Lily laughs. "Okay, Chloe, give Killian a chance to answer one question before you go on to the next one."
"I don't mind." A couple of months ago, I'd say there was no way I'd be okay with getting peppered with questions by anyone, much less a seven-year-old, but there's something about the kid's excitement that's infectious. I never thought I'd say this, but it's a hell of a lot more fun than sitting up in my cabin all alone.
Chloe ignores Lily. "Are you my mom's boyfriend?"
"Chloe!" Lily exclaims.
"Yes," I answer without thinking, and as soon as I do, I glance at Lily, whose eyes are big. Shit. I start rambling. "That's actually… I shouldn't have said that. You should ask your mom, because it's really her choice. I mean, I'm a boy and a friend and I'd like to be her… yeah. I'm just going to stop talking now."
"Mom, is he?" Chloe chirps.
I can feel Lily's eyes on me, and I think my heart is racing more than it ever has as I pull into her driveway and put the truck in park. "Okay. Yes, Chloe," Lily says, looking at me.
"Does that mean you guys kiss? Sara's sister is a teeney-ager and she has a boyfriend and Sara says they kiss." Chloe drags out the word kiss and makes kissing sounds with her mouth.
I laugh, but Lily's face turns bright red. "You're in first grade. Why are you guys talking about kissing?"
I stifle a laugh as I get out of the truck, glad I can carry all of Chloe's stuff to the house and avoid any more loaded questions.
It takes an hour for Chloe to calm down. She insists on reading another princess story, but this one is a warrior princess who slays monsters and dragons. My dramatic reenactment of a slain monster gets a bout of hysterical giggling from Chloe, which makes me feel like a million bucks.
Lily puts Chloe to bed, and I hang out in the living room until she comes downstairs. "She's not asleep yet," Lily whispers. She walks over to the sofa and stands in front of me, her hands on her hips. "Boyfriend?"
"I didn't mean to –" I start in my normal tone of voice, then drop immediately to a whisper. "I didn't mean to just say that in front of Chloe."
She shrugs. "I guess the cat's out of the bag."
I raise my eyebrows. "And you're okay with it?"
Lily exhales audibly and answers with resignation in her tone. "I guess. I mean, I suppose I'll just have to be okay with people in this town knowing that my boyfriend is the hot, bearded, tattooed caveman who lives up on the mountain."
"We all have our crosses to bear." I reach for her and pull her down onto my lap, her knees on either side of me. When she touches her lips softly to mine, my cock stirs immediately. Soon we're making out on the sofa like a couple of teenagers.
Until there's a creak on the stairs.
"Mom?" Chloe calls from the top of the stairway.
Lily leaps off my lap like she's on fire, but trips, falling to her hands and knees on the floor just as Chloe bounds down the stairs. I reach for the nearest pillow on the sofa, hiding my rapidly-deflating boner and trying to look casual.
"You're right, Killian," Lily says, looking at the floor. "This carpet really is more of a blue-grey than a blue. That is so interesting."
"Why are you looking at the floor, mom?"
I stifle a snort as Lily stands up. "You're supposed to be in bed, kiddo," she says sternly.
"I know, but I had a bad dream."
"You weren't asleep, so how could you have a bad dream?"
Chloe shrugs. "I'm not tired."
"Kid, you can hardly keep your eyes open. Come on. Up to bed."
"But I want Killian to play a monster again." Chloe looks behind her mother at me and I shake my head.
"Sorry. Even the monster went to bed," I tell her.
Chloe groans. "O-kaaaay."
"Let's go. Back in bed." Lily ushers her back upstairs, and it's a few minutes before she returns, flopping down onto the sofa beside me. "Are you sure you want to do this whole boyfriend-girlfriend thing? You understand that it means you're stuck with interruptions and nonstop questions and fleeting moments of privacy and hardly any spontaneity, right?"
I pretend to ponder what she said. "Damn. You're right. Do you have the number for one of those college chicks that was trying to pick me up at the bakery?"
Lily hits me hard in the arm. "Funny."
A few months ago, all of those things would have been reasons to run for the hills. Now, they seem like reasons to stay, all of those things that make being around her interesting and unpredictable.
"The boyfriend idea is growing on me," I admit. It's a far more nonchalant statement than I meant. Being with Lily is definitely growing on me. "Besides, I'm too old to just be dating. Or hooking up. Or whatever."
She's silent for a long time before she stands up, taking me by the hand. "Do you want to stay?"
36
Lily