Loving Lily (4 page)

He froze.
 
"Uh, yeah.
 
Why?"

"You're
fidgeting," Lily said, not sure how he'd react.
 
If there was one thing she'd learned in her
forty years, it was that men liked to pretend they were infallible.
 
Absently, her eyes fell to his groin.
 
Oh, whoa.
 
How had she missed that before? He
was packing some serious heat.
 
No wonder
he kept moving around.
 
There wasn't
enough space in his shorts for his junk.

"I'm
fine," he said, sounding strained.

Alex threw him
a confused look.
 
When Matt shot an
irritated glare at him over top of Lily’s head, she had to stifle a giggle.
 
Alex's face went from surprised to
shocked
and then smoothed into a bland sort of amusement.

"What?"
Matt asked his brother, frowning.

"Nothing
. "
Alex started whistling.

Ha, he’s totally fucking with Matt
.
 
Lily nearly laughed out
loud, but managed to stifle it into a cough.
 
"How will I get to the bed and breakfast?
Do you guys have a taxi service or something? I'm betting not," she
finally asked, breaking the moment when she couldn’t take it anymore.
 
Matt looked like he was going to burst a vein
in his head.

"I can
drop you at Betsy's first,
then
I'll take your car to
my garage," Alex said, still casting amused looks at Matt over her head.
 
"My shop is just down the street
. "

"I'll stay
with you.
 
Introduce you to Betsy,"
Matt immediately volunteered.

Lily frowned.
 
"I don't want to be a bother…" She
trailed off as he shook his head.

"It's no
bother," Matt said, leg held rigidly.

Lily's hand
twitched.
 
She wanted to smooth it down
his thigh until he relaxed.
 
She twisted
her fingers together.
 
No touching the
gorgeous guy.
 
Chances are he's not even
thinking about you.

"That way
we can make plans for dinner," Matt continued.
 
"That is, if you were serious about your
offer?"

Lily stared at
him, dumbfounded.
 
Out of the corner of
her eye, she could tell his brother was smirking.
 
"Uh, yeah.
 
I'd like that," she replied, grinning at
him like a twit as she tried to cover up her surprise.
 
Dinner?
With Mr.
 
Hottie
?
Hell yeah, I’m not going to pass that up.
 
She surreptitiously pinched herself.
 
Yup, not a dream.
 
She'd been joking earlier about dinner.
 
He'd taken her seriously?

"Great
. "
Matt smiled at her.
 
The little wrinkles at the corners of his eyes
made him even more attractive.

"Here we
are," Alex said, pulling over and
idling
the
truck.

Lily startled
and looked away from Matt’s lovely, lovely eyes.
 
She hadn’t even realized they’d made it into
town.

Matt opened the
door and jumped out.
 
He held out a hand
to Lily.
 
She scooted across the seat and
put her palm in his.
 
He helped her down.
 
She looked around.
 
They were on a pretty little street, like
something out of a post card.
 
The old
Victorian house directly in front of them had a long porch and a lovely garden.
 
A small sign proclaiming it
"Betsy's Bed and Breakfast" gently swung in the breeze.
 
The sign was painted white with grey letters
and a tiny bunny in the corner.
 
Lily
smiled, charmed.

"Do you
need anything from your car?" Matt asked, closing the truck door.
 
"It looks like you've got it stuffed full
. "

"Yes, let
me just get my overnight bag," she replied, walking around to the back of
her SUV.
 
She looked at it, at a loss.
 
It was still hooked up to the tow truck and
her rear door was angled too close to the ground for her to climb in if she opened
it.
 
No way was she getting into it from
the back.
 
"Can I just open one of
the doors?"

Mat reached
out, opening the door closest to the sidewalk.
 
"Sure
. "

Lily climbed in
and rummaged around until she grabbed the bag she wanted.
 
Thank goodness she'd stuck it on the floor so
she could get at it easily.
 
"Thanks
. "

Almost before
Matt closed the door, Alex was pulling away.

"Wait! I
don't know where he's taking my car…" she said, about to run after the tow
truck, but it was already too late.
 
"Well, shit
. "

Matt laughed.
 
"Don't worry.
 
I know where he's going. "

Lila frowned at
him.
 
"What kind of towing business
does
he
own, anyway?"

"He
actually does towing on the side.
 
Alex
rebuilds old cars and auctions them off.
 
His garage is just down the street.
 
See the sign?" He pointed.

Lily squinted.
 
"The building with the—" She cocked
her head.
 
"Is that a chrome bumper
on the side of the building?" It was just down the street, as Alex said
earlier.
 
She felt a little better,
knowing she could easily walk there.

"Yup.
 
That's Alex's place. "

"That's
not just a bumper.
 
That's the whole side
of a car!" Lily shaded her eyes to see better in the late afternoon
sunlight.
 
"It's a freaking
Oldsmobile.
 
What, did he cut it in half
and glue it onto the garage?"

Matt chuckled.
 
"Pretty much.
 
He found it in a junkyard.
 
It seems to suit the business.
 
And no one really has trouble finding Alex's
garage.
" He
reached for the wooden gate and
opened it, grabbing Lily's bag as he waved her through.

Lily cast him a
bemused glance.
 
She wasn't used to this
kind of courtesy.
 
Her husband never held
open doors for her—
No, I'm not thinking about him anymore.
 
He's dead and it's time to move on.
 
She firmly shut the lid on that train of
thought and headed down the sidewalk.
 
So
what if she had to take an extra deep breath or two to deal with her stupid,
watering eyes? She
was just smelling
the irises that
lined the walkway.
 
Sometimes she had
allergies, right?

"Matt,
what are you doing with my new guest? That is my new guest, right?" An
older woman stood on the porch, slightly plump, silver hair done in a
fashionable bob.
 
She wore long silver
earrings.

"I'm
bringing her to you, Betsy," Matt said, urging Lily up the path.

Lily smiled as
she stepped into the shade of the porch.
 
"Hello.
 
I'm Lily Solton.
" She
held out her hand.

The woman took
it, holding it for a moment instead of shaking it.
 
"I'm Betsy Larson.
 
Call me Betsy.
 
Welcome to my place.
"
She
smiled and let go of Lily's hand.
 
"Was that Alex's tow truck I just saw
head on down the street?"

Lily sighed.
 
"Yes.
 
Unfortunately.
 
My car got a flat.
 
The little spare tire would never have been
able to haul all my stuff without getting shredded on the way into town. "

Betsy shook her
head.
 
"Oh dear.
 
Well, no matter.
 
Let's get you settled in
. "

Betsy led the
way into the house.
 
It had a fairly
large foyer with wooden floors and a curved staircase along the wall on one
side.
 
Pretty braided rugs lay scattered
over the dark hardwood floors.
 
Betsy
walked over to a large desk on the left side of the space and sat down, opening
a laptop.
 
"Hmm,
yes.
 
Here you are.
" She
clicked a few times, then looked up.
 
"Oh, you're still here, Matt?"

He nodded.
 
"I'm taking Lily out to dinner
. "

Lily almost
laughed aloud at the look of surprise on Betsy's face.
 
She recovered quickly, however, nodding and
pasting a friendly smile over her face.
 
"I see
. "
She still stared at him.

Lily waited a
beat,
then
gently interrupted the old woman’s reverie.
 
"If you could
just show me to my room?
I'd like to change and maybe take a nap for a
little while," Lily said when neither Matt nor Betsy made any further
comments.
 
"It's only three—not
quite time for dinner just yet
. "
She gestured to
the old clock on the wall.

"Of course!
I'm
sorry,
I didn't mean to keep you waiting.
 
It's just, well, Matt is our resident hermit.
" Betsy
was definitely laughing at him now.

Lily raised an
eyebrow.
 
"Oh?"

Betsy nodded.
 
"Yes, indeed.
 
He spends all his time locked away in that
giant cabin of his, writing his books. "

That's the
second mention of Matt's books
, Lily mused.

"In fact,
I don't think he's been on a date even once since he got back from the
military," Betsy said, eyes twinkling.

Matt crossed
his arms over his chest.
 
"Oh, not you too.
 
Between Stephanie and Matt, believe
me,
I don’t spend nearly as much time alone as I’d like.
 
And I haven't been on active duty for ten
years.
 
I'm not a hermit, you know.
" He
looked disgruntled.

Lily grinned.
 
"You don't have the scraggly grey beard
and bald head to be a wise, old man just yet
. "
She bit the inside of her cheek, trying to hold back laughter.
 
"Hmm, maybe an outlaw
. "
She squinted, trying to picture him with a holster and gun.
 
“You’re a little scruffy
. ”
She waved her hand at his cheeks where he had the faintest shadow of stubble
along his jaw.

He rolled his
eyes at her.
 
"Oh
great.
 
You're trying to picture
me with a Colt, aren't you?"

She snorted.
 
He had her pegged already.
 
"And a cowboy hat," she said quickly.
 
"Maybe some stirrups
. "
She cocked her head.
 
“A whip or two?”

He scowled
good-naturedly.
 
"I haven't ridden a
horse in years
. "

"I've
never
ridden a horse," Lily said,
grinning.
 
“Believe me, I won’t judge you
for it
. ”

His hazel eyes
went bright and he cocked his head as his gaze swept over her, but he didn't
say a word.
 
What just happened?
Lily wondered.
 
Suddenly uncomfortable, she quickly turned to
Betsy.
 
"You said something about
showing me my room?"

Betsy nodded.
 
"Of course.
 
It's this way. "

"How about six for dinner?"
Matt called to her as she walked away, voice low.

Lily glanced
back.
 
"You were serious?"

He nodded.
 
"Yes
. "
He
didn't elaborate.

Lily licked her
lips, suddenly hot.
 
"Okay.
 
Six it is," she heard herself say.
 
Matt was staring at her intently.
 
She hoped he didn’t regret his offer.