Page 16 of Tempting as Sin
Rafe stepped carefully. “I couldn’t now that I know both of you, especially if you were together. If you were alone, I still think I’d come out all right, but maybe you shouldn’t test me yet. What do you think about this film, then, Jace?”
“We should watch one of yours,” was Paige’s next unhelpful contribution. “One Lily hasn’t seen.”
“I’m guessing,” Rafe said, “that she hasn’t seen any.”
“You’re guessing right,” Lily said, and that was all.
“They’re not all violent,” Paige said. “We could find one where he’s showing his softer side. What’s that one where you were pretending to be a teacher, Rafe?”
“I still kill two people in that one,” he said. “Nah. We’ll let Lily choose something else. She didn’t get her date tonight, which is a pity for both of them, because I’m guessing that bloke’s looking back at whatever he did wrong and kicking himself. I’m happy going with her choice here.”
Lily smiled again, as cool and distant as the moon, and said, “Thank you. I know exactly what I want to watch.”
Which was how they ended up withIndiscreet.And why Rafe spent a rainy evening watching Cary Grant lying his handsome head off to Ingrid Bergman and digging an ever-deeper hole for his wayward heart, while Jace stroked Paige’s hair, she fell asleep, and Lily curled up across from him in her chair, as beautiful and blonde and serene as Ingrid had ever been, and didn’t forgive him.
By morning, Lily was fine. She was fine. It had been a surprise, that was all. If she hadn’t slept well, that was a sign that she needed to go home, where she could drop the mask. She hadn’t worn it for more than three years. She’d forgotten how heavy it was.
She was here now, though, so she got up early, helped Jace cook breakfast with the seven eggs that had survived the boot-heel-in-the-dock fiasco, gave Paige a hug and kiss goodbye before she took off for work, recognized the ache in her heart for what it was—that she was no longer the most important person in her sister’s life, and that that was a good thing—and then sat down to have a second cup of coffee instead of running away.
It was a boat. You couldn’t exactly go far. Anyway, she was tired of running.
Jace picked up his own mug and told his brother, “I need to give Lily a lift to the airport in an hour, mate, but we could go to the gym afterwards. You could show me the latest werewolf-muscle moves. My workout’s getting pretty stale.”
“I should be getting back to LA myself,” Rafe said, “and letting you get back to the book. I just dropped by on impulse, you could say, to touch base and meet Paige.”
Jace eyed him for a long moment. “Yeah, mate,” he finally said. “I’m not going to pursue that. You know her now.”
Rafe left that alone. He was subtle, that was for sure. As controlled as Jace, but with the varnished finish instead of the rustic one. “You know,” he said, “you could come visitme.Both of you. Or just use one of my places. You say you’re all good now, so I reckon that means you don’t need to hide out in the bush anymore. Besides, travel broadens the mind, even if it’s only kipping at your brother’s house.”
Lily stood up and said, “I’ll go check my packing.”
“Nah,” Jace said. “This isn’t going to be an awkward moment. I’m about to remind Rafe that, first, all four of us are going to Oz next month, which was my idea, and second, my mind’s already been broadened by travel.”
Rafe snorted. “Yeah, right. Army bases don’t count, and neither does fast-roping out of a helicopter to kill people. I’m not going to win, though,” he told Lily, his voice nothing but casual, like all of this was no more than a blip in his charmed life, “so I’ll drop it and tell Jace that I’m going to bugger off, because he’s getting that book-thoughts look again, and I’ll see all of you in a few weeks anyway. Also that if I take you to the airport, he can get back to it that much faster.”
She accepted. What else could she do? But when the cables of the Golden Gate Bridge were flashing by once again and she was looking out at a choppy sea that still stretched all the way to Japan andnotthinking about the thrill she’d felt when she’d run from him like Cinderella and wondered if he’d come after her, she said, “Let’s get something straight. I’m going to Australia because Jace invited me to help Paige, and Paige wants me there, because she’s nervous, even if she’ll never show it. If you come along, I’ll be polite to you because of the same thing. Jace is the best thing that’s ever happened to her, and she’s the most important person in the world to me.”
“And that’s it,” he said. “Even though I explained.”
“That’s it. Because I explained, too. I wanted Clay Austin, but you aren’t Clay Austin. Too bad, because he did it for me. I’m sure the movie will do great. He’s an appealing character. All that down-home charm.”
A long, long pause, and when she glanced over at him, because she couldn’t help it, his knuckles showed white on the steering wheel. “I’m not going to beg,” he finally said. “I’m going to say, though, that your standards are pretty bloody high.”
She gasped. She shouldn’t have, but she did anyway. If she didn’t open the door and fling herself from the car, it was because he was driving sixty miles an hour, and she didn’t want to die. “You’re right,” she said. “Idofind that ‘lying liar’ isn’t on my Perfect Man checklist. I’m obviouslywaytoo picky. Thank you for pointing that out.”
He laughed, a short bark of a thing. She whipped her head around and glared at him, and he said, “Sorry. But every time I think I’m dealing with a wounded doe, you surprise me.”
“And,” she said, sweetly once more, “every time I’ve thought thatyouwere a twelve-point buck instead of a coyote, you’ve surprisedme.”
“Reckon I earned that.”
“Reckon you did.” She shut her mouth before she could say anything else. No need to get carried away with this “bitchy” thing.
Silence for a few minutes, while she looked out the window at San Francisco, sparkling bright and clean today after the rain, and then he said, “You may want to take a look at this week’sPeoplemagazine at the airport. The piece on the cover should make you happy. My agent sent it to me a couple days ago. The headline says, ‘Superhero to Zero.’ Clever, I thought.”
“Oh? What did you do?”
He glanced at her. “You don’t know.”
