A Limited Engagement

by Bethany Michaels

  …

  For the first time in a very long time, Derek wasn’t eager to hurry his lover out the door. Watching Lilly get on the plane and wave good-bye nearly ripped his heart out. He wanted nothing more than to go back to Penny Ridge with her…and maybe induct her into the mile-high club if he could work out the logistics.

  He smiled, remembering how she looked after her climax took her, how she clung to him as if he were the only anchor in her storm. He loved the little noises she made. Damn, he’d wanted to take her back to the apartment he kept close to the shop and hold her all night.

  But she’d said she had to go back to Georgia. She had some things to do, she’d told him. She had another interview set up for later in the week. He frowned. He was glad it looked like she was going to be able to get her career back on target, but damn. He hated that she was about to move so far away from him again. He really hadn’t done all that much to help her…just put bugs in a few ears of people who depended on his father’s business. The rest she’d done on her own. She actually didn’t need his help as much as she thought she did, and that bothered him a little. He’d wanted to be able to help her as much as she’d helped him. She didn’t need him, though, and after their engagement ended, there would be no reason for her to come to him for anything.

  Once they’d stumbled into their clothing, Derek made a call and the most exclusive restaurant in town catered an intimate meal for them. Granted, it had been served in the conference room, but the boring space had been transformed into a romantic oasis, complete with linens, flowers, and candles, lots of candles, just like in Lilly’s fantasy the very first time they’d played a couple.

  He’d hated dropping her at the airstrip, but he had work to do, too. There was a fresh stack of papers Mark had left on his desk to review.

  Derek shoved a hand through his hair, then forced himself to focus on work. He had to get a grip. There was no time for snuggling. Or reminiscing. Or wishing Lilly was there with him, because he didn’t have time for anything but his team. For thirty years of his life, all he’d done was eat, sleep, and dream about racing. Every decision in his life was based around his racing career; every choice he made, personal and private, was designed to give him more time and opportunity to fulfill his dreams of driving for a living and owning his own team. He’d made it. He had everything he wanted.

  But now Derek was beginning to realize how much of life he’d missed in pursuing his dream, how much he’d shut out by always being on the road, always worrying about his last performance and how he’d top it with the next. He’d once accused Lilly of being too tunnel-visioned, but he’d lived the same way. There had only ever been room in his life for racing.

  Wasn’t that what had gotten him into this whole thing with Lilly to begin with? Acting like he was engaged so that Serena wouldn’t force him into a situation that could jeopardize his team’s financing? He’d talked Lilly into it, used her friendship and her attraction to him to manipulate her into playing along. It had seemed harmless enough at first. She needed a break from her life, and he needed a fake fiancée. The problem was, somewhere along the line, it had stopped feeling fake.

  But that was his problem. The fake breakup of their fake engagement was around the corner. She’d move out of his house, and if she got the job in Seattle, she’d live almost a continent away. He’d see her once or twice a year at family holidays, if he wasn’t racing, testing, meeting with sponsors, or doing some sort of public appearance. She’d fade back to friend status at the periphery of his life, and he’d focus on the dream he’d spent so many years of his life chasing…after crushing his parents, her parents, and all of their friends when they found out he’d lied to them, of course.

  His mother would be disappointed because she wouldn’t be bouncing any grandbabies on her knee for a while longer, but his dad would be disappointed because he’d realize Derek wasn’t the man he thought he was—the man he was proud of. It was definitely a good thing his father wouldn’t be involved with the team once the sale went through. He didn’t think he could bear to see the disappointment in his eyes or hear it in his voice every time they talked.

  Okay, so what were his options? He’d make a shitty boyfriend. Lilly deserved a man who would be there for her, right by her side in good times and bad. Not a guy who was gone more than he was home and who couldn’t make Lilly his top priority. Not a guy who’d feel passion for her for a few days, then pour all of that passion into the car and leave her waiting for the moment his heart made room for her again. He couldn’t do that to her, no matter how much he’d come to need her in his life. He had to let her go. And he’d just have to get over missing her.

  Being alone was the price for his dream. He’d never given a second thought to paying it.

  Until now.

  Until Lilly.

  Chapter Fifteen

  When her phone rang, Lilly looked at the screen right away. She was only a little disappointed that it wasn’t Derek’s number on the caller ID.

  “Hey, Shana,” Lilly said, closing the racing website on her laptop.

  “Hey. You busy?”

  “Not really.”

  “Mooning over my brother, huh?”

  “No.” Okay, maybe a little. She’d gotten back late last night and fallen into bed, but she didn’t sleep much. Today she’d planned to research a couple of more firms and prepare for another interview, but she hadn’t been able to keep her mind off Derek. Like some school-age girl, she kept wondering if he’d call.

  “Uh-huh, sure. I have a gap in my schedule today and I need help picking out…something. Wanna help?”

  “Sure,” Lilly said. Though she really didn’t feel like shopping, distraction was good. Plus she wouldn’t get to see Shana once she landed a new job. She’d hardly seen her since she’d been in Penny Ridge, her time totally taken up with Derek or traveling. “Where should I meet you?”

  “Um, it’s on Main Street. Where the old bakery was. Can you be there in fifteen minutes?”

  “Sure.”

  “Great. See you there.”

  Lilly disconnected the call and headed to the bedroom to change out of her yoga pants. Shana was being secretive, which was weird. Lilly hoped this wasn’t another setup like a bridal shower or something. That was definitely not what she needed right now. She and Derek were breaking up soon, and the last thing she wanted to feel like was a bride.

  She shoved that thought out of her head and headed for the town’s center. The boutique was something new to Penny Ridge. Though it was discreet and classy, the mannequins in the window modeled silk and lace lingerie. There was no mistaking what kind of store Caroline’s was. Derek would like the paper-thin pink baby-doll pajamas displayed in the center. Maybe she’d see if they had her size in stock.

  “Hey,” Shana said, joining Lilly in front of the large picture window. “Thanks for coming.”

  “Who is he?” It was about time Shana had someone in her life to see her in her underwear.

  Shana looked around like she was on a secret mission, though the sidewalk was deserted. “Wait. Let’s make sure Willa sees us.”

  Lilly glanced across the street at Peggy’s Pizza Palace. Willa was peeking out the window at them. “Mission accomplished,” she said, nodding toward the store.

  “That didn’t take long. All right, let’s go in.”

  Lilly followed Shana into the store. It was a small shop, full of scantily clad half mannequins modeling lace bras. An old-fashioned credenza displayed lace G-strings in every color imaginable. Fresh flowers mingled with the garter belts and silk stockings, giving the whole shop a soft, feminine feel.

  “Tell me,” Lilly said. “Why all the cloak-and-dagger stuff? And who are you buying thongs for?”

  “I don’t know yet,” Shana said.

  “You don’t know?”

  Shana fingered a pair of black silk bikini panties, a frown marring her full lips. “Garrett was the first guy I ever slept with,” she said. “The only one, actu
ally. And when we broke up last year, I thought I’d get back into the swing of things. Date.”

  “Sure.” Lilly touched her shoulder. She knew the breakup had been hard on Shana and felt bad for not being a better friend. Lilly had been so focused on her career, she’d neglected one of the most important people in her life when Shana needed her most. But Lilly was here now. And even if she took the job in Seattle, she would stay in touch.

  “You know how many dates I’ve been on? How many times I’ve been asked out?”

  “No.”

  Shana held up her index finger and her thumb so that they made an oval. “Zero.”

  “That’s ridiculous. You’re gorgeous and successful and a fabulous person.”

  “All the men in this town look at me like I’m still Garrett’s girl,” she said. “Like I’m off-limits or something. There are actually a lot of single guys in this town I wouldn’t mind getting to know better. But I need to break the ice.”

  “Shatter the image people have of you.” Lilly knew how hard it was to break out of the box the people who knew you from birth put you in.

  “Exactly.”

  “Willa is the biggest gossip in town. News about my being in here buying sexy panties will be all over town by dinnertime. Maybe that will be enough to jump-start my sex life. I’m not looking for a boyfriend or a serious relationship. Just a little fun.”

  “I see,” Lilly said. “Derek is going to kill him, whoever he is. You know that, right? The first guy to see that thong is a dead man.”

  “It’ll be a secret. Just sex.”

  “Shana—”

  “What?”

  “I just don’t want you to get too…involved. Hurt. Because sometimes when you plan to do one thing, something different happens.”

  Lilly looked away, her throat suddenly tight.

  Shana barely missed a beat. “Crap. You love my brother.”

  Lilly didn’t bother denying it. She’d always been a little in love with Derek. From the time she’d spied on him from her bedroom window, she’d felt the draw. But that had been adolescent fantasy. Over the last weeks, she’d gotten to know him as a man. And no matter how hard she’d tried, the truth was there. She did love him.

  “What are you going to do about it?”

  “Nothing.”

  “Nothing?”

  “We had an agreement, Shana. I was the fake fiancée while he tied up the loose ends on his sponsorship deals. In return I got to fulfill a childhood fantasy, have some fun, and help my parents. My dad’s dealership is booming. That’s it. That was the agreement. Anything else between us is…extracurricular.”

  “Extracurricular.” Shana sighed. “He cares about you, too, you know.”

  “As a second little sister. And a temporary lover.”

  “Uh, no. I’ve seen the way he looks at you when you’re not paying attention. ‘Brotherly’ is the last word that comes to mind…followed by ‘temporary.’”

  “Lust and love aren’t the same thing. Derek has the ability to keep the two separate. I thought I did, too.”

  “He’s not as tough as you think,” Shana said. “My parents’ divorce really skewed things for him in the relationship department. You should talk to him about this. See where he stands.”

  Lilly shook her head. The only thing worse than being rejected physically was being rejected emotionally. “No way. One rejection per month is my limit. Sticky relationship stuff isn’t what he signed up for. We’re breaking up at the festival this weekend.”

  They hadn’t actually discussed all that, having spent most of the time they’d seen each other this week naked, but it made sense. It was time to lay the groundwork, and a public disagreement was just the thing to set the stage for the big breakup. She’d run it by Derek when he got home on Friday.

  “You know, I’m not sure who has the harder head. You or my brother.” Shana picked up two pairs of panties off the table and cleared her throat. Willa was hovering outside on the sidewalk, looking into the shop. “Which do you think, Lilly? Red crotch-less or black G-string?”

  …

  “If someone had asked me what the Taste of Penny Ridge was, I’d say grease and grits,” Lilly said, her small hand tucked into Derek’s much larger one. They strolled along Main Street among the rest of the townsfolk, browsing the tents all the local restaurants had set up to highlight their cuisine. Of course everyone in town had eaten at these restaurants more times than they could count, but it wasn’t about the food. It was about getting out and catching up with neighbors and friends. It was something Derek had sort of taken for granted until he’d moved away.

  “Come on, there’s the Indian place out by the interstate, and the Brazilian steak house near the tracks. That’s practically international.”

  Derek nuzzled her neck. Why did the woman perpetually smell like strawberries? Strawberries made him think of sweet, luscious flesh. And that made him think of Lilly, which made him think of her sweet, luscious flesh…in his hands and beneath his tongue and—

  “Where should we start?”

  “Anywhere you want,” Derek said. Her small hand felt good wrapped in his. And there wouldn’t be many more moments like this. He should focus on that and save the kinky thoughts for later when he had her all to himself. The big split was coming. But he wasn’t going to think about that right now.

  He’d barely made it back to Penny Ridge in time for the festival and hadn’t even had a chance to ask Lilly if she’d heard anything about the job yet. There’d be time for all that when they got home, though. Right now he just wanted to enjoy the evening with Lilly.

  “How about some chili?”

  Derek got them both a bowl of steaming hot chili and they found a bench a little away from the main crowd. The thing Derek liked about being home, apart from spending time with Lilly, was that he could just be himself here. He wasn’t surrounded by fans, or sponsors, or newspeople. Unless he got engaged, it was quiet. These were people he’d known all his life, through good times and bad, through victory laps and DNFs. To them he was just Derek, not a dollar sign, a Photoshopped smile on a billboard, or even a mug shot. He missed that.

  “What’s wrong?” Lilly asked, elbowing him lightly.

  “Nothing. Why?”

  “You seemed about a million miles away just then. Thinking about the team?”

  “No, the opposite, actually. About how much I’ll miss…” He searched her eyes and lost his train of thought for a second. “Uh…Penny Ridge.”

  “Oh,” she said and looked away. She took a couple of bites of her chili as they sat in silence. “There’s something we need to discuss.”

  “Okay.”

  Alarm bells went off inside his head. Derek didn’t know a lot about women, but he knew enough to be worried when the phrase “we need to talk” was thrown down.

  “I think…it’s time we sort of set the stage for…the end of things.”

  The rich, meaty chili turned to sawdust in his mouth. Derek knew it was time to have this discussion, and he would fulfill their agreement and let her go. He just wished he could roll back the clock a little.

  He managed to swallow. “What were you thinking?”

  “I think we need to have a fight.”

  “Hmm. A fight could be fun.” Derek let his mind skip the fight and go straight to the make-up sex.

  “I’m serious. We need to sort of lay the groundwork so that the breakup is believable. A public argument is perfect. Everyone will notice there’s tension between us. We’ll have a fight, and I’ll move back to my parents’ house.”

  “Tonight?”

  “Yes.” She looked at her hands, frowning.

  He finished his last spoonful and set the cup aside, trying not to panic. Were his palms sweating? He was as nervous as a virgin on a date with a hooker. Only he definitely wasn’t a virgin. He was just freaking out. He wasn’t ready yet. He needed just a little more time with her.

  “I have another idea,” Derek said.

&nb
sp; “You do?”

  “Uh, yeah. See, I was thinking on the ride down. You need a job, and Mark tells me we need a marketing manager at the team.” That was a small white lie. But he was sure he could convince Mark they needed a marketing person. “That’s similar to advertising, right?”

  She was silent a moment and simply stared at him. “You’re offering me a job with your team in a field I don’t even work in?”

  “Yeah.” His heart beat a hundred times a minute. He was just making it up as he went along. Lilly was sure to see right through him.

  “What kind of marketing services are you in need of?”

  Uh-oh. “I don’t know. What kind are there?”

  “What’s the salary?”

  “Whatever you want.”

  She looked away, staring into the crowd. Her brows drew together, and she breathed in sharply before she turned to him.

  “And what about us? Are we supposed to pretend to stay engaged if I take this job you don’t know anything about?”

  “Sure. I mean, whatever we’ve got going on is pretty great, right? Why not extend it a bit?”

  She was frowning now, giving him a full-on glare.

  “What about my career? The job with Evergreen? I got the offer this afternoon. Am I just supposed to blow off a great opportunity and a chance to jump-start my career again so I can follow you around the world and be your ‘whatever’?”

  There was no right answer here. He’d stepped in it, and there was no way to gracefully bullshit his way out. But he had to say something…or fake an aneurysm. He decided on the truth.

  “I want you to work with my team instead of moving to Seattle.”

  “And then what, Derek? What happens when this stops being fun for you? When you’re tired of me and ready to move on to the next girl?”

  “Do we have to know right now? I’m pretty sure it’s been fun for you, too.”

  “Not fun enough to give up everything I’ve ever worked for and become your ‘whatever.’”

  “You’re more than that, Lilly. You know that. We’re good together. I’m just not looking for anything serious. I thought we’d agreed on that.” He looked deep into her eyes, willing her to say she’d stay so he could kiss her stupid and all the tension between them would disappear.