Authors: Emily Mims
It had been nice working with her today, he
thought as she rummaged around under the sink a little, her
jeans-covered butt thrust impudently into the air as she arranged
the cleansers to her liking. As the day had worn on, the hostility
between them gradually lessened to the point that they engaged in a
bit of conversation. Stilted, impersonal conversation, admittedly,
but conversation nevertheless.
Damn, he’d missed her, Rory thought
involuntarily. He had missed the sound of her voice, her laugh, her
smile. He had missed the way she kissed him with honesty and
passion, the way her body twined around his as he thrust himself
into her, the way she shouted out his name as she came and came and
came beneath him. He had missed her in his bed and in his life. The
last eight months had been damn lonely.
He tore his eyes from her, loath to be caught
staring at her backside. “I guess we can go now,” he said as Lisa
looked around the kitchen one more time.
“Guess so,” she replied diffidently. But she
didn’t pick up her purse and head for the door. Instead she moved
closer to him, one step at a time as though drawn by a magnet, and
Rory felt himself drawn to her too. He took a tentative first step,
and then a second, and suddenly they were in each other’s arms,
their arms around one another and their lips plastered together and
their tongues tangling in a sensual dance of passion.
He cupped her head with one powerful hand and
with the other cupped her waist, drawing her so tightly against his
chest that he could feel the hard pebbling of her nipples through
her bra and their shirts, the taut nubbins a dead giveaway that she
was every bit as aroused as he was. He felt himself grow hard with
desire and angled her hips so that she would feel every bit of his
need for her. He wanted—no, he
needed
—for
her to know that he wanted her just as much as she wanted him, that
whoever and whatever it was that had come between them had in no
way affected the primal desire they had for one another.
She made the little whimpering sound she
always made when she wanted more, and she dug her fingernails into
his back so hard he would have marks in the morning. The male core
of him roared inwardly in triumph. They clung together for long
moments, and Rory savored the feel of her in his arms once more and
willed the moment to go on forever.
But it couldn’t. Slowly, reluctantly, Rory
drew his lips away from Lisa’s and loosened his grip on her, his
expression bemused as he stared down into her dazed eyes. “I guess
some things just don’t change no matter what,” he said softly.
Lisa took a deep breath and stepped away.
“Apparently they don’t.”
She hesitated, and Rory wondered if she was
about to say more when the front door flew open and Russ Riley blew
inside. The good-looking Army captain, dressed in Army camo and
combat boots, had a box of ornaments in one hand and a tree stand
in the other, and he didn’t seem to notice the sexual tension
radiating between the two of them.
“Oh, thank God you’re both still here,” he
said as he dropped his load on the sofa. “Plans have changed. Emily
will have Holly here in an hour or so, and I need to get a
Christmas tree up for her. Can you please stay a little longer and
help me get it up?”
Get it up? How appropriate was that for the
little rat bastard? Rory thought bitterly. He willed his hard-on to
fade as Russ held out his arms.
“Come here and let me give you a hug,” the
playboy said as Lisa moved into his arms. “God, it’s good to see
you.”
Rory ground his teeth as Lisa was enveloped
in the embrace. “It’s good to see you, too, Russ,” she said. “And
on such a happy afternoon.”
Russ nodded. “Lots happier than the last time
I saw you.” He paused a minute, and Rory wondered at the sheen in
the man’s eyes. “How can I ever, ever thank you for that
night?”
Rory felt every muscle in his body stiffen as
he stared at them. Would Lisa even have the grace to be
embarrassed? Or would she just brazen it out like she had that
morning?
He felt himself tremble as Lisa squeezed
Russ’s arm. “No big deal, Russ. That’s just what friends do.” She
turned around and stared at Rory as though daring him to say a
word. “Rory, have you ever actually met Russ?”
“Can’t say that I have,” Rory grunted. He
nodded his head. “Riley.”
If Russ was bothered by his lack of warmth,
it certainly didn’t show. “Glad to meet you, Rory. So, how about we
get this show on the road? It shouldn’t take long.”
Rory opened his mouth to tell them both to go
to hell, but something—pride, maybe, or a perverse desire to see
just how far Lisa would take her innocent routine—stopped him in
his tracks. No, by God, if Lisa would brazen it out then so would
he. He would help them put up the Christmas tree and then he would
go, and he’d be damned if he ever wasted another minute longing for
the faithless Lisa Simmons or wishing for things that would never
be, never mind how right she’d felt in his arms or how delicious
her lips were on his.
“I’ll help with the tree,” he said tersely.
“Happy to.”
“Likewise,” Lisa said, sounding much more
sincere. “Where is the tree?”
“Out in my truck,” Russ said. “Along with the
lights and a whole lot more ornaments.”
The man disappeared out the front door, and
Lisa turned her back on Rory as she pried open the ornament box.
Rory made himself pick up the boxed tree stand, which he had free
by the time Russ returned with a not-too-large, perfectly
proportioned fir tree and two more big shopping bags.
Russ motioned to an unoccupied corner of the
living room across from the picture window. “How about we put it
over there in that corner? That way her view of the lake won’t be
blocked. Here, let’s get the tree in the stand and get at least the
lights on before we put it against the wall.”
Without commenting Rory opened the supporting
screws, and in just a moment he and Russ had the tree upright,
centered and secured. Lisa dove into the shopping bags and found
the light strands, and the three made quick work of stringing them.
Rory made a point of saying very little, speaking only when spoken
to, and becoming angrier by the minute as Lisa and Russ chatted
easily back and forth, talking about this and that and nothing in
particular as though neither of them had anything to hide.
Well, maybe in their minds they didn’t, Rory
thought as he sat on the sofa and painstakingly put ornaments on
hangers so Russ and Lisa could hang them on the tree. Riley was the
biggest dog in the Army, at least according to what Russ’s sister
Emily told Benny and Wade, running through women like an alcoholic
through scotch. And, Lisa? How well did he know her, really? She
had only moved to Verde when her grandfather got sick. Who knows
what she might or might not have done before he met her? Maybe for
her stepping out on a lover was the norm.
Even with the three of them working, it took
over an hour to decorate the tree, and a car pulled up in the
driveway as Russ carefully placed a glitter-winged angel on the
top. A moment later, a round-faced college girl with hair even
redder than Lisa’s held open the front door so that a thin, pale,
but achingly beautiful woman could cautiously step inside.
Russ immediately rushed to the woman and
enveloped her in a tender hug. “Merry Christmas, sis,” he said as
he gently hugged the frail-looking woman. “It’s good to have you
here.” He turned her to face Lisa and Rory and said, “Holly, this
is Lisa Simmons and Rory Keller. They were kind enough to clean up
the cabin and help me with the Christmas tree.”
Holly looked at Rory and Lisa and then back
at Russ with dismay. “Someone else I’ve forgotten?” she whispered.
She faced Rory and Lisa resolutely. “If I’ve forgotten you I’m
sorry. I have a six-month gap in my memory. Head injury.”
A six-month gap in her memory? Rory shuddered
inwardly. “No, ma’am, we’ve never met,” he said quickly. “I’m Rory
Keller. I’m one of your neighbors here on the Point.”
“Rory.” Holly repeated his name twice. “You
may have to remind me a few times. I’m having trouble putting names
with faces these days.” She turned to Lisa. “Should I know
you?”
“I served you and your uncle a couple of
times at the café, but we’ve never met otherwise. I’m Lisa
Simmons.”
“I told you about her in the car, the one who
was so incredibly nice the night we found out you’d been hurt,”
said the younger woman, the one Rory assumed was Emily. She came up
to Lisa and enveloped her in a fierce hug. “I can’t thank you
enough for coming that night. You were just wonderful to us.”
Rory stared across the room and had to will
his jaw not to drop.
Us? Who was ‘us’?
Holly reached out and grasped Lisa’s hand.
“Yes, that was all Emily could talk about when she heard you’d been
kind enough to help with the cabin. She said you were coming to the
rescue of the Rileys once again. I can’t thank you enough for
taking care of Russ and Emily that night. Especially Emily.”
Emily? Russ
and
Emily?
Emily had been here that night also?
Rory looked over at Lisa, who spared him a
glance with a quick flicker of disdain before turning to Holly. “I
was more than glad to come. I could only imagine what they were
feeling when they found out you were clinging to life in that Army
hospital. If it had been me, I would have been falling to
pieces.”
“And I pretty much was,” Emily admitted.
“Russ was doing the stoic soldier routine, but I was losing it, and
that was of course the night my blood sugar chose to go up and down
like a yo-yo.” She turned to include Rory in the conversation.
“Uncle Willis called Lisa, and even though she’d only met me once
before, she came here and hung out with us and fed me stuff for my
blood sugar until we got a call from Mom and Dad that Holly had
come through surgery and was going to be all right. Longest night
of my life.”
“Mine, too,” Russ Riley admitted. “I was
worried about both of my sisters.” He smiled at Lisa. “You’re quite
a woman, Lisa Simmons.”
Yes, she was, Rory thought in horror, as the
magnitude of his misunderstanding finally began to sink in. She
hadn’t been out here cheating on him with Russ Riley; she’d been
helping the Riley siblings through a crisis. He’d completely
misinterpreted what he saw that morning. He had suspected the worst
of her when she had done nothing wrong at all. But, why hadn’t she
just explained the situation to him? Why had she let him think the
worst? Why had she willingly sacrificed what they had together
rather than simply telling him what was going on? He looked over at
Lisa and thinned his lips. He didn’t know the answers to those
questions, but he sure as hell intended to find out.
Lisa clasped Holly’s hand for a moment
longer. “Is there anything else I can help you folks with before I
go?” she asked. “I’m off tonight but sometimes I go in anyway if we
get a lot of customers.”
“No, I think we’re good,” Russ said. “But
what about your pecans? Uncle Willis said he’d drop them by
here.”
“He can catch up with me next week,” Lisa
said as she glanced toward Rory and started edging toward the door.
“Russ, Emily, good to see you both again. Holly, welcome to Verde.”
She darted out the door.
“Excuse me, I’d like a word with Lisa before
she goes,” Rory said as he hot-footed it out the door behind her,
leaving the Riley siblings in the living room.
Lisa was moving fast, but Rory was faster and
leapt in front of her then turned and leaned against the driver’s
side door of her vehicle, arms crossed and hands folded across his
chest. “Why didn’t you tell me what was going on that night?” he
demanded as he thrust his face down into hers. “You knew I saw his
truck parked there, and you knew damn well what I thought when you
came sashaying out the door that morning. Why didn’t you just tell
me what you were doing there? Why did you let me think the worst of
you?”
Lisa lifted her chin in a manner that was
almost regal. “Because I knew exactly what you thought that morning
and it made me mad. I knew from the look on your face that you
thought the worst of me. You thought, you honestly thought, that
after all you and I had come to mean to one another that I would
throw it all away on a one-night stand. You didn’t trust me, Rory.
And that, in my book, is unforgiveable.”
“Under those circumstances, how the hell
could I trust you?” Rory ground out. “You know damn well what it
looked like. I needed an explanation, and all you did was look at
me.”
Lisa’s eyes shot sparks as she looked up at
him. “No. You. Didn’t. You didn’t need one bit of explanation. It
was a matter of trust, Rory. You either trusted me or you didn’t. I
shouldn’t have been expected to explain anything to you.”
“You shouldn’t have had to explain? What kind
of bull crap is that, Lisa? Yes, you should have explained it to
me. I’ll be damned if I’ll believe you or any other woman caught in
circumstances like that without an explanation—and a damned good
one at that.”
Rory was surprised when the anger faded from
Lisa’s face. She looked away for a moment then turned heartbroken
eyes on him. “And therein lies the problem, doesn’t it?” she asked
softly. “It isn’t just me, Rory, is it? You wouldn’t trust any
woman. You don’t have it in you to trust, do you? You’re always
going to want ‘an explanation’”—she made quotation marks with her
fingers—“and the burden of proof will always be on the woman. Well,
I’m not going there, Rory. That woman is not going to be me. I’m
not going to spend my life explaining every flirty remark from
another man, every phone call you might find mysterious, every
thirty-minute delay getting home, and each and every little thing
that might accidentally arouse your suspicion. I will
be damned
if I spend my life trying to placate a
jealous man without an ounce of trust to his name. Now, would you
have the courtesy to step aside and let me get in my car?” She
looked pointedly at the door handle.