Jojo shot a quick glance at her brother, then bit her lip. “I…um…” Another look at Alec, then she turned her gaze on Lilly. “The puppy’s missing.”
He turned to his sister, his brows drawing together. “Jo—”
“Buster?” Lilly asked, alarmed. She shot to her feet, her hand going to her chest. “What happened?”
Jojo flung out an arm. “We don’t really know,” she said, talking fast. “He was there, and then he wasn’t.”
“The staff has experience with situations like this,” Lilly said, searching for the nearest employee. “Earlier this week it was a boa constrictor.” At Jojo’s startled expression, she added, “Stuffed.”
“Well. I’m going to get them on the job right away,” Jojo said. “But you…”
“Jojo,” Alec growled.
“Me, what?” Lilly asked, thinking of the adorable dog, so trusting and warm. Proof that Miranda Thatcher’s grief had abated and she had taken a chance on love again. “What can I do? Just ask.”
“No, Jo,” Alec said, his gaze on his sister.
“She wants to help,” Jojo protested.
“I want to help,” Lilly echoed, appealing to the man. Then she turned back to his sister. “Where have you searched?”
“We could use somebody checking out the beach,” Jojo said without a blink.
Lilly felt a clutch at her chest. “Would he have gotten that far?” Could a puppy that age swim?
“Don’t know.” Jojo shrugged. “But if you and Alec could head there…”
“Of course,” Lilly said, and shoved her suitcases closer to the rental desk. Then she turned and began fast-walking from the lobby.
Alec grabbed her elbow and steered her in a different direction. “Sugar, the ocean’s this way,” he said.
As they passed through the pool area, Lilly grabbed one of the double-wide, luxurious beach towels stacked on a cart. “If he’s wet,” she said, her voice tight with growing anxiety. “We’ll get him nice and dry.”
Without a word, Alec took the terrycloth from her and tucked it beneath his arm. Lilly hurried her pace, tripping on an unseen bump in the winding path.
With a smothered curse, Alec caught her hand, steadied her. “Stay close,” he said, keeping hold of her fingers.
She understood why. Fog had settled over the resort, sifting through the feathery fronds of the palms trees and leaving dew behind on every surface. As she hurried, a wet philodendron leaf slapped her calf and sprinkled droplets onto her shoe.
The resort’s rock-studded asphalt path led them to the beach, but she only knew they’d reached it because of the change of surface beneath her soles, the mist was that thick. Alec paused and she looked left, right, and then in front of her, trying to discern anything in the blanket of gray.
“How will we find him?” she asked Alec, the moisture-laden air smothering her voice’s volume down to a hush. “Buster!” she yelled, without waiting for an answer. “Buster!”
The man at her side muttered another curse, then squeezed her hand. “Go back, Lilly. Follow the path to the resort. I’ll…finish up here.”
“No.” She thought of the adorable baby canine, possibly wandering around lost in the sand. Or maybe he would react to fear like she had as a child, and find some place to go to ground. Slipping free of Alec’s grasp, she ran a few steps forward and turned in a circle, trying to figure out where to start.
“Buster!” She began jogging while calling out the pup’s name, distress stealing her breath. “Buster!”
She thought she heard Alec shouting for her, but there was a buzzing whine in her head. The lack of any sort of landmark—her hand nearly disappeared when she stretched her arm to its full length—befuddled her senses, but she pressed on, ignoring everything but the absolute need to find the dog.
No creature should feel abandoned. No creature should be so alone.
Miranda Thatcher couldn’t lose the chance she’d taken on love again.
Warm tears slipped down Lilly’s cold face and she dashed at the useless things. “Buster! Buster!”
The fog muffled the roar of the surf too, but she tried to pay attention to it, remembering Alec telling her to keep the ocean on her right…or was it her left? The soft sand gave way to the flatter, harder stuff, but that made it easier to run and she increased her speed, the wet surface sucking at her shoes.
In the near distance, she made out something dark, the size of a sleeping puppy. She sprinted for it, only to discover a moldering hunk of kelp. Disappointed, she refocused her gaze, and saw another possibility. This dark thing was moving, and she leaped in its direction, only to realize too late that she’d jumped into the low spread of the surf, and it was only more seaweed, moving with the tide.
Up to her ankles in ocean, she began wading out again. But in doing so, she executed the cardinal sin of any beach-going Californian, she turned her back on the Pacific. Out of nowhere, a wave caught her from behind. Lilly stumbled, tried righting herself, but then fell into the water on her hands and knees. The following wave rushed in before she could stand, and she was slapped in the face by a stinging dollop of seawater.
Sputtering, she managed to get to her feet, but then Alec was there, and he was lifting her, carrying her back to drier land. “Enough,” he said roughly. “Enough.”
He wrapped her in the towel he carried, even as she struggled to get free of it. “I’m all right.” Urgency clawed at her. One small creature must be saved. “We have to find the dog, understand? We have to find the dog.”
Alec held her more tightly in his arms. “Buster’s fine, Lilly. He was never missing.”
Her spine shot straight and she stared up at him. “What?”
“Jojo made up that story. She made up the story to delay your departure.”
Inside their terry cocoon, her arms flailed. “What?” she screeched, hitting out at Alec, though she had little leverage to do any harm. She’d been genuinely worried about the dog. Terrified, actually. “I thought Buster was in danger.”
“I know. And I let you think so.”
Fighting to get free, she continued striking Alec’s chest from beneath the towel. He took it, standing still against her ineffectual assault, his own arms still stubbornly encircling her. Eventually she ran out of energy and rested her forehead on his shoulder, breathing hard, her outrage draining away.
“Buster’s actually okay?” she asked, her voice hoarse. “You’re sure?”
“As sure as I am that Jojo and I are seriously screwed up,” he said, then inhaled a long breath. “I don’t know how I’m going to make this up to you, sugar.”
“I don’t know how you’re going to make this up to me either,” she said, indignant now. “And so you know, you are seriously screwed up.”
“Yeah.”
“Your mom’s going to kill you,” she said, glaring up at him. “I can’t wait to tell her.”
For a minute she thought he wasn’t breathing. “That would be okay with me,” he finally said in a mild voice.
“But I guess I can’t, because my rental is waiting. I’m going home tonight. Now.”
He stiffened. “I wish you wouldn’t.”
“Alec…”
“You’re starting to shiver,” he said, gathering her closer as if he could transfer his body heat to her. It was working, she could feel warmth where they were pressed against each other, breasts to chest, hips to hips. “I should take you back,” he murmured.
But he didn’t move, instead continuing to hold her, his hands stroking over her in slow caresses. Lilly ordered herself to do something besides stand like a doll in his embrace, but now that the panic was over, she found herself enervated. And the petting…that was hard to put a stop to, not when it made her feel cherished. Treasured.
It was all wrong, all of it, but right now she could only absorb every sensation.
“Don’t be mad at Jojo,” he eventually said against her ear, his hot breath causing a shiver to roll down her neck.
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“Why did she make up such a thing?”
“Because of me. She wanted to give me a chance to persuade you—”
“No,” Lilly said, forcing herself to sound firm. “I explained.”
“And I heard you. So I’m only asking for a baby step. Just stay at the resort until after the party tomorrow night,” he said.
The party for which she’d bought the smokin’ dress. How she’d wanted Alec to see her in it, when she’d stood in front of the mirror at the boutique and pretended that she might have a different kind of life.
He kissed the top of her head. “That’s all. Stay for the party. I’m not asking for anything more.”
Of course, he didn’t say he wouldn’t ask for anything more later. That later he wouldn’t press her for all the things she was unable of giving or knew nothing about how to give.
As if sensing her hesitation, he cradled her face in his hands and drew it back so he could stare into her eyes. “Just this single baby step.”
For now. That hovered in the air, but she didn’t think she had the willpower to refuse him, not when he was looking at her with such tenderness.
When she sighed in defeat, he smiled. It wasn’t triumphant, but warm. And maybe a tinge relieved. The last of her resistance melted into a puddle at their feet. “Single step,” she reminded him.
He nodded. “And just think, sugar, this way you get to tattle on me to my mom.”
She gave him a stern face. “It’s not tattling, young man, if it’s a true transgression.”
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.” Ale
c 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.
Our Last First Kiss KOBO Page 18
