Chapter Sixteen #3
“Pull me out!” she called, and Charlie tossed down the end of the hose and a few extra coils, then yanked her up and over the side.
“You scared me,” Charlie told her, looking way too pale. “I’m so sorry.”
Lily patted his shoulder. “Not your fault. At least you stopped laughing long enough to get me out.”
She turned, hands on hips, and pretended to glare at the rest of them, but they only erupted in guffaws of laughter all over again, and she joined them.
“Go home and get cleaned up,” Rob said finally. “And stay there and rest up for tomorrow. I’ll finish up here.”
Lily smiled at the reflection of her blackened face in his sunglasses. “I believe I will.”
~ ~ ~ ~
Garrett dropped Rhett at his mansion and pulled away.
Rhett keyed his special remote to raise the garage door, so he could access the house through the kitchen.
Sliding past the parked Navigator, he ditched his muddy construction boots in the laundry room and headed inside.
A nice long shower would relax him and let him forget for a while about Whittenhurst screwing up the Jupiter parcel acquisition.
He hurried upstairs, peeled off his field clothes, and jumped in the well-earned shower.
Once he collected Lily from the nursery, he wouldn’t have to worry about forgetting work problems, his focus would be a hundred percent on her. He was still amazed at how brave his little sweetheart had been after losing her childhood home.
Lily had taken him to the nursery office over the weekend to show him all the pictures of her father.
He shook his head at the memory of the dozens of frames spread throughout the office.
Lily’s employees loved her, and he could tell by the way she talked about them that the feeling was mutual.
She reeled off every name, one by one, as she shared with him the pictures of her father.
By the time she had finished, the sun had long disappeared, and Rhett knew Hank Foster like an old and dear friend.
They had needed to wade through all those pictures together.
The emotional exercise had been cathartic for Lily, enlightening for him, and showed him sides of her he hadn’t yet explored.
He found he adored every new side of Lily he discovered—dangerously so.
Unable to get a handle on the depth of his burgeoning emotions, he continually set them aside and concentrated only on the moment. That odd tug and pull near his heart continued to build, waiting there in the wings, and eventually he would have to address the depth of his need to keep Lily close.
She had awakened a possessiveness and protectiveness he had thought himself incapable of feeling, especially after the abusive years of his childhood.
The feelings were all there, simmering and threatening to boil over.
He couldn’t share them with Lily yet and risk scaring her off, especially not after the emotional loss of her home. He had to keep things light for now.
He had pondered his emotional facets under the hot, pounding spray for so long his skin had wrinkled, and he exited the shower to towel off and grab a quick shave.
Jetty’s was one of Lily’s favorite restaurants, and the casual atmosphere would be perfect for a lighthearted evening.
Ten minutes later and towel still wrapped around his waist, he stepped out of the steamy bathroom and into the outstretched arms of a sheer-negligee-clad Delia Armstead.
~ ~ ~ ~
“Delia!” Rhett grunted in surprise.
“Hello, handsome,” she purred and edged forward with feline grace.
Her generous breasts pushed against the sheer silk gown, her nipples standing at attention like errant buttons in a world of satin ribbons. She leaned in just enough to tickle the skin on his abdomen with her breasts.
“Miss me?” she breathed sultrily and pressed her lips to his right nipple.
He flinched at the contact. “What are you doing?”
“That should be obvious, darling.”
One hand at his towel-covered waist, he used the other to grab her elbow and set her back on her heels.
Undaunted, she cooed, “I thought you’d never get out of that shower, but it gave me plenty of time to get ready.”
“Get ready for what?”
“Why for us, darling.”
Rhett tracked her gaze to his king-size bed, now strewn with hundreds of red rose petals.
“What did you do? Buy out every florist in Palm Beach?”
Taking his response as encouragement, she glided forward again and tried to slip her arms around his neck. Stunned by the seduction scene laid out on his bed, he jerked his free hand up to ward her off—a fraction of a second too late—and his hand smacked right into one plump and eager breast.
“Oh darling,” Delia moaned and plastered herself against his front.
Struggling to free the hand caught between them, Rhett stepped on the hem of her negligee robe.
His hand-freeing push to her shoulder with her hem firmly pinned to the carpet made Delia lose her balance.
She plunged backward, flailing her arms wildly, and Rhett let go his towel to use both hands to steady her.
He succeeded only in toppling them both to the carpet, and Delia landed on her back with Rhett atop her, his towel skewed sideways in the process.
Delia recovered first and wrapped arms and legs around Rhett as he struggled to extricate himself.
“You’ve held me at bay for weeks,” she gushed and clung to him like a tick. “When you took me home after the charity gala instead of bringing me here, I almost gave up on you, but finally we’re together.” She stretched up to press her lips to his.
“No, Delia,” Rhett bit out, scrambling to reseat his towel and regain his feet at the same time.
“You’re right, darling,” she said, her voice husky. “We should finish this in bed.”
A sharp gasp at the doorway startled them both. Rhett glanced up and his heart stopped.
Lily stood in the doorway, eyes wide and a change of clothes in her hand.
Silence loomed for one interminable moment, and then Delia twisted beneath Rhett to see who stood at the door.
“This is working late?” Lily cried, her voice vibrating with anger. “Who’s the liar now?”
Her furious gaze raked over the red petals littering the sheets and pillows, the bucket of champagne and glasses on the nearby table.
“No wonder you didn’t mind being patient!” She turned and fled for the stairs.
“Lily, no! Wait!” Rhett lurched forward, caught his ankle on Delia’s calf, and pitched forward onto the carpet again.
Delia grabbed his ankle to keep him from bolting after Lily. “No, Rhett,” she cried. “She can’t make you happy. Stay with me!”
He wrestled free, wrapped his towel around him, and raced to the doorway as the front door slammed hard enough to rock the house on its foundation. He wheeled around to face Delia, now back on her feet, her own eyes wide.
“Get your things and get out,” he thundered. “Don’t you ever come here again.”
~ ~ ~ ~
At midnight, Tammy’s doorbell buzzed, and she ran to jerk the door wide. “Where the hell have you been?” she demanded, drawing an ashen-faced, red-eyed Lily inside.
Closing the door, she hauled her friend into a hug. Lily stiffened at first, then her arms slid around Tammy and hung on tight as her sobs broke the silence.
“I’ve been worried sick, honey,” Tammy said, fighting off her own tears.
Lily only sobbed and clung to her for several long minutes. Finally, she raised her tear-streaked face. “I drove around for hours and then realized all my clothes were at—”
She paused, and an errant sob escaped.
“All my clothes were over there, so I went to the mall. Only I couldn’t go in.
” She sniffed and palmed the tears off both cheeks.
“So I went to the beach and sat and watched the waves come in, and then I went to the cemetery to talk to Hank.” She swallowed hard.
“I-I didn’t c-cry until I got here. I guess I was too angry before. ”
“Oh honey.”
Tammy led her to the bathroom and waited while she washed her face, then took her to the kitchen, poured two fingers of whiskey into a juice glass from a bottle stashed in the cupboard and handed the glass to Lily.
“Drink this,” she ordered.
Lily shook her head and put up a hand.
Tammy took the hand and put the juice glass in it. “Drink up. It’ll help you sleep, and you need to sleep if we’re going to win tomorrow.”
Lily stared blankly at her for a minute and then tossed back the whiskey. The coughing hit her immediately, and Tammy gave her a couple firm back slaps.
“Rhett called the nursery twice and here once,” Tammy said softly.
“I don’t want to hear it.”
“Rob said he came by the nursery after I left to come home. I thought you’d be by hours ago, so I came straight here.”
“Sorry,” Lily said. “I didn’t mean to worry you.”
She didn’t look sorry. She looked dazed.
“Want to talk about it?”
“No!” Lily said sharply. “Not now. Not ever. As far as I’m concerned, I never met Rhett Buchanan.”
“Rob said Rhett looked pretty well panicked and just wanted to know you were safe. Maybe I should call him.”
Lily glared. “I told you, I don’t want to hear about him. No one’s calling him. One more word and I leave and go to a hotel.”
“Okay, okay.” Tammy threw up her hands in resignation. “Come on. I have the hide-a-bed made up in the spare bedroom. You’re living with me now. I’ll find you something in my closet to wear tomorrow.” She waggled her eyebrows. “I still keep a little Tammy wardrobe for when I lose weight.”
Lily quit scowling, and her lips twitched. Tammy thought perhaps her friend would smile, but the moment passed. She got Lily settled and went back to lock the front door. Her cell phone vibrated on the coffee table, and she snatched it up to check the readout.
Rob.
Tammy answered the phone, “Yes, she’s here.”
“Thank God.”
“Robbie, I’ve never ever seen her like this, not even before when Rhett threw her plants in the pool,” Tammy said, keeping her voice low so Lily wouldn’t hear. “What happened? Did you get anything out of Rhett when he came by the nursery?”
“No, he’s clammed up tighter than a drum,” Rob told her, “and I couldn’t get much of anything out of him. When I asked him—none too nicely—what the hell happened, he said it was between him and Lily. But judging by the wrecked look on his face, I don’t think we can fix this.”
“Dear Lord have mercy,” Tammy whispered and disconnected.