French Kiss (Silver Cove Series Book 2) (10 page)

“Where would all this stuff go?” He motioned to the boxes and furniture.

“Some of it, like the table and chairs, would stay. Pushed up against a wall or over there in the corner.” She walked around and looked behind some boxes. “There’s more back here too.”

He nodded, then walked over to look. “Yes, some cabinets and I think some clocks and odd pieces in some of the boxes.” She turned and looked at him. “I was looking for candle holders.” He took her hand and pulled her to the other side of the room. “There’s a sofa back here that looks like a Louis XV.” He moved a few boxes and exposed the red velvet sofa.

Lilly gasped. “I can’t believe all of this is just hidden up here.” She smiled at him. “I’m beginning to think we found the best welcome home present for Sarah and Ben.”

He looked at her, not understanding.

“This.” She motioned around. “All of this. Cleaning this up, setting it up.”

He laughed. “How do you expect we get all this done in…”—he glanced at his watch sarcastically— “less than a week?

She smiled. “I have my ways.” She walked over and took up the picnic basket and waited for him at the door. “Trust me.”

He shrugged his shoulders, took the basket from her, then took her hand in his and walked down the hallway to show everyone on the island exactly how he felt about her.

L
ilith had never imagined that Adam’s idea of showing everyone they were together was pushing her up against the wall and making every bone in her body melt while lighting every inch of her skin on fire. His mouth and hands had a way of making her forget time and place.

She hadn’t even heard or noticed anyone else in the room. But when he pulled back, the silence of the kitchen was almost deafening. He leaned close and, smiling, said, “I think that should do it. Don’t you?”

She was still a little fuzzy and instead of answering, just nodded.

“I’ll see you after dinner?” he asked, rubbing a finger over her lips slowly.

Again, she nodded.

“Good. I’ll try to bring you up dinner. You can supply the dessert this time.” He leaned in and placed a soft kiss on her lips, then nudged her towards the door.

She walked out without a word. It wasn’t until she entered the main dining room that she remembered to breathe.

“There you are.” Tristen rushed across the room towards her and she felt her entire body go on guard. When his hand reached out, she flinched slightly. It wasn’t as if she was afraid of the man, it was just that her mind was still reeling from Adam. Instantly, Tristen dropped his hand. “I…” He glanced around, then dropped his voice. “I had hoped that I would see you before we left. I wanted to apologize for yesterday.”

“No need,” she said, not sure why she instantly felt like she needed to comfort him.

“Yes, yes, there is. I…” He sighed. “Kaleen can be a bitch.” He glanced around the room quickly, no doubt making sure the woman wasn’t within earshot. “I’m only with her because our parents are friends.” He slowly reached out and took her arm and then led them towards the patio doors. She followed him, knowing they would remain in view of the entire dining room.

“I hope your stay was…” She started her standard speech.

“I’d like to see you again,” he broke in.

She swayed back and blinked up at him a few times. “I… I’m flattered.”

“Just flattered?” he asked.

“I… I’m seeing someone,” she blurted out.

“The Frenchman?” he asked after a moment.

“Yes.”

His eyes moved to the kitchen doors. “Lucky man,” he said, then turned back towards her. “Well, I hope there are no hard feelings. I really am sorry.”

Just then her phone rang. Glancing down, she sighed. “I’m sorry, I have to…” He nodded and she stepped out onto the patio to answer the call from Sarah.

Before she even got the words “hello” out, Sarah was talking.

“What is this I hear about you and Adam?” she demanded.

“Um.” She calculated that it had been less than five minutes since their kiss in the kitchen. There was no way Sarah could have heard about it yet. “What have you heard?” she asked, walking over to the railing of the porch and looking out at the rain.

“That you two caught a wine thief.”

Lilith’s shoulders relaxed. “Oh, that.”

“Oh, that?” Sarah sounded hurt. “Is there more that I don’t know about?”

Lilith closed her eyes. “Um.” She took a deep breath and spent the next ten minutes catching her friend up on everything that had happened.

By the time she was done, it felt like an enormous weight had been lifted from her shoulders. She even had to wipe away a tear or two when Sarah asked why she’d felt she needed to hide all of this from her.

“Because you’re on your freaking honeymoon!” She sighed. “You’re not supposed to worry about this kind of stuff.”

“I don’t worry. I left East Haven in capable hands,” Sarah added, making Lilith feel even worse for keeping it from her. “Besides, I remember telling you to let me know the moment Adam finally made his move on you.”

“Finally?” She turned and leaned against the railing, glancing into the front door where the entire Robinson clan was standing around with their luggage. They had all crowded into their private yachts to get here, but since the weather had taken a turn for the worse, it appeared that no one was willing to brave the rain to leave. She could see Tristen in the mix. It appeared that he was arguing with the brunette beauty.

While she was watching, he turned towards the window and waved for her to come in. She could tell there was an issue and dreaded what was going to come next.

“I can’t get into this right now.” She broke in as Sarah was asking question after question about what had happened between her and Adam. “There seems to be an issue with the Robinsons I need to go handle.”

“Oh, okay, but call me later. And Lilith, don’t leave me in the dark again. We’re sisters, even if not by blood.”

Lilith closed her eyes when they stung with emotion. “I’ll call you later.” Her mind flashed to how she wanted to spend her evening with Adam. “Actually, make it in the morning. I’m… we’re setting our trap tonight.”

“Right.” Her friend dragged the word out. “Just make sure you’re… very careful and… protected…”

Lilith chuckled, then gasped. They hadn’t used protection last night. Nor had she ever thought about birth control.

“Lilith?”

“I… have to go.” She hung up without another word and then forced her mind to focus on solving the problem inside.

Later, she told herself. She would deal with all that later. She was determined to not make that mistake again. There were plenty of condoms in the employees’ store. She would make sure she swung by the place before heading up to bed with Adam.

When she walked in, she was bombarded with the noise of unhappy guests. Walking over to the main desk, she moved behind it and leaned towards Stacey, who looked completely flustered.

“I’m sorry, Miss Brown. It appears that the entire Robinson group would like to extend their stay until the weather lets up.”

Her eyebrows shot up, but she quickly recovered, then punched a few keys on the computer and gauged how she could make it work. Then she turned to the group.

“I think we could make this work,” she started, and was surprised when the room grew silent. “However, we will need to have a few of you bunk up together.” The noise started, but she continued to talk. “I’m not talking about putting strangers in with you, only immediate family members. Kids in with parents, brothers and sisters in the same suite.” She waited as everyone discussed their options. “Of course I’d be willing to discount the rooms until Wednesday. That’s when we’re supposed to get a break in the weather.”

Again, she waited, then everyone nodded in agreement. “Very well. Stacey, I’ve already put them into the system, all you have to do is get them checked in again.” She leaned in. “Give them a ten percent discount on the rooms only. Oh, and have Joe find someplace to store all their luggage until the rooms have been turned over.”

“Yes, ma’am.” She smiled and looked relived.

“Thank you for being patient. Stacey is going to take good care of you.” She started to walk away, but her arm was grabbed. Turning, she held her smile for Tristen.

“Thanks for handling that. Um, I wanted to make sure…” He glanced over towards Kaleen.

“She’s in with her parents, so are you,” she added, touching his arm lightly.

“Thanks.” He took a step back and disappeared into the crowd. She made her way up the stairs and decided she would take care of the new stack of invoices for the day.

She walked into the office, leaned against the door, and played over everything that had happened in the last few hours. No doubt by now the entire island knew about her and Adam. She wondered how long they would have to wait for whoever had broken into her room to make his first move. She felt a jolt of excitement rush through her. Somehow, Adam made it all seem like a game.

Walking over, she picked up the stack of invoices, tapped them until they fell in line, and then almost screamed when a small green piece of paper fell from them.

She felt her knees go weak and slid into the seat as her eyes zeroed in on the bold lettering.

“Stop messing with him! You’re mine! Forever!”

She reached for the phone, but stopped herself when she noticed how badly her hand was shaking.

***

“What do you mean they’re staying on?” Adam growled out, causing Mat, one of his staff to take a step back.

“I… Miss Brown… she arranged it. The entire group is staying until Wednesday.”

Adam felt his blood begin to boil. Setting down a pan he’d been holding, he stormed from the kitchen and up the back stairs, and didn’t even bother to knock on the office door.

“Why the hell didn’t you tell me that the group of fifty people was staying on for three more nights!” He leaned his fists against the desk.

Her head had snapped up, and she frowned at him. “I…” She blinked and he realized she looked like she was going to pass out.

“What’s wrong?” He moved towards her quickly.

“There’s another note.” She pointed down to the ground.

He walked around and stood there, looking down at the bold print.

“Stop messing with him! You’re mine! Forever!”

“Where was it?” He moved to pick it up from the ground.

“In...” She took a deep breath. “In the invoices there.” She pointed to the stack sitting on the edge of the desk.

Then she blinked and groaned. “Damn it, I knew I forgot something.”

“What?” He almost jumped back.

“The Robinsons. I forgot to tell you they were staying on.”

“Don’t worry about them.”

“But that’s fifty more mouths to feed and I just called your order for the next week. Now I’ll have to go and…”

He took her shoulders and forced her to stand up and look at him.

“I forgot,” she said in a low voice. “You can easily call and correct your order.”

His eyes scanned her. “It’s okay. You’ve been crying?”

Her shoulders relaxed. “Wouldn’t you? This means they broke in here, too.”

“At least now we have the note.” He tucked it into his pocket and decided to do some detective work himself. “Are you okay?” He ran his hands up and down her arms and noticed they were chilled.

“I had a call from Sarah,” she informed him, glancing around the room.

“Is she okay?” he asked, trying to take her mind off of the note.

“Yes, I just… told her… everything.” She bit her lip and he could see the worry in her eyes.

“And?” She was silent, and he added, “Did she unfriend you?”

Lilly chuckled and he could see her eyes clear. “No, of course not.”

“So, then what’s the problem?”

“I feel like I disappointed her.” Her eyes darted down to where the note had been moments ago.

“By?” He took her hands and pulled her closer, since it felt like the conversation wasn’t going far enough away from the note.

“Not talking to her sooner. She’s like my sister.” She wrapped her arms around his waist. He loved the feeling of holding her.

“Then she understood why you held off on telling her until after she got back from her honeymoon?”

“Of course.” She sighed against his chest. She was silent for a while. “We didn’t use protection.”

He stilled. “When?”

“Last night and this morning,” she said.

He chuckled. “I can’t speak for you, but I did. You must have been too far gone in lust to notice.” He pulled back and smiled down at her. “I guess that’s the ego boost I needed.”

She frowned. “But… I… I didn’t see you put…”

He smiled. “I never forget protection.” He kissed her on her nose. “Trust me.”

She nodded. “So, I don’t need to stop off at the employee store and get any rubbers?”

He chuckled. “If it makes you feel better to have your own stash around.”

“I had a few things I needed anyway.” She sighed. “I’m sorry about not telling you that the Robinson group was staying on.”

“I’ll deal with it.” He wrapped his arms around her again. “But I might be late tonight. I’ll have to move some things around to accommodate all the supplies.”

“That’s okay, I have a few things to tie up here too.”

“I’ll swing by after…”

“No, I’ll just meet you upstairs.” She rubbed her hands up and down his back. He wanted to stretch into them like a cat, then spend the rest of the day snuggling with her, naked, locked together.

“Okay, I shouldn’t be too long after dinner. Maybe we can take another walk?” he suggested.

“In the rain?”

He glanced out the window and frowned. “Sorry, forgot. There aren’t any windows in the kitchen.”

She smiled. “We can sit out on the porch and neck. You know, to further our cause.” Her smile fell away when she remembered the new note.

He pulled her close. “Now that is a plan.” He rubbed his lips across hers. “I’m looking forward to spending the night with you, in my bed.”

She nodded her head slightly, then licked her lips, causing him to want to kiss them once more. Instead, he backed away, knowing he had to spend the next few hours trying to figure out menus and orders for the three days and fifty guests.