Bound to the Bachelor by Sarah Mayberry Page A

to have developed a bad case of leaky eye syndrome. Molly blew her nose noisily and then started when she saw the time.
    “I’ve got to go. I left Josh at a friend’s place and I promised I wouldn’t be long.”
    “You decided to do the play date thing, then?” It was something Molly had discussed with her in the lead up to the auction. Molly had had a number of invitations from Josh’s friends and their parents since Josh had come home, but she’d been battling her natural protectiveness, worried his needs wouldn’t be met or something might go wrong.
    “I can’t wrap him in cotton wool, right? It’s too late for that,” Molly said sadly. “He’s so freakin’ courageous, the least I can do is pretend some of that has rubbed off on me.”
    “He’ll be fine. It’ll be good for both of you to have lives of your own.”
    “I don’t want a life of my own. I just want Josh to be well.”
    “Not mutually exclusive concepts, in case you hadn’t noticed.”
    Molly stood and reached for her coat. “Which brings us full circle to what you let happen last night.”
    “Talk to Josh. I am but an innocent facilitator of a young man’s dreams and aspirations.”
    Molly pretended to sneeze into her hand while uttering the word “bullshit”.
    Lily smiled. “You teach kids with that mouth? Disgusting.”
    “I’ll tell you what’s disgusting – hanging out with someone who used to take her clothes off for a living.”
    Lily’s smile turned into a grin. “You’re right, that is disgusting. Shame on you, Ms. Dekker.”
    They hugged and kissed goodbye, both grinning like loons.
    “Tell Josh I’ll see him Wednesday night,” Lily said.
    She’d gotten into the habit of dropping by to hang with him so Molly could run errands if she needed to or just have some alone time.
    “Will do. See you then.”
    Lily waited until her friend had disappeared into the elevator at the end of the hallway before shutting the door and leaning back against it. After a couple of weeks of hectic, sometimes crazy scrambling, the auction was over, and normal life could resume. There were no people to call, no bachelors to wrangle, no commitments to juggle. If she wanted to, she could spend the whole day in her pajamas watching bad reality TV shows.
    She pushed away from the door. She was pretty sure she had a bunch of ‘Say Yes to the Dress’ episodes stockpiled. She was going to make herself a ton of peanut butter toast and float away on a sea of fit-and-flare gowns and demanding brides-to-be.
    It wasn’t until she was sinking onto the couch with a plate full of toast, the remote in her other hand, that she remembered her duties around the auction weren’t quite over yet. She still had to survive her date with Beau Bennett. Just the two of them, alone all day.
    A little shiver ran up her spine, making the small hairs on the back of her neck stand on end.
    Revulsion , she told herself.
    She almost believed it, too.

Chapter Five
    ‡
    T he sky was dark gunmetal grey when Beau pulled up in front of Lily’s apartment building the following Saturday morning. Sunrise was still half an hour off, but the weather bureau had promised a clear day with low wind chill and the chance of sunshine. Perfect skiing weather.
    With any luck, he could show Lily a good time today, then deliver her back to her doorstep and consider his duty done. They could go back to smart-ass digs at ten paces and mutual disdain, and the world would be restored to its natural balance.
    He switched the engine off and was about to exit the car when the passenger door opened, startling him. Lily leaned in and tossed a puffy ski jacket onto the rear seat before climbing in. She didn’t look at him once as she pulled on the seat belt.
    “Okay. Let’s get this over with,” she said.
    Her sweater was raspberry red, her ski-pants black. She was wearing a fluffy white beanie over her dark hair, which she’d left down over her shoulders. A warm, soft floral scent