Fade to Black (3 page)

She tried not to think of him walking up
the narrow back stairs right behind her, his eyes in line with her ass. Her
mind wandered to where he’d lean in and bite it and then she’d turn, they’d
embrace, and he’d kiss her senseless as he laid her down on the stairs and
fucked her until she was screaming his name.

The thought of it made her miss a step and
almost trip up the stairs. She felt his hand come out and grab her hip to
steady her. She almost groaned out loud. Knowing her face was bright red, she
concentrated on getting up the rest of the stairs and walking through the
bright kitchen to the small family room without turning around. She felt him
come up right behind her, the heat from his body making her skin tingle. Maybe
it had been too long since she’d been with a man. And Devlin Cross was a prime
example of a man. Her breath caught in her throat as he leaned even closer, his
head moving in right next to hers. She couldn’t move a muscle.

“She’s amazing. I can see why you wanted to
keep her. Of the three, she is the most spectacular.” He turned toward her.
“Breathe.”

Blinking a few times, she slowly let out the
breath she wasn’t aware she was holding. “Thank you.”

“She’s almost as beautiful as you are.”

Lily turned toward him, their faces so
close she could see the gold flecks in his brown eyes. Her body started turning
toward him without a conscious thought on her part.

“Mom!
I’m hungry. What’s for dinner?”

The door slammed and she heard books hit
the kitchen table. She backed away and almost fell backwards over the ottoman
and couldn’t look in Devlin’s eyes when he saved her. She walked into the
kitchen and left him standing in the family room. “
Spaghetti,
and it will be ready soon. Did you finish your homework at Billy’s after
school?”

“Yes, Mother.”

“Leonardo, you know I don’t appreciate that
tone.”

“You ask me every night, and every night I
tell you the same thing. Billy’s mom is almost as tough as you are about
homework.”

“Okay, smarty pants, why don’t you go clean
up and I’ll get dinner started while checking your homework.”

“Can’t I watch something on TV while I
wait?”

“Nope, we have company.”

Leo started looking around and froze when
he saw Devlin in the family room. “Who’s that?”

Lily hesitated for a moment. “He’s a
friend. He wanted to see some of my art, and if he has the time, he’s more than
welcome to stay for dinner.” She looked up at Devlin shyly. Her heart wanted
him to stay for dinner so she could spend more time with him. Not sure how much
they
were going to have together, she wanted something
more than the few minutes they had.

“Cool,” Leo said and started to walk away.

“There’s my Mister Manners.” Lily grabbed
him in a bear hug and ruffled his hair.

“Mom, stop.”

“Never.”
She proceeded to tickle him until he finally escaped and ran out of the kitchen
to his room. “Don’t forget to put your stuff away and wash your hands.” She
turned back to Devlin. “Really, we’re only having a simple meal and it’d be no
problem if you’d like to stay.”

“I’d love to, and sometimes, simple meals
are the best. Is there anything I can do?”

“You could open the bottle of wine.” She
nodded toward the rack. “Whichever one you might like is fine.” She pulled out
the pots she needed and started dinner while laying Leo’s homework out on the
counter. While she cooked, she also checked it in addition to trying to make
small talk with Devlin.

“Stop.
Just stop,” he said.

She turned toward him. “What?”

“You’re going to burn yourself.”

Shaking her head at him, she turned back
around to stir the sauce. “No, I won’t. Well, I could, but really, I do this
all the time.”

“Here,” he said as walked over to her,
“either let me cook, or check the homework. I can do either, so you shouldn’t
have to do both.”

Lily stood there blinking at him, unsure of
what to do. Rarely did anyone help her; she pretty much did it all on her own.
Dory helped when she could, but that was different. They’d been friends
forever, even before Leo was born. They were more like sisters. This was a man,
an attractive man who she just met, and he wanted to help her. Was she
completely crazy letting him into her life, even this little bit, just because
she felt safe because he was famous? What if he was some crazy serial killer
who kept it all under wraps because of his fame, what if
…

“Wow. What is going on inside your head? I
just asked if you wanted some help. Here, why don’t I take the homework since
you know where everything is in your kitchen?” He slowly started gathering up
the papers when he saw the color flood her cheeks. She lifted a shaking hand to
cover her mouth. “See? \
Iit’s
just
me
,
taking the papers and backing slowly away, no need to be scared. I’m not some
crazed lunatic who’s going to burn your dinner, or worse, not make sure your
son did everything right.”

Shaking her head, she laughed. “I’m sorry.
Some habits are hard to break. Yes, thank you, it would be wonderful if you
could check his homework. I make a small mark next to the ones he has wrong or
want to make sure he understands.” She made a mental note to go back through
them after he left. She’d seen and read interviews with him, she knew he was
intelligent, but helping a child with homework was something completely
different. “Oh, and he’s been having problems with math, I tend to go over those
a bit more with him. And on his spelling words you need to go over them three
times, that’s the magic number with him. Oh, and-”

“Lily,” he said as he placed a finger on
her lips to stop her from talking. “You’re not going anywhere, are you?”

“No, why?” she mumbled since his finger was
still on her lips. It took everything she had not to dart her tongue out and
lick his finger. Or better yet, suck on it.

“Because I think I can handle this, and
you’ll be right here if I have any questions.”

Her face flushed red. She knew she was an
overprotective, overthinking, worrying, and making sure every scenario was
accounted for type of mother. “Sorry, habit. If it makes you feel any better, I
still do the same thing with my best friend Dory, who’s known him since I was
pregnant and with whom I’d trust with my life.”

“I understand
,
he’s the most precious thing to you. He’s a lucky young man.”

Lily smiled at him. He got it, it seemed
like he understood her, and it felt so awesome.

Chapter
Three

“So
you’ve already seen the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle movie? That’s not even
out until August.” Leo stared with large eyes at Devlin; he was in awe of him.
“How were you able to do that?”

“Yep, sure did. It was pretty cool, too.”
He sat back and laced his fingers together behind his head.

“Wow. That’s so cool. Bet you can’t guess
who my favorite turtle is.”

“Michelangelo?”

“Nope.”

“Donatello?”

“Uh-uh.”

“Raphael? He’s my favorite.”

“He’s
not bad, but no.”

“Splinter?”

“Oh, come on. I thought you knew this
stuff, he’s not a turtle.”

“What about April?”

“A girl?
Come
on, man, no way. Besides, Kira can kick more
butt
.”

“Hmmm… I don’t know… maybe Leonardo?”

“Oh, yeah.
He’s the coolest.
And the leader.
Plus we have the
same name! I think Mom named me after him, she says it was after some artist,
but she
has
to be wrong. I want to be
a ninja when I grow up.”

Lily leaned over and ruffled his hair.
“Okay, ninja. One, I’m never wrong, and two, it’s time to clean up and get
ready for bed.”

“Mom.
I’m not ready for bed.”

“I didn’t say you had to go to bed, just
get ready. If you get your chores done, we’ll have time to play a game of Sorry
before bed.”

“Awesome!” Leo pumped his fist in the air
and jumped up, bringing his plate to the sink.

“Only one game, it’s a school night.”

“But school’s almost out.”

“But it’s not out yet. You know the rules.”

Lily reached over to grab Devlin’s plate
the same time he did. His fingers ended up closing over hers. Their eyes locked
for a moment before she looked away and pulled her hand from the plate. Picking
up her plate, she took it to the sink. There were times she forgot a famous
movie star was sitting at her kitchen table eating dinner with her and her son.

She started to fill the sink with hot water
when she felt him come up behind her and slip his plate into the soapy water.
“Why don’t you go take a break? Leo and I will clean up.”

She kept her traitorous body still and
stared at the bubbles. “No, I couldn’t. You’re a guest, it’s not right.”

“Sure it is. You cooked. We’ll clean. That
was always the rule in my house.” He gently placed his hand on her hip and
pushed her aside. “Go on, break your rules, you know you want to.”

Knowing her face was turning
crimson,
she ducked her head and walked out of the room.
Once alone in her son’s room, she sat down on his bed and put her head between
her knees. It was exhausting acting as if he was just another man, when the
whole time she was comparing what she was feeding him to the elegant dinners he
most likely had been to. Looking at her faded jeans with a couple of holes in them,
she knew they were nothing like the glamorous gowns he was probably used to
seeing women in, not to mention the exotic locales. Here she
was,
the last business on Main Street in rural Maine.

 
She
knew better than to compare herself to something completely different than what
she was. And she knew what she was: a mother, an artist, and a business owner. Those
things were what she needed to remember, and get back to. She went to her son’s
backpack and removed his homework to double-check it.
Not
that she didn’t think Devlin couldn’t do it,
she just knew her son
better. By the time she was done, she had a frown on her face. He had done
everything she would have done, and maybe even better. She knew she was a bit
of an overprotective mother, but she was the only one her son had, the only one
he could rely on. It was her duty as a mother to make sure they were both kept
safe.

She shouldn’t be spending her time
fantasizing about some famous movie star who was going to walk out of her life
before she could count to ten. There was going to be no happily ever after. Why
was she even thinking about this when settling down and marrying another man
was never part of her plan? How could someone walk into her life one day and
the very next be sitting down to have dinner with her and her most precious
creation, her son? What was wrong with her? She’d spent years being happy with
just her and Leo. She didn’t need a man in her life, but boy, would it be nice
to have Devlin in her life.

She was surprised when she walked back into
the living room and the game was already set up and waiting for her. With a
frown, she looked into the kitchen and saw it was all put back in order. “Thank
you, that was fast.” She sat down next to her son on the floor.

Devlin held his hand up and Leo slapped it.
“We men don’t mess around.” He gave her a sly look. “So, did the homework check
out?”

Lily blinked a few times at him. “Whatever
makes you think I checked his homework?” When he didn’t answer and just
mimicked her blinking, she continued, “Fine. Yes, I checked it. Happy?”

“Only if you are.”
He turned toward Leo, “Are you ready to lose?”

“No way, dude, I’m totally going to kick
some butt.”

She was more quiet than normal during the
game as she watched her son interact with a male figure. She knew he needed a
male role model in his life, but to finally be faced with it, and see someone
take interest in him, she realized she had to change.
For her
son.
They were having a good-natured battle and singing ‘Sorry’ as they
sent each other back to start over and over. She knew it was getting late when
Leo inched closer and rested his head on her shoulder as they continued to
play. He was getting so big. The only time he sought out affection was when he
was sick or tired. Glancing at their pieces on the board, she knew it wasn’t
going to be much longer before the game was over. Sure enough, when Devlin drew
the next card, he brought his last piece home.

“Come on, bubby, time for bed.”

“’K…” He stood up. “Night, Dev. Hey, will
you come back soon so we can have a rematch?”

“Sure thing, let me check my schedule,”
Devlin replied.