Lila

Lila woke slowly the next morning with a smile on her face. Then she blinked against the light and sat bolt upright in bed.

​​

Had it been a dream? Was she going to work today to be plunged back into the iciness of Dane's anger?

But no…she could feel the spot where her neck met her shoulder that ached, just a touch, because he'd nipped it. Her eyes stung because they'd stayed up so late, exchanging stories, and making plans about how they would make time to be together.

They'd argued about his rules for work. As far as Lila could see, he didn't want her to act normal, he wanted her to act like she didn't like him at all. Where she thought it was much safer to let others see their comfort with each other grow, so if there was ever a slip up, it looked less suspicious.

He hadn't agreed. But by the end, he'd at least given in to the idea that they couldn't fake hating each other.

Dane had made her dinner. He'd cooked for her. And he was good. Watching him in the kitchen, so confident, so skilled, had made her want to curse this idea that they should wait and just drag him straight to the bedroom. But then he'd served her up the most delicious chicken and mushroom risotto she'd ever had, and she'd gotten lost in tasting that instead.

Then, her stomach so stuffed she felt drowsy, they'd cuddled up on the couch to look at the lights outside the window. He'd turned off all the lights so they only light they had was from the buildings and streets around their building. It had felt like Christmas. She'd been in awe.

"Every night," he'd murmured when she'd exclaimed for the fifth time how beautiful it was. "You're welcome here, every night. Every minute there's no one else here. And even then…I could hide you in the closet." He'd given a wicked grin then and she'd laughed, then kissed him. "Let's assume it's not every night," she said reluctantly when he'd groaned and pulled away.

"Let's start with every other night and work our way up."

He'd laughed again and she'd tried to hide her awe. His laugh was such a beautiful sound. How was it that he just didn't do it? How had his life stolen all this gorgeous joy?

Realizing she'd been lost in a memory, Lila blinked and looked at the clock. It was seven forty-five. She was supposed to be at the office in forty-five minutes.

She threw herself out of bed and into the shower, cursing herself. Of all the mornings to show up at work with her hair in a bun. Argh!

Exactly forty-minutes later, she was trotting through the main lobby—if she walked really fast, she could be at work just a few minutes late. But she couldn't think about that without wondering how she was going to keep her hands off Dane—when one of the security guards called her name.

She turned, but didn't stop walking. "I'm sorry, Nate, but I'm late for work and—"

"There's a car for you, Lila. I was told to catch you if you came through here."

Lila stopped in her tracks. How could she have forgotten? After all he'd told her. All the ways he'd been terrified for her. How could she have been about to walk out onto the street like she didn't have a care in the world. "Oh…goodness. Thank you, Nate," she said.

He looked relieved and ushered her through to the side door where the cars waited. It wasn't the usual car, but one that they used for meetings or multiple people—a deep, black, panther of a vehicle. The others must have been busy since she was running late. It stood idling at the parking lot curb. She thanked Nate again and trotted for the back door, throwing her purse and laptop bag in ahead of her then sliding in. "Thank you so much for waiting, I'm sorry I'm—"

As she slid into the seat she came face to face with Dane—folded into the backward facing seat, his jaw tight and eyes dark. Her mouth dropped open, but she knew the driver could see her in the rearview, so she swallowed the curse she'd been about to shriek, and took a deep breath. "You startled me," she said, one hand to her chest. His eyes followed the movement, zeroing in. She raised an eyebrow at him, but he just met her gaze without a word.

Lila swallowed. Was he angry? Or just being careful. She was about to ask when he knocked on the roof so the driver would know it was time to leave. Then said to the driver, though he never took his eyes off hers, "I have a phone call to make. I'll put the window up. Knock if there's a problem."

"Yes, sir," the driver said.

Dane flipped the switch on the door and the partition between them and the driver slid slowly into place. She pretended she was focused on looking at something on her phone, but really she was just waiting, the hairs on her arms slowly standing to attention, until the driver didn't have an eye on them.

Though he couldn't see it behind him, the second the black panel slid into place, Dane leaned forward, slowly, slowly put a hand to her neck and paused, looking at her like she might slap him.

Lila had been readying herself to be kissed, so when he hesitated, she frowned. "What are you waiting for? We've got what, six minutes?" She didn't wait for his answer. Just pulled him in and kissed him until she struggled to breathe.

When they finally pulled apart, he let go of a heavy breath. "Thank god," he said hoarsely. "It wasn't a dream."

Lila laughed, but inside she was dancing.

He was just as relieved as she was.

"We have about four minutes until this car stops," he said a moment later and their eyes locked.

She swallowed hard, but leaned forward. "Just don't touch my hair. It's too hard to fix without a good mirror."

He nodded once and pulled her into his lap.

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