Contracting Lillian

Chapter 14

In the morning, a warm body was holding me close. I had opened my eyes to grasp the streak of light that barely brightened the room but reminded me of checking the time. I pulled myself forward, the arm tightened and pulled me back into the solid heat of lava that was burning my back. I pushed the arm off and abruptly scooted away. I planted the pads of my feet on the ground and walked to the curtains before pushing them open and basking in the wonderful heat that melted into my skin and warmed me comfortingly.

I stared out of the window, people walking on the weekend morning. Traveling to their parents homes from college, meeting their lovers, taking their partners to dates.

“You look like an absolute model, Lillian. I think we should get an appointment for a photoshoot. Amilios would get hard at the sight of your pale skin in the sun so early.”

I turned and looked up at Milo, tilting my head slightly. “You mean you’re already hard at the sight of me.”

He grabbed my chin lightly and kissed my cheek before his eyes trail down my body inch by inch. My cheeks blushed, a feeling of arousal starting in my core and carrying up. His fingers skimmed down my arms and rested on my hips. The sunrays pelted my back and I had stepped away from him before my mind wandered too far south before being lost in the sensation the sexual tension that built between the two of us.

“Is he home?”

“Amilios? He’s sleeping in his own bed.”

I nodded my reply to his statement.

“Who’s your favorite, Lilly?”

My face turned hard and I jerked my head to Milo. “What do you mean? Préférée?” (Favorite)

Milo took a deep breath before releasing it. “Only Amilios knows French, if that’s what you’re speaking. It’s obvious that you think of Amilios more than myself.”

I didn’t know exactly what to say to him but the truth. “It’s not that I favor him more over you, Milo. It’s that you seem to not understand what I’ve gone through and Amilios oddly..” I trail off before exhaling, “He just understands and knows not to ask questions. But you ask and make me uncomfortable and that makes me shut you out.”

I didn’t look into those bright blue eyes that I knew were going to mirror that hurt I brought to him. I wrapped my arms around my chest and hugged myself, squeezing me into my own little self hug that I was completely fine with.

Milo was now standing in front. Hands grabbing biceps that were mine and guiding them to my sides. He grabbed my face, cupping it in a gentle way that made me relax.

“And how will he know then?” Milo whispered so quietly that I wouldn’t have registered it if I wasn’t glancing from his lips to his calmed gaze that didn’t hold the hurt that I was so sure of.

“Because I don’t want people to know.”

“That’s the issue. For you to have a relationship, Lillian, means that you need to be open when you’re feeling negative or down or even need to open up to us about something. You and Amilios are extremely similar. You fight and punish yourself when you’re hurting and never go to someone to hug and ask for the comfort that you never got in your life or wasn’t given to you.”