The Day He Kissed Her (2 page)

Shit. He’d rather take her ribbing over his lack of commitment and family than talk about this. Did he want to get into it right now?

“It’s been mentioned,” he said slowly. No way was he spending the summer in Crystal Lake.

“I think it would be wonderful for the town if you and Jake worked together on this. A lot of folks aren’t exactly keen on more construction, but Jake’s promised it will benefit everyone.” Lila turned over the dough. “How would that work with your job?”

Mac was at a point in his career where he could pretty much make anything work, but that didn’t mean he wanted this particular situation to evolve into something solid. “I’ve got time in the bank, but…”

“But?”

“I don’t think it’s going to happen.”

For a moment there was silence.

He watched her continue to knead the dough with her fingers and knuckles as he moved closer to her.

“It sure would be nice to have you home for the summer.”

“Mom,” he said gently. “Crystal Lake and I don’t exactly mix.” Weak excuse, but it was all he had.

“Your father won’t be around.”

There it was. The big old elephant in the room.

Mac didn’t know any details about his father’s incarceration other than the fact that he’d been caught stealing from his job—something he’d done before—and his ass had landed in jail.

Her bottom lip trembled for just a moment, but Mac saw it and his jaw clamped tight as that damn wave of emotion rolled over him again.

Her hands paused on top of the dough. “I miss you, Mackenzie. I know it’s not your job to look after your mom, but I just…” She released a long, shuddering breath. “I hate being alone. Grams is getting on, and pretty soon there will be no one.”

He slipped his arms around her shoulders and hugged her, the bottom of his chin resting on the top of her head. “I know,” he said simply. “Though I’m pretty sure that Grams will outlive us all.”

Except
him.

His mother’s bottom lip curved. “She’s certainly is a strong old lady. I wish I’d gotten some of that backbone.”

Mackenzie didn’t know what to say to that—mostly because it was something he’d thought of a lot when he was younger.

“So…you’ll think about it?” she whispered, her hands already working the dough again, his arms still on her shoulders.

Mac gazed out the window, his eyes resting on the fence that bordered their lot. A few sections were missing and though it had been light green at one time, the color had long since faded and the bits that remained were chipped and peeling.

It needed mending. Hell, the entire house needed a damn face-lift.

He felt the warmth from his mother, the frailty in her bones and spirit.

“Mac?” she asked softly, and though she tried to hide it, he heard the hope in her voice.

“I’ll think about it,” he answered, not knowing what he was going to do. He hated this place, not the town so much, but
this
place. This house. This situation. The toxic relationship between him and his father.

He hated the memories and the need he still felt for his mother to somehow make things right. She’d never stand up to his old man. Never.

A heartbeat passed.

“Okay,” Lila Draper murmured. “Okay.”

Chapter 2

One-night stands are notorious for biting a girl in the ass.

It’s one of the first things a smart girl learns when she’s younger. One of the first things that said smart girl vows never to do again.

But sometimes fate or stupidity intervenes and those life lessons are forgotten in the heat of the moment—life lessons that are there for a reason. And a smart girl is faced with the uncomfortable situation that arises when your one-night stand—the one-night stand you were hoping never to see again—suddenly pops up on your radar.

As of five minutes ago, Lily St. Clare’s one-night stand was back in town, and as of five minutes ago, Lily St. Clare’s ass was in danger of being bitten.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” she muttered, ducking behind a large fern tilted at an odd angle from the wind as it swung from the pergola overhead. She was on the back deck at Steven and Marnie Edwards’s place, the one that overlooked Crystal Lake, and there were a few other ferns swinging in the wind if she needed them.

I
knew
this
would
happen.

Just not today. Not without warning. And definitely not with such an intimate crowd to witness the entire god-awful thing. Awkward situations were always worse in close quarters. And Lily hated awkward almost as much as she hated a scene—unless it was one that she orchestrated.

And Lord knows she’d orchestrated a few whoppers in her day, but this was different.

A quick glance over her shoulder told Lily that no one had witnessed her idiotic attempt to hide herself, but with Mac Draper making his way across the beach, that would soon change.

Her stomach rolled at the thought and the usually cool-as-a-cucumber blond let out a jagged breath. What the hell was she going to do?

It was Memorial Day weekend and everyone was home. All the Bad Boys. Cain Black had already hopped over the railing and was making his way down toward the beach where Mac stood chatting up Cain’s wife, Maggie. Heavy with their first child, the redhead looked beautiful in a simple cream sundress, her long hair floating in the breeze.

Lily watched from behind her fern, a lump in her throat, as Cain’s hand slid around Maggie’s waist and settled on her stomach. Maggie leaned into her husband, their bodies melted together, and it was hard to see where one person ended and the other began. They looked content and happy and in love—three things Lily was pretty damn sure she’d never be.

She glanced to her right, over to her best friend Jake Edwards, who sat on a low-slung settee with the love of his life, Raine, across his lap. The two of them were talking quietly, intimately, Raine’s hands in Jake’s hair as she bent forward to kiss him. The knot in her throat tightened even more. If ever she felt like a third wheel, now was the time.

She should never have come. She didn’t do family. She just didn’t.

So why was she here?

Oh. Right.

She was that pathetic woman on the fringe who was invited to these sorts of things because she had no one else. No friends other than those gathered on this deck and no family close by—though that was by choice.

Lily had learned a long time ago that you couldn’t pick your family. She knew that blood didn’t always mean easy and happy, or even wanted—and it sure as hell didn’t mean love.

In the St. Clare household, the mantra had always been sink or swim, and Lily had swum as far away as she could, as soon as she could.

Now here she was, settled in Crystal Lake since January, about to revisit the night she’d lost control, which was something she hadn’t done in years.

“Shit,” she muttered.

She was pretty sure Mac Draper never thought he would see her again. Hell, he hadn’t asked for a name and she’d never provided one. That night hadn’t been about getting to know each other. It had been strictly a physical reaction—a need to be with someone, to matter to someone even if only for a night.

She shook her head. Who was she kidding?

She’d been drunk and lonely, and the mysterious hot guy in the cab had scratched an itch that needed scratching. It was nothing more.

Lily hadn’t found out his name until she moved into Raine’s stone cottage—the same place Mac had taken her to New Year’s Eve—and seen photos of the guy. While she’d stared at the pictures of a younger-looking man with Cain, Jake, Raine, and the deceased Jesse, she’d listened to Jake ramble on about the Bad Boys.

Lily should have packed up then and left town. But she hadn’t and now…

God, the thought of facing Mackenzie, here, with his friends… With Jake looking on? Steven and Marnie? Ugh, no.

It was time for this third wheel to roll the hell along.

Ignoring her hot cheeks, she turned quickly, her only thought to get as far away from Mac Draper as she could. She had a plan. She’d hide out at the cottage until he left town. From what little she knew about him, he wasn’t close to his family and he had some fancy job in New York City. He was most likely only home for the holiday anyway.

Okay. This was good. This would work.

“Lily, are you alright?”

Her head snapped up and she attempted a smile as Marnie Edwards walked toward her, a cocktail in her hand, a gentle smile on her face. As always, her heart warmed when she saw the woman. It was then that she realized why she’d come. As much as she didn’t do family, there was something about the Edwardses that made her feel wanted.

They were good people. Everything her family was not.

“I’m fine,” Lily said quickly. “I just…I feel kind of sick to my stomach.” She rubbed her belly for good measure.

“Oh my,” Marnie said with concern. “I hope it wasn’t the shrimp.”

“The what?”

Damn. She heard Cain’s voice, and it sounded a hell of a lot closer than it did a minute before. They were heading this way. She tried to sidestep Marnie, but the woman looked really worried and wouldn’t budge.

“The shrimp cocktail? Did you have any of it?”

The shrimp.

“Oh.” Lily cleared her throat. “I might have had one, but I’m sure that’s not it. I wasn’t feeling one hundred percent this morning, and I probably should have stayed home. I think I’m coming down with something.”

She coughed for good measure, but only managed to draw looks from Jake and Raine—and from Steven as he walked outside from in the house.

“Christ, Lily. You sound like a damn cat with a hairball,” Jake said.

“I think I’m going to have to leave,” Lily stated, ignoring Jake. She couldn’t look at him because he knew her well enough to know she was bullshitting. He’d know something was up.

Lily inched forward and then froze when she heard that voice. That deep, husky voice with a touch of sandpaper that sounded as if every word was soaked in sin.

That voice she hadn’t forgotten.

She clenched her hands so tightly that her nails dug into her palms. Hard.

What. The. Hell.

“I’ve really got to go, Marnie.”

Her stomach rolled so badly, she’d broken out in a sweat, and Lily thought she really was going to be sick.

Footsteps on the stairs below made her jump, and she gave Marnie a quick hug, still ignoring Jake as she quickly crossed the deck and tried to smile at Steven Edwards.

“I’m so sorry. I really need to get home. I just…I don’t feel well.” God, she was overdoing it. She gulped in some air. “I hope you understand.” The words came out in a jumbled mess, but Steven nodded and moved aside so she could escape into the house.

“Hey! Lily! What’s going on?” Jake’s question hung in the air.

Cain and Maggie were on the deck now, and her panic was such that for a moment Lily couldn’t breathe. She didn’t glance back, and with her hand on the sliding glass doors, she spoke.

“I have to go home, Jake. I’ll call you later.”

She pushed her way into the house and ran across the smooth stone tiles until she reached the front door. She yanked it open, slammed it shut behind her, and then rested against it for a moment.

Her entire body shook and she let out a high-pitched giggle that wouldn’t be out of place in the local loony bin. Feeling a bit light-headed, Lily smoothed the front of her pale-blue J. Mendel halter dress and pushed off from the door, her white Fendi flats making no sound as she crossed the porch and took the steps down.

Newly planted pink and purple petunias lined the walkway and followed the driveway down to the road. The lawn—thick and luxurious—had been freshly mown for the first time that morning and the smell of the grass clippings reminded her of summer. Normally she’d take a moment and enjoy it but not today. Nope.

The voices from out back echoed in her ear, and she picked up the pace, hurrying toward her car. Just before she reached her vehicle, she slid to a stop and swore—she swore like a trucker who’d just spent the last two weeks in confession.

Damn. Was nothing going to go right today?

“You’ve got to be kidding me.”

Her BMW was parked behind Cain’s truck, which in turn was parked behind his father’s car. A car that normally would have been in the garage, but for some reason it wasn’t, and there was no way for her to drive forward and turn around because of it.

She couldn’t back out of the driveway either.

“Son of a bitch.”

There was a sleek, sliver Mercedes behind her car and no room to maneuver around the damn thing. The idiot driver had pulled up much too close to her bumper.

She had a feeling she knew who the idiot driver was.

She stood there with her keys in her hand, chewing on her bottom lip as she glanced at the Edwardses’ beautiful front lawn. The ground was still soft from the winter thaw and all the rain they’d had lately, so it was insane to even consider it, but dammit, she had no choice.

Lily gulped in a huge shaky breath, panicking when she heard Jake’s voice from out back, and she shot forward, keys jangling in her fingers as she struggled to press the unlock button on the fob.

She would do it. She would drive across Steven’s lovely grass and to hell with the consequence. She’d pay whatever it cost to fix the damage and hope they didn’t think she was a nut bar, which she was kinda acting like.

Pushing her long, blond hair out of the way, Lily fingered her key fob and let rip another round of swearing as the damn thing slipped out of her hands and landed underneath her car.

“Oh. My. God.”

She took a step back and peered beneath the vehicle. The fob was just out of reach and Lily knew she was going to have to get on her knees to grab it. On her knees. In this dress.

Her favorite J. Mendel dress.

Quickly she snuck a glance behind her and then got down to business—no, scratch that, she got down on all fours like a dog and had to lean way over in order to get to the stupid thing. By the time her fingers closed around the small black fob, she was out of breath, pissed off, and her knees hurt like hell because they dug into the concrete.