Move the Sun (Signal Bend #1)(66)

Isaac took especial pleasure in introducing Lilli around. Many were surprised; Isaac wasn’t known as a tied-down kind of guy. But they recovered their wits quickly upon talking to Lilli for half a minute. She was light and easy, knowing as if by instinct that she could unleash her sense of humor around this crowd, and she had just about everybody she met charmed. She seemed charmed herself. Isaac felt good. He could almost—almost—set aside his cares.

While Lilli went to the campsite to rig up the electric and pay for some bundles of firewood, Isaac was setting up his tent, hammering in the guy wires on the last pole, when he felt feminine hands on his back.

Not Lilli—the scent of gardenias was strong behind him. Lucinda. Fuck. He hadn’t thought about Lucinda.

“Hey, lover.” It was her best, silkiest sex voice, whispered in his ear. Her hands crept down his spine and into the back of his jeans. He stood up, removing her fingers, and turned around.

“Hey, Cin.”

Lucinda made very pretty sterling silver and gemstone jewelry. Her work more craft than art, she didn’t do the juried shows, but she’d been Isaac’s fairly regular art show f*ck for five or six years. She was a good-looking woman. Mid-forties, about five-six, long hair streaked just about every shade of blonde, but done artfully and attractively. Light brown, almost tawny eyes. Narrow hips, and not much ass, but tits for miles. She dressed in very snug jeans—Isaac knew exactly how snug, since he’d peeled them off scores of times—and flowing, filmy tops that showed lots of shoulder and cleavage. She knew her assets. She also





modeled her own jewelry, so she wore rings on every finger, lots of earrings, a prominent pendant, and several inches of bracelets on each wrist. She could be heard coming a half-mile away. And yet, he hadn’t heard her. He’d been too preoccupied. Just as he’d been too preoccupied to remember her at all and give Lilli a heads-up about her.

Now, she stepped up against him and hooked her beringed hands around his neck, raising up on her tiptoes for a kiss. Luckily, she still couldn’t reach unless he bent down, because just then he saw Lilli returning, walking down the lane that was emerging between the tents going up. He put his hands around Lucinda’s waist and set her back.

“Sorry, Cin. I’m with somebody.”

She snorted. “Right. Like that’ll ever happen.” She stepped toward him again, and he held her off, giving her a warning look. She drew her brows together. “What—you’re serious? You brought a f*ck with you?”

The surprising urge to give her a slap for that remark came over him, but he mastered it. Lilli drawing ever nearer, and very obviously paying attention, Isaac leaned down close to growl, “No. I brought my old lady with me. We’re done, Cin.”

Wait— old lady? The words surprised Isaac almost as much as they clearly surprised Lucinda, who drew back, gave him a killing glare, muttered, “Asshole,” and stalked off—in Lilli’s direction.

Isaac watched as Lilli gave her an absolutely brilliant smile and continued on. Lucinda stopped, turned and watched Lilli approach him. He was suddenly living his own special soap opera, set in hell.

Lilli walked straight up to him, muttered, “Make it good, pal,” and yanked his head down to kiss him hard. Feeling a little sorry for Cin, he obliged and wrapped his arms around Lilli, bending her backwards a little and kissing her until she was breathless. He raised his eyes mid-kiss to see Cin spin away and storm to her own booth.

Well, he now knew that his woman was the jealous type. Hopefully, Cin would behave, and the weekend wouldn’t become unnecessarily interesting.

He pulled up and set her back. “Feel better?”

Lilli put her hands on her hips. “And she is?”

“Lucinda. Old news.”

“Well, next chance you get, you might want to let Lucinda Old News know that I can break her neck with the heel of one hand.” She walked into his booth and opened a box of carved flowers. “Will there be more like her?”

Isaac found Lilli’s jealousy highly erotic. He’d hated possessive women. He’d learned that early on, and he’d kept to f*ck buddies for years, dropping any of them the second he scented possessiveness. But Lilli’s possession he found entirely wonderful. It opened up something in his chest to feel claimed by her—and that’s what that kiss had been. A claiming. He shifted his very erect cock in his jeans, trying to find a more comfortable and more subtle position. “Unlikely. I’m sorry, Sport. I honestly didn’t even think about her.”

As sexy as it was, he didn’t want it to turn into a problem. Wanting to pull their boat into safer waters, he stepped behind her and pulled her close. His mouth on her ear, taking in the smell of her, so different, so much more natural, so much better than Cin’s cloying gardenias, he murmured, “My head’s so full of you, there’s no room for anybody else.”

She laughed, and turned toward his mouth. “Smooth.” He captured her lips in his, and knew in the way she yielded that their weird little moment was over. Her breath tickling his lips, she whispered, “You should know that I always got bad marks in sharing.”

He turned her in his arms and clutched her chest to him. “So did I, baby.”

oOo

The first night bonfire, when everyone was feeling energized for the coming show, and happy to be reunited with old friends, was a riotous affair. Isaac had found himself . . . distracted as Lilli stood in the camper and changed from shorts to jeans, so by the time they got to the fire, Isaac carrying a cooler full of beer, the fire was in full, glorious burn, and people were deep into their cups. This park had a lake and swimming beach, and the bonfire was set up not too far away, so there were some swimmers, clad and not, in the water as well.