A Limited Engagement Read online

  “Derek. Can I speak with you for a moment?”

  He nearly hit his head on the underside of the hood when he heard his dad’s voice.

  “We’ve got to be going, anyway. Good catching up, man,” Bobby said.

  “Uh, sure.” Derek raised his beer to his buddies. “You guys need to come back later in the week. Maybe we can do this again.”

  Derek had never been comfortable with his dad, and tonight the tension was sky-high. At least his dad wasn’t one to beat around the bush. As soon as the other men left the garage, he let it fly.

  “I saw the Thomas Oil press release.”

  Derek sipped his beer and tried to read his dad’s expression. Had he figured out Derek’s plan to buy him out? He knew it was only a matter of time before his father put two and two together. Given the new sponsor interest, Derek hoped to delay giving him the ultimatum until he’d explored all those options. It would turn the home run he’d scored with Thomas Oil into a grand slam, making his victory all the sweeter.

  “Yeah.”

  His dad nodded, and Derek noticed for the first time how gray he’d gone at the temples. “Mark filled me in on the details. That was good work. A good solid deal.”

  Derek set his beer down. Was that a compliment? Those were rarer than hens’ teeth. “Thanks.”

  “My only question is, why all the secrecy?”

  “It came up suddenly. I just went with it.”

  “And Lilly? That came out of the blue, too? Seems like a big thing to decide on a whim. You’ve had feelings for this girl for a while?”

  Well, hell. Derek had expected his dad to use this opportunity to hammer him again in person about how his marriage was going to ruin the team and try to talk him out of it. Doling out fatherly advice had to be about the team—maybe to plant seeds of doubt in Derek’s mind about the engagement, rather than trying to bully him into ending it. Business was the only thing that mattered to Robert Sawyer.

  But Derek would go along with his dad’s game. For now.

  “I’ve heard you say more than once that the secret to being successful in business was to make a decision and then back it up with immediate and resolute action.”

  He gave a sad little smile. “Sounds like something I’d say.” He met Derek’s gaze. “But having a successful business and having a successful marriage are two different things, son.”

  “There you two are,” Derek’s mother said, walking around the car. “I wondered where you had disappeared to.”

  Derek simply stared at his father. He’d never spoken about relationships, other than to tell Derek that they got in the way of a man’s success. And he seemed sincere.

  His father’s worried expression fell away. “Just talking business, Judy.”

  “Oh, Robert. Who wants to talk business when there’s a wedding to discuss?”

  She hugged Derek. “I am so happy for you. You know we’ve always loved Lilly.”

  Guilt swept over him at the expression on her face. How could he hand Mama her greatest wish, then snatch it away again? He swallowed hard.

  “I know, Mama.”

  “I’m looking forward to getting to know her,” Robert said, holding out his hand to Derek to shake.

  Derek didn’t know what else to do, so he accepted his father’s olive branch and shook the older man’s hand.

  “Oh, that would be lovely,” his mom said. “We should get everyone together and start planning things. How long are you in town, Robert?”

  “I’ll be working out of the hotel for the next few weeks.”

  Derek was sure he’d fallen into a black hole and come out in some alternative universe. His father never worked outside the office. And he was double sure he had absolutely no interest in wedding planning. There had to be some ulterior motive. Derek just needed to figure out what it was.

  “Stay at the house,” Judy said. “It’s so big and empty now that the kids are grown and gone.”

  Okay, now Derek was sure the apocalypse was upon them. His parents sharing living space?

  Derek’s father turned to his ex-wife, and his expression softened. “Are you certain I wouldn’t be putting you out, Judy?”

  “Absolutely. In fact, I’ve been thinking of selling and moving into something smaller. Of course, now that there’s the possibility of little ones again…who knows? Maybe Lilly and Derek will even want to use the backyard for the wedding.” She beamed at Derek. “Maybe we can talk about it. I can show you what I was thinking of doing with the place.”

  “We’ll talk later,” Derek’s father said to him. “We have some things to discuss.” And he allowed Derek’s mother to pull him back into the house.

  Derek watched the couple walk away, his mother chattering away, his father actually appearing to listen for a change.

  Well, hell. Just when he thought he had everything figured out.

  …

  Shana did a great job running interference for Lilly whenever someone started to ask about the wedding plans. By the time the third keg was empty, people had begun to head home. Lilly was thankful it wasn’t Saturday. Saturday night parties, especially if the Bulldogs won, had been known to go until the sun came up. The sooner everyone stumbled home, the sooner Lilly and Derek could clear the air with their parents.

  Lilly looked around and saw her mother heading out the door.

  No, no, no. She wanted this done with tonight. She rushed over to them. “Are you leaving? Derek and I hoped we could talk to you privately after everyone left.”

  “Aunt Mary’s hip is bothering her so we’re going on back to the house.” She hugged Lilly tight.

  “Okay. I’ll, uh, see if I can catch a ride to the house later, I guess.”

  “Oh…I thought you’d be staying with Derek while you’re in town.”

  “I, uh, no. We’re not, I mean—”

  “Of course Lilly is staying here,” Derek said, wrapping an arm around her waist. “I’ll keep an eye on her.”

  “Thank you, Derek. We’re not total prudes, you know. You’re an engaged couple now.” She hugged Derek next. “Come by for supper tomorrow night. I want to know all the details about how you two ended up engaged without us even knowing you were seeing each other.”

  “Will do. Have a good night, Miss Maryanne. Drive safe.”

  Her mother smiled and hurried out the door.

  “I think your mother just gave me permission to make love to you,” Derek said once Lilly’s family was out of earshot. “She’s wanting us to get a head start on those grandbabies.”

  “Very funny.” Obviously Lilly’s family thought it had been a nonstop sex-fest all weekend. Ha. If they only knew the truth about how Lilly had thrown herself at Derek and been totally rejected. That was one for the family scrapbook.

  “Well, I guess we’ll have to tell my family tomorrow that there won’t be any grandbabies. You can still tell your parents tonight, though.”

  “About that,” he said. “Can we talk a minute?”

  Lilly’s stomach lurched. “What?”

  “Back here.” Derek took her hand and led her down the hallway to the master bedroom, shutting the door behind him.

  “What is going on, Derek?” It was hard to concentrate with the elephant, in the form of a massive oak sleigh bed, right in the center of the room. Lilly refused to look at it for fear her thoughts about Derek being naked in said bed might show up on her face for him to see. And then he’d reject her again, whether he had her mama’s permission or not. Mortifying.

  Derek rubbed the back of his neck. “There are some developments.”

  “Developments.” Lilly crossed her arms over her chest and glared at him. “Why do I get the feeling that you’re about to wiggle out of telling the parents about your big fat lie?”

  “It turns out there are a lot of companies that like the idea of sponsoring a solid, upstanding married man. That this whole thing has improved my image. Especially since you’re a hometown girl—a childhood sweetheart and all that.�
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  “We weren’t childhood sweethearts,” she pointed out. “You hated me.”

  “I never hated you,” he said.

  “Well, I was invisible, then.”

  “You were never invisible, Lilly. If I’d let myself look the way I wanted, I’d have realized what a smart, beautiful girl—woman—you were all along.”

  He tossed her a dazzling grin. The one he used to get whatever he wanted from any female in his sights from the time he was ten, whether it be help with his algebra homework, avoiding a detention, or removing a girl’s pink lace panties in the back of his Chevy.

  “That look is so not going to work on me.”

  “What look?”

  “You know the look. All sexy and sweet and with that grin that brings out your dimples. I’m your fake fiancée, not the real thing. I’m immune.”

  He dropped the grin. “Look, I think we should keep up this thing for a while longer.”

  “You’re unbelievable. Doesn’t it bother you to lie to your parents? All of our friends? You’re willing to keep lying just so you can buy a couple of race car tires?”

  His grin faded. Something else was nagging at him.

  “What?”

  “It’s my mom. I’ve never seen her this…happy. She’s never hidden the fact that she wanted me to meet a nice girl and settle down. Getting engaged to you made her day. Her year. I’m not in a hurry to crush her happiness. Especially since Dad’s here, too.”

  “I was surprised to see him. How long has it been since he and your mom have been in the same state, let alone the same house?”

  “Not since Shana was conceived, probably. He wasn’t around at all while we were growing up, even before the divorce. I’m not entirely sure what he’s doing here now.” She knew his parents’ split had wounded him. She just hadn’t realized how much until this whole thing started. “He’s up to something.”

  Lord, nothing was ever easy with Derek. She chewed her lip. “I get that you don’t want to hurt your mom, but the longer this goes on, the more crushed she’s going to be. Why can’t we just tell the parents now and tell everyone else later?”

  “Because then we’d be putting them in the position of keeping our secret. It’s best if it stays between us.”

  “And Shana.”

  “You told Shana?”

  “She’s my best friend.” Lilly shifted her weight. “Look, I can see that this whole thing is not completely motivated by selfishness.”

  “Oh, thanks.”

  “But really, Derek, how far are we willing to go with this? I mean, what if we let this go and everyone keeps thinking we’re engaged for, say, six months. Are we going to plan a wedding? Rent a tux? Walk down the aisle just to give a guy a job or make sponsors happy or please our parents?”

  “I just need a few days. A week at the most. That’ll let me see if we can get some more sponsors to sign on before I drop the bomb on Dad about buying out the team. Then we’ll tell everyone the truth.”

  “That’s exactly what you said to me a few hours ago when we agreed we’d tell our parents right after this happy little shindig.”

  He sighed deeply and sat on the side of the bed. “I know. And I understand if you don’t want to do this anymore. You’ve been a trouper through all this. And if we stay fake-engaged, it’ll only get crazier. Maybe we should just issue a statement saying it was all a misunderstanding.”

  “What about Thomas Oil? That’s why we did this in the first place. Won’t he pull funding if he finds out we lied, after he made a big deal about it at the party and all?”

  “I have no idea. He might.”

  “I don’t care what strangers believe,” Lilly said, and sat down beside him on the bed. “And I don’t want you to lose funding for your team just because you were trying to get the sponsor’s daughter to keep her hands to herself.” She chewed at her lip. “But I don’t want to lie to our parents, either. What a mess.”

  He nodded. “I’m sorry. Sorry for everything. For dragging you into this. For not realizing it would explode in the media once they got shots of us picking out a ring at Tiffany’s. For making you lie to your parents.” He shrugged. “You’ll get used to being in the spotlight. You just need to be aware that your every little action is observed, documented, and commented on. I’ll protect you as much as I can, but there are over 70,000 race fans on my Facebook page and every one of them is going to be curious about the woman I’m engaged to.”

  “I know.” She chewed her lip. Moments like these were the reason she’d crushed on him so hard for a good chunk of her life. Moments when he dropped the cool act and was just Derek. “Let me sleep on it, okay? We’ll hold off on telling anyone anything for tonight, and tomorrow we’ll figure out what the best thing to do is.”

  “Fair enough.” He stood up. “And thanks again. For everything. You’re really an amazing person, you know?”

  “I don’t feel amazing. I feel like a fraud.”

  “It’ll all be over soon,” he said. Was that a note of sadness in his voice, rather than the glee he should be feeling in ditching her and getting back to racing? “I’ve missed you. After this is all over, we need to keep in touch more. Chat once in a while. Let me vet your boyfriends from now on. Like I always did for Shana.”

  “Oh, right. Because that worked out so well.”

  He scoffed. “It worked out great!”

  “Uh…she’s still single.”

  “I’ve got my eye on someone for her.”

  “So now you’re a matchmaker, too? Where do you find the time between driving, owning a team, fulfilling your duties as racing’s sexiest bachelor, acquiring fake fiancées, and perpetrating huge shams on the press?”

  “It’s a challenge, but I make time,” he said, pulling her to her feet. “Come on. Let’s kick everyone out of the house and go to bed.”

  She froze. Bed.

  “Don’t worry. I have three spare bedrooms. And there’s no Serena to send me running for your bed again. You’re perfectly safe tonight.”

  He was standing way too close to her, and he was still holding her hand. She made the mistake of looking up at him. Her gaze went to his mouth, remembering how hot his lips had felt on her bare flesh just twenty-four hours ago. She remembered how hard his body was, how his hands set her skin on fire. She wet her lips.

  “If you’re going to keep looking at me like that, you might want to lock that bedroom door tonight.”

  He squeezed her hand, then let her go and headed back to the party.

  Chapter Nine

  “What a morning,” Lilly said, sliding into the sticky booth across from Shana at their favorite teenage hangout, Peggy’s Pizza Palace. She stifled a yawn.

  “My brother keeping you up nights?” Shana asked, a naughty smile on her face.

  “Not in the way you think,” she said, thinking of how it was her conscience that kept her up all night, not a hot man. She’d crashed in one of the spare bedrooms as soon as the last guest had stumbled out of the house, but Derek had driven a few people home who were too sloshed to drive.

  “You know, this could work out,” Shana said, poking at the ice cubes in her drink with her straw.

  “What could work out?”

  “As long as you’re cohabitating with Derek, you ought to just go for it. You’ve always had a thing for him. This might be your only chance to do something about it before he flies off again for Bora Bora or wherever.”

  Lilly inwardly rolled her eyes. She’d tried that, and it had most definitely not worked out, but she wasn’t about to share that with anyone. Not even Shana.

  “I don’t think he’s into me like that.”

  “He’s a guy. He’s into every woman that way. I saw the way he was looking at you last night at the party.”

  “Yeah, like he was afraid I was going to spill his secret any moment and the whole town would turn on him with pitchforks and torches.”

  “Not going to happen. He’s a hometown hero. Besides, it might be ju
st what you need to regain your confidence after the whole Richard situation. Get your groove back.”

  Deflect and redirect. “Maybe. But tell me what’s been going on with you. Any new guys in town?

  Shana happily chatted about all the gossip Lilly had missed since she’d last been home and it took her mind off things for a little bit. She was laughing over the town marshal’s frustration with the latest Peeping Tom case when her cell rang. She automatically dug it out of her purse, then frowned at the 312 area code.

  “My brother checking up on you?”

  “No. It’s actually my office. Former office.”

  “Go ahead,” Shana said.

  “Thanks.” Lilly clicked the phone on. “Hello?”

  “Lillian. I’ve been trying to reach you all weekend.”

  Lilly’s mind stuttered at Richard’s once-familiar voice. Had it always been so nasal?

  “What do you need, Richard?”

  “You,” he said with a huge expulsion of breath.

  “What?” Surely after everything that had been said—and thrown—he wasn’t trying to patch things up.

  “Ever since the news of your engagement broke, Mr. Applewhite’s executive assistant has been calling the office on the hour demanding to have your contact information.”

  George Applewhite had been Lily’s biggest client, and she had been smack in the middle of working on a huge campaign for him when the unfortunate telephone incident had happened. Even though he’d made a fortune in picnic supplies and toilet paper, he was still a good ol’ Georgia boy at heart. And that was why he’d been drawn to Lilly to begin with, she suspected. She was a little piece of home. He’d requested she head up his campaign.

  “Did you explain that I was no longer with the company?” she asked in clipped tones.

  “I said you resigned, of course. RSG didn’t want any of the clients to know that one of their top ad executives had been let go for assault and battery.”

  She dug her nails into her palms. She itched to point out that the unfortunate incident had happened in the first place because Richard was such a slime bag. But Willa, their waitress, hovered nearby. She was eavesdropping.