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She’d heard he was due back in Crystal Lake the day before. She’d swung by Jake’s office for lunch—he was out—but she’d overheard his office staff gossiping about the fact that Mac Draper, hottest bachelor in Crystal Lake, was coming home and was going to work with Jake on the developing the new site.
And here he was.
Lily had set up her studio in the large back room of the cottage because of the abundance of windows on both the back wall and the side wall that faced the surrounding forest. She took a step back and nearly tripped over her easel as she watched him wipe his forehead and then take a long drink from a water bottle. He paused, looked straight at the house, and she froze, like a deer poised in the wild, glad that she was inside where he couldn’t see her.
She’d thought a lot about Mackenzie Draper over the past month. A lot.
Some nights she’d lain in bed and his whispered words, “I’ll be back, Boston,” had played in her ear over and over again.
Along with the memory of that kiss.
A kiss that was a promise of so much more, but it was that so much more that made Lily nervous. Mac had been right. She wasn’t a relationship kind of girl, and he obviously wasn’t into long-term commitments, and yet here she was wondering…
Wondering about things that she shouldn’t be wondering about. Things that might hurt her if she wasn’t careful. Lily had already been down heartbreak road, and she’d promised herself that she would never travel it again.
But what if… She bit her lip, mouth dry and heart beating fast as Mackenzie shook out his long, wet hair and began to walk toward the house.
God, what if she embarked on something that wasn’t defined by the boundaries of a relationship? Something that would fulfill the need she’d felt ever since New Year’s Eve, a need to connect and to matter on a physical level without the emotional? Was it so wrong to want that? Especially when she’d pretty much come to the conclusion that love and family weren’t in
the cards for her?
The night she’d spent with Mackenzie had been a gift. It had shown Lily that she wasn’t some frozen wasteland—that there was still flesh and blood and heat beneath her invisible scars.
Could she do it?
Could she grow a set of balls and do what guys did all the time? Could she enjoy a purely physical relationship? Could she have her cake and eat it too?
Did she dare?
Before she could change her mind, Lily whirled around and rushed toward the front door, pausing for a second to get her shit together before she opened it. Her hand trembled a bit, and she wiped a damp palm against the top of her skirt before stepping out into the hot summer afternoon.
The smell of lilac drifted up her nostrils—the entire right side of the property was filled with purple lilac bushes—and she exhaled slowly as she leaned against the railing and watched Mackenzie.
Acutely aware that she was braless beneath the light pink halter top, Lily bit her bottom lip as her sensitive nipples poked against the fabric. She’d pulled on a simple cotton skirt that morning—one that was on the short side—and her feet were bare. She didn’t have to glance down to know that her toenails were chipped, that the pale pink polish was nearly gone, and that she was in desperate need of a pedicure.
Her hair hung in wild tangles down her back because she’d not bothered to brush it this morning, and her face was free of makeup. For a moment she hesitated, panicked at the thought of what she must look like. But then Mackenzie started walking toward her, and his long legs ate up the distance between them in no time.
He stopped at the bottom of the porch, one foot propped on the steps, head lifted as he gazed at her. Damn, but his eyes were electric, and a hint of white showed as he offered a light smile. With several days’ worth of stubble gracing his chin and his long hair hanging in damp waves against his neck, he looked exactly as a man should—hot, sweaty, muscular, and…
Hot.
For several seconds, there were no words. There was only the sound of blood rushing through her veins, a heartbeat gone crazy, and the swoosh of air in her lungs as she struggled to remain calm and collected.
She was really going to have to work on her physical reaction to him if she was seriously going to consider the plan settling in the back of her mind.
“Looking good, Boston.” His voice was low and seductive, and it instantly had all sorts of warning bells going off inside her. With a toss of her head, she pushed back those warning bells. “I like the natural look on you.”
“You look hot and sweaty.”
“I am,” he said casually, taking a step up. “Hot.” He took another step until his head was level with her chest. A chest that he stared at wickedly. A chest that was once again saluting him.
“And sweaty,” he added, a touch of rasp in his voice.
She swallowed slowly, and her heart picked up again as his eyes moved to her throat.
“If you were a nice lady, you’d invite me in for a drink.”
“I’m not,” she managed to say cheekily. “A nice lady. Besides, I just watched you drain an entire water bottle.” The words popped out before she could stop them, and Lily’s cheeks heated as a slow grin touched his mouth.
