Chapter 12

Walking back to the resort, Alec kept his arm around Lilly, not only to keep her warm but to keep her from getting lost again. “I couldn’t believe it when you took off like that along the beach,” he said. “Didn’t you hear me calling for you to stop?”

“No complaints, since it was your fault I was rattled in the first place.”

He kissed the top of her head, damp from the fog and her tangle with the waves. “Someday you need a pet to go with those kids you’ll be a great mother of.”

When she sent him a speaking glance, he lifted his hand, a gesture of peace. “Shutting up now.”

“One. Baby. Step,” she reminded him.

It was impossible to dodge the worry that it was the only one she’d ever allow him—the one step of staying for the party. That afterward, she’d disappear from his life just as she’d faded from his view on foggy Dragonfly Beach. Perhaps if he shared with her the depths of his alarm when he’d lost her that afternoon she’d take pity on him and promise more…

But no. He was only after an “exploration” as Jojo had aptly put it and so he could be patient with his demands of Lilly. That didn’t mean he wasn’t going to cement what she’d agreed to, though. “We’ll detour through the lobby to get your bags and cancel the car,” he said.

“I’m a mess.” Her hand went self-consciously to her hair, and he grabbed it to kiss her knuckles.

“How are you going to un-mess without your things?” he said. “Though I think you look like a beautiful mermaid I just dragged out of the sea.”

When she was dealing with the car rental, he tipped a bellman to take her suitcases up to his suite. Kane strolled up just as he was communicating his room number.

His second cousin looked at him with a glint of humor in his gaze. “Well, well, well.”

“Don’t start,” Alec said, watching the young man trundle Lilly’s items toward the elevator with distinct satisfaction.

“How does it feel losing your mind?” Kane asked. “Is it a slow slide into insanity or does it happen in a single moment, like a brick coming down on your head?”

“One day you’re going to explain this fear you have of women,” Alec said.

“It’s a fear of having to stick with a single one,” Kane retorted, grinning.

“You know, that makes you sound like an asshole.” Alec frowned at the other man. “Seriously.”

Instead of answering, Kane’s gaze had caught on a male figure striding through the lobby, his long legs making quick work of the spacious expanse of tile. “We have a new guest, I understand.”

“That’s Con Montgomery. Brother of Audra.” With a little niggle of concern, he remembered the big man staring at his little sister. And Jojo had been uncharacteristically cowed at the sight of him. Hmm.

“Audra, the jilted bride?”

“Yep.” Alec thought of her pale complexion and drawn features and frowned. “We may need an intervention.”

Kane’s eyes narrowed. “Really?”

“I’ll let you know.” Then Lilly arrived at his side, distracting him. She gave his second cousin a shy smile, but before any words could be exchanged, Jojo came flying across the lobby.

She took hold of Lilly’s arm. “Are you absolutely livid with me?” she asked. “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry—”

“Jo,” Alec said, interrupting the waterfall of words. “She’s promised to blame me entirely.”

“As if you would be half so clever—” she started, then laughed. “Whoops. Yes, Alec, you were a very naughty boy.”

“I want to see Buster,” Lilly said suddenly. She looked up at Alec. “I know, I know, but I want to see the dog for myself.”

“I’m not even going to ask what all this is about,” Kane said, then slid his phone from his pocket. “I already handled a hospitality emergency involving motor oil and whipped cream today and my system can’t take another shock.” With that, he whistled himself in the direction of the pool.

Bemused, Alec looked down at Lilly, who appeared mostly dry now but definitely disheveled. “Buster before or after you shed the mermaid and become a human girl again?”

“Buster now,” Lilly said firmly, so he didn’t hesitate to lead her toward his parents’ sumptuous villa in an especially secluded section of the grounds.

Jojo trailed behind. “I’ll call ahead to let them know we’re on our way. Wouldn’t want to interrupt a…canasta game.”

“They don’t play canasta,” Alec said automatically, then slid a narrow-eyed look at his sister. “You’re cruel, putting that in my head.”

“Card games?” she asked, innocently.

Lilly laughed and was still laughing when his mom opened the door, her smile bright enough to burn away the gloom of the fog-shrouded dusk. At a glance, she took in Lilly’s presence and her rumpled state, but she didn’t react besides ushering them in with enthusiasm.

“Do you kids want to join us for pizza here tonight?” she asked.

Jojo allowed it was a very real possibility, but Lilly had abandoned all pretense of interest in the humans and was on her knees by Buster, who seemed to have just woken up from a nap. The puppy snuggled into her arms and she nuzzled its soft fur, exclaiming in honeyed tones about his intelligence, handsomeness, and all-around superiority.

Alec’s mom and Jojo gravitated toward the nearby bar where an ice bucket and a bottle were waiting, leaving him alone near the woman who had entered his life and then handily upended it.

Shaking his head, he watched her fawn over the pet.

“Did you throw that sweet thing overboard?” his dad asked, strolling up, an eye on Lilly.

“Nothing like that,” Alec said. Since she hadn’t instantly squealed to his mother about the lost Buster story, he was holding out hope it wouldn’t get outside the Lilly-Alec-Jojo circle. No need to add to the family lore—or ignite his mother’s temper.

Lilly continued to croon to Buster, and dropped another kiss on his nose. Alec couldn’t help but smile.

“I’ve seen that look on your face before, son,” Vic Thatcher said.

“Yeah?” Alec replied absently. He hoped Lilly would also forgive his highhandedness of having her suitcases brought to his room.

He wanted to spend time with her. He needed to spend time with her.

Just an exploration.

“You were eight,” Vic said. “Do you remember the piano teacher?”

“For God’s sake.” Alec rounded on his dad and stared him down. “Will these stories never die?”

Vic chuckled. “Hell, son, I hope not.”

Forgetting is not an option. It’s what we have left, it’s what’s holding us back, it’s what’s keeping us together.

Shit. His smart sister.

“Jojo thinks I’ve spent the last five years trying not to feel anything,” he said, studying his dad’s face for his reaction.

Vic seemed to consider the idea. “I wouldn’t blame you for it. But it would be a damn shame if that turned out to be a permanent thing.”

“Yeah, I guess so.”

“I’d offer a suggestion—”

“Mom already has tried foisting her grief counselor on me.”

“—except I don’t think you need to worry on that ‘not feeling’ score any longer.” His father nodded at Lilly, now rolling around on the rug with an equally besotted Buster, the two of them as happy as pigs in mud.

“We’re just getting to know each other,” he said. Baby steps. “An exploration.”

“I think you’ve found your destination, son,” Vic said with a smile. “Go ahead and drop your French fry.”

Groaning, Alec shook his head at his dad, knowing this piece of Thatcher history as well as the back of his hand. He glanced down at Lilly. “I’m not—”

Heading for happily-ever-after he’d been about to say. But what a crock of shit. If he was going to start feeling again after five years, he sure as hell wasn’t going to start lying to himself about what those feelings happened to be.

He was in love with Lilly Durand.

In love. With Lilly Durand.

And something dark and ugly inside him uncurled. It broke free of dirty tethers of coarse rope which disintegrated as the foreign mass liberated itself, then began to burn, a scalding cleanse of heat, until only fine ashes were left that disappeared on his next exhale.

God. God.

They’d scattered Simon’s ashes into the ocean five years before, but until now, Alec had never felt free.

Free to love.

“Lilly.” Her name came out as a croak and she looked up.

He held out his hand. “We need to go.”

She obeyed him as if in a dream, or maybe it was he who was in a somnolent state, because he couldn’t recall saying goodbye to his parents and Jojo, only that he was out in the fog again, Lilly’s hand warm in his. Once in his room, she stared at her baggage, neatly arranged on one side of the foyer.

“You…” She seemed incapable of putting her thoughts into words.

“There’s isn’t much I wouldn’t do for you,” he said, as honest as he could without scaring her off with the unvarnished truth. “We can return it all to your bungalow tomorrow,” he said, brushing her hair off her forehead and then letting his hand trail down to curl around neck, his thumb resting on her throat. “But you belong to me.”

Her eyes widened.

“Tonight,” he added, to ease the unsteady flutter of her pulse.

Thank God she didn’t object, because his newfound possessiveness was just beginning to assert itself and he didn’t have control of it yet.

He wondered if he ever would.

But for tonight he didn’t try to rein it in. And with it at full roar, he led her into the bathroom where he turned on the shower jets, letting the water turn hot and the room steamy as he stripped away her clothes and then threw off his. She gazed on him, and one hand reached out to trail him from collarbone to navel. His heart slammed against his ribs, his flushed cock twitching as it stretched toward her touch.

Before she got any unwise ideas, he hauled her into the shower with him, and let the water fall over their entwined bodies. When he thought he could let her go for a moment, he reached for the shampoo bottle and poured some into his palms, then washed her hair, his fingers gently tracing the contours of her skull.

He wanted to know everything about her, the delicate rims of her ears and the shallow groove at the back of her head, just at her hairline. When he tipped her face back to wash the suds away, he couldn’t help but press his mouth to the tender skin under her chin and she shivered, blinking owlishly at him when he wrung the extra moisture from her hair by fisting light handfuls and squeezing out the excess.

Released from his hold, the ribbons of hair sprung into delightful waves and curls, and when she made some comment about her need to tame the stuff, he shut her up with a kiss to her mouth, water running between their lips and over the tips of her breasts.

Soap came next, and he washed her with meticulous care, despite her blushes and her weak attempts at pushing his investigating hands away. “We have to get you all cleaned,” he said against the outside of her thigh as he kneeled at her feet, and then he used his tongue and she was quiet except for whimpering moans. Her fingers curled in his hair and he smiled against the yielding softness of her intimate flesh and gave her a long, sucking kiss that made her knees buckle until he had to prop her peachy bottom in his hands.

Afterward, he leaned her against the tiled wall and made quick work of his own washing up. With a towel wrapped around his hips, he took his time drying her body, rubbing cloth over each limb and along every crevice until she was pink everywhere and panting and trying to clutch at him to bring him even closer. Laughing, he swatted her lightly on that delectable bottom, and when she swayed into him, swatted again, laughing harder at her pouting lower lip.

That required kissing, so there was a long interlude of lips and naked limbs pressed tightly together until he swung her up in his arms and took her to bed.

The sheets were cool against their fevered flesh and he started off by kissing her again, his mouth exploring the tickly feathers of her lashes and the downy softness of her brows. He kissed between them and her eyes opened, the midnight mystery of them causing his breath to stutter in his lungs.

Of all the women who might have been the one to reach him, it was her, Lilly, with her hidden secrets and her buried hurts.

She called to the masculine core of him, and he knew he was made to hear her broken whispers and to treat her unhealed wounds. Though she might not require his strength, he would always offer it, a freely tendered currency that he hoped she would someday accept.

As her due.

Now, though, he offered tenderness and pleasure and silent messages. See what we are. See what we can have together. See what has been missing all our lives.

But then it was even too much for Alec. He realized he couldn’t look into her face without giving in to the urge to confess all he felt, so he turned her to her side, spooning her and burying his face in her damp hair to absorb his mouthed promises.

His thigh pushed between hers, holding her open for him. His hand slid into the space he’d made, and he touched with care, his thumb separating the full layers, finding the swollen center. She jerked back, and his cock pressed into another furrow, causing them both to gasp with new sensation. Murmuring reassurances, he spread her seeping moisture all around her intimate flesh, exquisitely painting every surface. When she was panting, her body squirming in such a way that had his cock leaking too, he breached her tender opening, two fingers sliding in a meager inch.

She tensed and he lightly bit the side of her neck. Her body bucked, his fingers slipped inside to the second knuckles, and he massaged her deep inside, patiently preparing her for his cock. It ached like a bitch, wanting what it wanted, but he ignored the low throb and continued to stroke and caress the heated channel.

But then Lilly made a noise low in his throat and grasped his wrist. “More,” she said.

With a laugh, he bit her again, kissed the spot, then reached for a condom. In moments he was entering her in slow increments, and he could tell she was fighting the pleasure even as she reached for it. He buried his face in her hair again as he began to drive in strong, urgent lunges, taking, giving, taking, giving.

Lilly began to tremble and he reached around to soothe her breast, tweak her nipple. Her body stiffened and then her inner muscles pulsed. He let them clasp him, stilling, then his cock nudged deeper, and she cried out, even as his heart echoed the same.

“Mine,” he whispered, as he was catapulted into a shuddering climax. All mine.

 

Lilly ignored the nerves fluttering in her belly and sat on the couch in the bungalow to buckle her new shoes. Audra placed a mug of tea before her on the nearby table.

She sent her best friend a grateful look. “How did you know I could use that?”

“Remember? We always drank tea before a first date. Very calming.”

Lilly’s eyes widened. This was a first date? “It’s just a party. Here at the resort.”

“You have a new outfit. A man is picking you up and escorting you there. It’s a date.”

Maybe she would have told Alec she’d meet him if she’d thought of it that way. But he’d already been out-of-sorts because of her insistence that she and her bags return to the bungalow this morning. Not that he’d voiced a protest, but she’d read the tension in the set of his shoulders and the tick of the muscle in his jaw.

She’d placed her hand there. “You have to let me go when I ask you to.”

He’d given her a mutinous look, and she’d responded by caressing his cheek.

“Swear to me you’ll let me go whenever I ask or I won’t trust you.”

His body had gone hard for a moment, but then he’d relaxed. With a short nod, he’d taken her things under his arm and carried them himself. Once at her door, he’d kissed her cheek and promised he’d see her later, his voice inflexible.

She’d tried to jolly him with smile. “You make it sound like a threat.”

“We’ll get to that later,” he’d said, throwing her a look of such dark sensuality that she’d shivered, her body recalling every intimate act he’d performed on her the night before.

Seeing that, his expression had lightened and he’d sauntered off, the confident, arrogant beast.

“You’re smiling,” Audra pointed out. “I’ll take that as a positive sign that things are progressing between you and Alec.”

One baby step. “Nothing’s changed, not really.”

“I wish you wouldn’t say that. I’d like to see something positive come out of this week.”

Sympathy wrung Lilly’s heart. “What can I do? Do you want me to stay in tonight and we can talk?”

Audra shook her head and turned away. “We’ve talked plenty.”

“Coldplay,” Lilly said suddenly. “‘Fix You.’” It was a song for the emotional moment, a pledge from one person to be there for another. Always.

Her friend turned around, a wobbly smile curving her mouth. “I know you would if you could. I couldn’t bear it if you feel guilty about my continued state of gloom.”

It would eat at her, Lilly knew it would. “Is there something else that can make things better?”

“Apparently not the Heartbreak Hotel,” Audra said.

“Oh.” Lilly had kept the stories about it to herself. “You heard about that?”

“I did.” She heaved in a sigh. “And though I’ve had no luck so far, I’ve decided to give it a longer chance to work. I’m going to stay another week.”

“You are?” Lilly’s mind ran through her schedule. “Um…”

“Alone,” Audra said. “I know you have to get back to the office, but I’m free for a while longer.”

Lilly frowned. “I don’t like the idea of you being by yourself.”

“Con’s here for a couple of days after you check out.”

Glancing at the clock, Lilly stood to retrieve her purse. She needed to transfer the necessaries into her smaller evening clutch. “So…um…you think there might be something to the hotel’s legend?”

“Of course not.” Audra snorted. “I’m just not ready to go back to my condo. My nosy neighbor Alice will be all agog about why I’m taking the place off the market.”

Lilly made a face. “I—”

A knock on the door sounded, and she jumped, her gaze shifting there. “Alec’s here,” she said,

“And you’re ready,” Audra said, hurrying forward to hand Lilly the soft wrap she was borrowing. “Go out. For me. Go out and have the time of your life.”

Lilly tilted her head. “Green Day reference? Or the song from Dirty Dancing?”

“An order,” Audra said, pushing her forward.

Lilly’s palm was damp with sudden anxiety as she turned the knob. Alec stood there, in a snowy shirt and dark suit and tie, looking nothing like the naked man who had turned her this way and that the night before. Turned her inside out, until every vulnerable part of her had been exposed.

That man was gone, except his eyes, which were hot and feverishly bright as his gaze moved over her body in slow degrees. She fidgeted under his silent regard, wondering if the midnight-blue satin dress was too short or too clingy or just too…something. “I almost didn’t buy it,” she said, babbling nervously. “But Jojo insisted. I thought maybe it looked too much like a negligee, you know, like something you’d wear not to a party but to bed…”

“My sister is a genius,” Alec said then, reaching for her wrist in order to haul her across the threshold. He fitted her under his arm. “We’ll go tell her so.”

The designated ballroom for the anniversary dinner-dance was decorated in white linen, white flowers, and beautiful crystal candelabras that burned tall, white candles. The space teemed with guests when they arrived and Alec steered her toward the family table, though people stood about, not yet taking chairs. A server passed them champagne, and Lilly greeted Miranda and Vic, offering them congratulations once again.

Jojo held her at arm’s length. “Did I say killer dress, or what?”

“I thought it would give me a heart attack,” Alec said, his hand at the small of Lilly’s back.

The bare small of Lilly’s back, because the dress draped low at her hips from the rear. The bodice draped too, and the dress was kept up by shoulder straps skinnier that shoe strings. Her sandals were peep-toed black pumps, the heel height modest compared to some of the pairs in the room, but she felt teetery enough with Alec never going long without touching her arm, her hand, brushing her hair behind her ear.

If only she didn’t enjoy it so much, she’d complain to him about the blatant PDA. But affection had been yet another thing missing from her life, like stability, like safety. Murmuring something about greeting an acquaintance, he pressed a kiss to her throat, and she flushed as he left, noting Miranda Thatcher’s avid gaze had taken in the show.

But her embarrassment receded as Jojo clutched her arm. “Why is he here?”

Following the direction of the other woman’s stare, she saw Con Montgomery, standing with another couple of men. “I have no idea,” she said. “That’s Audra’s brother.”

“I know,” Jojo muttered. “We met yesterday.”

“Oh.” Baffled by the other woman’s odd reaction, she frowned. “Did he say something to you?”

“He didn’t need to,” Alec’s sister muttered again. Then the man in question looked over, his sights seeming to focus on Jojo. As he began making his way toward the head table, she disappeared.

Interesting. But before Lilly could puzzle it out, Alec was back and he held up a skewered shrimp to her mouth. “You’ll like this,” he said. “It’s marinated in lime and hot off the grill.”

It was nothing, she told herself, a small courtesy only, but opening her mouth so he could feed her felt almost unbearably intimate. She recalled him giving her chocolate on the first night in his bed, the taste of it inextricably linked to her memory of him also serving up pleasure. She wondered if this was a practiced move of his, something he was well aware would make a woman think of other intimacies.

Yes. Practiced.

A smile curved the corners of his mouth as she chewed. “What’s that furious-kitten glare for, sugar?”

Swallowing, she crossed her arms over her chest. “You—”

He blotted the corner of her mouth with a cocktail napkin, and then lifted his brows, all innocence. “Me?”

Lilly glanced over to see Miranda watching them and she dropped her arms, changing the subject to something less volatile. “Do you know what Audra’s brother is doing here?”

“One of the other guest ran into him in the sauna—knows him from college, a country club? I don’t know. He asked my dad if Con could tag along and of course he said yes.”

“Con wouldn’t join a country club to save his life,” Lilly said. “Much too conventional.”

Miranda signaled it was time for them to take their seats, and as the front table did as ordered, the others followed suit. Servers swarmed the tables with delectable fare and delicious wines, but Lilly couldn’t seem to separate the courses in her mind or really even absorb the flavors of the different foods. With Alec beside her, his every gesture, word, look became the meal she would remember.

Under the candlelight and amidst the happy laughter, Lilly felt herself creeping closer to the edge of a high, lethally dangerous cliff.

“Here,” Alec said at the end of the meal, passing her the cream for the coffee a server had just poured into her cup.

Surprised, she accepted it, but gave him a look. “You know how I take my coffee?”

“Easy stuff,” he scoffed, smiling. “Ask me if I know the size of your underwear.”

She gave him a stern look. “Behave. I can still tell your mother about the Buster scare.”

“But I don’t want to behave,” he said, his smile turning roguish. “Not with you.” His head bent and he pressed a kiss to her bare shoulder. “Lilly,” he whispered, looking up into her eyes.

“What?” Without thinking, her hand went to his hair and she toyed with the silken layers. “What is it?”

He held still while she petted him, as if afraid she’d stop. “I—”

A musical fanfare interrupted him. A band was set up on the terrace outside and a man had come into the room from there, a wireless mic in hand. Vic Thatcher’s brother, prepared to deliver the first toast.

Many came after, a chain of approbation that left the anniversary couple smiling. Miranda blotted a tear here and there.

Then it was dance time, the band flowing from rock standards to bluesy jazz, and guests wandered out to the terrace to dance. More fog had crept in tonight, but the outdoor heaters and flickering candles kept it at bay. Lilly found herself wrapped in Alec’s arms, and they swayed together to some old tune that made her think of black-and-white movies and the kind of love that survived wartime separation and bouts of tap-dancing. She smiled against his shoulder, wondering what Alec would think of the observation.

“It could always be like this,” he said against her temple.

Lilly’s body lurched. But Alec kept strong hold of her. “Lilly. Calm down.”

No, no, she wouldn’t calm down. Dangling such a dream in front of her face wasn’t fair.

“One baby step,” she said, through clenched teeth. “You said you wouldn’t ask for more. You promised.”

He took in a quick breath, as if preparing to argue, then he subsided again, one hand caressing a circle between her shoulder blades. “Admit it’s nice like this,” he said.

“It’s nice like this,” she said, ignoring the prick of tears at the corners of her eyes. She closed them and drew in the scents of night, trying to regain at least a portion of peace she’d felt moments before.

The song ended, and Alec led her back inside, claiming she needed more champagne. As they approached their table, her gaze caught on a figure lurking by the exit. Her heart jolted, and then settled to a low thrum, as she confirmed that yes, it was him, in a ragged pair of jeans, and a denim jacket over a black T-shirt.

The other shoe had dropped, she thought with some relief, because she’d been waiting for it all along, hadn’t she?

 

Alec strolled to the bar for champagne and threaded his way back to Lilly, waylaid several times for brief chats with friends and family. Once he finally arrived at the table, it was to find it deserted of everyone, including Lilly. Her light shawl was missing, her small purse too, and a premonition turned his skin cold.

His head whipped around, hoping to catch sight of her. She could have gone to the ladies’ room, he told himself. Stepped out to make a call to Audra.

But then Con Montgomery stood at his elbow. “Lilly?” the man said. “Are you looking for her?”

The question didn’t assuage Alec’s concern. “You know where she is?”

“She left me a message for you,” he said, and he didn’t look happy about it.

“What?” Did she feel sick? Come down with a migraine?

“She asked that you stick by your promise. That you’ll not go after her.”

Alec stared at the other man, but didn’t see him. He only saw Lilly as she’d looked that morning, fresh from his bed, her cheeks rosy, her mouth swollen from his kisses. Her hand had been on his face and she’d pinned him with her midnight-mystery eyes.

Swear to me you’ll let me go whenever I ask.

 

Lilly’s fingers dug into her cousin Frank’s forearm as she dragged him along the resort’s serpentine paths. He complained, but she shut her ears to it, trying to get as far as possible from the Thatcher event as fast as possible.

“You had no business coming here,” she spit out, furious. Glancing around, she saw that there weren’t any other guests to be seen, but still lowered her voice. “No business whatsoever.”

“How about that Mom and Dad raised you since you were a crying brat?” Frank said, ever one to win friends and influence people. He stopped short, and he was big enough that she couldn’t budge him. “Where the hell are we going?”

She opened her mouth, glanced around again. Okay. Right. Though the paths were well-lit tonight, as usual she’d gotten herself lost. “I’m going to get you some money and then you’re going away.”

“I caught a ride with a buddy,” Frank said belligerently. “You’ll have to drive me back.”

“Are you drunk?” She supposed she should be glad he hadn’t hit the road while under the influence, but the smell of beer on his breath was turning her stomach.

“It’s been a bad week. I broke a tooth.” He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a flask. “I lost my job.”

As he swigged, she tried to recall exactly what was his latest occupation. Bouncer? Ticket taker at the swap meet?

She reminded herself that all work was good and honest, then reminded herself that Frank had likely lost his good, honest job by showing up late or not at all. It was a long-time habit of his.

Trying to find a well of calm, she drew in a long breath, let it out. “This has got to stop, Frank.”

“Yeah,” he said, drinking deep again. “The usual amount isn’t going to cut it until I find some work. Mom says to ask you for double our usual this month.”

“Double?” Lilly felt the ends of her hair ignite.

“Yeah.”

“Why should I do that?” Lilly said, nearly screeching, her French temper coming to the fore.

Frank’s eyes went even beadier “We’re blood. We need the dough. It’s gotta be double.”

Blood or not, she’d had it, she decided. They’d tainted her past and ruined a future for her, but she wasn’t going to be bled by them in the present. Nuh-uh.

“No,” she said, her voice clear and firm.

Her cousin blinked at her, as if her refusal had pierced his drunken haze. “No…what?”

“No more money. I’ve shown my ‘gratitude’ for what your mother and father did for me long enough. I’ve subsidized week-long benders, bad gambling debts, and more than one get-rich-quick scheme. No more.”

He was staring at her, his body as still as a statue. “We’re cousins.”

She ignored that. “Never again.”

The last words seemed to animate him. In a blur of movement, he reached out, grabbing her wrist to twist it behind her back. The flask dropped with a metallic clatter to the ground and he cocked his free arm, his meaty palm poised for a strike to her face.

Frozen by the malevolence in his expression, her eyes stayed glued to his menacing hand. Such a big man, Lilly heard her aunt say in her head, the taunting, hateful tone she used when speaking to her husband, just before another knock-down, drag-out. Does it make you feel strong to hit a woman?

“Fuck you,” Frank said, yanking Lilly’s wrist higher along her back, until she bit back a cry. His palm hovered, a continued threat. “You’re gonna give us the money. Say it. Swear it.”

“No,” Lilly said, thinking of Audra, thinking of Jojo and Miranda Thatcher, channeling their spirit. They wouldn’t let themselves be used. They wouldn’t want Lilly to let herself be used.

Alec would expect the woman he wanted as his someone to stand up for herself.

She sucked in a breath, staring up at her cousin. “No fucking way, Frank.”

Expecting the blow, she braced, but then, just as she saw his hand begin to descend, her cousin was wrenched aside. He stumbled a few steps away, where he was caught by a very pissed-looking Con Montgomery.

It was Alec who had seized her cousin and thrown him off. Even as he drew Lilly against him, he glared at the drunken man. “From this moment on, you stay the hell away from Lilly. You stay the hell away or I’ll kill you,” he said, fury in every syllable.

With the back of his jacket in Con’s huge fist, her cousin seemed to shrink. “She’s blood. My cousin. She owes us money.”

“She owes you shit,” Alec said with disgust. He shifted his gaze to Con. “Any idea what to do with a scumbag like him?”

“Sure. I can chuck him into the ocean.”

Frank cowered, spittle appearing at the corner of his mouth.

“He doesn’t swim,” Lilly said.

“All the better,” Con and Alec said together. Then Audra’s brother began hauling him along the path, Frank stammering and pleading.

That left Lilly and Alec alone. She shook her head, trying to make sense of the last few minutes. “Where were you?” she asked, knowing she sounded dazed.

“Coming after you. I could hear the conversation between the two of you, but I couldn’t find you in this fucking maze.” He looked frustrated and ticked off and completely out of patience, but he ran a gentle hand down her back. “Are you hurt?”

“You didn’t keep your promise to me.”

He hesitated a moment. “No.”

Frowning, she gazed up at him. “A man should keep his promises.”

His expression turned hard. “Not this man, not that promise.”

“Then I can’t trust—”

“Lilly,” he grabbed her shoulders and spun her to face him. “You can damn well trust me. You can trust me on this. I will always follow you because I will always have your back. Here, home, wherever.”

“Baby steps—”

“There’s not going to be any baby steps either, sugar. I was wrong to suggest it and it was wrong for you, too. What’s going to win you is the truth.” He sucked in a breath, then pinned her with his gaze. “I want everything. I want it all. I want it now.”

Her head jerked back.

“Listen, Lilly,” he said urgently. “Hear me out all the way.”

The pulse in her throat beat so hard and fast she found it difficult to swallow. “What?”

“I want everything from you. And in return I’m giving you my total commitment,” he said, then paused. “That is how much you are worth to me.”

Pressure built behind her eyes, her throat closed up tight. I’m worthless for a man like you, she’d told him, but he didn’t believe it.

“Remember how I said I might figure out what it would take for you to fall in love? I have, and that’s it. My total commitment, for however long I’m here on earth to promise it.”

She sniffed, understanding he meant no one knew how long they had to commit, to promise, to love, but he wasn’t going to hold back. She’d told herself the rich were different, that life and risk were somehow easier for them, but that wasn’t true at all. The Thatchers weren’t blessed, they were survivors, determined to reach for happiness, despite their experience with death.

“What if I don’t know how—”

“I’ll show you,” he said instantly. “And not because of how I was raised or who did the raising. But because I have a vision of what we can have in my heart and I’m going to share it with you. I’m going to make you believe in it. In us.”

“Us,” she echoed.

“I’m in love with you, Lilly.”

No one had ever said that to her before.

His hands moved to stroke her hair. “God, it feels good to say it. I love you.”

He searched her face and he must have seen something he liked there, because his expression softened. “Sugar…”

Us. Her hands clutched his biceps as warmth unfurled inside her, something that had been locked away behind her barbed-wire heart. It felt like hope.

Total commitment.

I’m in love with you.

“What if I can’t—”

“Sh.” He placed a finger on her mouth. “Women are the strongest, smartest creatures I know. Absolutely, you can.”

“Absolutely, I can,” she repeated, wanting it to be true. Wanting to move beyond a lifetime of emotional insecurity.

He took her face in his hands and thumbed away tears that she swore she’d never shed until meeting him. His forehead pressed to hers. “So take pity on a poor guy and make his dreams come true, why don’t you?”

And all that barbed wire was nothing against the soft look in Alec’s eyes and the tender tone of his voice. It fell away, leaving her heart to beat raucously in her chest, as untamed as the feelings that this man generated inside her.

“No more this is how Durands love,” she murmured, looking into his beautiful face, making her own promise, her own total commitment. “This is how Lilly loves.”

And going on her tiptoes, she kissed Alec.

Making all his dreams come true—and of course, every one of her own that she’d forever hidden away. Now, exposed to air and light and a man’s loving touch, they would grow beyond her wildest imaginings.

 

Monday morning, approximately two weeks later. Carol’s Coffee.

 

The bells on the doors of Carol’s tiny place jingled as a pair of early morning patrons entered. He was in a suit and tie, she in something similar, but a more feminine version, obviously. They both looked ready for the day, even before their caffeine fix.

The woman lingered by the case of baked goods while he came straight to the order counter, stating what they wanted even though they hadn’t changed their choices in the two years since she’d opened. Of course, until very recently they hadn’t come in together, missing each other by only minutes.

Carol didn’t know how they’d finally made a connection.

But there was a diamond engagement ring on her left finger and he wore the easy air of a man who spent his nights with the right woman in his bed.

He looked over at that woman now, his expression amused. “Lilly. Baby. Are you going to pick something or just stare in longing?”

“Chocolate croissant. And for rushing me, Alec,” she said in a teasing tone, “there’ll be no sharing with you.”

His arm slipped around her waist as she strolled to his side and he drew her close. Pressing an absent kiss to her temple, he reached inside his pocket for his wallet.

“Doesn’t matter. I’ve already got the very best thing all to myself,” he said, and completely missed the way his Lilly’s expression turned warm and sweet as he dug out a card.

True love, Carol thought on an appreciative sigh. She wondered where they’d found it.

 

# # #

 

Dear Reader:

 

Thank you! I hope you enjoyed the . Lilly and Alec have moved past their past hurts and fears and are facing life together from now on. Just for fun, you might like to listen to the song “What Ifs” by Kane Brown…it inspired me during the writing of this story.

 

Speaking of Kane—that is, Kane Hathaway—he’s more than a little intrigued by the resort’s mystery guest and jilted bride, Audra Hathaway. Alec mentioned an intervention and Kane just might decide he’s the one to help the beautiful blonde…though he’ll be dismayed to discover she’s been writing out a Naughty List and wants help checking off each line item! Look for ME AND MR. JONES coming soon.

 

Interested in sharing your thoughts about Lilly and Alec’s romance with other readers? I hope you’ll leave a review for the book and look for more of my books to enjoy.

 

To not miss out on new Christie Ridgway releases and to get other information about upcoming books and specials, sign up for my . You can also follow me on , , or visit .

 

I’ve also included here an excerpt of (Almost Book 1)—another one of my sunny, sexy romances.

 

All the best!

Christie Ridgway