On his.
With his.
Yearning shot through her bloodstream like a silky streak of surprise, crazy strong, achey wild. He tasted so good. He tasted like everything shed been forbidden, everything shed secretly dreamed of.
His tongue dove inside her mouth, combined tastes and textures, at the same time his knee eased between her legs. His hands swept her body-up, down, roaming, igniting the slope of her spine, her fanny, back up
She twisted in his arms, not kissing him back-more-feeling inhaled. Taken in. Taken under. Shed liked kissing him before. Shed liked his touch. Shed liked that electric sensation of risk and desire, the rush of need and want. But this was different.
Recklessness. Shed never tasted it before. Heat. Shed never suffered from it before, not like this. Shed been afraid of fire her entire life-but somehow not with him.
Not this kind of fire.
She opened her eyes, saw his-dark, intent now, not playing. He looked at her as if she was the only woman hed ever wanted, the only woman hed ever needed. The hunger in his touch, his eyes, his mouth, was more than sexual. It was about loneliness. Gut loneliness. The kind where you knew there was no one else who could accept you, all of you, who could know you, all the way inside, and still want to be there.
She didnt do fantasies like that. Ever.
But with him Her breath caught when his palm found her breast, cupped, then squeezed. Her hand slid down his side, down his bare hip, knuckled inside, to cup where he was hard and hot. She squeezed.
Okay, he hissed. Youre in real trouble now.
His head disappeared under the covers. She didnt quite remember when shed lost her shirt, but her bra was still on, all a tangle, straps around her arms, cups pushed away. He got rid of it altogether, started sampling slopes and valleys of skin, found freckles between her breasts, found each nipple, analyzed each thoroughly with his tongue-until she was gasping for breath, and her legs reflexively clenching. He roamed down her tummy, found her navel and appendix scar
Hey, she whispered. Maybehold on there. Just for a second. Maybewait. Maybe I need to think about this.
No.
No? Huh? You cant say no. If you vote no, we stop. If I vote no, we stop. Those are the rules.
Now, Lily, trust me. I know the rules. Come on, though. Give me a chance to be a hero. Im in the striving class. Dont know what Im doing. You could help me learn. You could give me an achievement badge if Im good. Or a whack upside the head if I goof this up. See? No risk.
She almost laughed at his words. Only, Griff wasnt a fledgling, and he knew-awesomely, brilliantly, inventively-exactly what he was doing. She didnt. Oxygen locked in her lungs when he dipped lower, scooped her legs in his arms, and sampled tastes and textures with his whiskery cheek and his lips and his tongue.
She stopped thinking. Stopped breathing. Forgot her name. Forgot just about everything but that she was female, pure female, and Griff, damn him, was more man than shed ever dreamed existed. She gulped in pleasure, greedily wanted more, needed more. Needed him. Yelped his name in her angriest tone, her bossy teacher tone. Now, Griff, and quit fooling around-
Okay, okay, Im coming up, he promised her-only right then his landline rang.
Then her cell phone did its bell tone thing.
And then his cell phone did some kind of jubilant chime.
The three noxious sounds struck her as a blast from planet Earth. For a little while-for an insane, wonderful, breathtaking little while-shed forgotten about reality. Her fire. His fire. The way that past seemed to be strangely spilling over into the here and now.
Maybe shed been haunted all her life by fire. But shed never been afraiduntil coming home again.
Now she tasted fear. And the upsetting flavor of guilt-because somehow, her history with fire had managed to hurt Griff.
I got a proposition for you.
The only proposition Griff wanted was from Lily, but he turned around to face the new interruption. Debbie, from Debbies Diner, had straw-dry, big blond hair, boobs so big you wondered why she didnt fall on her face just trying to walk and was decent to the core. She always chose the wrong men, made fried chicken so good it could make a rock salivate, never met a dog so ugly she wouldnt take in. She was one of the best commerce neighbors on Main Street.
She peered into the burned-out shell of Griffs ice-cream parlor and clucked in sympathy. I was thinking, Griff, I got spare freezer space. We could put your ice creams on the menu in the diner until your own place is up and running again. That way, you could use up the ice cream so its not wasted, and Id get more customers coming into the diner just for the ice cream. Wed both win.
Debbie had barely left before Manuel Brook showed up, tapping him on the shoulder. Manuel came from a family of farm workers, and had gotten a business started cleaning carpets. He barely reached five-four, had beady little eyes, and a wife-some claimed-who regularly slapped him around. Hey, Griff. You got a big mess here. I clean up fire and water messes before. Once you get the debris out, you call me. Ill do the cleaning, my own time, on me.
Thats not necessary. Griff said immediately, but it had been the same story all morning. Neighbors and friends stopped by, didnt waste time sympathizing, just dug straight in with offers of help.
Margo, his insurance agent, had been on the site almost the minute hed parked the car. I know there are still questions as far as the investigation goes, she told him. Margo was well over sixty, spare as a reed, hair the color of iron. But I dont want you worried about the claim. I sold you good coverage, and Ill have a check to you as fast as we can get the details on paper and get it processed.
Every kid whod ever worked for him showed up through the morning as well-the ones whod been in jail, the ones who couldnt stop fighting, the ones whod been drinking hard liquor since fourth grade. Not a clean-cut kid in the lot. Yet all of them showed up, offering to help, offering to shoot whoever did this, offering to stand guard, offering to hang with Griff in case anyone else tried to hurt him.
By noon, Griff couldnt keep his eyes off the street. He hadnt forgotten that wild body in bed with him this morning. For damn sure, he hadnt forgotten what had unfortunately been interrupted by the blast of phone calls. He also hadnt forgotten finding Lily sitting on the curb last night, waiting for him, hanging with his boys.
When theyd split this morning, she said that she was going back to the B and B, needed to shower, clean up, change clothes, and then shed be here. It wasnt as if either of them had set a timetable.
He hadnt been worried about it-until the sheriff and fire chief had stopped by, taken him out back to have a quiet talk.
His fire hadnt been accidental. Maybe Griff had already guessed that, but it was still another thing to have arson put in indelible ink.
His fire had started from a gasoline accelerant, exactly like the accelerant used in the deserted mill fire the day after Lily arrived in town. Exactly the same accelerant had been used in that long-ago fire that took her parents lives.
Gasoline was one of the most common accelerants arsonists used, the fire chief told him.
He got it.
But hed never liked coincidences. And he didnt like not knowing where Lily was.
Damn town was full of the best people a man could ask for in neighbors-friends, people who cared.
But someone wasnt so nice. Two fires in less than two weeks? No record of arson in years, until Lily suddenly came back in town? It just didnt make sense.
Lily couldnt escape the B and B to save her life. As fast as shed gotten here from Griffs, shed tiptoed in the back door, scooted up the back stairs in bare feet, and hustled inside her room. Trying not to make a sound, shed peeled off her clothes, grabbed a satchel of toiletries and opened the door to go into the bathroom.
And there was Louella, standing there with a heap of fluff-dried pink towels. I thought youd might appreciate some fresh towels, honey.
Thank you so much.
The whole towns talking about the fire at Griffs. And I worried when you didnt come in last night. But I told myself, Louella, its none of your business. Shes a grown woman, I told myself. But then I remembered, you dont have any parents to watch out for you, and youre young and pretty, and I dont like to-
Louella, I absolutely have to take a shower.
Of course, you sweet thing. You just go on. I wont say another word.
And she didnt, she just turned around and headed for the stairs-yet somehow, her beaming face was there when Lily opened the bathroom door twenty minutes later. I wanted to tell you that Id saved you some cinnamon rolls from breakfast. But also, since you missed breakfast, I thought, well, you might like a little sandwich with me.
Lily had never lived with anyone so intrusive, but Louella was like an honorary grandmother. An unshakeable honorary grandmother. She managed to pull on clam diggers and a violet cami, swooshed up her hair with combs-she had to get it cut or she was going to go out of her mind. Louella watched her apply brush, lipstick, mascara.
And since Lily still hadnt managed to shake her by then, she figured she might as well try grilling Louella. Were you living here when the mill closed?
Of course I was. That mill closing almost killed the whole town.
Did you happen to know my dad? My mom?
Of course, honey pie. Your mom-she thought the sun rose and set on her daughters. She always had you dressed so cute. And yall had manners, not like kids are raised now. All you girls could shake a strangers hand, say hello, sit quiet in church. You were angels, all three. Although I have to say, your older sister-
Cate.
Yes, that one. She had a little hellion in her. Used to make me laugh. I can remember one time, your mama must have wanted her to have a bath-she was maybe four? And Cate, now, she didnt want it, ran out of the house stark naked with your mama chasing after her, carrying a baby under one arm, must have been you? And Cate, oh my
Lily wanted to laugh. She could easily picture her independent older sister being that kind of handful-but just then, she couldnt be diverted. Louella, do you know if there are people still living here who were connected to the mill back then? Anyone who might have known my dad?