Lilah's List

A DJ pumped mellow dance music through the speakers, loud enough to catch a rhythm but not so loud as to curb conversations.

“Um, you’re probably wondering why you found us trying to crash this party, huh?” Angie started.

“Since you mentioned it…”

“We’re kind of on a mission. Tell him, Lilah.”

Lilah blanched and gave her friend a stunned look.

Tyler tried to break the ice. “Like a scavenger hunt?”

Lilah gulped. “Yeah, sort of. Um, when I was sixteen I made this list of things I wanted to do before I turned thirty.”

Tyler nodded. He was thirty-two, which meant the big three-oh had to be just around the corner for Lilah.

“My birthday’s in two weeks, and I thought it might be nice to finish off The List.”

“And something on your list involves this club?” Tyler couldn’t help noticing that Lilah seemed mortified. He wanted to ease her embarrassment, but he didn’t know how when he didn’t even know what she was trying not to say.

“A couple of things, actually.” She pulled a PDA phone out of her purse and showed him the illuminated screen. “Crash a party and…uh, something else.”

“What’s the other thing?” He couldn’t keep himself from asking.

“It’s actually pretty convenient that we ran into you because it involves your brother Reggie,” Angie said, trying to help Lilah along.

“Ah, I see…” He should have known.

If it were possible, Lilah seemed even more embarrassed. “Keep in mind, I started this list when I was sixteen.” She scrolled her PDA screen and handed him the phone.

Item number one on her list was date Reggie Martin. For some reason that Tyler couldn’t define, his heart sank.

He’d known she’d had a crush on his brother back in high school. He’d even tried to get his brother to acknowledge that fact, but he’d insisted that Tyler was reading too much into the situation.

Lilah rushed to explain herself. “I know it sounds absurd. He probably has a girlfriend or fiancée or something. I just thought, maybe, as a favor to a high school friend, we could have drinks or something. That way I can cross this off my list with minimal intrusion on his life.”

Tyler couldn’t help himself. He threw his head back and laughed. When he saw the hurt expression on her face, he immediately brought himself under control. “I’m sorry. Yes, he’s single. I’m sure some sort of meeting that will qualify as a date won’t be a problem.”

Lilah was visibly relieved and Tyler felt his stomach muscles clench as she asked, “Is he here tonight? We heard that he might be here.”

“Yeah, he’s supposed to meet me here. He’s probably in the VIP area, wherever that might be. Hold on.”

Tyler pulled out his cell phone and punched the speed dial for his brother.

“Yo,” Reggie answered with his standard greeting.

“Where are you? I’m at the club, and I don’t see you.”

“I’m downstairs in the VIP. Come down.”

“Actually, I’m up here with a couple of women who would like to talk to you.”

“Nice. Brother, you work fast. Are they hot?”

Tyler let his gaze slide over to the two women watching him expectantly. He turned his back, feeling heat creep up his neck. “Of course.”

Angie, tall and willowy with her wild explosion of curls, was definitely beautiful, if you liked that funky art-student vibe. Lilah, on the other hand, was petite and curvy with luminous pale skin and honey-colored hair. She hadn’t changed much since high school. In fact, if he hadn’t known better, he would have sworn that she was still in high school.

The only really noticeable changes were her eyes. They no longer held the open invitation he used to see there. Now, they were clearly marked Do Not Disturb. She’d been burned by someone.

But then again, who hadn’t? It was only a matter of time for most people anyway.

“Do you want me to bring them down?”

“Nah, if they’re the clingy type, once they’re in, I’ll never shake them off. I’ll come up. Give me ten.”

“Great. We’ll get a table…er, bed and wait for you.”

He clicked the phone shut and turned back to the girls. “He’ll meet us up here in ten minutes. I’ll see about finding us a spot to hang out.”

Angie shook her shoulder so hard, Lilah thought her arm might fall off. “See, this worked out just like I said it would.”

Lilah snorted. “Not just like you said it would. Besides, it hasn’t ‘worked out’ yet.”

“Come on, what are the odds of Tyler Martin coming to our rescue of all people? For a split second, I actually thought it was Reggie coming up behind us.”

“You’re not the only one.” Lilah decided that it was her state of shock that accounted for her sudden loss of breath at the sight of Tyler.

Her memory of him hadn’t done him justice. She’d gotten the basic stats right in her mind’s eye—tall, dark-skinned, the same chestnut-brown eyes that Reggie had. But the real beauty lay in the details.

He was so much taller than she’d remembered. Sure, she was all of five-foot-two herself, but Tyler seemed to loom in the night like a dark tower in a black overcoat. And his skin was dark, but it glowed like burnished wood—clear and smooth.

And those light-brown eyes were not so much brooding as she’d remembered, but intense. He’d always looked at her as though he could see everything inside her. Like she was emotionally naked before him. It was one of the things that she’d always found so disturbing about him.

She’d never thought of Tyler as handsome—certainly not compared to Reggie. But her memory had gotten that one wrong, too. He was definitely handsome. Not in the smooth-faced, curly lashed, flash-those-pearly-whites way that Reggie was good-looking.

Tyler simply had a face that was well put together. A strong jaw with just the hint of stubble, a nose that was pointed without being too sharp, deep-set eyes and thick lips, and his hair rounded into a tight, business-like fade.

Sexy. The word flashed in her brain and was gone, like a subliminal ad.

“We gotta get some drinks in you,” Angie said, tugging her arm. “You’re so nervous you’re practically catatonic.”

“I’d rather have some food. I’m starving.”

“This place is also a restaurant. I’m sure we can get you something, eventually. The drinks are necessary now. We have to make sure you can actually speak when Reggie gets up here. You’re so stiff, you could be made of cardboard.”

“We can’t leave. Tyler’s coming back for us.”

“Fine. You wait here. I’ll hit the bar. You still like appletinis, right?”