Page 13 of Fearless to Love

I jumped out of my car and sped around to the other side to open her door. Lily was laughing at me when I got to her side. In hindsight, I should have told her I wanted her to wait so that I could open her door, but this was new territory for me, and I was still learning.

“You could have just said something. For a second there, I thought you were going to leave me in the car or something.” She laughed, hooking her arm with mine.

“From now on, expect me to open any and all doors for you.” As we walked, I couldn’t help but notice quite a few people stopped and stared. Okay, maybe living in a small town wasn’t all it was cracked up to be if they were always watching you.

“Forget about them. I do.” Lily grabbed a cart and started through the produce aisle.

“Why are they staring?”

“Because they’re nosy as all get out.” She giggled. “Mostly it’s because I haven’t had a boyfriend in a long time.”

I couldn’t help but smile down at her. Lily rolled her eyes at me and kept walking. Not knowing what she needed, I followed her around and almost ran her over when she stopped suddenly, her body going rigid.

“Are you okay?” I asked, but she didn’t hear me because her entire focus was on the man standing in front of us, staring Lily down.

He was at least half a foot shorter than I was with brown hair cut in the most unappealing fashion. It looked like he still let his mom cut his hair. It was what I saw in his eyes that I found troubling. They were desperate and angry. Never a good combination. The way his eyes trailed up and down her body put him in the creeper category. It took everything in me not to growl and claim Lily as mine right in front of him.

Stepping closer, I put one hand on Lily’s hip. “Is everything okay?”

The creeper looked stunned as he took in my hand on Lily. He straightened to his full height and ignored me. “What a surprise to see you here, sweetheart.”

Sweetheart?

Lily stiffened even more at his words. Taking a step back into me, she softened while placing her hand over mine. “What the hell are you doing here, Tommy?”

“Am I not allowed to be in town visiting my friends?”

“You don’t have any friends. At least not here,” she shot back.

“And you are?” He addressed me.

Sticking my hand out, I answered. “I’m Dante Ricci. Lily’s boyfriend.” My chest puffed up at my own words. I was proud to call myself her boyfriend.

“Her boyfriend, really? Good luck with that. I hope she’s not as big of a disappointment for you as she was for me.”

Did he really just say that? Lily was the sweetest person I’d ever met, and the sex was by far the best I’d had in my life.

“Lily is nowhere near a disappointment. In fact, if one of us is undeserving or a disappointment it would be me. I thinkyouwere the one that lacked in your relationship with her, and to make yourself feel better you placed the blame on her when nothing could have been further from the truth. Don’t worry I’m man enough for her.”

I knew when he called her a disappointment and the gleam in his eyes showing he liked hurting her with his words that this Tommy was the one who’d made my Lily shy away from compliments, doubt herself and her beauty.

I hated him already and wanted to pound him into the ground. When I looked down to see Lily’s stunned face, I hoped she didn’t think less of me, but I couldn’t say nothing as he stood there trying to put her down or the way he looked at her.

Turning, she placed her hands on my chest. “Thank you for standing up for me.”

Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted Tommy’s eyes narrow before he stalked off like a baby throwing a fit.

“Always,” I vowed. “Let’s finish up our shopping so we can get home in time for your friends.”

* * *

The last timeI was this nervous was…I don’t know when, but knowing that I was going to meet Lily’s friends in a matter of minutes had me a little out of sorts. I wanted them to like me, and hoped that if they didn’t, Lily wouldn’t think differently about me. She seemed close to them and valued their opinions.

Smashing the avocado, I took my nerves out on the fruit as Lily stood beside me cutting up some peppers and onions for the fajitas she was about ready to grill.

“Hey,” she placed her hand over mine to stop me, “we want to make guacamole, not avocado soup. What’s going on?”

Clearing my throat, I turned toward her. “I want your friends to like me.”

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