him.
Now she leaned into him, her flesh soft and pliant, her fragrance sweet and tempting. He was proud of her for not showing any weakness in front of Dumont, he thought.
The older man cleared his throat. “I came to see for myself that Lilly-I mean Lacey-is really okay,” Dumont said.
“You’ve done that and now you can leave.” Ty stepped back, intending to shut the door, even if it was in Dumont’s face.
“Wait. There’s one more thing.” Dumont reached into his suit pocket and pulled out a rectangular envelope. “It’s an invitation. Two, really.One to my engagement party this Friday night and the other to my wedding next month.”
Lacey accepted the invitation with trembling hands. She was obviously shocked, gripping the invitation so hard her fingertips turned white.
“I don’t expect an answer now. Just know I’m glad you’re alive. I’m sorry about the past and I hope you’ll accept my invitation to start over.”
“I’ll think about it,” she said, surprising Ty.
From Dumont’s wide-eyed expression, Ty would guess she’d taken him off guard, as well.
“Thinking about it is all I can ask. I don’t even deserve that much. But I’m going to have a new family and a fresh start. I’m hoping we can have that, too.” Dumont shifted his gaze to Ty. “The apology and invitation includes you, as well,” he said a bit more stiffly.
Ty merely nodded. He had no intention of acknowledging anything the man said. He figured that made Lilly a better human being than him. He didn’t care.
In the wake of the silence that followed, Dumont turned and walked away.
“He’s full of crap,” Ty muttered, shutting the door behind them.
Lilly nodded. “How could he expect me to forget he had me placed in foster care at seventeen?” she asked, her voice shaking.
And Ty knew that foster care was one of the nicer things Dumont had done to her. None of them would ever get past the shift all their lives had taken as a result. “At least one good thing came out of it. You met me,” he said trying to lighten the mood.
“And my life was never the same.” Lilly turned toward him, a smile on her lips. “It seems that once again, your timing was perfect.” She stared at him with wide eyes that were less vulnerable than when she was younger but no less compelling.
“I’d been running DMV searches all afternoon.” The department of motor vehicles was computerized but no less bureaucratic.
He’d been searching for a missing husband and running checks on an alias his wife thought he’d use in various states. If Ty wasn’t already jaded by life, his missing persons and cheating spouses cases would leave him sour on romance. Instead he was just ambivalent in general and wary of the damage Lilly could do to his heart-again.
Ty was a textbook case-fear of abandonment and rejection, caused by an unreliable father who’d taken off and a gut feeling that Lilly would do the same.
“Good thing it was damn boring work. I thought I’d surprise you and come home early to keep you company.”
In truth, work that should have taken him no time had extended itself for hours because he’d been preoccupied wondering what Lilly was doing back at his place, knowing she couldn’t possibly find much more to make sparkle and shine.
“Well you definitely surprised Uncle Marc. You should have seen his expression when he heard your voice behind him. His whole face turned pale.”
Ty had wanted to take her mind off waiting for her uncle’s reaction. He’d wanted to get her out of the stuffy apartment and make her smile. He still did. But first he had to take care of her uncle. So to speak.
“Give me one second.” Ty pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and dialed Derek’s phone number. “It’s Ty,” he said when the other man answered. “I need you to do me a favor. Call our friend Frank in Glen’s Falls. Ask him to cover our active cases. I have something pressing I need you to handle.” Frank Mosca owned a P.I. agency in the next town over. His business was larger than Ty’s and he’d have the extra manpower.
“Name it, boss.”
“I want you to tail Marc Dumont. Morning, noon and night. Get one of Frank’s men to help if you have to, but I want to know what the guy’s up to.”
“Surveillance. I’ll get right on it. I’d rather be out in the field than doing paperwork and traces anyway.”
“It’s all part of the game. You need to get comfortable with both.” Although Ty agreed with Derek. He secretly preferred being out and about to sitting behind a desk. But until they found someone to hire who enjoyed the more routine aspects of their business, Derek was it.
“Maybe I can snag one of Frank’s guys to come work with us.” Derek laughed.
“No poaching. Call me at the slightest sign of anything out of the ordinary.” Ty flipped his cell phone closed and turned his gaze toward Lilly.
“You’re doing it again. You’re protecting me.”
He felt the heat rise to his face. “I’m doing what comes naturally. It’s my job to be suspicious. Especially of that bastard,” he muttered. “And especially when he’s suddenly doing a one-eighty, acting like a repentant old man instead of the prick we know him to be.”
Lilly grinned. “Well, I like seeing you in action.” She smiled at him, her lips curved in a sensual pout, her mouth begging to be kissed.
He stepped forward. The years melted away, the desire for her was suddenly as real as it had once been. The light in her eyes told him the feeling was mutual. Something that strong and lasting couldn’t be denied, despite all the obvious reasons they should both walk away.
But he didn’t. From the moment Ty had laid eyes on Lilly again, he’d known he was a goner. Why bother fighting what he wanted so badly?
Putting the consequences aside for later, he lowered his head and let his lips touch hers for the first time. The old spark caught fire and burned between them. He kissed her, brushing his lips back and forth over hers, moisture and friction building. The play of his mouth, the eager movements of hers tempted him to take it further.
He slipped his tongue inside her mouth, filling his senses with everything she was. She let out a soft purr from the back of her throat and his body tightened with need and overwhelming desire. Sweet and warm, sensual and feminine, she curved her body into his, fulfilling every dream he ever had. And some that he hadn’t.
Suddenly, Digger began to bark, jumping up and down on her stubby hind legs, begging for their attention. It wasn’t the best way to be brought to his senses, but it did the trick.
He stepped back fast, still dazed but much more aware of what was going on around him. “That was-”
“So long overdue,” she said, jumping in before he could get his actual thoughts together.
“That it was.” Though he doubted those would have been his words of choice.
Mistake probably would have been more like it. He sure as hell didn’t need to search hard for the reasons why. She had a guy named Alex at home and a life that didn’t include him. Yeah, he’d known those facts going in, but in the heat of the moment, he hadn’t cared.
He should have.
She laughed, but the sound was more of a tremor.
He felt certain she had her own share of regrets.
“You have to admit, we’ve been curious about what that kiss would be like for over ten years. And now we know.” She turned and started to straighten up, fixing the blanket which already lay folded on the couch, obviously avoiding looking him in the eye.
Okay, so deep down she agreed with his unspoken assessment. The thought didn’t make him feel any better.
“I’m thinking of taking Uncle Marc up on his invitations.” She glanced over her shoulder as she fluffed a pillow.
His eyes widened. “You’re kidding.”
She shook her head. “I came back here to face the past and move on. I need to gauge his sincerity.”
“I thought we agreed he’s full of crap,” Ty said, not wanting to think about her moving on any more than he
