“That makes three of us.” Mischief twinkled in Briley’s eyes. “Hey, let’s get our hoo-has tattooed as a show of solidarity.”
The three of them threw their heads back and laughed.
“Charley and I know each other’s stories,” Briley said. “What’s yours, Lily?”
Beer caught in Lily’s throat. She coughed and covered her mouth.
Her two new BFFs waited expectantly for details.
Lily twirled her frosty mug in a circle, a sudden urge to pour out the painful memories of Andrew’s betrayal welling up inside her. None of her old friends had been left to talk to by the time Andrew had sunk the knife in and twisted it.
“Andrew hired me right out of college.” Because her father knew him from renovating the chain of upscale hotels Andrew managed. “He was nice looking.” But not drop-dead gorgeous like a certain pilot she knew. “Very romantic at first and a gentleman.” Both in and out of bed, which she wouldn’t describe as satisfying. “We settled. Mostly, I think I wanted to make my parents happy.” Not to mention her mother had pushed her into the engagement because Andrew’s annual salary contained a lot of zeroes. “We both worked all the time, so I’d lost touch with a lot of my friends from high school and college. Since we worked together, it was a convenient choice for me. Eventually, his friends became my friends, and it was all very easy.” At least that’s what she’d told herself. She shrugged. “Unfortunately, he got the friends in the breakup.”
“You said we settled. What was in it for him?” Charley drew on her mug.
Mainly her father’s name and reputation. Once that started circling the bowl, Andrew pulled the plug and flushed both their relationship and her career. Lily took a long, slow drink of beer. “Corporate execs love the family-man look. I was good for his career.”
Until she wasn’t.
She lifted her mug with a smile. “I’m not dropping my panties anytime soon for anyone, not even a tattoo artist, so I’ll settle for a toast. Here’s to not making the same mistake twice.”
They toasted and took a big gulp each.
She looked toward the entrance and saw Trace following his two brothers into the bar. As though he could sense her presence, his gaze found hers and locked on instantly.
She forced down another sip, hoping the cold beer would cool the heat building low in her belly.
The Remington brothers weaved through the crowded room toward the bar. If all the handshakes and backslaps were any indication, the Remingtons were well liked.
Charley cleared her throat to get Lily’s attention. “You sure about not dropping your panties anytime soon?”
Lily angled her chair away from the bar so she wouldn’t be tempted to stare at Trace. “Absolutely certain. My ex was also my boss. Hard work might be a habit I can’t break, but hooking up with my employer isn’t a mistake I plan to make again.”
A flash went off at Lily’s side, and her head swiveled to see Ronald Parker pointing a phone in her direction.
She held up a hand to block her face and looked away.
Oh God. Oh God, oh God, oh God.
She kept her face hidden.
“Oh. Sorry, Lily.” Parker stepped up to the table. “I forgot you don’t want your picture taken.”
No more than he did. She had to bite her tongue to keep from snapping at him for taking her picture without permission. “Mr. Parker.” She glanced at his phone, hoping he hadn’t gotten a full-on shot of her face.
He waved it around. “Don’t mind me. I’m just taking a few vacation photos before I go home tomorrow.”
Thank the Baby Jesus the guy was leaving the island.
“I hope you’ve enjoyed your stay enough to visit us again.” Not really, but she was paid to attract business and not chase it away because she got creeped out by a guest. “How was your aerial tour?”
“It was excellent.” He looked thoughtful. “I couldn’t find you on social media.”
Her heart skipped a beat. Then another. “Why would you want to find me on social media?”
Briley and Charley stayed quiet, but their looks said they didn’t like him any more than Lily did.
“Oh, I friend everyone I meet.” He stepped closer until his arm brushed hers.
Her skin crawled, and she leaned away.
“It’s a hobby.” He put his hand on the back of her chair. Not only was it a possessive gesture, but it also invaded her personal space in a way that was far too familiar.
She sliced a hand across the span of her two friends. “Mr. Parker, we’re having a private conversa—”
“Ladies.” The rich timbre of that voice at her back skated over Lily. “Enjoying yourselves?” A warm, firm hand closed over her shoulder, and she knew it was Trace’s without looking.
His scent. His touch. His sound. His very presence might as well be foreplay by the way her body reacted.
“Lily, I know it’s after hours, but can you spare a few minutes to discuss business in the back office?” An easy smile played at his lips. “The bar is a new client, and I need your input. I figured since we’re here, it would save us an extra trip.”
She was supposed to be taking a night off from work. Just a few hours to let her hair down and relax. But Ronald Parker had become more than a nuisance, and this was her chance to escape. “Sure.” She slid off the stool. “But I don’t have my iPad with me to make notes.”
Trace smiled. “You do seem to run the universe through that iPad, but we can get by without it tonight.” He turned to Charley. “I’ll return Lily shortly.” The waver of his smile was so slight Lily almost missed it. “Mr. Parker.” Trace steadied his friendly expression, but pure alpha testosterone fell off him in waves. “I see you’re on the schedule to fly back to the Cape tomorrow.” As he waited for an answer, he drew in a breath that seemed to increase his height several inches.
Parker shrank back a step. “I am.” His questioning gaze slithered back and forth between Lily and Trace.
“I’ve bought you a drink to say thank you for staying with us.” Trace pointed to the bar. “The bartender is waiting for your order.”
With a hand on her elbow, Trace led her toward the back of the room. When they passed Elliott and Spence sitting at the bar, Trace said, “If that guy doesn’t leave Charley and Briley alone, run interference.”
Both of his brothers tensed, bowed out their chests, and leaned back on their stools to look in their cousin’s direction.
Trace tried the handle on a door down the hall, and it opened. He flipped the light on and held the door open for her.
The room was lined with shelves filled with everything she’d expect to find in a bar. “So what input do you need?” She perused the cluttered shelves. “The owners might benefit more from Charley and Briley’s input on inventory organization; it’s a mess in here.”
Trace closed the door and came to stand in front of her, one broad shoulder propped against a metal shelf. “What’s with that Parker guy?”
Good question. Instinct told Lily the answer wouldn’t be good. “No idea.”
Trace crossed his arms, and Lily couldn’t help but stare at his chest as it flexed and flowed under his stonewashed T-shirt. “He seems to think he knows you. Or is that just a come-on?”
As much as Parker creeped her out, it would be a relief if it was a come-on. Otherwise, the press might be closing in. “I’ve never seen the guy before.” If she never saw him again, it would be too soon. “Why?”
Trace made a face. “My gut tells me he’s not straight up. Maybe he was a guest from your previous job?” Trace’s eyes roamed her face. When they swept her length and snagged on the bare skin below the hem of her miniskirt, her knees went weak.
“I don’t think so.” Trace’s concern for her, his willingness to protect her, made her bite her lip to keep the truth from tumbling out. “So you really don’t need my input for your new client?” she asked.
“Not at the moment.” His eyes sparkled. “Unless I misread your bod
y language, Mr. Parker’s advances looked unwelcome. I figured I’d help you out.”
She blew out a chuckle. “I thought I was being subtle.”
“About as subtle as, oh, I don’t know”—he scratched his ear—“pedaling a giant tricycle with ducks riding shotgun during a storm.”
They laughed.
“Nice bodyguard detail you and your brothers provide,” she joked. “You guys could hire out your services for a nice price.”
“There’s no charge. Looking out for women we care about is free.”
She blinked at him. The Remingtons cared about her. He cared about her. Coming to her rescue in a crowded bar was proof of that, which was why she wanted to bare her soul right then and there.
His hungry look said he wanted her to bare everything else.
“I’m not used to having anyone look out for me.” At that moment, Lily felt so alone. So abandoned by everyone in her life. Her father, her fiancé, her friends. No one was left from her old life. Her new life at the Remington offered her more than a job. It offered real relationships and security. And she couldn’t fully embrace it because she wasn’t being honest.
Trace took her in from the top of her ponytailed hair all the way to her dressy flip-flops. “You’ve got someone looking out for you now.” He shifted like he was going to close the space between them but stopped.
So she took two steps, went up on the tips of her toes, and placed a gentle kiss on his cheek. “Thank you,” she whispered.
When she tried to step away, he took the opening of her jean jacket between his fingers and tugged. “You look nice.” His voice went throaty. “More like the girl I saw at the airport getting a massage.” He eased a hand inside her jean jacket and stroked her hip.
“You mean the girl who was moaning?” She smiled as heat rushed up her neck to settle in her cheeks. And several other parts of her anatomy.
“One and the same.” He covered her mouth with his and kissed her deeply.
It was wrong. Stupid, even. She knew where it might lead. How it could end.
Bad habits really did die hard because she sighed against Trace’s lips, and his arms circled her. The hand at her waist smoothed up her back until it reached the sensitive skin at the base of her neck. The roughness of his fingertips made her skin pebble, and she moaned.
“I love that sexy moan of yours,” he breathed against her mouth, then claimed it again to search out her tongue with his.
His kiss, his taste was everything she thought it would be and so much more.
She sighed against his lips, and as if it was the most natural thing in the world, her palms moved over his chest, up his neck, and sank into his hair. He tasted like fresh morning dew on a hot summer day, and Lily melted against him.
He eased her back against the shelves, feathering soft kisses across her neck.
“That’s. So. Good,” she panted out. And so wrong, she tried to remind herself.
“I promise it would be much better if we were skin to skin.” He whispered the wicked promise against her neck. “If we weren’t in a storage room, I’d prove it to you.” He slid one hand up her rib cage and tugged her tank and bra down. When his hand cupped her aching breast, her head fell back and thudded against a shelf.
He kneaded her breast into a hard peak, while nibbling the flesh at the crook of her neck. Then he dipped his head and pulled a nipple into his mouth.
She couldn’t stop a small cry of pleasure from escaping when his warm mouth closed around her throbbing peak. “Oh God.”
He chuckled, and his hot breath made her insides heat to nuclear temperatures. Nice guy that he obviously was, he paid her other breast the same attention. His lovely tongue swiped across her nipple. Once, twice, three times. Then circled it and gently suckled.
She fisted his hair, which caused him to moan too.
“I’d give an arm to see you naked.” He found her mouth with his again and kissed her. This time more urgently. He cupped her ass in his palms and lifted her off the ground.
She squeaked, but her legs closed around his waist.
“No, not an arm. I like what you’re doing with both hands.” She trailed kisses along his neck.
“Hands are more like an accessory,” he said with a laugh. “They’re not the body parts that are going to make you moan the loudest.” He carried her to a bare wall around the corner and steadied her against it. “My tongue and”—he pressed his hips into her center—“this are all I need.”
A shudder of pleasure raked through her. Her panties were already hot with moisture from the sheer pleasure of his rigid shaft grinding against her.
She couldn’t stop. Couldn’t get enough of him.
“Trace,” she whispered against his lips. “This is wrong.”
“So wrong.” His mouth consumed hers as his fingers flexed into her butt cheeks.
She feathered kisses along his jaw to his ear. When she sank her teeth into his earlobe, he shuddered and rolled his hips into her. His granite shaft made her want to puddle at his feet. Made her want to scream for more skin and fewer clothes between them. He moved against her until she shimmied and shuddered and raced toward the edge.
A knock sounded at the door, and Trace stilled. His hot breaths washed over her ear, and she buried her face in his neck.
“What?” he barked out.
The door wasn’t in view, but they heard it open.
“Trace?” Spence asked.
Trace leaned his forehead against hers and stared down at her, lust still clouding his eyes.
She eased one foot to the ground. “It’s okay,” she mouthed.
“Yeah, what is it?” Trace said, helping her find her balance before he let go.
“Someone’s out here asking for you.”
“Who?” Trace helped straighten her top.
She pushed against his chest so he’d step back far enough for her to smooth her skirt. The last thing she needed was to walk back into a crowded bar with her clothes twisted into an I-almost-had-closet-sex kind of way.
“I don’t know.” Spence sounded irritated. “One of your clients maybe?”
Trace let out a breath that was just as annoyed. “Be right there.”
The door shut.
Gently, he brushed a stray strand of hair off her forehead.
He gave her another long, luxurious kiss before he took her hand and led her to the door.
She pulled it free as they stepped out into the hall. The din of the crowded bar came rushing at them. Trace gave her a reassuring look before they walked back into the fray.
The second they stepped into the crowded bar, a young hipster kid wearing skinny jeans and a knit cap moved into their path. “Trace Remington?”
Trace stopped short to keep from colliding with the guy, who was half Trace’s size. “Yes?”
Lily eased up behind him, every instinct she had going on high alert.
The kid pushed an envelope into Trace’s chest.
It all happened so fast, yet it was like it was in slow motion. Before she could tell him to back away and not accept what the kid was offering, Trace grabbed it.
“You’ve been served.” The kid disappeared into the crowd.
Trace stared at the envelope with rounded eyes. He slowly opened it and skimmed the page. “My ex,” he mumbled like he couldn’t believe what he was seeing.
Lily placed a reassuring hand on his forearm. “What is it, Trace?”
“She’s suing me for custody of Ben.”
Chapter Thirteen
LILY’S LIFE LESSON #13
Saying goodbye is easy. It’s the walking-away part that hurts.
Trace crumpled the legal papers in his hands. The noise of the Fallen Angel’s busy weekend crowd faded into the distance, even though patrons stood shoulder to shoulder in the bar.
A warm hand closed around his upper arm and squeezed. “Trace.” A soft, comforting voice pierced the fog of silence that engulfed him.
He looked to his right, bl
inking Lily into focus. “I can’t . . .” He rubbed the corners of his eyes with a thumb and forefinger. “I’ve got to go.” He had to get out of there and talk to Megan. Ask her why she was doing this to their son because they both knew she didn’t really want custody of Ben. “You’ve got a ride with Charley?”
She nodded. “Don’t worry about me.”
The concern creasing the soft skin between her brows made him want to take her in his arms. The kindness glinting in her eyes made him want to take her to his bed.
The way she’d melted into his arms in the storage room, the way her body quivered and heated everywhere he’d touched had only whetted his appetite.
But was it fair to pursue Lily with Megan throwing shade his way? Was it right for him to take one second of his attention off Ben while Megan was making threats?
Trace glanced down at the wadded paper in his hand. None of it was fair or right, but it had landed squarely in his hands nonetheless.
“Thanks. I’ll—” He couldn’t think. “We’ll talk later.”
He blazed a trail through the thick crowd and found his brothers sitting at the bar. “Let’s go.” His expression and his tone were enough for his brothers to know he was serious.
Elliott tossed a few bills on the counter, and Spence pulled jingling keys out of his pocket. They were in the Jeep in less than a minute. Spence fired up the engine, did a quick U-turn on Marina Boulevard, and headed home.
Trace told them everything.
“Man,” Spence said. “If I’d known why the kid was looking for you, I would’ve tossed him out of the bar.”
Trace propped an elbow on the passenger door and tapped a fist against his mouth. “He’d have found me someplace else.”
“What happens now?” Elliott asked.
Trace wished he knew. He was tired. So damned tired that his bones ached. He let his head fall back on the headrest and stared straight ahead, only the Jeep’s dual streams of light illuminating the way home. “First, I’m going to get Megan on the phone and ask her what the hell she’s thinking. If she had custody of Ben, her interest would last about ten minutes.” No way in hell would he allow her to take their son away only to dump him on a stranger. Trace didn’t care if the special-ed-teacher-nanny Megan planned to hire had a wall full of credentials; no stranger was taking care of his son.
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