She’d hoped spending a few days apart would make her less attracted to him. But the separation seemed to have had the opposite effect. She’d wanted that kiss, even though she’d known it was a bad idea.
She was so screwed.
Sending up a little prayer to whoever the patron saint of liars was, she grabbed the chicken and followed him into the lion’s den.
…
“So, Derek,” his mother said as Lilly set the fried chicken on the table between the mashed potatoes and corn on the cob. “What color tux do you think you’d like to order?”
“Black,” he said, meeting Lilly’s eyes as she made her way to her chair at the opposite end of the oval table from Derek. He’d been around her enough to recognize an “I told you so” look when he saw it.
“Black is too plain. You should borrow mine,” Lilly’s father said with an eye on the chicken. “It’s got character.”
“Dad, it’s powder blue and has a collar the size of Arkansas.”
“Derek has plenty of money to get his own tuxedo,” her mother said.
“Why spend the money? Mine’s a classic. I bought it brand-new from JCPenney in 1978. It’s as good as new.”
Derek was just about to tell her dad that he actually already had a closet full of tuxes, all designer labels, when Lilly cut in.
“I think you’re right, Daddy. Derek would look fabulous in your tux. Could you bring it by so he can try it on?”
Mr. Harmon looked so happy he might burst. “I’ll drop it off tomorrow.”
As soon as no one was watching, Lilly mouthed across the table at him, “Payback,” and gave him that smile that made her eyes sparkle. Something shifted inside his chest. It was good to be home, even if a dinner party with all the parents wasn’t his first choice of welcome-home activities.
She thought she had him with the tacky blue tux thing, huh? “You know,” Derek said. “I was thinking about a cupcake tower instead of a traditional wedding cake. What do you think, Lil?” he asked, returning the smirk. “Maybe Miss Ginny could put my car number on the top of each cupcake…and one of those little checkered flags toothpicks.”
There—he’d seen her powder-blue suit and raised her a redneck wedding cake.
“I can’t think of anything more perfect,” Lilly said, smiling at him.
Oh, the girl was good.
“This is going to be great.” Derek’s mother sipped her sweet tea with a dreamy look in her eyes. “So romantic.”
“Sounds pretty tacky to me,” Grandma Gail chimed in. “Pass the potatoes.”
Derek’s father passed the potatoes. He was sitting next to Derek’s mother, dressed in a casual button-down shirt, no tie. When was the last time he’d seen his dad without a tie? He considered dressing the part of rich asshole part of his job. He almost seemed to fit in here at the table with Lilly’s parents. And the way he kept staring at Derek’s mom when he thought no one was looking…what the heck was up with that?
He glanced at Lilly and winked. She stifled her giggle behind a napkin, and he couldn’t help but admire the way her cheeks got all pink and her eyes grew even more luminous with unshed tears of laughter. He’d missed her. More than he should have. It was just that when she was around, he forgot about all the other stuff that weighed on him day in and day out. It was fun and comforting, like a slow lap on his favorite track when he was the only one out and he could take time to listen to the engine, inhale the scent of oil and tire rubber, and feel the wind in his face.
It was going to suck when she went back to her real life instead of sharing his. But for now, she was here, and he intended to enjoy the hell out of the time he had with her. And he planned to make those cheeks blaze pink as much as possible. She had him all hot and bothered. Fair was fair.
“Of course, the first thing you two need to do is set a date,” Lilly’s mother said. “We can’t book a hall or get a band or anything else until y’all settle on a date.”
“How do you feel about June?” Derek’s mother asked. “It’s classic and elegant, and if we do it early in the month, it won’t be too warm for an outdoor wedding.”
Lilly choked on her iced tea. “June?” She coughed some more, and Grandma Gail whacked her on the back a couple times before tucking into her potatoes once more.
“Isn’t that a little too soon?” Lilly sent a frantic look across the table to Derek—one he recognized as the SOS stare.
“My schedule is pretty packed for the next few months,” he said. “But a fall wedding might be nice.”
Lilly narrowed her eyes at him. He recognized that look, too.
Derek’s father cleared his throat. “I don’t know if you should wait that long. I’ve never been a fan of long engagements.”
Derek stared at his father, wondering what his game was. Now he wanted Derek to marry Lilly? And sooner rather than later?
“Your father and I were only engaged for a few weeks before we eloped,” his mother said.
“Really?” That didn’t seem at all like his dad, who was nothing if not measured, practical, and logical. Never one to be ruled by the heart. “Was there some sort of tax advantage?”
His mother blushed, the color in her cheeks making her look a decade younger. “He said he couldn’t wait another minute to have me for himself,” she said. “Of course, back then we hardly had two pennies to rub together. We did it down at the county courthouse, then spent our weekend at the Holiday Inn off the interstate.”
Holiday Inn? His father never stayed in a hotel that rated less than four stars. While he could see his dad getting married with the least fuss possible, he could not picture the man he knew staying at a Holiday Inn. Maybe he’d been different back then. If so, when had he changed? When he’d made his first million? His second? His tenth? By the time Derek was old enough to know his father, he was the taciturn, distant man he was today, focused solely on growing his already-formidable fortune.
“I think Robert might be onto something,” her mother said. “After all, you’ll want to go to all the races with Derek. And who knows? In close quarters like that…babies happen, you know.”
Grandma Gail snorted. “If the RV’s a rockin’, don’t—”
“Who wants more wine?” Lilly said, standing up suddenly. “I think there’s another bottle in the kitchen. I’ll just grab it.”
“I’ll help you,” Derek said, setting his napkin on the table. Although the families’ wedding talk pricked at his conscience a little, he could see Lilly was really starting to get rattled.
“I’ll bet you will,” Grandma Gail said with a wicked chuckle. Lilly’s mother asked her whether she’d taken her medication that evening or not.
“You okay?” Derek asked when they reached the kitchen. Lilly was facing away from him, both palms braced on the counter, her head bowed. Her shoulders shook. Maybe he shouldn’t have been playing it up so much in there. He knew this was hard on Lilly. And after everything she’d done for him, all the pretending, taking time out of her schedule for him just to pull off this little ruse…and now she was in tears. He was an ass. A big fat juicy ass.
“Lilly, I’m so sorry—”
“Can you imagine?” She turned toward him, tears streaming down her face. She could barely hold in her hysterical laughter. “What our wedding would look like if it was real? Cupcakes and blue tuxedos? Seriously? I thought about suggesting ‘Achy Breaky Heart’ as our first dance song, but I didn’t think I could keep a straight face.”
Relief washed over him. He had always hated her tears, even when she was eleven and skinned her knee trying to ride her bicycle with no hands, just like she’d seen him do. He’d rather take the hit himself than see her cry. “Hey, your dad would have been all over that.”
Her grin faded. “They are all going to be so upset when they find out the wedding is never going to happen. Thinking of that makes me feel about two inches tall.”
Unable to bear seeing that look of guilt and worry cloud her beautiful eyes, he pulled h
er against his chest, then swept her into a slow dance. He hummed their would-be wedding dance song softly into her hair until he felt her relax and her soft giggle returned.
She laid her head against his chest. “This is nice,” she said. “How is it you always just suck the tension right out of me? It’s always been that way.”
“You do it for me, too. I’ve been thinking about that all week.”
“Really?”
“Sure. I’ve gotten used to having you around, I guess.”
She raised her head to look up at him. “That’s bad. We agreed to keep things nonpersonal. This is just…a limited engagement.”
“We’ve known each other since we were kids, and we’ve spent a lot of time together over the past couple of weeks. You’re living in my house, sleeping in my bed—”
“Spare bed.”
“Doesn’t matter.” He looked into her eyes, praying that she felt even a few of the sparks he felt whenever they were in the same room…or the same state for that matter. “I can’t seem to keep my hands off you. And honestly, I’m sick of trying. Every second I’m with you, all the reasons we shouldn’t seem less and less important.”
“Are you saying you want to…” She swallowed hard. “What about tomorrow? What about keeping this platonic?”
“I want you, Lilly. I want to see every inch of you.” He touched her face and looked into her eyes. “As long as we both understand that this is temporary, I think we should enjoy each other. Don’t you?”
Thinking about tomorrow’s consequences seemed far less urgent than the need sweeping through him just thinking about finally touching her in every way he wanted to.
“Now?” She ran her hands up his back, softly kneading, as if testing the muscles under his skin. Her touch stirred the warmth that always simmered just under the surface when she was near and turned it up to a boil.
Since he’d first laid eyes on her again in the restaurant in Chicago, he’d wanted her. No, before that…since he’d first realized she wasn’t a girl anymore. Not his little sister’s best friend, not just the girl next door, but a woman. A strong, sexy woman he desperately wanted to spend all night touching and tasting and getting to know in the most carnal of ways.
It killed him knowing that she wanted him in the same way—or at least she had the night she’d set out to seduce him—and he’d said no. All of a sudden, all the complications didn’t seem so important. He wanted her. She wanted him. They had come to a crossroads.
“Not now. Later.” He tipped her chin up. Her lips were a whisper away, and he wasn’t sure he was ever going to stop kissing her once he got started. He didn’t care who was sitting in his dining room.
“I’m about to blow rule number two all to hell, and if you don’t want that to happen, you’d better say so right now.”
She slid her hands down his back, brushing the tops of his jeans before sliding her hands over his backside and pressing herself against him.
“It was a stupid rule anyway.”
His breath caught in his throat. Her small hands on his ass could leave no room for misinterpretation. He grinned before dipping his head to take her upturned lips in the kiss he’d been dreaming about for days.
She seemed as eager as he was for the kiss, opening to him immediately and welcoming him inside. Having her lips beneath his after fantasizing about it all week was better than taking the checkered flag at the biggest race of the year. She pressed against him, and it didn’t escape his notice that all of her soft spots lined up with his hard ones perfectly.
“I love kissing you,” he said as he dragged his mouth over her cheekbone to whisper in her ear.
“Me, too. So much better than the fantasy. And that wasn’t bad, either.”
He forced himself to pull away before he reached the point of no return. Even though the thought of tossing her over his shoulder and carrying her up the stairs to his bedroom like some sort of oversexed caveman was appealing, he wanted to take his time. He wanted to savor her taste, her scent, the texture of her skin. He wanted her to scream when he made her come apart. That might be awkward with a houseful of family members.
“As soon as dessert is over, we’ll kick them all out,” he said in a husky whisper he hardly recognized. He pressed a quick kiss to her lips.
“And lock the doors,” she said, returning the kiss.
“Switch off our phones.” He allowed himself a longer kiss this time, but he pulled away before his caveman side said the hell with it, hoisted her up on the nearest countertop, and dived underneath that sexy little skirt she was wearing.
“Hope they eat fast.”
“I could start a fire,” he suggested, only half kidding. If it would get their guests to leave faster, he’d try just about anything. Now that they’d decided to go for it, his self-control was in danger of short-circuiting.
“I think you already have. It feels like I’m burning up.”
“Me, too.” The frustration and anticipation in her voice matched his. “Just hang in there, Lil. It’ll totally be worth it.”
“Promises, promises,” she teased breathlessly.
He kissed her again, pulling her hips against his so she could feel the erection straining his zipper, just in case she’d missed it before. He swallowed her low groan, becoming painfully aware of the points of her hard nipples poking into his shirt.
He managed to rip his mouth away from hers. Just barely. “That’s a guarantee.”
It was going to be one hell of a long dinner.
…
Lilly had never sat through a longer supper in her life. In reality, it probably had not lasted more than an hour, but with the hot looks Derek kept shooting her across the table, the clock seemed to slow more each minute. She could hardly keep up with the conversation as her mind wandered in all sorts of directions, ranging from anticipation to terror.
Would they use his bed? She supposed so. Condoms? She was sure he had a stash somewhere. Had she shaved her legs? What if he was used to some sort of wild groupie sex and she wasn’t up to par? She bit her lip. What if she sucked in bed and no one had ever told her? And then she’d suck with Derek and never be able to look him in the eye again.
But then again, what if it was awesome? The best sex ever. And she knew she’d never have sex that good again in her life. All future sex would be but a pale shadow of what it had been with him. Maybe she’d become a sex addict, always looking for the hit that was as good as what she’d had with him.
It was possible she was totally freaking out.
“Lilly?”
She blinked and looked up. Everyone was staring at her.
“Sorry, what was that?”
Her mother frowned. “I was asking if you wanted to go dress shopping next week.”
She took a sip of her wine and tried to quit thinking about sex. “I’ll have to check my schedule,” she said.
“Schedule? I thought you were on vacation.”
Deflect and refocus. Deflect and refocus. “I’m actually working on finding a new job,” she said.
“I thought you loved your job,” her father said. “What happened?”
“Nothing happened,” she said, feeling herself flush under her lie. But telling her parents and his that she’d lost her job and was probably considered the office bimbo by now was probably not the best dinner conversation.
“She can do better than RSG,” Derek said. “Lilly is way too talented to work with a Mickey Mouse outfit like that.”
She smiled at him gratefully.
“It’s always good to keep your options open,” Derek’s father said.
“Surely you don’t have to work,” her mother said. “Derek’s able to support a wife.”
“I like to work,” she said, a little surprised at her mother’s attitude. Did she suppose she had worked her butt off in school and put all those long hours in at the office just to give it all up as soon as a man came into her life?
“Lilly is talented at what she does. And
smarter than I could ever be in a hundred years,” Derek said.
“You support this?” her mother asked.
“I support Lilly in whatever she chooses to do,” Derek said. “Just because we’re married doesn’t mean she should quit her job if she doesn’t want to.”
“So where are you looking?” Derek’s father broke in. “Atlanta?”
“Actually, I have a phone interview with a great firm in Seattle and I have leads on firms in Boston and Houston.”
She sneaked a look at Derek. He was frowning. He was the one who had promised to help her find a new position. He’d set the wheels in motion. Why was he unhappy now that it was starting to work?
“So far away?” Derek’s mother asked.
“Well, Derek does have the jet,” Lilly’s mother said. “I suppose anywhere they settle is only a few hours away.”
“But what about the grandbabies?”
“I think we’re getting a little ahead of ourselves,” Derek said. “I mean we haven’t even set a date yet. I’m sure Lilly and I will be able to work out all the details.”
“The kids just want to bang,” Grandma Gail said. “Leave ’em alone.”
Lilly felt her face burn red. Grandma Gail was more right than she knew.
“Fine,” Lilly’s mother said, ignoring the banging comment. “We should focus on the wedding date.”
Derek gave Lilly a weak smile across the dinner table.
The wedding talk went on between the mothers with no further input needed from Derek or Lilly.
Chapter Twelve
“I thought they’d never leave,” Derek said, slamming the door shut behind his mother and twisting the lock. He’d been hard for the better part of an hour, ever since those stolen kisses in the kitchen gave him a preview of what was to come. Or at least what he hoped was to come. As hot as he was for Lilly, he couldn’t imagine sex being anything but mind-blowing.
“I know.” She surprised him by pushing him against the front door and pulling his head down for a kiss. He wasn’t going to argue. He wrapped his arms around her waist, molding her to his long body. He could probably go on exploring her mouth for about thirty laps before he even thought about moving on to another area of her amazing body. That or he’d have her pants off and be driving across the finish line in thirty seconds flat.
A Limited Engagement Page 13
