Lily
After spending a couple of hours by the pool, enjoying a good book while working on my tan, I head to
my suite. As I st ep over the threshold, my phone rings in my tote bag. Giddy with happiness, I pull it out.
It’s not who I hoped it would be, but it’s another one of my favorite people.
I acc ept the video call. “Hey, you.” Nads waves. Then, she squints. “Is it sunny again?” I pull my
Hollywood style designer sunglasses over my head and let out a theatrical sigh. “The temperature here is
insufferable. All this bright sun and perfect weather. I’ve been told there’s two hundred and sixty-three
days of sunshine in the City of Angels. It’s torture. I don’t know for how much longer I can handle it.”
Lies. All lies.
My best friend narrows her eyes even more. “I hate you. It’s raining in Paris. Again. At this rate, I won’t
remember what the sun looks like. Parisians are moody on a good day, but this past week, they’ve been
positively bitchy.” She sighs. “If it weren’t for the flower shop, I would’ve headed to my father’s house in
Corsica, or better yet, I’d be with you in sunny LA.”
“Sorry, sweets. I wish you could be here with me.” “So do I.” “You can’t be a boss lady and a bum at the
same time.” “You’re not a bum.” “Okay, a vagabond.” She laughs. “In any case, enough about Paris’s
drab weather. How was that exclusive private party you went to Friday night?”
Oh yeah, Rhys’s birthday party.
That was a lifetime ago. “Since I can’t bottle the California sun and send it to you overnight, why don’t I
take this conversation outside?”
“I like the way you think.” I turn my phone so she can catch a glimpse of my luxury suite as I head
towards the large deck.
Oohs and aahs fall from my best friend’s lips. “Nice hotel.” “The owners are amazing. Especially the
wife. Michaela is sweet, warm, and caring. And so protective.”
“You arrived in LA on Thursday. Today is Sunday, and you’re chummy-chummy with the owners of the
hotel? What gives?”
I slide open the glass door to the deck and st ep outside. “Gage is friends with Michaela and her husband
Phoenix.” I tell Nads all about the Königs and Rhys’s party up until the point my bodyguard showed up.
“Sounds like you had fun. And, a private salsa dancing lesson with a former Reggaeton chart-topper. It’s
good to be you.”
“It was amazing, Nads. Our fathers are rich, but celebrities and Hollywood people live large at a different
level.”
“In other words, it wasn’t a stuffy, stiff upper lip, yawn-inducing event?”
I laugh. “It was far from it.” “What about Gage? What’s his last name again?” “Hollingsworth.” “He
wasn’t at his friend’s party?” I bite against my lower lip, averting my gaze. “Don’t tell me he’s another
chaperone who turned out to be a jerk or a pervert? The men your father associates with are questionable.”
“You’re absolutely right on that last point,” I say. “My father has questionable connections. Gage isn’t
one of them. Although he didn’t come right out and say it, but it’s clear, he likes my father and
half-brothers as much as you do.”
Nadine nods. “A man after my own heart.” Or after mine. “So, things are going well between the two of
you?” “A lot... has happened.” “Fill me in.”
I play with the tip of my long braid falling over one shoulder, pondering on how I’ll drop the news on her.
“Lily, you’re ke eping something from me. Your blue eyes are twinkling with mischief.”
I sigh. “Okay, I was the center of attention at Rhys’s party.” “You?” Her head jerks back. “What
happened?” “Gage showed up out of the blue—” “Wait? You texted that he was going to accompany
you.” I give her the run down. “Got it.” She nods. “So, Gage showed up out of the blue... Please
continue.”
“He hoisted me over his shoulder like a warrior, dragged me to an empty storage room, stuck his fingers
down my shorts, and played with my clit until I came all over his fingers while his inner circle was only a
few feet away.”
Shock registers on my best friend’s face. I ke ep talking. “We came back to my suite and he popped my
cherry. I didn’t tell him I was a virgin because I wanted him to be the one.”
Nadine’s mouth drops open. “We spent all day yesterday together. Today, kicked off with a good, hard
fuck, and ended the same way.” I shake my head and let out an audible exhale. “Let’s say la petite mort
with Gage is a world apart from la petite mort with my ex.”
“The orgasms were good?” “Not good. Earth-shattering.” Nads’s eyes are enormous. I ke ep spilling my
guts. “By the afternoon, Gage was like a savage beast. To my shock, I loved every minute of it.”
Nadine cocks a brow. “He spent the night fucking me to exhaustion and woke me up with his tongue
between my legs. He needed a taste before leaving this morning.”
Nadine is doing a great impression of a guppy. “Oh––” I lift a finger––“every woman should be lucky
enough to have a lover who knows how to give her a G-spot orgasm. Until you’ve had one— or
several—you have no idea what you’ve been missing. You know when people say it’s so good, your eyes
roll to the back of your head? I can vouch for that.”
Nads is now doing a bang-up job doubling as a marble statue. “Aren’t you going to comment?” She
blinks. She blinks again. She blinks a third time. “Ma grosse bite? What a joke.” I ke ep talking.
“Jean-Philippe is delusional about the size of his cock. There’s nothing dishonorable about an average
size cock—I don't have double D’s or E’s—but please, wake up and smell the cappuccino. Don’t label
your penis as giant unless it is.” I scoff. “And his isn’t. Not even close.”
“Ga—Gage has a giant cock?” Nads finds her voice. “It’s not grotesque. We’re not talking Guinness
World Records penis size, but it’s way bigger than Jean-Philippe’s.”
The stupor vanishes from Nads’s face as a beaming smile stretches her lips. “Aren’t you happy I
convinced you not to cancel your trip? Fuck the film schools. LA was about connecting with a man who
could rock your world.”
I’m about to agree with her, but she lets out an evil laugh. “I’m afraid to ask what prompted that.” I pace
around the deck. “It wasn’t his plan, but your father gave you a birthday gift after all. Gage Hollingsworth
is the ultimate milestone birthday gift.”
I burst out laughing. “What a difference a few days make—” “A few days that propelled you into
womanhood.” I nod. “A flower blooming in late spring...” Nadine’s words trail. “Only a florist would
make that analogy.” Amusement dances in her eyes. She cocks an eyebrow, a wicked smile pulling at her
lips.
Uh-oh. “What is it?” “LA looks good on you. With a little luck—or a little more time spent with
Gage—sweet Lily will become Voodoo Lily—”
“You’re such a florist. You’re hoping I leave LA like one of the most poisonous flowers on the planet?”
Her smile is sinister. “It’s a colorful way of saying I hope you grow a protective skin that r epels the shit
spewing out of Fisher’s mouth and allows you not to give a flying fuck what his sons think of you.”
I catch my reflection in the glass door. Can I become that girl? Will there be a day I’ll stop craving my
father’s and half-brothers’ acc eptance? Can I grow a tough enough skin to protect my heart from never
earning my father’s love?