Irresistible Stranger

Chapter 9

Over a fast dinner of burgers off the grill, Lily relayed all the new information she’d discovered to Griff. The three different teenage boys targeted by arson. The escalating damage of the fires. The original label of vandalism, then arson, then serial arson. And although gasoline was a common accelerant, its repeated use in those arson incidents made up part of the pattern.

“The investigation report covering our fire said there was no link found to those other arson events. But what if there was a link, Griff?”

“Like what? There was no teenage boy in your house.”

“I know that. But the place next to us was for sale, empty. And the site of our fire was between the two houses.”

“But there was no teenage boy in the empty house either,” Griff said reasonably.

“Would you quit being so darned logical!” She tried again. “The police never found who caused those other fires.”

Griff nodded. “But there were no more arson incidents after your parents’ fire.”

“Maybe that shocked the arsonist into quitting-because people died in our fire,” she speculated. “The question is, why there’ve been three arson fires now, since I came back to town. Or do you think that could be just coincidence?”

“One fire could have been accidental. Three-no way,” Griff said grimly.

“That’s what I think. That there has to be a reason this started up again. And I still don’t understand why the sheriff thinks I should leave town. Maybe that would stop the fires, if I disappeared. But he’s the sheriff. Doesn’t he want to know who’s doing this?”

“He’s a dad. With kids not far from your age. And he knows how much your family was hurt then. So maybe he doesn’t want to see you hurt, sugar.”

“I don’t want to be hurt either,” she grumbled. “But I’m running out of stuff to research. Everything I’ve found so far seems to verify that my dad never had a single reason to start that fire. But there’s no solid proof that the fire wasn’t accidental. I don’t know if proof like that even exists. Especially after all these years. And you know what?”

She knew it was a child’s question, but still he played along. “What?”

“At this point-I’m happy, Griff. I’ve learned a bunch about my dad. For my sake, for my sisters. That he was a good man. A man of honor. Not a coward. That’s all I really needed to know. That he was the man I thought he was.”

“And did you need that proof?”

Something in his voice made her look at him, really look. By then they’d finished dinner, popped their few dishes in the dishwasher, and then went out to his car. During the conversation he was driving, and even though the sun was dropping fast, she could see his profile clearly, see the oddly guarded expression when he’d asked that question. “No,” she said slowly. “I always knew my dad was a good man. Yes, I wanted the public proof, if I could find it, to clear his name. But I really don’t care what anyone ever said about him-I knew what was true in my heart.”

“So you trust your heart, do you?”

She kept looking at him. “I do. I have extraordinary judgment with people,” she murmured. “Particularly with men.”

He let out an amused chuckle. “You don’t think you’re just a bit on the trusting side?”

“You sound like my sisters-and they’re wrong, too. I trust very, very, very rarely. And it takes even more than that for me to trust at a gut level. Which I can prove.”

“How’s that?”

“I slept with you, didn’t I? I picked you to seduce, out of the hoards and hoards of men I could have chosen-seeing as how I’m gorgeous and smart and all that.” She figured she’d make him laugh again. Instead he shot her another strange look.

“How could you not know that you’re gorgeous and smart and ‘all that’? Or are all the guys deaf and blind where you live?”

“Aw, that Southern sweet talk is water for a girl’s worst thirst.”

“What if it isn’t sweet talk?”

“Not to distract you from this totally silly conversation, but where on earth are we?”

“Where you asked me to take you. I admit I was surprised. But I always try to do what a lady asks.”

“This is Silver Ridge?”

“Well-we’ll get to Silver Ridge, sugar. It’s just a little complicated. Now, I brought bug spray. And we’re just following this short trail to the boat. I want you to keep your hands and feet in the boat at all times. There are gators and snakes in the water.”

“What? Wait a minute. Wait, wait, wait. Wait! This isn’t what I signed up for…” She galloped after him, but it didn’t do any good.

“Too late to change your mind now. There’s a time when you can always tell a man no, sugar. But this isn’t about sex. And why ever you thought you wanted to come here, at this point you’re getting your money’s worth. I guarantee it.”

“Wait. Wait…”

After eating, she, knew they were headed for Silver Ridge, where she’d asked to go. But she was whipped after the emotional and physical day. She hadn’t paid any attention to their outside surroundings. In the car, she’d looked at Griff, only at Griff. Being with him had lifted her spirits and her heart like nothing else possibly could have. Somehow, he made her feel like a pure female-with an absolutely pure male.

His clothes certainly didn’t define him. He was just wearing chinos, sandals, a polo; his hair was ruffled up and his chin had the day’s shadow of a beard. Another guy would have looked casual. Griff somehow managed to look not quite respectable at the same time. And sexy. Damn man was always sexy. Trouble from head to toe, from his eyes to his butt to the shape of his hands.

If she had to sin, Lily thought, she was so glad it was him. There was no point in doing something halfway. Since she’d fallen off the Good Girl Wagon, she could at least fall the whole huge distance to a man as compellingly wrong for her as Griff.

But this…

She was still following him, but not happily. She’d had the sense in the car that he was testing her in some odd way; but whatever that test was, she decided she was willing to fail it. This was too darned scary.

Night hadn’t completely fallen on the jagged path from the cliff to the water. Minutes of sunset were still left, that time when the sky was a violent purple, a ruby red, a deepening sapphire. In another ten minutes, she wouldn’t be able to see the ghastly scene in front of her.

The water had that black, murky stillness of a swamp in a horror movie, backdropped by big old oaks and their bearded moss. Invisible things in the shadows made sounds, hungry sounds, scary sounds. The “boat” he motioned her toward looked like a raft. An inadequate raft. It looked as if someone had glued a bunch of boards together, makeshift fashion, creating a tiny patio with a white vinyl bench and seat, with a little box table nailed in the middle.

“We’re not going on that, are we?”

“Uh-huh.”

“But snakes could climb up on that. Alligators. There could be leeches in that water. Or the moss could strangle us. We could sink. It doesn’t have any sides. It doesn’t have any motor-”

“Hey, don’t be blaming me for this deal. This wasn’t my idea. It was yours. This is the way to Silver Ridge.”

“Griff, honestly, couldn’t you afford a little better boat?”

“This one’s ideal for where we’re going. Pretty much a pole raft is the only way to navigate a shallow swamp. It’s not something I do very often, but for this trip, it’s perfect for what you want to see.”

“Perfect?” She said the word as if testing it, then shook her head. “Bad things are going to try and grab us in the dark,” she said ominously.

“Uh-huh. It’s going to be very scary. Very dangerous. Probably the riskiest thing you’ve done in your whole life.”

“Hey. Don’t make fun of a woman when she’s busy being a major wimp.”

But Lily had to stop talking. She was having too much fun. It was like living out the old Kathryn Hepburn African Queen fantasy-not that Lily wanted any experience with leeches-but the swampy darkness and sounds and moss-draped trees were impossibly romantic. Possibly, Griff already realized she was into that kind of corniness, because she’d leapt onto the raft without prompting, and immediately took up the Princess Position, lounging on the cushions. Griff picked up the long pole.

“So-where are we shoving off to, cap’n?”

With a grin, Griff motioned into the darkness. “We’re just hugging the shore, for about ten minutes. You can take a turn steering if you want.”

“I won’t tip us over?”

“There’s only about a foot of water. And it’s warm. Not a good place to swim-the bottom’s too yucky-but it won’t kill us if we get wet.”

“Are you going to serve me champagne and grapes?”

“Nope, but there’s a cold chest in that box. Bottles of water if you’re thirsty. And emergency chocolate.”

“Chocolate is a basic food group. It’s always an emergency,” she informed him. She’d never have believed it-that the day’s stresses-the week’s stresses-seemed to ease away. She didn’t stop thinking about fires and mysteries and frustrations. It was just…this was definitely an hour off.

An hour completely free.

An owl whooed its dusty call. The rich smells of moss and loamy earth and vegetation hit her nose like an exotic perfume. Frogs burped in unison from the shoreline, where grasses rustled and vines climbed the increasingly steep bank. Mist ribboned between trees, danced in the shadows.

On the left, rock increasingly dominated the landscape. She didn’t know if the stone was limestone or granite, but it was almost stark white in darkness, and where the moonlight hit it, silver.

“So…this is Silver Ridge.” She couldn’t stop looking. The moonlight on the rock was darned near breathtaking, as shiny silver as a jeweler’s treasure.

“Yeah.” Griff locked the pole, came over and sank to the deck beside her. “As far as I can tell, it’s been the lover’s lane here for centuries. Kids park on top of the ridge. Or boat in, like we’re doing. There’s one deep spot, just off the cliff edge-the kids have used it as a swimming hole for years. There’s an underground spring there, keeps the water cool and clean. Parents have forbid kids from coming here, but it never does any good. On a weekend night-or a prom night-they could clean up selling tickets to get a parking spot on top of the ridge.”

But not tonight. There was no one here this night. But them.

Griff raised a hand, sifted his fingers idly through her hair. His touch was infinitely light, as tender as softness. His eyes found hers in the darkness.

“I forgot why we’re here,” she murmured.

“Above. On top of the ridge. This was where one of the arson fires were set, long ago. You wanted to see where it was.”

“A lovers’ lane.” She knew. Not the kind of knew where she could prove it in a court of law, but all the things she’d learned and read came together with that single snap. “It was a girl who set the fires back then. A girl scorned. Hurt by some boy she thought she liked. Or boys, in the plural.”

“That’s how I’d see it, from the stuff you uncovered.”

“Arsonists are more commonly male.” Lily remembered reading that.

“Maybe those are the statistics. But the first fire was in a boy’s locker, then a boy’s bedroom, then a lover’s lane site. And since the boys were all the victims, it just seems like it had to be a girl.”

“A girl who felt hurt. Or humiliated. Or angry.”

“Or all three. A girl who needed some kind of revenge.”

The more Griff rubbed her scalp, combing fingers into her hair, the more Lily was afraid she’d fall into some drugged bliss state. It’s not as if she was normally a sensualist. She was just a sucker for a head rub, and it’d been years since anyone had given her one. “You think it’s the same girl who’s been setting the fires this week?”

“I don’t know. But two plus two usually equals four. I’ve been thinking how the rest of it adds up. Just supposition. But the three fires in the past weren’t set to deliberately hurt any of those boys. Just to hurt property. To let those boys know she wasn’t happy with their behavior. And the three fires since you’ve been home-they have to be about you. Because you’re the only link. But no one’s tried to hurt you specifically. It seems like an echo. She’s telling you that she’s not happy with your behavior. That you’re here. Looking into this.”

“Griff.”

“What?”

“I think your reasoning is brilliant. And scary. But I can’t think about this anymore. Not right now.”

“How come?”

“You know how come.” But she didn’t move. And his fingers kept up that magic scalp massage. The moon and the sweet, rich smells and barely rocking raft and Griff, his closeness, all seemed to come together like wine. Too much wine. Way, way too much wine.

“I have this feeling…that you’re easy, Lily.”

“I am. I am.”

“You don’t seem impressed by money. I can’t see you lusting after jewels. But I just don’t know about the strength of your character-when you’re so willing to cave for a little scalp rub.”

She needed to correct one item there. “Hey, I like jewels. Or I’m sure I could get into jewels, if I just had the chance.”

“So on a set of scales, jewels at one end, and a scalp rub on the other…”

“All right, all right, I admit it. Nothing compares to a scalp rub. But in general, there’s plenty of greed and selfishness and stuff like that in my character.”

“I think we should encourage those things.” Even though the white boat cushion was long and narrow, he managed to twist her on her stomach without even nominally rocking the boat-conceivably because she was limper than noodles and already completely pliable. His hands chased up her tee, unhooked her bra. She considered expressing a little outrage-or at least surprise-but by then he was already rubbing and kneading and stroking her back.

It wasn’t her fault that she caved. How awful could a day be? Being hauled to the police department. Being almost arrested. Feeling responsible for the fire in the library. Feeling responsible for the fire at Griff’s. Not even knowing why she was feeling responsible. And then uncovering all that messy past stuff at the newspaper office-good information, good clues, but still nothing substantial enough to change the past or present. On top of which, Griff’s dragging her into the diner that morning had been a stomach-clencher. Yes, people talked to her, but initially they’d looked at her with such suspicion, it had felt like wearing a red stripe in her hair. No one looked at her as if they saw her. They just saw the red stripe.

And Griff…damn the man, but he was turning into her vice. The best vice she’d ever taken up. She never thought she could do it-throw everything to the wind for one man, one wild fling of irresponsible sex, and not feel a single ounce of guilt. This was so right that she just couldn’t care. He was so right for her heart, for her soul, for her life at this moment, that nothing else could possibly matter more.

He kneaded and rubbed and stroked, her neck, scalp, down the slope of her spine, pushing her shorts down to just the swell of her fanny, where he could rub the very small of her back. “You’re tense,” he murmured. “Pecan Valley hasn’t exactly been a vacation for you, has it?”

He didn’t mean it as a question. Didn’t mean for her to answer. But if he thought she was tense because of her personal problems, she needed to correct that notion immediately.

She was tense, all right.

Because of him. For him.

She twisted beneath him, setting the raft on a wild rock, startling the vulnerable shine in Griff’s eyes. Oh yeah, she wasn’t the only one who needed love. She suspected he’d never had a shortage of offers for sex. But love wasn’t the same thing at all.

She found his mouth, took it. It wasn’t a moment of pleasure she wanted to offer him-but a moment of risk. It was her turn to rub and knead and stroke. Her hands stole under his shirt, pushed up the fabric, not caring that it bunched, not caring that her knees and elbows seemed to be in the wrong place.

“Hey, sugar…” His voice was lazy as molasses, but his eyes weren’t. His gaze was all fire and heat, his skin already glazed, his intent as explosive as any accelerant could possibly be. “You started things last time. Don’t you think we should take turns?”

“No.”

“No?” The hint of a smile in his voice. “Well…we could argue about it. I can’t think of a more fun argument. But this time, this night, I just can’t let you win, Lily, I’m sorry.”

He wasn’t sorry. He wasn’t the least bit sorry. What he knew and what she knew was a little like comparing candlelight to a forest fire. She was a quick learner, but it was hard to catch up with a guy who’d been around as many blocks as he had. And he was so darned fast.

Clothes were pushed and pulled and yanked free.

Some, she feared, went into the water. For sure, a shoe did.

Moonlight caught the gleam of his hair, the glisten of his skin…the need in his face, in his heart. Maybe he thought this was about seduction. But she closed her eyes and just…gave.

Everything she had.

His tongue on her breast, his palm sliding down into her panties, into her…the way he clenched that contact. He knew it would ignite her. He knew.

But she knew a few things, too. She knew as much about loneliness as he did. She knew intimately about traveling life solo, about a heart too damaged to risk any more losses, about always that need, that hunger, that hole deep down that never got filled. It wasn’t something she shared with anyone else. It wasn’t something she could even explain. But she knew Griff at some level, knew his heart at some level. Knew…

Knew nothing. Except to touch and give and lay her wants bare. They slid against each other, skin slick, lips wet, need trembling with more and more ferocity raging between both of them. She used her hands as an accelerant, finding a way to stroke him, to tease the long, firm length of him…until he let out of a growl of frustration. Such a growl that she had to laugh.

She quit laughing when he plunged inside her. Her eyes popped open, met his, matched his. She wound her legs up and tight on his hips, felt him scooch her even higher, felt him driving, driving, driving into her like a lion possessing his mate. He’d have hurt her, except he couldn’t. She was wet, willing, encouraging the wildness, encouraging him to let go, to be. With her. All he was.

He came on a long guttural groan that echoed her own fierce cry. The tight pulsing explosions seemed to go on and on, pleasure that stole both her breath and her heart.

Silence followed that symphony of sensation. He eased his weight off her, but then just pulled her close. She practiced trying to breathe normally, but it was tough, with his fingers softly threading through her hair, his gaze on her face as if she were the sun and the moon and then some.

Eventually frogs got around to burping again. Owls restarted their hoot thing. Maybe those sounds had been happening before, but she hadn’t heard them. She hadn’t heard or seen anything but Griff.

“We can’t ever do this again,” she murmured regretfully.

His brow raised. “Hmm. I could have sworn you were having a good time a few moments ago.”

“Oh. I was. But that’s just the thing. We keep doing this, you’ll have permanently ruined me for anyone else. Before you, I was perfectly happy thinking that making love was a nice thing to share between two people who really, really care about each other.”

His eyebrows raised again. “And now you don’t think that?”

“Of course not. You’re ruining me, like I said. I didn’t know it could be…you know. Insane. Crazy. Wanting so much you hurt. Needing so much you can’t breathe. Flying over the moon so high you don’t need wings. That kind of thing.”

“All right. If you’re willing to get into that deep, dark confession territory-I have to admit, I’ve always been fond of sex.”

“No kidding?”

He tugged her hair. Gently. “But I can’t say I’ve ever experienced what we’ve been doing. The incendiary thing. The starting a fire that turns into an explosive, hot, uncontrollable thing. The wanting you beyond being able to think or speak or even care if the rest of the world were falling in.”

“See what I was saying? We just can’t do this again. It’s too dangerous.”

“You don’t think there’s any other answer?”

“Well…maybe we could just stay here. Right here. On this raft. Forever.”

She didn’t mean any of it of course, because she was a practical, serious, responsible person, always had been, always would be. But just then…she meant every word. She loved the banter. Loved the roll of his voice, the hush of it, the promise of it. She loved his tenderness. Who knew? That a man so full of the devil could have that much tenderness? Could show it?

Could share it.

She started to say something-then heard the buzz, saw the mosquito, and fast, slapped Griff’s shoulder.

“Uh-oh. Is the love affair over already?” he complained.

“I was helping you. I killed the mosquito before it got you.”

“Well, shoot. I thought we were both pretty well coated up with bug spray-but I suspect if they’re starting to land, we’d better get out of here.”

“Are you going to let me pole back?”

“Sugar, I’d let you do anything you wanted, anything you asked for. Just try me.”

“Oh, good. Because I was rethinking that jewelry business. I’ve never been that fond of diamonds, but I do like amethysts. All the colors of amethyst, purples and greens, the whole lot. Oh. And opals. I’ve never seen an opal I didn’t lust after. Rings, earrings, necklaces, bracelets…” He may or may not have noticed that she never wore jewelry, but roleplaying a greedy golddigger kept him chuckling as she poled them back.

It was fun. Figuring out how to make the raft move via the pole took a certain rhythm to figure out, but then it was like…dancing. Gliding into the darkness, with the white-silver ridge behind them, and the snowy moon speckling light through the leaves.

For tonight, Griff had done the impossible-made her forget fears and worries, fires and frauds. Not completely. But somehow, when she was with Griff, she believed everything would ultimately come out all right.

If that belief was irrational, she didn’t care.

When they reached shore, he tied up the raft, grabbed the armload of gear he’d brought, and still managed to find a hand to hold hers, climbing back up to the car. “You’re coming home with me tonight.”

He didn’t phrase it like a question, but she answered it that way. “Not a good idea.”

“Why.”

“Because…I need fresh clothes. I don’t have anything but what I’m wearing.”

“I’ve got a shirt you can put on. And a washer and dryer just like everyone else.”

“Louella will worry if I don’t come home. The darned woman waits up.”

“So you can phone her.”

“I can’t phone her! Then she’ll know I’m sleeping with you!”

“Ah. The puritan streak surfaces. But we can still solve that. I’ll phone her and tell her some lie. Like that you fell asleep while we were watching a Walt Disney movie, so I just let you crash on my couch.” He paused, apparently saw the “no” was still on her face. “Okay, sugar. Now what’s the real reason you don’t want to sleep over?”

“Because.” She climbed into the car seat, curled up, and strapped on the seat belt with a major yawn.

When he climbed in the other side, he reached over, kissed her, turned the key, and then resumed their mature conversation. “Because why?”

“Do I have to have a reason? Can’t a girl just say no?”

“Of course you can. But I won’t stop badgering you until you give me one.”

“Come on, Griff. The first time I met you, I told you to stay away from me. People love you here. And you’ve been standing by me, which I appreciate. But I don’t want you hurt by being with me. By being associated with me.”

He shot out on the highway. “I had a feeling it was a really dumb reason like that.”

“It’s not dumb.”

“You’re not dumb. You’re plenty smart. But that is a dumb reason. We’re in the South, sugar. A few are still concerned about who won the War of Aggression. But even if we don’t talk about it, grown-ups are generally allowed to be in love. To love. And if anyone had a problem with that, I wouldn’t want to know them. Or for you to waste your time on them. And-”

“And what?”

“And if you come home with me, we can take a shower together. You saw my shower room. It has seats. You can choose pulsing spray or rain or jets or any other speed of water you want. Any temperature you want. I’ve got towels thicker than your finger-”

“Stop.” She put her hand over her ears. “I can’t stand this level of temptation.”

“Good,” he murmured and took her home.