It Must Be Magic (11 page)

L
ILI TOOK A SIP OF WINE.
She’d forced Tanner to lie, then brought him down a few pegs in his daughter’s eyes because he had to admit his transgression. She’d been afraid to even talk to Fluffy in case she couldn’t understand, or in case she could and what he told her was worse than before. All in all, she wasn’t batting a thousand today, and if she really thought about it, there were probably quite a few more things she’d screwed up.

Einstein jumped up on Wanetta’s scratchy old burgundy sofa and laid her head in Lili’s lap. Einstein was the furthest thing from a lap cat, yet she set a sweet purr rumbling against Lili’s tummy, kneaded without putting her claws out and thankfully kept her thoughts to herself.

Of course, Einstein could get pretty user-friendly when she wanted something, and she did love cheese. Lili rewarded her with a piece even if it was bad for her teeth.

Don Juan jumped on the back of the sofa and sniffed. An elegant Siamese, he adored the ladies, but he loved cheese, too. All the cats did.

“All right, you can have a piece, but you have to get off Wanetta’s doily.”

Don Juan was no dummy, scooting over to remove his back paws from the handmade lace. Lili gave him the cheese.

Wanetta had left Lili the furnishings as well as the house, and that included all her knickknacks, handmade doilies, African violets, the heavy drapes that Lili had pulled to shut out the darkness and the imitation Tiffany lamps that glowed softly.

Bash bumped Lili’s calf. Short for Bashful, the calico female was anything but. Another irony. Bash loved cuddling and petting. She should have been the easiest one to find a home for, but Lili had been striking out all over the place. She gave Bash a piece, too, until finally all the cats were whining for their cheese. Lili only had two pieces left for herself.

She’d risen from the couch and was halfway to the kitchen when she heard the knock on the back door and saw a man’s outline against the screen. Not just any man. Tanner.

The cats, all but Einstein, vanished like Houdini’s helpers.

She felt a little earthquake in her chest. She was sure he had a lot to say to her. More than she wanted to hear.

“I’m a woman, I can take it,” she whispered, then raised her voice. “Come in. We’re in the living room.”

Maybe she shouldn’t have said
we,
since to him Einstein was an
it.
She hid her wineglass behind an African violet on one of Wanetta’s myriad tables strewn about the room.

She wasn’t prepared for him in Wanetta’s frilly living room. He smelled so good, and he was so tall he seemed to fill the space with more than his body. He filled it with his presence, all male, all comfort. For a moment Lili wished they were back in the meadow when he’d been kissing her, before Buddy had threatened them with his gun, before they’d seen the vultures, before Tanner had gone alone into the woods. She wished they were still kissing and the rest had never happened.

She stepped forward and put her hand over his mouth before he could get out a word.

T
HE CAT STARED AT HIM
, flicked its tail, then jumped from the back of the couch and sauntered off to the hinterlands of the house’s interior.

Thank God. Because Lili’s touch short-circuited Tanner’s brain.

“Before you say anything, I have to get this off my chest.”

God, she was going to tell him her secret before he could even ask. Her trust made his heart turn over. Though he did wish she’d found it earlier.

“I’m so sorry I made you tell that lie. I know you did it to protect Erika, but it’s all my fault.”

“You didn’t —”

She pressed harder. Her flowery perfume, the feel of her fingers against his lips and the soulfulness in her eyes made him forget every doubt he’d had. She’d lit some candles to blanket the room with a sweet, spicy scent, closed the drapes, and where the room had been relaxing while Wanetta had presided, Lili charged the atmosphere with seduction. He was equally sure she didn’t have a clue about that.

“Shh,” she said, “it’s my turn. No contradictions until I’m done. Nod once for yes.”

He nodded. What else could a man do but give in?

She took a deep breath, and she was so close, he felt the brush of her exhalation against his skin.

“Okay. I didn’t think about how all this would affect Erika. I wanted you to help me.” She tapped her chest. “
Me.
It wasn’t about Fluffy or Erika. It was about what I needed. And because of that, you ended up having to make Erika party to the lie we told. I’m not sure whether we should tell the police or not, but I never meant for you to go against your parenting principles. And I’m so sorry.”

He waited a beat but she didn’t go on. “Are you done?”

“I’m not sure. No, wait, there’s more.” She stepped back and twisted her hands. “I think this might actually be worse.”

“Lili —”

“Let me get it out.” She rubbed her stomach as if it hurt.

He’d wanted to read her the riot act. He’d wanted to make demands. Yet she disarmed the anger with her innocence. That was the only word he could think of. She was innocent like Erika, with a simple lack of guile that was distinctively Lili.

Roscoe was right. Lili couldn’t be devious enough to lie about Fluffy or the body. Or anything at all.

“Spit it out, Lili.”

“I was happy when you told Erika about my talk with Fluffy. There, I said it. I was happy. I didn’t even think about how Erika might feel. I can’t believe I did that.” She turned away, bobbing her head as if she couldn’t find words vile enough to describe what she’d done. “I knew I had to do something after what Fluffy told me, but I did all the wrong things.”

He stroked a hand up her back. Not touching her wasn’t an option. Her blouse rode up, revealing a strip of skin along the waistband of her skirt. She’d changed after what had happened that afternoon, but she’d found an equally tantalizing outfit.

“Now are you done?” he asked, a huskiness to his voice he didn’t even recognize.

His hand traveled beneath the fall of hair, and he caressed the nape of her neck, the smooth, delicate skin. Dropping a kiss on the fragrant flesh between her throat and shoulder seemed the most natural thing in the world.

He took her silence as a yes. “Then it’s my turn.”

He pressed his body along her back and held her against him with a hand on her shoulder. “
I
told Erika about Fluffy.
I
decided not to tell the police. If Erika learned a poor lesson today,
I
taught it to her. You didn’t have any part in that.”

He wrapped an arm across her abdomen. He wanted the warm length of her body against his, all of it, all of her.

“Sometimes there are justifiable reasons to lie,” he went on. “She’s smart enough to realize this was one of them.”

She turned her head, her hair sliding across his hand, and hit him with the full impact of her lilac eyes. “I’m not sure —”

“I’m sure. None of this is your fault. I told the lie because I needed to. I wouldn’t do it any differently.” He cupped her face, smoothed his finger over her cheek.

Nothing else mattered but making her believe that. Her lips were like wine he thirsted for.

She moaned against his mouth and turned in his arms, the slip-slide of her body firing every nerve ending. He tipped her head back and drank her in, tasting the headiness of a desire he hadn’t felt in a long, long time. Dipping, he gathered her closer, lifted her higher, until she wrapped her arms around his neck and opened completely.

The taste of her was like no other, uniquely Lili, as lush as the bouquet of flowers she’d given him. The sounds she made strummed his skin and set a fire burning in his belly.

He let her feet touch the floor, dipped once again and rode up beneath her blouse, his fingers tracing the indentations of her spine, gliding over all that smooth skin. He cupped her sides and pressed his thumbs up between their bodies to find the underside of her breasts, then the hard, cherried nipples.

Trapping his face in her palms, holding his mouth captive, she pulled back to give him what he wanted — free rein of her breasts. He pushed her bra up and took handfuls of sweet, soft Lili. A mouthful of lush Lili. Her lips, her tongue. She drove him to the brink.

He rubbed against her, but it wasn’t enough. Sliding one hand down to her butt, he held her close and rocked his erection between their bodies. He bunched her skirt in his fist and raised it until he could hold the firm globe of her bottom in his hand, and it wasn’t enough. He wouldn’t get enough until he was buried deep inside her.

He withdrew far enough to whisper, “I need to touch you.”

Her eyes were wide, dark pools, and Lili spoke without words, guiding his hand to the elastic of her panties. He found his own way beneath the lace as she raised a leg and wrapped it around his knee. More than enough room to glide inside her warmth. She was slick and creamy, her clitoris already a hard, needy button. He bent her slightly over his arm, bracing her even as she dug her nails into his biceps and let her head fall back. She moaned softly as he circled her, then slid inside. Nipping her neck, licking the hollow of her throat, he made love to her with his fingers, first one, then two, until her body moved with his, rocked with him as if he were buried deep inside her. And with each upward stroke, he hit her clitoris, gliding over it, then back inside.

He knew she was close when she threw her arms around his neck and clung to him, her breath hot against his ear. He went for the button, circling it, until she shuddered in his arms, and her voice threaded through her breath, turning into soft moans.

Her sounds, her skin, her heat, the very essence of her put him on the verge of climax himself.

Then she bit his throat lightly and came.

Her orgasm was so elemental, so pure, so profound, he damn near came with her.

T
HANK GOODNESS THE CATS HAD
left the room.

Tanner stroked the hair back from her face. Lili realized she clung to him as if she’d never let him go. After that momentous feeling, she didn’t want to.

She wet her lips, then pulled back far enough to look at him. “I don’t think anyone’s ever done that to me before.”

“Made you come?”

“No.” She frowned, trying to find the words. “Made me forget where I was. And what we were talking about. And everything that was bothering me before…you did that.”

“I’ve never made anyone feel like that.”

Her calf was still up around his knee and she was balanced on one leg, his arms around her for support. She put both feet flat on the floor, but hung on to him, though she did wriggle her bra and underwear back into place before she met his gaze again.

“I feel dizzy.”

He chuckled. “So do I.”

She drew in a deep breath. “I’m not sure how I feel about what we just did. I think I should be embarrassed or something because I was so out of control.”

“You
think
you’re embarrassed?”

“Well, actually, I’m not. But shouldn’t I be?”

He caressed her throat. “I wouldn’t like it if you were. I…That was important to me.”

“But what were you saying before you did that? See, I can’t remember. It was something about Erika.” She rolled her eyes. “Oh, God, no. That would be awful. If we were talking about Erika and then
that
happened.”

“It wasn’t about Erika. I was saying that lying for you was justifiable.”

“For me? I thought we lied to protect Erika.”

“I lied to protect you. If you say Fluffy told you where the body was, Sheriff Gresswell will start investigating you.”

“You mean he would have thought I killed the body?”

He laughed, not a wholehearted laugh, but more a sigh at the ridiculousness of what she’d said.

“I mean that I killed the man.”

“I know what you meant. I don’t know if he would have jumped to that immediate conclusion, but he would have asked a helluva lot more questions.”

She looked at him, and they were so close, she couldn’t see both eyes at once, so she switched from one blue orb to the other. Unlike earlier, his gaze was perfectly readable.

“I know the police won’t believe me. You already told me that. But suspect me of…something? What?”

He didn’t say anything.

“What do
you
suspect me of, Tanner?”

He sighed. “I really don’t know.”

“Yes, you do. You came over here to ask me something.”

“Lili.”

“You didn’t come over here to make me come standing up.”

He closed his eyes as if her bluntness was painful.

“I liked it, but you wanted to say something, and I stopped you, and now I think you’d better say whatever it was.”

Even if she didn’t want to hear it.

“Spit it out, Tanner,” she whispered.

He sighed, then said it. “You’re hiding something, and I want to know what it is. You got distant and thoughtful, and I know you well enough to say something was going on in that head of yours that you didn’t tell me about.”

She wriggled out of his arms, and her first thought was to deny it. But she couldn’t. It was only a small thing, about Lady Dreadlock. But would Tanner think that was so small?

He reached out suddenly, putting his hands to the sides of her face, trapping her there. “Your face is like a pad of paper, and everything you think gets written on it. I just don’t always know how to read it. So tell me.”

She needed a minute to think about what to tell him. “Do you want a cup of tea?”

“No, thanks.”

“Well, I need a cup of tea.” She wanted the brighter lighting of the kitchen. If she was lucky, he wouldn’t follow until she got herself under control.

Of course, Tanner followed her. Lili pulled out the plastic container where she stored her tea bags. Empty. She’d used the last one and hadn’t refilled it.

She opened the cabinet over the counter, but even on her tiptoes, she couldn’t quite reach the cellophane-wrapped box on the top shelf. Wanetta’s cabinets were set a lot higher on the kitchen walls than the ones in Lili’s ex-apartment.

Then Tanner was there, stretching up beside her to get the box, his body playing the length of hers. The contact sent a shiver racing through her. He was hard against her hip. He obviously still wanted her, and she oh, so certainly wanted him. At least her body did. It was her mind and heart she wasn’t so sure about.