Richard respected her wishes and would keep everything between them in the friend zone. Just as she suggested, he would come by the store daily and she would get to walk Bella and play with her. Richard never stopped flirting with her, holding her hand and even giving her the best hugs ever, but he did not cross any boundaries.

And for that, she trusted him. He was not the guy her friends thought he was.

"Pretty, can I ask you something?"

"Can you stop calling me that? I have a name," she said while they sat at Turtle Park, watching the highway traffic pass.

"And I refuse to call you Lila because that doesn't fit you. So, unless you want me to call you Galilahi, I'm not calling you anything other than that, Pretty."

"You're such a little brat, you know that, right?"

"Yeah, so," he said with a grin at her.

"Then ask away."

"Will you go away with me next weekend?"

That was totally unexpected. She did not know what to say to that. They were supposed to be just friends, going away with a man who was not her boyfriend, what would that mean? Means he was ready to make this serious.

"Before you answer, let me tell you, a group of my friends always go away for an extended weekend to my parent's resort in Lake of the Ozarks. It won't be just us, some girls, some guys, and friends hanging out at the lake to relax. There's a lot of things to do like swimming, boating, fishing, shopping..."

"Okay," she said to him.

"Really? You want to go?"

"Sounds fun. I never get to do anything like take a vacation, so why not."

"And everything is on me, you don't have to buy anything, okay." He wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her to him in one of his bear hugs and she took in his scent of expensive cologne and wanted to stay there, but pulled away quickly. "I can't wait till you meet my friends."

It was a little weird to plan a trip away with a guy. She finally had to tell Daniel what was going on between her and Richard, even though Jamie already knew.

"You are going where with who?"

"Richard's lake house with a group of his friends."

"Excuse me, no you're not!" They were gathered in the living room in front of their large-screen television, eating dinner from paper plates and watching a Netflix series. Daniel stopped eating, placed his food on the coffee table, and stood up.

"Hold up!" Jamie jumped up and stood in front of Daniel, trying to get him to calm down. "Danny, you can't tell Lila what to do. You don't have to treat her like a child."

"You knew she was seeing him?" Daniel glared at Jamie, and she hated that they were fighting over her.

"Seeing? She is hanging out with him. She told me they're just friends."

"We are!" Lila added, not very hungry anymore for her veggie burger and fries but picking at the food anyway. "And you two don't have to argue over me. Daniel, I'm sorry you think I'm some silly, naïve girl who doesn't know what I am doing, but I am twenty-three years old."

"And you're not very experienced with boys," he added.

"I know how to handle myself."

"Do you?"

He did not have to say that to her. Hiding her feelings, she simply stood and stormed from the room, slamming the door shut. She did not care what Daniel thought, she could make decisions for herself. If maybe she wanted to take things further with Richard while on vacation, that was her decision to make. She did not know if that's what she wanted, but maybe. She wasn't sure. She was twenty-three and never had an intimate relationship with a boy.

Not after...she did not want to think about it. She stayed in her room the rest of the day, finishing schoolwork and doing extra since the trip would be seven days and she would miss three days of classes.

A knock on her door and Daniel walked in when he heard no answer from her.

"Lila, I came to apologize." He stood in the doorway, but she could not look up at him. "You're right, I can't dictate your life forever. But you know your grandfather made me promise to look after you and that's what I have been doing."

"I know," she said with a heavy sigh. It was not his fault he was this overprotective of her. She walked to him. "You have done a great job, and are still doing a great job, but you don't need to worry about me as much as you do. I got this."

"I know. I hope this Richard guy knows what he has in you."

She still had a few days before their trip, and she still saw him and Bella every day. On the day of the trip, he came to pick her up and Daniel and Jamie decided they needed to meet him, so they helped her carry her things to his SUV for a chance to meet him.

"I could have gotten your things," Richard said, rushing over to her when he saw her carrying her backpack filled to the brim with things. Daniel had her large suitcase and Jamie had the smaller one. "How much stuff did you bring?"

"Not enough. Richard, these are my roommates, Jamie and Daniel."

Richard looked them over, turned to her, and whispered in her ear. "I didn't know you had a guy roommate."

She chuckled at him. "Jamie and Daniel are together, boyfriend and girlfriend."

"Oh, well, it's nice meeting you." Richard held out a hand to Daniel.

Daniel took his hand, shook it firmly, then pulled him in a bit. "You hurt her, I hurt you."

Could she be more embarrassed? Jamie pulled Daniel back from Richard.

"Sorry, please excuse his rudeness. Nice to meet you, Richard Richardson. You two have fun now. Bye, Lila."

Jamie practically had to drag Daniel back into the apartment. She still felt red in the face from the embarrassment. Richard only grinned at her.

"It's cool, I like that you have someone looking out for you. Little girl in a big city."

Richard loaded her things in the trunk of his car, where his matching Gucci luggage looked like money compared to her cheap, non-matching luggage pieces.

"He kind of was appointed that job by my grandfather and he takes it seriously."

"Tell him he has nothing to worry about, friend," he said, with a grin at her.

It was cool the way he said friend, with a bit of sarcasm, because she was hoping this weekend they could take things a little further than just friends.

Before they took off, she grabbed Bella from her carrier and cuddled with her as the pup licked over her face. This would be the first time she got to spend all day with her puppy. She looked forward to that. She fed Bella some treats, put her back in her carrier, and strapped her in. Richard was right there, simply watching her as he always did whenever she played with Bella.

He helped her get in the SUV before he stepped in himself.

"I've never been anywhere other than Sikeston, and the surrounding area, and St. Louis...and not much of the surrounding area. I have heard about the Ozarks area. Like that show, right."

He laughed at her as they took off. "Nothing like that show, but okay. Pretty, hang with me, I'll take you places."

"Not you trying to buy me, huh?"

"Aren't we over that," he said with a grin. "I didn't buy Bella for you, I was given her, and then I gave her to you. And if you were my girl, I would want to take care of you."

"But I'm not." She curled one of her locs around her finger, still deciding if she wanted that title.

"Didn't I say if?"

"And I'm not."

"Okay, when," Richard said, picking up her hand and kissing the back of it. "When you become my girl, I will take care of you."

She felt a chill, then her body started to heat up at the same time. She moved her hand away and looked out of the window. She did not know how long the drive was but being stuck in a car with him for a while was going to be intense.

"Did you bring a swimsuit?"

"A couple. I love swimming," she said.

"I can't wait to see you in it! I mean, I'm sure you look nice and all, friendly." He bit his bottom lip as he often did when he was in a playful mood.

She pushed his shoulder as she laughed at him.

"Hey! I'm driving!"

"Tell me about your friends that will be here."

Richard was on the highway now and traffic was light because it was early morning. It was a beautiful late summer day and she could not wait to sit by the pool. Maybe his friends were nice people, she sure hoped they were. Nothing could be worse than being stuck with stuck-up girls who thought too much of themselves.

"Oh, I should warn you about them."

"Warn me?"

"One of them is my ex."

"Your ex...girlfriend?"

"Well, actually two...but one was nothing serious."

Why wouldn't he tell her something like that beforehand? Not one, but two ex-girlfriends were going to be there. She was sure they would look like supermodels all glammed up and rich like Richard. They would look down on her because she was a nobody little financial aid recipient girl. All private school graduates like him. She would have nothing in common with any of his rich friends.

"Sharynn and I dated five years and..."

"Five years!"

"But it's not like that. We're totally friends now. We're like brother and sister now, at least that's how my mom looks at it. She's married with a baby. Don't be jealous," he said, throwing her a grin.

"Not jealous." Oh, but she was.

"And then Ava. We sort of fooled around a couple of times, but nothing serious at all. We're friends, believe me. I think she's bringing her boyfriend or something. Oh, and her twin sister Armaya. They are a hoot together, you will love them."

She still felt some kind of way about having his exes there, especially if he was very intimate with them. How could he still be friends with them? It was weird to her.

"And then my friend since sixth grade, Skipp Legend, real name, for real. We attended SLU High together. Closest guy friend I have. And then Tony Bishop met him through business and works in real estate as well. Those are all my close friends."

"So, you have more girlfriends than guy friends?"

"Yes, see, now I have you...although..."

"Although what?"

She waited for him to reply, he only focused on the road with a big smile on his face. He was so darn cute and knew it. Ugh! How was she going to keep things friendly when she was thinking naughty thoughts?

She leaned over and kissed him on the cheek, quickly moving away.

"What was that for?" he asked, glancing at her, but trying to focus on the road.

"I don't know."

They listened to her favorite artist on the long drive, Ledisi, and she sang along, although she did not think she was that great. Richard pretended she had a good voice, but she knew he was only trying to earn brownie points. When they finally pulled into what looked like a cross between a hotel and a haunted castle, she assumed he was lost and needed to ask for directions.

"We're here."

"I thought you said your parents had a lake house, this is a...castle?"

"It's a lake resort, and that's exactly what I called it," he said, undoing his seatbelt. "Come on, I love this place."

She was still in awe about how big it was. She knew he was rich, but this was rich, rich! While Richard opened the trunk, some guys in uniform came over to assist him, one taking the key from Richard to valet park it once everything was out.

"Come on, I'll show you around, no one is here yet." He took her hand and led her inside where she was even more mesmerized by what she saw. It looked like a home inside, not a hotel. There was no lobby or anything. There was a woman sitting to the side at a desk with a computer on it. She jumped up as soon as she saw them.

"Mr. Richardson!" the lady said, walking over to him, and hugging him.

"You know better, call me Richard."

"I will not, boss, sir," she said. "Missed seeing you around here last few weeks. Where is ummm...Bree?"

"Noooo, no!" Richard said quickly, putting an arm around her. "This is Galilahi, my friend. We're umm...friends."

Who was Bree? She did not want to know, but she never saw Richard so uncomfortable and tongue-tied.

"Ga-li-la-who what?"

"Call me Lila."

"Lila, okay, I can remember that. Mr. Richardson, all the rooms are ready, staff will take you guys' things up to the master, anything else you need?"

"I'll wait for the others to arrive before you can serve drinks. I'm going to show my girl...I mean, my friend around."

Did he skip past the fact that they would be sharing a room?