes with a handkerchief. “No, it wasn’t. I saw the two of you together one day in your room, quite by accident.”

  He winced. “Mother.”

  “No, not like that. You were just talking and smiling at each other. But the way you were together, I knew. I looked into Cecilia and learned who her family was, and discovered the allegations against her father’s company. If you went public with a relationship, I knew the press would uncover what had happened to you in the military. I’m ashamed to say that I thought she was perhaps using you.”

  Lily put her hands on her hips. “How can you think that? I was never using him.”

  “I know that now, but your family was in the midst of a scandal. If it went public that you were dating a prince, the press would get distracted. It’s a ploy I’ve often seen before.”

  Lorenzo took a deep breath, and tried to remain calm. “That’s not an excuse. If you’d come to me–”

  “You were sick!” Tears streamed down his mother’s face. “You were sick. You don’t know what it was like, to visit you in the hospital. Your eyes were vacant for so long. Some days you barely moved. You started getting better, and we were all hopeful. Then, after she left, you fell apart again. I knew you weren’t strong enough for a relationship.”

  “You’re right.”

  “Wh-what?”

  “I wasn’t very strong back then. But that doesn’t give you the right to do what you did. I lost four years of my daughter’s life that I’ll never get back. She doesn’t know her own father, for fuck’s sake.”

  “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.” His mother started sobbing. “If I’d kn-known about Lil-Liliana, I would not have done it. I sh-should not have done it regardless. I’m s-sorry. So s-sorry. C-can you ever fo-forgive me?”

  Lorenzo ran both hands through his hair. How could he forgive his mother for this? She realized now it was a mistake, but that didn’t erase the last few years he’d lived without Lily and Liliana.

  There was a knock at the door and his father entered. He took one look at his mother and went to her. “My dear, Lorenzo will be fine.”

  “She’s not upset about that, or not entirely. She schemed to keep Lily and I apart years ago. She’s the reason I’ve never known my daughter except for two days.”

  His father sighed. “I know, my son. When your mother reached out to Cecilia and discovered Liliana existed, she told me.”

  “How could she tell you and not me? That’s my child!”

  “My son, I know you’re upset. I don’t agree with what your mother did to you and Cecilia. You should know that Marcello was also aware of Cecilia, as your mother reached out to him to investigate Cecilia’s claims.”

  “Are you fucking kidding me?” His brother? His own fucking brother? Now, Marcello’s recent eagerness to investigate Lily made sense. His ‘investigation’ would have taken him no time at all, since he’d already completed it for his mother.

  “My son, there’s nothing we can do it about the past now. We must move forward.”

  Lorenzo
shook his head. “How do you suggest we do that?”

  “As we’ve always done: we move on as a family.”

  “Papa–”

  Ethan knocked and entered the room. “Sorry to interrupt.” He stopped and stared at the sight of his mother crying and the tense air in the room. “Should I come back?”

  Gabriel continued consoling Genevieve. “What did you need, my son?”

  Ethan faced Lily. “Your parents are here.”

  A roaring tidal wave of anger engulfed Lorenzo. He’d already been angry, but that had been a low, lapping current of heat. “Are you fucking kidding me?”

  Lily wrapped her arms around herself, and her wild eyes pinned him. “Lorenzo.”

  He rushed to her and put his arms around her. “I’ll take care of it.”

  “But–”

  He cupped her face. “I’ll take care of it.” He kissed her forehead then turned to Ethan. “How did they get here? I thought security had cordoned off the hospital.”

  Ethan nodded. “They had, but her parents started to make noise in front of the reporters camped outside. Said they couldn’t believe we’d keep them from visiting their future son-in-law, and all kinds of bullshit. We thought it best to let them in, rather than fan the flame.”

  “Show them in.”

  Ethan quirked a brow. “Here?”

  “Here. Now.”

  Ethan’s eyes flicked to Lily. “I don’t know, Lorenzo.”

  “I do. Now.”

  Ethan’s eyes flipped back to him, and he waited a beat, then nodded. With a glance to his parents, he left. He returned after a few minutes, this time ushering in Lily’s parents.

  Lorenzo had seen them before in pictures. They were a suave Italian couple, with subpar plastic surgery they’d done to make themselves look ten years younger yet, in actuality, made them look even older. Underneath the artificial sheen, he could see elements of Lily – her nose from her father, her lustrous hair from her mother. They were both about Lily’s height – and thus shorter than him – with dark hair and olive skin. Though Liliana looked a lot like Lorenzo, he could now see Brionne features in her as well.

  With their stiff faces and entitled air, it was clear that physical features were all his girls received from the Brionnes. The rest of Lily’s goodness was innate in her, and Liliana’s goodness had come from Lily. That thought buoyed him, though he didn’t need the extra confidence to face them.