by Lexi Blake
“I’m glad you decided to give it a shot.”
Arrogant man. It didn’t turn her off, though, because he’d been honest with her moments before. It was his honesty that had done it. She’d been ready to ask him to leave again and mean it this time, but then he’d opened his mouth and said all kinds of things she’d never heard from a man before.
That he wanted her. That he wanted to try.
Maybe she’d heard the first part before, but it was somehow sweeter coming from him. She wasn’t fooling herself. This was still about sex and it would only last as long as she managed not to show off her unique brand of crazy. She didn’t lie to herself. She was stubborn and controlling and obnoxious at times. She came off snobby and overly intellectual.
But she might have a little time with him. She might find some companionship. And hey, they might become each other’s booty call. It didn’t have to be all or nothing. That was the beauty of the new Lila. She didn’t have to either marry a man or have nothing to do with him. They worked together. Not so closely that it would be weird for them to have a relationship, but she would often have to liaise with his department. They could be friends and a little bit more.
She could make this work. It was a bit disconcerting to realize how much she wanted this to work.
“Did I lose you? I don’t mind. I can see you’re thinking, and that’s a good thing, but I really would like to touch you. Will you let me touch you while you think about it?”
“You are touching me.” She could feel his hands on her, his strong chest brushing against her breasts. He was warm and she hadn’t realized how chilly it had been before she’d been near him.
His head was close to hers and he seemed to breathe her in. “No, you’re touching me. Let me show you what I mean.”
He stroked his free hand over her back almost to her neck and then down again. He stopped at her hips but it was like that hand went straight to her core. How long had it been since her body had shivered in anticipation? How long since her head had gone fuzzy with need?
“Lila, baby, I need you to say yes.”
She found she couldn’t tell the man no. “Yes. You can touch me. I want you to touch me.”
He stroked over her back again and she utterly forgot why this had ever seemed like a bad idea.
“Take your time. I’m not in a hurry.” He was staring right at her. “That’s the funny thing about Papillon. It’s like time slows down and we can enjoy things more here. I’ve lived in the city, and while it has its perks, I like the pace here. Here, I can stop and stare at you for a while. I can study you and tell you how beautiful your eyes are. And your lips. God, I can’t stop thinking about your lips.” He brought his hand up and brushed his thumb over her bottom lip. “You are an incredibly sexy woman. I couldn’t take my eyes off you at the wedding. I was going to ask you to dance with me, but I missed the chance.”
It was time for some honesty. “I watched you, too. I knew you were heading my way and I couldn’t. I ran away. I spent the rest of the reception in the ladies’ room or helping clean up.”
It wasn’t her proudest moment, but then, she’d had a lot of those lately.
He frowned. Even that was sexy. She ran her hand over his cheek, feeling the scruff of a beard coming in. He would have to shave every single day. Or not. He might look hot with a beard.
“You danced with a couple of other men. Why not me?”
“Because I wanted to dance with you and I couldn’t let myself. Because you scared me.” She took a deep breath, letting the scent of him wash over her senses. He must have taken a shower before he’d gone to bed because he smelled delicious. “But I’m sick and tired of being scared.”
Before he could reply, she went up on her toes and kissed him. She closed her eyes and for once simply let a moment happen. She was the woman who plotted and planned every single minute of her day. From childhood, she’d been a list maker, every second written down and crossed off. She couldn’t have planned for Armie LaVigne. She’d made the choice before to avoid him, to control herself and the situation, but things were different now.
Now she’d figured out that controlling every aspect of her life wasn’t working. It was time to give a little.
She moved her lips over his, thrilled by the way he followed her lead. His arms had tightened around her as though he was afraid she would pull away. She could have told him she had zero interest in getting away from him.
It had been a terrible day and she wanted this with him, wanted some solace, a few moments where she didn’t feel alone.
The kiss was soft at first, and then she couldn’t help but run a tongue over his plump bottom lip.
It felt wickedly good to be close to this man. Her inhibitions were rapidly falling off her, a weight being lifted. She should have danced with him that day. She should have sat there and let him ask her, should have given him her assent. It had been more than cowardice. It had been penance, and she wanted to be free of the feeling she didn’t deserve anything good.
His lips moved on hers, tongue coming out to play. She let her hands find his hair, sinking into it. His hair was soft and silky. He growled against her lips and then his tongue was invading, one hand fisting in her hair and gently guiding her head so he could have better access.
Her whole body went soft and she could feel herself getting ready for him.
He didn’t have to sleep on the couch. He could come to her bed and they could end the night right.
As if he could hear her thoughts, his hands moved again. This time one went around her back and the other under her knees. He lifted her up like she weighed nothing at all. Her heart raced in the best way.
“I think that answers the question,” she said, not recognizing the husky sound of her voice. “Risk is totally worth it.”
“It will be.” He was staring at her like he could eat her up. He cradled her in his arms and started making his way back to the bedroom.
He walked through her bedroom door. She needed to redecorate, make the place her own. For the first time she thought about redoing the house. She’d thought it would only be a place to sleep, but if Armie would be here, she wanted it to be nice. Comfortable. She wanted it to have something of her in it.
Armie started to lay her down on the bed. She would definitely start with high-quality sheets. And she might get some sexy pajamas. She could find those somewhere. She had Internet. Well, sometimes. When it was working. Surely there was a library with Wi-Fi.
She waited to feel the press of his body against hers. He could take control now. She was ready to follow him.
This was what she needed. God, this might be what she’d come here for.
He pulled the covers over her and bent down, lightly pressing a kiss on her forehead. “Good night, Lila.”
“What?” She pushed herself up. Was he actually leaving? “I said yes, Armie. It’s fine. You don’t have to sleep out there.”
“Yes, I do, because if I don’t we’re going to make a hell of a mistake tonight.”
She didn’t see it that way. “We’re consenting adults. It’s not a mistake. It’s sex.”
“Yes, that would be the mistake. It’s too soon. It would be sex for you, and I don’t particularly want sex. I want something more. I’ve had plenty of sex.”
“Good for you. I haven’t had any in a long time.” A thought struck her like a slap to the face. She’d felt something. That didn’t mean he had, and didn’t that hurt way more than she’d imagined it could? “Oh. It didn’t really work for you, did it?”
“Hey, you want to take a look at this thing and tell me I don’t want you? It’s painful and it’s taking everything I have not to hop into bed with you, but I don’t think you’ll feel the same way I do in the morning. I think you’ll slap my pretty ass and send me on my way.”
Sure enough those PJ pants of his had tented ad
mirably. Frustration welled through her. He wanted her but he wasn’t going to take her? He thought she would use him for sex?
She wasn’t going to do that. Probably not. She wouldn’t have been terribly embarrassed in the morning and kicked him out and not talked to him for days, avoiding him as much as possible.
Damn it. He was right. She wasn’t ready.
“Good night, Lila.” He stood in the doorway, his big frame in shadows.
She wished she could honestly reach out to him, but she simply turned over and tried not to think about the fact that once she’d thought she was indestructible.
Life had taught her otherwise. Life had brought her low and showed her how much of a coward she could be.
Still, when she closed her eyes and sleep claimed her, she dreamed of him, and that was worth all the trouble.
chapter six
Armie was rethinking the entire night as he maneuvered the flat-bottom boat toward Petrie Island. That was what the locals called it, but it was really a series of small islands that were high enough that they didn’t regularly flood. The Petrie family had lived on those islands for the last century. They made their living as shrimpers, and it made sense to Armie that they would move closer to the marina where their boats docked, but anytime he asked, he was told Petries lived on the island. Always had. Always would.
“You know people are going to talk, right?” Roxie sat at the front of the boat, scanning for anything that might catch on the bottom or the motor.
“Talk about what?” Maybe he should have taken what Lila had offered. Maybe if he had she wouldn’t have hustled him out of her house this morning. If he’d been in bed with her, he could have pinned her down and kissed her until she couldn’t even think about going to work. He could have woken up to her body cuddled against his. Instead, he might have to ask someone to check him for ticks because Peanut had managed to climb on the couch with him in the middle of the night.
“Talk about the fact that your truck was spotted outside the new girl’s house.”
Shit. He hadn’t thought about that. “Peanut came back last night. He scratched at the back door and scared her. You know how it is when you aren’t used to the sounds out here.”
Roxie’s brow rose. “Peanut? Bill’s dog? I thought his son took the dog.”
“Yeah, well, Mikey always was a selfish asshole.” It shouldn’t have surprised him but it did. He’d given Mikey a call this morning and explained the situation. “He gave me some story about how they stopped at a rest stop and the dog ran away. But he also told me to take him to a shelter because he wasn’t coming back to get him.”
“Asshole,” Roxie said with a sigh. “I’ll take him in. I’ve been meaning to get a dog.”
“I think you’ll have to fight Lila over him. She says she’s going to fix him up and then find him a home, but you know how that goes.”
“Yeah, in a few days she’ll be used to him and she’ll think it can’t hurt to let him stay a little while longer, and then she’s buying him Christmas sweaters and arguing at the town hall for a dog park.” Roxie nodded. “She looks like the kind who would dress up her dog, and I think she likes arguing.”
Why hadn’t he thought of that? He could have gone to bed with her, woken with her, shown back up at her place to fix something—he had his pick since nothing worked—and repeated the whole process. “I think she’s too practical to dress up the dog.”
“Nah, she only looks that way. Trust me, that dog will have a sweater by the end of the year. Have you thought about how Miranda is going to take your sudden passion for Remy’s sister-in-law?”
Miranda Jossart was the local real estate agent. He’d also gone to high school with her. They hadn’t been close then despite the fact that there had only been twenty-seven kids in their whole class. When he’d come home, Miranda had been one of the first to show up with a platter of cookies in her hand and a smile on her face, welcoming him back. They’d gone on a few dates, but there had never been a spark between them.
“Why would Miranda care that I’m dating Lila?” He’d missed an opportunity, but she had agreed to go out with him. Even as she’d been shoving him out the door this morning, she’d agreed to go to dinner on Friday.
Roxie stared at him, the same expression on her face she often used on Zep. “You can’t possibly be this unaware.”
She was underestimating him. “Apparently I can.”
“Why do you think Miranda brings cookies to the station house all the time? Do you think it’s because she loves law enforcement?”
“I thought it was because she loves to bake and always has too much.” She told him constantly that she was watching her figure. He’d never looked at her figure. She was a nice enough woman, but he’d never once thought of her that way.
“It’s because she’s got the hots for you.”
He laughed because that was ridiculous. “She does not have the hots for me. She’s just nice.”
“Like Annie Dubois is nice? Because when I first came to town she warned me off you. Not like I was ever going to hit that. No. My taste in men is way worse, but Annie showed up at my apartment and explained that you and she were together and I better back off.”
“What? I went out with her twice. Years ago.” It had been when he’d first come home to Papillon. He’d been divorced and burned out. He’d felt like he’d lost everything. The only reason he’d taken the job had been his old friend Rene basically begging him to do it. Annie had suggested that they have dinner, and he hadn’t cared enough to say no.
Then the accident had happened and he’d been forced to care about everything. He’d been forced to focus his entire world on his daughter.
“Well, you made an impression,” Roxie replied with a brief smile. “This was a couple of years ago. She might not still be pining. I think there are some women in town who believe that as soon as Noelle graduates you’ll look for some companionship. Especially when she goes off to college.”
“She’s not going off to college.” He couldn’t stand the thought of her out there in the big bad world. She was fragile, vulnerable. There were other ways for her to get an education. “She’s going to do it all online. She doesn’t need to be in some dorm where everyone parties. She’s not that girl.”
Noelle was studious. She took her classes seriously and she was focused.
And what would happen when she graduated from her online school? How the hell was she going to find a job here?
He shook off that worry. It was years away, and lots of people worked remotely these days.
“Well, that’s still the prevailing theory around town. You’re going to find more and more Mirandas and Annies on your doorstep, and they are not going to be happy about the rumors you started this morning.”
“I told you why I was there.” But no one would believe him. He hadn’t even thought about it. However, he couldn’t see how it would do any real harm. “I am dating Lila. Well, almost dating her. We’re going to have dinner on Friday.”
He thought he might have to avoid her entirely until he showed up on her doorstep. He would do it so she had zero opportunity to back out of the date. She was a polite woman. If he showed up with flowers and dressed nicely, she probably wouldn’t be able to send him away.
He turned the boat, giving it a little more gas. Up ahead he saw the turnoff that would take them to Petrie Island. It was marked by a massive bald cypress whose base lay in the murky waters, the branches extending far above into the sky.
He wondered if Lila would like it out here. He liked the quiet. Even when he’d lived in New Orleans, he’d missed this place, missed the calm he found here.
“Are you sure that’s a good idea? She doesn’t seem like your type.”
“I have a type?”
A thoughtful look crossed Roxie’s face. “I guess I don’t really know. You haven’t dated sin
ce I took this job.”
“I haven’t dated since I brought Noelle back here,” he admitted. “At first it was too hard. I had to focus everything I had on her. Even after we settled down I couldn’t find the time. She’d lost her mom. I didn’t love my ex-wife. Not at the end. But I couldn’t bring someone in to replace her. Noelle had to know she came first.”
“And that is why you’re going to have all the Mirandas and Annies chasing after you. You’re a good man. I like the new doc. What are we supposed to call her? Nurse Daley? That seems weird. Everyone will end up calling her Doc so she should get used to it. Anyway, I met her the other day out at Guidry’s and she seems solid. Practical. I guess that’s why I don’t see the two of you together.”
“Maybe we won’t be. I don’t know her all that well, but I’m attracted to her.” He knew her way better after the night before. He knew there was a soft woman under all her armor. A mystery. He’d told her the truth about that. She was a mystery, and it had been far too long since he’d had one to solve. “She’s complex and complicated and makes no apologies for it. I like that she’s forthright.”
“I liked that about her, too. I don’t get all the Southern stuff, to tell you the truth. Like why does every woman in town bless everyone’s hearts? It’s weird. I’ve been here for a while and I still don’t get it.”
He would have to get her a translation guide. “When a Southern woman blesses your heart she means you’re an idiot. Southern women are good with the polite passive aggression.” He bet Lila would simply call him an idiot. No hiding behind social niceties. He kind of liked that. He hadn’t given much thought to how the transition had gone for his deputy. Like him, she’d come from a big city job. Unlike him, she hadn’t grown up here. Not even close. “Do you miss New York?”
“Often.” She stared out at the water. “And then I remember how crappy it could be. I’m happy I’m here, Armie. Even if I don’t always get the people.” She seemed to shake something off. “Speaking of people, I haven’t met this Carrie. I thought I’d pretty much met everyone in town. Why does the doc think she’s being abused?”
