Free One Hit Wonderful by Hannah Murray Page A

tried to heave the mattress off himself, and that set her off all over again.
    “Ah, excuse me.”
    Lily looked up to see Nate MacIntyre standing at the truck opening, and sent him a weak wave.
    “Yeah, hi.” With the sun behind his head, she couldn’t quite make out his face, but he sounded as though he was smiling. “Need a hand?”
    “I’m fine,” she managed then went off again as the mattress twitched violently.
    “You’re sure?”
    “Hey!” The shout was muffled, but the irritation in it came through loud and clear. “I could use a damn hand!”
    Lily simply collapsed with laughter. When she managed to calm down enough to breathe again and wiped her streaming eyes, Nate had lifted the mattress off Charles, helped him to his feet, and both men were watching her with vastly different expressions.
    Charles glared. “Are you having fun?”
    “I’m really sorry,” Lily said, and fought to keep her lips from twitching. “Really. Are you okay? You didn’t bump your head, did you?”
    “No, I didn’t bump my damn head,” he practically snarled. “But I’m considering giving yours a smack.”
    Before she could answer, Nate cleared his throat. “I hate to interrupt,” he said dryly, his own lips twitching at Charles’ pithy response to that. “But can someone tell me why my dog is hiding under the sofa?”
    “Oh, is he scared?” Lily’s face went soft with concern, and she struggled to gain her feet. “Thanks,” she said, and took Nate’s proffered helping hand. Charles simply crossed his arms over his chest and glared harder. “Is Beau okay?”
    “He’s a little spooked, but he’s fine,” Nate assured her. His eyes twinkled at her with amusement. “Did he fall asleep in here?”
    “How’d you know?”
    “He panics when you wake him up,” Nate explained.
    “Oh, poor puppy,” Lily said. “I should go apologize.”
    “Apologize? You’re going to go apologize to the dog?” Charles glared at both of them when they turned to face him. “I’m the one who got smothered, why isn’t anyone apologizing to me?”
    “Charles, Beau couldn’t help it,” Lily soothed. “He’s just a dog, and he got scared.”
    Charles, sounding as though he had lockjaw, said, “I wasn’t talking about the dog.”
    Lily folded her lips to contain the smile. She recognized the snit her friend was working himself into, and knew if she didn’t handle it carefully, there would be some very big groveling in her future. “Charles, I am so sorry. I wasn’t really laughing at you but at the situation. See, the puppy was so cute, scrabbling to get out, and—”
    “Stop.” Charles held up a hand. “You were laughing at me. And then you didn’t even get up to help me.”
    “I’d fallen,” she explained, eyes as wide and innocent looking as she could make them. She hoped they’d detract from her twitching lips. “When the mattress fell, it knocked me down, and I hit my head. And then I was sort of pinned and couldn’t get up.”
    “Oh, you hit your head?” Charles gave her a look of exaggerated sympathy. “Poor baby.”
    “Charles, you look like you could use a cool drink,” Nate interjected smoothly, and the only sign of his own mirth were his dancing eyes. “Would you like to come up to the house for a bottle of water, or maybe a strawberry smoothie?”
    Charles favored Nate with a genuine smile. “Thank you, Nate, that’s very civilized of you. But I think I’m going to go home. I have a date to get ready for, and I have no desire to make myself late for it by helping out my ungrateful ex-friend here.”
    He sniffed triumphantly at Lily’s alarmed expression. “Good luck getting the truck back by six,” he sneered, and turning on his heel with the precision of a five-star general, made his grand exit.
    Lily found her voice and dashed to the open end of the truck just as Charles was getting into his car. “If it makes you feel any better, I think I cracked a rib laughing!” she