Our Last First Kiss KOBO

by Christie Ridgway

“Lilly.” Her name came out as a croak and she looked up.

  He held out his hand. “We need to go.”

  She obeyed him as if in a dream, or maybe it was he who was in a somnolent state, because he couldn’t recall saying goodbye to his parents and Jojo, only that he was out in the fog again, Lilly’s hand warm in his. Once in his room, she stared at her baggage, neatly arranged on one side of the foyer.

  “You…” She seemed incapable of putting her thoughts into words.

  “There’s isn’t much I wouldn’t do for you,” he said, as honest as he could without scaring her off with the unvarnished truth. “We can return it all to your bungalow tomorrow,” he said, brushing her hair off her forehead and then letting his hand trail down to curl around neck, his thumb resting on her throat. “But you belong to me.”

  Her eyes widened.

  “Tonight,” he added, to ease the unsteady flutter of her pulse.

  Thank God she didn’t object, because his newfound possessiveness was just beginning to assert itself and he didn’t have control of it yet.

  He wondered if he ever would.

  But for tonight he didn’t try to rein it in. And with it at full roar, he led her into the bathroom where he turned on the shower jets, letting the water turn hot and the room steamy as he stripped away her clothes and then threw off his. She gazed on him, and one hand reached out to trail him from collarbone to navel. His heart slammed against his ribs, his flushed cock twitching as it stretched toward her touch.

  Before she got any unwise ideas, he hauled her into the shower with him, and let the water fall over their entwined bodies. When he thought he could let her go for a moment, he reached for the shampoo bottle and poured some into his palms, then washed her hair, his fingers gently tracing the contours of her skull.

  He wanted to know everything about her, the delicate rims of her ears and the shallow groove at the back of her head, just at her hairline. When he tipped her face back to wash the suds away, he couldn’t help but press his mouth to the tender skin under her chin and she shivered, blinking owlishly at him when he wrung the extra moisture from her hair by fisting light handfuls and squeezing out the excess.

  Released from his hold, the ribbons of hair sprung into delightful waves and curls, and when she made some comment about her need to tame the stuff, he shut her up with a kiss to her mouth, water running between their lips and over the tips of her breasts.

  Soap came next, and he washed her with meticulous care, despite her blushes and her weak attempts at pushing his investigating hands away. “We have to get you all cleaned,” he said against the outside of her thigh as he kneeled at her feet, and then he used his tongue and she was quiet except for whimpering moans. Her fingers curled in his hair and he smiled against the yielding softness of her intimate flesh and gave her a long, sucking kiss that made her knees buckle until he had to prop her peachy bottom in his hands.

  Afterward, he leaned her against the tiled wall and made quick work of his own washing up. With a towel wrapped around his hips, he took his time drying her body, rubbing cloth over each limb and along every crevice until she was pink everywhere and panting and trying to clutch at him to bring him even closer. Laughing, he swatted her lightly on that delectable bottom, and when she swayed into him, swatted again, laughing harder at her pouting lower lip.

  That required kissing, so there was a long interlude of lips and naked limbs pressed tightly together until he swung her up in his arms and took her to bed.

  The sheets were cool against their fevered flesh and he started off by kissing her again, his mouth exploring the tickly feathers of her lashes and the downy softness of her brows. He kissed between them and her eyes opened, the midnight mystery of them causing his breath to stutter in his lungs.

  Of all the women who might have been the one to reach him, it was her, Lilly, with her hidden secrets and her buried hurts.

  She called to the masculine core of him, and he knew he was made to hear her broken whispers and to treat her unhealed wounds. Though she might not require his strength, he would always offer it, a freely tendered currency that he hoped she would someday accept.

  As her due.

  Now, though, he offered tenderness and pleasure and silent messages. See what we are. See what we can have together. See what has been missing all our lives.

  But then it was even too much for Alec. He realized he couldn’t look into her face without giving in to the urge to confess all he felt, so he turned her to her side, spooning her and burying his face in her damp hair to absorb his mouthed promises.

  His thigh pushed between hers, holding her open for him. His hand slid into the space he’d made, and he touched with care, his thumb separating the full layers, finding the swollen center. She jerked back, and his cock pressed into another furrow, causing them both to gasp with new sensation. Murmuring reassurances, he spread her seeping moisture all around her intimate flesh, exquisitely painting every surface. When she was panting, her body squirming in such a way that had his cock leaking too, he breached her tender opening, two fingers sliding in a meager inch.

  She tensed and he lightly bit the side of her neck. Her body bucked, his fingers slipped inside to the second knuckles, and he massaged her deep inside, patiently preparing her for his cock. It ached like a bitch, wanting what it wanted, but he ignored the low throb and continued to stroke and caress the heated channel.

  But then Lilly made a noise low in his throat and grasped his wrist. “More,” she said.

  With a laugh, he bit her again, kissed the spot, then reached for a condom. In moments he was entering her in slow increments, and he could tell she was fighting the pleasure even as she reached for it. He buried his face in her hair again as he began to drive in strong, urgent lunges, taking, giving, taking, giving.

  Lilly began to tremble and he reached around to soothe her breast, tweak her nipple. Her body stiffened and then her inner muscles pulsed. He let them clasp him, stilling, then his cock nudged deeper, and she cried out, even as his heart echoed the same.

  “Mine,” he whispered, as he was catapulted into a shuddering climax. All mine.

  Lilly ignored the nerves fluttering in her belly and sat on the couch in the bungalow to buckle her new shoes. Audra placed a mug of tea before her on the nearby table.

  She sent her best friend a grateful look. “How did you know I could use that?”

  “Remember? We always drank tea before a first date. Very calming.”

  Lilly’s eyes widened. This was a first date? “It’s just a party. Here at the resort.”

  “You have a new outfit. A man is picking you up and escorting you there. It’s a date.”

  Maybe she would have told Alec she’d meet him if she’d thought of it that way. But he’d already been out-of-sorts because of her insistence that she and her bags return to the bungalow this morning. Not that he’d voiced a protest, but she’d read the tension in the set of his shoulders and the tick of the muscle in his jaw.

  She’d placed her hand there. “You have to let me go when I ask you to.”

  He’d given her a mutinous look, and she’d responded by caressing his cheek.

  “Swear to me you’ll let me go whenever I ask or I won’t trust you.”

  His body had gone hard for a moment, but then he’d relaxed. With a short nod, he’d taken her things under his arm and carried them himself. Once at her door, he’d kissed her cheek and promised he’d see her later, his voice inflexible.

  She’d tried to jolly him with smile. “You make it sound like a threat.”

  “We’ll get to that later,” he’d said, throwing her a look of such dark sensuality that she’d shivered, her body recalling every intimate act he’d performed on her the night before.

  Seeing that, his expression had lightened and he’d sauntered off, the confident, arrogant beast.

  “You’re smiling,” Audra pointed out. “I’ll take that as a positive sign that things are progressing between you and Alec.”<
br />
  One baby step. “Nothing’s changed, not really.”

  “I wish you wouldn’t say that. I’d like to see something positive come out of this week.”

  Sympathy wrung Lilly’s heart. “What can I do? Do you want me to stay in tonight and we can talk?”

  Audra shook her head and turned away. “We’ve talked plenty.”

  “Coldplay,” Lilly said suddenly. “‘Fix You.’” It was a song for the emotional moment, a pledge from one person to be there for another. Always.

  Her friend turned around, a wobbly smile curving her mouth. “I know you would if you could. I couldn’t bear it if you feel guilty about my continued state of gloom.”

  It would eat at her, Lilly knew it would. “Is there something else that can make things better?”

  “Apparently not the Heartbreak Hotel,” Audra said.

  “Oh.” Lilly had kept the stories about it to herself. “You heard about that?”

  “I did.” She heaved in a sigh. “And though I’ve had no luck so far, I’ve decided to give it a longer chance to work. I’m going to stay another week.”

  “You are?” Lilly’s mind ran through her schedule. “Um…”

  “Alone,” Audra said. “I know you have to get back to the office, but I’m free for a while longer.”

  Lilly frowned. “I don’t like the idea of you being by yourself.”

  “Con’s here for a couple of days after you check out.”

  Glancing at the clock, Lilly stood to retrieve her purse. She needed to transfer the necessaries into her smaller evening clutch. “So…um…you think there might be something to the hotel’s legend?”

  “Of course not.” Audra snorted. “I’m just not ready to go back to my condo. My nosy neighbor Alice will be all agog about why I’m taking the place off the market.”

  Lilly made a face. “I—”

  A knock on the door sounded, and she jumped, her gaze shifting there. “Alec’s here,” she said,

  “And you’re ready,” Audra said, hurrying forward to hand Lilly the soft wrap she was borrowing. “Go out. For me. Go out and have the time of your life.”

  Lilly tilted her head. “Green Day reference? Or the song from Dirty Dancing?”

  “An order,” Audra said, pushing her forward.

  Lilly’s palm was damp with sudden anxiety as she turned the knob. Alec stood there, in a snowy shirt and dark suit and tie, looking nothing like the naked man who had turned her this way and that the night before. Turned her inside out, until every vulnerable part of her had been exposed.

  That man was gone, except his eyes, which were hot and feverishly bright as his gaze moved over her body in slow degrees. She fidgeted under his silent regard, wondering if the midnight-blue satin dress was too short or too clingy or just too…something. “I almost didn’t buy it,” she said, babbling nervously. “But Jojo insisted. I thought maybe it looked too much like a negligee, you know, like something you’d wear not to a party but to bed…”

  “My sister is a genius,” Alec said then, reaching for her wrist in order to haul her across the threshold. He fitted her under his arm. “We’ll go tell her so.”

  The designated ballroom for the anniversary dinner-dance was decorated in white linen, white flowers, and beautiful crystal candelabras that burned tall, white candles. The space teemed with guests when they arrived and Alec steered her toward the family table, though people stood about, not yet taking chairs. A server passed them champagne, and Lilly greeted Miranda and Vic, offering them congratulations once again.

  Jojo held her at arm’s length. “Did I say killer dress, or what?”

  “I thought it would give me a heart attack,” Alec said, his hand at the small of Lilly’s back.

  The bare small of Lilly’s back, because the dress draped low at her hips from the rear. The bodice draped too, and the dress was kept up by shoulder straps skinnier that shoe strings. Her sandals were peep-toed black pumps, the heel height modest compared to some of the pairs in the room, but she felt teetery enough with Alec never going long without touching her arm, her hand, brushing her hair behind her ear.

  If only she didn’t enjoy it so much, she’d complain to him about the blatant PDA. But affection had been yet another thing missing from her life, like stability, like safety. Murmuring something about greeting an acquaintance, he pressed a kiss to her throat, and she flushed as he left, noting Miranda Thatcher’s avid gaze had taken in the show.

  But her embarrassment receded as Jojo clutched her arm. “Why is he here?”

  Following the direction of the other woman’s stare, she saw Con Montgomery, standing with another couple of men. “I have no idea,” she said. “That’s Audra’s brother.”

  “I know,” Jojo muttered. “We met yesterday.”

  “Oh.” Baffled by the other woman’s odd reaction, she frowned. “Did he say something to you?”

  “He didn’t need to,” Alec’s sister muttered again. Then the man in question looked over, his sights seeming to focus on Jojo. As he began making his way toward the head table, she disappeared.

  Interesting. But before Lilly could puzzle it out, Alec was back and he held up a skewered shrimp to her mouth. “You’ll like this,” he said. “It’s marinated in lime and hot off the grill.”

  It was nothing, she told herself, a small courtesy only, but opening her mouth so he could feed her felt almost unbearably intimate. She recalled him giving her chocolate on the first night in his bed, the taste of it inextricably linked to her memory of him also serving up pleasure. She wondered if this was a practiced move of his, something he was well aware would make a woman think of other intimacies.

  Yes. Practiced.

  A smile curved the corners of his mouth as she chewed. “What’s that furious-kitten glare for, sugar?”

  Swallowing, she crossed her arms over her chest. “You—”

  He blotted the corner of her mouth with a cocktail napkin, and then lifted his brows, all innocence. “Me?”

  Lilly glanced over to see Miranda watching them and she dropped her arms, changing the subject to something less volatile. “Do you know what Audra’s brother is doing here?”

  “One of the other guest ran into him in the sauna—knows him from college, a country club? I don’t know. He asked my dad if Con could tag along and of course he said yes.”

  “Con wouldn’t join a country club to save his life,” Lilly said. “Much too conventional.”

  Miranda signaled it was time for them to take their seats, and as the front table did as ordered, the others followed suit. Servers swarmed the tables with delectable fare and delicious wines, but Lilly couldn’t seem to separate the courses in her mind or really even absorb the flavors of the different foods. With Alec beside her, his every gesture, word, look became the meal she would remember.

  Under the candlelight and amidst the happy laughter, Lilly felt herself creeping closer to the edge of a high, lethally dangerous cliff.

  “Here,” Alec said at the end of the meal, passing her the cream for the coffee a server had just poured into her cup.

  Surprised, she accepted it, but gave him a look. “You know how I take my coffee?”

  “Easy stuff,” he scoffed, smiling. “Ask me if I know the size of your underwear.”

  She gave him a stern look. “Behave. I can still tell your mother about the Buster scare.”

  “But I don’t want to behave,” he said, his smile turning roguish. “Not with you.” His head bent and he pressed a kiss to her bare shoulder. “Lilly,” he whispered, looking up into her eyes.

  “What?” Without thinking, her hand went to his hair and she toyed with the silken layers. “What is it?”

  He held still while she petted him, as if afraid she’d stop. “I—”

  A musical fanfare interrupted him. A band was set up on the terrace outside and a man had come into the room from there, a wireless mic in hand. Vic Thatcher’s brother, prepared to deliver the first toast.

  Many
came after, a chain of approbation that left the anniversary couple smiling. Miranda blotted a tear here and there.

  Then it was dance time, the band flowing from rock standards to bluesy jazz, and guests wandered out to the terrace to dance. More fog had crept in tonight, but the outdoor heaters and flickering candles kept it at bay. Lilly found herself wrapped in Alec’s arms, and they swayed together to some old tune that made her think of black-and-white movies and the kind of love that survived wartime separation and bouts of tap-dancing. She smiled against his shoulder, wondering what Alec would think of the observation.

  “It could always be like this,” he said against her temple.

  Lilly’s body lurched. But Alec kept strong hold of her. “Lilly. Calm down.”

  No, no, she wouldn’t calm down. Dangling such a dream in front of her face wasn’t fair.

  “One baby step,” she said, through clenched teeth. “You said you wouldn’t ask for more. You promised.”

  He took in a quick breath, as if preparing to argue, then he subsided again, one hand caressing a circle between her shoulder blades. “Admit it’s nice like this,” he said.

  “It’s nice like this,” she said, ignoring the prick of tears at the corners of her eyes. She closed them and drew in the scents of night, trying to regain at least a portion of peace she’d felt moments before.

  The song ended, and Alec led her back inside, claiming she needed more champagne. As they approached their table, her gaze caught on a figure lurking by the exit. Her heart jolted, and then settled to a low thrum, as she confirmed that yes, it was him, in a ragged pair of jeans, and a denim jacket over a black T-shirt.

  The other shoe had dropped, she thought with some relief, because she’d been waiting for it all along, hadn’t she?

  Alec strolled to the bar for champagne and threaded his way back to Lilly, waylaid several times for brief chats with friends and family. Once he finally arrived at the table, it was to find it deserted of everyone, including Lilly. Her light shawl was missing, her small purse too, and a premonition turned his skin cold.

  His head whipped around, hoping to catch sight of her. She could have gone to the ladies’ room, he told himself. Stepped out to make a call to Audra.