Cinderella Busted (The Cinderella Romances Book 1)

by Petie McCarty

  “I feel it, too,” she said quickly. “Like I’ve known you for years, not hours.”

  She slid her arms back around his neck and kissed him with all the emotion roiling inside her. She threaded her fingers through the curls on his neck and tugged him closer. With a growl, he cupped her hip and pulled her off her feet as through trying to absorb her into his skin. Oxygen deprivation eventually separated them, and he steadied her when her feet finally touched sand. Lily felt relieved his breathing sounded as labored as hers. They stared at each other wide-eyed.

  “Damn,” he rasped, his voice uneven. “We fit—” He paused for a much-needed breath. “—perfectly.”

  Lily felt as though she teetered on the edge of a precipice high above a beautiful valley, yet the imminent free fall didn’t scare her. She felt exhilarated. Did falling in love feel like this? Hank had said he fell in love with Lily’s mother at first sight and never looked back. Strangely, Lily felt no fear at the possibility. Maybe love at first sight was genetic—in her blood.

  “You’ll come with me?” he persisted.

  Not just one night?

  His expression looked so tentative, she melted and reached for him again. “Yes.”

  He grabbed her hands and pulled them up to kiss them both, then pressed a light kiss on her lips. “If I’m to hold up my end of the bargain we made tonight, I better take you back now. You can’t kiss me like that again, or I’ll lose control. I need some practice to build up my stamina.”

  And she plummeted to the valley below.

  Chapter 3

  “Did he find you out?” Tammy asked Lily the minute she stepped into the office early the next morning.

  “Not yet.”

  “Judging by the smile on your face, you had a wonderful time.”

  “I did.” Lily grinned at her. “So wonderful I couldn’t sleep.”

  Tammy’s eyes widened. “Were you alone?”

  “Of course!”

  “So give me details.” Tammy slammed the account ledger shut, and Lily slipped over to the back counter to grab a cup of coffee.

  “I almost snuck out and ran for home,” she said, stirring in cream.

  “What did he do? Was he a jerk? I thought you said you had a wonderful time!”

  “I did, and no, he wasn’t. Well, sort of. But he couldn’t help it.”

  Tammy frowned. “What does that mean?”

  Lily plopped down in a chair near Tammy’s desk. “You know that cocktail party he took me to?”

  “Yeah?”

  “The party was at his girlfriend’s house.”

  “That son of a bitch!” Rob thundered as he strode in the back door.

  “I’ll say,” Tammy piped in angrily.

  “Actually, she’s his ex-girlfriend, and he apologized for taking me there.”

  “Apology not accepted,” Rob snapped.

  Lily gaped for a second, then laughed. “He was my date, Rob.”

  “I don’t care. That’s low.”

  “Which is why I was sneaking out when he caught me.”

  The phone rang, and Tammy spun around in her chair to grab it. “Bloom & Grow.”

  “Who was she?” Rob prodded, not waiting for Tammy.

  “Delia Armstead. Do you know her?” Lily asked.

  “Yes, but I haven’t been around her for years. My father knows her better. Dad always said Delia was beautiful and difficult and used to getting her own way, same as her old man. And Delia’s father is a city councilman now.”

  “I thought he looked familiar,” Lily said.

  “Our families socialized when we were younger, and Chester was still on his first wife. I never could stand Delia.” Rob snorted. “I made the mistake of telling her once I wanted to grow plants for a living. She laughed until she cried and wanted to know why I wanted to lower myself to a mindless job any Guatemalan could do. How’s that for politically correct?”

  She grimaced. “Nice lady.”

  “If Rhett’s been going out with Delia, you may want to rethink your pick, Lil. The society page has those two as on-again, off-again.”

  “She’s his ex-girlfriend,” Lily protested, “and I don’t care. He wants to be with me. He said so.”

  Rob gave a stage-worthy sigh.

  “Stop that, and I don’t want to hear your guys-will-say-anything speech either. I have that one memorized.”

  Tammy hung up and grinned at them both. “That was another order for the annuals we put in the spring lineup. Word is spreading.”

  Rob pumped a fist, and she asked, “What’d I miss?”

  Lily glared at him. “Nothing. Rob was just trying to talk me into giving up Rhett because he has an ex-girlfriend hanging around.”

  “Well, he did take you to the ex-girlfriend’s house,” Tammy said, earning a glare of her own, “and there is that little deception thing you have going on.”

  “We left the party shortly after we arrived,” Lily argued, “and I’ll tell Rhett who I really am soon.”

  “When?” Rob and Tammy asked in unison.

  “In New York when he can’t just drive me back home and leave me.”

  Her friends both gaped incredulously. Lily gave them a shortened version of the happy half of her date at the beach.

  “I’m convinced,” Tammy said, smiling dreamily. “That sounds so romantic.”

  “Well, I’m not convinced.” Rob scowled. “I think it’s a bad idea. You can’t run home either, you know.”

  “I’ll have my own room,” Lily said petulantly.

  Tammy asked, “Did you happen to tell him that you—”

  “No!” Lily cut her off.

  “Honey, you’re building up a pile of deceptions,” Tammy said gently.

  “I’m not,” Lily cried and jumped to her feet. “We’re still getting to know each other, and it’ll all come out at some point. I’m going to New York, and that’s final. When he likes me enough, I’ll tell him all about the nursery.” She paused at the door. “You two will take of the nursery while I’m gone, right?”

  They both nodded. “Sure.”

  When she left the office, Tammy turned to Rob. “She’s half in love with him already.”

  He nodded slowly.

  “What are we going to do?”

  Rob gave her a bleak look. “Put up storm warnings and ride out the hurricane when it hits.”

  “I really appreciate you going shopping with me,” Lily said and changed lanes amidst the I-95 Saturday morning traffic, squeezing her truck in-between two semis.

  “Are you kidding me?” Tammy all but squealed. “This is huge. An incredibly sexy—and might I add, rich—man is whisking my best friend off for Cinderella’s week in New York City, and she asked me to help pick out the ball gowns!”

  She laughed. “Hardly. A couple cocktail dresses and some tourist clothes.”

  Tammy gave her a pointed look. “And at least one ball gown or a gown any way. Buchanan’s rich. Who knows where he might take you.”

  “It is really exciting.” She grinned and pulled off at the exit for the Palm Beach Gardens Mall.

  “So when are you going to tell him?”

  The smile faded. “I’ll tell him I’m a gardener when we get to New York. Sometime.”

  “No, not that secret. I mean the other.”

  She slanted a glance at Tammy and caught her friend’s knowing look. She heaved a sigh. “I tried to tell him last night.”

  “You already did?” Tammy looked, and sounded, incredulous. “On your first date?”

  She almost cursed when she felt her cheeks grow warm.

  “You’re blushing. It must have been good. Tell me.”

  “I told him I couldn’t sleep with a guy unless I lik
ed him—a lot.”

  “He asked you to sleep with him on the first date?” Tammy left incredulous and shifted straight to appalled.

  Lily’s cheeks grew warmer still. “No, I just thought he did, so I blurted everything out.”

  Tammy started to laugh. Really hard.

  “It’s not funny.”

  “Sorry, Lil, but it really is. So what’d he say?”

  “He said he’d just have to make me like him. A lot.”

  “Ohhh, that is sooo sweet,” Tammy gushed.

  “But he never said he’d care a lot about me,” Lily argued.

  “Never look a gift horse, girlfriend. At least, you didn’t tell him you had to be in love first, and Rhett didn’t boogie when you said you’d have to care for him before you slept with him. A lot of guys would have.” Tammy beamed at her. “That’s huge. The man is sticking it out.”

  “For now.”

  “Honey, he sounds like a keeper.”

  Lily couldn’t help herself. She grinned. “He does, doesn’t he?” The grin didn’t last long. “There’s still my deception though.”

  Traffic in all three lanes had stopped dead on PGA Boulevard, and emergency lights were visible about a half mile up the road.

  Tammy waved her off. “That mistaken identity thing is nothing. Tell him in a couple days when he’s really and truly crazy about you. It probably happens to him all the time.”

  “I don’t know. I get the sneaky suspicion this may be a very big deal to him.”

  “Nah, but your other issue is guaranteed to be a big deal. Maybe you could ease off those primly strict standards of yours and go ahead and sleep with Rhett, if you really like him and enjoy being with him. We don’t want the guy to give up when you set the bar at love.”

  Lily turned to frown at her friend, glad the traffic had stopped dead. “I don’t want my first time to be a quick roll in the hay. It has to mean something.”

  Tammy flinched and Lily felt a stab of guilt.

  “I didn’t mean that the way—”

  “I know you didn’t. But maybe you’re making too big a deal about it.”

  Lily stared bleakly.

  “No, hear me out. You’re making your virginity the Holy Grail of your life—something so perfect, no man will be able to earn the right to partake of it.”

  “That’s not true.”

  “Honey, it is,” Tammy soothed. “You’re driven about this issue like you’re driven about everything else in your life.”

  “You say that like it’s bad to have goals to strive for.”

  “Strive for, yes, but not at the sake of all else. Not at the sake of any light and love in your life.”

  Lily stared straight ahead at the black SUV in front of them.

  “First, it was your grades. You had to be number one, so you made valedictorian. Hank told me how he’d worried about you in high school. He said you passed on any and all social activities so you could study, and any spare time you had, you spent in the nursery no matter how hard he tried to get you to go out.”

  Lily felt sucker-punched. “Dad told you that?”

  Tammy nodded.

  “He needed me.”

  “Yes,” she agreed, “but not at the sake of all else. Then you repeated the whole scene in college. Hank said he’d rather you had graduated with a C average and had some fun and made a few friends instead of graduating first in your class.”

  “Magna cum laude,” Lily whispered.

  Tammy gave her the I-rest-my-case stare.

  “Why didn’t Dad say something to me?”

  “He did!” Tammy wailed. “He sent you away to school instead of letting you go to Florida Atlantic University—close by, like you wanted. He thought by going away you’d be forced to make friends.”

  Lily winced. “We fought over that, and we never fought about anything.”

  “Hank was desperate for you to have some dating experience. Why do think he started that intern program and only brought in guys?”

  “No,” she whispered, “he didn’t!”

  Tammy nodded grimly. “Handpicked by Hank to attract your interest.”

  “Did the interns know?” Lily demanded, aghast.

  “Oh good Lord, no!”

  Lily blew out a sigh of relief and then chuckled. “Only my dad. A few of them were cute.”

  “But you kept them all at arm’s length.”

  Lily watched the SUV in front of her change lanes and make a U-turn. “I wish Dad had talked to me.”

  “I do, too.” Tammy pressed on like a steamroller. “Then when you graduated you tried to turn the nursery on its ear. I was here by then to see that. You were so driven to make changes to the nursery.”

  “I just wanted to improve Bloom & Grow to make it—”

  “—the best,” Tammy finished for her. “You were driven to make the nursery the biggest and the best when Hank only wanted it to be—”

  “—different and special,” Lily interjected sadly. “I did figure that out soon enough.”

  “And Hank was thrilled. He’d be thrilled to see what you’ve done with the nursery today, but he wouldn’t be thrilled to see what you’ve done with your love life.”

  Lily frowned at her friend. “What do you mean? What have I done with my love life?”

  Tammy threw up her hands. “Absolutely nothing! Hank wanted you to date. To take a chance at love, not sit at the nursery and wait for love to find you and hit you over the head.” She smiled at Lily’s grim expression. “But it’s not too late. Go to New York with Rhett. Have some fun. You have to at least take the risk and give the guy a chance to be worth it.”

  “I’m scared,” Lily admitted. “I want to make the right choice.” She felt her stomach twist into a knot. “Maybe me going to New York is a big mistake.”

  “No! Putting your virginity in a shrine no man can win is a big mistake. Finding something wrong with every guy you meet is a big mistake. You have to take risks or you’ll never find Mr. Right.”

  Lily glowered. “Dad said he fell in love with Mom on their first date.” She shifted the truck into gear when the traffic finally started to move.

  “Yeah and your mom at least accepted the first date and gave your dad a chance, and a second chance and a third chance. All I’m saying is, it’s okay to believe in love at first sight, but be ready to take some risks. Take a chance on love.”

  “Dad had hoped I’d save my first time for love. How will I know when the first time is right?”

  All laughter had left her friend’s eyes. “Trust. Plain and simple. You’ll trust the guy, and you’ll trust the guy with your first time.”

  “Trust comes with love.”

  “And trust can come before love,” Tammy corrected. “Will you at least keep an open mind? If it feels right, at least give Rhett a chance.”

  Lily hesitated, then nodded solemnly.

  “Atta’ girl!”

  Lily met Rhett at the Jupiter airfield at three that afternoon. Rob grumbled about giving up his Porsche for a week just so it could sit at the airfield, but in the end, he gave in as Lily knew he would.

  She was glad she’d made the rush trip to Niemen Marcus with Tammy to buy clothes. She’d never spent so much on outfits before, but she didn’t care. Rhett noticed how she looked, and he made her feel beautiful. Every time a twinge of guilt bubbled up, she thought of his kisses on the moonlit beach, and the resultant sensual overload stifled any guilt-induced pressure.

  She wanted Rhett like she had never wanted any guy before, and she had known he was different after their brief couple of hours together at the nursery. The man made her laugh. He liked how her crazy mind worked, and he seemed to enjoy the chaos. Sharing their childhood memories last night had been speci
al, tender. She wanted more time with him and refused to consider the consequences of her deception. She was determined, after her talk with Tammy, to take a chance on love with him.

  Hindsight said telling Rhett about the nursery right away would have been better, and the longer she waited, the greater the chance her deception could damage their fledgling relationship. But telling him could make him bolt, and that niggling fear kept her silent. She just needed a little more time to forge their bond tighter, so nothing and no one could break it. If he cared for her, he would forgive her. He had even agreed to her own room in New York.

  Maybe she wouldn’t need it.

  Rhett waited next to the plane when she arrived and greeted her with a hug and a kiss, right in front of his pilot. Lily loved it. He looked so handsome and sexy in his polo shirt and jeans, she didn’t want to let him go.

  The pilot took her luggage, and Rhett bundled her onto the plane. She tried not to gape at the furnishings as he gave her a tour of the plane and then seated her for take-off. He took her hand in his as the plane roared down the runway, and his tender gesture put a lump in her throat.

  “I have a surprise for you tonight,” he said and brushed his lips across her knuckles, sending a swarm of her stomach butterflies on their own flight that had nothing to do with the plane lifting off the runway.

  “Oh?” She pulled her hand back and tried to sound casual like one of his jet-set crowd, but it came out breathless anyway. Just looking at the man made her breathless, and she feared she was already lost.

  “I’m taking you to dinner and then on a carriage ride in Central Park.”

  “A carriage ride?” she said and stopped short of a squeal. “Just like—”

  Whoa, girl! You say Cinderella and the jig is up.

  He grinned. “Just like what?”

  “Just like I was hoping we could. Carriage rides are so romantic.” Would she never stop feeling like Cinderella? The name echoed with a fresh twinge of guilt.