With a frown, she set the pot she was carrying on the minuscule counter. She’d seen more spacious walk-in closets.
“You call this a kitchen?”
Max placed the large carton filled with tempting smells—almost as tempting as the lady herself, he thought—on the table. It took up the entire surface.
“It’s got a stove.” He nodded toward it.
The appliance was directly at her back. She spared it a glance.
“So does an appliance warehouse, that doesn’t make it a kitchen.” Turning around, careful not to knock anything over, she opened the small oven door and looked inside, wondering when it had been last used. It smelled more than a little stale. “It’s what you do with the stove that counts.”
“Okay.” He gestured toward the appliance gamely. “Do something with it.”
She fully intended to, to warm up the crepes she’d created, but she continued to look at the interior dubiously. “Will some furry creature come scurrying out if I turn it on?”
He laughed, taking no offense. He took most of his meals at the Salty, or went over to either April’s or his grandmother’s. He knew better than to eat at June’s. “Only one way to find out.”
Washing her hands in the sink, she looked around for a towel. There was one hanging haphazardly on the side of the sink. “I notice you’re not trying to pretend that you’ve used this recently.”
He liked watching her take charge, he thought. “I don’t believe in lying.”
She nodded, taking care to hang the towel back up. “Admirable.”
He didn’t know about admirable. To him it was a matter of practical more than anything else. “Too confusing trying to keep your stories straight. Lesson I learned as a kid.”
That gave her a instant image. “The town’s bad boy grows up to be the sheriff?”
She’d picked up on that. A glint of admiration entered his eyes. “Something like that. It puts me one step ahead of kids who act the way I did.” Max stepped closer to her and looked around. No two ways about it, the kitchen was a snug fit, but he wasn’t complaining. “Okay, what do you want me to do?”
If she took a deep breath, she would bump into him. “Stay out of my way.”
He looked around. The whole place was small, but then, he didn’t require all that much. A bed, a place to hang his hat and somewhere to make his coffee in the morning. Anything else was just luxury. “That might not be too easy.”
Most of the work had been done, but she still needed room to heat things up. “Why don’t you set the table?”
He looked toward the small table that sat four as long as nobody minded their knees getting friendly. “Can’t. You’ve got the carton on it.”
She sighed, frustrated. “Then I guess you can just hang around while I get things ready.”
She was doing all the work. Wanting to play the host, at least moderately, he turned around and opened the refrigerator. He nearly bumped into her as he bent over. “Like a beer?”
She hadn’t had beer in a long time, not since she’d been in college. But right now, it sounded good to her. Sorting through the carton Max had carried in, she put her hand out in his general direction. It wasn’t much of a stretch.
“I’ll take that as a yes.” Taking out two bottles, Max popped first one top, then the other. He handed the first to her. But rather than take a drag from his own bottle, he took a deep whiff of what she had begun stirring on the stove. “Smells good. What are you making, or is that a secret?”
“No secret.” She was glad she’d thought to bring a large baking pan to heat everything up in. It didn’t look as if Max owned one. “Tonight’s main course will be Crepe à la Lily.”
He took a pull from the bottle, his eyes on her lips. He wouldn’t mind nibbling on something that had her name on it. Wouldn’t mind nibbling on her, either. “Sounds complicated.”
She intended it to. But since he was family, in a manner of speaking, she let him in on the secret. “The trick to good cooking is to take something simple and dress it up—and make everyone think you’ve just performed a miracle in the kitchen.”
Setting down the bottle, he found himself moving closer to her as she worked, drawn as if by some force he couldn’t resist even though he knew he should. “You know, you really didn’t have to do this.”
She shrugged, trying to remain nonchalant. Trying not to think about how close he was. And how she wanted him closer still.
“I know. I just wanted to say thank you. After all, you did rescue me from the bear.”
Standing behind her, he caught himself as he reached out to stroke her hair and pulled his hand back. “Victor did that.”
The man was more upstanding than Dudley Doright, she thought in exasperation.
“All right, rescued me from the tree, then.” She turned, only to find that there was nowhere to go. Words came faster, mimicking the rate of her pulse. “I think I was too petrified to come down again. If you hadn’t climbed up to get me down, I might still be stuck in it.”
The smile curled along his lips like seduction as he moved his head from side to side slowly.
“Not in this town you wouldn’t. As soon as word got out that a beautiful woman was stuck in the tree, you would have had so many miners and lumberjacks milling around you they would have formed their own human ladder and net to catch you.”
She didn’t care about miners and lumberjacks. The only thing on her mind was a very sexy lawman. “Can’t you let me just say thank you?”
He took the ladle from her lax fingers and placed it on the counter. “There’re simpler ways to do that.”
“Like?” she whispered, unable to tear her eyes away from his.
“This,” he answered, the word gliding along her nerves, seducing her. And then he bent his head and touched his lips to hers.
Lily’s head instantly began to spin.
Madly.
Before it spun away from her completely, she reached out to the side and felt around for the knobs on the stove. The ones she’d just turned on. With a twist, she turned both off. She didn’t want the house to burn down and she had a feeling that she wasn’t coming back to the stove anytime soon.
At least she fervently hoped not.
He’d only wanted to kiss her. Had wanted to kiss her ever since he’d been alone with her in the woods. Max had had time to think all of this through, had had time to give himself all the reasons why this shouldn’t be happening between them. It was a long list.
Except that he had to kiss her. Had to hold her. Had to make love with her or find himself turning into one of those hermits who talked to squirrels and trees and shied away from people.
When Lily leaned her body into his, she felt as if an all-important chunk had been taken out of the dam. Suddenly, desire flooded through her. Desire that threatened to sweep her away.
What was more, she didn’t care. She wanted to be swept away. Wanted to glory in this overwhelming sensation that had found her.
She’d never felt this need with Allen.
With anyone.
Cupping the back of her head, Max tilted it so that his mouth could feast on hers. So that he could kiss the sweet column of her neck and lose himself in the scent of her hair.
An edginess spilled through his veins. What he felt was slipping dangerously beyond his control.
That should have worried him, but it didn’t. All he could think of was this woman in his arms. This longing in his body. He needed one to answer the other.
His hands splayed around her waist, holding her to him. He kissed her over and over again as if she were the very sustenance he’d been waiting for for so long.
He tasted her sigh on his lips and it fired him. He wanted to make love with her.
But still, he felt that he couldn’t allow this to go further if she had any doubts. With effort that bordered on the superhuman, he pulled his head away and looked at her. “Are you sure, Lily?”
No, she wasn’t sure. Wasn’t sure of
anything. But she did know that she was tired of sitting on the fence, tired of wanting to feel something and not feeling anything. She was feeling something now and she wanted to act on it before it disappeared.
Exasperated, she raised herself up on her toes, her body pressed against his. “Stop being the sheriff for once in your life and just kiss me.”
A man couldn’t do more than that, he thought. Even if he was the law for more than two hundred miles. The taste of her mouth was too sweet, the soft impression of her body too compelling. He’d given Lily her chance and she’d refused it. Thank God.
His arms closing around her, Max kissed her as if their very souls depended on it. As if she were the first woman he had really felt anything for.
Because she was.
Because of what he had seen as a child, because of the father who had walked out on them, leaving his mother broken and grieving in his wake, Max’d had no use for relationships. He’d never allowed himself to feel anything beyond pleasure before.
There were feelings here, feelings he hadn’t encountered before, feelings he didn’t understand. And what was worse, he had no control here. He had no say, no way of not allowing himself to feel for Lily. Control, permission, free will had all been usurped by a force that could not be tamed, could not be defeated.
His soul was on fire and she had the matches. It was as simple as that.
Lifting her in his arms, his mouth still sealed to hers, Max carried her to the small room that served as his bedroom. Gently, he placed her on the bed that seemed to take up the entire room.
Max watched her eyes as he lay down next to her and knew that he was completely lost. She owned the moment and him.
Chapter Eleven
Just as Max brought his mouth down to hers, the annoying ringing started. It was coming from her pocket, from her cell phone.
Max pulled his head back. His lips curved in amusement. Maybe this was some kind of sign.
“I think that’s for you.”
Frustration drummed through her as Lily sat up and pulled out the phone. She flipped it open and without waiting to hear a single word from the person on the other end—though there was no doubt in her mind that it was Arthur—said, “Not now,” before hitting the disconnect button and tossing the phone across the room.
Granted it wasn’t a great distance away, but it was beyond her reach, which was all that counted. She wouldn’t feel obligated to pick up the next call, which probably would follow on the heels of this aborted one.
With a sigh, she looked up at Max and murmured, “Where were we?”
Max grinned. “I’m impressed,” he said, gathering her to him once again.
Just having him so close to her made minivolcanoes erupt inside of her. Her eyes held his as they both lay down once more. “And I’m a woman about to go up in smoke at any moment.”
“Then we don’t have any more moments to waste,” he told her just before he brought his mouth back down to hers.
Desire, renewed, hit an instant before his lips touched hers, taking possession of him.
Sealing his fate.
It was all Max could do to school himself to go slowly, gently, and not completely lose himself in this sensation slamming against his body with the force of a tsunami.
It was a storm all right, he thought. A storm of emotion, of needs, the likes of which he had never encountered before.
Max had no time to analyze what it was that Lily did to him, he could only hold on and hope to survive at journey’s end.
And if he didn’t, well, it wouldn’t be the worst way to go.
As his mouth made love to hers, his hands found their way beneath her tank top. His fingers curved along her skin, exploring, caressing, memorizing the soft, pliant flesh.
He could feel her breasts ripening beneath his touch even through the thin, lacy bra she wore. One snap of his thumb and forefinger and the bra began to slip from her body.
Lily shivered. With warmth, with anticipation. With desire.
Her heart racing, she clung to him, pressing her body closer as it heated.
So this was what it was like, making love with a man. Being wanted by a man.
Wanting a man. Because her body yearned for his.
This was what she’d had in mind when she’d gone to Allen’s apartment that day. She’d planned for the impromptu picnic to end this way, with her giving herself to him, surrendering to sensations, to an experience that had been waiting for her behind the mists all these years. She’d been a virgin then, she was a virgin now. A virgin in search of fulfillment.
And now she’d found it, found it here in the middle of a forgotten, all but godforsaken wilderness. Would miracles never cease?
If Lily thought she would lose courage at the last minute, she was happily surprised. Rather than lose courage, she felt herself infused with it.
Desire throbbed in her veins so strong that it took away all her thoughts, all her inhibitions. All she wanted was to be his in every sense of the word. And the sooner the better.
But as she rushed toward her destiny, he slowed his pace.
Max cupped her cheek, a sweetness traveling through him he couldn’t begin to identify.
“Shh, we have all evening, Lily. Slowly, slowly,” he cautioned as her hands raced along his body, tugging at his shirt, fumbling at the buckle on his belt.
But even as he told her to slow down, he found it wasn’t easy reining himself in. Not when all he wanted to do was to drive himself into her, to bury himself in her sweetness and to feel that all-powerful, empowering surge pulsing through his veins.
Moving away just a fraction of an inch, he tugged at the hem of the tank top that still covered her, then brought it up over her head and tossed it aside. The bra sighed away on its own.
Something stirred within him just to look at her.
Max covered her breasts with his hands, and then with his lips. Lily squirmed beneath him in response, arching her body to his. Enflaming him further.
His heart racing, he rose to his knees. Taking her hands in his, he brought her up with him. Quickly shedding his shirt, he fixed his fingers on the rim of her jeans, slowly running his thumb along the inside, skimming the skin just below her navel. He could feel her anticipation.
Each breath she took drove him a little higher, made him want her a little more.
The rest became a blur, though he tried to remember each moment clearly later. Clothes found their way to the floor, beside the banished cell phone. And then their naked bodies tangled together as they fell back on the bed, reveling in the inflammable first moments of new discovery.
If an ounce of timidity or shyness still existed within her, Lily forced herself beyond it as her hands slid along his hard, sleek body.
She couldn’t touch him enough, couldn’t want him enough.
Her body was slick with anticipation as he kissed her over and over again, bringing his lips along the slopes and curves of her soft flesh as it quivered with each contact.
A complete novice in the mysteries of lovemaking, Lily mimicked him, touching as he touched, kissing as he kissed. Following his lead until her own instincts, instincts she hadn’t known she possessed until this very moment, gave her the courage to initiate movements of her own, to take the lead from him whenever possible.
It became a competition to see who could give whom the most pleasure. And all the while, their hold on restraint continued to lessen. Lessen to such a degree that the final moment came closer and closer, rushing toward them on winged feet.
And then, knowing that if he held back one more second he would completely explode, Max pushed her back on the bed and parted her legs with his knee. Her breath catching in her throat, Lily opened for him, wrapping her legs around his.
He began to drive himself into her and then stopped as unexpected resistance met his entry. His eyes widened as he looked at her.
For a moment, he didn’t understand.
And then he did.
“L
ily?”
He was going to stop. Her heart quickened in disappointment. In dread. He couldn’t stop. She couldn’t let him, Lily thought frantically. If he stopped now, she was going to die, right here, right now. The rejection would be too much for her to bear.
Raising her head, Lily caught his lips against her own, pressing hard, coaxing him further as she raised her hips higher against him.
He heard her mute entreaty, felt himself lose his own battle with what he knew in his heart was right. Swept away by her assault on his senses, he drove himself into her.
There was only hesitation at the first moment, when her eyes flew open. Her body shuddered at the impact. But then, to keep him from retreating, her hands closed around his back, clinging.
In a heartbeat, she matched the rhythm he’d begun. Faster and faster they went until he crested. She followed less than half a second later. A wild cry of surprise and exhilaration escaped her lips.
Slowly, as the warmth of the moment began to recede, the cold reality of what he had just done penetrated, skewering his conscience.
Feeling like a heel, Max rolled off her. He was unsure whether he should gather her to him and hold her the way he wanted to, or refrain and try to pull the pieces together.
It shouldn’t have happened this way.
Unable to face her, he looked up at the heavily beamed ceiling above his bed. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
She felt the knife drive itself into her heart. She bit her lower lip to keep the tears that suddenly sprang up into her eyes at bay.
Staring up at the same ceiling, Lily asked woodenly, “Tell you what?”
Communing with the ceiling wasn’t going to get him anywhere. He’d done it, now it was time to face up to his responsibility.
Max raised himself up on one elbow to look at her. Accusations were not going to right the wrong that had been done. He needed to apologize.
He wanted to hold her, to make it better. He didn’t know how. “It wasn’t supposed to happen like that.”
He couldn’t have said anything worse. She bit down harder on her lip. “Are you apologizing to me or yourself?”
The question took him aback. He blinked, not sure what she was talking about. “To you. Why would I be apologizing to myself?”
Lily and the Lawman Page 13