by Ani Gonzalez
She pulled on the hem of his shirt and smiled mischievously.
"Do I get to take this off too? I can't take the sight anymore."
"Oh, I don't know." He reached for her. "It's starting to grow on me."
His warm fingers curled around her nape and he leaned forward for a kiss. Lily wrapped her arms around his waist and closed her eyes.
A blaring siren rang out.
"Oh, for the love of..." Sebastian glared at the radio.
"And we have another devil monkey sighting," the deejay exclaimed. "That makes two for the lake area. It's settled. We're officially declaring the lake devil monkey central."
Lily giggled and buried her face in Sebastian's chest.
"Wonderful," Sebastian growled. "Every single nutcase in Banshee Creek will call in with their made up stories. When the storm is over, we will be overrun with amateur cryptozoologists."
Lily lifted her face and stared at him.
"Hey, I resent that. We're not all nut cases and not all the stories are made up. And a lot of these guys aren't amateurs, they're paranormal professionals."
Sebastian pushed her away gently.
"Great. My hometown is the only place in the world where 'monster hunter' has a booth in the job fair. And the stories are made up, Lily. How could they not be?"
"It's that geomagnetic fault thingy. And don't tell me that's made up too. That one is a scientific fact."
"Okay, fine. I admit that the Banshee Creek Fault is in the U.S. Geological Survey. But everything else is made up."
"Is not."
Sebastian gave her a pitying glance and reached for his phone.
"I'll prove it to you," he said.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
"IT HAD dark fur and was about three feet tall." Sebastian pitched his voice high, getting into character. "The eyes glowed, but I think that was because of the flashlight." He smiled. The flashlight thing was a good idea. The guy he was playing, Jake the Frat Boy, would scramble for a rational explanation. Jake was staying with his roommate's family for the holidays. His friends would have told him about the local legends, but Jake would be a bit skeptical.
Lily, sitting next to him on the sofa, rolled her eyes. He wasn't surprised. Teenage Lily had never joined the Drama Club in any of their after-school antics, not even when they recreated the waxworks scene from The Duchess of Malfi on Dr. Lebensburg's lawn. Scaredy-cat Lily Holroyd would not participate in a prank call, no matter how much she wanted too.
"And it was in town?" The deejay asked. "Are you sure? Why would it be in town?"
"Because Mr. Franco don't want it in his yard," Lily whispered.
He shushed her impatiently and she wrinkled her nose at him. She was absolutely right, but Sebastian couldn't say that on the radio. It would defeat the purpose, wouldn't it?
But what was the purpose? The play a trick on the radio station? To pass the time? To get Lily to do something a little daring for once?
He pushed the last thought away. It sounded too much like an attempt to rectify the past. Instead, he forced himself back into character. Jake was a responsible, albeit somewhat tipsy, citizen. He would try to be as accurate as possible.
"Yep, right behind the pizzeria," he said into the phone. Lily leaned back on the sofa and crossed her arms. Waves of disapproval emanated from her.
"We haven't seen one in town before," the deejay noted.
Lily sighed dramatically.
"Sure we have," Sebastian corrected. "The first devil monkey sighting ten years ago was also near the pizzeria."
Lily's eyes narrowed in suspicion, but he ignored her. No way was he going to admit that the first devil monkey sighting, the one that had started the Banshee Creek' cryptozoology craze, had been phoned in by his brother Zach, who'd been trying to explain an inexcusably late pizza delivery. "The devil monkey dismantled my radiator" sounded a lot better than "I was making out with Maureen Sands and totally forgot about the pizza." At least, it did if you were Zach Franco.
But Jake, his mythical college student, wouldn't know about that. Crap.
"Or so my roommate tells me," he added, smiling at the disapproving, yet alluring, woman on his sofa.
Lily stuck her tongue out at him.
"I just don't see why it would be in town." The deejay sounded doubtful, which meant Sebastian was going to have to do a better job of selling this.
"Beats me, man." Sebastian glanced at Lily and lowered his voice dramatically. "It was near one of the cars. In the front, near the hood."
Lily rolled her eyes.
"Did you see the tail?" The deejay seemed more interested now. "That's really the distinguishing characteristic."
"I didn't see the tail," Sebastian admitted. After all, Jake would be as accurate as possible. "But," he grinned at Lily. "My girlfriend, Maggie here, got a clear view."
He handed the phone to Lily, who backed away waving her hands in dismay. Typical. Lily hated to step outside her comfort zone.
"Okay, Maggie, tell us what you saw," the deejay prompted.
Lily's eyes widened. Sebastian just smiled and threw her the phone. Lily was too shy to make a prank call, but, hopefully, Jake's fictional girlfriend would have more gumption.
Lily caught the phone in midair.
"Maggie?" the deejay repeated. "Was it under the car?"
Lily looked at the phone and glared at Sebastian. He didn't care though. He was too busy enjoying his small moment of triumph.
"Maggie?"
"Er." She put the phone to her ear gingerly. "There were prints leading from the car to a tree."
"How many toes?" the deejay interrupted.
"Three long toes." Her voice was firmer now.
"Hmm. Keep going."
Sebastian snickered. This was turning into a cross-examination and Lily appeared distinctively unhappy. She was playing along, though.
"Then a large...something fell on the hood of the car. It was all white."
"I thought your boyfriend said it had dark fur." The deejay pounced on the discrepancy like a cat on a catnip-infused toy.
Lily paused and Sebastian leaned forward, ready to snatch the phone if she lost her nerve.
But Lily frowned at the radio and held tightly to the phone.
"Yes," she said firmly. "It was just covered in snow. You could see the fur under the white, as well as the long tail. It ran away on two legs."
"Oh," the deejay seemed taken aback. "That does sound like a Virginia devil monkey."
Sebastian stifled a chuckle. Thanks to Lily's description, they were going to get away with it.
"Okay, Jake and Maggie," the deejay said. "I think we have another in-town sighting, so I'm going to take another line. Is that you caller two?"
The new caller stammered a greeting and Lily handed the phone back to Sebastian.
"Pranking the paranormies?" Lily asked, frowning at him. "Is that what we've been reduced to?"
She looked thoroughly offended and Sebastian finally gave in, erupting in peals of laughter.
"It's not funny, Bastian. They'll get a bunch of calls confirming your sighting."
"Good," he said. "That will keep them out of my yard."
Lily glared.
"The monster hunters will be safe in town, Lil. They shouldn't be in the woods during a storm anyway."
The "Carry On Wayward Son" theme rang out. Sebastian winced, turned off the ringer, and put the phone back in his coat pocket.
Lily raised an eyebrow. "Aren't you going to get that?"
"Are you crazy? That's Zach trying to chew me out for leading a bunch of paranormies to the pizzeria. I'm not taking that call."
The call went to voice mail and Sebastian sighed with relief. But the respite was short-lived. A series of insistent beeps rang out.
Lily shook her head. "This was a bad idea."
"Oh, I don't know. I managed to talk you into a prank call, didn't I?"
And it had been the most fun he'd had in a long time. When was the last time
he did something silly, something that had nothing to do with increasing his Q rating, establishing Industry connections, or enhancing his IMDB.com profile? Hell, when was the last time he'd done real acting, tried to flesh out a real person, not a glorified cartoon character?
Way too long.
"Talked me into?" Lily scoffed. "More like forced me into."
"You had fun, didn't you?"
She pursed her lips.
"Admit it."
She shifted on her feet. The nervous action was very familiar. That's what she did whenever he asked her to take an on-stage role, or act as narrator, or do a voice-over for a sick actor.
Or even go to California.
"Oh, fine." She let a breath out in exasperation. "It was fun. It may cost me a couple of clients if they find out it was me, but, yes, it was fun."
Victory at last. Sebastian smiled.
"Maybe I can talk you into more fun stuff."
Lily appeared wary.
"I'm not throwing toilet paper on anything," she said, backing away. "And I don't think we can egg anything with that powdered yolk protein you brought. That's probably an environmental hazard."
She stopped walking when she reached the bedroom threshold. Very convenient. He stood up and walked to her.
"All you have to do is add water. But I wasn't thinking of that." He glanced down at her. There was something incredibly erotic about Lily's lush body encased in one of his white undershirts. "I was thinking of something a bit more...mature."
She aimed a level glance at him, her eyes dark and deep. This time, there was no nervous shuffling, no hesitation at all.
"I could do mature," she breathed.
Her soft whisper curled around him seductively and a shiver of fear ran down his spine. The brownies, the prank call, Lily's dark eyes, suddenly they seemed fraught with meaning. He recognized this feeling. He'd felt it a decade ago, when he'd set out for California.
It was change, strange and unrelenting.
He wrapped an arm around Lily and led her to the bed.
Change was good.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
LILY CLOSED her eyes tightly and burrowed into the pillow.
It was no use. Even the veritable Chinese Wall of fluffy pillows she'd built couldn't keep out the morning sun. She opened her eyes reluctantly, then closed them again as a sharp ray of sunlight stabbed her eyeballs. They'd fallen asleep while watching the snow fall and had forgotten to close the drapes. The winter sun was perfectly framed by the window and its rays fell directly on the bed.
She shaded her eyes with her hand and stumbled to the window, cursing architects who forgot to consider the path of the sun when designing houses. She pulled on the heavy drapes, then stopped, staring at the snow-covered landscape.
The storm was over.
Sunlight glinted off fresh snow. Tree branches drooped enticingly, weighed down by wet snow. Icicles glimmered.
Icicles? Wet snow?
She stared at an icy stalactite intently. Sure enough, a drop of water trickled down and splashed onto the ground.
The snow was melting.
She cursed the merciless snow gods. She'd been counting on at least two days of isolation. Two priceless days alone with Sebastian. Was forty-eight hours too much to ask?
She wanted enough time to convince him that they were meant to be together. Enough time to convince him...
Of what?
She wasn't quite sure. To stay in Banshee Creek with her? To give up Hollywood?
She watched another drop fall. It made a small indentation in the snow then melted into the whiteness.
What did she want?
Hollywood had been her dream once. Was that still the case? Did she want to leave her cozy little niche—you couldn't get more niche than set-designer-for-haunted-house-reality-show, after all—and try to make it in the movie industry? Did she dare?
She tried to picture herself in California. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad. Her Arcane Films friends had their headquarters in Burbank. They called it the "Mothership'" and made it sound like a fun place, full of happily eccentric people, busy building model sharks and arguing about the proper diameter for interstellar squid tentacles. She could picture herself there, setting them straight on period-appropriate Victoriana. That last Paranormal Spectacles episode got the rugs all wrong.
The prospect was actually very attractive and she found herself smiling at the melting icicle. Maybe the dream wasn't dead after all.
"Next time you remodel the cabin, make sure you get rid of that window."
She winced at the sound of Sebastian's muffled voice. He was burrowing into the pillows, trying to escape the aggressive sunbeams. She closed the curtains reluctantly, casting the room in gloomy shadows. Sebastian sighed and went back to sleep. She glanced at him, dark hair tousled, long, muscled body relaxed in sleep.
That was the fly in the ointment: Sebastian. Was he wondering, like her, if this could be a long term relationship? Did he care that much? Did she?
Unwelcome images popped into her head. Ariel Henderson in a long silver gown getting out of a limo. Ariel Henderson in skinny jeans and a loose top, flashing her engagement ring as she avoided the airport paparazzi. Ariel Henderson in yoga pants, a lithe goddess heading to her Tabata workout.
Lily didn't even know what Tabata was. A type of yoga maybe?
"That's better," Sebastian mumbled, lifting his head off the pillow. "What were you looking at? Devil monkey tracks?"
"Nope." What she'd been looking at was way scarier. "The snow is melting."
"Yep." His head dropped back onto the pillow. "I checked the radio after you went to sleep. We were plowed in the early morning hours."
"Wow," she replied, meaning exactly the opposite. "That's very industrious."
Sebastian snorted.
"It's very smart. We'll probably get a couple of cryptoid-hunting expeditions today."
"Still, an early morning plow in the lake? That's rare. Fire and Rescue must have put us on the priority list."
"Lucky us," he said glumly. "That means my mom will be expecting us home tonight for Christmas dinner."
"Us?"
"Yes," he said, pulling her down to the bed. "Us."
Lily gulped as her butt hit the feathery mattress. That seemed to answer at least one of her questions. Sebastian seemed to be thinking that this could last. But Christmas dinner? With the Francos?
Was she ready for that?
"Don't panic," Sebastian said, draping his arm around her shoulders and covering her with blankets. "My family doesn't bite."
"No, but they will be very surprised to find us together. Your mom will probably have questions, lots of questions."
She pulled the coverlet up under her chin. It was a vintage quilt in a tumbling blocks pattern, all shades of gray and green. She'd found it in the cabin and decorated the room around it.
"I don't know about that. She hired you to decorate the cabin, didn't she?"
"What do you mean?"
"My mom detested Ariel and suspected that we were having problems. I suspect hiring you was an attempt to capitalize on that. Mom always has a plan."
"Oh."
"So don't worry about her. She'll probably not be surprised. She'll be overjoyed."
Well, that was a relief. A hostile Franco matriarch was not something to be taken lightly. She settled under the quilt. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad.
"Worry about my brother instead," Sebastian continued.
"What?" She fought the urge to pull the coverlet over her head. She had to worry about Zach, too?
Sebastian smiled. It was his trademark movie villain smile.
"Well," he drawled. "You just led several dozen monster hunters to his pizzeria. Zach's going to be pretty ticked off."
"That was your doing."
Sebastian chuckled.
"Nope." He shook his head for emphasis. "My Jake wasn't being very convincing. It was Maggie who delivered the coup de grace."
; "It was your idea," she squealed.
He looked at her appraisingly. "You're going to have to do better, if you want to convince Zach." He tilted his head and narrowed his eyes. "Try it in a higher register. And widen your eyes."
She glared at him. This was no laughing matter.
"Really? Widen this," she said, smacking him with a pillow.
Sebastian grabbed the pillow and smiled wickedly.
"Pillow fights?" he asked. "Whatever happened to your vaunted maturity, Ms. Holroyd?"
She grabbed another pillow. Luckily, the bed was covered with down-filled cushions, so she had no dearth of ammunition.
"You know what they say," she said, landing a solid blow. "Wrestle with pigs and get up with fleas."
Sebastian laughed as the pillow struck him.
"You're mangling your metaphors," he said, grabbing the missile and throwing it to the floor.
"I'm mangling a lot more than metaphors." She leaped on top of him, straddling him, and Sebastian stopped laughing.
His eyes grew dark and he placed his hands under her shirt making her shiver.
"I think I like the mangling," he said, his voice roughened with desire.
She smiled and leaned down. The kiss was long and sweet. Sebastian's arms wrapped around her in a tight, warm circle and she felt that everything was going to be fine.
But a noise outside broke through her reverie.
She frowned. Stupid snowplow clearing the stupid roads. She didn't need a clean road. She needed more time with Sebastian. More time to rain kisses down his muscular body. More time to make brownies and have pillow fights.
More time.
But the noise grew louder. Closer. Was the stupid thing plowing the driveway?
Another rumble.
She lifted her head and glanced out the window.
"Don't stop..." Sebastian said.
Lily stared at the large black SUV climbing up the hill.
"Someone's coming," she said, rolling off him and onto the bed.
Sebastian groaned.
"Is it Zach?" he asked.
She hid behind a curtain and peeked out the window. "No." Zach Franco drove a 1967 Chevy Truck. It was blue, it was in impeccable condition, and it was called Bessie. This gleaming black monstrosity was no Bessie.