Innocent Lies by JW Phillips Page B

chandelier. Softly playing in
the background was country music. I had never listened to that type
of music before, but at that moment, it was perfect and fit
us.
     
    He motioned for me to take a seat
and walked back in. I picked at my nail beds not quite sure what he
had planned. Being not a small man he moved with the lightest of
step. I didn’t even hear him return until I felt his body at my
back. He placed a plate, filled with a little bit of everything he
had prepared in front of me. He bent over and dished me two chicken
legs. His hot breath swished down my neck and made me
swoon.
     
    “Eat up, my lovely,” he whispered
in my ear. I watched him take a seat and pick up a fork. “Don’t
bruise my ego and not eat.”
     
    I pinched off a piece of roll and
dipped it in butter. I placed it in my mouth, and he moaned. I
smiled and cut my eyes over at him. The gold specks in his deep
brown eyes had an extra sparkle.
     
    “I’m trying to be a gentleman, but
if you keep working your tongue like that I might not be able to
control myself. After all, the demon in me can only be so good.” He
laughed and placed a spoonful of peas in his mouth. At that moment,
I wanted to push back that one blond curl that fell against his
forehead and work my tongue over his face.
     
    After the sixth, seventh, or maybe
it was the eighth bite of everything, I willed myself to push my
plate back. We needed to talk not guzzle down food like a couple of
pigs. I took a drink of tea. When I set my glass down, his eyes
went hard.
     
    “Talk to me,
beautiful. Tell me all about you.” He said with a somber
expression.
     
    “I would rather
ask you questions. I know nothing about you.”
     
    I didn’t want him to learn about
me at that point, because he was the first person that had the
power to break my heart.
     
    “I would rather you not. Privy, you
might not like all the answers.”
     
    I needed to know who the man was
that had stolen my heart and could so easily finish destroying it.
I picked up my plate. “I just want to know where you were raised.
About your siblings. Thank you for dinner.” I felt the tears coming
and pushed my chair back to retreat to the solitude of his house.
An irrational response I know, but being rational and Ethan didn’t
exactly go together.
     
    I started to empty the scraps off
of the plate into the garbage disposal and wiped back
tears.
     
    “Dylan, don’t.” Ethan’s body was
suddenly at my back. That smell that was only him, was strong. I
was paralyzed. He leaned into me and placed a hand on each side of
the counter caging me in. I bit my tongue to fight back a sob and
looked at the water swirling down the drain. He flipped back my
hair and kissed the sweet spot behind my ear. “My parents are Neal
and Helen Asher. I have two sisters and two brothers. I had three,
but one of them recently passed away.”
     
    “I’m sorry.” I
rubbed my nose with the base of my hand.
     
    He didn’t move. “I’m not. He got
what he deserved . . . I’m from Memphis, and moved here to take
care of some family business.” He nibbled on my neck. “I want this.
Hell, I have never been anybody’s ideal, but I’ll be yours. I’ll
always take care of you.”
     
    Neal Asher sounded familiar, but I
couldn’t focus on that. There was a deep sadness in Ethan’s voice.
He was hiding something I was positive. I didn’t care. Ethan Asher
was what I wanted. He gripped my hip and pushed me against him. “Am
I really the only girl who has ever been here?”
     
    “Yes,” he said against the skin on
my neck. “This is my home. I’m not going to muddy it up with the
memory of some random girl.”
     
    “I’m here.”
     
    “You’re not some random girl.” He
twisted me around to face him. I slipped my arms around his neck.
“Please, don’t leave. I want you. I want us.” Ethan mumbled in my
ear.
     
    “I’ll stay, if you
promise me one thing.” I said, peering into his emotion-riddled
face. Even if