Harlequin E Contemporary Romance Box Set Volume 2: Maid to CraveAll I HaveThe Last First DateLight My Fire

by Rebecca M. Avery

  Lily took in his words for a long minute. He’d been feeling the feelings since last year? That put this on a whole other level. One that made her pulse pound. But he didn’t need to know that, at least not this second.

  First, she needed to let him know that she was ready. For the light, for the dark. For him.

  She came around the island and put her arms around him, squeezing tightly. “You and Chase have always been my protectors and I love both of you for that. But I’m not just his little sister or the girl you protected on the playground. I’m a grown up. I know what I want.” The hug turned to a caress and Lily reached up to press her lips against his. “What I want is you.”

  Nate kissed her back. “We can go as slow as you want, despite what happened last night.”

  “I know. And I know I said not on a second date, but, there’s this rock star who is a very bad influence on me.”

  “A rock star, huh?”

  She kissed him again, slipping her tongue into his mouth. “Yeah. The hottest one on the planet. And he’s going to take me to bed.”

  Nate picked her up, one arm across her back and the other beneath her knees. Lily held on, kissing him as he moved around the island, through the living room and into her bedroom. The lights were low, casting sexy shadows across the walls. He laid her across the bed and smoothed his hands over her legs until he reached her feet. Nate slid her sandals off and kissed the tip of each toe before starting the journey back up her body.

  He paused at her waist, unbuttoned the low snap on her jeans and peeled the fabric back, revealing a hot pink thong. When his mouth covered that small bit of lace, Lily gasped and as his fingers pushed beneath, she bit her lip to keep from crying out.

  It was sweeter this time. His hands still demanded a reaction, but there was a tenderness now that hadn’t been there before. He pushed two fingers inside her folds and then puffed a hot breath over her clit and Lily’s eyes rolled back in her head. A wave was building at the edge of her consciousness, pushing her higher. Pushing her closer to this man who had been part of her life nearly as long as she could remember.

  “Nate.” The word was a whisper that drove him on. His mouth replaced his fingers working a new kind of magic and the wave crashed, burying her in its warm heat.

  Her body was still in midorgasm as Nate stripped her clothes off, tossing them across the room haphazardly. His followed and then he was back, kissing his way over her hipbone to her ribs, past her breasts to nibble against her lips. She could taste herself on him and it was one of the most erotic sensations she had ever felt. Lily kissed him back, wanting more of him.

  Wanting everything.

  She wrapped her legs around his waist, feeling the heaviness of his erection between them. She reached for him, liking the feel of velvet steel in her palm. Lily used the tip of one nail against the head of his penis, until a small bit of moisture leaked from him. Knowing her power over him was a heady feeling.

  “Damn, keep that up and this is going to be one of the shortest nights in romantic history.”

  “Short and sweet. Long and tempting. I’ll take anything.” Lily pushed against his chest and Nate flipped over to his back. She reversed the route he’d traveled over her body, spending a little extra time playing with his flat nipples, liking his growl of hunger at her explorations.

  She continued the journey, taste-testing his six-pack as she followed the light dusting of hair from his chest over his abs to his hips. His penis angled up, hard as a rock. Tempting her. Lily licked over the tip, liking his musky taste. She took him inside, liking the feel of his cock in her mouth, filling her. Nate’s hands clenched against her head, holding her in place for a second. Slowly, Lily lifted her head, keeping her tongue tight against the vein on the underside of his erection and Nate moaned, a low, deep sound.

  “Lil, I can’t take much more of this.”

  She ignored him, taking him in her mouth again. She played with his balls, rolling them gently in her hand as she used her tongue and teeth against his cock. And then he was lifting her up, up, up over his body, the feel of his sweaty skin against hers a new kind of torture. She gulped in a breath at the expression in his eyes. Flicked her head toward the nightstand next to the bed.

  “Top drawer.” Her voice was raw, but Lily didn’t care. This was Nate. She loved him.

  The thought made her pulse pound, deafening any other sound in the room.

  She loved him. She loved Nate.

  The admissions freaked the hell out of her, but Lily pushed back at the fear, refusing to examine it.

  He rolled the condom over his length and pushed her back against the pillows, oblivious to her new train of thought, silencing her with another kiss.

  Nate pushed inside her and every other thought fled. He teased her entrance, pushing in and pulling out in short, twisting motions until she wanted to scream. She wanted, needed more than a teasing, playful moment. Lily reached up, pulling his face to hers and kissing him until she felt his arms loosen around her.

  She used her body to flip him over so that she was on top. In control.

  He grinned. “Is this another way of telling me you’re a grown up?”

  She tweaked his nipple and slid down his length. Her eyes closed and her head dropped back. She held there, for just a second. And then speared Nate with a look of her own. “You bet your ass.”

  There were no more words, just her and Nate and the night.

  It was perfect.

  Chapter Six

  “This is the hottest reality talent show in America. Two hot-as-hell hosting outfits aren’t nearly enough. And don’t get me started on what the woo-hoo girls tried to put you in for the last night of pre-production.” Kat pushed Lily back into the changing room with two arms filled with leather, lace and another pair of boots than had to be a felony. “Pants that shouldn’t be worn as pajamas and a graphic tee from about 1985? Not happening again.” She continued mumbling, but Lily tuned her out.

  Kat was a glamazon. She knew what looked good and Lily was happy for the help.

  “You know they’re doing it because of you and Nate.”

  Lily tuned back in as she pulled the spangly mini-dress over her head.

  “And I’ve been perfectly friend-like and not asked, but we’ve been shopping now for about two hours and you haven’t said anything.” Kat poked her head through the curtain. “If you don’t start spilling, and I mean five seconds ago, you’ll wish the woo-hoo girls were still dressing you.” Finally Kat’s gaze took in the dress and she whistled low. “Ho-ly hell, sister. Nate’s going to fall out of his chair when he sees you in this tonight.”

  Lily turned to the side where cutouts showed a bit more flesh than she was used to. “It’s a hosting gig, for Pete’s sake, not a day on the set of Lily does Las Vegas,” she muttered.

  “It could totally be from a day on the set of Lily and Nate go house-hunting.”

  She wrinkled her nose at Kat. “We’re not house hunting.”

  “You’ve been together practically twenty-four-seven since the first week of shooting. You’ve blown off every shopping trip we had planned because of a picnic with Nate or a sail to Catalina or—”

  “I’m so sorry.” She reached for Kat’s hand. “I’ve been a horrible friend.”

  Kat waved off her apology. “Please. I’d blow me off, too, for a guy like Nate. That isn’t the point. Tomorrow night is the first live show. If you’re not more-than-dating, I’ll eat that boot over there and get arrested for a crime against fashion. Come on, tell me already.”

  Lily laughed. She blew a long lock of hair from her eyes and grabbed the leather boots from the bench along the back wall. “We aren’t house hunting. We are dating and I think it’s serious.” The supple leather melted against her fingers and her toes curled against the carpeted floor. She loved leather. And as she slid them over her feet, she felt the last vestiges of Rayna fall away, too. Gone was the girl who was afraid of doing or saying or wearing the wrong thing and bei
ng called out for it on cable TV.

  It wasn’t the clothes. It wasn’t even Nate, although the look in his eyes when they made love—accepting and excited—was a boost to her morale. It was the distance from her old show. It was the producers trusting her to ask the questions. She’d seen the segment they put together from the impromptu performance that first week and it was great. They shot a follow-up, after singing lessons, and it was another confidence boost to know what she said had helped those kids. If that duo didn’t win the competition hands down, she would eat the boot and join Kat in the jail cell.

  Kat tapped one high-heeled, booted foot against the tile outside the changing room curtain. “Come on, Lil, I told you about going all the way with Donnie Kingston after Senior Prom. Tell me how hot Nate is in the sack.” She tap-tapped again and Lily could almost see her, leaning against the wall in black skinny jeans, black tee and silver jewelry. Simple, understated. Like she just stepped off a page in Vogue despite the casual vibe. Kat had that power. She never looked out of place, always hit the right fashion notes. Never landed on snippy cable fashion-don’t shows.

  “I don’t kiss and tell,” she said primly. And then threw back the fitting room curtain and strutted from the small room. “I do, however, stop traffic.”

  “In that get-up, you might stop a runaway train.” Kat’s eyes bugged and she whistled low. “Good-bye, Kansas.”

  “Hello, live audience?” Lily did a quick turn before the three way mirrors, a move filled with confidence, but her voice was quiet.

  Kat nodded. “If they don’t hire you on a permanent basis, they’re fools. The lot of them.” She reached out, pulled the sales tags from the garments and started for the check out counter. Lily grabbed her old clothes and hurried after.

  After paying for the items, they climbed into Kat’s Jeep and started for the studio.

  Lily took a deep breath. “I think I love him.” There. She’d said the words out loud and the world hadn’t come crashing down around her.

  Nearly missing the exit, Kat swerved onto the exit ramp at seventy miles an hour and Lily grabbed the oh-shit-bar, holding on for dear life. Okay, maybe she’d spoken too quickly.

  “You love him? Oh, this is bad.”

  “No, it’s not. Its…kind of…” She couldn’t put the feeling into words. And she wasn’t about the start quoting Elizabeth Barrett Browning. Yeah, she loved more than a hundred different things about Nate, and Kat was her best friend, but that didn’t mean she needed to go to that extreme.

  “Does he feel the same?” Kat asked as she slowed the Jeep to a near crawl. Lily swallowed.

  “I don’t know. He likes me well enough. We have a past together. You know that image he’s tried so hard to perfect over the past ten years?” She waited for Kat’s nod and continued, “It’s fake. He’s not the hard, wild guy the tabloids write about—”

  “Lily—”

  “I know there’ve been women. I’ve been with other guys. But that doesn’t change right now. And right now is pretty good.”

  “Right now you’re in a bubble.” Kat held up a hand. “You’ve been hiding out at your house and his, right?’ Lily nodded. A dull roar sounded down the street. Lily looked up and saw a mass of humanity swarming the studio. Men, women, teenagers. Screaming fans, all clamoring to get inside. “Well, its about to get real.”

  Butterflies beat against her belly. Kat took the back entrance into the parking lot and pulled to a stop under the branches of a small tree. She turned to Lily. “This is reality, Lil. That one day of pictures and phone calls is going to be magnified about twenty times, starting tonight, and it’s going to be constant. Are you ready for that?”

  “I’ve faced the tabloid pressure before.”

  Kat reached across the console and patted Lily’s hand. “I think it’s great. You and Nate. I really do and I’m only a little bit jealous that you’ve got the hottest guy from the class of ‘03. But, Lil, this isn’t like the meetings from your old show. Where the producers would tell you what to say and do. There is no script and as much as I love Nate, he isn’t known for sticking around when the questions get tough.”

  Another car pulled into the lot. Nate’s sexy Hemi-Cuda. Bats joined the butterflies in her stomach, battling for supremacy. He stopped beside Kat’s Jeep and got out, opened Lily’s door and offered Kat a friendly smile.

  “When are you coming out on the road with the band, Kat?”

  She shrugged and flipped her hair. “You can’t afford me.” She sent a shuttered look at Lily and got out of the Jeep. “I’ll see you inside.”

  Nate looked from Kat’s retreating back to Lily. “Something I should know about?”

  Lily hooked her thumb in the general direction of the screaming crowd. “She’s not a fan.”

  He watched the edge of the building, as if he could see through the concrete and tiles to the crowd beyond. Finally he looked back at her. “And she’s afraid that her friend will be hurt when Janey Smith rags all over the comments section of some tabloid story about us?”

  Lily nodded. “I’m not going to lie, my feelings might get rubbed a little raw. But as long as you’re here to sooth the burn, I’ll be fine.”

  Nate took her hands. “That’s good. Because I’m not going anywhere.”

  Frank Killian waved in their direction from the studio door. “You two are needed out front. This is the first live show, so wave and do the red-carpet thing. And, Lily, you’ll be on the carpet most of the night. We’re opening the show from there and you’ll introduce the acts, too.”

  The bats and butterflies were joined by a couple of Rottweilers in Lily’s belly. Opening the show from a sound stage and theatre was one thing, but dealing with that mass of humanity in front? Something else altogether. Nate squeezed her hand.

  Lily grinned at him, ignoring the pounding in her belly and the sweat beginning to roll down the back of her neck. “Let’s go show them what we’ve got in store for the season.”

  Nate’s grin was slow and lazy and did more to quell the angry mob in Lily’s stomach than any mental pep talk she could muster. “You’ll be fine.”

  They skirted the edge of the building, arriving at the edge of the carpet just as the floor director exited the building, looking harried. He motioned to them and waved them forward. The first of Nate’s fans caught sight of him and squealed, reaching across the metal barriers to grab his hand, his arms, his clothes. His grip on Lily’s hand remained firm as they walked, waved and smiled for the cameras.

  Finally, they got to the press area and Lily breathed a quick sigh of relief. They’d made it through the mad rush and the reporters would at least keep things professional.

  She hoped.

  And she was wrong.

  The same photographer from that morning outside Nate’s cottage was there, leering at Lily from behind the velvet ropes. The first reporter asked the usual questions—who were they wearing, how the pre-production had gone. And just when Lily reached for her microphone to prepare her opening, the smarmy reporter lobbed a hardball directly across the meet-and-greet area.

  “What gives, Lily? Trading in sitcom sweetness for rock-n-roll rebel?”

  Nate moved, as if to field the question, pushing her behind him by a couple of inches. But Lily wasn’t having it.

  “If by rebel you mean employee who shows up early, stays at the office late and gives her all every day, by all means, I’ll take the rock-n-roll rebel crown. Thanks.” She offered the man an icy smile and kept walking. But he wouldn’t give up.

  “Rumor has it you’re the reason Rayna was cancelled. Was it so you’d have more time with your rocker boyfriend?”

  She waved at a screaming fan with one hand and held tight to Nate with the other. “Wow, that’s a twelve-week old headline. I thought your paper was in the business of printing news, not rehashing the past.” That got a few chuckles from the rest of the reporters.

  “What’s the new headline, then?” The man was fishing.

  “You
should know. You’re the one who was staking out Nate’s cottage a couple of weeks ago.”

  Another reporter jumped into the back and forth. “Are you a couple, then?”

  Lily looked at Nate, who gave her that sexy half smile and shrugged one shoulder. As if to say the ball was in her court. This time she squeezed his hand. More flashbulbs popped and a few more questions were flung across the velvet ropes, but Lily was mesmerized by the look in Nate’s eyes. Tender. Hungry.

  He leaned closer to her ear and whispered, “You can tell them whatever you want. But my answer is yes. We’re a couple of crazy, lovesick fools. And when I get you home tonight, I’ll expect you to take my temperature to make sure I’m contagious.” She laughed and rested her head on Nate’s shoulder for a second. “They’re flagging me, have to run.”

  “I’ll see you in a couple of hours.”

  And then he was gone, but Lily wasn’t alone. In the heat of the spotlights, with a microphone in her hand and surrounded by thousands of people she didn’t know, she was surrounded by herself. Buoyed by Nate, but able to stand in the spotlight on her own.

  Finally she turned back to the reporter. “Could you repeat that question?”

  “Are you and Nate Lansford a couple?”

  Lily shrugged. “I’m not the kind of girl who kisses and tells. You’ll just have to see for yourself.” She left the press area to a chorus of additional questions, but didn’t answer.

  The show’s cameraman waved her over, hit his spotlight and gave her the countdown. Lily took a deep breath, pasted a big smile on her face and started talking.

  * * *

  Three hours later, Nate stood outside Lily’s dressing room. Waiting. He hadn’t exactly said the words, but he’d hinted.

  That he loved her.

  She didn’t hint back and that had his stomach in knots throughout the show. Because when this started he sensed it was about more than lust for Lily. What if, now that she had slaked the hunger, it was still only about wanting his body?

  God, he was becoming a damned country song.

  She couldn’t interrupt a live broadcast to say she loved him, too, and while he hinted he didn’t wait around for a return declaration.