Page 42 of Lily In The Valley
Nothing else needed to be said. Us tangled in the heat and steam and silence said everything. I didn’t know how long we stayed like that. But I remembered the stars, how they flickered like they were blinking out one by one. I remembered how the air shifted, getting cooler, sharper, like something was waking up in the desert with us. Something I didn’t see coming.
But for now, I had her in my arms.
And for once, she wasn’t fighting it.
Part Two
“Ne Me Quitte Pas”
Nina Simone
Chapter 13
Khalil
She movedlike she didn’t want to start the day. Soft-footed, slow-stepping, lingering in every doorway like it might talk her out of leaving. The Kelly I knew–hell, the Kelly the world knew–packed fast and early. Always on the move. Always on go. Clipboard energy. Flight tracker on her phone, rolling her eyes at people who waited to pack until morning. But today?
She folded her clothes like they were made of spun sugar.
I sat on the edge of the bed, watching her move through the space like it was borrowed magic. The late-morning sun spilled across her shoulders, lighting up the gold undertones in her caramel skin. Her edges were a little wild from the hot tub and the shower and our sleep last night. My shirt hung loose over her frame, the hem grazing just over the plumpness of her butt. Her mouth carried a hint of a smile she hadn’t wiped away yet.
This wasn’t the woman who’d boarded the plane with me to Sedona a few days earlier. This was her without tension. Without the noise clouding her mind. Just Kelly. Soft. Bare. Breathing.
“You’re being weird, Big Head,” she said, raising a brow, continuing to fold and place her clothes in the suitcase.
“You’re always weird.”
“So you’re trying to be like me?”
I hadn’t realized how much I missed hearing her voice. The feather-lightness as she spoke at dinner. The deep, passion-filled moans as I brought her on an orgasm-induced high each night we’d been here at the wellness resort.
“You the one wearing my shirt.”
She snatched it off and threw it in my direction, grabbing a tank from her suitcase. My eyes dilated, staring at the soft breasts that’d become my nightly pacifiers. A resting spot for my head, putting me into the best slumber I’d ever had in my life. I laughed and dropped my phone on the bed beside me.
“I’m not going to say I told you so, but–”
“Right before he says it.” She smirked.
“But you needed this trip. More than you know.”
She set down a folded dress and turned to face me, arms crossed over her stomach. She looked like she wanted to argue, but then she didn’t. Instead, she walked over, plopped down in my lap, and wrapped my arms around her waist.
“I hate when you’re right,” she muttered.
“Why? Because I say it with my whole chest.”
“You say it like a man who thinks he invented peace.”
“Only for you.” She exhaled and leaned back into my chest. After a minute, I asked, “You ready?”
“Almost.”
I kissed her forehead, slow and sure. “You want your phone back before we go?”
She shook her head. “No.”
“No?”
