Page 109 of Ly to Me

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.”

“Clarifyside 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 sheislike 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 eatfood.”

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 poppedopen, 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.”