The Day He Kissed Her (Bad Boys of Crystal Lake 3)

“Bullshit. You ran as fast as those pretty legs of yours could carry you.”

She stared at him for a few seconds and then shrugged. “I was surprised to see him and didn’t want an awkward scene. You never told me he was coming, or I would have stayed home.”

“Uh-huh.”

“What?” Irritated, Lily stood and wiped her damp palms over her hips.

Jake followed suit. “I just think there’s more to it, is all.”

“Maybe you should try not thinking,” she retorted.

A slow grin crept over Jake’s face when he leaned close and tweaked her nose. “Maybe I should. But what would be the fun in that?”

“You two done flirting?”

Raine’s voice cut between the two of them, and Lily’s head shot up.

“Seriously,” Raine said with a soft laugh. “Half the town already thinks something is going on between the three of us.”

“Three of us?” Jake’s head whipped around.

“Yep,” Raine answered and held up three fingers. “I heard about it when I was in the hardware store the other day. I was in aisle six looking for barbecue utensils, and Mrs. Lester was in the garden-tool section. She was telling old man Lawrence that”—Raine made quotation marks with her fingers—“‘the Edwards boy was having his cake and eating it too, carrying on with those two women.’”

“Seriously?” Jake’s mouth hung open in shock.

Raine giggled. “She seemed quite scandalized at the thought, so I had to assure her that Lily and I traded off on a weekly basis.”

Lily bit her lip at the expression on Jake’s face.

“You know,” Raine continued, “so that she could sleep at night because technically the Edwards boy wasn’t having his cake and eating it at the same time.”

Jake moved toward Raine, his hands reaching for her. “You did not say that to Mrs. Lester.”

“I did,” Raine managed to squeak out before Jake’s lips silenced her.

Lily moved past them, a lump in her throat and an ache in her heart that she was getting more than a little tired of feeling. There was no point to it because when had she ever wanted that for herself?

When had she ever wanted love? Love was too complicated. Too painful and, besides, only in rare cases did it ever last. She hoped it worked out for Jake and Raine. She really did.

Lily took two more steps and halted when Mackenzie jumped back into the boat, his eyes on her, the look intense. He edged his way past Blair, whose ear was still tuned to the boat beside them and the guy who was complaining about garbage pickup.

“So, Boston,” Mackenzie said softly, dangerously, “looks like we’ll be spending the day together.”

“I don’t think so,” she managed to say. “I’m here with Blair.”

A slow smile swept over his face. It was the kind of smile that a girl had to beware of, because it was the kind of smile meant for one thing only—seduction.

Heat curled in her gut, pulling tight, and it took a lot to hold his gaze when everything inside her screamed, run!

“Sure you are,” he said. “But…”

“But?” She arched an eyebrow.

Mackenzie took the few steps needed to bring him within an inch of Lily. He’d already doffed his T-shirt, and his bare chest gleamed from the sunlight. The tattoo she’d noticed New Year’s Eve drew her eye—only for a moment—before she tore her gaze away from his left bicep and exhaled. Jesus, did the man have to smell as good as he looked?

He leaned forward, his breath caressing the side of her neck, sending a pack of goose bumps crawling down her flesh. Again, everything tightened inside her, and an ache began to pulse between her legs.

“Do you really think it matters who you came with?”