Chapter 15

 

Lilli

 

Devin took great care of me as he sent out my pants and ordered a bunch of delicious snacks and desserts for us to feast on. The sweets were exactly what I needed after dealing with the stress of the Edwards and their questions.

I was feeling worse and worse about the lies we had already told. I didn’t want to get Izzy all wrapped up in thinking her dad and I were married, and it really made me angry to find out that Ashley had told her. But even though I was upset, I also really wanted to help Devin out, and I thought Izzy was going to do great with him at his house. Things were already so out of control, there was no pulling the lie back in at that point.

“How about a movie?” Devin asked as he flipped the television on.

We had the chaise longue pulled up next to the bed and the table right in front of it. Devin clicked through the movies, and I was surprised at how many choices there were. I’d never even bothered looking at the movie selection when I was in a hotel room, probably because I didn’t stay in nice hotels like this one.

“Wait, that one.” I laughed as he clicked past Magic Mike. “Channing Tatum is so cute.”

“You want to watch a movie about male strippers?”

“Yep, and I think you’ll love it.”

“Wait, you’ve already seen it before?”

“Of course. What kind of woman do you think I am?”

Devin laughed and kept clicking through to see what other movie choices there were. But I had my heart set on watching Channing Tatum, so I reached for the remote and caught him off guard as I pulled it away from him.

“Um, I already decided on the movie,” I said as I pressed his hand away while he tried to grab the remote back.

“No. I can’t possibly keep my man card if I watch that.”

“Shhh, I won’t tell anyone. It’s a good movie. Trust me,” I said playfully as I clicked to purchase the movie.

“I’m only going to watch it because you’ve gone out of your way to help me out here. That’s the only reason. And don’t you dare tell Jacob.”

I couldn’t help laughing at how serious he was looking at me. He clearly was very concerned that his friend would find out that he had agreed to watch the sexy male stripper movie.

“I won’t tell him.”

“Swear on it.”

“Oh, okay.” I laughed. “I swear I won’t tell him that you watched the sexy Channing Tatum with me.”

“Man, I can’t believe I got roped into this.”

He grabbed his drink and climbed up into the bed while he held the blankets open for me to join him. I grabbed another Mike’s Hard Lemonade and climbed in next to him. We organized the pillows behind us and leaned back to enjoy the movie.

The scene where the guys were dancing was pretty sexy, and I looked over at Devin to see if he was even watching the movie. Sure enough, he was focused on the movie just like I was. But when he noticed that I had seen him, he pretended like I was torturing him by rolling his eyes and sipping more on his drink.

“I got better moves than that,” Devin scoffed as Channing Tatum took to the dance floor.

Without hesitating, I grabbed the remote and paused the film. If Devin had moves like that, I definitely wanted to see them.

“Let’s see,” I said as I motioned for him to take the floor.

“I’m not dancing for you. Those moves are saved for a special occasion.”

“Ah, so basically you don’t have any moves at all? I get it, it’s okay.”

Devin didn’t like me saying that, and he jumped out of the bed and stood in front of the television. I clicked the movie back on so he had a little background music, and Devin started shaking his ass just like the movie star on the screen. Actually, I was watching Devin much more than the television.

He pulled his shirt off and unbuttoned the top button on his shorts. His pelvis thrust forward, and he moved around like a man who, without a doubt, knew how to dance. My body tingled with the memory of being in his bed and how those hip thrusts had felt against my naked body.

Devin saw the desire in my eyes and motioned for me to join him. By this point, I’d consumed a couple drinks and dancing with Devin didn’t seem like a bad idea. I crawled across the bed, and he grabbed me and pulled me up to dance with him before I could get myself off the bed.

His hand held me close as he moved his pelvis and glided our bodies back and forth. I wanted to laugh at how ridiculous we must have looked, but it was too much fun. Devin was taking his moves seriously as the music from the movie played behind us. When the movie moved onto another scene, Devin slowed his movements but kept me close to him as we continued to dance together.

“You are a better dancer than I thought,” I admitted.

“You knew I was good. What’s that they say about if a guy can dance then he’s good in bed or something like that.”

My face turned bright red because that was exactly what I had been thinking. He was right; I did suspect he was going to be a decent dancer. But it was still fun to see him put out the effort.

“You are so damn beautiful,” Devin said as he stopped moving and put his hand up to my cheek. “Have I told you that yet? I don’t care if I have. I’m saying it again.”

“Thank you,” I said softly as I looked up at him.

“I’m sorry we had to meet like this, and I had to ruin it with this lying nonsense.”

“There’s worse ways to meet. I mean you could run into someone while running,” I teased.

The moment was gentle and sweet as he looked at me as if I was indeed the most beautiful woman in the world. I wasn’t sure if he was drunk or if he actually thought I was beautiful, but his words seemed very sincere to me, and I quickly gave in as his lips pressed against mine.

I wanted all of him again. I couldn’t wait to feel our bodies together and the joy of explosion when he brought me to the ultimate ended.

His hands stayed up by my face as he guided my lips and his together. He moved from one direction to another, and we stayed standing for a long time while our kisses took control of us. I was lost in his touch. The gentleness, the firmness, and the pleasure he was delivering were more than I could have hoped for.

I felt at home there in Devin’s arms. He was becoming more than just a lover; we were friends, and that was new to me. I still felt nervous as his hands reached for my shirt and pulled it up and over my head. I was naked as I stood at the foot of the bed with the music from the movie playing in the background.

His rugged beard had developed more than I had seen it before, and I felt the difference when he bent over and took my breast into his mouth. The tickle of his whiskers was actually softer than before, likely because he had more than just a stubble of hair on his face this time.

I wrapped my fingers through his hair as he held onto me and nibbled my body. He let out sweet moans of pleasure as he let go of one breast and moved over to the other one. I smiled at how much he was enjoying having me. His hands were smooth as they ran up and down my back, caressing my skin and pressing me toward him all at the same time.

My body tingled with desire, but this time I wasn’t in such a hurry. I enjoyed the fun of feeling his mouth on me. I loved the moments when he paused and looked at me. The playful glint in his eye before he pressed me back onto the bed was a surprise and had me giggling while he climbed on top of me.

The sultry music of the movie continued in the background, but I certainly wasn’t thinking of any hot movie stars. Instead, I had a delicious specimen of a man right there in my arms. I’d fantasized about men like Devin for most of my life. I’d always assumed they weren’t at all what they seemed. No man could be so handsome and actually nice, or so I thought.

Of course, Devin had his flaws, but so did I. He’d told me honestly about his shortcomings, though, so they didn’t feel all that bad anymore. Obviously, I met him at a different point in his life than his ex had. I was lucky. No matter how the rest of our possibly short relationship turned out, I was okay with it. Just knowing that there were men out there that were like Devin gave me hope for my own future in the dating world.

As Devin gently kissed down my body, it dawned on me that I wasn’t thinking at all about keeping Devin. Oddly enough, our relationship seemed like a short-term deal to me, and I was okay with that. Perhaps because of the huge lie that was the foundation of us, or maybe because it seemed too good to be true, but either way, I didn’t expect to keep things up with Devin for too much longer.

When he got Izzy to come live with him, I’d gracefully bow out and get back to my own life. He could go on about his life and be happy with his sweet daughter. There would be a little sadness from me, but I’d get over it. At least, I thought I would be able to get over it.

Devin didn’t seem to have the same willpower he had had previously. His mouth moved down toward my center, and he played with me for a moment before he got up and grabbed a condom out of his suitcase.

“You came prepared,” I teased.

“I was a boy scout. Always come prepared.” He laughed. “I mean I only lasted a few months, but I remember that one thing.”

He stood at the foot of the bed and pressed his shorts down to the ground along with his underwear. As he exposed his throbbing body, I couldn’t help myself, and I quickly moved to the end of the bed and grabbed it. I gently tugged him toward me and took him into my mouth as he stood stunned.

“Oh, shit,” he mumbled as his hips thrust forward.

I wasn’t all that experienced in the art of oral pleasure, but I’d done it enough to know the basics. And I felt comfortable with Devin; comfortable enough to give it a try and not worry so much about whether I was doing it perfectly. Sex was supposed to be fun, and I wanted to have some damn fun with Devin.

My lips wrapped firmly around him, and I let my fingers glide up and down his shaft. He continued letting out small moans of pleasure as I moved, and it made me so happy. Giving oral sex had never been all that fun for me with my ex, probably because he was a giant jerk. But giving it to Devin was sexy, and I liked having a little control over the situation. It was fun knowing that I had the power to make him moan with that level of desire.

I moved my mouth faster just to hear his moans get louder. My lips stayed tight around him, and I even repositioned myself so I could take him deeper.

“Okay, okay, you should stop,” he said as he pulled back and away from me.

“Why?” I asked seductively as I looked up from the bed.

“Just no. We are nope, we aren’t …” he fumbled to find the right words. “We aren’t doing that.”

“Why not?” I teased as I turned over and laid with my head on the edge of the bed and my breasts up in the air.

I used my hands to play with my nipples as I waited for him to find the strength to answer me. I knew why he didn’t want me to keep going. Coming in my mouth wasn’t exactly a sexy thing to do when you didn’t know a girl well. But I still had fun teasing him a little.

I leaned my head back and reached for his body. He shook his head no but moved forward anyway. Gently, I licked the tip of him as he closed his eyes and kept shaking his head no. It was exciting to have this kind of control over such a big strong man. I relished the power and teased him with my tongue for a little longer before I flipped over and got onto my knees in the middle of the bed.

“Come here,” I demanded playfully.

He did as I asked and climbed into the bed with me. Devin was on his knees and had his condom in one hand. I took it from him and opened it. Then I bit my bottom lip as I tried to concentrate and put it on him the right way. He laughed while he watched me, but I got it on, finally.

“Lay down,” I ordered as I pressed him onto the soft white comforter of the bed.

“Girl you are literally going to be the death of me,” he groaned as he fell backward.

His body was erect and at full attention as I stood up on the bed and put one foot on either side of him. Slowly, I moved down until I felt his body pressing into mine. The delicious pleasure was intense as I took him all in and straddled him fully.

Devin took in a deep breath and let it out as if he could have come right there at that moment. His eyes stayed closed for a minute, and he didn’t thrust at all as I moved my body gently on top of him. He finally grabbed my ass and pulled me as I rocked on top of him, pushing and pulling to exaggerate my movements and bring more and more pleasure to my body.

My center rubbed against him and brought pleasure to me quickly. Soon, I felt the tension in my hips as I rocked hard and fast toward an orgasm. It started in my hips and moved quickly throughout my body as I thrust forward again and again.

“Cum for me baby,” Devin said in a husky voice.

I did exactly that as my body fully gave in, and I rocked forward one last time. Devin had barely held on until that moment, and he thrust deep inside of me as he released as well. It wasn’t as slow of lovemaking as our first time, but I was definitely satisfied as I climbed off of him and cuddled up next to his sweaty body.

“Amazing,” I said almost to myself as I laid there.

“You are amazing,” he smiled down at me and kissed the top of my head.

Somewhere in the night, we both got up and used the restroom and ended up naked and cuddled up together under the sheets. His body was naturally warm as I stayed close to him and felt the comfort of his arms wrapped around me.

By morning, I could hardly believe that it was time to go home already. This traveling stuff was exhausting, and I felt like I could have slept the whole day away if I didn’t have to get back home.

“I have to work at three. Do you think we will be back by then?” I asked as I climbed out of the bed.

“Yep. Let me call down and get us some breakfast and see if your jeans are done.”

As he made his phone calls, I jumped into the shower and quickly shampooed my hair and got out before he had a chance to join me. As much fun as a shower sex episode would have been, I was literally too tired to even think about it. Instead, I was drying off next to the shower when he knocked to see if he could come in.

“It’s all yours,” I said as I opened the door and let him in.

He was clearly disappointed, but he took it in stride and still hopped into the shower. I pulled on a fresh pair of undergarments and one of my clean T-shirts while I revisited the desserts we had from the night before. I stood over them contemplating if they were still good to eat and finally decided that they couldn’t be deadly just yet.

I was halfway through a piece of cheesecake when there was a knock at the door. Without thinking, I hurried over there in hopes that it was the laundry service with my pants. When I opened the door, there was a young pimple faced kid standing there, and his mouth dropped open as he looked down at my bare legs. His eyes lingered on my lacy panties before he finally looked back toward my face.

“Your laundry,” he said as his face turned red.

“Thank you,” I said as I took the bag from him.

After closing the door, I slipped into my jeans, and only a moment later there was another knock at the door.

“You conveniently decided to take a shower when everyone was coming to the room,” I yelled toward Devin in the bathroom.

“Sorry, I’m just getting out if you want me to grab it?” Devin said as he opened the bathroom door.

He was wrapped in the small hotel towel as he reached for the door and opened it before I could respond. This time we had a little bit older gentleman who was holding our food on a large tray. I moved out of the way as Devin held the door and let him in.

“Do you want me to get rid of all of this?” the man asked Devin.

“Yes, please.”

“Wait,” I yelled and ran over and grabbed one last bite of the cheesecake. “This is so delicious.”

Devin laughed as he rummaged through his pants and pulled out his wallet. He pulled out a ten dollar bill and handed it to me while the man finished picking up our mess from the night before. As Devin went back into the bathroom to get changed, I realized I hadn’t tipped the laundry kid anything at all. At least he got a good view since I was a jerk and didn’t tip him.

“Thank you,” I said as I handed him the money.

It was exciting to be able to tip someone ten whole dollars. I’d never given that big of a tip ever. Usually, when I was out with my girlfriends, I’d tip a dollar to the waiter or waitress who brought our drinks, and everyone else would chip in a little too. But we were all poor. Ten dollars was pretty much our drinking money for the night, not a tip. And typically we tried not to have to spend our money at all and instead let the guys who were flirting with us pay for our drinks.

“I basically ordered everything they had,” Devin said as he came out of the bathroom.

His hair was slicked back like I’d never seen it before, and it looked like he had trimmed up around the edges of his beard a little. He was as handsome as ever.

“Good because that day-old cheesecake needs some friends in my stomach, I’m starving.”

“Me too.”

We sat around the table and looked out at the city while we both ate as much as we could. I felt a little shaky as I was so hungry, so I tried to balance some protein with the fruit and carbs that were there. After a few bites of several dishes, I finally started to feel more like myself and took the oatmeal with me as I stood looking out over the city.

“Do you think they are going to let Izzy come live with you after Ashley gets sentenced?”

“I don’t know. I would hope so, but Ashley was pretty angry with me. I’m not sure she is in a good enough spot to see that it is a good idea.”

“Will you take her to court if she refuses?”

“Yes.”

“That’s good. I think you should,” I said as I kept looking out over the city.

“I really hope it doesn’t come to that, though.”

“Yeah, that wouldn’t be great.”

“Whenever you’re done, we can head to the airport. I think we should be able to get home by one o’clock local time. Do you need to go home before going into work?”

“Yeah, I’ll need to change. It takes about forty-five minutes for me to get in if I take the train, so that should work just fine.”

“The train?”

“Yeah, my car is broken still.”

“Oh, crap. I was supposed to get you one. I’m so sorry. I totally forgot about that. Wow, you must think I’m some sort of creep for promising you that and then totally not delivering.”

“I don’t think that.” I laughed as he got his cell phone out and started texting someone.

“Don’t worry. I’m taking care of it right now.”

“You’re taking care of the car thing right now?” I asked skeptically.

“Yes.”

I reached for his phone to see who he was texting. How was it possible he could simply send a text message and figure out how to get me a car? That was some next level stuff for sure.

“Who are you texting?” I asked as he pulled his phone back so I couldn’t reach it.

“None of your beeswax.” He laughed. “I promised you a used car with lots of miles, and I’m going to deliver.”

“And dents. It has to have dents. No good used car doesn’t have them,” I said with a laugh.

“Of course.”

He was smiling from ear to ear as he put his phone back into his pocket and started packing up our things. I really hated that I’d even agreed to let him get me a car. But it felt better than letting him give me money for coming with him on his lying trip to see his ex. Plus, I’d managed not to have to negotiate any other payments with him for this second trip, and that was a relief. I didn’t need money to come with him.

Even though I didn’t like the lying, I did want Devin to get his daughter back and knew it was important to him. I would have helped him without him paying me a cent, and I think he knew that.

We took our time as we made our way down the elegantly adorned hallway and back to that glass elevator that I’d come to love. I pressed my body against the glass as we moved quickly toward the ground and felt the rush that I was sure was the whole reason behind that glass elevator.

The valet brought our car back, and we were back at the airport in under a half of an hour. I wasn’t sure how the whole car rental thing worked for Devin, but he was able to leave the car right there at his jet as we boarded. They didn’t have him sign anything, and he definitely didn’t have to go out of his way and bring it to the normal car rental counter.

We boarded the plane and got comfortable on the couch that we had sat on before. The pilot and co-pilot were going through their checklists as Devin felt his phone ringing. He glanced at the number and then quickly picked up the call.

“Hello,” he said as he looked anxiously at me.

He listened silently for a minute as the other person talked. His face was sunken in and serious, so he had me a little worried over who it might be. I still didn’t know all that much about his life so there could have been dozens of possible things that someone could call and tell him.

“Of course. I’ll bring them the following weekend. But Lilli won’t be able to come, she has to work.”

Devin listened again, and I knew it was either Izzy’s grandparents or Ashley. Because of the calm tone in his voice, I assumed it was Mr. or Mrs. Edwards. He shook his head no as she talked, even though she clearly couldn’t see that.

“No, she has missed work for two weekends, and it’s important to her. She will not be there,” he said firmly.

The firmness in his voice must have appeased them.

“Good-bye,” he said and hung up.

“What happened? Who was that?”

“Ashley says she will meet with me again and consider drawing up a document for a temporary physical custody. That was her mother on the phone.”

“Wow, that’s so perfect. I knew this would all work out for you. Congratulations,” I said as I hugged him.

But Devin didn’t seem as excited as I thought he would be. He pulled me off of him, and we both looked at the pilot as he stood near the door to the cockpit.

“Ready to go?” he asked Devin.

“All ready. Thanks,” Devin said as he gave the pilot a cheesy thumbs up.

“What’s wrong?” I asked after the pilot closed the cockpit door behind him.

“Ashley is insisting that I bring pictures from our wedding,” Devin said as his face drained of its color.

“Oh, wow.”

“Yeah, I don’t know what to do now. I’m so close to getting her to agree. Maybe I could have someone Photoshop something? I don’t know.”

Devin looked so perplexed as he mulled over possible solutions. The problem didn’t seem all that hard to me, though. Basically, he just needed to put a tux on and take a couple pictures with me in a white dress. How hard could that possibly be?

“So we will take some pictures. That’s easy.”

“Wedding pictures? Come on Lilli, that’s ridiculous. I can’t ask you to do that.”

The plane started to move faster and faster as we accelerated down the runway. I grabbed onto Devin’s arm and held on tight as I felt the wheels leave the ground and the nose of our aircraft point nearly straight up in our steep climb.

“It won’t be that hard. We can go to a bridal store, and I’ll try on a dress, and you can try on a tuxedo. We can go out back, buy some flowers and take a picture. Bam, done.”

Devin laughed at my idea, but it was a good one, and he knew it. He held onto my arm and pulled me in close for a kiss.

“You are way too good to me. I’ll get a professional photographer to meet us, and we can buy you whatever dress you’d like.”

“You don’t have to buy me a dress. What on earth will I do with a wedding dress when we are done with it? I can’t exactly wear it for a real wedding after wearing it for a fake one.” I laughed.

“You can do whatever you’d like. Maybe donate it to someone in need or something like that?”

“Yeah, I could do that. Okay. So you arrange things, and I’ll go find a dress. Is that good?”

“Actually, I think I should come with you dress shopping. Then I can buy it right away, and we can get the pictures done the same day.”

“Oh, no, you’re not supposed to see the bride before the wedding.”

Devin seemed amused by my statement, but I was serious. I didn’t care if it was a fake wedding or not, he wasn’t going to get to see my dress until the photo shoot. It was as close to a real wedding as I’d ever gotten, and I didn’t need any bad luck coming my way. Or any more bad luck than I already deserved for the lying I’d done so far.

“Okay, if you insist. I can put a card down at the wedding shop, and you can pick out whatever you’d like. Then we can set up the shoot on a day you have off of work.”

“Perfect. I’ve got Wednesday off. I’ll pick the dress out on Tuesday with Anna. How’s that sound?”

“Sounds like my dream wedding. Everything done and paid for within two days. It couldn’t be any more perfect.”

I knew he was joking, but I was a little sad that this wasn’t all for a real wedding. Not that I wanted to marry Devin at that moment or anything like that, but I’d hoped to be trying wedding dresses on for my own happy day, not for a day that I was pretending to be married. It was a little emotional, so I decided to cuddle up next to Devin and get some sleep for the rest of the trip. It was easier than thinking about how all this was going to be over soon.