Page 50 of Ly to Me (Devils of Alliston Springs #1)

“Where are you takin’ me? I told you I needed to shower.”

“You shower, I’ll cook. How’s that sound, sweetheart?”

She sighed as we stepped into the master en-suite, nuzzling her face into my neck. “Sounds like a dream. What’s the catch?”

I chuckled as I set her down and leaned against the doorway. “We talk after.”

Her body visibly deflated, yet she nodded while biting down on her lip. “Alright.”

“I won’t ask you why you really left.”

Soft creases formed along her forehead as she started to undress. “Really?”

“Do you really love me?”

Her eyes locked onto mine. “I really love you, Car.”

I nodded and pushed off the wall. “Then you’ll either tell me, or you won’t. I just have to live with that.”

“Just like that?” she asked as I turned to leave.

I glanced back at her over my shoulder and nodded once. “Just like that.”

The water kicked on as soon as I got back into the kitchen.

While the bacon cooked, I cleaned Jamie’s blood from the cabinet I’d smashed his head into.

As much as I didn’t want to think about it anymore, the radio silence from him after he stormed out earlier was leaving a sour taste in my mouth.

Too sour. Jamie wasn’t the type to leave things alone.

He wanted me to pay and wanted my wife to suffer probably for not fawning over him like he was used to.

Sucked to have that silver spoon wedged so far up your ass that you were blinded by reality. I may have had an easy childhood, full of love and endless support, but I wasn’t na?ve thinking others were as fortunate. Meeting Lyra had been a big part of opening my eyes to that.

The smell of hickory-smoked bacon brought me back to my current reality, and when I turned to see what the metallic clinking noise was, I had to do a double-take.

Standing there with her hair in a top-knot and a t-shirt that barely covered the bottom of her rounded ass, Lyra flipped the bacon with a pair of tongs.

I tossed the bloody paper towels in the trash and walked up behind her.

“That was fast,” I whispered against her ear as I looped my arms around her.

“Didn’t need to wash my hair.” She cocked her head over her shoulder. “Glad I was fast, too, or this would’ve burned.”

“It’s barely cooked.”

“I prefer it not so crispy.”

“Raw,” I corrected. “That might as well still be bleeding.”

Lyra shrugged. “So? You don’t see me jerking you around for your preferences.” She pointed at the knot on top of her head, gesturing to the hair I had dyed back to its original color.

I kissed her neck, distracting her as I reached for the stove’s knob and turned it off. “You didn’t need to change for anyone.”

“You made your point clear,” she murmured as I continued kissing up her neck, rolling her head to the side, granting me further access.

“I have more points to make.” I fisted her hair and guided her back against my chest.

“I’m sure you do,” she said, her eyes lightly shut while the rest of her body relaxed into mine. “But you said you wanted to talk.”

I spun Lyra in my arms and picked her up by her thighs, then planted her on the counter beside the stove. “I do,” I admitted as my palms smoothed over her warm legs. “I wanna know what I missed out on. Where you lived, what friends you had—”

“There’s no point in stalking me now, is there?” Her tone aimed to tease.

So I did the same.

I moved my hands to the insides of her thighs and spread them wider, making her gasp as my fingers inched closer to her pussy. “I need to know what kept you in Georgia.” Her lips parted as I pushed her panties to the side. “I know it wasn’t another man, and I know you had a friend.”

“I-I had a waitressing job, a small apartment I shared with— fuck .” She moaned as I pushed two fingers inside her. Her fingers splayed on the counter behind her as she leaned back. “I shared it with Sophia.”

“Why her?” I pressed, needing to understand.

“She was kind, got me the job at the diner, and—” She sucked in a sharp breath as I added another finger and started flicking her clit with my thumb. “She helped me whenever I couldn’t afford rent. When my side jobs didn’t pan out.”

“Clarify side jobs , sweetheart.” I pulled my fingers from her, switching to pinching her clit and rolling it between my fingers. Her thighs fought to clench together, but my body kept her from doing so.

“Men. Cons. Batting my eyelashes and getting a free meal or drink or whatever I could get, without—”

“Without sleeping with a single one of ’em.”

She nodded. I didn’t like hearing that she struggled. That she felt the need to use her body to get her things. I knew her mother was similar from the stories she’d told me when we were younger, but that was never the life I would have pictured for her.

Lyra was brilliant. She had the mind of a scientist—inquisitive and experimental—and was as cunning as a fox. She was determined in ways most people around me weren’t, and her righteous mind was as strong-willed as ever.

My wife deserved more than the life she’d carved for herself. I thought that greed was behind her quick jump into our agreement. I believed being hungry for money had become a part of her. But, it was clear to me now that wasn’t the case.

“Did your friend help you with that, too? Finding men to con?”

“No. But she is like me.”

“In what way?”

She whimpered as she said, “She ran from home, too.”

I slid two fingers back inside her, curving them just so, knowing everything she’d told me was pushing my luck as it was. She moaned louder, slapping her hand to the cabinet above her head as I asked, “The stuff that was in your car—was that all you had from your place?”

She bit down on her lip, her back arching in a way that sent her breasts up. My hand snaked beneath her shirt as she answered with a single nod.

“You came back with plans to stay,” I clarified.

“Yes,” she cried out as I pinched her taut nipple.

“ God, yes .” That was all I needed to hear.

Hope flared in my bones as I pumped into her harder, demanding the orgasm that she was right at the brink of.

Her walls trembled around my fingers, then clenched as her arousal leaked down my hand with the force I was using to keep her going.

With my freehand, I grabbed the back of her head and pulled her to my lips, kissing her deeply as she moaned for me. Came on me. Wept for me to stop when all I kept doing was pounding into her like my life depended on it. Depended on showing her I wouldn’t stop or quit on her.

Not today.

Not tomorrow.

Not fucking ever.

I pulled my fingers from her and slipped them into my mouth, one by one, tasting her on my tongue. She reached for my belt, her cheeks pink and eyes wide as she watched me enjoying every part of her I could.

“Nope,” I said, stepping back from the counter, sliding the last finger from my lips. “You need to eat.”

“That’s what I’m trying to do.”

“Food, Lyra. You need to eat food .”

She pouted and crossed her arms. “You keep sayin’ that.”

“Because it’s true.” I stepped up to the sink and washed my hands, then prepped her dinner as she eyed me like she could stab me. “I’ve barely seen you eat since you got here.”

“You’re usually gone.”

“I still see the food you toss. You don’t eat much of what I make or order, and not much leaves the fridge.” Her lips popped open, just before I added, “And fast food isn’t actual food, so if you were about to say how you ate that while shopping the other day, save it.”

“Fine,” she muttered as I passed her the sandwich on a plate. “You’re still an asshole. You know that, right?”

I smirked at her as I readied my plate. “Might be true, but you love me all the same.”