The subtle burning woke Kell as the sun was starting to rise. He groaned as he looked around and remembered that Lalita had taken him to her room. However, he had not had time to warn her of anything before he passed out. The curtains were all open, the sliding door was open and Lalita was asleep in the chair on the balcony.
She was cold and wet in the rain as it fell in a soft mist.
Kell was still in a lot of pain, but couldn't let her sleep out there like that. And he needed to get those curtains closed.
He climbed out of bed to realize that he was completely naked. His wounds had been cleaned and held together with duct tape. Shit, that was going to hurt to remove.
He didn't have time to get dressed so he quickly wrapped the blanket around his waist and moved to lift Lalita up. She jumped as he touched her.
"Shhh. Come, sleep inside. I won't bother you." He said.
She looked him over. "Are you alright?"
He nodded. "I will be. But, we both need sleep." His voice was stronger than it had been before.
Lily looked out at the sky. The clouds were starting to lighten up. "I always loved the rain." She said wistfully.
It tugged at his lips. She had a purity in that simple statement that made him want to share in that moment with her. But, he needed her to go inside before the sun crested.
"Please. Let's get you dry." Lily was surprised by the tenderness in his voice.
That was the kind of morning she could dream of. Watching the sunrise with a good man who was caring and tender.
If only.
She sighed before she stood up to follow him in. "You still need to give me answers, you know."
"I know. But, after more rest?"
Lily watched him carefully. He closed the balcony door and pulled the curtains closed and triple checked that they were spread as much as possible to not let any light in.
Kell hadn't slept in a hotel room in a long time. It was far too dangerous. He was paranoid about the curtain moving. A soft hand landed on his arm. His eyes snapped to Lily.
She was confused by what he was doing. Frustrated by his lack of answers. But, mostly she was concerned.
"You are the one who was stabbed protecting me. Lay down and rest."
He simply nodded and returned to bed. As he unwrapped the blanket to climb back under the covers, he couldn't help the impulsive question. "Did you like the view?"
Lily turned beet red. "For a man who should be dead now, that is startling question."
He settled into the pillows as he glanced at the curtains once again. Well, if he was going to die, at least he was in good company. "Not an answer."
"And you won't get an answer." She grabbed some pajamas and went to the restroom to change.
Lily tried her best to stop blushing. She hadn't wanted to see all of him. But, he needed to get out of his wet clothes so she could take care of his injuries. After she pulled off his coat, weapons holster, which made her very nervous, and shirt to take care of his chest; she noticed that he also had a cut across his thigh. She just didn't expect him to go commando!
Since he had refused to go to the hospital, she needed to do something to stop the bleeding at least. It was the least she could do since he was so badly injured saving her life.
Trying not to think about his question or the answer, Lily made her way back out to her room.
Kell had fallen asleep once again. She watched him sleep for a while. There was something so innately dangerous about him. Even asleep, he was raw, sizzling power. Except for his face. Asleep, his face looked almost… lost.
"Wide awake, wake, wake at six a.m… Wanna make, make, make you come again…"
The softly spoken words stirred at Kell. His body responded immediately. His eyes opened to see Lalita dancing around the hotel room with headphones on as she tried to quietly pack up her stuff.
"Keep it hush, hush, hush, don't tell no one… Got enough, nough, nough, to turn you on."
His eyes were transfixed on her hips as she moved to the music that he could barely hear. She wore a pair of grey cargo pants with a turquoise short sleeved top and a white long sleeved button down shirt tied around her waist that drew more attention to her hips. Her magical hips.
His body throbbed in painful desire. What he wouldn't give to keep her up all night, make her scream his name as she came in his arms.
His fantasy crashed as a knock sounded at the door.
Lily glanced at Kell so fast that she wasn't real sure if he was a sleep or not, but she didn't want to take the chance of waking him. So, she rushed to the door.
"Papa." She said quietly as she stepped out of the room and pulled the door closed most of the way behind her.
Loukas dropped his head. "I'm sorry munchkin. I know I shouldn't have set you up without at least talking to you about it first."
Lily raised a brow. "Mama made you sleep alone. Didn't she?"
"Now that is low, Lily. You don't think I would apologize on my own?" She just continued to stare at him. He grumbled. "Yeah, alright, she did. But, not until after she explained why you avoid dating so much." He pulled her into his arms. "I don't know what to say."
Lily hugged her father back. "It's okay papa. I just…" She drifted for a moment. "I just need to wait for someone who loves me like you love mama. And if I don't find that, then I am happy alone. I would like it if you would be happy for me."
"Always." Then he paused. "Uhh, Lily, why are we in the hall like you are hiding something?"
Her blush was immediate. "Now, papa, I don't want you to get the wrong idea here."
"What wrong idea?" He growled.
Kell didn't see anyway around that temper, best to just be honest. "It's alright Lalita. Let your father in."
Loukas burst into the room in shock, anger and excitement all rolled into one as he looked over a very naked Kell in his daughter's bed. "I knew you two would connect! Wait, this is too fast. What the hell? And I was just apologizing for nothing? He didn't hurt you did he?" The man's mind bounced from one end of the spectrum to the other.
"It's not what you think!" Lily screamed.
Loukas gestured frantically toward Kell in the bed.
Kell shook his head. "Loukas, my friend, it really isn't what you think. Lily was just being kind enough to give me a place to sleep after I got a little dinged up last night."
"A little dinged up?" Her voice raised an octave. "Oh no. That does not count as a little dinged up, mister."
She scolded him before she turned on her father. "And you. Give me some respect here. Even if I was interested in Kell. And if, this is a huge if, he was interested in me. I would not have sex with a man the first night… okay, second night that I met him."
Kell was impressed with how she stood up to her father. Loukas was nearly as tall as Kell, still very heavily muscled for a man in his fifties, and had a bear of a temper.
"The truth is that when I went to the car to put some things away and look for my books, I was attacked by a group of men. Kell showed up out of nowhere and fought them off. But, he got stabbed in the process."
Loukas's face dropped as he heard that his little girl was attacked. He looked over at Kell and saw the duct tape over his chest. He quickly grabbed his daughter and held her tight. "Are you alright?"
"Yeah, thanks to Kell." She whispered.
"Thank you. Thank you for protecting my baby girl." Loukas let a tear roll down his cheek as he looked at Kell.
Kell simply nodded. He understood that concern. That fear. That desire to never see his children hurt. And the reality of his past made his chest tight. He had failed his children. He watched their throats be slit in front of him. Their precious little perfect lives cut short and their bodies tossed into the pond near his farm house. Their screams forever echoed in his dreams.
Loukas asked if Kell and Lily would like to go out for breakfast. Kell couldn't tell Loukas anything about why he couldn't leave the room, so he just played up how tired he was but encouraged Lalita to go with her parents. Loukas went down the hall to let Molly and Niko know the plans while Kell called Lalita back to him.
"Please Lalita. Don't tell anyone anything else about last night. You weren't supposed to see anything. No one can know."
She glared at him. "You still owe me answers. And I don't want you to touch anything while I am gone."
He flashed her a very sexy lopsided grin. "I'll be a boy scout. Only because the one thing that I want to touch won't be here."
Shit! He hadn't meant to say that out loud.
Her jaw dropped just as fast as her eyes. "Um. I, uh. I have to go." She had turned so red that she matched the dress she wore the day before.
She shook her head. He hadn't really meant that the way she thought. Did he?
Kell watched the change in her face. Her blushing was addictive. But, the pain and confusion bothered him. Before he could stop himself, he reached out for her hand to stop her.
"Lalita, I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable."
"Don't worry about it." She whispered. Then she looked up when she found a change of topic. "Why do you call me Lalita?"
"It's your name." And the feel of it when he says it, it rolls more sensuously across his tongue. It reminds him of other ways he would like to use his tongue for with her.
Her hair bounced in it's messy bun. "But no one calls me that. I prefer Lily."
Kell raised a brow. "Why? Why don't you like your name?"
She looked at the ground. "When I was growing up, people confused it with Lolita. It would have been fine if it was just kids being kids. But, when I had adult men start hitting on me when I was ten or twelve and calling me a child seductress, it made it seriously creepy."
"What?" He growled.
She shook her head and started to move. "Nevermind."
He quickly grabbed her hand again. "No. Please tell me."
"It's stupid. Just forget about it."
"Lily. Please trust me."
The thing was that she did. She didn't really know why. But, she did trust him. Maybe because he was hurt protecting her. Or her intuition told her she could. Whatever it was. She trusted him more than most men she had known for years.
"Nothing really happened. I was confused by it all at first. Innocent and naive. But, when I was twelve…" She looked around. Anywhere but at Kell. "One of the writers on set for a movie that papa was working on, he tried to… Thank God, papa came in at that moment looking for me. He damn near killed the guy. After that, the rumors spread and no one tried to touch me again, but the jokes continued for a couple of years. That was when papa and I stopped using Lalita."
Kell tugged on her hand and pulled her into his lap, where the blankets pooled over his waist. "I'm sorry Lily." His arms wrapped around her. "I won't use that name again."
She shook her head. "It's not your fault. You didn't do it and you didn't know."
"Is that why you don't seem to date anyone?" Kell was more than a little curious about that.
She sighed. "A little. I just have these feelings about people and I know if they are lying. I had never trusted that guy. He was the kind of guy who would do anything to get what he wants and what he wanted was tainted. That experience really helped me understand that my feelings were real. After that, the few times when men would hit on me, at more appropriate ages, I just knew they weren't to be trusted. They lied too much. They were tried to use me for something."
He tightened his hold on her protectively.
"It was hard growing up in Hollywood. Lots of people are so fake. They encouraged fake. And they were ambitious. Even the guys that I didn't get an immediate red flag would say stupid shit. I know they didn't intend to be malicious, but seriously. Why do people feel the need to criticize others?"
"Like what?"
She rolled her eyes. "You would be cute if… insert whatever change here… you lose weight, dye your hair, put in color contacts, wear makeup, wear these other clothes, wear high heals, stop talking, stop thinking etc, etc, etc…" She sighed. "Basically change everything about me. But, I don't want to be fake like them. I don't want to change to make a man happy for a little while until he gets bored and moves on."
That made Kell's lips slide into a grin. Thank the gods she was too smart and stubborn to fall for that bullshit.
"Listen to me Lily." He tilted her chin up to look at him. "You are beautiful. Just as you are."
She scoffed out of reflex. "Tell that to the guy who offered to buy me a gym membership on our first date." She paused. "Trust me, there wasn't a second date."
To her surprise, he let out a low growl from his chest. He was an intimidating man. But, the sound made her feel safe. Protected. Oh, alright, it really turned her on. And that made her realize where she was. In his lap, while he was naked! And she could feel his arousal under her.
She immediately blushed and started to move to get up. But, he held her there. Still looking in her eyes. As if he was debating with himself.
Gods, with the blushing! His body had been hard since he woke up to see her dancing and each blush tightened at his manhood even more. And, oh, the feel of her in his lap… Kell was near ecstasy.
With no further thought, he lowered his lips to hers. The kiss was simple and sweet. Tender. He wanted to taste more of her. But, he pulled back. He shouldn't have done that. He knew he shouldn't. He didn't want to hurt her.
He stared into her eyes. Her deep, rich, chocolate brown eyes. They darkened slightly in lust. Her breathing was heavy. Hell, so was his.
"Why did you do that?" She whispered.
"Because you are beautiful. And you need to know that you are." To her utter amazement, not one word of that was a lie.
Kell's thumb made small circles along her cheek bone.
"You should go meet your family for breakfast." Kell said. He didn't want her to go. He wanted to roll over and pin her to the bed and absolutely ravage her mouth. That simple kiss electrified him. But, he had to let her go.
Niko was at the door. He knocked only briefly before he walked right into the room. Lily jumped up immediately before her uncle saw more than any of them would have wanted.