Creative License (11 page)

“Three years now,” Caleb and Lily answered in unison. Their eyes met and they smiled.

“And you’ve lived apart all that time?”

Lines formed on Caleb’s forehead. Lily turned back to their hostess. “Yes. I have a very good job in Boston.” She forced herself not to gulp the wine but she needed a little liquid courage.

“And she hasn’t found one here yet,” Caleb added. “You know, in this financial climate, if you have a good job, you keep it.”

“Very wise of you.” Mrs. Patterson’s gaze settled on Lily. “But I imagine it gets lonely.”

Lily glanced at Caleb. She’d been here for only two days and in that time, she’d been angry, sad and passionate but never lonely, an emotion she often experienced in Boston.

Unexpected tears blurred her vision and she quickly blinked them back. “Yes, it does.” Under the weight of Caleb’s gaze, she stared out over the ocean. “It is so beautiful here.”

“It is. This is my second favorite house.”

“Second?” Caleb asked between bites. “Where’s your first?”

“Ah, that would be my villa in Italy. My husband is there now.”

“I didn’t realize you were married.”

“
Touché.
You are not the only one with secrets, my dear.” She smiled and sipped her wine.

Lily bit into the melon. The sweetness of the cantaloupe and saltiness of prosciutto blossomed in her mouth, awakening memories of chocolate and heated skin. She looked up to find Caleb’s eyes on her, the green irises darkened with passion, and her cheeks warmed. He was thinking along similar lines.

“So how long are you staying?” Mrs. Patterson asked.

Lily hesitated. “I leave tomorrow morning.” The truth of that statement and what it meant hit her hard and opened a void in her stomach. She glanced again at Caleb’s now expressionless face.

“That’s a fast trip.” Mrs. Patterson sipped her wine. “You didn’t even have a chance to get used to the time change.”

Caleb’s green eyes darkened. She tore her gaze away. “Yes it is. I took Friday off but I’m still new at my job so…”

“What do you do?”

“I’m a lawyer. Well, I intern at a firm.” Lily sipped her wine.

Mrs. Patterson laid a well-manicured hand on Lily’s arm. “Darling, California is teeming with lawyers but we could always use more. I’m sure you could find a nice position here.”

Caleb coughed, choking on his wine. He held up a hand and smiled. Lily caught his wicked grin when Mrs. Patterson glanced down at her plate. Yes, she’d already found a few positions she liked here. Caleb had turned her into a sex-maniac or awakened the latent possibility. No doubt about it.

“If you ever need a reference, let me know,” Mrs. Patterson continued.

“Thank you.” Lily avoided Caleb’s eyes.

Mrs. Patterson glanced between the two. “I’m sorry. I’m afraid I’m a bit nosy. I can tell you don’t like to talk about leaving. I imagine you need to live in the now when you’re together.”

“Yes.” Lily still felt Caleb’s gaze on her.

Jeffery stepped in pushing a cart. After glancing at Mrs. Patterson, he whisked the empty plates away and set down steaming dishes of roast beef, baby carrots and pearl onions. The steam warmed Lily’s face. “This looks delicious.”

“Thank you, my dear.” Mrs. Patterson’s smile sparkled in her blue eyes. “After lunch, would you like a tour of the house? I have a most impressive gallery or perhaps you’d like to see more of the gardens?”

“The gallery would be lovely,” Lily said.

Caleb laughed.

“What’s so funny?” Lily asked.

“I was going to say the gardens. Go ahead, Lily, you know you’re dying to see them.”

Mrs. Patterson grinned. “There is time for both.” She glanced from Caleb to Lily and back again with a gleam in her eye. Lily had the distinct impression that Mrs. Patterson didn’t miss much.

After lunch, Jeffery brought out a coffee service and delicate petit fours. Like a good hostess, Mrs. Patterson veered away from any further personal information and instead regaled them with stories of her younger years. It seemed she hadn’t always been a dignified patroness of artists.

When Lily finished her coffee, Jeffery returned to hold Mrs. Patterson’s chair. She smiled. “Caleb, you show Lily the gardens while I make a few phone calls and then I’ll show you my gallery. There is a Picasso I think you’ll like.”

“A Picasso?” Lily and Caleb said together.

“Oh yes, an early Picasso at that. Very rare.” She smiled and inclined her head before she returned to the house.

A gentle wind blew the hair around Lily’s face as she bent to smell a large pink rose. Mrs. Patterson had been right, her cook had outdone himself. She was pleasantly full with the satisfaction only excellent food could bring.

Lily was shocked to discover she genuinely liked the woman.
And I’ve just lied through my teeth to her.
With a stab of guilt, she straightened and looked out over the garden.

“Your parents named you well.” Caleb’s husky voice sounded near her ear. She turned to find his darkened gaze on her face. Her knees weakened.

“What do you mean?”

“You outshine any flower in this garden.”

Lily smiled. “You better be careful. A girl might think you were trying to seduce her.”

“The girl might be right.” Caleb neared and brushed a strand of hair away from her face. “You’re beautiful.” His lips descended in a kiss that was so gentle it took her breath away.

Emotions closed her throat. His thumb ran lightly over her jaw as he rested his cheek against her head.

“You could stay, Lily.” His voice was only a whisper.

“I…” A thousand different thoughts crashed down on her at once. Yes, there was passion between them but what else? Passion didn’t make for stability, a future. This wasn’t how she’d planned her life. Her family would never understand. Stewart. She looked up and her thoughts melted at the undisguised emotion swirling in Caleb’s soft green eyes.

“Oh, there you two are.” Mrs. Patterson walked down the winding path. “It’s beautiful out here. The ocean breeze sometimes plays hell with the roses but I have a very good gardener.”

Caleb turned to face Mrs. Patterson, his arm wrapping around Lily and resting at her waist. It felt so right, as though it belonged there, but that was crazy. This was crazy.

Lily wasn’t.

He asked me to stay.
She took a deep breath in an attempt to order her thoughts. She was the dependable one. The goody two-shoes, as her sister called her. The daughter who always strove to please her parents, to do what was expected.

There was no such thing as love at first sight and she certainly wasn’t the kind of person to run off after a dream.
He asked me to stay.
And damn it, she wanted to. She wanted to stay with Caleb forever. She swallowed down the conflicting emotions threatening to drown her. He didn’t mean it. He couldn’t. Caleb had only made the mistake that she had almost made. Confused lust for love. Her body leaned into Caleb despite her thoughts, as though it had a will of its own.

“Are you ready to see the gallery?” Mrs. Patterson asked.

“Oh yes.” Lily smiled and looked up at Caleb’s eyes, tumultuous and full of emotion. He nodded.

“Caleb tells me you have a beautiful singing voice,” Mrs. Patterson said as they walked back up to the house.

Lily glanced at Caleb but he was looking out at the bay. “Caleb tends to exaggerate,” Lily said. “I sang in school, glee club kind of thing.”

Mrs. Patterson led them into the house and down a hall. “His exact words were, ‘She’d make an angel weep.’ I’d love to hear you sometime. Even if he does exaggerate.” She winked.

“Here we are.” They stepped into a large room, lit like a museum and just as full of priceless artwork. With a stunned expression, Caleb let go of her waist to walk toward a painting.

“I don’t sing anymore,” Lily explained to Mrs. Patterson.

“No. Why ever not?”

“No time. It was just a hobby, really.”

“Hobbies are important. I have one or two myself. They keep the soul young.” Mrs. Patterson stopped and looked deep into Lily’s eyes. “You, my dear, already have an old soul. Responsibility hangs on you like a cloak. But like a cloak, it can hamper your movements.” She leaned closer. “Live a little, you won’t ever regret it.”

“And if I do?”

“Living a life designed to never have any regrets is a surefire way of having them.” She patted Lily’s arm but stared at Caleb. “Take a chance.”

Lily swallowed. Was Mrs. Patterson talking about her singing or Caleb? She couldn’t know about their deception, could she? “Thank you, Mrs. Patterson. I’ll consider it.”

Chapter Nine

Caleb ran one hand over the supple leather seat, the other entwined with Lily’s. Mrs. Paterson insisted Lily and Caleb let her driver take them home in her car. Dark panels hid a miniature bar and even Internet access. Caleb shook his head. He couldn’t imagine living in such luxury or wanting to.

What would she have said if Mrs. P hadn’t interrupted?
The question haunted Caleb. He’d asked her to stay. He had a feeling he’d been about to be turned down. In that case, maybe it was better she didn’t get the chance to answer. Lily had been quiet since then, as though she was deep in thought.
Or maybe she doesn’t know what to say
. Asking her to stay didn’t just violate their no-commitment rule, it blew it to smithereens. He’d let himself get carried away by emotion. No strings. Isn’t that what he’d agreed to? Then why did he feel as though a million strings wrapped his heart, squeezing at the thought of her leaving him, again. No amount of pretending, nothing changed the fact that tomorrow she’d be gone.

The driver pulled up in front of the apartment complex. Lily turned to him and mouthed, “We did it.” He nodded and returned the smile, squeezing her hand. Yes, they’d done it. They’d fooled Mrs. Peterson, but why didn’t he feel relieved? In fact he felt down right awful.

The driver left the car to walk around and open Lily’s door. She stepped out and waited for Caleb. He smiled. Lily was used to fancy lunches and riding in limousines, it was part of her life, part of her world. A world he didn’t share and didn’t want.

The driver nodded and stepped back into the car. Caleb watched it for a minute as the limousine pulled away from the curb. A slow anger burned deep in his stomach. It wasn’t fair, but life seldom was. Caleb draped an arm around her shoulders, amazed that every action now carried with it a tinge of melancholy. This would end and he’d be without Lily, without love. He stared down at her. When had he fallen in love with her? When she’d given herself to him in the shower? No. Before then? The art studio? No. He loved her then and he’d lied through his teeth to Monique, and to himself. Maybe it was that night in Vegas. In the end it didn’t matter. He loved her with a passion that defied reason and maybe even time. It just was and it seemed to him it always had been.

“I could use a nap.” Lily yawned.

He pulled her close as they entered the lobby and headed for the elevators. “Are you complaining?” He nibbled her ear.

“No, sir. I am not.”

“Good because I believe I distinctly heard your voice begging
more, more
last night.” He loved the blush that crept from her neck to tint the skin of her cheeks. “Why don’t you take a nap, there are a few things I need to do.”

“Like what?” The elevator doors opened and they stepped in.

Before the doors even closed behind them, Caleb pressed Lily between the wall and his body and kissed her. He knew the kiss was flavored with the desire to possess and heavily mingled with desperation, but that didn’t stop the assault on Lily’s lips. Her flavor invaded in his mouth, her surprise turning to passion as her tongue matched his stroke for stroke.

When the door pinged and then opened, he pulled away. Lily’s eyes were glazed, her lips swollen and bruised.

“More, more,” she breathed.

“Come on,” Caleb said, leading her to the door of his apartment. “You take a nap. I need to prepare the paintings for the opening.”

“You’re going to the studio? I’ll go with you.”

Caleb shook his head. “You need some sleep.” He rubbed a thumb over her bottom lip but didn’t miss the flash of hurt in her brown eyes.
And I need space to catch my breath, to remember this is temporary.
“I won’t be long. It will only take an hour or two there and back.”

Lily nodded and slipped inside the door. Caleb stood for a moment, debating whether he should forget the paintings. He could do it tomorrow. When she was gone. He could march in that apartment right now, kiss her neck, run his hands over her silky skin and ease the hurt from her eyes. He could, but every moment he spent with her would make the parting that much worse.

He threw his keys in the air and caught them, then turned to walk down the hall toward the stairs. What were a few flights of stairs? He needed the physical exertion.

Lily leaned against the door, waiting. When she heard Caleb’s footsteps heading away, she walked into the kitchen for a glass of water. He’d withdrawn and the sudden distance felt like winter’s breath on her soul. What had happened? But she knew. He’d asked her to stay and she hadn’t answered. She shook her head. Didn’t he know she was saving them both from a horrible mistake? This was good, no incredible, but this wasn’t the real world.

“
Let me know if you want a reference.”
Mrs. Patterson’s words echoed in her head.

Lily set down the water glass and cradled her face in her hands. Oh God, how did she end up here? Her life, her carefully laid out life, was in Boston. She wasn’t the type to turn her back on responsibilities, on what was expected of her.

The thought didn’t stop the tears dampening her cheeks. She sniffed and walked into the bathroom for a tissue. “Stop it, Lily.” She spoke to her reflection. “Get a grip. It’s only two days. People don’t feel like this after only hours of knowing one another. No commitment, remember?”

Besides, Caleb had probably gotten carried away by emotion and regretted asking her.
Oh God, that’s why he went to the studio.
Fresh tears pricked her eyes. Suddenly more tired than she’d ever been, she wandered into the bedroom, grabbed Caleb’s pillow, cradled it under her head and closed her eyes.