by Linda Turner
Her lips twitched. “Please.”
“Chocolate chip cookies!” he exclaimed again, this time in pretended surprise. “Wow! For me? Where’s the milk?”
Giggling, Lily pulled a half gallon of milk from the refrigerator. “Right here.”
She poured them each a glass of milk, took a seat at the kitchen table, and grinned when he took a seat across from her and grabbed a handful of cookies. “Don’t be shy, Tony. Have a cookie.”
His green eyes dancing with wicked laughter, he popped one into his mouth. Almost immediately, he groaned. “Damn! These are incredible. This isn’t a mix.”
He sounded so shocked that Lily had to laugh. “Bite your tongue. I can cook, you know.”
“No, I didn’t know. The only woman I know who knows the difference between baking powder and baking soda is my aunt Tootsie.”
“Then you obviously aren’t hanging around the right women,” she said. “Don’t let me get in your way. Have another cookie.”
He had five, in fact, and soon had Lily in stitches as he told her about the time he tried to make cookies and discovered for himself just what the difference was between baking powder and baking soda.
“Stop!” she laughed. “You’re making that up! I never heard of cookies blowing up in the oven.”
“That just goes to show what you know. You just didn’t put the right ingredients together.”
“Obviously,” she said. “That’s because I know how to cook.”
“Hey, you won’t get any argument out of me,” he said with a grin as he reached for another cookie. “These are fantastic.”
She grinned. “Thank you. I guess this is when I should confess that I burned the first batch. Every oven’s different, and I hadn’t used this one before.”
“Aha! The truth comes out!”
Her eyes twinkling, she smiled. “You have to crack a few eggs to make an omelette. Why do I have the feeling that you’ve cracked more than your share of eggs in your time?”
“Oh, more than a few,” he agreed. “Like that time when I was fourteen and I decided to egg my English teacher’s new car.”
“You didn’t!”
“She threw my six-weeks exam in the trash because I didn’t put my name on the right line,” he said indignantly.
“Ouch. So what happened? Did you do it?”
“Some other students beat me to it. Apparently, I wasn’t the only one she gave a zero to.”
“So that was it? You just put the eggs back in the refrigerator and forgot it? After all that planning? What kind of juvenile delinquent is that?”
“What’s the fun of throwing good eggs after bad?” he retorted, grinning.
Tony watched her laugh and was completely captivated. He’d never met another woman like her. She looked into his eyes, smiled, and the rest of the world just faded away. He could have talked to her for hours and never thought to glance at his watch.
Emotions he didn’t want to name tugging at his heart, he should have come up with some kind of excuse and made a hasty retreat, but he couldn’t bring himself to leave. They talked about everything from their favorite movi to sports to their families, and suddenly it was midnight.
“This is all your fault,” he told her with a teasing grin as she walked with him to her front door. “You’re supposed to throw me out of here at a reasonable hour.”
“Me?” she choked out. “How do you come up with that? You’re a guest in my home!”
“So? We’re friends, aren’t we? And you can tell a friend anything, can’t you? Especially when they don’t have the sense to look at the clock? What’s the matter with you, girl?”
“Obviously I lost my head. Go home, Tony. It’s late.”
“It’s about time you noticed. Of course, I can understand why you would be distracted,” he added, his green eyes twinkling with wicked teasing. “You’re smitten, aren’t you? Go ahead, you can admit it. I saw the way you were looking at me. You couldn’t take your eyes off me all evening.”
If he hadn’t been so outrageous, Lily would have probably been horribly embarrassed. Because it was true! She was smitten, but she had no intention of admitting it, at least not in a way he would believe. “You’re right,” she retorted. “You caught me red-handed. I’m guilty as charged. But I couldn’t help myself. You just swept me off my feet and I lost my head.” Placing her hand over her heart, she gave him a wide-eyed innocent look that was completely ruined by the smile that kept curling her lips. “It doesn’t matter what I tell my heart,” she confided. “Every time I see you, it goes…thump, thump. Thump, thump. I just can’t control it.”
No one had ever given him a taste of his own teasing as well as she did. Delighted, Tony burst out laughing and snatched her into a bear hug. “Damn, I like you! Where’d you get such a smart mouth?”
“I don’t know,” she chuckled. “You just seem to bring out the worst in me.”
His arms snug around her, holding her close, Tony knew he should have released her, but she felt too good in his arms. The minute he touched her, he knew he wasn’t going to be able to let her go. Not yet.
His smile fading, he rasped, “Do you have any idea how much I like holding you like this? When we went to dinner the other night, all I could think about was reaching for you and kissing you. That’s why I sent Quentin downstairs to talk to Angelo. I just couldn’t leave without kissing you good-night.”
“I’m glad you came back,” she whispered, sliding her arms around his neck. “I wanted to kiss you, too.”
His gaze dropped to the sweet, sensuous curve of her mouth and he felt his body temperature rise ten degrees. “You’re driving me crazy,” he said hoarsely. “You know that, don’t you?”
A slow smile flirted with the edges of her mouth. “So why don’t you do something about it?”
She couldn’t believe her own daring, but she wanted him to kiss her so badly, she ached. And he felt the same way—she could see it in his eyes. His gaze never leaving hers, he slowly leaned down and brushed her mouth with his, barely rubbing her lips. He was so gentle, Lily could have cried with the wonder of it.
Teasing her, seducing her, he did it again, then again, the touch of his mouth featherlight. Her body already starting to hum, she melted into him, her eyes closing on a sigh of pleasure as his mouth finally, completely, settled over hers.
Her blood heated, her mind blurred, and every bone in her body dissolved. In a saner moment, she could have come up with a dozen reasons why she had no business being within touching distance—let alone kissing distance!—of Tony or any other man, but she couldn’t think of a single one now. And she didn’t care. With a murmur that was his name, she crowded closer and loved the feel of him against her. More, she thought dreamily. She wanted more.
What could it hurt?
Lost in the taste and scent and heat of her, Tony told himself he had to stop this madness now, while he still could. But he couldn’t remember the last woman who’d knocked him out of his shoes so completely, so easily. Did she have any idea what she did to him when she slid her arms around his neck and pulled him close against her? He just wanted to sweep her up in his arms, carry her off to bed and spend what was left of the night making love to her.
But even at the thought, alarm bells clanged in his head. Swallowing a groan, he knew he couldn’t afford to take the risk. Not with her. She was the kind of woman a man didn’t walk away from easily, the kind a man gave his heart to if he ever made the mistake of making love to her. He couldn’t let himself do that. Not now. Not when the only thing that mattered to him was winning custody of his son.
“I have to go,” he rasped, pulling back abruptly and gently setting her from him. “Thanks for the cookies.”
He kissed her again, then a split second later, he was gone, quietly shutting the door behind him. Dazed, her heart pounding a thousand beats a second, Lily instinctively reached for the dead bolt and turned it, but she hardly noticed when it clicked into place. All she could thin
k about was Tony…and how much she wanted him.
She dreamed of him all night long and woke up feeling as if she were floating on air. Outside, thick, lowlying clouds were dripping with moisture, but Lily had never seen a more perfect day. Wishing she’d thought to ask Tony last night if he would like to meet her for breakfast this morning, she almost called him, only to think better of it. Just because he’d kissed her like there was no tomorrow didn’t mean that he wanted to spend all his free time with her, she reminded herself. It wasn’t as if they were dating…well, not exactly, anyway. And even if having dinner with him and Quentin could be classified as a date, they’d made no future plans. If they happened to meet by chance, though…
Grinning at the thought, she quickly changed into jeans and a lime-green T-shirt and pulled on tennis shoes. When she checked her image in the mirror, she couldn’t stop smiling. When was the last time she’d been this happy? She couldn’t remember. She told herself it had nothing to do with Tony, then looked herself right in the eye in her dresser mirror and had to laugh. Liar! Okay, so maybe her current mood did have more than a little to do with him. There wasn’t anything wrong with that. He made her laugh. And when he kissed her… Her heart pounding, she smiled at the memory.
’s when she first smelled the smoke.
Surprised, she frowned. Something was definitely burning. Was Angelo having some kind of problem in the restaurant kitchen? Maybe she should call downstairs and make sure everything was okay.
She started to reach for the phone on the nightstand next to her bed and gasped in horror. Smoke was pouring out of the air-conditioning vent over her bed.
“What the—”
Alarmed, she rushed into the living room, only to discover that the room was already thick with smoke. With her next breath, it filled her lungs, choking her. Coughing, her lungs burning and her eyes streaming with hot tears, she turned blindly toward the front door. She had to get out. Now!
Sobbing, she ran into a chair and nearly fell. This couldn’t be happening! she thought as she caught herself and stumbled toward the door. Was the building on fire? Where were Tony and Angelo? She had to find them, then call 911.
Her mind jumbled, her thoughts hardly coherent, she finally found the door and cried in relief. Thank God! Thank God! Was Tony still in his apartment? Did he even know there was a fire? Please, please, let him be safe, she prayed, and quickly threw the dead bolt.
Later, she never remembered reaching for the doorknob. She turned it and tugged, but the door didn’t budge. “N-no!” she choked out. “Dammit, why is it stuck? It has to open!”
She might as well have asked the Statue of Liberty to step down from its granite base and walk. Crying, struggling for breath, she tugged and pulled and cursed, and the door never budged.
That’s when it hit her. She was going to die.
“Help!” she cried hoarsely, banging on the door. “Somebody help me!”
Her only answer was silence.
Terrified, she whirled and stumbled toward the window, never even noticing when she slammed into the coffee table, then a wing chair. Sobbing, every breath she took burning like fire in her lungs, she finally reached the living room’s double windows, but the air in her lungs suddenly just seemed to give out. She couldn’t think, couldn’t breathe. Her vision blurred, but still she tried to open the window. A split second later, everything went black.
How could he have forgotten his wallet? Tony thought as he braked to a stop in front of his apartment and turned off the ignition of his patrol car. Maybe if he got his head on straight and thought about what he was doing instead of constantly daydreaming about kissing Lily, he might be able to get through the day without making a complete fool of himself. But then again, who could blame him? he thought with a grin. She was incredible.
Rushing up the stairs, he played with the idea of stopping by her place for a few minutes. Just to say good morning, he told himself with a grin. And maybe kiss her again.
Then he saw the smoke pouring out from under Lily’s front door.
“Lily!” His hoarse cry echoing through the upstairs hallway, he ran the rest of the way to her apartment and tried the door. It was unlocked, but it wouldn’t open. Confused, he stepped back and examined it, and only then saw someone had screwed the door shut with three screws.
Horrified, he bit out a curse and wanted to believe that Lily wasn’t locked inside. But why else would the bastard who did this have screwed her door shut? He was trying to kill her and doing a damn good job of it.
“No!” he roared, and threw his weight against the door, slamming his shoulder into it. Through the pain in his shoulder, he felt the door give slightly, and that was all the encouragement he needed. He threw himself against it again and again, until the screws finally gave and the door flew open. Before he could drag in a bracing breath, smoke engulfed him.
“Lily? Where are you, honey? Dammit, answer me, sweetheart! I know you’re here.”
His eyes burning, he dragged his handkerchief out of his pocket and pressed it over his nose and mouth, then pushed through the smoke to Lily’s bedroom. There was no sign of her anywhere.
He liked to think that he kept his head in any crisis—his job demanded it—but at that moment, he knew true panic. Running out of her room, he looked wildly around, trying to see through the thick smoke, but the apartment appeared to be deserted. Then he saw her lying on the floor by the living-room window. His heart stopped dead in his chest.
Later, he never remembered calling for his uncle, but he must have. Suddenly, Angelo was there, helping him get Lily outside as a fire truck pulled up and an ambulance wailed in the distance. Before Tony could do much more than lie her on the sidewalk out front, the ambulance pulled up beside them and the EMTs jumped out to take over. They worked over her frantically, but even as they loaded her into the ambulance long minutes later and roared off to the hospital, Lily never once opened her eyes.
Chapter 10
Her dreams haunted by a man who hid behind a wall of thick smoke, Lily shifted restless in bed, whimpering. Somewhere in the back of her mind, a voice gently told her to open her eyes—there was nothing to be afraid of—but fear gripped her by the heart and she couldn’t. She had to run; he was after her! Even though she couldn’t see him, she knew he was there, just beyond the smoke. She could feel him, feel the hatred that emanated from him in icy waves. Any second now, he was going to grab her and kill her, and no one would ever know why.
A sob rising in her throat, she wanted to scream, “No!,” but her throat felt as if someone had stuck a knife in it, and she couldn’t do anything but moan. Help! she cried silently. Someone help me!
“It’s okay, Lily. You’re safe, sweetheart. Please don’t cry. No one’s going to hurt you. I promise.”
In the darkness of her dream, she heard Tony call to her from what seemed like a long way away. How could she be safe, she wanted to cry, when she was lost and he couldn’t find her? Didn’t he know there was someone else there who was waiting for the chance to choke the life out of her when no one else was around? Couldn’t he feel the other man’s fury in the fog that made it difficult to breathe? He was in danger, too. She had to warn him!
“Tony? You have to run!” she murmured hoarsely, tossing restlessly on the bed. “He’ll kill you, too.”
From out of the darkness, his hand closed over hers, squeezing reassuringly. “No one’s going to kill either one of us,” he said huskily. “Open your eyes, sweetheart. There’s a guard at the door who’s going to make sure no one gets in who doesn’t belong here. We’re both fine.”
Surprised by his closeness, she jerked awake, forcing open her heavy eyelids to find him standing next to her hospital bed, holding her hand and smiling down at her reassuringly. Confused, she frowned. “What happened? How…” Her memory suddenly came rushing back like a tidal wave and she gasped in horror. “Oh, my God, there was a fire!”
“There were some rags in the attic of your apartment that caugh
t on fire,” he said. “They were just smoldering when the fire department discovered them after you were taken to the hospital.”
Her hand still in his, she stared up at him searchingly. “Rags? What do you mean…there were rags in the attic? How did they get there?”
His expression grim, he said, “Unfortunately, we don’t have the answer to that yet. The fire department is investigating.”
“How did they catch fire? Was there some kind of electrical short?”
“Not that the anyone could tell.”
“What about Angelo?” she croaked. “He’s okay, isn’t he? Please tell me no one died—”
“He’s fine,” he assured her. “He’s been worried to death about you, but the fire was contained in your attic. Angelo was downstairs in the restaurant when I found you. He didn’t even know there was a fire.”
“Thank God!” Sighing in relief, she relaxed back against her pillow, only to bolt straight up in bed, her eyes wide with terror. “My door was jammed!” she cried, suddenly remembering. “I couldn’t get out!” Tears spilling over her lashes, she reached for him. “Oh, God, Tony, I thought I was going to die!”
Tony folded her close, his heart aching for her. Given the chance, he would have done anything to erase the horror from her eyes. He hadn’t been on the other side of that door with her, but he’d been in the hallway, trying to get in, imagining her trying to get out, and it had been hell. If he lived to be a hundred, he’d never forget the moment when he realized the bastard had screwed her door shut. What if he hadn’t forgotten his wallet? he thought. He would have never had to come back for it, and no one would have realized she was in trouble until it was too late. Trapped in her apartment, she would have lain there and died of smoke inhalation.
Just the thought of that shook him to the core.
Something had happened between them over the course of the last few nights. When he’d held her and kissed her, she’d knocked him out of his shoes, and nearly twenty-four hours later, he was still reeling from it. She was no longer just a woman to flirt with and tease, no longer just a friend, though he wasn’t ready to ask himself yet where or how she fit into his life. He just knew one thinghe needed time. Time to get to know her better. Time to kiss her again and make love to her and learn everything there was to know about her. Then if she walked away or he did, fine. But he couldn’t lose her to death…and certainly not to the monster who was trying his best to murder her.
