Hometown Hope: A Small Town Romance Anthology

by Zoe York

  Lily grinned and whacked her knuckles against his. From the doorway, Trish shot her a grateful smile, warming her from the inside out and making her feel like she was a help, like she was part of the family.

  Gramps followed Lily to the kitchen, and from there she could hear the Mattsons carrying in items, taking over Ethan’s home. She really hoped nobody opened the drawers to her lingerie chest which had eventually been abandoned against a wall in the living room.

  She settled Gramps at the table with a plate of mashed potatoes and gravy, along with a tall glass of milk.

  Lily sat across from him, happy to be off her feet for a few minutes, happy to be feeding someone without forgetting the meal, as she had on the afternoon picnic. She still couldn’t believe she’d managed to leave it in the car, or how everyone had convinced her to enjoy the hike rather than to go back for it. They’d said it was more important she didn’t miss out on the family hike than for them to eat.

  She hadn’t quite known how to take that, but everyone had been happy. Even Ethan.

  Although they had eaten in the end—in the parking lot, laughing and telling old family stories. Some of which included her, making her feel like a true Mattson despite her fake marriage.

  “I know what you two are doing,” Gramps said, breaking into her thoughts.

  “Feeding you?” she teased. After his forgotten-pants episode she’d been taking him meals and checking up on him when Ethan couldn’t. She’d discovered quickly that the only thing he’d eat off the buffet plate she’d bring from the restaurant was the mashed potatoes. Any time she slipped a carrot and half slice of roast beef beside the starchy, buttery food it was more to appease her guilt than anything else.

  “Pretending to be in love and doing that marriage bit.”

  Lily didn’t know where to look, what to say. Just on the other side of the wall were the rest of the Mattson clan who, as far as she knew, weren’t yet onto their little marriage deal.

  “We consider you family, little Lil. Marriage or not.”

  She swallowed over a sudden, insurmountable lump in her throat.

  “So I’m only gonna say this once, because that boy means the world to me. Not a lot of people take my guff, and I wouldn’t do anything to ruin our bond, or whatever fancy, feely thing you want to call it. You hear? I can’t betray him. Especially with me now under his roof and rules.

  “So here it is. You gotta take that man to bed.”

  He said it so seriously Lily began laughing.

  “I’m not kidding around.” His voice had turned gruff and she squelched the urge to continue laughing, worried he’d shut her out. “It’s to protect your interests,” he grumbled, no doubt insulted by her reaction. He dug into his potatoes as if she was no longer there.

  “My interests?”

  She really didn’t think Ethan was going to run off with another woman. Unless, of course, someone like Dani returned to town and batted her eyes three times. In the past that had seemed to be the magical signal that shut down Ethan’s ability to reason and caused him to fall into step like he was a well-programmed robot, intent on doing her bidding.

  “You married the louse to save on taxes, I figure. Have a prenuptial agreement, too, if I heard correctly.”

  Lily massaged the bottom of her foot, afraid to confirm his suspicions in any way.

  “He has nothing to lose,” Gramps said, then downed the glass of milk Lily had set out.

  “We have a legal agreement,” she said quietly.

  “If you don’t take him to bed,” he said pointedly, “he has nothing to lose.”

  Lily stood, tucking her hair behind her ears.

  “He can get an annulment,” Gramps said louder, ensuring she’d hear him out. “Void the marriage like it never existed. Then where will you be? Mandy said you’ve already been taken by a few men in the city. I trust Ethan to do the right thing, but you’ve got to protect yourself and consummate your marriage.”

  “But…”

  What if he did annul their marriage? Then the prenuptial agreement would be worth nothing, since technically their marriage would have never existed. Right?

  She sat down again. Gramps could be on the money, even though she didn’t believe Ethan would ever double-cross her and leave her with nothing. But she also knew she was already improving the restaurant’s bottom line with some strategic management. And as she had learned, greed and desperation made people do crazy things. Such as get married.

  But Ethan? She trusted him, knew him. But she’d also trusted her ex-boyfriends and look how that had turned out.

  Lily stood in the doorway of Ethan’s office, where he was hunched over his keyboard with what sounded like “Hotel California” by the Eagles playing.

  “I didn’t know you liked classic rock,” she said.

  No response. His fingers kept flying over the keys, clack, clack, clack.

  Last night had been the first night with Gramps under their roof. Ethan had worked in his office until well past midnight, then had sneaked into the living room to sleep on the couch. Alone in the bedroom, Lily had tossed and turned, thinking about what Gramps had said about an annulment.

  She noted a plate beside Ethan, one that looked an awful lot like the one she’d placed in the fridge when he hadn’t surfaced from his office that morning. She’d fed Gramps his share of sliced hard boiled eggs and fruit salad before putting the rest away for Ethan.

  Even now, at the end of the day, Ethan was moving stiffly. Obviously his preferred sleeping arrangement was an unwise one.

  “Ethan?”

  They needed to talk about the annulment thing, come to an agreement that would protect both their interests. Or simply go to bed together. That would be fine, too.

  She went back to the kitchen and grabbed the bowl of caramel popcorn she’d made when she’d come home from work, craving something sweet and crunchy. Gramps had complained that it got stuck in his dentures and had waved her away, ensconced in front of the TV watching golf, an empty cereal bowl beside him. His supper, she presumed.

  She returned to the spot in the doorway to Ethan’s office. Monitors were lined up in front of him, a massive ergonomical chair hiding more than half his back. There was an armchair to the right of the doorway that looked comfortable, but she didn’t dare impose. To her left was a wall of bookshelves. Clear bins holding various cords, gadgets and books were neatly lined up.

  He was organized; she’d give him that. Then again, this was like her kitchen—everything had a place.

  She munched loudly on the popcorn. Still no response. Even with his music, he had to feel her watching him, hear her eating.

  She took a kernel of popped corn and tossed it at him. It hit the back of his chair. She tried another, this one hitting his shoulder. Another landed to the right of his mouse. Another in his soft brown hair. She even landed one in the empty yogurt container to the right of his keyboard. Finally, she nailed him on the back of the neck, gaining a response. His fingers curled around to touch the spot and he leaned back, taking in his desk, which was now littered with popcorn. Slowly he turned, spotting her.

  “Wow. Talk about falling down a wormhole,” she said with a laugh.

  “What?” He was squinting at her, his face a mask of grumpy confusion, as though he wasn’t quite present on planet earth. Had to be a wormhole. Or…okay, yeah, she had no idea. Science fiction wasn’t really her thing.

  “I thought the animal might like something to eat?”

  “What?”

  “You’re a bit wild, so I don’t want to get too close.” She tossed another piece, this one rocketing off his nose. “You were supposed to open your mouth. I brought you food.”

  He held out his hand for the bowl.

  “No way. I’m not stepping into the beast’s cage. I’ve seen that show When Animals Attack. I’ll just keep tossing in food instead.” She launched another piece, and when he opened his mouth to protest, it landed inside. “Nice catch.”

  “Yo
u’re still a brat,” he said, crunching on the popcorn. “Mmm. That’s good.”

  “And you still love it—both my brattiness and me feeding you. Let’s try two for two.” She lined herself up like she was going for a three-pointer in a basketball game. “Ready? Three, two, one.” She wasn’t sure if he would play along and open his mouth, but to her satisfaction, he did. And began coughing when the piece went down his throat.

  He leaned forward, hacking.

  She raced to his side, ready to do the Heimlich. She squeezed between the chair and his back, wrapping her arms around his torso. She could totally close the annulment loophole with this guy, he was so broad and hunky. “Are you okay? Are you choking?”

  “What are you doing?” he asked between coughs.

  “Saving your life.” Well, maybe not. If he could talk, he could breathe. She eased out of the cramped spot, watching him. Spotting a glass of water, Lily offered it to him.

  He took a sip, giving her a look.

  She eased her phone out of her back pocket. “Are you good with iPhones?”

  Maybe if she could get him comfortable helping with something he knew lots about she could ease the conversation toward her annulment worries.

  “I use an android, but yeah, I’m okay with them. Why?”

  “I keep getting notifications that my cloud storage is full and I can’t figure out how to make it go away.” She’d had the problem for eons and could probably figure it out if she actually tried.

  Gramps’s words revolved in her head like a lit-up neon sign. You’ve got to protect yourself and consummate your marriage.

  Maybe they could skip talking and hit the sheets instead. It would be so much simpler and easier in many ways.

  Ethan took her phone and opened an application. “You should use a lock screen.”

  “I know. I’ve just never gotten around to it.”

  “Your security is horrible.” He was tapping furiously, changing settings. “You need a VPN—virtual private network—if you use public WiFi, so your passwords don’t get sniffed by someone untoward.”

  “Untoward?” She tried not to smile in amusement.

  “There’s no reason some of these apps need to know your location. It’s an invasion of privacy. I’m also removing geolocation tags from existing photos metadata and turning off location services for photos. Disabling check-in.”

  “But I get rewards if I check in when I’m…” She just smiled when Ethan gave her a look. She’d turn it back on when she needed it.

  “I’ll also engage Find My iPhone, since it seems like you misplace your cell a lot. That way we can go online and locate it, or we can erase it from afar. I’ll also add you as family to my music plan, so you can listen to something better than Katy Perry.”

  Lily felt the word family hit her like a brick to the chest.

  Clearing her throat, she said, “I happen to like Katy Perry. She’s better than that stuff from the past you insist on listening to.”

  He ignored her, still tapping her phone’s screen, his eyes zipping across it as he searched, downloaded and tweaked. “I’m adding a few apps I’ve found helpful for catering. Let me know if you can’t figure them out. And I see you’ve got recipe notes you haven’t backed up. They’ll now automatically back up to my encrypted system whenever you’re on WiFi.” He handed back her phone. “That should do it for now.”

  “Uh, thanks?” She looked at her locked phone. Wow. He was a ninja. “Did you fix the iCloud thing?”

  “Yes.”

  “What’s my passcode?”

  He wrote it down and turned his back to her, preparing to go back down his wormhole, however people did that. Maybe they got sucked in? In any case, he was shutting her out now that his task was complete, and they still hadn’t broached anything close to consummating their marriage.

  She glanced at the numbers written neatly on an orange sticky note. “How will I remember this?”

  “It’s the day Moe pushed you into the mud puddle.”

  Lily tried to pick her heart up off the floor. Ethan Mattson remembered the date when she’d fallen in love with him. Somehow that felt entirely unfair.

  Lily was gazing at him with a mix of awe, discomfort and something else Ethan couldn’t quite peg. He was fairly certain her eyes were damp, as well. That meant he’d messed up somehow.

  Again.

  He turned and stared at his monitor. “Anything else?”

  “Uh, how’s your back?”

  “Fine.”

  “If you want the bed, I can sleep on the couch,” she said quietly. “But Gramps is already kind of onto us.”

  “What do you mean?” She didn’t answer and he turned around again. She was frowning, staring at her phone. A look of anger flicked across her face. She shoved the device in her back pocket. “Sorry. What were you saying?”

  “You were saying something about Gramps,” he corrected, watching her. Something had unsettled her, but she didn’t trust him enough to tell him. That bothered him.

  Then again, he still hadn’t come clean about what sort of things he could and couldn’t do, after all that surgery. If he wasn’t letting her all the way in, why should she?

  “What’s wrong?” he asked.

  “It’s fine.”

  He held out his hand for her phone. “I thought of one more thing.”

  She took a step backward.

  “Text from a hot boyfriend you’re keeping on the side?” he asked lightly.

  To his surprise, she handed it over. “Tanner. Can you block his number? He’s still bothering me.”

  “Consider it done.” Ethan kept his gaze on hers as he took the device, their fingers brushing, sending electric heat up his arm. He glanced at the lock screen, spotting the text notification that had bothered her. It didn’t look like one that should come from an ex to a married woman. He opened the app, his jaw tight with fury.

  He hit the number that had popped up with the text, calling the guy he’d punched only a few weeks ago.

  “This Tanner?” he asked.

  “Uh, think you have the wrong number.” The man sounded uncertain, and Ethan worked to control his rage.

  Lily was watching with a look of horror and nervous delight.

  “Lily’s married now. To me.” He made sure his voice was firm, deep, his anger evident, given the way Tanner kept imposing on Lily, who was too polite and kind to set the law on him. “If you so much as look in her direction, this little thing you texted a photo of will fall under one of my many knives. You understand?” He hung up before the man could sputter a reply.

  Ethan took a screen shot of the harassing text and forwarded it to Scott Malone, the local police officer, as well as his friend Ginger’s husband, Logan Stone, who worked in private security. Ethan’s blood was boiling and the drive to murder Tanner soared.

  “What else has he been doing?” he asked.

  Lily was watching him, her face white. “Just that.”

  “Tell me if he bothers you again.”

  “What did you do with those screenshots?”

  “I sent them to the local authorities in case he gives you any more problems.” He blocked Tanner’s number. The nerve of that guy. To harass a woman this way.

  He glanced up at Lily. “You all right?”

  She fell against him, her arms tight around his neck. “Thank you.”

  For one shining moment, Ethan felt like the man Lily saw. One able to protect his wife.

  The next evening Ethan was just finishing up an email to a client when he felt small hands slip over his shoulders from behind and glide down his pecs. Lily. He caught her wrists, unsure what to do. Gramps was already asleep in his room, leaving them essentially alone.

  “Hungry?” she asked, her voice hinting at things he would love to pursue if their marriage was real.

  He turned his chair to face her. She was wearing a skintight dress that hinted at some fine lingerie underneath. He tried to roll his chair away from her, out of range of
temptation, but promptly came up against his desk.

  Her hair was softly curled, tumbling around her flushed cheeks.

  She was gorgeous and the very definition of tempting.

  “What are you doing?” he whispered.

  “Asking if you’re hungry,” she replied, a glimmer of amusement in her eyes. “Want something?”

  Not what was on the menu, that was for sure.

  And why was she wearing heels? Was she trying to kill him with sexiness?

  “There’s food?” He shifted as though about to climb out of his seat and push past her. They’d had supper a few hours ago, but he was willing to overeat if it meant preventing taking things down an avenue that would merely hurt the two of them.

  “Not so fast.” She placed her left knee beside his hip and grasped the back of his office chair, not unlike the way she did in some of his forbidden fantasies.

  He kept his hands clenched on the armrests. When he didn’t push her away, she placed her right knee beside his other hip, straddling him. She lowered herself so she was sitting in his lap, her heat intoxicating, distracting.

  “What―what are you doing?”

  “Trapping you.”

  “Why?” Her body was so warm and soft, her gaze so welcoming. It would be easy to lose himself in the moment, to give in to the attraction he’d been battling so long.

  Losing would feel so good.

  Her fingers brushed his neck and he shivered. He wanted to stand, but knew it was unfair to reject her again. Not that her sitting on his lap was fair, and soon she’d feel exactly how he was affected.

  “I want to talk to you, that’s all.” Her words were innocent, but her intent sure wasn’t.

  “Lily…”

  “We’re both adults.” Her fingers were working magic as they trailed over his shoulders. He was relaxing, enjoying. And he shouldn’t be. But he couldn’t quite remember why that was.

  “And a year is a long time to be celibate.”

  “Maybe you need to find someone on the side in the city.”

  Please ignore that suggestion, he silently willed.

  She blinked hard, swallowed once, her nostrils flaring slightly. Then she covered her hurt with a sad smile. “Maybe the man I want is right here.” She shifted so she was straddling him more fully, her core’s warmth right over his. Combined with her words—total aphrodisiac. Not immune. Definitely not immune. Ego stroked? Check. Body set to sexual hyperdrive? Also check.