“Girlfriend?” Karina asked.
“Nope.”
“Just out of curiosity… If you were inclined to have a significant other, which would you prefer?”
Lily had to smile. In all of the years people had asked her about her personal life and she had given them vague, somewhat non-responses, that was the most politically correct, innovative, polite way she had ever been asked if she was gay or straight. She felt that that kind of creativity and tact deserved an answer.
“Boyfriend.”
---~---
Eric felt the rim beneath his palms as he dunked the ball. For a moment, he relished in the pure exhilaration of making the difficult shot. He’d juked around Ben for a layup and been met by Ryan so he’d jumped and put the ball in the basket. But as soon as his feet met the unforgiving wooden floor, pain seared through his body in protest. His hand immediately flew to the stabbing sensation in his lower back.
“You all right, old man?” Ben teased as he took out the ball.
“I’m good.” Eric rolled his shoulders and positioned himself in front of Ryan to try and block the pass.
“I think he might be showing off for a certain brunette who is sitting in the stands,” Ryan said, trash-talking as he moved to position himself farther away from Eric.
Levi looked up at the stands. “Who is the hottie with Karina?”
“Lily Sotelo.” Ryan seemed oh-too-happy to explain. “She’s Karina’s new choreographer.”
“What’s her deal?” Levi asked, sounding a little too interested for Eric’s liking.
Ryan smiled and looked at Eric. “Why don’t you ask Eric?”
Eric didn’t reply. It was best not to engage. Anything he said could and would be used against him in the court of basketball trash-talk.
“Why would I ask Eric?” Levi asked.
“Well, they are neighbors,” Ben interjected, shooting the ball to Ryan.
Thanks, Ben.
“True,” Ryan nodded as he caught the ball. “I also think that he’s put in some time getting to know her. On a personal level.”
“Oooooh, it’s like that,” Levi acknowledged with a smile.
“It’s not anything.” Eric tried to keep his tone even as he abandoned his initial instinct not to engage.
“So it’s cool if I ask her out?” Levi stole the ball as Ryan attempted to pass it back to Ben.
Eric was genuinely regretting his decision to ask Levi to fill in for his brother Jake, who had gotten called into the station and hadn’t been able to make the two-on-two game. But considering the alternative to having Levi here would be to have his flirtatious, ball-busting brother, he figured this wasn’t so bad.
Levi threw the ball behind his back and Eric caught it in perfect position for a three-pointer. He lifted his arms, aimed, and sent the ball swooshing through the hoop. There were cheers from the stands as Eric walked over to get his towel and water. That three-pointer had just won him and Levi the game.
“Good game,” Levi said as he slapped Eric on the back. “Looks like you have a cheering section.”
Eric picked up his jug of water, deciding to ignore Levi’s observation and revisit his plan not to engage.
“Good game, babe.” He heard Karina’s voice behind him. Which meant Lily was probably beside her.
Eric tried to prepare himself for the reaction he would inevitably have when he turned around and came face to face with Lily. It seemed that the closer they were proximity-wise, the more intensely his body responded.
Eric turned around and the second he laid eyes on Lily he felt his body tense with need. She was wearing workout clothes that showcased her thin waist and the flair of her hips. Her hair was piled loosely on the top of her head and a few stray strands fell around her face that was flushed with a light shade of pink.
“We lost,” Ryan said, but he had a smile on his face as he picked Karina up into his arms.
“But you looked good doing it. In my book, that’s a good game,” Karina declared as she threw her arms around Ryan’s neck.
Watching his friends, he knew for a fact that that was what had been missing in his life. The connection. The friendship. The love. The real thing.
Eric realized in that moment that his recent unhappiness with casual relationships may in part be attributed to the fact that the last year he had watched several of his childhood friends find what, for all intents and purposes, appeared to be their soul mates. Seeing two people fall in love was different than seeing a couple at any other stage in their relationship.
Eric had had a daily example of love growing up. His parents adored each other. And after almost forty years, his dad still couldn’t seem to keep his hands off of his mom. If those two were alone in a room for even a minute, his dad started playing grab-ass. Jake and Nikki had always thought it was gross, and although Amy didn’t say anything about it, he thought she may not have thought it was the greatest thing.
Eric had always had a different take on it. Growing up, his friends that did have parents who were still together just didn’t seem happy. Eric had observed that most of them didn’t even seem like they liked each other, much less loved one another.
That wasn’t to say that his parents were always lovey-dovey. No, far from it. His mother was Italian and his father was Irish. They were both proud, loud, and opinionated. When they disagreed, it was not done quietly. And more likely than not, if the disagreement happened when his mom was in the kitchen, which was her favorite place to be, then seeing a pan, glass, or utensil flying across the room was par for the course.
But those outbursts had always ended almost as quickly as they’d started. Then it was forgotten. He’d never known his parents to hold a grudge.
“Hi,” Levi said as he stepped in front of Lily.
“Hi.” Lily smiled a friendly smile.
“Oh, my bad,” Karina said as Ryan set her down. “Lily, this is Levi. I’m usually good at introductions but someone distracted me.”
Lily held out her hand. “Nice to meet you.”
“You too,” Levi said with his trademark half-smile that Eric had seen a lot of women swoon over at JT’s Roadhouse. Jake referred to it as “the panty dropper.”
Ben picked up a call and excused himself, saying he would see the guys on Tuesday for their next game and then said goodbye to Karina and Lily.
“We’d better get going too. We promised Renata that we’d be at her place by six for dinner,” Ryan said as he reached out for Karina’s hand
Eric loved Karina’s grandmother Renata. The woman was a force to be reckoned with. The only time Eric had seen even the smallest crack in her steel-like façade was when Bernie, Karina’s manager, was around.
The two were an odd couple visually. Renata was tall and rail thin, and she had a regal air about her. She always wore her hair in pulled back tightly in a braid that fell almost to her waist. Bernie was a short, stout, balding man with tufts of hair at the sides of his head and full, bushy eyebrows that he seemed to like to waggle suggestively at Karina’s grandmother.
Karina snapped her fingers. “Oh right, I forgot. Okay, we’d better get going.” Turning to Lily, she pulled her into a hug. “Thank you for kicking my ass today! You were amazing. See you tomorrow, sweetie!”
As Karina and Ryan left, Levi wasted no time and made his move. He stepped up to the plate and swung. “So what are you doing later? I could show you around. Maybe we could grab something to eat.”
“Oh thanks,” Lily said, tilting her head to the side, “but I am actually just planning on going home and crashing. It’s been a long week.”
Swing and a miss. Eric couldn’t help feeling just a little—okay a lot—happy that his friend had struck out.
Levi did not look the least bit discouraged as he grabbed a card from his wallet. “All right. Well, most nights—and days for that matter—you can find me at JT’s Roadhouse. Come by and have a drink. On the house.”
Lily smiled as she took the card from Levi. �
�Sounds good. Thanks.”
Eric didn’t like that answer. Not one bit.
She was probably just being polite. What else was she supposed to say? She was a friendly person. Eric had observed that the night before. So why did this little exchange make him want to punch something?
Eric had never considered himself the jealous type, and in this particular case, he had no right to be jealous in the first place. Lily wasn’t his to be jealous over. But that didn’t stop that very strong feeling from rearing its ugly head inside of him.
“See you kids later,” Levi said as he flung his bag over his shoulder. Eric did not miss the fact that he winked at Lily as he left.
The second that it was just the two of them standing in the now empty gym the entire atmosphere changed. If the florescent lights overhead would have been turned off, Eric was sure that sparks could have been seen flying between them.
“Hi,” Eric said, not trusting himself to say much more.
“Hi.” Lily’s voice sounded strained as her large almond-colored eyes stared into his.
Her chest moved up and down as her breathing came in shorter pants. The movement caused his eyes to drift down to the hint of cleavage peeking out above her pink sports bra. He wanted to growl with appreciation at the tempting sight she presented.
He realized that he needed to look away if he didn’t want his shorts to start showing exactly how much he appreciated what he saw. When he looked back up into her gorgeous face, he saw that she was no longer looking up at him. Instead, she was staring straight ahead—at his bare chest.
She licked her lips, and his eyes followed the path of her tongue as it ran along the seam of her full mouth. He had no idea whether it was a nervous habit or something she did when she was turned on, but he knew he liked it. A lot. And he also knew that if she kept staring at him like that, he wasn’t going to be able to hold on to the thin thread of restraint that he had.
Slow. He needed to take things slow.
Reaching into his bag, he picked up his hoodie and quickly pulled it over his head. “Let me walk you out.” His voice held a raspy quality that was pure need.
“Oh, right.” Lily laughed a little as she shook her head and looked up at him. “Okay, thanks.”
She turned to leave and he followed behind her. His eyes automatically locked in on the naturally seductive sway of her hips. The sight quickened his already rapid heart rate.
Shower. He needed a cold shower. A very cold shower.
Chapter Eight
Lily shivered as she walked through the frozen food section of Grocery Junction. It had very little to do with the temperature in the aisle itself. She hadn’t been able to warm up since she had stepped foot outside that morning. In between her errands, she had even broken down and once again fell off of the no-caffeine wagon when she’d stopped by Sue Ann’s for another delicious coffee in hopes that it would warm her from the inside out. It had helped, but not as much as she had hoped it would.
She quickly grabbed a few packages of frozen green beans and a couple of vegan TV dinners. One was Indian Mattar Tofu and the other was Tamale Roasted Vegetables. She hadn’t tried either of them before. Since transitioning to a clean eating lifestyle, she had switched to cooking most of her meals, but for the next few weeks she really needed to concentrate on the choreography for the tour.
Sometimes sacrifices must be made.
After checking the list she had programmed into her phone and glancing down at her cart, she was satisfied that she had everything she needed. She wanted to do cartwheels now that her day-o’-cold errands was almost behind her but she didn’t think that the store would appreciate her tumbling around inside. This was her last stop, and she was headed home to take a hot bath, put on sweats, and veg out in front of the TV.
As she pushed her full cart to the front of the store, her eyes fell upon a completely empty check stand. Seeing that there was no line at the checkout made her want to do a touchdown victory dance. She guessed that in a small town there might be a lot of times that there was no one in line at the grocery store, but she had never experienced it before, and that, combined with the fact that she was done with her errands, made her practically giddy.
Okay, so maybe she was a little too excited that her running around was complete and she didn’t have to wait in a line. But she had been cold for the last five hours. And not just a little chilly either. All-the-way-down, feel-it-deep-in-your-bones cold.
“Well now, you look mighty happy about something, young lady,” a voice sounded beside Lily as she placed her items up on the conveyor belt.
“Hey, Mayor Walker,” the tall, thin, cheery cashier greeted the gentleman as she loudly smacked her gum.
Lily looked up from what she was doing and saw that the man, who she gathered from the cashier’s greeting was the mayor, was speaking to her.
He extended his hand, and Lily reached up on autopilot to shake it. “Henry Walker. And you must be Lily Sotelo.”
The metallic taste of adrenaline, i.e. panic, rose up in her throat. How did the mayor know her name? And why on earth was he talking to her? She tried to keep her facial expression neutral even though inside her warning bells were going off like there was a four-alarm fire.
Calmly she tried to remind herself that this was a small town and she was the new girl. Not only that but she was also working with the Karina Black. News of her moving there had probably made its rounds. There was nothing to be alarmed about. But she was.
She saw a strange expression spread across the jovial man’s face, and she realized she might not be doing as good of a job at hiding her inner freak-out as she had hoped.
Well, good going. Way to act normal.
She felt a small glimmer of hope that she may be able to salvage this interaction if she tried. She smiled brightly as she said, “Yep, I’m Lily. It’s so nice to meet you, Mayor.”
“You too,” the mayor replied. Then, with a deep furrow in his brow, he sincerely added, “Sorry if I spooked you. I just noticed you had a little pep in your step.”
“Oh that.” She laughed a little as her body began to relax. Somehow with one sentence the mayor had put her at ease. “I was just happy to go home because I’m cold.”
The mayor just stared at her blankly.
She tried to explain her odd statement. “I mean, I’ve been cold since I left the house this morning. I haven’t lived anywhere this cold for a long time, and I guess I’m just not used to it anymore.”
“Well, now I don’t want to put a fly in your pie, but this here is mild compared to what it’s going to be like in a few weeks. There’ll be snow to shovel and—”
“Oh, I know. I grew up around snow, and I’ve always wanted to move back to someplace that snowed,” Lily blurted out. She didn’t know what had possessed her to do that. She never offered up personal information about herself.
“Well you dang sure got your wish.” Mayor Walker chuckled as he moved to the endcap at the check stand and pulled out two boxes that read Hot Hands. They looked like they held packages of little tea bags. “Now here. You take these. You just shake them up and put them in your gloves or clothes and that should take some of the chill off.”
“Thanks.” Lily felt tears form in her eyes as she slid her credit card down the machine to pay. This place didn’t seem real. All of these people had been so kind to her, starting with Sue Ann then Lauren. Obviously Karina and all the people at her dinner party—Ariana, Carlos, and Miles. And then there was Eric.
Eric and his opening doors, moving her boxes, walking her to her car, looking ridiculously sexy.
Okay, well maybe the last thing wasn’t really an act of kindness, but she sure appreciated it.
She finished up her transaction and turned back to the mayor. “Thanks again. Nice meeting you.”
“You too, young lady. Now you let me know if you need anything, you hear?”
Lily grinned and nodded. “I will.”
Stepping through the sliding door
s, she felt the cold air hit her like she’d walked into a wall. She quickly pulled two packets out of the Hand Warmers box, shook them, and placed them in her gloves. She rushed across the small parking lot to her Jeep with the cold beating on her face.
By the time she had finished loading her groceries, she realized that the little packets of heat worked. She still felt the cold on her face of course, but she didn’t feel chilled to the bone anymore.
As she pulled out of the parking lot, she saw the mayor opening the door to an old-school Cadillac that looked to be in pristine condition. She reached out and pressed the button to roll down her driver’s side window. “They really work,” she happily proclaimed as she held up the tiny white bag of heavenly warmth.
Mayor Walker snorted as he put his hands on his belt buckle. “Well of course they do, sugar. I wouldn’t endorse anything that didn’t.”
The mayor tilted his large cowboy hat at Lily, and she waved as she pulled out of the small parking lot and onto Main Street. As she drove past Read Between the Lines, she half expected to see that Great Dane that she’d seen on her first day here marching down the street again. She was actually a little disappointed that she didn’t.
She loved dogs. She hadn’t ever had her own dog growing up. A few of the foster families she’d lived with had had dogs, and she had tried her best not to get attached to them but inevitably she always did. And she’d always been heartbroken when she’d had to leave them.
Lily shook her head, trying to clear it. She didn’t want to think about the past. She wanted to focus on the present, which included a nice, relaxing, warm bath.
Turning onto her street, she felt her pulse pick up once again at the thought that she might get a glimpse of her sexy neighbor. It had been three days since she’d had an Eric sighting. As each day passed, her anticipation and expectancy grew more and more intense.
After seeing him every day for the first four days she was in town, she had kind of come to think that that would be the norm. She had run into him at Sue Ann’s, Karina’s, in her front yard, and at the Community Center. But since he had walked her to her car after his basketball game, they had not run into each other again.
Snow Angel (The Hope Falls Chronicles) Page 7
