by Jill Sanders
“Ten bottles are missing, four were broken,” he supplied. She remained silent, so he leaned back against the desk and watched her sit back down.
“Did you enjoy yourself?” he asked after she took the last drink of her wine.
“Hmm?” She leaned back in the chair and watched him as he poured her more wine.
“Tonight? With Rowan?” He poured himself another glass and then took a sip himself, wanting to remove the distaste he got from just saying the other man’s name.
Her lips curved up slightly. “He’s an old friend.” His eyebrows rose. Then her smile fell away. “Why do you care?” Her lips dipped down into a slight frown.
“I think he’s not good.” He hated when his anger took over; his mouth didn’t seem to work under his control.
“You think…” She leaned forward and took another sip of her wine. “I think it’s none of your business who I choose to spend my time with.” She set her glass down. “So, why do you care anyway?” she asked again.
Instead of answering, he set his glass down next to hers and looked down at her. He was trying desperately to figure out his next move.
Before he could think through it, he took the plunge he hadn’t planned on ever taking with a woman and told her the truth.
“I’m interested in you. In seeing you. Being with you.” His hands took her shoulders and pulled her up until her body hit his.
When her hands rushed between them, he waited, and then quickly dipped his head until his mouth covered hers.
***
This kiss was nothing like the first one. Before, it had been full of anger and she was pretty sure he’d just done it to shut her up, as he’d told Ben when the man had interrupted them.
No, this time, there was only desire. Pure. Complete. She felt her shoulders relax under his hands as his mouth tilted over hers. His lips parted and waited. She couldn’t stop her tongue from darting out and licking his lower lip. He tasted like sweet wine, which only sent shivers shooting down towards her toes.
She’d never realized he was so much taller than her own five-eleven. His shoulders were so much wider than hers, and she moaned with delight when she felt his chest muscles jump under her fingertips.
His hips seemed to spread and engulf hers as he pushed himself against her softness. When she felt his hardness against her hips, she froze and pushed him away.
Her mouth opened and closed several times as she searched her mind for words. She must have stood there in shock for moments before she realized he was no longer paying attention to her. Instead, he’d reached over and answered the phone on his desk. She hadn’t even heard it ring, due to the buzzing in her own ears.
Turning away from him, she walked towards the door of his small office and took a few deep gulps of fresh air from the large kitchen area. She took a few more steps and leaned against the cold metal table.
“They caught him just outside of town. He had them stashed in the trunk of his car. Told them he was heading into the city to spend time with his girlfriend.” His laugh caught her by surprise and she turned around to see his blue eyes sparkle.
“What?” She blinked a few times, completely shocked at the transformation of his face when he smiled.
“We make a pretty good detective duo.” He stopped directly in front of her. Her eyes glanced down at his lips as he continued to smile at her.
She couldn’t stop her own smile from forming. “Like Cagney and Lacey.”
“I was thinking more like Sherlock Homes and Dr. Watson,” he teased.
“Scarecrow and Mrs. King.” She arched her eyebrows as she leaned back on the table. Her heart jumped quickly in her chest.
“Maxwell Smart and Agent 86.” He nodded his head towards her.
“Mulder and Scully,” she replied and watched him think for a moment.
“Inspector Clouseau and Gilbert Ponton.”
“Booth and Bones,” she retorted.
“John Steed and Cathy Gale. The Avengers,” he added when she tilted her head. She remembered the remake a few years back with Uma Thurman and nodded.
“Maddie Hayes and David Addison.” He shook his head in question. “Moonlighting,” she added, and watched him concede.
“My mother liked that show,” he added, causing her to smile. “Bond and Moneypenny.”
“Castle and Kate Beckett,” she supplied quickly, balling her hands behind her. How could she have known that she’d get so turned on by a man who knew so many of her favorite shows.
“The Doctor and…” She waited, holding her breath. “Sarah Jane.” She laughed.
“Good call... Sam and Dean.”
“Okay.” His smile grew as his blue eyes danced over her. “You got me on that one. I love those guys.”
He leaned closer to her. “How about I cook us up some breakfast.”
“Out of European shows?” she teased.
He chuckled, the deep sound sending more waves of desire through her. “No, I could do this for hours. But since I didn’t get a chance to eat any of the dinner I cooked last night…”
“What?” She frowned. “None of it?” Sympathy spiked through her mind.
He shrugged. “Samples, but not a full meal’s worth.”
“I guess I could eat.” She stood up. “Can I help?”
He laughed.
“What?” She turned towards him, her hands on her hips. “I can cook.” She crossed her arms over her chest when he just raised his eyebrows as his eyes roamed over her slowly.
“We shall see,” he said slowly, then walked over and handed her a crisp white apron.
She wanted nothing more than to wipe that smirk off his face and spent the next thirty minutes impressing him with her skill at making scrambled eggs and fresh homemade biscuits with cream gravy. He sat across the room from her and watched her every move. She could tell he was itching to dive in and help, but he stopped himself from doing so.
“It’s a southern thing,” she said when she set the plate in front of him. He frowned up at her. “Trust me.”
“I’ve had biscuits and gravy before,” he added.
“Good, then you’ll have a comparison for mine.” She sat down next to him and waited as he picked up his fork.
She held her breath as he took the first bite. His eyes slid closed. She watched his face for any emotion, but saw none. It was driving her freaking nuts.
“Well?” she finally said after a few moments.
“It’s…”
“Awesome? Fantastic? The best thing you’ve eaten all day?” she supplied with a smile.
He chuckled at the last. “I’ll give you that one.” He took another bite and smiled. “Impressive.”
She waited. “Impressive as… in a good thing?”
He slowly nodded. “You’re killing me!” she growled out.
He glanced over at her, his plate forgotten. “Now you know what you’ve been doing to me for the past six months.”
She felt her throat tighten. She was saved from answering when the kitchen door swung open and the two officers that had visited them earlier walked in.
“Sorry for interrupting,” the older man said, glancing down at the pan of fresh biscuits. “Are those… fresh baked biscuits?” he asked, as he set a large box down on the table.
Lilith swallowed the boulder in her throat and smiled at the men. “Yes, would you like some?” Even to her, her voice sounded funny.
“We wouldn’t want to impose…” the younger man said.
“Nonsense, join us.” Adam waved them both to stools. “It’s the least we can do, especially since it appears you’ve returned our missing wine.”
He walked over and glanced in the box. “We’ve matched these with the serial numbers you sent over,” the older man said, shoveling the first bite of food into his mouth. “Woo wee.” He leaned back. “They have a kick. I love it.” He leaned in and ate more.
“It’s the jalapenos,” she supplied as she walked over and peeked into the box.
> Adam turned to her. “Jalapenos?”
“Hmm. Sure. It gives the gravy a kick, something to linger.” She pulled out a bottle and sighed. “So, maybe we won’t have to tell Sarah about this after all.” She turned to Adam.
“There is still the matter of the broken bottles.”
She frowned and groaned. “I forgot about those.”
Chapter Three
Lilith was sure she was going to lose her mind. Sarah had only been gone for three days. Yet she found herself itching to pick up the phone and call her back to help deal with the mess. Sure, she’d been in worse pickles, but knowing that didn’t help the current situation.
Besides, she wasn’t any good at lying or hiding things from her best friend. And she wasn’t ready to tell Sarah about the break-in a few days ago. Or the second kiss Adam had laid on her.
A kiss that had been so different than the first quick one he’d given to her out of anger. This one had been softer and full of desire. She felt her heart kick up a notch and tried to stay focused.
The longer she put off talking to Sarah, the better, so she had to suck it up and learn to deal with the problems herself.
Just then the man’s voice on the other end of the phone broke into her thoughts, giving her the unwelcome news about a late delivery.
“What do you mean you can’t have the delivery here until Thursday?” she growled into the phone, then listened as the general manager of their local produce supplier explained how they had lost their last shipment. “I don’t care what you need to do, just have our order to us by tomorrow afternoon.” She slammed down the phone and cringed when she realized that even if the delivery did come tomorrow afternoon, she was still going to have to explain to Adam that his order was going to be late.
She’d avoided him ever since the other morning. It hadn’t been hard, really. She’d been rushing around dealing with running East Haven and hadn’t stopped long enough to think about how the man made her feel.
But knowing she had to deliver the bad news to him personally made her knees a little wobbly. Not that she was afraid of how he’d take the news, but of what just seeing his blue eyes looking back at her did to her body.
She avoided heading down to the kitchen for as long as she could, but less than an hour later found herself standing outside the swinging doors. She could hear him inside, yelling at one of his crew in French, even though only two of them spoke the language fluently.
Taking a deep breath, she pushed open the door and stepped into the busiest room in the resort. She had purposely picked this time of day to deal with Adam, since she knew he’d be too busy to argue with her.
Her eyes moved over to where he stood at the cook’s table, wiping the sides of a dish that was about to be served. She’d spent enough time in the dining room delivering food that she knew he demanded nothing but perfection when it came to the look and taste of his meals. And, she had to admit, he was good at it.
Adam was too busy to notice her, which was to her benefit. She moved quickly until she stood directly behind him.
“The produce order won’t be here until tomorrow,” she blurted out quickly. When she turned to leave, he grabbed her arm and pulled her towards the back office. Dragging her heels would have been a waste of time, so she allowed him to lead her into his office.
When the door shut behind her, she opened her mouth for what she assumed would be an argument, only to have her shoulders pushed against the door and her mouth covered greedily with his.
When his lips slanted over hers, she couldn’t stop her body from melting against his. Almost as quickly as the kiss started, he broke away.
“What the hell do you mean my produce won’t be here until tomorrow?” He took a step back, then ran his fingers through his hair as he began to pace inside the small room. “As it is, I’m already low.” He dropped his hand and turned towards her. “There isn’t even enough for the anniversary party tonight.” It almost came out as a growl.
“Um.” Her mind was still a little too foggy from the kiss to really understand what he was saying.
Instead of waiting for her to reply, he continued to complain. At one point, he switched to French and she almost let a chuckle escape her lips. Finally, when he’d run out of words, he turned back to her.
“Well?” He waited.
She bit her bottom lip and wished more than anything she had been paying attention to what he was saying, instead of how sexy he looked in his uniform.
“Um,” she repeated, causing him to growl and move closer to her.
“Can you or can’t you?”
“I…” Sighing, she crossed her arms over her chest. “Maybe if you would say it again in English this time, I could answer you.”
She saw him sway a little, like she’d slapped him. His chin dropped slightly and he shook his head. “If I give you a list of items I’m low on, can you run into town and get them from the store yourself?”
“I have a few things to deal with first, but I see no reason why I couldn’t make a quick trip.” This was going better than she’d imagined it would.
He turned away from her, sat behind his desk, and started writing on a pad of paper.
When he handed her the paper, she quickly tucked it into her slacks pocket and turned to go.
“Lilly, we’ll have to talk sooner or later.” His voice was smooth and rich and she didn’t dare turn to look at him.
Nodding, she quickly disappeared from his office. As she made her way back up the two flights of stairs to Sarah’s office, the sound of his voice calling her Lilly played over in her mind.
No one had ever called her Lilly before. Actually, it had taken almost a year for her to get used to being called Lilith, a name she’d picked from an old romance book she’d found on a bus once. She’d always thought it sounded so romantic, so when she’d decided to make the name change, the choice had been obvious.
Sitting behind Sarah’s desk, she pulled up the spreadsheet Sarah had left her and checked the schedule. Seeing that there was only the anniversary party scheduled for that evening at the pool veranda, she relaxed a little.
She had a note from Rodney about some plants that had been destroyed during the last group’s party. She figured she could swing by and talk to Rodney before she called for Jerry to pick her up at the docks.
Changing out of her dress shoes and slipping on a pair of flats, she grabbed her purse and started downstairs. She ran into several employees on the way down, including one of her newest, Rebecca.
The young woman reminded Lilith so much of herself when she was eighteen. It seemed so long ago now. So much had changed. She’d changed.
Walking outside, she stopped to chat with a few guests. The older couple who would be celebrating their fiftieth anniversary later that night by the pool stopped to thank her for the gift of flowers and champagne that had been delivered to their room earlier that morning.
When she stepped out into the gardens, she couldn’t stop the smile from forming on her lips. This was her favorite spot on the island. Here, where the flowers were perfectly maintained, the birds and bees were busy around her, and she could just imagine herself spending the entire day in the warm sun.
“If you stand there too much longer, you’ll get sunburned,” Rodney’s soft voice sounded from beside her. She hadn’t heard the old man approach her; she’d been enjoying herself too much.
“Oh, I think my pale skin could tolerate a little color.” She smiled and took the single white rose the man offered her each time he saw her. She dipped her nose into the soft petals and enjoyed the sweet scent.
“I suppose so, but still…” He patted her hand. “How’s does it feel, boss lady, running the old place all by yourself?”
She giggled. “I think I might survive until Sarah gets back.”
“Just survive?” He leaned closer to her and winked. When he started strolling along the pathway, she joined him.
“What’s this about some bushes being destroyed?”
“Not destroyed, taken.”
She stopped and blinked. “Taken? As in stolen?” Rodney stopped and looked back at her.
“Yup, about ten of them. We’d just planted them earlier that day.”
“Saturday?” she asked, feeling her heart skip.
“Nope, Sunday.”
“But you don’t work Sundays. Or aren’t supposed to. Saturday’s either.”
She thought she saw the old man actually blush before he turned away from her.
“The job needed doing,” he said as he continued to walk along the pathway. “Besides, I had to do something to keep my grandson busy. The boy gets into trouble if he doesn’t have something to do.”
“I thought Nate was doing much better. Especially after the… incident.” She didn’t want to bring up the fact that a few months back she’d caught the nineteen-year-old stealing from the employees’ store.
Since the resort was on a secluded island, they had a large shed that was kept stocked with the basic items that one would need in life. Most of the employees actually lived in the dorm building near the docks full time. Some, like Sarah, split their time between the island and the town of Silver Cove, just across the water on the mainland.
Lilith, for her part, had been living in her dorm room for almost ten years, ever since Sarah had persuaded the old manager, Tom Elliott, to hire her on as a maid.
Since moving in, she’d worked every job possible at East Haven, including one wonderful summer where Rodney had taken her under his wing and taught her to love working in the dirt.
“Oh, he is,” Rodney said, breaking into her memories. “It’s just best to keep him busy.” He turned down the back pathway towards the hidden cottage that only employees knew about. “I seem to remember another young teenager who needed to stay busy too.”
She laughed. “You never gave me a moment’s rest. Who would have thought there was so much to do to keep all this”—she motioned around them— “beautiful?”
“I’ll take that as a compliment,” he said, stopping and pointing downwards. “They were sumacs. Red ones. Once they had grown a little, it would have made this whole area look like it was on fire.” He sighed and shook his head. “Tis a shame. I’m having to wait three more weeks for others to arrive to replace them.”