My whole body freezes, and I try to jerk my hand from his, but he doesn’t let me go. We pull into a parking lot and he shuts off the engine.
“I’m sorry. You don’t have to tell me.” He doesn’t say yet, but it’s implied. I don’t want to talk about it. I want to pretend it never happened. I want it all to disappear. I unclip my seat belt, lean forward, and press my lips to his. Like every time we kiss, everything else melts away and I’m back in my safe place as his mouth moves against mine.
He slides his hand into my hair as he deepens the kiss. I push back, wanting more as our tongues touch softly.
“Babe, you have to stop.”
I moan and keep going. God, this feels so good. Better than anything I’ve ever felt in my life. I move my hips, and that’s when I realize I’ve somehow crawled into his lap.
“Lily.” Ren says my name, and it almost sounds painful. I open my eyes and look into his. He’s breathing heavily and his face is hard, like he’s angry. I try to recoil—I don’t like the hardness on his face—but there’s nowhere to go. I’m pinned between him and the steering wheel, and I’m pretty sure I’m the one who got us in this position to begin with.
“I’m sorry,” I blurt out. I don’t know what came over me. I wanted to be as close to him as I could get. I was desperate to forget about the past and only think about him, back in our little bubble he makes for us.
“Don’t ever be sorry for kissing me, Lily.”
“You look mad,” I tell him.
“Not mad, babe.” He takes a deep breath, trying to get his breathing under control. “Trust me. I’m anything but mad. I’m trying to get myself under control, and that’s hard with you wiggling on top of me.”
My eyes widen as my mouth falls open a little. I feel his hardness against my ass, and I blush even harder. I can tell from what I’m sitting on that he must like it when we kiss, but for some reason he wants me to stop. I don’t want to stop. I want to go back to him saying my name in that gruff voice of his.
“I’d love nothing more than to lie back and let you move on me as long as you want, but not in a parking lot for everyone to see.”
My mouth forms a little O, because I forgot where we are. I glance around and see we are in the parking lot of Hendricks Hardware, and that’s when I see an older couple standing by the entrance. The two of them are staring at us.
I look at a man who looks just like Ren, only a little smaller in build.
“Oh my God.” I drop my face into his neck, wishing the ground would swallow me. I just made out with Ren right in front of his parents.
14
Ren
“Mom, Dad, this is my Lily.”
I squeeze her hand, letting her know it’s okay. I’m surprised when she takes a deep breath but looks them in the eye and extends her free hand.
“It’s nice to meet you Mr. and Mrs. Hendricks.”
My mom looks like she could burst into a pile of confetti, but shakes her hand and beams at Lily. “Please call me Janet. And you can call him Rick.” She nods over to my dad.
My dad takes Lily’s hand next and he’s a little calmer about it. “We’ve heard very nice things about you. We’re very happy to meet the lady who’s stolen Ren’s heart.”
Lily blushes a little but otherwise she does great.
“Ren can show you around the store today so you can get a feel for things. Afterwards come to the office and I’ll set you up on the schedule,” my dad says.
“Thank you, Mr. Rick. I appreciate the job.”
“We need the help, so this works out perfectly,” my mom cuts in. She has no idea if we do or not, but it makes me happy that she’s trying to include Lily. “So you’ll be working here for the rest of the school year? What about summertime or fall? Do you have plans for college?”
“Mom,” I say, trying to warn her not to hit Lily with too many questions at once. But Lily surprises me again when she speaks up.
“For the moment, my plan is to go to the county community college, but I have an application in at MU. If I get into Minnesota, I’d like to go there.”
“You haven’t heard back yet?” my dad asks. I assume he’s thinking about me getting my letter months ago.
“My scholarships take time to get approval. There are only so many, and a lot of people go after them.” Lily shrugs like it’s no big deal.
I’d asked her about school before, but I didn’t realize she was still waiting to hear back. “My athletic scholarship came through early. They like to have those in place before the season starts,” I say, trying to put her at ease. “I got lucky with mine. Part of it has a housing allowance since we are so close to campus. I can live at home and commute, or I can get a place on campus and stay close to the team.”
I want to let her know that I’ve got the option to stay at home if she decides to stay local, or I can live on campus if she gets in. I’m already thinking about our future together and how I don’t want us to be apart. As if she understands what I mean, she gives me a shy smile. Her bright blue doe eyes sparkle, and I feel another piece of us click into place.
Turning back to my parents, I see they’re both staring at us with the stupidest grins on their faces. I roll my eyes and pull Lily behind me to the back of the store. When we get there, I take her coat and hang it up.
“Sorry about them. They’ve never done that before.”