Chapter Six
Emma hung up the phone, a feeling of homesickness sweeping her.
Three days gone from home and she missed her family.
Life in California might prove more exciting, but it was only temporary.
She couldn’t imagine living alone like Lily relying on email and Facetime to keep in touch.
Not seeing their mother for years on end, not being a part of her brothers’ and sister’s lives. It seemed a bit lonely to Emma.
Maybe life in the fast lane wasn’t the perfect existence. There was a lot to be said for home and family and love.
Emma called Garcia’s during the afternoon and talked to the hostess.
Having a good idea of appropriate dress, she scanned the colorful array in her sister’s closet.
Choosing a bright turquoise dress, she found strappy high heels that went with it.
She took her time getting ready, anticipation and trepidation warring within as she thought about the night ahead.
Refusing to continue kissing on the beach was one thing, she thought as she wiped away the smear from her mascara with nervous hands, but the truth of the matter was, she couldn’t forget the kiss.
His words hovered in the air between them.
She had participated. Had wanted more, though she couldn’t admit that to Logan.
And it wasn’t as if he wanted her , Emma Carter. Logan thought he was attracted to her sister.
How would he feel if he discovered she’d tricked him? He’d already commented about disliking liars.
She studied her face in the large mirror.
She ought to tell him. Tonight, before things went any further.
They’d already gone too far. He’d be angry, but she hadn’t crossed any major lines. And it wasn’t as if she’d ever need to see him again. She could take a drive up the coast, go to Disneyland or down to Mexico until Lily returned home.
Taking a deep breath, she tried to calm her roiling nerves. She wanted this one day. Wanted to see what it was like to be carefree and sought after. She’d keep her distance and not allow any more kisses. Tomorrow, she’d make sure she stayed busy and avoided her sister’s sexy neighbor.
First, dinner. For a few more hours she’d enjoy the fantasy, then when he brought her home, she’d say goodbye and that would end it. She wasn’t out to harm anyone, she only wanted to taste a bit of the life-style her sister enjoyed.
Logan turned into the circle drive in front of Lily’s house, his black Mercedes gleaming in the late afternoon sun.
His love for his car made the drive into Hollywood bearable each day.
Rubbing his eyes, he stopped and started to get out when he heard Lily close her front door.
Staring, he smiled when she waved and hurried to the car.
He reached across the seat and opened the door, wondering for the tenth time what game she was playing.
Was it for some character in her next film?
If he didn’t know her, hadn’t known her for a couple of years, he’d swear she wasn’t Lily Rambeau. Too many things added up to almost a different person. What had happened while he’d been gone?
Lily was wearing that blue-green dress he’d seen before. The loose top revealed creamy shoulders. The flared skirt danced as she walked, displaying her shapely legs. He liked looking at her.
Tonight, there were further discrepancies to the woman he thought he knew. He was surprised to see her sling a purse the size of an attaché case over her shoulder. In the past Lily had seemed totally unencumbered by a purse. When she’d come to his last party, she’d put her key in her shoe.
In fact, that afternoon at the office, he’d mentioned being thrown by the differences.
There was a kind of sweetness about his neighbor he’d never noticed before.
The hard edge he was used to was missing.
She’d appeared almost shy when they’d shared breakfast. If he didn’t know better, he’d think she were some fresh young innocent, instead of a worldly divorcée.
Yet there had been something oddly appealing about Lily that morning. That fact alone kept her in the forefront of his thoughts. Marc, one of his resident techies, had suggested alien abduction as an explanation for the changes in Lily. But then, Marc was into Star Wars and the old X-Files.
Logan’s executive assistant, Helen, had suggested amnesia, but he’d seen no signs of that. Yet, not once had Lily made reference to anything in their shared past.
And did she normally eschew that silky dressing gown for a terry-cloth one?
“Did you get everything settled?” she asked, pulling the door shut and reaching for her seat belt.
“For the most part. Pete’s still in Italy and needed some help from this end. I think he can manage the rest. I’ll have to go into work early in the morning to make sure it’s fixed.”
She turned to smile at him and Logan felt a kick low in the gut. For the moment he didn’t care what she was doing or how she was acting. She looked beautiful. Her eyes sparkled, her hair swirled around her, kissing her cheeks, and the blue-green of her dress made her skin glow. He wanted her.
He’d known her for two years yet the primal urge to mate with this woman had emerged only today.
Leaning over, he breathed in the fresh sultry scent that he recognized from that morning.
A new perfume? Making a show of checking her seat belt to cover his actions, he sat back and put the car in gear.
Great, he acted like a hormone-raging teenager.
“I missed you this afternoon. I took a book to read, sat beneath an umbrella on the beach.”
He headed toward the restaurant. Another inconsistency—he’d never heard Lily admitted to missing anyone. Of course he didn’t usually spend much time with her.
“I could have found much more interesting things to do than work through a software glitch this afternoon,” he agreed. “We could have spent the rest of the day together.”
“True.”
She pleated the skirt of her dress nervously. Logan reached over and took her hand, linking their fingers, resting them on his thigh. Flicking her a glance, he almost smiled. She looked shocked. Her gaze drifted to their hands. The feel of her soft palm against his notched up his interest.
If he felt this way after a good night’s sleep, he’d do something about it. She was the jaded world traveler, maybe she wanted to be chased. Maybe he should have pushed her more, not accepted her earlier refusal so easily.
He still couldn’t believe he had this overwhelming desire for his neighbor.
Logan drove competently through the winding canyon roads until he reached the flatlands. The parking lot at Garcia’s was crowded, as usual, but he found a place along the outer rim.
“Don’t want to get a ding, huh?” she teased as he opened her door.
They had the length of the parking lot to walk.
“Not on this baby.”
Garcia’s was housed in an old adobe structure with a wide courtyard surrounded by a low stucco wall.
Couples gathered around the small tables in the courtyard, sipping margaritas and enjoying the mariachi band playing softly in the corner.
Festive lanterns illuminated the patio and the warm Southern California evening made the setting perfect.
“Drinks first?” Logan asked as they waited for the hostess.
“Sounds good.”
They were seated at one of the small patio tables, a flickering candle in the center. The evening air was balmy and still. Gentle laughter, the murmur of voices and the Spanish music gave the setting a certain charm Emma had never seen.
“Margarita?” Logan asked.
“I’ll just have white wine,” Emma said, looking around with avid interest.
“The last time we were here you insisted there was nothing else to drink at a Mexican restaurant but margaritas,” he mentioned casually, leaning back in his chair, stretching his legs beneath the table. His calf brushed against hers.
“I did?” Emma said, swallowing hard, resisting the urge to shift her leg away. Suddenly she felt as if the two of them were alone in a soft Southern night. “I’d like wine tonight,” she said, stalling. “This is nice.”
She forced her gaze elsewhere.
“You said once it was your favorite restaurant. Going to have the usual when we order?”
She blinked.
“I don’t know. I’ll check out the menu first. Maybe I’ll try something new tonight.”
She cleared her throat nervously, unsettled by the watchful or was that a suspicious look in Logan’s gaze.
When the drinks arrived, he picked up his beer and touched the rim to her wineglass.
“To kisses on the beach,” he said softly.
Her gaze met his and held. Slowly she nodded and took a sip, unable to say a word. Her throat felt tight, butterflies of shyness filled her.
When Logan reached for her hand, she made no protest. He glanced down, as if intrigued by the contrast of his larger tanned hand holding her pale one.
She liked his touch. She wanted to have him touch her all over, feel his fingers against her skin, his palms against her body.
Discover if the tingling pleasure that shot up her arm would explode into even more powerful reactions if he explored her intimately.
Heat blossomed. She sipped the wine in an attempt to cool down.
“Let’s scoot our chairs closer, it’s hard to hold a conversation with so many people around,” he suggested.
She complied instantly, until her legs brushed against his, until her shoulder almost touched his. She’d never felt so desirable, so desired.
Or so nervous.
What was she doing playing games with this man?
“What do you want to talk about?” she asked, tilting her head until her lips were perfectly aligned for his.
Flirting with danger, recklessly daring to push the limits, she lightly touched the tip of her tongue along her top lip, her gaze locked with his.
The blood pounding through her veins drowned out the noise from the other diners.
Leaning forward, he kissed her quickly, lightly, uttering a soft groan as his lips caressed hers.
Emma kept her eyes open, mesmerized by the gleam in his.
When he leaned back, she released her breath, unaware she’d been holding it.
A kiss couldn’t hurt. But it could short-circuit her senses.
She wanted more. This wasn’t the first time she wished she were a more a darn-the-torpedoes kind of person.
“Do you remember that party you had a few months ago, when we ended up on your patio talking about family and friends and tropical settings we’d visited?”
“Party?”
His thoughts jumped around so much. She was still recovering from his kiss.
He frowned. “You couldn’t have forgotten, you gave it.”
“I...no, of course, I didn’t forget.” She cleared her throat. “It’s been a while, what about it?”
“If your memory is fading that fast, you’ll have a heck of a time when you’re eighty.”
Eighty? If she didn’t stop this masquerade soon, the stress would make sure she didn’t live through tomorrow, no need to worry about making eighty.
She took a sip of wine. “What about the party?”
“We got sidetracked before we could complete our life histories. Tell me more about yours. We’ve been neighbors for two years, but I don’t know that much about you. Tell me about your family.”
“My family?”
He wanted to know about her family? What had Lily told him? That she had a twin? That she had a sister who never came to visit, but kept in touch through emails and phone calls while Lily rarely dashed off more than a sentence or two in a text, relying on phone calls to keep in touch?
“Family—you know, mother, father, siblings. I know more than I need to about your father. The tabloids and fan magazines keep everyone up to date with the Hollywood crowd. You told me once he divorced your mother ages ago. How about the rest of your family? Do you have any brothers or sisters?”
“Brothers or sisters?”
He leaned back. “Yes, brothers or sisters. Is it too noisy here? Should we go somewhere else?”
“No, this is fine. Yes, I have.”
“What?”
“Brothers and sisters. To be accurate, I have two half-brothers and a half-sister and one other sister. My mother remarried after she and my father split.”
If she had much more wine, she’d be sloshed before dinner, Emma thought, taking another sip to stall, to give herself time to think.
“What about—”
“Sir, I have a table for you.”
The waitress stopped by the table, a wide smile on her face.
Logan nodded and stood, stepping aside for Emma.
She rose, grateful for the interruption.
In her effort to escape the inquisition, she swung around the table, giving Logan a wide berth.
Unfortunately, her purse caught on the edge of a chair, tipped, and dumped its entire contents on the tiled patio.
Brush, lipstick, change purse—and a dozen sample sizes of flavored dental floss.