Snow Angel (The Hope Falls Chronicles) (3 page)

spread from the top of her head to her feet. Her first instinct when people started asking questions or taking note of her comings and goings was to shut down. Go on the defensive and erect the very necessary

protective shield she stored right below the surface.

But that was her old life. This was a fresh start. A new beginning. Lily hadn’t really lived in a small

town but she’d heard that people noticed things and also felt the need to comment about things people in

big cities didn’t notice and didn’t care about.

Plus, there could not be a sweeter woman asking the questions. Sue Ann was harmless, and Lily knew

that she wasn’t in any kind of danger. Still, old habits die hard.

“So,” Sue Ann continued, totally oblivious to Lily’s panic, “do you have a big day planned?”

Lily felt her heart rate speed as she took in a fortifying breath.
Just answer her
, she told herself,
like a
normal person would
. “I’m meeting Lauren to go look at rental properties.”

There. That wasn’t so hard.

“Oh, well you know you’re welcome to stay upstairs as long as you like,” Sue Ann said.

“Thank you so much. I wish I could take you up on that. I love the space. It’s so cozy and welcoming.

Unfortunately there is just not enough room for what I need,” Lily explained.

Sue Ann handed Lily a cup of heavenly, piping hot coffee. Her eyes narrowed, seemingly not convinced

that space was the reason Lily couldn’t stay in the apartment above the café. “Well, I hope you slept well at least.”

“Oh, I did,” Lily assured her. “I was out like a light the second my head hit the pillow. And believe me,

that never happens. Usually I toss and turn for hours.”

“Trouble sleeping?” a very male, very deep, very
sexy
voice asked from behind her.

Lily not only recognized the huskiness and timbre of the voice asking about her sleep problems, but her

body’s response to it felt like déjà vu. Her pulse raced. Her palms moistened. The hairs on her arms stood

as goose bumps spread across her skin like lava flowing down a volcano.

She knew that this time, however, it wasn’t fear causing these disproportionate physical reactions—it

was arousal coursing through her veins. In her twenty-six years, she’d never,
ever
, had such an

instantaneous visceral response to a man. It was equal parts unnerving and thrilling.

Lily felt another very foreign emotion creep up inside of her. It took her a moment to identify it.

Embarrassment?
Yep, that was it
.

She hadn’t handled it all that well the first time she had experienced the overwhelming response her

body had to the man standing behind her. During their first interaction she had just abruptly removed

herself from the situation.

Not exactly the most mature response to un-be-lieve-able
explosive
chemistry, but hey, it had worked.

She had come away from her brief brush with the fiery heat of arousal unscathed.

Standing with her back to the source of said arousal, she crossed her fingers—
literally
—hoping that she would be just as lucky during the second round in the ring of this erotically charged bout. She

swallowed hard and heard the audible gulp as she turned to face her worthy sex-on-a-stick opponent.

Unlike the first time she had seen him, when he had been wearing a tux, today he was dressed in black

sweats, a white shirt, and a charcoal gray zip-up hoodie. His broad chest and strong arms filled it out in a way that made Lily’s mouth water. Sweats, tux, it didn’t matter; he probably could have been wearing a

garbage bag and she would have the same crazy reaction to him. He was just hot. Ridiculously, toe-curling,

heart-fluttering, pulse-racing hot.

A low growl escaped his throat and her eyes flew to his. She was almost rendered speechless by what

she saw. Of course she remembered that he had blue eyes—how could she forget?—but looking at them now she saw that they were not your run-of-the-mill, ordinary blue eyes. No, his were deep blue with hints

of green outlined by a dark ring of navy. If she had one word to describe them, it would be intoxicating.

“Hi.” His captivating eyes darkened a shade and a sinful smile crossed his face.

“Hi,” she squeaked out.

“Feeling better?” he asked.

“Huh?” She wasn’t following.

“The other night, at the wedding, you said you weren’t feeling well,” he reminded her as he stepped

slightly forward.

“Oh, right.” She nodded. She had only said that because if she hadn’t excused herself she was scared

that she would have started dry humping him on the dance floor, and call her crazy, but she didn’t think

that would have been appropriate. She cleared her throat. “Yes, I’m fine.”

“No more lightheadedness?” His voice dropped an octave as he asked her what should be an extremely

innocent question, but her body wasn’t quite reading it as innocent.

“Nope,” she answered. Which up until a few minutes ago had been the truth. At the moment, his

nearness, his voice, his eyes, his smell, his
self
was having quite the dizzying effect on her.

Lily heard the chime above the front door ding snapping her out of her lust-trance. She turned to see

Lauren gracefully step into the café, phone to her ear. She wore black slacks and a plum-colored button up

silk shirt that complimented her fair skin tone perfectly. Her blond hair was pulled up into a French twist and not a strand was out of place. The style and outfit would have seemed stuffy and severe on someone

else, but Lauren was able to pull it off, looking classy and sophisticated.

Lauren spotted Lily in the small space almost immediately and moved quickly towards her. She

removed the phone from her ear and placed it in her bag. “Hi, Lily. Have you been waiting long?”

“No, not at all.” Lily heard the slight tremor in her voice that she was unable to mask.

Oh lord. Not a good sign. At all!

“Hey, Eric.” Lauren reached up and kissed the man that made Lily’s insides turn to mush on the cheek.

She turned, extending her hand in introduction. “You know Lily, right?”

“We met briefly at Justin and Amanda’s wedding,” Eric confirmed. His deep voice instantly caused a

tingle to race down Lily’s spine.

Lauren paused, her eyes sparking as though she had picked up on the chill Eric’s voice had caused. She

then slowly looked back and forth between Eric and Lily. Scanning. Assessing. Searching. Finally, her lips

twitched and turned up at the corners as she asked, “Am I interrupting something?”

“No,” Lily said quickly. She felt her eyes widen the way they always did when she lied so she shook her

head to add emphasis. Perhaps the head shaking was a little much, she realized belatedly, considering the

small smirk Lauren had been sporting was now turning into a full-fledged grin of amusement.

“Are you sure? I can give you two a moment,” Lauren offered faux-innocently, not even trying to

disguise how amusing she found all of this.

Well, at least someone is enjoying themselves.

---~---

Eric ignored the fact that Lauren was being a smartass. He didn’t blame her—if the shoe were on the

other foot, he would think that this whole thing was Grade A entertainment. Unfortunately—or fortunately

for him, since he couldn’t quite call it yet—he was not a spectator in this exchange.

Lily looked like she wanted to run as fast as she could for the door. Her eyes kept darting towards the

front of the café like she was planning a great escape. But she also kept licking her lips, and every time she looked at him, her eyes would dilate and the pulse in the base of her neck would speed up.

Eric knew how to read people and their body language. It was part of what made him a good detective.

The responses she was displaying only happened when you felt something strongly for someone: desire,

love, hate.

Since they had barely said ten words to each other, the possibility that she could be feeling either love

or hate for him was slim to none. So by reasonable deduction he assumed that she must be feeling desire.

He sure as hell knew he was.

Since he had laid eyes on Lily three days ago, he had not been able to get the image of her swaying on

the dance floor at the wedding out of his mind. Eric had never seen anyone move like she had. Her body

fused with the music floating through the air like she was one with it. He had been mesmerized.

The slow dance they had shared almost seemed like it had been a dream or like they’d been living out a

scene in a romantic movie. He’d stepped onto the dance floor, and she’d turned as if sensing his approach.

He’d asked if she would like to dance over the pulsing beat of the music. She’d nodded yes, and at that

exact moment, the music had slowed. It was surreal.

She’d placed her hands around his neck and he had wrapped his arms around her waist. He’d pulled

her towards him and their bodies had fit like a glove. When they began moving, it hadn’t felt like either of them was leading. The second their bodies had come into contact they’d just started instinctively swaying to the beat.

They’d only danced for a minute or so before she excused herself, saying she wasn’t feeling well, but it

had been an extremely erotically charged sixty seconds. So much so that, looking at her now, his body was

aching for a little repeat action.

The feel of her thighs pressed against his, the smell of her hair as it brushed against his nose, the soft

sigh that escaped her mouth as she’d melted into him all came rushing back to him and shot directly to his

groin.

“Well, we better get going,” Lily said as she began to move around him.

Lauren turned to follow her just as her phone rang. She glanced down and then, holding up one finger,

said, “I just need to grab this. It’ll just take a minute.” Without waiting for a response, Lauren moved to the hall that held the back offices and restrooms.

As much as Eric truly believed that Lily was attracted to him, he also sensed that for some reason that

fact made her nervous. The last thing he wanted was to make her uncomfortable, so he decided to let her

off the hook. For now.

“It was good seeing you again. I hope to see you around,” he said as he brushed past her to step up and

grab his to-go order, and a heated desire spread through his entire body.

Damn. What was it about this girl that made his body feel so…alive?

As he moved up to the counter, Kelly quickly stepped behind it, yelling, “I got this one, Sue Ann.” After

setting down the coffee pot she had been using to top off her customers’ mugs, she placed her elbows onto

the wooden countertop and leaned forward, causing her ample cleavage to be pushed practically up to her

neck. “What can I get for you, E-love?”

E-love was something a lot of Eric’s friends had called him in high school. He had always gotten along

well with the opposite sex. Maybe a little too well.

But that was not the image he wanted to present to the world now. He knew that Kelly was just being

Kelly, which meant she was flirting her ass off, so he tried to temper his irritation.

Eric stated the obvious. “Just pickin’ up the order I called in.”

Kelly stood up and, with her wrists crossed, stretched her arms out in front of her. Eric was pretty sure

that she achieved the desired affect she had intended for her little display because she was practically

pouring out of her cotton V-neck Sue Ann’s Café t-shirt.

Eric patiently waited her out. Kelly was a sweet girl. She just needed
a lot
of attention. After several moments of calculated “stretching,” Kelly smiled suggestively as she reached for his take-out. “That’ll be

$5.82.”

Eric pulled out a ten-dollar bill and grabbed his bag. Kelly didn’t release it as his fingers wrapped

around it.

“Can I get you
anything
else?”

“Nope, I’m good,” Eric said, his tone carefully modulated to walk that all-too-fine line of friendly but

not interested. ”Have a good day, Kel.”

As Eric turned to leave, he saw Lauren walking out from the back, apparently finished with her call.

“Sorry about that,” Lauren apologized to Lily.

“No problem,” Lily replied brightly as they all headed in the same direction.

When they reached the door, Eric stepped up and pulled it open, moving to the side so that they could

pass.

Lauren put on her sunglasses as she stepped outside, smiling up at him, “Thanks E.”

Eric nodded at his friend before glancing back at Lily.

Lily had stopped just shy of the doorway and she was just staring. With her five-foot-four frame, she

had to tilt her head back to look up at him. Her brow was knitted and she was searching his features as if

she were trying to figure out a puzzle.

“Are you okay?” Eric asked, not really sure what he could have done to cause the confusion she seemed

to be battling.

At his words, she shook her head slightly and a small laugh escaped from her as she said, “Yeah, I’m

fine.” She moved past him, smiling but not making eye contact, saying a quiet, “Thanks.”

He watched as Lily’s curvaceous hips swayed on the way to Lauren’s car. Even when she was doing

something as simple as walking down the sidewalk, the movement of her body was enticing. Captivating.

Damn, what was this girl doing to him?

Chapter Three

Lily sat silently, looking out the passenger side window as the gorgeous, breathtaking scenery passed in

front of her. The vibrant colors of jewel-toned, green pine trees, colorful aspens with brilliant yellow and shocking red leaves, the crystal blue water of the river rippling behind the tree line, and the rich purples and deep oranges of the random wildflowers that had sprouted up all around were absolutely stunning.