Loving Lily (2 page)

"Twin three year old girls.
 
The clinic’s urgent care
room.
" He
waved an arm toward his nieces,
still running around like wild animals on the jungle gym.
 
"Do I really have to explain what it was
like trying to corral them there while keeping myself from bleeding to
death?"

His sister
patted his arm.
 
"You survived.
 
It was good for you. "

He slumped back
on the bench.
 
"That was worse than
anything I had to do in the Navy.
 
I kid
you not. "

"Stop
being so melodramatic
. "
His sister wasn't even
looking at him now as she grinned.

She didn’t care
about his tender feelings, not the least little bit.
 
She thought he was being ridiculous, and in a
way, he understood.
 
It
was
funny.
 
On the other hand, he’d been so worried for
his nieces that he’d almost lost it and started bawling in the clinic along
with them.
 
They really hadn’t liked
watching the doctor stitch up their Uncle Matt.
 
The crying had gone on for a long, long time.
 
Abruptly, he stood up.
 
"I've gotta get going.
 
I have a deadline to meet.
"
He
loved Stephanie, really he did, but sometimes she made him want to
tear out all his hair.
 
And he knew how
stupid he looked without hair.
 
He had
pictures from boot camp.

"Don't
forget, we're having dinner at Mom and Dad's place at the end of the month.
 
Tell Alex.
 
I never see him.
 
I think he’s trying to avoid me.
" She
smiled at him, standing up to give him a hug.

“I’ll tell him
. ”
He squeezed her hard, picking her up slightly just to
hear her
oof
.

She smacked him
on the head.
 
"Stop squeezing me to
death.
 
I need air, you know. "

He laughed,
squeezing her again before putting her down.
 
"You're just so tiny.
 
It makes me want to squish you. "

She huffed.
 
"Yeah, well, my kids need their mom
upright and walking, not passed out on the grass.
 
And I'm not tiny.
 
You're a giant. "

He rolled his
eyes this time.
 
"Six-two is not
that tall
. "

"Says the
giant
. "

He ignored her,
calling out to the twins coming down the slide again.
 
"Bye girls!"

"Bye Uncle
Matt! Bye!" they yelled back, running over to hug him goodbye.

“Be good for
your mom, okay?” he said, running a hand over their sweaty hair.

The older one
nodded.
 
“We will
. ”
She grabbed her sister before she could say anything and dragged her back over
to the slide.

Matt waved at
them and turned to go, but not before he got one last dig into his sister.
 
"I'm not that big, you know.
 
You're just shrinking.
 
I've heard that having kids can do that.
 
Brain cells are the first to go.
" He
ducked away before she could swat him again,
laughing at the look of ire on her face.

****

"Fuck.
 
Double fuckity fuck," Lily muttered,
kicking at her stupid, dumb, loser flat tire.
 
She didn't even bother trying to keep the
cursing down this time.
 
She was in the
middle of freaking nowhere with her entire life packed into her stupid SUV.
 
And what
happens? I get a flat.
 
Of course.

"If you
’d bothered to plug your cell phone in, this wouldn't
be a
big deal, now would it?" she berated herself out loud.
 
"But no.
 
You couldn't remember to do that, could you?
Of course not.
 
You're
lost, your cell battery is dead, and your car is going nowhere.
 
Fuck!" She yelled out the last part,
kicking the tire again.

She looked up
at the trees, judging it to be late afternoon by the angle of the sun.
 
She'd been looking forward to checking into
the bed and breakfast she'd booked, and then heading somewhere for dinner.
 
Now she was stuck on the side of a mountain,
in the woods, in rural Vermont, with no way to get help.

"Looks
like I’m walking.
 
Probably for
hours," she said aloud.
 
"Because I’m too dumb to plan ahead.
 
Soon as I get settled, I'm buying an extra
phone battery. "

She locked her
car and started off down the road.
 
At
least it was summertime.
 
And not raining.

"I
shouldn't have stopped in the mall this morning.
 
I didn't really need a new bra.
" She
kicked a rock along the side of the road.
 
It made a satisfying sound so she kicked it
again.

"I could
have stopped for lunch.
 
There was a
sandwich shop right off the interstate.
" She'd
been thinking about the new bra and the trauma of finally accepting that she'd
been stuffing herself into lingerie two sizes too small.
 
When she'd driven past the sandwich place, she
decided she wasn't that hungry.
 
"But you're hungry now, aren't you,
Lily?” She stopped for a moment to look up at the sky.
 
The blue expanse just beyond the treetops
mocked her.
 
"Idiot," she
snorted.

The thing was
,
she really
did
need a new bra.
 
She didn't have many
because she hated shopping for them so much, so she tended to wash and rewash
until the few she owned were falling apart.
 
She was at the point where all of the bras she
owned were falling apart.

"Fuck.
 
This stupid bra really
is
comfortable," she said aloud, kicking the rock again.

"Hello
there! I saw a car with a flat back there.
 
Is it yours?" a male voice called out.

Lily jumped,
heart knocking against her ribs.
 
She
spun around, surprised to see a man standing over a mountain bike just behind
her.
 
What the hell? Where did he come
from?
And also, oh shit, did he just hear me talking about my bra? Out loud?

"Sorry, I
didn't mean to startle you," he said, unbuckling his helmet.

Lily stared,
still too freaked out to speak.
 
He was
huge.
 
Like, really, really tall.
 
And built.
 
Her eyes wandered over his green t-shirt, down
his cargo shorts to his feet.
 
He was
wearing some sort of hard boots with metal clip things on the bottom.
 
Given all the crap that had happened in her
life, she should probably be frightened about being caught alone in the middle
of rural USA with a strange man, but she just couldn’t work up the energy for
it right now.
 
Plus, he had kind eyes.

And he’s extremely good-looking
, she thought to herself, a little bit star-struck.
 
He was movie-star hot, especially with the
hint of silver at his temples.
 
The
crows-feet at the corner of his eyes made him seem real.
 
Approachable.
 
He looked like a man who'd been through a lot
and come out the other side even better.
 
He smiled appealingly.
 
Lily stared some more.
 
His teeth were perfectly white.

"Are you
okay?" he asked, making no move to come closer.
 
It was as if he knew how intimidating he could
look if he tried.
 
He stood there
casually, one hand cradling his helmet, the other held palm out near his hip.
 
It was a distinctly unthreatening gesture.

Lily took in
his bright hazel eyes, his messy dark hair, the width of his shoulders, and
swallowed, hard.
 
If he knew I was
speechless because he's insanely gorgeous, not because I'm afraid, he'd
probably turn tail and run to get away from the crazy woman
, she thought.
 
"Um, yeah.
 
That's my car," she finally managed to
say aloud.
 
She grimaced.
 
"And my flat tire
. "

He cocked his
head.

He looks adorable when he does that
, she thought absently, eyes wandering back over him again.

"Do you
have someone you can call?" he asked.

She shook her
head.
 
"No.
 
Even if my cell phone wasn't dead, I'd just be
calling the nearest tow company.
 
I’m not
from around here. "

“I figured
that,” he said, smiling.
 
“The nearest
tow place would be my brother, Alex.
 
He
owns the town’s only mechanic shop. "

Lily grinned,
holding out her hand.
 
"That’s good to
know.
 
I'm Lily Solton, by the way.
 
Do you, by any chance, have a working cell
phone?"

He walked
closer, wheeling the bicycle with him.
 
It was mud-spattered, but bright green paint
shone through the dirt.
 
When his hand
closed over hers, she gasped at how gently he held it.
 
His hand was warm and dry and strong—she could
see the muscles in his forearm flexing, but he didn't use it to hurt her like
some men would.
 
Instead, he shook her
hand and let go politely.

"I
do," he said, then blinked.
 
"Have a phone, that is
.
"

Lily laughed
out loud.
 
"If I said 'I do' too,
does that mean I get to buy you dinner? I mean, if we're going to get married,
the least I can do is ask you out on a date, right?"

To her
astonishment, he blushed.

Whoa
, she thought, inordinately charmed.
 
He's hot and nice and he blushes, oh my.

"Um, yeah
. "
He stumbled over his words.
 
"I mean, no.
 
Wait, that didn't come out right.
" He
stopped and took a breath and tried again while
Lily grinned at him.
 
"I would enjoy
having dinner with you, but marriage on the day we meet is a bit too hasty for
me
. "
His hazel eyes twinkled down at her.
 
"It's not you, it's me," he added,
chuckling.

Lily laughed,
stepping back.
 
"I get that, sure
. "

He reached into
his pocket and extracted a phone.
 
"Want
me to call my brother?"

"If he's
the guy with the tow truck, yes, please
. "

He nodded and
Lily watched him punch a button.

"Hey,"
he said, phone to his ear, lips quirking up on one side.
 
"I've got a lady with a flat out on Rock
Creek Road
. "
He nodded.
 
"Yeah.
 
Sure, we can wait.
" He
slid the phone back in his pocket, shaking his head.
 
"Not like you can go anywhere, not with
that flat
. "
He jerked his thumb back down the
road.

"How long?"
Lily asked him,
trying not to stare at the way his shirt stretched over the luscious perfection
of his pectoral muscles.

"He says
fifteen minutes.
 
I'll walk you back to
your car.
" He
hooked his helmet on his handlebar
and turned the bicycle around.

"You don't
have to do that," she protested.
 
"I don't want to hold you up.
 
Looks like you were in the middle of a ride. "

He shrugged.
 
"I ride almost every day.
 
It's no big deal.
" He
began walking.
 
"You
coming?"

Lily hitched
her purse higher on her shoulder.
 
"Yeah.
 
I'm
coming. "

****

Matt walked
next to Lily, trying to keep his eyes on the road instead of on her curves.
 
He'd overheard her complaining to herself
about her bra, so when they first spoke, he’d been kind of distracted and
amused all at the same time.
 
He hoped
she hadn’t noticed him checking out her body.
 
He glanced down at her, forcibly keeping his
eyes on her face and hair.