Untamed (A Moretti Novel) (17 page)

Mia laughed.  “You did but it’s ok.  I’m just glad it was you.”

Steve blushed. 
Nothing like meeting the sister in a pair of boxers knowing that he had kept her up while making love to her sister.  “I’m glad it was me too.  Hope there hasn’t been a bunch of nights like that.”

“Shit.”  Mia smiled.  “There hasn’t been anyone.”

Steve leaned against the counter and sighed.  “Thank God.”

Mia chugged a bottle of water.  “Why are you here?”

Steve grabbed her hands.  “Mia, I’m in love with your sister.  I can’t live without her.”

“Are you taking her away again?” 

“I will give up everything and move here.  I don’t care where we are.  I just want to be with her.”  Steve sighed.  “I’ve already told my boss I won’t be in for the next few days.  We’ll figure it out together.”

“This sounds serious.”  Mia winked.

“I’d marry her today.”  Steve laughed when Mia’s eyes widened.

“You’ll have to talk to daddy about that.”  A knock sounded at the front door.  “
Speak of the devil. Might want to put some pants on.  That’s daddy.”

“Shit.”  Steve jogged down the hallway.  He slammed through the bedroom door in a panic. 
“Pants.  Where are my pants?”

Lily rubbed her eyes.  “What’s going on?” She stretched and the sheet pulled away from her breasts.

Steve growled.  He wanted her again and his erection was impossible to hide.  “Now I can’t find my pants and I’m hard as a rock.”

Lily patted the bed.  “Come here.”

He shook his head. “Your dad is here.”

Lily bit her lip.  “He’s not here for me. 
He’s taking Mia to breakfast. Get over here.”  When Steve didn’t move, she ran her fingers over her stomach, up to her breasts and pinched her nipples.  She moaned and arched off the bed.

“You’re the devil.”  Steve looked between her and the door.  “I need to meet your dad.”

“Like that?”  She pointed at his tented boxer shorts.

Steve scrubbed his hands down his face. 
“Lil.”

She slid out of bed and crawled toward him. “Let me help you.”

Her hand cupped his erection and he hissed.  Just her simple touch was almost enough to send him over the edge.  He watched as she pulled his boxers down past his knees.  His eyes rolled back as she took him in her mouth.  Her strokes were long, taking him to the back of her throat.  Her mouth was warm.  He tangled his fingers into her hair and took some deep breaths.

Her eyes met his and he moaned.  Licking up the length of his shaft, she smiled.  “Let me see how fast I can make you come.”

“Holy fuck.” Steve struggled to stay on his feet as she took him deep into her throat.  She hummed and the vibration made his cock swell. 

She swirled her tongue around the tip and eased him back down her throat.  She sucked harder now, stroking him with her mouth over and over again.  She could feel his legs tremble and knew he was close.  Pushing him back into her throat, she massaged the area
just behind his balls and he was gone.  Ribbon after ribbon of his orgasm hit the back of her throat and she swallowed every bit.  She continued to stroke him until the aftershocks of his climax subsided.

Steve dropped to his knees, pulling her body against his.  “Are you trying to kill me?”  He struggled to catch his breath.

“Nope.  Just helping you with your little problem so you can go out there and meet my dad.”  Lily laughed as Steve groaned.

“I’m not going out there without you.  If he tries to kill me, I’ll need witnesses.”  Steve winked at Lily.  “And it’s not a little problem.  It’s huge.  Got it?  Biggest problem you’ve ever seen.”

Lilly giggled as she got dressed.  She was head over heels for this man and she knew her dad would be too.

Chapter 21

Lily held Steve’s hand as they emerged from the bedroom. She had never introduced her dad to anyone that mattered.  She had confided everything about Steve and how much she loved him.  She had cried as her dad held her.  She called him every time missing Steve got too hard.  Now here she was, leading Steve into the living room to meet the man that had meant the world to her for nearly thirty years. 

Tate Lee sat on the love seat sipping a cup of coffee.  Mia was telling him stories from work.  As Lily and Steve rounded the corner, all conversation stopped.  Tate looked at his daughter, her adjoined hand with a man that had obviously been in her bedroom and into the eyes of
the stranger that were currently staring back at him.  He stood, confusion written all over his face.

“Daddy, this is Steve Wainwright.”  Lily’s voice was like a little girl’s when she spoke to her dad.  Steve smiled at her.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, sir.  You have an amazing daughter.”  Steve took a step forward to shake his hand.

“Steve Wainwright.”  Tate tried not to smile.  “I see you spent the night with my daughter.”

Lily blushed and buried her face into Steve’s chest.  Steve rubbed her back as he attempted not to run from the room.  Mia’s laugh broke the tension.  She covered her mouth to stop it but it was too late.  Lily giggled into his shirt.  Steve’s shocked eyes met her dad’s and he watched as Mr. Lee tried to keep his lips in a straight line.

“May I see you outside?”
Tate pointed at Steve and walked out the front door.

Steve kissed Lily’s head then followed him out the door.  He wasn’t sure what was coming but it didn’t matter.  He had finally let his heart win and he’d never been happier.

“I didn’t know you were planning a visit and I’m surprised to find you coming out of my daughter’s bedroom at nine in the morning.  I’d like to know what your intentions are with my daughter.”

“I
love your daughter, sir.  I haven’t been here long enough to ask her what she wants but I’d like to spend the rest of my life with her if she’ll have me.”  Steve looked him right in the eye.

“Would you like to ask me something, son?”  Tate’s smile lit up his entire face.

Steve chuckled.  “Yes, sir, I would.  I’d like to ask your permission to marry your daughter.  I’d like to ask her to marry me.  And if she’s not ready now, I’d like to ask her whenever she is.”

“I’ve never seen my daughter more destroyed than the day she left you.  I’ve had to hear her cry about missing you and I’ve been praying you would make the right choice.”  Tate pulled Steve into a hug.  “It would be my honor to have you as my son.”

“Thank you, sir.  I promise to take care of her for the rest of her life.”  Steve’s eyes filled with tears.  “I’m sorry I hurt her.  I was selfish.  I was afraid I’d get hurt again.  But I couldn’t help falling in love with Lily.  She’s it for me.  There will never be anyone else like her.”

“It will be nice for her mother and me to have a son.  When we met Damien, we were hoping we’d found one.”  Noticing Steve’s change in posture, he continued.  “I’ve ne
ver seen Mia look at anyone the way she did him.”

“
No offense, Mr. Lee, but I was praying that Mia would turn D’s head.  It was hard to watch him with Lily.”

“Son, I guarantee that after the week he spent here with my
girls before he hit the road, he didn’t even know Lily was in the room.”

Tate put his arm around Steve as they walked back into the apartment.  “I find that hard to believe, sir.”

Steve was sweating.  This Georgia heat was no joke. He jumped into the pool for the tenth time in the half hour they’d been outside.  He’d move here for Lily.  But he wasn’t sure he would survive many summers.

Lily smiled and made her way to the edge of the pool.  Her yellow bikini did amazing thing to Steve’s body.  The heat wasn’t the only reason he needed to cool down.  She sat
and dangled her feet into the water.  “You ok?”

He rubbed her legs.  “I’m better than ok.  I love you, Lil.”

She smiled as she slid into the pool and wrapped her arms around his neck.  “I love you too.”

“I’m sorry.”  He kissed her and she wrapped her legs around his waist.  “I’m sorry it took me so long to realize how much I love you.  I’m sorry it took me so long to tell you.  You were my best friend and I was too afraid to let myself love you.  I didn’t realize I was already there.”

“Don’t ever say you’re sorry for that.  I knew you loved me.  I was just waiting for you to figure it out.”  Lily rested her head on his shoulder.  His warm skin was slick from pool water.  His muscles rippled as he held her.  “I’ll tell the university I can’t take the job.”

“No.  You want the job.  I’ll resign from the station.  I can work anyw
here.  Home is wherever you are, Lil.”

Her heart was full.  She had the man of her dreams.  Her family had spent the last twenty-four hours getting to know him and they had fallen in love with him.  His smile had been plastered on his face the entire time.  She knew what she was giving up if she didn’t take the teaching job.  She also knew how much she had given up when she walked away from Los Angeles.  She had taken her year there for granted.  Looking back, she had almost everything there.  And now that she had Steve, her life was complete.  If spending a year
with the crazy Moretti gang had meant that much to her, she couldn’t imagine him giving up what he had known for over thirty years.

“I don’t want you to do that. I want to be in Los Angeles.  We can both do our jobs anywhere.  My family can travel to see us.  There’s only one Mark Moretti and Ryan West.  I miss Kevin like crazy and I can’t wait to se
e what happens next for Caleb. I’m ready to go home.”

“I want to marry you.”  Steve couldn’t help it.  The words were out of his mouth before h
is brain knew what was happening.

“What?”  Lily’s heart pounded.

“I want to marry you.  I want to spend the rest of my life wherever you are.  I want you to be the first person I talk to every morning.  I want to take you to pick out a ring and I’ll ask you the right way.  But you should know that question’s coming very soon.  Are you ready for that?”

Lily squealed.  “Yes, I’m ready for that.” 

“Good.”  Steve dunked her under the water and took her lips in a passionate kiss.  She molded her body to his and followed his lead. 

When they broke the surface, she pushed the hair out of his face.  “One problem though.  You have to ask my dad.”

“Not a problem since I already asked him.”  Steve laughed when Lily’s jaw dropped.  “I love you.  I thought your dad should know.”

Lily sealed the last box.  She wiped the sweat from her brow and giggled as she watched Steve trying to make her sister feel better.  Mia had taken the news hard.  She’d been back six weeks and was leaving again.  This time was permanent and Mia struggled to let her sister go. It would be difficult to walk away from Mia but Lily couldn’t imagine not leaving with Steve when he flew home.

Home.  Their home.  The same apartment that she had walked away from with her heart broken in two.  Steve had called his realtor and told her exactly what they wanted to find in a house.  A house they would make a home together.  A house in the Hollywood Hills near Kevin and Mark.  A house where they would start their future.

“So, you
gonna knock my sister up and all that other nasty husband and wife stuff?”  Mia laughed when Steve choked on his drink.  “And how big is the ring gonna be?  Let’s be honest here.  Women love bling.”