Lilly began to tremble and he reached around to soothe her breast, tweak her nipple. Her body stiffened and then her inner muscles pulsed. He let them clasp him, stilling, then his cock nudged deeper, and she cried out, even as his heart echoed the same.
“Mine,” he whispered, as he was catapulted into a shuddering climax. All mine.
Lilly ignored the nerves fluttering in her belly and sat on the couch in the bungalow to buckle her new shoes. Audra placed a mug of tea before her on the nearby table.
She sent her best friend a grateful look. “How did you know I could use that?”
“Remember? We always drank tea before a first date. Very calming.”
Lilly’s eyes widened. This was a first date? “It’s just a party. Here at the resort.”
“You have a new outfit. A man is picking you up and escorting you there. It’s a date.”
Maybe she would have told Alec she’d meet him if she’d thought of it that way. But he’d already been out-of-sorts because of her insistence that she and her bags return to the bungalow this morning. Not that he’d voiced a protest, but she’d read the tension in the set of his shoulders and the tick of the muscle in his jaw.
She’d placed her hand there. “You have to let me go when I ask you to.”
He’d given her a mutinous look, and she’d responded by caressing his cheek.
“Swear to me you’ll let me go whenever I ask or I won’t trust you.”
His body had gone hard for a moment, but then he’d relaxed. With a short nod, he’d taken her things under his arm and carried them himself. Once at her door, he’d kissed her cheek and promised he’d see her later, his voice inflexible.
She’d tried to jolly him with smile. “You make it sound like a threat.”
“We’ll get to that later,” he’d said, throwing her a look of such dark sensuality that she’d shivered, her body recalling every intimate act he’d performed on her the night before.
Seeing that, his expression had lightened and he’d sauntered off, the confident, arrogant beast.
“You’re smiling,” Audra pointed out. “I’ll take that as a positive sign that things are progressing between you and Alec.”
One baby step. “Nothing’s changed, not really.”
“I wish you wouldn’t say that. I’d like to see something positive come out of this week.”
Sympathy wrung Lilly’s heart. “What can I do? Do you want me to stay in tonight and we can talk?”
Audra shook her head and turned away. “We’ve talked plenty.”
“Coldplay,” Lilly said suddenly. “‘Fix You.’” It was a song for the emotional moment, a pledge from one person to be there for another. Always.
Her friend turned around, a wobbly smile curving her mouth. “I know you would if you could. I couldn’t bear it if you feel guilty about my continued state of gloom.”
It would eat at her, Lilly knew it would. “Is there something else that can make things better?”
“Apparently not the Heartbreak Hotel,” Audra said.
“Oh.” Lilly had kept the stories about it to herself. “You heard about that?”
“I did.” She heaved in a sigh. “And though I’ve had no luck so far, I’ve decided to give it a longer chance to work. I’m going to stay another week.”
“You are?” Lilly’s mind ran through her schedule. “Um…”
“Alone,” Audra said. “I know you have to get back to the office, but I’m free for a while longer.”
Lilly frowned. “I don’t like the idea of you being by yourself.”
“Con’s here for a couple of days after you check out.”
Glancing at the clock, Lilly stood to retrieve her purse. She needed to transfer the necessaries into her smaller evening clutch. “So…um…you think there might be something to the hotel’s legend?”
“Of course not.” Audra snorted. “I’m just not ready to go back to my condo. My nosy neighbor Alice will be all agog about why I’m taking the place off the market.”
Lilly made a face. “I—”
A knock on the door sounded, and she jumped, her gaze shifting there. “Alec’s here,” she said,
“And you’re ready,” Audra said, hurrying forward to hand Lilly the soft wrap she was borrowing. “Go out. For me. Go out and have the time of your life.”
Lilly tilted her head. “Green Day reference? Or the song from Dirty Dancing?”
“An order,” Audra said, pushing her forward.
Lilly’s palm was damp with sudden anxiety as she turned the knob. Alec stood there, in a snowy shirt and dark suit and tie, looking nothing like the naked man who had turned her this way and that the night before. Turned her inside out, until every vulnerable part of her had been exposed.
That man was gone, except his eyes, which were hot and feverishly bright as his gaze moved over her body in slow degrees. She fidgeted under his silent regard, wondering if the midnight-blue satin dress was too short or too clingy or just too…something. “I almost didn’t buy it,” she said, babbling nervously. “But Jojo insisted. I thought maybe it looked too much like a negligee, you know, like something you’d wear not to a party but to bed…”
“My sister is a genius,” Alec said then, reaching for her wrist in order to haul her across the threshold. He fitted her under his arm. “We’ll go tell her so.”
The designated ballroom for the anniversary dinner-dance was decorated in white linen, white flowers, and beautiful crystal candelabras that burned tall, white candles. The space teemed with guests when they arrived and Alec steered her toward the family table, though people stood about, not yet taking chairs. A server passed them champagne, and Lilly greeted Miranda and Vic, offering them congratulations once again.
Jojo held her at arm’s length. “Did I say killer dress, or what?”
“I thought it would give me a heart attack,” Alec said, his hand at the small of Lilly’s back.
The bare small of Lilly’s back, because the dress draped low at her hips from the rear. The bodice draped too, and the dress was kept
