Snow Angel (The Hope Falls Chronicles) (21 page)

He watched as she licked her luscious, full lips, and his dick jumped in his slacks. “I want to kiss you so bad right now.”

A playful smile crossed her lips. “Really? We’re not even by the door, but okay I’m game.”

Leaning down so they were mere millimeters apart, his lips brushing hers, he spoke. “You know, if I

kiss you right now, we won’t make it to my parents’ party.”

Her breath was hot against his mouth as her fingers gripped his arms. “We won’t?”

Every kiss this past week, every touch, every look, felt like it had been building up to this moment. He

knew if he just closed the miniscule gap between them heaven waited for him on the other side. All he had

to do was press his lips to hers, skim that dress off of her body, and drive himself so deep inside of her that they wouldn’t know where he began and she ended.

Summoning more self-control than he’d ever thought he possessed, he dropped his arms and stepped

away from her. “We better go.”

Looking a little dazed, she nodded, turning to get her coat, which meant he saw her back in all of its

glory once again. He had no idea how he was going to keep his hands off of her. But since he was sure that

his parents and the entire town were going to be watching him, he knew he better keep his hands to

himself. Well, he’d try at least.

---~---

Lily gingerly lowered herself into a metal folding chair that was lined up against the wall of the gym in

the back corner. Her muscles were so sore that she honestly wasn’t sure she could make it back out of the

chair now that she’d sat down. She’d been at the party for almost two hours and she didn’t know how

much longer she could be here without starting to crouch over and walk like a ninety-year-old. Maybe

Karina was right and they had overdone it.

Rolling her neck from side to side, she looked at the huge, blown-up pictures hung on the walls around

the room. They were all of Eric’s parents, starting from before they were married. It was a beautiful thing to see two people who had been able to stay in love for over forty years.

Slipping her foot out of the eight-inch heels she had worn in hopes to look cute, she rolled her ankle in

a slow circle. Then she pointed and flexed her toes to try and stretch them out.

Note to self: Do not wear high-ass heels after you’ve spent twelve hours dancing.

Not that she regretted her decision to wear them tonight. No siree! Not. At. All.

The reaction she’d received from Eric in her kitchen had been worth every ounce of pain and discomfort this dress and these heels were causing her. He had looked at her with so much heat that she was surprised she hadn’t spontaneously combusted.

“So I see you took a page out of my playbook and went backless.” Karina sat down beside Lily.

“Hoping to get your own massage action later? Maybe at the hands of our newly appointed, smoking hot

police chief?”

Yes!

“Maybe,” Lily answered coyly.

Karina’s face brightened at Lily’s admission. “I knew it! I definitely think you can make that happen.

That man has not been able to take his eyes off of you all night. And I’ve noticed your little peepers seem to be scanning his way more often than not as well.”

Lily bit the inside of her mouth. She knew for certain that Eric wasn’t working tonight. He’d pulled four

doubles this week and finally had the night off. She wasn’t really a make-the-first-move type of a gal, but with her time in Hope Falls being limited, she really didn’t want to waste even one night they could have

together.

“Karina, is this the choreographer you’ve spoken so highly of?”

Lily looked up to see a very distinguished-looking woman. She was tall and rail thin, and she wore her

hair in a braid that fell down her back. “Yes, it is. Grandmother, this is Lily Sotelo. Lily this is my

grandmother, Renata Blackstone.”

Lily began to stand but must have had a pained expression on her face because Renata said, “Oh no,

don’t get up, dear. I just wanted to come by and thank you for taking over the seniors’ class. I heard there was quite a lot of tomfoolery going on as well as a medical emergency and you handled it all with class and grace. I’m always thrilled when my Karina chooses to associate with individuals such as yourself. It’s a

pleasure to meet you.”

“You too.” Lily waved as the woman walked away. Turning to Karina, she whispered, “Okay, I realize

that she said lovely, complimentary things about me, so why do I feel like I just got in trouble?”

“I know,” Karina commiserated. “She really has a gift.”

“Lily, I’m so glad you could make it!”

Eric’s mom threw her arms around Lily before she’d even had a chance to look up. This was the second

time she’d hugged Lily, and it was exactly what she’d always thought it would feel like to be hugged by a

real mom. “I am too, Mrs. Maguire. Happy anniversary!”

“What are you gossiping about girls?” Mrs. Maguire asked as she sat down beside Lily and patted her

knee.

“Nothing,” Lily replied at the same time Karina said, “Boys.”

A knowing smile spread across Mrs. Maguire’s face as she wiggled her eyebrows. “I think I like

Karina’s answer better.”

Both girls chuckled, and Lily noticed that Karina got a gleam in her eye. For a paralyzing moment, Lily

thought that Karina was going to ask Mrs. Maguire what she thought about Lily and Eric getting together.

No, please don’t.

“Karina, Henry and Renata need you for something about PR and the visitor’s association.” Ryan held

out his hand to help Karina stand.

Karina sighed. “Excuse me, ladies. Duty calls.”

Thank God!

But that did leave Lily alone with Eric’s mother. Not that she wasn’t a sweet person. Lily really liked her from what she’d seen. But the last thing she wanted was to be asked a bunch of questions about her and

Eric. Or even just her.

“Boy, I never knew how hard those steps were before taking your class. I watch Dancing with the Stars

every Monday and I just thought it was like learning the Hokey Pokey.” Mrs. Maguire started snapping her

fingers and singing. “You put your right foot in, you put your right foot out, you put your right foot in, and you shake it all about.”

Lily relaxed a little since dance was a topic she was never stressed to talk about. “A lot of people think

that, but they don’t realize how technical dance is. The dancers on that show are amazing, and they do a

great job of making each dance look smooth and flowing.”

“Well you sure do that in spades. When you would show us a step, I would look at Sean and whisper

under my breath to him, ‘Piece of cake’. Then we’d try it and I wouldn’t remember the counts or what foot

to start on. I was a mess.”

“Don’t be too hard on yourself, Mrs. Maguire. For one thing, I really wasn’t able to give everyone equal

attention—”

“Well that is just the nicest way I’ve ever heard someone say they had to deal with idiots,” Mrs. Maguire

interrupted with a warm smile spreading across her face.

Lily smiled, shaking her head before continuing. “And I was only able to teach for about twenty

minutes so you really did not get the kind of instruction you needed.”

“Well that’s very sweet of you to say. And I am very much looking forward to taking your next class.

Henry said you’ll be teaching until you leave for the tour and then starting again when you come back.”

“Oh no,” Lily clarified. “I agreed—well actually I didn’t agree to do anything—but I’m only teaching

until I leave for the tour.”

“Oh.” Mrs. Maguire looked disappointed. “Why wouldn’t you teach when you get back?”

“Well, that’s the thing. After my contract is up with Karina, I won’t be staying.”

“When is your contract up?” Eric asked, appearing out of nowhere.

How do people keep sneaking up on me? I’m flat against a wall.

“Umm, right after the tour.” She looked up into his cobalt blue eyes, feeling as though she’d just been

caught in a lie. But she hadn’t.

She’d never told anyone she was staying after the tour. In fact, it was just the opposite. Not only had

she only gotten a six-month lease, she’d also told the mayor specifically that she was not going to be back after she left in November for the tour when he’d asked her about taking the class on a permanent basis.

“Hello, can I get everyone’s attention please?” Nikki’s voice boomed over the loud speaker. “Can I ask

that you all please take a seat? Mom, Dad, if you could come up here please.”

Mrs. Maguire once again patted Lily’s leg, her eyes dancing with excitement as she stood. “I feel like the

belle of the ball.”

“You should because you are!” Lily enthused.

Eric slipped into the chair beside Lily and reached his arm around the back, resting his hand on her

shoulder. The second his hand made contact with her skin, all the aches and pains took a back seat to the

tingles his featherlight touch caused.

“On behalf of myself, my parents Sean and Rosalie, my brothers Eric and Jake, and my sister Amy, I’d

like to thank you all for coming tonight and celebrating this special occasion with our family—my mom and

dad’s fortieth wedding anniversary.”

The room erupted in applause.

After it began to die down, Nikki continued. “We all know that forty years of marriage is quite an

accomplishment. It doesn’t just happen. It takes commitment and work. When I was about eleven, my best

friend’s parents got divorced, and I asked my mom if she thought that was going to happen with her and

my dad. She told me that she didn’t think so.

“Well, we all know that I’m not one to drop something that easily so, of course, I asked her why she

didn’t think so. And she told me that she and my dad had made a promise to each other to wake up every

day and choose to love each other. Again, being who I am, I had to challenge that answer, so I told my

mom, in all my eleven years of wisdom, that love is something you feel, not something you choose.

“She looked down at me and smiled. Shaking her head, she said, ‘Oh, my sweet Nicoletta, yes, it is true

that you feel love—most of the time. But after years of chores and kids and bills and life, there are some

days we don’t feel the love, and those are the most important days to choose to love.

“So Mom, Dad, I want to thank you for giving me an example of what real love is. It’s not just a feeling,

it’s also a choice. Thank you for choosing each other every day. Happy anniversary!”

Everyone clapped and cheered, calling out their own well-wishes for the couple. The lights began to

dim just as a huge screen came down from the ceiling.

“Here’s a little look back at just some of those days.”

Soft music started playing from the speakers mounted on the walls as photos of Eric’s parents flashed

on the screen. There were several that looked to be taken on dates at restaurants, skiing, roller skating. Then it moved on to the proposal with Eric’s dad on his knee and his mom with her hand over her mouth in

shock.

Beside her, Eric chuckled when the next pictured showed Eric’s dad picking his mom up over his

shoulder in excitement. Next there were a couple of wedding photos and one of them standing in front of a

home with a sold sign. Then there were some of them doing various stages of home improvement.

Lily noticed that in a lot of them his dad was either making faces at the camera or looking at his mom

like she was the only thing on earth. His mom was either laughing at whatever goofy expression his dad had

or, in the ones where Mr. Maguire was staring at her, she looked completely oblivious to that fact or that a picture was being taken at all.

The next slide caused Lily’s’ eyes to fill with tears. It showed Eric’s dad bending down, kissing his wife’s very pregnant belly. The one that followed was of his father in a hospital gown, holding up cigars.

Then, his mom holding a newborn.

Lily leaned over, “Is that you?”

Eric nodded, pulling her a little closer to him as he began rubbing his thumb in circles around her bare

shoulder. She allowed herself to lean against his solidness while she watched the rest of the slideshow,

which included all of his siblings’ births, holidays, and vacations.

With the lights dimmed, sitting off in their private corner, Lily once again felt like they were the only

two people in the crowded room. She didn’t know how he always managed to do that, but he did. She

shifted so she could rest her head back on his broad shoulder, and she felt his chest rising and falling at a steady pace against her back. As his breathing became more labored, he slowed his thumb’s trail on her

shoulder, increasing the pressure slightly, giving her a sensuous massage.

The final picture looked like it had been taken fairly recently, and it was of the two of them kissing.

Applause broke out just as the overhead lights illuminated the room once again. As her eyes adjusted, Lily

realized that she was practically sitting on Eric’s lap. She quickly moved away just as Nikki was walking up.

“Told you. Not a dry eye in the house,” she smirked to Eric.

“Mine are,” he said flatly.

“That doesn’t count.” She pointed at him. “You were too busy trying to get to second base to even pay

attention to the slideshow.”

“Nikki,” Eric snapped, his body tensing. But as soon as he saw that Lily was laughing, she noticed he

relaxed. She kind of liked that he was always trying to stick up for her. No one had ever done that for her.

“Well I certainly got misty-eyed, Nikki. It was a beautiful slideshow,” Lily said honestly.

“Thank you, Lily. At least you have good taste in some things,” Nikki said pointedly to her brother