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“Can we talk?”
Lily backed away from Pam, the first person she recognized right off in costume. Seeing her again resurrected old memories she’d hoped were buried for good and would no longer hurt. “I didn’t know you would be here tonight.” She winced at her accusatory tone, a stab of guilt poking her when Pam blanched.
“I wasn’t sure if you were privy to the guest list. Please, Lily. I just need you to let me apologize. John...damn, he had a way...”
She shook her head, pain mixed with anger gripping her abdomen in a vise. “I’m well aware of his talented persuasion. Look, I’m working, and this is neither the time nor place.”
“I know, I know, but you wouldn’t talk to me after that Christmas party and didn’t respond to the note I put in my condolence card, and then you were gone. I’m not asking for forgiveness, just a chance to...”
Lily took another step back, needing to put space between them. John’s last deflection hadn’t hurt her as much as her friend’s betrayal, and she realized she wasn’t coping as well as she’d believed with Pam’s disloyalty.
“I’m not holding a grudge, Pam. I only want to put all that behind me. You are a reminder of what he put me through.” The disappointment of learning she wasn’t as immune to that hurt as she’d thought put a damper on the festivities.
Pam’s heavily made-up face fell, her eyes turning teary as she nodded. “How about a late breakfast tomorrow? Would you at least consider that, just to sit down and talk? I need that, even if you don’t.”
The right thing, the cleansing thing to do would be to forgive and forget, but during the volatile up-and-down years she spent with John, she’d lost touch with her closest friends except Pam. Her family’s love and support when John’s cheating cost her that friendship had been all she needed, and all she wanted now.
“I can’t. I’ll be at the shelter tomorrow.” Lily didn’t offer to meet her after she finished helping serve the noon meal at the homeless shelter. A look of frustrated anger replaced Pam’s remorseful expression, prompting Lily to hurry and say, “Have a good evening. Thanks for coming.”
The last hour of the event dragged on for Lily as she strove to maintain a happy face while all the heartache, humiliation, and wasted time and effort over her marriage came rushing back. She searched for Don Juan again, hoping her interest in the stranger, a first for her, would restore her earlier good mood. Like the other times this evening when she’d sought him out, her pulse jumped upon picking out his tall frame in the crowd. Spotting him with his head bent low over a woman draped in a sexy Cleopatra gown, the two laughing, a ripple of envy shot through her. She wished she possessed the nerve to flirt openly like that with him. He reminded her of Reed Kincaid, despite the long cape that hid most of his build and the mask, goatee, wig, and hat that left his features hidden. With luck, this sudden interest in a man was a good sign she was over the mistakes she’d made with John. When he checked her name tag in the greeting line and called her Ms. Regan without a hint of recognition, she realized it was her imagination spurred by her inability to forget about him that made her compare Don Juan to Reed.
Lily started to turn away, lecturing herself to stay focused on the job, not Pam, John, or a sexy guest, but he looked up, and they shared another long, potent moment. She jolted, heat unfurling deep inside her long-neglected pussy, the same reaction as every other time when their attention zeroed in on each other in the past two hours. It wasn’t enough to restore her previous good mood, but something to occupy her mind while finishing her job.
Chapter Four
Lily joined the othervolunteers at the long table holding the raffle prizes, relieved her duties were coming to an end. The caterers had left and once the event center’s staff came in to clean up shortly, her job would be done. She only listened with half an ear to the director of the shelter’s thank-you speech, hoping the drawings wouldn’t take long. Thinking of Don Juan asherDon Juan this past hour hadn’t been enough of a pleasant fantasy to dispel her morose mood, but at least it steered her thoughts away from painful memories.
The shelter’s director announced the first winner and kept drawing until a short line had formed to pick up their prizes. Over a hundred baskets, gift cards, small electronics, and free services were donated, and Lily’s concentration was on putting the right prize in the right outstretched hand, not the face that went with the hand until her fingers tingled from the brush of a man’s large calloused palm. Her gaze flew up, and she went hot when she encountered Don Juan’s slow smile and was once again struck by the resemblance to Reed. He still wore the hat that shielded his eyes behind the mask, so she was left guessing he might be a relative. Before she could ask, the line shifted, and he nodded, tipped his hat, and walked off.
For the first time, she experienced what it meant to feel alone in a room with other people, her bereft mood plummeting further as he walked away. Lily excused herself from the small group of volunteers once the final prize was given out and the last of the guests were leaving, including her Don Juan. Oddly let down when he didn’t wave or acknowledge her in any way, she slipped out onto the surrounding patio. The music turned off, and she figured it would take about fifteen minutes for the shelter personnel to gather their things, clearing the way for cleanup.
The cooler air relieved the stuffiness from the crowded room, and she settled against the wall around the corner, the semidarkness more fitting to her mood. Lily could kick herself for letting Pam’s unexpected presence trouble her so much after she’d thought she had put all that behind her for good. She couldn’t wait to get home and indulge in a big glass of wine and crawl into bed, maybe fantasize about a sexy stranger stripping off his costume and joining her. That was the extent of her sex life since leaving John, the last man she’d slept with.
God, had it really been almost two years? No wonder she was growing warm just from eyeing strangers.
