Snow Angel (The Hope Falls Chronicles) (22 page)

before turning and heading out to get more accolades for her photo presentation.

Lily shook her head, smiling.

“You ready to get out of here?” Eric asked as he stood up.

“Can you leave?” Lily asked. She figured they would need to stay until the crowd started dwindling. It

was Eric’s parents’ party, after all.

“I can do whatever I want.” His eyes held a promise, and his deep voice caused a flutter in her belly.

As she stood, her face flinched in pain from using her muscles again after she’d been sitting for so long.

Eric immediately put his hand around her back, bracing her while she got to her feet. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine, just really sore. I got a little carried away in rehearsal today.”

Walking slowly to go get their coats, Eric said casually, “You know what would make that feel better?”

Yes! You touching me, rubbing me, doing anything you wanted to me…

“What?” Lily asked, trying to disguise the direction her inner thoughts had decided to go with Eric’s

question.

“If you went in my hot tub.” Eric grabbed their coats from the coat table.

“You have a hot tub?” Lily asked in genuine surprise.

“Yep,” Eric confirmed.

“Great, let’s go,” Lily eagerly suggested.

A slow, devilish smile crossed Eric’s face. Oh yeah, he definitely had a little bad boy in him. And

bonus, he was a bad boy with a hot tub. Maybe she wouldn’t have to make the first move after all.

Chapter Nineteen

“Down, Shadow,” Eric commanded the dog that insisted on joining him and Lily as they made their way

to the enclosed spa.

Shadow listened—barely—as he continued to hop and jump along the stone path that led to the wood-

sided enclosure. Coming up to the door, Shadow whined, knowing that he wasn’t allowed inside. For one

thing, the water was too warm for him, and also, Eric did not feel like cleaning dog hair out of his filter.

“Stay, Shadow,” Eric said with authority, and his dog dutifully lay down at the entrance of the spa.

Eric pulled the door open and the smell of chorine wafted through the air. As Lily passed him to walk

in, he got a small glimpse of her swimsuit beneath her robe.

Damn.

He wasn’t sure he was going to survive this.

“Wow,” Lily said, looking around in amazement.

Eric had lined the edges of the structure with small white lights. Three-quarters of the walls were

wooden and then windows surrounded it up to the ceiling. The ceiling went up in a cone shape that had a

skylight in the middle. There were two benches in the far corner and a large twelve-person hot tub in the

center.

“This is incredible,” she said as she untied her robe.

“Feel free to use it anytime.” His voice lowered an octave as he tried to reign in his carnal reaction to

her.

“Thanks. I might just take you up on that,” she said flirtatiously as she pulled her hair up loosely on the top of her head and wrapped a ponytail holder around it several times.

He’d seen plenty of other women do that exact same thing, but when Lily did it, it made him crazy with

need. The style allowed him total access to the soft slope of her neck, the smooth line of her collarbone, the small dip right below her earlobe that Eric desperately wanted to sink his teeth into.

His mouth went dry as the terrycloth fabric slipped off of her rounded shoulders and down her arms.

She continued looking around as she squeezed her elbows to her sides, holding the robe in place while she

kicked off her slippers.

Looking up and becoming aware of his stare, she coyly said, “Ready to go in?” as she dropped her robe

to the ground.

Eric’s heart slammed against his chest. The glimpses and impressions he’d had of her body did not even

come close to doing it justice. And the bikini she was wearing should be illegal.

Her full, round breasts were encased in small black triangles. He could see the outline of her nipples

through the thin material. His hungry eyes traveled farther down her torso to her thin waist that dipped into a V in the center before flaring out over ample hips. Her long, toned legs were slim and sculpted.

She leaned over the hot tub, which was already warm since he’d come out and turned it on before he’d

changed. She ran her fingers in the water as she moved beside him, walking in front of the short two-step

staircase.

As she stepped in front of him, he watched as her firm, rounded backside that was barely covered by her small bathing suit bottom swayed from side to side as she made her way up the steps. He was already

rock hard, and the sight of her ass made his shaft throb with need.

Turning and looking back over her shoulder as she stepped into the hot tub, she asked, “Coming?”

“That’s a loaded question,” he mumbled the pun under his breath as he took off his robe. He knew that

his body’s reaction to her was going to be glaringly obvious in his shorts. There was nothing he could do

about that. He wanted her.

As he grabbed the railings and took the two steps one at a time, he looked down to see Lily seated on

the opposite side of the tub, her mouth open and her gaze frozen on his midsection.

Her face was flushed, and he knew that it could partly be from the steam in the spa, but he knew from

her expression that the water wasn’t the only thing making her hot.

Stepping into the hot, soothing Jacuzzi, Eric found himself once again at a loss. If this were any other

girl, he wouldn’t be hesitating. But after seeing her the other night, curled up on her couch, the terror in her eyes when she’d opened the door and fell to the ground, he didn’t want to do anything that could hurt her.

But all the stolen kisses and touching had been like an extended foreplay session. His body didn’t just

want her—it craved her. Seeing her in that bikini was just fanning the roaring flames of desire raging inside of him.

“That was a really nice slideshow Nikki put together,” she said as she skimmed her fingers across the

water’s surface.

“It was.” His voice sounded like a growl.

“Your parents are so cute together, and forty years is…wow… It’s really great.”

He noticed she was babbling, and he thought it was adorable.

“I had a lot of fun tonight,” she said, still sounding nervous.

“So did I.”

“And I really like you…” She was looking down, watching her fingers glide through the water.

Eric had heard of this happening. He’d just never experienced it before. The “it’s not you, it’s me” or “I

think we’re better as friends” talk. But he had a very strong suspicion that he was about to be on the

receiving end of a kiss-off.

“It’s just, I don’t think we can… Or that I can…” She balled her fists up in frustration, and her

shoulders bunched slightly around her neck. He could plainly see that she was having an internal battle with what she was trying to say, and she was becoming really tense because of it.

Since he’d never participated in any “let’s be friends” conversations, he didn’t know the etiquette. But

he figured if Lily was going to try and put him in the “friends” box, he wasn’t going to step into it willingly.

“Lily…” His gravelly voice echoed in the small space.

Her eyes jerked to his.

“Come here,” he instructed forcefully.

She sucked in a sharp breath at his words and then moved slowly across the spa, stopping in front of

him.

“Turn around.” He sat perfectly still, his arms resting on the edge, waiting for her to turn. When she did, he spread his legs. “Sit back.”

He could see her chest rising and falling in the water, her breathing labored as she hesitated just a

moment before scooting back between his legs. The feel of her smooth, soft thighs as they brushed up

against his caused his dick to twitch in is shorts.

She settled back farther, and as her plump, round bottom pressed against his shaft, he fisted his hands at

the sweet shock of bliss that spread through him. Ignoring his own body’s needs, he sat up a little straighter and moved his hands to Lily’s shoulders. The second he touched her bare, silken skin, his hands began

moving. His thumbs rubbed in slow circles on her shoulder blades as his fingers massaged up the side of

her neck and across her shoulders.

Letting out a throaty moan, she said, “Oh my God, that feels so good.”

He continued his sensual back rub as he asked, “So what were you saying?”

“Huh?” she sighed softly.

Her body relaxed against his as he moved his large hands under the water to her lower back, kneading

her flesh as he went. “You were saying that you just don’t think…”

“Oh yeah,” she breathed heavily. “I’m leaving to go on tour and then I don’t know what so I…” A

breathy moan escaped her as he rolled his knuckles up the sides of her spine. “I just don’t think I can have a real relationship. I don’t have time to date.”

“So, no dates,” he clarified as he spread his hands around her ribs, continuing to use his thumbs to

message below her shoulder blades. His fingers brushed the sides of her breasts as he moved them to her

back, continuing his ministrations.

She groaned and let her head fall back. He felt her hands rest on his knees under the water. Her fingers

dug into him tightly. Then, in the blink of an eye, she pushed off as she moved to the other side of the spa and turned to face him.

He wasn’t sure if she was upset or just wanted to slow things down, if she was going to stay or leave.

He didn’t know if he should apologize or not.

“Lily…” he began.

She held up her hand, halting his speech. “I want to say something and I couldn’t think with you

touching me. Which I know was the point.” A sly smile crept up on her face as a renewed spark twinkled in

her eye. “Nice move by the way. And thank you, not just because it felt amazing, but also now that I’m so

ridiculously turned on I can barely see straight, there’s no room left for me to be nervous.”

Eric felt his chest constrict. He had no idea what Lily was about to tell him, but he did know that in this moment, watching her assert herself, calling him out on his ‘move’, and openly admitting how turned on

she was, he’d fallen in love with her. Head-over-heels, tumbling-down-a-hill-like-Jack-and-Jill, crazy love.

He was a goner.

“So here’s the deal.” She sat up straighter and her tone became very serious.

Eric knew he should be paying close attention to what Lily was about to say. She never initiated

conversations, especially personal ones. But between the fact that he’d just realized he loved her and the

fact that her tits were bobbing in and out of the water like sexy dinghies, he would have to say that his focus was split.

Clearing her throat, she began. “Obviously I’d like to explore a physical relationship with you. And if

we decide to do that, I would expect that you wouldn’t be exploring anyone else at the same time, and of

course neither would I. But I’m not in the place to start a real relationship. I don’t want to date. I want to spend time with you, but I want to be clear up front what my terms are. This”—she moved her hand in the

water, motioning between them—“can only be physical. Nothing more.”

Eric sat stunned for a moment. Had the girl he’d just fallen in love with told him she wants to be friends

with benefits?

Yeah. That’s exactly what just happened.

Not knowing what to say, he simply sat, hoping the perfect words would come to him. He wanted more

than just a physical relationship, but was he really going to pass that up if that’s all she was offering?

Yes, he had said that he was done with one-night stands, but this wasn’t that. He had feelings for Lily,

and he thought she might have some for him too, even though she wasn’t ready to face it.

So the question was could he really just walk away from her, not even giving them any kind of a chance

because she wasn’t ready to give him everything he wanted right now and maybe never would be?

Hell no.

His heart may be on the line, and hers was far from a sure thing, but he was gonna roll the dice.

He saw as he looked in her eyes that a little bit of her confidence was slipping, probably because he’d

been sitting there mute for several minutes. He couldn’t have that; her take-charge attitude was sexy as hell.

“So to be clear, you are saying no relationship, no dating, just monogamous friends with benefits.”

“Yes.” She nodded her head firmly.

His face broke out into a slow, wicked smile. “Deal.”

Her lips turned up into a satisfied grin, and she stuck out her hand. “Deal.”

Yeah, no way in hell he was going to “shake” on it.

Leaning forward, he grabbed her hand and pulled her through the water and onto his lap. She let out a

little squeal as her eyes opened wide with delight.

Reaching into the water, he lifted her knees and spread them apart, placing one on each side of him so

she was straddling his body. Wasting no time making good on their newly formed deal, he framed her face

with his hands and tilted her head as he sealed his lips to hers in a hot, wet, open-mouthed kiss. Feeling her soft body sliding against his in the water as he stroked his tongue against hers was causing a build of erotic pressure so fast inside of him that he wasn’t sure he could maintain any ounce of control.

He needed to slow this frantic pace down if he had even a hope of hanging on to his tiny thread of

restraint.

Purposefully, methodically, he began taming their frenzied speed with lazy, languorous licks across her

mouth, gliding slowly from side to side he explored her with gentle, firm passes of his tongue. Her hands

gripped his shoulders and he felt her nails dig into his skin. As her chest brushed against him, he could feel her hardened nipples through the wet material that still covered her.