More Than Pancakes (The Maple Leaf Series Book 1)

by Christine DePetrillo

  If Rick could want to touch her right now, perhaps she wasn’t evil incarnate for bringing trouble his way. Perhaps she could have this man she wanted so much more than anything in the world.

  Perhaps she could just have tonight.

  Lily slowly turned around to face Rick. Her hands, slick with soap, slid up his abs, along his chest, over his scar, then down his arms. His blue eyes disappeared behind his lids as Lily circled her hand over his arousal. He let out a soft moan and lowered his lips to hers. Before Lily could think too much about it, she was losing herself again in his kiss.

  “Lily,” Rick breathed.

  “I didn’t mean what I said,” she blurted, tears streaming from her eyes. “This wasn’t a trick to get your land. I swear. What I feel for you, Rick, is real. More real than anything I’ve ever felt in my life. I just wanted Drew to leave you alone.”

  “I know.” He brushed the tears away with his thumb and kissed her again. “All I want to do is make love to you.”

  Lily cried, and she wasn’t sure if she was overjoyed or miserable. Rick wanted her, but she knew it couldn’t last. Tomorrow would come, and he’d hate her for ruining his quiet, safe corner of the universe.

  Water beaded up on Rick’s skin. When Lily focused back on his eyes, she couldn’t deny him anything he wanted. Especially when it was exactly what she wanted too.

  Lifting to her toes, she caught Rick’s mouth with hers and, aware that he was favoring his hurt ankle, eased him down to the seat that lined the back of the shower. She massaged his shoulders, traced the muscles on his chest, arched back when he kissed a line across her stomach. She accepted him inside her as she lowered to his lap, and each inch she took had her body celebrating in the sensations.

  Rick kneaded her hips, settling inside her more possessively, more completely. He stood and she wrapped her legs around his waist. They moved as one entity, small movements that sent shockwaves through Lily’s body. A few hours ago she never would have thought she’d be here, feeling this… loved.

  How could one person, whom she’d only known for a week, mean this much to her? Why was it that every time Rick touched her she reached a new level of peace? What made it so easy to picture loving him forever?

  Rick covered her breasts with hot, demanding kisses. Each stroke of his tongue along her nipples made her body shudder with wild pleasure. The smell of citrus soap, trees, and man swirled around Lily, pulled her into another place, another time, another level of ecstasy. She didn’t want to be anywhere else. Ever.

  When they reached their peak, Lily let out a cry, which Rick mirrored with a husky sigh. After he sat again, she collapsed against him and listened to his heart beat steadily in his chest, thankful that it did.

  Only one way to make sure that it kept on beating.

  After catching her breath, she slid off Rick’s lap and they finished washing. Rick applied some ointment to Lily’s cheek to help it heal. He slid his jeans, T-shirt, and sweater back on while she put on a pair of her grandmother’s sweats in a pretty shade of lavender. After another heated kiss in the master bedroom, Rick asked for Lily’s car keys so he could check on Poe.

  “Come with me. I don’t want to leave you alone.” He dropped a kiss on her forehead.

  “I don’t think I’m ready to go back outside just yet.” A chill zigzagged down Lily’s back. “I’ll wait for you here. You’ll be right back.”

  He was about to protest, but the doorbell rang.

  “Are the police still out there?” Lily asked.

  Rick peered out one of the front windows. “Yes.” He walked to the door and opened it.

  “Oh, thank God!” Aunt Joy spilled in with Hope and Sage right behind her. She hugged Rick, then gathered Lily in an embrace. “You both all right?” She stepped back to look them over and winced as her gaze settled on Lily’s cheek. “Oh, dear.”

  “We’re okay,” Rick said.

  “I went to your house,” Aunt Joy said, turning to Rick, “and saw Poe was injured. My mind got all filled up with horrible, horrible pictures of what may have happened to you two.” She hugged them both again, putting a little extra squeeze into it.

  “Yeah,” Sage said. “We weren’t prepared to find someone else to pick on, Ricky.” She gave him a light shove, but Lily saw the tears in her eyes.

  “Don’t call me Ricky.” He pulled his cousin into a hug and kissed the top of her head.

  “Oh, you guys.” Hope squeezed both of them, kissed Rick’s cheek, then did the same to Lily. “What happened?”

  “Come in and I’ll tell you.” Lily nudged Rick to the door. “Go get Poe. I’ll be fine.”

  He nodded. “I’ll be right back.”

  He left and Lily stood at the door watching him hobble to her Jeep.

  “You’re letting the cold in, sugar.” Aunt Joy took Lily by the arm and led her to the kitchen. “Sit and start from the beginning.”

  She told them everything and when she was done, she actually felt better. As if she had just told a story that had happened to someone else. She was able to separate herself from the fact that she could have died. Forgetting that Rick could have died was a harder task.

  Aunt Joy, Hope, and Sage sat at the kitchen table in stunned silence until Sage said, “Bat shit? In the face? Classic, Lily. Classic. Assburn got what he deserved, if you ask me.”

  Lily felt guilty for agreeing. She had to remind herself that the man who had basically kidnapped her this evening wasn’t the man she had known for years. He had turned into something else entirely, and it had gotten him killed. How was she supposed to go back to work in California and forget what had happened in that decrepit cabin?

  “I don’t know about anyone else, but I’m ravenous,” Aunt Joy announced. “It has been my experience that food heals all wounds.”

  Sage nodded and opened Lily’s refrigerator. “Wow, well-stocked. I was about to suggest heading back to our house, but screw that. We’ve got enough in here for a feast.”

  Lily came to the refrigerator and realized where the food had come from. “Drew bought this.”

  Sage’s hand dropped off the door handle. “On second thought, maybe we should go to our house.” She started to close the refrigerator.

  “No, there’s nothing wrong with this food. Drew was going to eat it too. After the crap he put me through tonight, the least we can do is have a meal on him.”

  “The bastard.” Hope put her hand over her mouth.

  “This is what it takes to get my sister to swear.” Sage threw an arm around Lily’s shoulders as Hope came to stand in front of the refrigerator on Lily’s other side.

  Sandwiched between them, Lily allowed the tension in her shoulders to loosen. Grandma Gail would have loved these women. Loved them as much as Lily did.

  “Are you three going to stare at the enemy food or start making something?” Joy pushed them aside to look inside the refrigerator.

  “I only know how to make pancakes,” Lily said.

  “Pancakes would be perfect,” Joy said. “Solid comfort food.” She reached in and grabbed the milk.

  Sage took out the eggs, while Hope reached for some apples.

  “Apple cinnamon pancakes?” Hope asked.

  “Sounds good to me.” Lily pulled out a mixing bowl and the rest of the needed ingredients.

  The four women worked like a well-oiled machine. Chopping, mixing, pouring, flipping. By the time they were done, a sizable stack of pancakes graced the kitchen table.

  “Let’s eat in the dining room,” Lily said.

  “It’s fancy in there.” Hope followed Lily and stood at the threshold to peer into the elaborate room. “What if we spill something?”

  “We’ll clean it up.” Lily shrugged and looked at the long mahogany table with ten high-backed chairs around it. An African bubinga wood inlay in a delicate, maple leaf design ran down the center of the table and was highlighted in the sparkling chandelier lights overhead. They all deserved some fine dining tonight. “Grab the food.�
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  They brought everything into the dining room and when they were ready to sit down, the front door opened. Lily couldn’t stop herself from going to Rick, but he wasn’t alone when he stepped into the foyer. He and another man carried Poe to the great room and set her down on the fluffy rug by the fireplace.

  “Lily, you remember Sam, right?” Rick indicated the man standing behind him.

  “Of course,” Lily said as she recognized the EMT by day/drummer by night from Black Wolf Tavern.

  “He responded to my 911 call,” Rick said as he patted Poe’s back, soothing the coyote.

  Sam answered Lily’s unasked question. “Mr. Ashburn has been taken to the morgue. He’ll be transported back to California this week. His brother, Ryan Ashburn, has been contacted.”

  Lily nodded. She’d met Ryan a few times. He lived in Germany. Drew and Ryan hadn’t been close, and she wondered if there was a childhood trauma she didn’t know about. An abandonment issue, perhaps. Something that could explain why Drew had gotten so possessive of her and completely lost it tonight.

  Poe whimpered at her feet, and Lily kneeled. “How’s our girl here?” Poe licked at the bandage wrapped around her paw.

  “Just a graze,” Sam said. “I gave her a couple of stitches. She’ll be as good as new in a few days.”

  Lily scratched between Poe’s ears, and the coyote rested her head on her paws while a satisfied rumble buzzed in her throat. “Glad Poe’s been well taken care of. We were about to sit down to apple-cinnamon pancakes. Want some, Sam?”

  “I’d love some chow,” Sam said. “If you don’t mind me joining you.”

  “I don’t mind,” Lily said, “and I’m fairly certain Hope won’t mind either.”

  Sam’s cheeks pinked, and Lily thought the dark-haired drummer/EMT was a perfect match for Hope. He had that same gentleness about him that Hope had.

  “Dining room is right through the kitchen there.” She gestured with her arm.

  “Thank you.” Sam headed to the dining room, and Sage busted Hope up about nearly choking on her coffee after he walked in.

  Alone in the great room now, Rick kissed Lily’s forehead then sniffed the air. He pointed to the dining room. “Pancakes. This way. Come on.” He tugged her along behind him, his limp significant.

  Lily pulled him to a stop just shy of the dining room. “How bad does that hurt?”

  “It’s killing me. You’ll make me forget the pain after everyone leaves.” He arched an eyebrow.

  Dammit. How could she do what was best for him if he kept looking at her like that?

  ****

  Rick watched Lily as she ate her pancakes. How could she still look like a runway model in purple sweats with a sliced up cheek? How had he lived without her? Yes, his property had been his sanctuary for the past couple of years and had kept him and his heart healthy, but he hadn’t been living. Not really. Not until he’d made love to Lily. The wheel of his life had started to spin again when she touched him. He didn’t want it to stop. He wouldn’t let it.

  Tonight he would show her exactly how thankful he was that she had cured him. He’d thought solitude was the only answer for his situation, the only thing that would keep him breathing. Now he knew how wrong he’d been. He needed the exact opposite. He needed companionship and not just the four-legged kind.

  All I have to do is think of a way to keep Lily.

  “These pancakes are freaking awesome,” Sam said as he helped himself to a few more.

  “Lily has quite a talent for pancakes,” Aunt Joy said.

  “Nothing hard about making pancakes.” Lily shrugged and finished her coffee.

  “No,” Sage said, “but these are like the mother of all pancakes.” She held one up. “Perfect circles, golden coloring, a muffin-meets-cookie phenomenon happening. These are superior pancakes. We should serve them in the store.” Sage smiled as if a light bulb had gone off in her head.

  “I suppose if you can only cook one thing, you’d better be good at it.” Lily offered Rick another pancake, and after a wary glance from his aunt, he nodded. Tonight he could eat a million pancakes and his heart wouldn’t give a good goddamn.

  They finished eating, none of them discussing the evening’s events until Sam said, “Those bats that came out of the cabin were using the place as their hibernacula.”

  “Their what?” Lily asked.

  “Hibernacula. Spots to hibernate for the winter.” Sam popped another bite of pancake into his mouth, chewed, swallowed. “They were Indiana bats.”

  “Aren’t those endangered in Vermont?” Hope asked.

  “Yep,” Sam said.

  “Which means…” Rick began.

  “This property is protected by law,” Sage finished.

  Lily’s eyes widened. “Which means if a hotel wanted to build here, it totally couldn’t.”

  A cheer rose up from everyone except Sam who looked from Lily to Hope. “Why the hell would a hotel want to build here? This is nowhere.”

  “It’s somewhere to us,” Sage said. “And now we get to keep it that way.”

  Hope explained the details to Sam while she walked him out, and Sage, Aunt Joy, and Lily cleaned up. Lily ordered Rick to a kitchen chair, and Aunt Joy seconded it when she saw how bad his ankle hurt.

  “You’ll be in that cast forever at this rate, sugar.” Aunt Joy pulled another chair over for him to prop his leg on. Though her tone had been scolding, she patted his cheek before going to the sink to wash dishes. Sage dried while Lily put away. When Hope came into the kitchen—a bit flushed—she took a broom and a washcloth into the dining room.

  Rick enjoyed watching the women in his family treat Lily as one of their own. She came from miles away—hell, it may have been a galaxy away—but they joked with her, showed her sisterly and motherly affection, talked with her as if they’d known her for years. Was it possible they had fallen in love with her just as he had?

  When everything was back to its original tidiness, Lily showed Hope, Sage, and Aunt Joy to guest bedrooms upstairs. There had been talk of Aunt Joy and the girls going back to their house, but Lily said, “Let’s all stay here. Safety in numbers and all that crap.”

  “A slumber party sounds wonderful,” Aunt Joy said, shooting Rick a look that said she knew Lily needed to be surrounded by people. Bless Aunt Joy. “Besides, this place is huge!”

  When Lily came back downstairs to the kitchen, Rick stood and asked, “Come to show me to my quarters?”

  “I’m afraid only the master bedroom is left,” Lily said. “Unless you want the couch.”

  Rick caught her around the waist and clasped his hands at the small of her back. “I want to be wherever you’re going to be.”

  “Good,” Lily said. “I want to hold you and be held tonight.”

  “That can be arranged.”

  Lily pulled him to his feet. He held back the groan of pain as he took a step.

  Note to self, running in air cast through the woods is a mistake. One he hoped not to have to make again.

  He climbed the stairs slowly with Lily under his arm, close and secure. When they got to the master bedroom, she undressed herself first then proceeded to remove his clothes. Lily pulled the blankets down on the bed and backed Rick onto the sheeted mattress. He scooted over and she climbed in next to him, pulling the covers over them.

  Despite his nakedness, Rick had never been warmer. Lily’s body was hot, like a soft, curvy wood stove right beside him. He wrapped his arms around her and loved when she burrowed deeper into his embrace, all her contours fitting against his. He nibbled at her bare shoulder, and she hummed her approval of his attention. Her hair smelled of that grapefruit-coconut fragrance, but she also smelled like apple cinnamon pancakes and maple syrup, and the mingling aromas lulled Rick.

  “Good night, Rick,” Lily whispered.

  He wanted to say good night back to her, tell her that he loved her, but he was already someplace else, where the edges of reality blurred and dreams could make a ma
n’s heart feel brand new.

  Chapter Twenty-one

  Rick rolled to his back, feeling suddenly cold without Lily pressed up against him. She’d kept him warm all night, but now streaks of sun spilled in through the blinds on the bedroom windows announcing morning. He slid his hand over to the other side of the bed and found nothing but rumpled blankets.

  Rising to an elbow, he scanned the bedroom, but Lily was not in there. He pulled back the covers and swung his legs over the side of the bed. As blood rushed to his feet, a slow burn emanated from his ankle up to his knee. His entire left leg was swollen.

  “Wonderful.” He stretched his arms out and yawned, not ready to get up, but wanting to find Lily to drag her back to bed where they could hopefully spend the entire day tangled up with one another. If he had to stay off his leg today, he was going to need someone to keep him entertained.

  Lily was that someone. The perfect someone.

  He pulled on his jeans and limped to the door. He checked the master bathroom, but didn’t find Lily there either. Could she be making more pancakes in the kitchen?

  He painfully made his way down the stairs, holding onto the railing with a death grip as he took each step. The kitchen was as they’d left it last night and empty. A nasty feeling seeped into Rick’s stomach.

  He went to the hallway. “Lily,” he called. “Lily!”

  Sage appeared at the top of the stairs, looking ready to kill him for disturbing her slumber. “What’s with the shouting, Rick? You lose your teddy bear?”

  When he didn’t laugh, Sage’s expression immediately sobered, and she came down the stairs, stopping on the last one so she could look Rick in the eye. “What’s the matter?”

  “Have you seen Lily this morning?” Rick skirted around Sage to go back upstairs.

  She followed him. “I haven’t exactly been up taking attendance. It’s only 5:30 in the a.m. You know how I hate the a.m.”

  He went back into the master bedroom and scanned the room more carefully. No suitcase, but Lily had said Drew had taken it. Was it still in his rented SUV, which had been towed to the police station? The sweat suit she’d worn was no longer on the floor where she’d dropped it last night, but the rest of his clothes were.