Bound to the Bachelor (18 page)

Not that he had a problem with that – not now – but it wasn’t fair to Lily until he knew where she stood. How she was feeling. Whether he was alone in thinking what was happening between them was not the stuff of a one or two night stand, but the stuff of forever.

He waited to feel freaked out by his own thoughts, but there was nothing but a growing certainty within him. Lily Taylor was special. He’d be a fool to let her slip away.

But right now she was waiting expectantly, her breath fogging in the air, and a light had just come on at the end of the house where Heath and Andie’s bedroom was situated.

“Take the car,” he said instead of what he wanted to say.

“I’ll call you about it later today, okay? Once I know how long my car is going to take to get back on the road.”

“All right. If that’s what you want.”

“It is.”

She gave him a small, uncertain smile, as though she wasn’t quite sure what had just happened between them. Then she pushed the car door shut. She turned way, took a couple of steps, then rushed back and opened the passenger door again.

“I wanted to tell you… last night. The dance… I never do that. I mean, I haven’t done it before. I didn’t want you to think it was some sort of routine I pull out –”

“I didn’t.” The thought hadn’t even entered his mind. Not that he’d been doing a lot of thinking at the time.

“So it was kind of a first for both of us. Pretty funny, huh? Anyway, have a good day.”

She shut the door and hurried toward the house, pulling her jacket tight around her. He watched her go, fighting with the need to go after her and just lay it all on the line.

Another light came on in the house, signaling that Heath and Andie were well and truly up and about. He took the hand brake off and pulled into a U-turn. What he had to say did not require an audience.

He’d talk to Lily tonight. Maybe take her out for dinner. Woo her a little, the way she deserved, instead of rushing her into his bed.

Satisfied with his plan, he accelerated down the dark road.

‡

L
ily was almost
certain she’d gotten away with her nocturnal side trip, but she was still feeling distinctly edgy as she made breakfast for Andie and Heath. It wasn’t until the dishes were done and she was back in the guest room, looking for clean clothes to wear for the day, that she understood maybe the edginess didn’t have anything to do with being busted by Andie and everything to do with Beau.

Specifically, with the way she was feeling after a night in his arms. Waking up in his bed this morning, her body slowly coming to life beneath his lazy caresses, had felt so right, so good.

Too good. Dangerously good.

As though she’d come home.

Then there were the painful truths they’d shared in the small hours, and the playfulness of their lovemaking. And if all of that wasn’t enough, there was Beau’s offer to give her one of his company SUVs while she sorted out her Honda, an act of generosity and thoughtfulness that made her chest ache with some unnamed emotion every time she thought about it.

He cared about her. He liked her. And it scared her how much she wanted both of those things to mean more than they did. Because this was Beau Bennett she was talking about. He’d said it flat out over burgers at the ski lodge – he wasn’t interested in starting anything up with anyone. He’d looked
relieved
when she reassured him she knew the score after that first time at the bunker. He might not be able to keep his hands off her, but that didn’t mean he wanted her anywhere in his life apart from his bed.

Staring at the meager pile of clothes she’d brought to Andie’s, Lily blinked furiously against the hot sting of tears. She wasn’t going to stand here and cry like some pathetic, moony chick who had fallen into Beau’s bed with dreams of forever in her head. She had gone in with her eyes wide open. She had taken what she wanted. She’d had a great time. An
awesome
time.

So why did she feel as though she was about to burst into tears?

Because you’re an idiot
.

And because no matter how much she’d fought against it, no matter how many times she’d reminded herself of who Beau was and who she was, she liked him. She liked him so much.

She liked his dry, laconic sense of humor, and the way he never hesitated to step up and take on responsibility. She liked his honesty, and his surprising playful streak.

She just liked him. A lot.

A single tear slid down her cheek and she closed her eyes for a long moment, giving herself a stern talking to. Any second now she was going to turn into the pathetic, moony chick she didn’t want to be – unless she sucked it up and sorted her shit out.

She was tougher than this. Stronger. Smarter.

She drew in a deep breath, then let it out on a shudder. The next one came more easily, and slowly the hot feeling behind her eyes and the tightness in her throat eased.

She had this covered. She could handle this. Yes, she’d flown a little too close to the sun that was Beau, but she was only a little singed around the edges. She could come back from this.

She just had to keep her distance from him, create some boundaries. Most importantly, she had to stay out of his bed.

“How far off are you from being ready to leave?” Andie called from the hallway.

Lily gave herself a mental shake and glanced at the clock. It was nearly seven-thirty, and she knew Andie needed to be on-site by eight, which meant she needed to hustle if she was going to cadge a lift into town.

“Ten minutes, tops,” she hollered back.

She grabbed her black sweater and black pencil skirt from the pile on the bed. It took her a second to rummage up the pair of black opaque stockings she knew she’d packed. Combined with her knee-boots with the stacked heel, it was an outfit. Not the most inspiring outfit, but passable. Sometime over the next few days she was going to have to duck back to her apartment to pick up more things, so she could do a little more mixing and matching.

She dressed in a rush, trying not to notice the tender spots on her breasts and thighs where Beau’s stubble had marked her body. Those marks would fade, as would the memory of last night.

And that was a good thing.

“Okay, ready to go,” she announced as she exited the guest room, her wool coat over her arm.

Andie and Heath were both waiting in the living room, dressed in matching McGregor Construction weatherproof coats and beanies.

“Heath just mentioned he’s going to be on-site all day today, so we don’t need two cars,” Andie said, holding out a set of keys.

“You’re sure? I don’t want you to be stuck because of me,” Lily said. She was already living in their house, eating their food.

“I won’t be. We can probably do the same thing tomorrow, too. Or until you get your car fixed.”

“Thank you,” Lily said simply.

She had awesome friends. Between them, Andie and Molly had renewed her faith in the human race.

“We’ll see you later, okay?” Andie said, leaning forward to kiss Lily goodbye.

She started to withdraw, then an odd look came over her face and she leaned in again and sniffed Lily’s neck.

“Um, hello?” Lily asked, bemused.

“Sorry. It’s just you smell different than you normally do.”

“What do you mean?”

“You smell all sporty and manly. Not like a girl.”

Lily forced herself to play it cool, even though what Andie was smelling was Beau’s body wash.

“Huh. Maybe it’s the soap in the guest bathroom,” she said lightly.

“Yeah. I guess,” Andie said. She was frowning, as though she was trying to remember something.

“You guys had better motor if you’re not going to be late,” Lily said.

“Thank you, I was about to say that,” Heath said, grabbing his wife’s elbow. “‘Come on, you can sniff your best friend later.”

Lily closed her eyes after they’d disappeared through the front door. Thank God Andie hadn’t worked out Lily suddenly smelled the same as her brother. She wasn’t sure her determination to suck it up would survive Andie’s questioning, and the last thing she needed was Andie getting all defensive on her behalf with Beau.

Sweet Lord, no. That would be beyond humiliating.

She wandered back toward the guest room, at a loose end now that Andie had loaned her a car for the day. She didn’t need to be at work for another hour, but there was nothing for her to do here, since Heath and Andie were super anal in the house cleaning stakes. Her gaze fell on the paltry selection of clothing on the bed and she was hit with inspiration.

Since she had Andie’s car, she would head over to her apartment to grab more clothes. The trip into town only took ten minutes, which would leave her with plenty of time to do a quick wardrobe raid and still make it to work early enough to start making calls about fixing her Honda.

Galvanized, she grabbed her handbag and phone and headed for the door. She’d driven Andie’s pick up before, and she drove into town with the radio on, deliberately diverting her thoughts elsewhere every time they drifted toward Beau.

She wasn’t going there. She wasn’t that self-destructive.

She parked in her spot beneath the building, casting a wary eye about her as she walked toward the elevator. In theory, only residents had access to the underground garage and the elevator, but in practice, as Beau had noted, security was pretty lax. There was no one else around, however, and she told herself to relax as she stepped into the elevator.

The sheriff might not have been able to track her stepbrother down, but she figured she was pretty safe, ducking in and out of her apartment on a wardrobe run. It was just after eight in the morning, and she’d only be there five minutes, tops. Feeling reassured by her own logic, she hit the button for the second floor, busy making a mental list of the clothes she wanted to grab.

She was exiting the elevator when her phone rang, caller ID telling her it was Andie.

“Hey. What’s up?” she asked as she approached her apartment.

“I meant to tell you, don’t worry if the oil gauge light flashes on. There’s plenty of oil. That gauge is just a drama queen.”

“Okay. I’ll ignore it and teach it a lesson,” Lily said as she slipped her key into the lock.

“Also, we were thinking of going to the diner for dinner tonight, just for a bit of variety. I thought we could meet early, after you finish work?”

Lily entered her apartment, glancing around quickly to make sure everything was in order. It was, and the last of her tension eased away.

“Why don’t you and Heath go on your own? You must be gagging for some time together,” Lily said, tossing her handbag onto the couch.

“I told you, we love having you stay with us.”

“Have dinner with your husband. I insist. I’ll watch bad TV and eat toasted cheese sandwiches and pretend that your house is mine for the evening,” Lily said.

The vase of flowers she’d left on the bookshelf were all brown and withered, the water a foul green, and she wrinkled her nose as she saw them. It was a wonder the whole place didn’t stink, the water was so fetid-looking.

Which was when she noticed the living room curtain billowing in the breeze, the taupe fabric bellying out like a sail. All the little hairs on the back of her neck stood on end as she slowly turned around.

Darren stood in front of the closed front door, a disheveled, shambolic figure with greasy hair and glassy eyes. One of his hands was curled into a fist, the knuckles visibly white from fifteen feet away.

“Andie, call the police to my apartment. Darren is –”

The words were barely out of her mouth before Darren was across the room, batting the phone from her hand. Driven by instinct, she shoved her arms out in front of her, fending him off even as she scrambled backward.

“Stay away from me,” she said, her heart pumping so hard it felt like it might explode. “Don’t you touch me.”

“I’ll do whatever I want to you, bitch,” Darren said, striking out with his fist.

She dodged the blow, and it slid off the side of her jaw. And suddenly Beau’s voice was in her head, calm and steady.

You want to go for soft tissue. You want to smash the nose, use your fingers in the eyes, chop at the throat, try to get a knee into the groin
.

Her hands curled into fists, and she struck out, aiming for Darren’s nose. He turned his shoulder, easily blocking her, then rushed at her, using his superior body weight to slam her into the corner near the window. Her head cracked against the wall, and blood filled her mouth as she bit her tongue.

“
That was my money. You had no right to give it away
.”

He slapped at her with an open hand, landing a blow on her temple. She brought her arms up, trying to protect her face, and tried to jab at him with her elbows. He grunted as one of her blows struck home, and she took advantage of his surprise to push forward with everything she had. He staggered back, and she darted past him, her gaze pinned to the door. If she could get outside, help would come. She’d scream, and people would come out of their apartments, and she would be okay –