Loving Lily (7 page)

Matt leaned in
again, nibbling just under her ear.
 
"Yeah.
 
I'm
ignoring it. "

"Maybe
it’s important?" Lily gasped as he kissed a sensitive spot on her neck.

"If it's
important, they'll call back," he murmured against her skin.
 
He had more interesting things to worry about
right now.
 
Whoever it was could leave a
voice mail message.
 
Lily tipped her head
back and he kissed along her throat.
 
God, she was incredible.
 
He pressed a free hand against his groin,
trying to calm down a little.
 
His cock
almost hurt, he was so hard.

The phone rang
again.
 
Matt reluctantly pulled away.
 
"Shit
. "
He
extracted it from his jeans pocket carefully, wincing as his hand brushed
against his dick.
 
He shifted a little,
trying to make more room.
 
It didn't
really work.

"Who is
it?" Lily asked.

He hoped she
couldn’t tell how fucking aroused he was.
 
He’d scare her off for sure.
 
“Hang on,” he said,
then
scowled at the screen.
 
"My brother.
 
Dammit.
" He
pushed a button.
 
"Yeah,
Alex.
 
What?"

"Dude.
 
Are you with Lily now? If so, you need to
bring her to the shop, pronto," Alex said.

"Are you
crazy? We're in the middle of dinner," Matt protested.
 
He was on a date, his first one in a long time.
 
No way was he dragging her down to the
garage now.

"Yeah,
well, her tire didn't just pick up a nail.
 
It was about to lose its tread.
 
And I looked at her brakes.
 
They've been messed with, too.
" Alex's
voice was grim.
 
"And whoever did it knew what he was
doing.
 
If her tire had gone flat at the
wrong time she could've died.
 
It
would've definitely failed if she'd gone over fifty miles an hour. "

Matt's gut
clenched.
 
After what she'd just told him
about her family, having her tire deliberately screwed with set off all his
alarm bells.
 
"We'll be right
there," he said tersely and hung up.

Chapter Three

Lily frowned as
Matt shoved his phone back into his jeans.
 
His demeanor had gone from seductive to
serious so fast she knew something was wrong.

"What
happened? Is everything okay?" she asked him.
 
The butterflies in her stomach suddenly felt
like lead pellets.
 
She hated when the
phone rang unexpectedly.
 
Every time it
happened, she got bad news.
 
At first she
hadn't been concerned because it wasn't her phone, but as Matt's voice went
from irritated to worried, that familiar sensation of dread began to crawl up
her spine.

He grimaced.
 
"We need to go to Alex's shop
. "

She sat back.
 
"We do? Why?" She wasn't going
anywhere until he explained.

"There's a
problem with your car," he said, but didn't elaborate.

She frowned.
 
"What problem?"

He gave her a
look,
then
sighed.
 
"My brother thinks your tire was
deliberately damaged
. "

"Deliberately—
What
does that even mean?" She rubbed her arms,
feeling suddenly cold despite the warm temperature.
 
The sun was just setting beyond the trees, but
she hadn't felt chilly until just now.

Matt stood up
and offered his hand.
 
Lily ignored it.
 
She wasn't going anywhere until he explained
what he meant.
 
He let his hand drop.

"Alex said
it looked like someone had messed with your tire so that it would fail when you
went over a certain speed.
 
He said
something about your brakes, too.
" Matt
ran a
hand through his hair, clearly agitated.
 
"We need to go see him
.
"

Fuck
.
 
Lily clenched her fists and stood up.
 
"Did I mention that I didn't believe it
when the police said my father committed suicide?"

Matt handed her
purse to her.
 
"You did
. "

She nodded
jerkily.
 
"My brother was a
competitive swimmer.
 
There's no way he
could've drowned in a swimming pool at a picnic. "

Matt ushered
her down the stone path and around the building.
 
"Why didn't you tell someone about your
suspicions?"

She scoffed.
 
"You think I didn't?" She stopped
walking, wrapping her arms around her waist.
 
"I did.
 
I told the police that it was impossible my
Dad would've done that.
 
That there was
no way Brian could've drowned.
 
Then,
when Jack died, well—" She started walking again.

"What did
they say about him?" Matt asked gently.

She drew a
shuddering breath, fighting for composure.
 
"They said it was an accident.
 
I didn't believe them.
 
They didn’t believe me.
 
It got… uncomfortable.
"
They
were at the sidewalk in front of the bed and breakfast.
 
She looked down the street.
 
The sun glittered through the trees,
reflecting off the chrome sign in front of Alex's garage.
 
Tourists wandered up and down the quaint
street, some window gazing, others chatting near the flowers planted everywhere.
 
It all looked so idyllic, in direct
contrast to the way she felt.
 
She'd
tried so hard to put it all behind her, but it looked like all this shit would
keep following her around.
 
Like a curse.
 
Fuck it all to hell.

Matt tugged on
her right arm and tucked it into his elbow.
 
"Come on.
 
Let's see what Alex has to say. "

Ten minutes
later she stood in front of her car.
 
The
front wheels were off and Alex was gesturing at her brakes.
 
She squinted trying to see what he meant, but
it just looked like a jumble of mechanical parts to her.

"I believe
you, but I have no idea what you're trying to show me," she said.
 
"I don't know anything about cars
. "

"Here,
look," Alex pointed with his left hand.
 
"There's a chunk taken out of your brake
pad, right there.
 
And there's some kind
of oil on your rotor.
" He
swiped a finger down
the metal then held it up to her.
 
"See?" His finger was red.
 
"I thought maybe you had an oil leak, but
I checked and you don't
. "

Lily chewed on
her lip.
 
"I don't like where this
is heading
. "

Alex snorted.
 
"You and me both.
 
One or the other of those things, yeah,
sure, stuff happens to brakes all the time.
 
A lot of it is just normal wear and tear.
 
But then I checked your brake lines and found
a small nick in one of them, too.
 
And
your tire was on the verge of de-treading.
 
I checked the others ones, and they were
slightly deflated. "

Lily looked at
her car.
 
"You think someone messed
with my car
. "

Alex stood up,
nodding.
 
"Yeah.
 
Someone messed with your car.
 
I think you should call the cops. "

Lily pressed a
hand to her eyes.
 
"It won't do any
good
. "

"Lily,"
Matt said, sliding a hand down her back.
 
It felt strangely comforting.
 
"Just tell them what you told me
. "

"They're
going to assume
it's
just normal wear and tear.
 
That's what they're going to say.
" She
forced herself to breathe slow and calm.
 
Whoever had done this didn't know she was
heading here.
 
She was still safe here.
 
"All this stuff could have happened
because I've been driving a lot
. "

"That's
true, but unlikely," Alex said reluctantly.

"They
won't believe it's sabotage
. "
Lily was certain.

"She's
right," Matt said in a low voice.
 
"You know Harry.
 
He's not going to listen to us.
 
Or Lily.
"

"Who's
Harry?" Lily asked, looking from one brother to the other.
 
They were glaring at each other.

"Our
sheriff," Alex bit out.
 
"He
doesn't like Matt very much
. "

Of course he
doesn't
, Lily thought, but didn't say it out loud.

"He also
doesn't think women are particularly bright, even though he has three daughters
who delight in proving him wrong," Matt said.

Lily sighed.
 
Talking about this wasn't going to fix
anything.
 
She'd just have to be extra
careful.
 
"Can you fix it?"

Alex nodded and
wiped his hands on a rag.
 
"Yeah, of
course
. "

"Okay,
please repair it for me.
 
I wasn't
planning on going anywhere for a few weeks anyway.
"
She'd
hoped she'd finally found a place where she could rest and take
stock of her life.
 
She looked outside
through the huge picture windows at the front of Alex's garage.
 
The main street looked like something out of a
fairy tale: tiny lights strung through the trees lit the sidewalks even as the
sun finally slipped down over the horizon.
 
She really liked it here, even though she'd
only arrived today.

"It should
be done in a day or so.
 
I can give you a
call when it's ready," Alex said expectantly.
 
She recited her number and he scribbled it
down on a ragged notepad.

"Thanks,
Alex
. "
She looked at Matt.
 
"Would you walk me back?" She knew
it was stupid, but she really didn't want to walk back to her room alone.
 
She doubted this little town saw much crime
aside from an occasional shoplifting or two, but she wasn't feeling very brave
right now.
 
Her entire family had been
murdered, she was sure of it now.
 
And
someone just tried to kill me, too.
 
Fuck
it.
 
I’m going to let him walk me home,
if he’s willing.
 
She shivered.

"I'd be
happy to," he said, taking her hand.

She threaded
her fingers through his, wondering if she could talk him into staying with her
tonight.
 
He'd seemed interested earlier,
right?

****

Matt glanced
down at Lily as they walked, wondering if she'd let him stay with her tonight.
 
He knew they'd just met, but he felt a weirdly
overwhelming urge to protect her.
 
And
an overwhelming urge to kiss her again
, he admitted privately.
 
When Alex had told her his suspicions about
her car, she hadn't so much as flinched.
 
She's a hell of a strong woman.

Apparently, he
had a weakness for that quality and it had gone unnoticed until just now.
 
Maybe that's why I wasn't interested in
dating.
 
All the women I know are nice
enough, but they haven't been through hell,
he mused.
 
After everything he'd seen as a SEAL, he'd
instinctively known most of them wouldn't understand him.
 
They wouldn't understand his need for solitude
and routine.
 
Wouldn't
understand the nightmares that still kept him up at night occasionally.
 
But Lily would.
 
He knew she would get it.

"It's
pretty here at night," she said, startling him out of his thoughts.