Beware of Doug

by Elaine Fox

  It took Brady a second to absorb the meaning of her words, but her lips reached into his consciousness immediately. When he realized what she’d said, his arms went round her waist, and he pulled her close, as close as he could. His mouth took over the direction of the kiss, and she yielded to him.

  He pressed her back against the mattress behind her. It tilted now in the same direction as the bureau, toward the back of the shed. Lily leaned and pulled him into her, her hands reaching his hips and one leg rising up to curl around his waist.

  Their mouths opened frantically against each other, tongues searching, their breathing hard. Brady pushed his hips into hers, the pressure at once releasing and increasing his desire.

  Lily’s hands grabbed for his shorts, moving to the waistband and undoing the button. Brady found the hem of her shirt and slid his hands up under it, her skin silk and cream against his fingers. He released the bra clasp quickly and moved his palms to her breasts, thumbs and forefingers finding the nipples and making her gasp.

  She shoved his shorts down. He backed away from the kiss and pulled her shirt over her head, the bra coming with it, and there in the dim light of the shed he saw her clearly. Her eyes shone bright with desire—and something else. Something like…love.

  Her hair was mussed, her skin bare and pale, her body lithe and his for the taking.

  Emotion welled up within him, threatening to choke him.

  “I love you,” she breathed.

  He couldn’t help the smile that curved his lips, the drumbeat in his chest, and the heat behind his eyes. He was loved, by the first woman he himself had ever loved.

  How had he gotten so damn lucky?

  “Lily,” he said quietly, calmly, the eye of the storm, “I love you, too.”

  With that, they shed the rest of their clothing, and their bodies came together. His lips found her neck as she guided him inside of her, and he pushed upward hard, pinning her, pinning them, joining their bodies and hearts in a matrimony of passion, desire, friendship, and love.

  He had found it all. And he could hardly believe it.

  He thrust into her, a confirmation of every emotion he had. His nerve endings tingled from his toes to his scalp. He felt her everywhere, enveloping him, holding him, urging him onward. They joined each other again and again, their bodies in sync; their hands, mouths, breaths gentle yet strong, together yet separate, euphoric yet sure.

  They were together now. They were, he thought in amazement, as one.

  Sometime later, from outside the shed, they heard Doug barking again. Not frightened, this time, but aggressive. Someone had come into the yard, Brady guessed. Despite himself, he’d learned to interpret some of the dog’s language.

  He untangled himself from Lily’s arms, chuckling as she threatened not to let him go, and stood from their reclined position on the tilted mattress.

  He reached down and picked up his shorts and underwear. “We probably ought to think about trying to get out of here.”

  She sighed. “Really? I was just starting to like this shed, for the first time since I moved here.”

  He looked at the beautiful creature before him. Could it be? Could he really end up with a woman like this? The kind who looked at you like you hung the moon and made you feel as if you could.

  He smiled—couldn’t help but smile—turned around, and picked up his tee shirt; when he did he caught sight of Nathan through the small window in the door. He was crossing the yard, making his way slowly toward Lily’s back door.

  “Hey,” he said, “Nathan’s in the yard. If I get his attention, he can get us out of here.”

  Lily rose and moved to stand beside him. He looked down at her, and that smile hit his face again. He snaked an arm around her naked shoulders. She leaned into him and stood on tiptoe to look out the window.

  “Wait, let me get dressed before you do anything,” she said.

  She moved away and started gathering her clothing. It hadn’t gone far. They only had about two square feet to move in. In fact every time she bent over she bumped him with her hips. He let his hands trail over them, appreciating all over again her lithe, shapely body, the newness of her comfort with him. Reluctantly, he turned back to Nathan and watched to be sure he didn’t disappear before they could get him to let them out of there.

  “What’s he got in his hand?” Brady said, leaning toward the dirt and spiderweb-smeared glass. “It doesn’t look like he’s knocking on your door. It looks like he’s…” He tilted his head as if it would help him see around Nathan’s body.

  Lily pulled her shirt over her head and moved back beside Brady. “It looks like he’s smearing something on the door! What in God’s name…?”

  After a minute or two, Nathan turned and headed back across the lawn, more quickly this time. His path toward the gate would take him near the shed, but Lily and Brady were more intent on what he had in his hands.

  “It’s a jar of peanut butter,” Brady said. “Why was he was smearing peanut butter on your back door?”

  “I have no idea,” Lily said grimly. “Maybe there’s something else in the jar.”

  “Why would he smear anything on your back door?” Brady smelled a rat.

  Lily shook her head.

  But Nathan’s path wasn’t taking him toward the gate. It was taking him toward the shed, without their having yet made a sound.

  Lily raised a hand to pound on the door, but Brady grabbed her wrist, lowering it and taking her hand as he did so.

  “Wait just a second,” he said. “Let’s see what he’s up to.”

  “Where’s Doug?” Lily whispered as Nathan got closer. “I’m surprised he hasn’t cornered him.”

  Brady craned his neck to see more of the yard through the tiny window.

  “Over by the opposite fence.” He paused. “It looks like he’s eating something. Jeez, it looks like a steak.”

  “Steak!” Lily stood on her tiptoes again to look out the window. Brady put both hands around her waist and lifted her slightly to make it easier.

  “That’s a bribe,” she whispered harshly. “I’m surprised Doug fell for it.”

  No sooner were the words out of her mouth than Doug spotted Nathan’s path toward the shed. He jumped up from his gourmet treat and raced toward Nathan, snorting and growling as he came.

  Nathan’s face registered shock, then panic. He raced toward the shed, making odd kissing, hissing sounds. “Kitty! Here, kitty!” he said, his voice several octaves higher than usual and completely at odds with his trademark all-black attire. “Kittykittykitty!” he shrieked.

  Brady and Lily watched in shock, their mouths open.

  Nathan hit the side wall of the shed, and they lost sight of him. But they could hear him, calling for “kitty” over the sounds of Doug’s growls and barks.

  When the barks became solely growls, Brady knew the dog had hold of Nathan’s pant leg.

  Two minutes later, however, Doug turned tail with a squeal and headed back toward the house like a bat out of hell.

  “What—?” Lily’s fingers gripped the edge of the window as she jumped to her toes again.

  A second later a large gray cat took off after the dog.

  “Hey, that’s the cat I found tied to a tree a few weeks ago,” Brady said.

  Doug just made it through the dog door when the cat reached the back stoop. For a second it looked as if the cat was going to follow him through, but the door swung back and hit it in the face.

  Brady couldn’t help it. He started to laugh.

  Lily elbowed him in the ribs. “Stop it. Cats are the only thing in the world Doug’s afraid of. This is so mean.”

  Seconds later the cat was licking the door, and Doug’s panicked yips could be heard inside the house.

  “That’s just how he’s been sounding lately when he’s scared,” Lily said. “Has Nathan had that cat licking the door to scare Doug?”

  Nathan rounded the corner of the shed, just in front of them, looking furtively up at the
house.

  “Nathan!” Brady yelled.

  Nathan let out a scream the exact pitch of a six-year-old girl’s and spun toward Brady’s voice.

  “Hey, Nathan! In here! We’re stuck in the shed!” He waved a hand in the window. “Let us out!”

  “The keys are in the lock!” Lily called.

  Nathan’s eyes widened, and his face colored a deep, dark red. “What?” he said.

  “Let us out!” Brady said, rolling his eyes. “We’re stuck in here.”

  But Nathan didn’t move.

  Eighteen

  It took Nathan a moment, but he finally seemed to come out of whatever state of astonishment he’d been in. He tossed the jar of peanut butter into the bushes by the fence, then came to the shed, turned the key, and pulled the door open.

  Lily burst out of the dusty room, breathing in the fresh air as if she’d been caught in a coal mine. But Brady’s attention was centered on Nathan.

  “Thanks, buddy,” he said, sauntering out and clapping the guy on one bony shoulder with a comradely hand. Then he gripped it hard. “Why don’t you come on up to the house, let us thank you properly?”

  Nathan looked nervously from Brady to Lily. “What were you guys doing in there?” he asked, looking simultaneously confused and appalled.

  Lily’s face flushed, and Brady grinned at the sight of it. His little wanton, blushing at the impropriety of it all. Emma would be proud.

  “We got stuck,” she said, a tad defensively. “Doug was caught in there, and I had to get him out. Though I have no idea how he got in there.”

  She frowned and looked along the sidewall of the shed again. From where he stood, Brady could plainly see that she was looking at a distinct opening between the rotting wooden clapboards and the ground. Something had dug out a pretty generous entryway.

  Brady went to her side. “Looks just about big enough for Doug to get into.”

  “Followed by a cat,” Lily said, glaring at Nathan. “He must have been chased in there, scared to death.”

  “He probably got out through a similar hole on the other side,” Brady said, looking back at Nathan. “Care to tell us what you know about that cat, Nathan?”

  Lily’s hands went to her hips as she stood before her neighbor. “And what were you doing painting peanut butter on my back door?”

  Nathan’s expression changed instantly to the proverbial deer in the headlights.

  “I think it’s obvious what he was doing,” Brady said. “Scaring the hell out of Doug. Not that I don’t think that’s an understandable occupation,” Brady added, patting Nathan on the back while guiding him up the lawn toward the house. “But you do realize that when you scare Doug, you scare Lily, don’t you? And that we just can’t have.”

  “I, uh…” Nathan said.

  Lily looked profoundly disappointed. “I thought you were my friend, Nathan. Why would you want to scare my dog?”

  “I, uh…”

  “Come on in the house,” Brady said, realizing the futility of trying to make the stunned man talk at the moment. “Let’s get some iced tea and talk about this.”

  An hour later the story had come out, and Brady had to work hard to keep from laughing. Not that it was a particularly laughable occasion. It was just that Nathan had somehow made him feel better about some of his own problems. Brady had been so humiliated by Tricia and her staggeringly bizarre behavior, he’d missed the fact that Lily had a stalker of her own, right next door.

  It turned out that Nathan had been carrying a torch for Lily for years, ever since she’d moved in. But he could never get past Doug. It wasn’t until Lily had mentioned that the one thing Doug was afraid of was cats that it occurred to him he could find a cat—a mean one—and use it to scare Doug out of the way.

  When it scared Lily, too, he got another idea. That if Lily got frightened enough, she could come stay with him and his mother until the “prowler,” that he had invented, disappeared. By that time he figured he would have had a chance to convince her of his love for her.

  And, of course, she would realize how she felt about him, too.

  During this confession, Lily had been compassionate, if initially incensed that Nathan had tormented her dog, and had let Nathan down as gently as she could. He was just a friend. She didn’t think her feelings would ever change. She was sorry, but the fact was she was in love with someone else.

  At that she had smiled at Brady, and Nathan’s mouth had gone slack with comprehension. His eyes strayed back and forth from Lily to Brady.

  “Him?” he said, aghast. “But we hate him! He’s the cocky asshole pilot.”

  Brady raised his eyebrows at Lily.

  She blushed. “Nathan, you know I never said that.”

  “Not in so many words, maybe, but we agreed he was a jerk—”

  “A lot of time has passed since then,” she said, cutting him off.

  “Only a couple of months,” Nathan insisted. “And what about Gerald? Huh? I thought he was the one you wanted. I don’t think you know what you want, Lily. I’ve watched you a long time, and—”

  “That’s enough questions out of you,” Brady said. If Gerald’s name was never mentioned again it would be too soon.

  “Sorry,” Nathan said, shoulders hunching. He shot Brady a resentful look. “Though this is between Lily and me.”

  “Maybe so.” Brady sat back, sorry for the guy more than anything else. “Just call me an interested bystander.”

  Nathan ignored him. “Lily, I didn’t mean for it to really scare you,” he said, looking miserable. “I just wanted to get Doug out of the way. I couldn’t even talk to you when he was around.”

  Lily put a hand on his arm, and said, “Nathan, I understand. I don’t approve of what you did, and I’m still shocked that you’d be so mean to my dog, but we don’t have to talk about this anymore. Just…don’t ever do anything like this again.”

  “No, no, never again,” Nathan said sincerely, shaking his head and looking at his lap.

  “Okay,” Brady said, rising. “And on that note, I’m going to go take a shower. I feel like I’ve got bugs crawling all over me. See you later?” He winked at Lily.

  She smiled, and her entire expression softened with it. “Come back tonight,” she said. “I’ll cook you dinner.”

  He looked into her eyes, warming under their spell, and felt his lips curve in that perpetual smile. “You got it.”

  Lily had talked to Nathan for a long time, consoling and chastising him, treating him as if he were one of her students who had failed, but who could make up the work if he tried.

  It was disturbing that she’d missed what was going on, especially after that night he’d offered to let her stay with him and his mother, but she’d been so focused on her issues with Gerald—and Brady—that Nathan had been little more than background noise. Which was part of the problem, she realized. She needed to start treating her friends better, not be so wrapped up in her own affairs.

  Not tonight, though, she thought, with another burst of happiness. She’d been having them all day, bursts of happiness like fireworks going off in her chest. Blossoms of realization that Brady felt about her the way she felt about him, and that maybe, just maybe, they could make a relationship that would work.

  First, though, she had to call Penelope, just to be sure. Later, she’d figure out what to do about Gerald.

  After that she’d start cooking dinner. Something special. Shrimp Louis, maybe. Or lobster rolls.

  Lily and Penelope chatted for a while before Lily got the nerve to bring up Brady.

  “So,” Lily began, “I guess after the Glenn thing you’re still, uh, thinking about…Brady?”

  That sounded bad, she thought, putting a hand over her face, like she thought Penelope might be waiting for the guy that she’d stolen. But how to ask?

  As luck would have it, Penelope’s call waiting beeped just after Lily had asked the question, so she had to sit on pins and needles waiting for her friend’s reply. />
  When she came back on the line, Pen said, “What were we talking about?”

  Lily steeled herself again. “Brady?”

  “Oh right—”

  “Penelope, listen,” Lily interrupted. “Before you begin, there’s something I have to tell you. A confession, really. And before I tell you, I want you to know how terrible I feel about this, how I know I’ve been a bad friend, and I’m going to make it up to you, I swear. I’d never do this kind of thing ordinarily but it just happened, and I didn’t know what—”

  “Lily, stop!” Penelope said, laughing. “If this is about Brady and you, then I know already. You guys are perfect for each other.”

  “Wha—? You know? What—how—did Megan tell you something?”

  “She didn’t have to! Though we did talk about it some after I figured it out. As usual she knew what was going on far earlier than the rest of us.”

  “Oh my God, how did you know?” Lily exclaimed. “I can’t believe I’ve done this awful thing.”

  “What’s so awful about it?” Penelope objected. “I think you guys are great together. That’s how I knew. I could tell how you looked at each other, how you talked to one another, and mostly, how you looked when his name came up. But—oh—is this about Gerald? Is that why you feel so bad?”

  “No,” Lily said, “well, yes. But mostly it’s about you. I feel like I’ve betrayed you, because, you know, we meant Brady to be for you and got your hopes up and all.”

  Penelope laughed gently. “Lily, honey, we were only just introduced, for goodness’ sake. We didn’t even go on one date. It’s not as if you stole a boyfriend or anything.”

  Lily exhaled hugely. “I know. I just felt like I had. Because we’d been talking…”

  “I know,” Penelope said, consolingly, “but that’s not how it was. I mean, I liked Brady but I really hadn’t thought about him much, what with all the Glenn stuff. And honestly, I think he’s more your type than mine.” She laughed. “I guess that’s obvious now, huh?”

  They laughed together, and Lily felt better than she had in weeks. The fear that she’d been betraying her friend had weighed on her more heavily than she’d even realized.