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Jumping to her feet, she shifted her gaze to the door, intent on avoiding the missile of some unpleasant truth he seemed determined to fling at her.
“I should go,” she said, taking a step forward.
He moved to block her escape. “Now?”
Right now.
“I’m sure Audra needs me…” She let that trail off because they both knew that for Audra to need Lilly, Lilly needed to be able to get through to her friend, something that had remained stubbornly out of reach since their arrival.
“I shouldn’t have said what I said to Jessie when we were in the lobby.” Alec forked his fingers through his hair, obviously unsettled. “The fact is, you’re not a stranger.”
“We don’t know each other at all,” Lilly hastened to contradict him.
He winged a brow her way.
A heat flushed over her face as she thought of how she’d been sprawled over his lap earlier in the evening. Of the deep kisses and the unforgettable climax he’d given her. “That’s just a physical thing,” she mumbled, her gaze dropping to her toes. “You know that. You’ve said it yourself.”
“Still, my parents have taken a shine to you. It’s only fair for you to understand the entire picture since you’re bound to run into them again this week.”
“I can make sure that doesn’t happen,” she offered. “I can hole up in our bungalow. I’ll never venture onto the resort grounds again.” Then she bit her lip. “Um…after I take a turn walking Buster tomorrow morning, that is. I ran into your mom on the way to yoga class today and that puppy’s just so darn cute…”
“You need to know this, Lilly.” One of his big hands urged her back to the bed and she found herself perching on the mattress again.
After a moment, he joined her, his gaze on the rug between his feet. Air blew out of his lungs, like he was preparing himself to lift some heavy weight.
Until now, she hadn’t allowed herself to imagine what he might impart. Again, she tamped down any urge to do so and put her hands to the mattress, preparing to push off and make yet another effort at escape.
Without looking over, his fingers covered hers, holding her in place. “I…I haven’t had to tell anyone in a long time,” he said.
“No?”
“It doesn’t come up in my professional life. In the course of a business day.”
Perhaps explaining his workaholic ways? But what was it? She could hardly help speculating now.
“Five years ago, my mother, my father, our whole family…everything changed for us in an instant.”
Lilly’s brows knitted. A financial setback? An illness? The elder Thatchers appeared hale and hearty, but he’d hinted that his mother had gone through something bad. However, she would swear that everything had ultimately come up roses for the family. They were just that type—good fortune and good times their inalienable right.
Alec cleared his throat. She stared at him now, trying to read something in the chiseled planes of his face and the tight muscles of his jaw. Was it true that he hadn’t gone to bed with a woman in two years? It seemed impossible for a man so good-looking and confident to avoid scratching what he must certainly consider a mere biological itch.
As she gazed at his features, tight with an emotion she couldn’t identify, something stirred in her belly. Nurturing had never been part of Lilly’s childhood and thus not part of her makeup, she’d always thought, but there was a new feeling springing forth inside her. The sudden and undeniable need to touch Alec, to take up his burden, to somehow make things easier for him.
Her hand turned under his so she could clasp his fingers in a firm, steady grip. “Tell me,” she heard herself whisper.
His head turned toward her.
“Tell me,” she urged again, even as part of her desperately wanted to snatch back the words and to smother this unfamiliar caring welling from deep in her belly.
Alec cupped her cheek in his free hand. “Oh, sugar.” Then he sighed again. “My brother, Simon…”
She hadn’t met him, nor heard anything about him. So far. “Simon?”
“He was two years older than me, six older than my sister.”
