Unwrapping the Playboy Read online

  Instead, they were back in full force.

  Within a moment, she found herself breathing hard all over again, as if she’d run a marathon. Or was anticipating running one.

  “You’re kidding,” she managed to get out. “You can do this again so soon?”

  “I take vitamins,” Kullen cracked in between kisses that turned her into a proverbial puddle. And then he stopped, growing serious. “Unless you don’t want to—”

  “I want to,” she assured him. “I’m experience challenged, not mentally challenged.”

  “What you might lack in experience,” he told her, “you more than make up for with enthusiasm.”

  To prove it, he sealed his mouth to hers. And felt her smile beneath his lips. It was all he needed to reignite the not quite dormant fires within him.

  “So that’s a yes?” he asked the next morning the moment she opened her eyes.

  Morning was casting a subdued light into the room. He’d been watching her sleep for a while now and feeling incredibly peaceful. Whatever happened from here on in, he would always have the memory of last night to sustain him.

  Still reveling in the afterglow of last night, Lilli blinked and tried to pull her thoughts together. She drew a blank on what he was talking about.

  Oh, God, she suddenly realized, she had to look awful. He wasn’t supposed to see her like this, looking like a used rag doll whose stuffings had been yanked out. For a second, she had an impulse to throw the covers over her head, but that was not an option. Kullen had pinned the covers down under his torso when he’d rolled over in her direction.

  As her brain slowly engaged, she noted that he was leaning on one elbow, looking at her. How long had that been going on? Was he having second thoughts now, wondering what act of charity had possessed him last night to make love with her?

  She cleared her throat, trying not to sound like a frog that had just leaped out of the pond. “What’s a yes?”

  “Nikki’s wedding.” She still watched him blankly. “You’ll come with me?” he prodded. “You and Jonathan,” he amended, before she could tell him again that she didn’t feel right about leaving the boy home, even if her mother was there to watch him.

  It took Lilli a second to connect the dots. And then a little longer to think everything through. She’d thought he was just making small talk about taking her to the wed ding.

  “You still want to take me?” she asked, surprised.

  “Sure. Why not? We can’t let all that dancing we did last night go to waste,” he reminded her, his face un read able.

  “As I recall, we didn’t do that much dancing,” she re plied.

  He gave up the ruse and grinned broadly, then pressed a kiss to her shoulder.

  Waves of desire shimmied all through her, making her want him with a fierceness that was completely foreign to her. She liked the feeling and savored it, knowing that she was on borrowed time. One way or another, this would be over with all too soon.

  “Yeah,” he said, his eyes seducing her, “I guess we didn’t. Want to not dance again?”

  He was wicked. And delicious. He made her feel so incredibly wonderful it didn’t seem quite possible. And yet, it was.

  “Don’t you have to go to work?” she asked him.

  “Eventually,” he conceded. “But man does not live by work alone. What I have in mind is taking care of matters of the soul.”

  She couldn’t keep the smile back. It took over her whole face. “Is that what you call it now?”

  “Yup.”

  The next second, he’d rolled over, partially pinning her to the mattress with his body. But even as he did so, he left her a space where she could wiggle free if she so chose.

  But she didn’t.

  There were no more words between them for a while. They had other ways of communicating. And only a limited amount of time.

  Chapter Fourteen

  It utterly amazed Lilli how easy it was to fall into a routine with Kullen. To look forward to her evenings to a degree that she never had before. Having Kullen around made her feel safe, secure.

  And it excited her at the same time.

  Feeling this way caused Lilli to reevaluate her life, to reevaluate her conceptions about herself. For years she’d been convinced that she would never be able to be at ease with a man, to have intimacy. She’d assumed that what had happened to her that awful night would forever wedge its way into any relationship she had if it began to turn physical.

  But she was wrong.

  Or maybe this was such an exception because it involved the right man. And Kullen was right on so many different levels.

  Maybe this would work out for them, for her, after all.

  Don’t get carried away, she cautioned herself. Don’t start hoping and losing your heart. You walked out on Kullen once, it’s going to be a long haul before he really trusts you with his feelings again. If ever.

  And besides, Kullen was in a different place in his life back when they were in law school together. Now his needs were different, and his tastes had evolved.

  For all she knew, she might be good for a dalliance but not as the woman he wanted to spend the rest of his life with. And who was to say that she was actually ready for that kind of commitment? She was finally taking tiny baby steps forward. She could finally allow a man—this man—to touch her. To make love with her. But baby steps didn’t mean she was suddenly ready to undertake a marathon and make a wild dash for the finish line.

  Lilli put down her mascara wand and sighed. There was no doubt about it. She’d never felt so summarily confused before in her life.

  Confused, and yet looking forward to hearing the doorbell ring each night around six. Looking forward to seeing Kullen standing on her doorstep, that same funny, lopsided smile on his lips that had won her heart the first time in law school.

  Time had passed. They’d both grown up, and yet one simple smile and she was catapulted into the past. One simple smile and all over again he was that endearing kid she once knew.

  Lilli picked up the mascara wand and continued getting ready. Kullen was coming by to take her and her son to a wedding and she didn’t want to keep him waiting.

  God, how wonderfully normal that sounded. How long had it been since she’d even felt remotely normal instead of going through the motions? Looking over her shoulder, afraid that Erik had tracked her down, wanting a second encounter?

  Feeling normal, that was all Kullen’s doing, she thought, smiling at the reflection of the woman in the mirror. And for however long it lasted, she was determined to enjoy it. It would help her fill a little of the emptiness that lay in wait for her later.

  “Mom?” Jonathan called, obviously looking for her.

  “I’m in my room, Jonathan,” she answered, raising her voice so that he could hear her. “Just putting the finishing touches on my makeup.” Retiring the wand, she leaned over the sink to reapply light touches of pearl-blue eye shadow.

  Jonathan came in wearing a small tuxedo that her mother had picked out for him. The boy was momentarily sidetracked as he looked at her. “You don’t need all that makeup stuff, Mom,” he protested. “You’re pretty already.”

  Lilli laughed. “And you have a wonderful dating future in front of you,” she prophesied. “You’ll have to beat the girls off with a stick.”

  Jonathan looked perplexed. “But you said never to hit a girl,” he reminded her. “Is it okay if I use a stick to do it?”

  Amused, she ruffled Jonathan’s wheat-colored hair a little. “No, you’re right, it’s never okay to hit a girl. That was just an expression I used. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to confuse you.”

  His quick smile was bright and forgiving. “That’s okay, Mom.” Just then, the doorbell rang. His eyes suddenly shone with enthusiasm. “I’ll get it!” he announced.

  He was quick, but she was still quicker. She caught his arm before he could make good on his announcement. “We’ll get it,” she corrected.

  With a sigh, Jonat
han headed toward the front of the house, matching what he called his mother’s poky pace. But it was obvious that he wanted to run to open the door. “But it’s Mr. Kullen,” Jonathan protested.

  “Most likely,” she agreed. “But it’s better to be safe than sorry.” She didn’t want to scare him, to make him see things in the shadows, but on the other hand, if anything ever happened to him, she would never forgive herself.

  Jonathan pursed his lips and looked up at her thoughtfully just as they came to the bottom landing. The smile faded. “You think it’s the man?”

  She looked at him sharply. “What man?”

  “The man in the tree,” Jonathan answered her without missing a beat.

  Almost at the front door, she stopped and once again caught hold of Jonathan’s arm. She turned him around to face her. “What man in the tree?” she asked. Although she was fairly certain that Jonathan was just remembering a nightmare, she could feel her adrenaline kick in. Just in case he wasn’t talking about a bad dream, she needed to find out as much as she could.

  “The one I saw with a big ol’ camera,” Jonathan answered matter-of-factly. “I think he was taking pictures from the branch he was on.”

  “Taking pictures?” she repeated. This had to be a dream—right? The doorbell rang again, but her attention was completely focused on what Jonathan was telling her. “When did you see him?”

  “Last night. And the night before that.” He paused to count in his head. “And maybe two times before that. Maybe the pictures weren’t coming out,” he said, guessing why the mysterious tree dweller kept coming back.

  Fear gripped her throat. “You saw him four different times?”

  He nodded his head up and down. “Uh-huh. Mom, you’re squishing my arm,” he protested, trying to pull it free.

  She released him and dropped her hand. “Sorry, baby, I’m just trying to think. You sure you didn’t dream this?” she pressed, hoping against hope that he would take back what he’d just told her. He had a very vivid imagination.

  Jonathan lifted his shoulders in the exaggerated shrug that all small children emulate when they have no answers. After a second, he let them drop again.

  “I dunno. Maybe.” The doorbell rang a third time. “Aren’t you gonna let him in?” Jonathan asked, seeming upset that his new best friend was being kept outside.

  “Yes, I’m going to let him in—after I make sure it’s him,” she stressed.

  Pausing to look through the door’s peephole, Lilli verified that Kullen stood on the other side and not some tree-climbing stranger whom she’d been blissfully unaware of a scant five minutes ago.

  Taking a step back, she opened the door to admit Kullen.

  As he entered, Kullen was about to comment that he’d begun sprouting roots on the doorstep, but the words evaporated from his tongue. Instead, he whistled low in appreciation. His eyes swept over her, taking in every subtle detail. She wore a soft gray-blue cocktail dress that was several inches shy of her knees. The dress was intimately familiar with every single curve she possessed.

  It made him want to skip the wedding and just take her back upstairs to her bedroom. Lucky for both of them that Jonathan was there to keep him grounded. Kate and his mother would simply kill him if he missed Nikki’s wedding.

  Lilli flashed him an apologetic smile. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to keep you waiting.”

  “Not a problem,” he assured her. “The view was definitely worth waiting for.” Belatedly, he remembered to flash a greeting at the boy. “Hi, champ. You ready to go?” he asked.

  “Ready,” Jonathan announced, all but hopping up and down.

  Kullen’s gaze shifted over to Lilli. “Something wrong?” he asked, then added, “You look a little preoccupied.”

  Jonathan beat his mother to an answer. “Mom’s worried about the man in the tree.”

  The easy smile on Kullen’s lips instantly vanished. His whole body went on red alert. “What man in the tree?” The question was directed toward Lilli.

  “Jonathan said he saw someone in the tree last night taking pictures.”

  There was a tree situated on the side of the property. Though not directly against the house, its position afforded a view of both Jonathan’s bedroom and Lilli’s, too. It wasn’t close enough to allow someone to clamber into the house. So why was someone climbing it?

  “When?” Kullen asked.

  “Last night,” the boy piped up. “And maybe three other times. But I can’t remember for sure.”

  Kullen didn’t want to alarm the boy. He kept his voice light, friendly. “And you’re sure that you saw someone in it?”

  “Uh-huh.” His head bobbed up and down. “Taking pictures.”

  “Could it have been a dream?” Kullen suggested, men tally crossing his fingers.

  “I already asked him that,” Lilli told him. “But it seems pretty unlikely that he’d have the same dream three different times, much less four.”

  “Not as unlikely as you’d think,” Kullen contradicted. “I once had the same dream every night for a month.”

  What he didn’t add was that the dreams had been about her, about finding her after she’d run off and talking her into coming back. Waking up each morning to reality had all but destroyed him and had come perilously close to sending him into a deep, dark depression.

  “Maybe,” Jonathan conceded slowly, answering Kullen’s question.

  Leading the way to his car, Kullen lowered his voice so that the boy couldn’t readily hear him. “Maybe he overheard us talking about being worried that he might be kidnapped and this is the result,” he suggested to Lilli.

  She nodded. “Maybe.” At least she could fervently hope so.

  After all, she silently argued, what was the point of climbing into the tree and just watching the boy without doing anything? It had to be a dream. Otherwise, it didn’t make any sense.

  She got into the passenger side while Jonathan scrambled into the backseat. He dutifully buckled up. Lilli listened for the telltale click of the metal sliding into the slot.

  To her surprise, Kullen didn’t get in behind the steering wheel. Instead, he went back to the house and then started to move slowly around the perimeter.

  She stuck her head out of the car. “What are you doing?”

  “Just checking out a hunch.” Kullen tossed the words over his shoulder as he disappeared around the side of the house. Lilli continued to watch the furthermost corner, waiting for him to reappear.

  It felt as if she was staring for a long time.

  When he emerged again, he was walking quickly.

  “Everything’s okay,” he told Lilli, getting into the car. Slamming the door shut, he reached for his seat belt. “No footprints,” he added.

  The look of relief on her face made the little white lie he’d just told her worth it. While there were no actual footprints around the tree, there was a reason for that. The tree in question was deciduous. Consequently, it had dropped more than half its leaves, all of which made a rich carpet for any intruder, tree-climbing or otherwise, to use without leaving any footprints.

  Hence, whether or not the boy had seen someone in the tree was inconclusive. But for now, Kullen thought it best not to make Lilli worry, perhaps needlessly. Allaying her fears was his job.

  So was making sure that nothing happened to her or the boy, he thought. Bottom line was that, his playboy title notwithstanding, he always took his work seriously.

  Turning the key in the ignition, he started the car up, announced, “Here we go,” and they roared out of the driveway, much to Jonathan’s delight.

  He kept up a steady stream of conversation with the boy and Lilli, and for a while thoughts about tree-climbing intruders and the threat they posed were pushed aside.

  Kullen made a mental note to ask Jewel to install a surveillance camera at Lilli’s house while she was away at work. If someone turned up at night, spying on Jonathan, he wanted footage of it—to use in court if need be. He had no doubts that
if Jonathan hadn’t dreamed up this mysterious person, whoever he’d seen was on Elizabeth Dalton’s payroll.

  A sigh of contentment escaped from her lips.

  “That has a nice sound to it,” Kullen commented, slipping his hand over hers. He was sitting beside her at the outdoor reception.

  “It all feels so wonderfully normal,” Lilli told him as she watched Jonathan play with a couple of children who had come to the ceremony with their parents. Bored at the reception, the children played a game of hide and seek between the tables.

  Kullen followed her line of vision toward her son. He’d briefed his mother and her two best friends about the situation—and the possible intruder in the tree—so he was now assured that, not counting his own, at least three pairs of eyes were on the boy at any given moment.

  “That’s because it is,” Kullen told her. “Very normal.”

  “I’d forgotten what normal felt like,” she confided. He could hear her smile in her voice. “What anything but standing guard, vigilant, felt like.” She turned her face toward his, leaning her cheek against the palm of her hand. “It feels good. Thank you.”

  “You’re welcome,” he murmured. He felt guilt pinching the perimeters of his conscience over the deception he purposely conducted, even if it was for her own good. He saw no reason to make her more anxious until he had some definite proof.

  “If you really want to thank me…” he began.

  The glass of champagne she’d had wound its way through her, making her feel incredibly light-headed. And incredibly grateful. But there was a danger in that. A danger in allowing her thoughts to take flight. More than likely, disappointment lurked in the shadows.

  “Yes?” she prodded.

  Instead of answering right away, he rose from the table. On his feet, he put his hand out to her. “You’ll dance with me.”

  She pretended to sigh. “Well, it’s a dirty job, but I guess I do owe you.” Placing her hand in his, she pushed her chair back and rose to her feet.

  He led her to the makeshift dance floor that Lucas and his father, an ex-Navy SEAL who had flown in for the wedding, had set up the night before. There were several couples already there. Kullen staked out a small area for them.