by Maddie James
Wine in the morning sounded decadent, and somewhat absurd, which sounded wonderfully silly. She had never had a chance to be absurd or silly in her life. That, had obviously changed! The fact that she had come home with a man she barely knew and was planning on having a wild bout of lovemaking with him made the thought of a few sips of an early morning alcoholic drink seem mundane in comparison.
But a lifetime of control, of reserve, wasn’t something she could comfortably undo in a matter of days. The realization of what she had committed herself to, of what she was about to do, made a little wine seem almost necessary. She bit her bottom lip, raised an eyebrow, and then grinned. Why not? “White?”
Jim picked up a list tucked into the door and studied it for a moment. He turned to the racks and pointed across and down before pulling out a magnum bottle. She bit her lip to keep from commenting on how different their lives were, both past and present. The man had a special place for wine he didn’t like to drink and needed a list to find in which grid it was stored. When she bothered to buy wine, less frequently as the years passed, it usually cost less than ten bucks a bottle.
When he turned the bottle over and the fancy French label faced her, a chill ran up her spine. She knew the brand. Had seen it served to what she had once believed was a multitude of family and friends many times growing up. It wasn’t until later she had learned all her Uncles weren’t really family members and her Aunts were, more often than not, part of Big Daddy’s prostitution work force.
She’d been given a glass on her eighteenth birthday, before her life had so drastically changed. Knew the price tag that went with it. And knew that was a life she had never envisioned having again. Never wanted again.
She opened her mouth to tell Jim to forget about opening the bottle. To forget about everything. Then found she couldn’t speak. He was gorgeous. Ridiculously gorgeous as he stood there reading the label, his head bent down in the same way as when he kissed her. One large, manly hand that had held many a football now held the thick bottle with gentle ease.
Just as he always held her.
That flutter which always came with watching him, thinking of him, wanting him, had her sliding out of her seat. She couldn’t, and wouldn’t, compare this man’s wealth with that of those who raised her. Jim’s was earned without the taint of pain or blood. He earned his money fairly and bought many of his possessions for the pleasure of others.
And he was such a nice guy. Why wasn’t he….
“Have you ever been married?”
Surprised brown eyes turned her way.
“Yes.”
Lilly tugged her bottom lip with her teeth, released it. Uncertain why the question had popped out of her mouth just then, she back-pedaled. “I’m sorry. That was prying.”
Jim shrugged. “It’s no secret.” He frowned for a second before opening a drawer and pulling out a corkscrew. “She liked being the wife of a professional football player. High school coach? Not so much.” He sent her a glance. “It lasted less than two years.”
“I’m sorry.”
Jim smiled at her with that slow slide of a smile she was coming to associate with his response to pleasure. She relaxed.
“Sad part is I realized it was no big deal. And a good lesson.”
“Soured you on relationships?” Lilly couldn’t believe how bold she was being but she couldn’t imagine any woman caring about this man’s money when there was so much more to care about.
Jim shrugged. “No, and yes. I like women. I enjoy them. I’m just a little more careful about investing more than my money and time in them.”
How could what she needed to hear feel like such a slap in the face? Lilly wondered.
He frowned as he adjusted the cork screw atop the cork. “Figure I’ll know the right one when she comes along. My parents were a great example. Loved each other until the day Dad died and barely had a penny to their names. It was great making enough to send them on a European vacation before he passed.”
“That was very nice of you.” And she meant it. To have loving memories. To be able and willing to do for those who had loved him and he had loved. This man was more special than he would ever know. “I don’t need your money but I would like to have some of your time.”
Jim flashed a smile. “Let me open this bottle and you can have all the time you want.”
Lilly walked around the bar and took the wine from his hands, then the corkscrew. She placed both on the bar. “Maybe later. I want you now.”
As if permission was all he’d been waiting for, Lilly found herself in a whirlwind embrace. Her lips were smothered, her body covered, his hands all over her again and again.
Finally! was all she could think as the jacket and then blouse were peeled from her shoulders, down her arms, and dropped to the floor. Fumbling at the clasp of her skirt then its loss came next as her lips were assaulted again, gloriously assaulted, by this man who told her without words how much he desired her. He backed her against the bar then lifted her to sit on its chilly surface in one swift motion. She stared at him stunned, shaking with need and fear, and anticipation as he licked the enhanced valley between her lace-covered breasts.
He backed away, his pupils huge, his nostrils flaring with each shaking breath. That grin, that deliciously wicked grin was in place, full wattage, as he gently raised and kissed each foot before unsnapping, one by one, the garter’s hot pink fastenings. He growled in pleasure, increasing her own, and she made a mental note to thank Suzie for talking her into buying the sexy underwear set. Thoughts of her friend melted as he rolled each stocking down her legs, his hands worshiping each inch of skin as it was exposed, his eyes eating her alive. She could swear she felt teeth on her skin.
Her breath caught and stopped in her throat as he unrolled the silk and used it to tease her heated flesh from instep to inner-thigh, from-inner thigh to woman encased panty. The silk barrier was breached and mindless need exploded within her at the slide of finger against heat. Her head fell back in surrender, her body vibrated violently against him in climactic build, and the doorbell chimed.
****
Jim growled loudly in disbelief and frustration. Nobody ever came onto his property without invitation or warning. He quickly bent down to retrieve Lilly’s clothing, disappointed but not surprised when she scampered off the bar and away from him. She looked around frantically, he could only assume for a place to hide, as his frustration turned to all out anger. Whoever was at his door was about to get a major butt whooping! And then some!
“Here,” he said breathlessly, handing her the suit. “Upstairs, last door, the room right over us is my bedroom. Go on in there and I’ll get rid of whoever this is.”
Lilly hesitated then took the clothes. Her chest heaved just as his did. She stared at him hard, her eyes large, her breaths agitated, her mouth moving soundlessly. He was afraid she was working up to something he didn’t want to hear. “Go on. I’ll be up in a minute.”
She hesitated only a second more before she nodded and hurried across the room, up the stairs, and padded around the balcony hallway until she was directly over him entering his room. At the sound of his bedroom door closing Jim pressed his lips together and marched to the door. He swung it open, ready to break-bad, only to have his words freeze in his throat.
Greetings, cursing, trash-talk, and some serious male teenage fury preceded and followed each of his players and his First Assistant Coach into his living room. He snapped his mouth closed as they all made themselves at home in the viewing lounge, as they often did to go over pre or post game tapes. The trash falling from their lips about Larkstone and how they would pay for “crapping-up” Legend’s football field was music to his ears. He wanted his boys fired up. He wanted them ready to kill, figuratively speaking. And he wanted each and every one of their sorry butts out of his house. He could still taste Lilly on his lips.
He glanced up towards his room as the players’ talk turned to retribution, destruction, an eye for an eye.
He silently groaned.
“Guys.”
All talk ceased. All eyes, filled with wonderful fury, turned his way. It was time to be Coach. “Cowboy up. We’re gonna kick some serious Lark butt. But we are gonna do it on the field. Get your gear and get outside. We’re gonna tackle some trees.”
Grunts and growls of approval carried the team outside. Jim strode to Bobby Filmore, who had made his way to the bar. “Hey. What’s the deal bringing the team here without calling first?”
Bobby slowly dragged his gaze from the bar and faced Jim. Jim glanced back to see what was so interesting. Beside the magnum of champagne were two crumpled, shiny, silk stockings. He turned back to his assistant. “This might be a good time to state your business.”
Bobby held up his hands in mock surrender. “Sorry, Coach. Tried to reach you but you didn’t answer your cell phone.”
Jim patted his back pocket and realized he must have left it in the Jeep. “You should have called the house first then. By the way, how did you get in here?”
Bobby laughed. “Man, I don’t know who she is but she has got you twisted. You left the gate open.”
Jim frowned, certain he had closed the gate with his little black box as always, then shook his head and tried to hide the satisfaction thoughts of Lilly gave him. It was true. She had him all twisted up and he wasn’t minding it a bit. “Get out there and keep them busy. I need to take care of something then I’ll be out, too.”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
“Hey,” Jim said as he stepped into his room.
“Hi.”
She’d peeked out and knew Jim’s team was out front tearing up each other and his lawn. “I guess you forgot you had plans today?”
Jim walked across his large room to pull her into his arms. She exhaled, wondering how she could be so relaxed in the arms of a man who consistently sent her pulse racing and her body yearning.
“This wasn’t in my plans.” He pulled her back a little and nuzzled her forehead. “We were supposed to practice on the field this morning, but Larkstone, the team we play tomorrow night, dumped horse sh— crap all over the field. Gonna backfire if they think that will demoralize my boys. Just pissed them off and made them stronger. We will kick some serious butt.”
She grinned against his chest and they swayed together, dancing to silent music. “I think this excites you.”
Jim’s chuckle vibrated against her cheek. “Yeah. I’d say right now I am pretty excited.”
Lilly laughed outright. “I think you better go down and take care of your business.”
Jim pulled her away again, his eyes alive with devilment. “I’d be happy to go down and take care of business.”
Lilly swatted him away although every agitated cell in her body wanted exactly that. “Very funny. Go. I’ll hang out up here until they’re gone.”
Jim kissed her long and hard, and then did it again. “An hour. I promise they will be gone in an hour.”
Lilly watched him sprint out of the room and made her way to the window. As Jim stepped out into the yard, the team, no matter where they were over the large lawn, or what they were doing, stopped to gather around him. It was obvious, even at distance, his players hung on every word. Their faces reflected rapt attention whether nodding vigorously or laughing as a group at whatever Jim was telling them. Several times cheers went up in unison, other times a cadence of grunts followed by a single clap of hands. The talk ended with them forming a rough circle, right hands stretched to the center, and then a loud shout as all hands flew upward.
Jim turned back then and spotted her in the window. The urge to move, to hide, as the eyes of the entire team turned her way, passed in a moment of bravado she didn’t know she possessed. She wasn’t going to hide. Not this time. Never from life again.
She smiled and waved, and wanted to laugh when the surprised expressions on the players’ faces turned into the same slow slide of smiles as that of the man they obviously worshiped. Lilly stepped back, turned, and made her way back to the main floor, and the kitchen, where she picked up one of the many cordless phones in the room. After a quick call to Legend’s Landing Bed & Breakfast she went about raiding the refrigerator.
****
Jim approached his front door with an apology on the tip of his tongue. The promised one hour turned into two and then three. He really hadn’t had any choice but to be with his team. Coaching the boys was his job. Leading his team to a victorious season was his passion. But he never broke promises if he could help it, and he didn’t want to start with someone he was coming to care for. A lot.
It was a bit baffling to find himself infatuated with a woman again. He really hadn’t been this excited by a woman since college. Even marrying Karen had been more about proving he was ready to quit playing around, grow up, and act like a man. Big mistake. But not one that went beyond skin deep when it didn’t work out.
Women in general were a pleasant diversion during the off season. God’s window-dressing to the world, and to him personally. He appreciated all their attributes, even got a kick out of their bitchy behavior as it had never, with the exception of Suzie, been directed at him.
Lilly was different.
For whatever reason that was so, it was so. He’d felt the impact of the attraction from the first stunning second and that jittery, excited, can’t-get-her-off-the-mind desire hadn’t lessened. If anything it increased with each thought of her.
He opened the front door and the scent hit him full in the face. Something spicy. Something hot. Just like the woman who kept him crazily on edge. He forced himself to head straight up the stairs instead of the kitchen where he heard the low radio sounds of a soft country song. He needed a quick shower before he took Lilly into his arms, as he had no doubt that was exactly what he would do when he saw her again.
He wanted more than his hands on her. He wanted to cover her with his body. Seduce her with his mouth. Make her wild with the same desire he’d forced himself to bury while dealing with his obligations to the team.
He opened his bedroom door and stopped, stunned, then silently moved forward as he drank in the sight of Lilly sleeping in the center of his king-sized bed. Stripped down to a lacy hot pink under-wire bra, matching panties and garter belt, with those stockings he’d already removed once, she oozed seductress. The long lashes against her lily white skin and the soft, even breaths of slumber, which raised and lowered her delicately encased breasts, stirred more than hunger in him. It made him want to protect her, to cherish her, and to have and hold.
Jim shook his head, amazed that he was thinking in the direction of forever. They barely knew each other. But that didn’t matter. Not now. Not when everything inside of him said this was right. Meant to be. His destiny. He’d just have to make her see it, too.
But he didn’t want to scare her. He’d have to take it slow. Give her a chance to see they could have more than just sexual pleasure from each other.
Make her understand there was just no other choice.
****
“...and he brought me home.”
Suzie shook her head. “The man is a moron. A complete moron.”
Lilly nodded and knocked back her fourth martini. “I know. Or maybe I don’t.” She frowned down into her empty glass, wondering where her drink went. She stuck out her lower lip and turned her focus on Suzie. “I must be doing something wrong. I was nearly naked. I made the secret family recipe spaghetti sauce any Italian restaurant would pay big bucks to get their hands on. It came straight from Italy! The man is stupid. That’s all.”
Suzie studied her a moment. “You’re Italian, then?”
Lilly opened her mouth then snapped it closed. Her brain was soaked in alcohol, something she never allowed. A glass of wine every once in a while yes, but not hard liquor. Her safety depended on her wits. She forced herself to focus on what answer she should give. To lie outright would look stupid after what she had already divulged. But the whole truth wouldn’t work either. “Some ancient a
ncestor thing. You know. What do you call it?”
Suzie’s brows shot upward. “An ancestor?”
“Hmmmm.”
Suzie grinned. “A relative?”
“Yes. One of those.” Lilly smiled, certain she had handled the issue well.
“Okay…”
Suzie sipped her own drink and Lilly debated asking for another. Then decided maybe she shouldn’t. Suzie looked really confused. Or like she wanted to ask questions. And questions were not a good idea. She held out her glass. One more couldn’t hurt. “More, please?”
Suzie pressed her lips together as she poured another glass. “You might want to sip on this one.”
Lilly nodded. “Yep...piddy-do-dah.” She giggled, and sloshed a little of her drink onto the decked floor. “Sorry. I’ve never really been drunk before.”
“No kidding?”
She completely missed the dry humor in Suzie’s question. “Nope. BD, that’s B as in Big and D, that’s for Daddy...” Lilly clamped her hand over her mouth. “I’m not supposed to tell you this but I am a runaway.” Lilly nodded her head, serious. “Yep. Run, run, run away. Just like in the song.” She put the drink to her lips and knocked it back in three swallows.
“Lilly, too fast! Oh, no more. What do you mean you’re a runaway? Aren’t you a little too old to be a runaway?”
She shook her head, her tongue felt too thick, but she was determined to explain. “Nope. Just right. Maybe until I die.”
Suzie rose from the patio chair and squatted in front of her. “Are you in some kind of trouble?”
Lilly nodded and was certain her brain slid forward inside her skull. Queasy, she suppressed the tiny voice warning she should hold her tongue. She was tired of hiding every aspect of her life and now that the cat was sort of out of the bag anyway, she was relieved to have someone to talk to. “Big Daddy. He’s really mean.”
