Lily's List (6 page)

Giving herself a mental shake, she grabbed
her purse and her sweater. “I need to stop at the bank and the
grocery store before I head home.” When she turned around, Carson
was watching her, the emotion in his eyes unreadable.

His body was an entirely different story. His
biceps were sharply defined and stretched the short sleeves of his
T-shirt, his shoulders were tensed and his jaw was rigid. And there
was certainly no mistaking the bulge in the front of his jeans.
Lily tried to look away but found she couldn’t. It alleviated some
of her fears and the tension gripping her to know that she affected
him as badly as he did her.

“I’ll go to the grocery store.” His voice was
low and gruff and gave her shivers. She drew her sweater more
securely around her body. “Is there anything special you’d like for
supper?”

She shook her head. It didn’t matter what
they had. She doubted she’d be able to eat more than a few bites
with her insides so jumpy. “Whatever you want is fine.”

His eyes darkened. “You shouldn’t say things
like that if you don’t mean them, Lily.”

He came toward her, his face intent. She
replayed her words and caught their double meaning. Had she meant
them that way or had it been a slip of the tongue?

Before she could figure it out, he kissed
her. It wasn’t a gentle kiss either, but one of total possession.
His tongue plunged past her parted lips. Caressing. Tasting.
Teasing. She groaned and kissed him back, unable to resist his
honest passion. He tasted so male, so elemental, and she wanted
more.

Heat suffused her, starting at her lips and
working downward. She swayed toward him, leaning her chest against
his. The friction against her swollen nipples felt good, yet left
her aching for more. She shifted her stance, trying to relieve the
unrelenting throbbing between her thighs by pressing against his
erection. Her panties were damp and getting wetter.

When he tore his lips from hers, she was
breathless. His hair was free, brushing his shoulders. She realized
she had the thin strip of leather he used to tie back his hair in
her hand. Sometime during their kiss, she must have removed it. She
had no memory of it. All she remembered was heat and passion. Her
fingers flew to her lips and she swallowed hard.

Carson raked his fingers through his hair and
took a step away from her. “Supper. First we’ll eat. Then we’ll
talk.” Plucking the leather strip from her nerveless fingers, he
turned and stalked from the office.

She hitched her purse higher on her shoulder
and followed, trying to ignore the sexually charged state of her
body.

“Do you want me to wait for you?”

It took a second for her mind to process what
he’d asked. “No, I need to do one more thing before I head to the
bank.”

He nodded and waited as she unlocked the
door. When it was once again closed, she leaned against the cool
glass and watched him go. “Get a grip, Lily,” she admonished
herself.

In the few minutes she’d spent in his
company, all her sensible reasons for not seeing him anymore were
washed away like sand in the tide. Deep inside, she knew she wanted
more of Carson, wanted to experience what she felt when they were
together.

And not just for research purposes.

It was scary and potentially dangerous to her
peace of mind, but she wanted Carson. She’d been sensible her
entire life. She’d built a reputable business and raised her son to
adulthood. Now it was her turn to do something just for
herself.

Common sense warned that she could end up
with a broken heart when it was over and he moved on. But better
that than living with the regrets of “what if” for the rest of her
life.

She’d go into this relationship with her eyes
wide open. It was temporary. An affair. A fling. She’d guard her
emotions and her heart, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t enjoy
herself and explore some of her sexual fantasies. It had been years
since she’d had a lover. Raising a child and running a business had
left her little time and fewer opportunities.

In fact, she’d only made love to two men in
her life—her ex-husband and a man she’d had a short relationship
with over ten years ago. He’d only lived in town for a year and had
seemed harmless enough, plus he’d easily accepted the fact that her
son had come first in her life. She hadn’t realized just why he’d
agreed to her terms of discretion so easily until she’d found out
he’d lied to her and was actually still a married man. He’d
traveled a lot for his job, but he had a wife and child in another
town.

Lily had been angry and hurt and had shut
herself away from dating and men. But the time had come to reach
out and give it a try. She knew all there was to know about
Carson—there were no wives or girlfriends. Plus, she genuinely
liked and respected him.

Coming to her decision, she headed to the
door, but at the last second detoured to one of the coolers.
Sliding the door open, she reached in and plucked out a single red
rose.
It will look good on the table
,
she assured
herself as she slid the door shut and headed out the front door.
But if Carson decided he wanted to explore her research list a bit
further, she wanted to be ready.

Locking the store, she hurried to her
car.

• • •

Carson climbed out of his truck and reached
in to grab the bags sitting on the passenger seat. He’d finally
managed to wrestle his unruly body back under control. It had only
taken the entire drive to the grocery store with the
air-conditioning on full-blast and the vent aimed straight at his
crotch.

Damn, but Lily made him lose control. When
she’d looked at him, uncertainty and passion warring in her deep
blue eyes, he’d had no choice but to touch her. He’d meant to
reassure her, to be laid-back and nonthreatening. Instead, he’d
ravaged her mouth. And what a sweet mouth it was. He’d had
fantasies about that mouth, as well as other parts of her body.

He felt his cock stirring. “Down, boy,” he
muttered as he walked around the house to the back door. Not that
it did any good. By the time he knocked on her door, he was
semi-aroused once again.

Lily pulled the door open, a tentative smile
on her face. Unable to resist, he bent and dropped a quick kiss on
her lips as he moved past her and deposited the bags on the kitchen
counter. She not only tasted good, she smelled good, like flowers.
Maybe roses. He couldn’t quite decide.

That reminded him of what he’d bought for
her, and he reached into one of the bags and withdrew a makeshift
bouquet with a flourish. The paper crinkled as he held out the half
dozen red roses to her. “For you.” He’d bought them at the grocery
store. The selection had been sparse, but he’d managed to find six
individually wrapped roses that were perfect. They weren’t near as
nice as the ones at Lily’s flower shop, but damned if he wanted to
give her flowers from her own shop. Somehow it didn’t seem right to
do that.

Her eyes widened and her mouth dropped open.
Slowly, her lips curved into a smile. “Thank you.” She took the
flowers and his body tightened when their fingers brushed.

“You’re welcome.”

They stood there for a long time just staring
at each other, until Lily finally broke the spell. “I need to put
these in water.”

He turned back to the counter, where the bags
of groceries waited. “I wasn’t sure what you had here so I pretty
much bought everything I thought we’d need.” He also hadn’t wanted
to spend a lot of time cooking. There would be time for that in the
future.

“I’m sure whatever you got is fine.” She
opened a cupboard door and reached up to take down a pretty blue
vase with purple swirls. The movement pulled her dress tight over
her breasts, outlining the small but firm mounds. Carson fought the
urge to reach out and cup them. To take his mind off her
tantalizing form, he unpacked their supper.

“Baked chicken, coleslaw, potato salad and
rolls.” He laid each item out on the counter.

“Sounds delicious.” Her sudden laughter drew
his gaze. She’d finally discovered that the roses were all
individually wrapped and held together with an elastic band he’d
found in the glove box of his truck.

Their eyes met and he smiled at the humor
lighting her face. He shrugged. “They didn’t have them in bouquets,
just singles.”

She pointed at the table, and it was only
then that he noticed it had been set with fancy china and real
cloth napkins. Sitting in splendor between the two place settings
was a single rose in a bud vase. “It seems we had the same
idea.”

“Yeah, but you stopped at one,” he
deadpanned. Lily laughed again and leaned down to smell the roses.
She closed her eyes and the expression of ecstasy on her face had
Carson shifting uncomfortably. She had the look of a woman in the
throes of sexual passion.

When she opened her eyes they were shining
brightly and she sniffed once. “Thank you. I haven’t had flowers
from a man for too many years to talk about.”

He was suddenly extra glad that he’d bought
them. “You deserve flowers.” His voice was deep and husky and he
cleared it as he continued. “I bought dessert as well.” Reaching
into the final bag, he pulled out fresh strawberries and whipped
cream. The cream was the kind in the spray can, but it suited his
purposes and it was on her list.

Lily stared at the can and licked her lips.
Carson had to look away. It was either that or tackle her to the
kitchen floor and make love to her there. He carried the
strawberries and cream to the refrigerator and took much longer
than necessary to store them. The cool air helped dispel some of
his arousal, but not much. He was still incredibly turned on.

He heard Lily bustling around behind him—the
swish of fabric, the sound of her shoes on the floor. Who would
have thought that the sound of shoes would be erotic? But it
was.

All Carson could think about was slipping
those shoes off her feet and peeling off her pantyhose or
stockings, or whatever it was she was wearing beneath her dress.
That sent his brain off on another tangent altogether. What was
Lily wearing under her dress?

“Carson?” He had no idea how long he’d been
standing in front of the open refrigerator, but obviously it had
been way too long.

He shut the door and headed to the table,
where Lily had laid out their supper. “Sorry about that. I got lost
in thought.”

“No harm done.”

He held her chair and then took his own seat,
grateful that the table helped hide his arousal. No sense in making
her more nervous than she already was. Both he and Lily served
themselves and began to eat. It had been a busy day and he was
hungry. By the time he’d eaten about half of what was on his plate,
Carson finally started to relax and was able to focus on the woman
sitting across from him. She seemed . . . not tense, but
uncomfortable. The quiet between them was unsettling rather than
soothing.

Lily had opened a bottle of white wine but
hadn’t poured any. He picked up the bottle. “Would you like some?”
When she nodded, he poured some into her glass before half filling
his own. Setting the bottle aside, he picked up his glass. “Thank
you for sharing this meal with me.”

She laid her fork aside and wiped her mouth
with her napkin before picking up her glass. “It’s my pleasure.”
Their glasses clinked and they both drank.

Just like that, the tension in the room eased
and he asked Lily about her day. Before long they were chatting
about work, the community and friends they had in common. Lily was
intelligent and insightful. That was part of the reason he’d always
been drawn to her. She was animated as she talked, waving her fork
in the air to make a point, laughing over an anecdote he told about
one of the jobs he’d done this week, and smiling as she listened to
him talk.

Lily was a great listener. Since the first
day he’d met her, he found himself telling her things he normally
wouldn’t share with other people. There was a solid core of honesty
in her, as well as a calmness that soothed him.

Even aroused as he was, there was something
about Lily that made him feel as if everything was right in the
world. She completed him in ways he hadn’t even thought about until
he’d met her. At first, he’d tried to stay away. Deep inside, he’d
known she could be extremely important to him, could tie his
insides up in knots. But he hadn’t been able to stay away for very
long. Time and again, he was drawn to her. She, however, hadn’t
been anywhere near ready for a relationship.

He’d bided his time, taking any opportunity
that arose to put him in Lily’s company. The years that he’d known
her had only solidified his belief that she was the woman for him.
Now all he had to do was convince her.

Stumbling onto her secret writing career and
the list had been a stroke of luck. It had given him a way to
approach Lily that she would understand and hopefully accept. Once
he had her, he was going to find a way to keep her.
Permanently.

They both finished eating and pushed their
plates away. “That was wonderful,” Lily sighed as she leaned back
in her chair. “I haven’t cooked much since Ethan left. I mostly
have a sandwich or something quick. This is quite a treat.”

“My pleasure.” If he had it his way, Lily
wouldn’t have to worry about eating alone again anytime soon.

Rising from the table, he took her plate and
his and carried them to the counter. On his way back, he detoured
by the refrigerator and removed only the can of whipped cream. He
set the can on the table between them, right next to the vase of
roses.

“Now we talk.”

Chapter Five

All during the meal, Lily’s thoughts had been
drawn to the whipped cream waiting in the refrigerator and the
roses sitting on the table. Her body had all but melted when he’d
produced both items from his grocery bags. Her panties were damp
and her body so sensitized that every single thing felt like
sensory overload. A simple meal of chicken and potato salad had
never tasted so good. The fragrant perfume from the roses had never
smelled so rich and exotic. Her hearing and vision seemed sharper.
She was very aware of the man seated across from her.