Virna DePaul - It Started That Night

He sat beside her, undeterred when she cringed away. “I didn’t ask for this, Lily. Believe it or not, I don’t get off on hurting you. Now or in the past.”

Swallowing hard, she stared at him. His voice was tinged with real regret. And suddenly she was tired of blaming him when she’d had her part in what happened that night. “Look, I read your signals wrong. I thought I meant more to you then I did and it made me act stupid.” She shoved to her feet and hugged her arms to her chest. “In the end, it all meant nothing. For you, it never meant anything at all.”

“That’s not true.” He stood and lightly gripped her arms. “I wasn’t lying when I said it was hard turning you down. I was interested in you. More than I ever let on.”

She sucked in a breath and her chest brushed against his. Pleasure shot through her and she raised her hand to push him away. What would it feel like to pull him closer, just once?

“I still am.”

He stared at her lips, his eyes a fierce blue backlit by desire. The warmth coursing through her exploded into flames. She took a step back. “No,” she whispered, doubt rolling through her.

“Yes,” he countered.

She tried to turn her head, but he held her arm with one hand while he raised the other to cup her cheek. She gasped at how good his touch felt. Helplessly, she nuzzled closer, but he dropped both hands and stepped away.

She moaned, overcome with loss. He took another step back, his face stiff and unnaturally controlled. His fingers clenched and then relaxed. “But you’re a witness in this investigation. And that’s a line I can’t cross. You were so young then—”

“You damn tease! If I was a temptation, I was one easily cast aside. You already proved that. You didn’t need to do it again.”

Grabbing her wrists with an infuriated growl, he pulled her against him. Her breath whooshed out of her as every inch of her pressed against every inch of him. Chest. Thighs. And every sensitive place in between.

His mouth covered hers. Need exploded in a painful rush of sensation, scaring her. She couldn’t do this. Didn’t know how to show him everything she was feeling. She whimpered and pulled back, her breath as quick and shallow as his.

His hands loosened on her arms. He visibly struggled for control. Before he could completely let go, Lily grabbed his face and pulled him close.

John groaned when Lily’s lips softened under his. He feasted on them for several long minutes before pulling back to bury his face in her throat. “So long. I’ve wanted this for so long,” he managed to gasp out.

Her answering moan of need, tremulous and whisper soft, shivered into him until he felt it settle somewhere in his chest. Desperate, he took her mouth again. She tasted amazing. Sweet and innocent, just as she had years ago. But at the same time, the sweetness was tempered with spice. A ripe sexuality bore itself out in the parry and thrust of her tongue against his.

Lowering his hands to her hips, he arched her into his groin, relishing her broken gasps of pleasure and the way her hands pulled at his hair. His mouth opened wider and he pushed her against the door, flattening his palms against it and grinding his aching shaft against her until he was practically drilling her. Instead of stopping him, she arched into him, opening her legs wider.

He pulled back, breathing in air like a locomotive. He clenched his fists, stepped completely away, and walked to her art table. He braced himself on stiffened arms. Only when he felt fully in control did he turn to face her.

She’d moved from the door and sat on the battered thrift-store couch, her head tipped back and eyes closed. She must have heard him move, because she suddenly opened her eyes and sat up. She kept her face averted.

“I’m sorry.” John winced. “Again.”

Her mouth twisted bitterly. “Poor John. You take responsibility for everything, don’t you? But I’m a big girl.” She rose, dusted off her hands as if she could rid herself of him that easily, and shrugged. “Maybe I just wanted to know if you’d learned anything new since I last saw you.”

He wanted to take her up on her challenge. To crawl onto her body and press her into the soft cushions and satisfy her curiosity fully. But despite her taunting words, her eyes looked anything but confident.

“Bottom line, you know I care about you. I’m just trying to do my job.”

She opened her mouth but nothing came out.

“You want this investigation closed?”

This time, she didn’t hesitate. “Yes.”

“Then talk to me. Get your family to cooperate. Your father’s dodged every attempt I’ve made to talk to him. The more you and your family fight me, the longer it’s going to take.”

“You want me to hand my family over to you? To feed them to the wolves?”

Eyes narrowed, he asked, “Are you hiding something?”

“Wh-what are you talking about?”

“I can see it in your eyes, Lily. Who are you trying to protect? Hardesty?”

Her laugh was high and panicked sounding. “No one.”

“Then who? Your father?”

“No.” The word came out so quietly. “No,” she said with more force. “Of course not.”

“Because if you are, I guarantee you I will find out. Your father never liked me, but he’s going to have to face me sometime.”

“Don’t bother my father just because yours is lucky enough to be dead.”

Shock widened his eyes.

Lily was one of the few people who knew how devastated he’d been when his father, the former mayor of Sacramento, had hung himself amidst allegations of embezzlement. It had changed him into the rebellious bad boy who’d later had trouble with the law. He’d allowed few past that protective armor. His family. Lily. And she’d just—ruthlessly and deliberately—torn into his wounds.

He moved closer, stopping when she scrambled away. “I’d never hurt you, Lily. Obviously this was a mistake. You don’t want to help me, that’s fine. We’ll see how it plays out on its own.”

“I’m sorry. I just said that to hurt you.”

He froze in the act of walking away and briefly glanced over her shoulder. “Well, it worked. Score one for you.”

John shifted his legs underneath the small wrought-iron patio table and wondered if he should come back another time. Mason Park, the man who’d briefly dated Tina Cantrell, was definitely distracted by the two kids racing around his newly landscaped backyard. John bit back a smile when he saw the little girl stick out her tongue at her brother.

It made him think of Lily.

He straightened and reached for the glass of water Park had given him.

Everything seemed to remind him of Lily nowadays. He took a long swallow and then put down his glass. “So what time were you supposed to meet?”

“Penny, don’t pull your brother’s hair!” Park frowned as he watched his son and daughter bicker some more. When one ran to the play set and the other kicked a ball across the kidney-bean-shaped lawn, he finally turned back to John. “Sorry, what did you say?”

The sliding door opened and Park’s wife stepped out with a bottle of sunscreen. She murmured to her kids as she slathered them up. Their kids were five and seven, and their older daughter Theresa was at a friend’s. Park worked as a pharmaceutical rep and although he was about ten years older than John, you couldn’t tell it. Park had been married over ten years to the pretty blonde who could pass for a college student. Tina, on the other hand, had been ten years older than Park when they’d dated.

Remembering how much Lily had resented this man, John sighed. “Tina Cantrell. What time were you supposed to meet her that night?”