More Than Friends (4 page)

His mobile
jingled, snapping him out of his decadent mental list, and he snatched the
phone from the breakfast bar.

“Hey.” What
was up with that? He never answered his phone with a casual ‘hey’
and
without
even looking at the caller ID.

“Justin, have
you heard from Lily? I’m worried about her. She isn’t answering her phone, and
she didn’t come home last night.” Mel’s voice bordered on frantic and Justin
easily made out the sound of her heels pacing over laminated flooring.

“Hi, Mel.”
The coffee machine made a series of popping sounds, not unlike bubbles bursting,
and Justin’s gaze roamed to the shiny contraption.  He smoothed down the
ruffled strands of his damp hair. “Lily is with me.”

*
* * *

“Morning,
sleepy head.” The low rumble next to her ear dragged Lily, who was on the edge
of consciousness, fully awake.

She turned
her head on the plump pillow to find Justin lounging next to her while the
aroma of fresh-brewed coffee filled the room. Bright sunlight filtered through
the windows, highlighting the sun bleached gold in his light brown hair.

His mouth stretched
in an easy-going smile as he traced a finger along her shoulder—her
naked
shoulder.  “Time to get up.”

What had she done?

Her head
whirled, and she wasn’t sure whether it was the result of hitting the tequila
last night or from waking up to find a freshly showered Justin Knight lounging
atop the covers next to her. A quick glance along his body told her that while
his torso was bare he wore jeans. Hard-packed muscles gave him a beautiful
physique—the type of body she often saw gracing sporting magazines. Which
wasn’t surprising since Justin was the most active guy she knew. He owned a
successful sporting goods company and was always involved in one extreme sport
or other, supposedly testing equipment.

Her gaze
followed the line of dark hair scattered across his chest then traced it as it
narrowed to form a tantalizing path between four sets of muscle dunes to the waistband
of his jeans. The same path she’d outlined with her tongue short hours ago. When
she caught her gaze lingering a little too long south of the top of his jeans,
Lily yanked her attention back to his face.

As soon as
she connected with his amused smile, her breath stuttered.

“I would let
you sleep, but Mel’s been on the phone in her search to find you. Since you
didn’t come home, she’s worried about you. Said she popped out to pick up a
stranded girlfriend last night, and when she got back, you were gone.” Like sendal,
his voice slid over her in a smooth caress.  “I told her I’d seen you, and as
you were a little the worse for wear I let you stay and sleep it off.”

Horrified,
Lily leapt up, clutching the sheet against her nakedness. “You told her about
us?”

“No. She knew
you had been drinking and suspected you made your way here to tell me what you
thought of me to my face.”

“What did you
say?”

“That you
threatened to bop me on the nose and once I got you to calm down I encouraged
you to stay until you sobered up.”

“Oh, great!
Couldn’t you tell her you hadn’t seen me?”

“And add liar
to my list of faults? Besides, she was ready to phone the police and report you
missing. You haven’t answered your phone and according to her, she called you a
thousand times already.”

Lily glanced
around, trying to remember where she’d left her bag. Hopefully not in the cab. She
pushed her hair from her face. She could only imagine how horrendous she must
look with tangled hair and smudged makeup.  “Did I have my bag when I arrived?
I remember getting my purse out of it to pay the cabbie but, did I bring it in with
me?”

Justin
grasped her hands in his, stopping her panic-stricken quilt knotting. “Hey?
Don’t look so anxious.” He tipped his head toward the side of the bed next to
her. “You had it with you and I brought it in from the sitting room. It’s on
the floor beside you.” His steady gaze penetrated her unease and hauled to mind
every caress and touch from the night before. “Stay. After you let Mel know
you’re okay, I’d really like you to spend the day with me.”

Lily glanced
down to where Justin had placed her blush-coloured tote within easy reach. It
would be so simple to comply with his suggestion. So simple... if things were
different. Although she wanted to, she couldn’t regret their lovemaking and a
part of her desperately wanted to stay. Nevertheless, she did recognize last
night for the error it was. To agree to spend any longer with Justin would only
compound her disloyalty.

She withdrew
her hands from his. “I really need to leave.” Why did it hurt so much to say
those words? And more so when she saw his look of disappointment. She glanced
toward the half open bedroom door. “Do you mind... while I... um.” She gestured
to her crumpled clothes on the chair where he must’ve lay them.

He nodded,
rose to his feet. “Don’t forget to drink your coffee.” He left the room,
closing the door with a firm click behind him. Lily got the feeling he barely
refrained from slamming it. She didn’t blame him; she wanted to slam a few
things herself.

Dressed and
ready to leave, but not ready to face Justin again, Lily took a deep breath and
ventured out of Justin’s masculine bedroom. Her heels sank into thick carpet as
she edged toward the exit. Hopefully, he would make this easy and stay out of
sight until she left.

“I never took
you for the sneaking out type, Elizabeth.”

Lily spun
around, nearly losing her footing, to find Justin leaning against the doorway
of a room down the hall. He wore a white Oxford shirt, half-buttoned, the
sleeves rolled up to reveal toned and tanned forearms folded across his chest.
His hair laid in furrows where he’d clearly ran his hands through it a number
of times, and the gold framed glasses bridging his nose made him appear far
more serious than she ever imagined he could look.

The use of
her given name took her back to childhood. She was only ever Elizabeth when she
was in trouble, and, from the annoyed expression on Justin’s handsome face, she
could pretty much discern that she was in big trouble now.

“What...” he
continued, sauntering toward her. “No kiss goodbye? Not even a ‘thanks for last
night, see you around’? You were just going to sneak off and pretend we hadn’t
shared the most incredible night together?”

Her heartbeat
escalated. Not because she found Justin a threat but because each step he took
that brought him closer to her, filled her with excitement. A longing for that
kiss he mentioned had Lily holding her breath in anticipation.

He paused
inches from her. “If I didn’t know better...” He circled her to stop right in
the path of her exit. “I’d think you regretted what happened between us.”

Up close, he
was even more brooding and so darn sexy. “Part of me does.”

“I asked you
if you were sure and you said yes.”

“That was
last night when it was dark, and I didn’t have to face what I’d done. This
morning I have to.”

Justin cupped
her shoulders with gentle hands. “Would you like to tell me what’s going on? You
can’t deny that last night was mind-blowing, yet you’re skulking off like we
did something dirty.”

“How can you
not see that what we did was wrong?”

“Everything
about last night felt right to me, so tell me which part was wrong, because I’m
having a hard as hell time figuring it out.” 

“It doesn’t
matter what we feel. All that matters is that I do the right thing now.”

“And walking
out on me is the right thing?”

“Yes.”

“I want to
date you and I know you feel something for me. I just can’t understand what’s
stopping you. Why are you trying to run away from me, Lily? Did I hurt you?”
His dark brows snapped together, a horrified expression shadowed his eyes. “Was
I too rough with you? Disappointed you? Is that why you can’t wait to get away
from me?”

The last
thing he could ever do in bed was disappoint her. What was she meant to say?
It’s
not you, it’s me. The sex was fantastic, but the girlfriend’s pact is
unbreakable
. A pact she had good reason to guard. He’d never understand.
Men didn’t have the same depth of loyalty to each other.

“Lily, answer
me.”

For some
reason, the longer she spent in Justin’s presence the less she wanted to leave so,
if it meant she could get away quicker, she’d tell him. “You’re my best
friend’s ex, Justin. My loyalty lies with her.”

“What’s that
supposed to mean?”

“It means
that as long as you and Mel have a history, you and I can never date.” Lily
removed his hands from her shoulders, instantly missing the warmth. “Well...” Oh,
great, she was going to babble again, but she couldn’t stop herself from doing
just that. “We can date other people, just not each other. Not in this lifetime
while you and M—”

“Lily!” He
grasped her upper arms and, for a second, she thought he intended to shake her.
He caressed her flesh with his thumbs.

She met his
gaze, hating the pain she put in their blue depths. “Yes?”

“Don’t.” He
rested his forehead on hers. “Don’t make light of this.”

“I’m trying
to let you down gently.”

He groaned. Lifting
his head, he released her. “This is light-years from the plans I had for us
today.” He stepped aside, offering her an unobstructed path to the exit.

“Thank you.”
She slid the straps of her tote onto her shoulder. She shouldn’t feel this
bereaved after only one night with Justin, yet Lily’s heart ached for what she
could’ve had, and what she so badly wanted to take, but was deprived of by the
girlfriends’ bond of honour.

“Does she
feel that same level of allegiance to you?” She only took a couple of steps
when Justin’s voice arrested her.

Lily kept her
gaze on the apartment door. If she turned to face Justin, she wasn’t sure she’d
ever find the fortitude to leave. “Of course she does. She and I are best
friends. What you and I did was wrong, and I don’t know how I’m going to face
her.” Without a backward glance, she resumed her stride to the exit. Bile rose
into her throat. She knew how betrayed Mel would feel if she ever found out
Lily had slept with Justin.

“Are you sure
about that?

“Yes.” She
was almost at his apartment door and couldn’t wait to be on the other side.

“Just answer
one question before you walk out that door. Do you regret last night?”

Lily opened Justin’s
apartment door and stepped into the plush hallway. She glanced over her
shoulder at him. He looked as torn apart as she felt inside. Tears seared her
eyes, cocooning his image in a sad bubble she’d never forget.

“No,” she
whispered, unable to hide the misery that squeezed her heart as she closed the
door behind her.

*
* * *

“Are you
okay?” Mel met her at the door, hugging her the minute she entered their
apartment. “I’ve been worried out of my mind.”

Lily nodded. “I’m
fine.” Would she ever be again? She doubted it.

“What were
you thinking going over to Justin’s like that?”

“I guess I
wasn’t thinking.” She pushed out of Mel’s embrace, dropped her bag and flopped
onto the first chair she came to in the sitting room.

Mel followed,
perched on the edge of the sofa cushion opposite. “So what happened? I know you
got pretty worked up, but I didn’t think you’d go to his place. He said you
threatened to hit him—did you?”

Lily was so
ashamed of herself she didn’t know where to look. Not at Mel, that was for
sure. She was convinced that if she had the words Best Friend Betrayer stamped
across her forehead, her actions couldn’t have been more obvious. One glance
would be enough to tell Mel everything.

“I don’t really
remember. I think I might have said something about bopping him on the nose for
dumping you the way he did.”

“Oh, honey.”
Mel chuckled. “You seriously shouldn’t drink Tequila. Justin didn’t dump me; we
agreed that we weren’t right for each other. He’s sweet, but not for me.”

Trouble was,
now Mel had figured that out it was too late for Lily to do anything about her
feelings for Justin. He’d once been Mel’s boyfriend, and she wasn’t going
there. Okay, so she already had, but she wouldn’t let it happen a second time.

She hoped she
never saw him again. Lily didn’t think she could handle watching him make a
life with someone else.

Five years
ago, she had three close friends. The four of them were like sisters—closer
than sisters. Then Abby started dating Katelyn’s ex-boyfriend, Ben, and
although Kate had given Abby her blessing, jealousy soon ensued. The two
friends came to blows one night in a club after a few too many drinks. Kate had
thought it wouldn’t matter that her best friend was dating her ex but, when it
came to reality, she hadn’t bargained on the gut-wrenching resentment every
time the obviously in love couple showed up. In the end, the four became two
with Abby and Katelyn vowing never to set eyes on each other again. Abby took a
job in New York, and Katelyn married Ben and moved to Scotland. As a result,
Lily and Mel made the girlfriends’ pact. Any ex either of them had would get a
wide berth. Their friendship was too precious to risk losing it over a guy.

To an
outsider it might look easy enough for Lily to fess up to Mel and beg
forgiveness, but Lily had witnessed firsthand how something like that can enter
a friendship at the core and spoil it from the inside out.

“Did you love
Justin?” Why Lily needed to know, was beyond her. That sort of knowledge could
only add to her guilt.

Mel blew out
a breath and leaned back. “Yeah.” She smiled. “I love him. Who doesn’t? He’s terrific,
but I’m not
in
love with him. I never was.”