He was inside her and touching her, his hands now on her breasts, now below. Never like this, the words pounded through her, never like this, never like this, never like—
And she felt herself break and better became incredible. It flooded through her, sending her bucking against him, crying out mindlessly and, shockingly, it went on, rising to an even higher crest before slowly, softly ebbing away. And even as she still shook with it, she watched Lex’s face tighten as though he was in pain and he groaned with his own release, pulling her down onto him, hard.
Lex lay, waiting for his pulse to stop thundering, waiting for the strength to return to his muscles. He wasn’t sure how long it would take. He hadn’t experienced anything quite like this before.
Keely stirred atop him. “Am I too heavy? Should I move?”
His hands tightened on her back. “No, you’re fine.” He wanted a few more minutes to just lie there, savoring the soft, slight weight of her draped over him like some human blanket, their bodies intimately linked.
She looked down at him, her eyes large and dark. He tucked her hair behind her ears. “You okay?”
“I’m not sure what I am.” She propped her elbows on the pillow to either side of his head. “Stunned, maybe.”
“It was quite something.” He pressed a kiss to her mouth. “You’re quite something.” And he already wanted her again.
As though she’d heard his thought, she glanced at the darkening window. Outside, the day was stretching into late afternoon. “We probably ought to get going. I don’t think we want to be driving down that road in the dark. Should we take the computer?”
“No. There’s no telling when he might be back. We should leave here with everything just like it was when we got here.”
Keely stood, glancing at the tumbled bed. “That might take some doing.”
Which was saying a mouthful, Lex thought as they dressed. Having sex probably wasn’t the smartest thing they could have done, but they were both adults and you could only ignore chemistry for so long. It had been worth it, probably the most amazing sex he’d ever had in his life.
A little flicker of uneasiness passed through him. He gave himself a quick mental shake. Special, yes. Memorable, yes. Not for the long term, though. They were both following different paths. If they could be together for the time he remained in Chilton, great. Good times, great memories, no ties. They’d find the data they needed, take care of the legal issues, go back to living their separate lives.
And why the hell did the thought depress him?
Chapter Nine
“You did what?” Lydia stopped and stared at Keely.
“I had sex with him.”
The morning was crisp, the streets whitened by overnight snowfall. They were taking what had become their habitual early morning walk through Chilton. It was part of Lydia’s campaign to fit into her New Year’s dress, but it had become as much an excuse to talk as anything.
“You had sex with him,” Lydia repeated, walking again. “I thought you’d decided not to do that.”
“I thought I had, too. It just…happened.”
“Oh, yeah. I know about that one.” Lydia flicked her a speculative glance. “So?”
“What?”
“How was it? Is he an up-all-night kind of guy? You have that up-all-night look. Actually,” she reconsidered, “you look wiped.”
“That’s because I didn’t sleep. Not because I was with Lex,” she hastened to add. “We did our thing in the afternoon.” Then she’d gone home and tossed and turned half the night, and when morning dawned, she’d had no better understanding of herself.
Lydia gave her a suspicious look. “Are you overthinking things again?”
“I don’t know,” Keely said as they crossed to the town common. “I don’t know what I’m doing. I don’t know if this is just about Lex and me or if it’s still something to do with Bradley. I didn’t think so yesterday, but what if it’s some weird subconscious thing?”
“You are overthinking.”
Keely bent down and picked up a pinecone that lay on the snow. “What I’m doing is things that don’t make sense,” she grumbled.
“You’re allowed. Rebound sex happens all the time, especially after a bad breakup. And you’ve gotta admit, your experience with Bradley qualifies.”
“Yeah, rebound sex, sure, but with a guy’s brother?”
Lydia opened her mouth and closed it. “You’ve got your reasons.”
“Or maybe I’m just more screwed up about the situation than I think.”
“Or maybe it’s real.”
Keely was silent, listening to the crunch of their footsteps in the snow. Across the common, garland and glass balls glittered on the town Christmas tree. “It was like nothing I’ve ever felt before with anyone,” she said finally. “There’s something about the way he touches me…It feels real. But how do I know?”
“Stop dissecting it. Forget about Bradley, forget about this whole legal mess. If you and Lex just met at a club or the grocery store or at the QuickLube getting your oil changed—”
“The QuickLube?”
“Don’t laugh, that’s how my cousin and her husband met. Of course, they’re getting divorced now. But still. The point is, if you guys just met as people, you wouldn’t be putting it all under the microscope like this, would you?”
“How am I supposed to know?” Keely burst out. “You can’t take away Bradley, you can’t take away the whole mess. It’s there. If none of that existed, Lex would be in Africa or the North Pole or wherever. And the minute this is over, he’ll be back there. He’ll be on a plane, I’ll be in New York and that will be that.” She flung the pinecone away. “I’ve got to be out of my mind,” she muttered. “I can’t get involved with this guy.”
Lydia put a sympathetic arm around her shoulders. “Too late, girlfriend, I think you already are.”
Lex pushed open the door to the flower shop and inhaled the now-familiar confusion of floral scents. Sure, he could have just called Keely’s cell phone. He didn’t need to go find her at the shop. So what? The plain and simple truth of it was that he wanted to see her. And if that meant tracking her down, then that was what he’d do.
Tracking, it appeared, would be required because she was nowhere to be seen. “Is Keely around?” he asked the curvy redhead he’d seen behind the counter before.
She gave him an appraising look, opening her mouth as though she might say something, then closing it again. She nodded toward the open doorway behind her. “She’s out back.”
“Thanks.” Lex walked past her into the rear work area. Up front, the shop looked like an Aladdin’s cave, flowers intermingling with wind chimes and dishes and ornaments and books and a whole host of artsy knickknacks that he couldn’t identify. The back area was strictly functional, the treasures packed up in cardboard boxes, the flowers jammed into racks of utilitarian black buckets.
Which was a good thing, because spread over nearly every flat surface, and a few that weren’t so flat, were what seemed like hundreds of low, wide, green glass vases with white bell-shaped flowers spilling out of them. They were grouped into pairs in shallow, black trays for carrying.
And the person doing the carrying, he saw, was Keely.
She was facing away from him, using one foot to drag open the back door while trying to balance the arrangements. He heard a woman’s voice from the outside, saying something he couldn’t quite catch over the radio playing. A joke, apparently, because Keely laughed, a rippling sound of pleasure.
Then she glanced over and saw him and her smile bloomed, quick and sure and lovely, and for a minute all he wanted in the world was to hold on to that image, that feeling, that moment in time.
She stumbled and bobbled the tray.
Lex scrambled across the room to grab it just as it started to really tip, and took it from her grasp. “Okay, I’ve got it,” he said, and hefted it a bit in surprise. “Heavier than they look.”
“It’s the wate
r,” she explained. “Thanks for getting it. If I’d dropped them, Mom would have had my neck.”
“Pity. It’s a gorgeous neck.”
Surprise, pleasure and a flick of uneasiness, he saw them all run through her eyes. Above the flowers, he caught that scent that was hers alone, something subtle and elusive and beckoning. He watched as her tongue crept out to moisten her lips. Before she could speak, though, the door opened up and Jeannie Stafford burst inside.
“The next time I agree to do flowers for Nancy Pittman, have my head examined,” she ordered. “Lily of the valley in January? For fifty tables? The woman’s out of her mind. Who invites three hundred people to her daughter’s wedding? They can’t possibly have that many friends, I should know. Come on, let’s get these flowers out here or they’re all going to get burned by the cold,” she continued on, barely drawing breath as she kicked down the door stop. “Hello, Lex. Can you help us out since you’re here? What are you doing here?”
“Conscript labor, apparently,” Keely muttered as Lex picked up another tray of what he now guessed were centerpieces.
“Bless your heart.” Jeannie hoisted one herself. “Good to see the Christmas spirit is alive and well in Chilton.”
With surprising speed, given the weight of the arrangements, she marched out into the alley where a green-and-white cargo van waited, the interior fitted with racks for holding the trays. Already, a number of the slots were filled. Jeannie slid her tray into place then scrambled into the van to load Keely and Lex’s trays.
“Why don’t you just stay there?” Lex suggested. “Let us bring them to you. It’ll be quicker.”
“I’m all for quick,” Jeannie said. “We’re running behind.”
It wasn’t quite what he’d been hoping for when he’d come to the shop but he still got to watch Keely as they handed over trays, catch her smile as they passed. Something about working together created its own intimacy. What he wanted was her and her alone but he was a patient man. After, he’d get her to himself eventually; for now, he’d settle for this.
In truth, he was happy to pitch in. He’d been in Chilton for going on two weeks and he was getting desperate for something to do. Keely had her work at the shop. Olivia had the DAR. He had his camera and that was pretty well it. He’d taken shots of Darlene’s shop for her Christmas cards. He’d documented Olivia’s house to update her insurance records. He’d taken so many photos of Chilton that he could paper the walls with them.
A couple more days and he was going to go nuts. The time he and Keely weren’t together chasing down clues was getting harder and harder to fill.
Or maybe it was just the time without Keely.
The racks were full, trays lined the van floor. And still, there were centerpieces in the shop.
“How many left?” Jeannie asked, climbing out to squeeze in the absolute last tray she could manage.
“Six,” Keely reported. “What do you want to do, use the Lexus?” Though she couldn’t see how the sedan could take more than three or four of the trays, and even then there would be a substantial risk of one of them tipping over.
Jeannie was already shaking her head. “Much as I hate the idea, we’re going to have to do it in two loads. And we’re getting way too close to wedding time as it is.”
“I’ve got a better idea.” Lex brought out his keys. “Let me bring my Jeep around. We should be able to fit them in there.”
“Oh, we couldn’t—” Keely began.
“Oh, yes, we could.” Jeannie’s eyes glimmered with good humor. “We’re running way behind. The church is dressed but I still have to bring over the flowers for the entry area and the restrooms at the chapel and the reception hall, both. I’ll put in a good word for you with Santa if you can help, Lex. Or pay your gas.”
“But—” Keely began.
“Sure.” Lex grinned. “I can use all the help with Santa I can get.”
“Great.” Jeannie walked around to the driver’s side of the van. “I’ll see you over there.”
“Where?” he asked.
“Keely knows.” The van’s taillights came on as Jeannie started the engine up and then it was pulling away, the Jeannie’s Floral Creations logo getting smaller and smaller all the time.
Keely gave him an apologetic shrug as they stepped back inside. “My mother is sometimes a force of nature.”
He grinned. “What mother isn’t?”
“You were great to help out but this is way above the call of duty.” And the back area felt very small as they stopped by one of the counters. Blossoms rose all around them, the scent enough to dizzy her.
But not nearly so much as Lex did.
“Look, it’s not a problem,” he said easily. “Let me bring the truck around and we can load up.”
“You didn’t come here to haul centerpieces,” Keely protested. “I’m sure you’ve got other things to do.” She frowned. “Why are you here, anyway? You came here for a reason, right?”
He reached out and brushed his fingertips against the white bells of lily of the valley. “Of course.”
“Well, that’s what’s important. What do you want?”
He looked at her. “You.”
It snatched the breath from her lungs. They were fully clothed and yet for a moment, she was as utterly aware of him as though they were lying naked together. Keely swallowed, her throat suddenly dry. “That’s not very practical,” she managed.
“What’s not very practical?”
“You and me.”
“After yesterday, I’m not sure I give a damn,” he returned.
“What’s Stockton going to think if he finds out? And anyway, we’ve got a job to do. We can’t get caught up in…”
“In what?”
They’d started out standing side by side but somehow he’d shifted when she hadn’t noticed, so that she was between him and the counter. The sweet scent of lily of the valley rose around them. His eyes were intent, his mouth, so near.
“We didn’t really talk about this yesterday.” He leaned in closer.
“What is there to talk about? We had sex. I’m not sorry, it was pretty amazing, bu—”
He leaned in to brush his lips over hers. “I’m glad we agree on that. It was pretty amazing. Amazing enough to repeat.”
The heat jolted through her. That touch, that merest touch of lip to lip set something vibrating inside her like some bell had been struck. For an instant she could think of only it, and him.
For an instant she could only want.
The door at the front of the shop jingled as a customer came in. The sound of Lydia’s voice filtered back to them.
“This isn’t the place for this,” Keely said unsteadily.
“Then we’ll find another one. In the meantime, let’s take care of your mother’s flowers.”
“There’s no reason for you to work this project,” she told him. And if she had to be around him all night, she might very well find herself giving in to this seductive undertow, like a swimmer going down for the last time.
“Hey, I’m getting benefits out of it. I get points with Santa, I get to do my good deed for the day. And I get to do this.”
He pulled her to him for a quick, hard kiss. “I’ll do a more thorough job of that later,” he promised as he released her and turned away.
And left her there, staring.
Pathetic, Keely thought as she waited in the alley for Lex. She was pathetic. She had all the good reasons why sleeping together had been a bad thing and was something they shouldn’t do again. And then she’d turned around and it had all just melted away in the silly, giddy pleasure of seeing him. The minute he’d walked into the room, all her fine resolutions to give herself time to get her head on straight had gone out the window.
She moistened her lips and tried to ignore the little buzz that the brush of his mouth had set up in her system. It didn’t matter that her head had decided she’d be better off keeping her distance. Her body had different plans.
; His headlights banished the afternoon shadows in the alley and he pulled up to a stop beside her. And then it was easier to focus on folding down seats, on loading trays, on anything, anything that didn’t have to do with his touch, his taste, their pleasure. If she just focused on the logistics at hand, like Hansel and Gretel following the trail of bread crumbs, she could get through this.
Hansel and Gretel had gotten lost, she recalled.
There was something both surreal and wholly ordinary about riding beside Lex again in the Jeep. “Go down Main and make a left at Reservoir,” she directed. “You’re going to the New Chilton Country Club.”
“As opposed to the Chilton Racket and Leisure Club?”
“Exactly.”
“The credit reports came,” he commented as they sat at one of the town’s two stoplights.
That helped change her focus. “And?”
“Nothing out of the ordinary. Olivia reviewed them. They’re clean.”
“Oh.” The disappointment was keen and real. “Well, it was worth a try.” She stared out at the shop windows outlined in holiday lights.
“I looked around to see if I could find any clues on the password but no luck.”
She shook her head. “This is so frustrating. What we need is on that computer, I know it. And we can’t get to it.”
“We could take it to a computer doctor.”
“And what, tell them that we’ve lost the password and we’ve got no proof of ownership and pretty please will they hack into it for us?”
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