by Blair Grey
Her heart raced inside her chest. “I do.”
“That’s because I’m so excited to see you.” Placing my hand on top of her thigh, she sighed as she laid her hand over it to keep it in place. “Seriously, forget about my family. They’re dramatic is all. They sit around watching Spanish novellas all day long, is why they’re that way. But you should’ve called or texted me that you were coming. I would’ve met you outside, so you didn’t have to deal with their craziness.” Glancing sideways at me, she went on, “So, why did you come back to my house unannounced anyway?”
“Not to make all of you guys pissed at me, that’s for sure.” I’d fucked up royally. But maybe I can fix it, at least a little. “I was thinking about you while sitting in my hotel room. And I thought about your son as well. It brought me back to my days on the baseball team. I don’t know if Tommy is into that or not, but I just thought that it might be fun for him and me if I taught him how to pitch. That’s a good thing to know how to do, even if he never plays baseball.”
A slow smile curved her lips. As I watched the smile creep over her entire face, I realized she didn’t have any makeup on. And she was wearing sweatpants and a t-shirt. She’d been getting ready for bed too when I showed up. What an idiot!
“That’s nice of you.” She sniffed the flowers again. “All of this was really sweet of you. I’m sorry that you had to deal with all that.”
Me too.
“It’s not a big deal. I’m sure they’ll like me once they get to know me.” I gripped her thigh a bit. “You do want them to get to know me, right?”
“You think you’re going to be around long enough for something like that?” She winked at me. “You’re only here for a few months, you know.”
“Baltimore isn’t that far away.” I wanted her to know that I wasn’t going to just forget about her when I left. “Even when our training is over, I’m not going to want to end what we have.”
“We don’t even know what we have, Clyde Karol.” The way her eyes sparkled let me know that she thought we had some kind of a rare spark too.
Then let’s find out what it is we have, Tequila Rose.
Chapter Twelve
Tequila
My heart still hadn’t slowed down even a little. Why did he just show up like that?
The man had more balls than he knew what to do with. I’d never met a man with as much cahonas as Clyde Thomas had. Had he been anyone else, I would’ve already chewed him up and spit him out for thinking he could do whatever the hell he wanted where I was concerned.
He seemed determined to speed things up with me. Which was good in a way but bad in other ways. “We’ve got something, Tequila and you know it too. I can see right through you, girl.”
Shit, I hope not!
Batting my lashes that had no mascara left on them as I’d showered, washing off all of my makeup, I wasn’t sure what to say to him. I wanted him to think exactly the way he was thinking. So far, I’d managed to get him where I wanted him. But now what was I supposed to do? “Oh, yeah?” Oh, God. So lame.
“Yeah.” He jerked his head toward the flashing neon lights of the crappy bar near my house. “Is this the place you were talking about?”
“Yeah, this is it.” It was the lowest dive in D.C. “I’ve only been here once.”
“Hope so.” He kept driving by. “We’re not going there.” Giving my thigh a little squeeze, he added, “How about something other than liquor? Maybe a chocolate milkshake?”
I couldn’t have sugar so late when there was no time to burn it off. “That’s kinda heavy this late. I can’t stay out. How about we just take a little cruise around the area here and talk. You must’ve wanted to talk to me about something if you came all the way over here.”
Pulling into a drive-in fast food place, he pulled into an empty space. “How about I have a milkshake and you can have whatever you want or nothing at all? And talking was what I wanted to do. But I had no topic of conversation on queue.” Moving the vase of flowers to a cupholder in the backseat, he pushed the middle console up, leaving nothing but empty space between us. “Mostly, I just wanted to hang out with you.”
Damn. Why does he have to be so sweet?
“You missed me, huh?” Sliding up close to his side, I ran my fingertips along the collar of his shirt. “But we spent so much time together today. I thought you’d be tired of me already.”
“Not a chance in hell.” His lips grazed mine as I gazed up at him adoringly.
Just as my heart had slowed down, the kiss sped it back up. “You’re going to give me a heart attack if you keep this up.”
“I think you’ll be okay.” His arm moved around my shoulders, pulling me in closer as his lips took mine again.
“Do you guys need any extras?” a woman’s high voice broke our moment.
Pulling his mouth away from mine, he frowned then turned to look at the carhop who stood at his window. “We haven’t ordered anything to even know what extras we might want. But thank you.” He reached into a little nook on his dashboard and pulled out a five-dollar bill. “Here you go, though.”
The skinny teen smiled as she took the money and left us alone. “Thanks.”
“You sure made her happy,” I let him know.
He looked back at me with sultry green eyes. “How about you? Have I made you happy too?”
Let me see. You showed up at my house, unannounced. My family now knows about you. And there will be lots of things I will have to answer for when I get back home. So… “Yes, you’ve made me very happy.” Puckering up, I took his face between my palms and pulled him in for another kiss.
I had to admit that his kisses were the best I’d ever had. And his hands left trails of molten lava on my skin. And I must’ve done something to him as well as he couldn’t seem to get enough of touching me.
His hands moved all over me as our kiss went deeper. But then the speaker underneath the menu squawked, “We’re about to close in a half-hour. If you want to make an order, this is your last chance to do it.”
“What a pleasant place I’ve found here,” he whispered as his eyes rolled. “I’ll take a cheeseburger – no pickles, no onions, and extra lettuce. Mayo and mustard and toast the buns. A large, chocolate shake, with large fries and,” he looked at me, waiting for what I wanted, but I just shook my head, “a bottle of water.”
“For here or to go?” the man on the speaker box asked.
“Obviously, it’s to go, since you have already said that you’re closing in thirty minutes.” Another eye roll, and this time a sigh too as he shrugged his broad shoulders.
“Gotchya.”
I couldn’t help but laugh. “You’re going to eat all that this late? It’s almost ten.”
“I haven’t had anything. I’m kind of hungry.” Turning back to me, he wrapped me up in his arms again. “Mostly for you. But I’ll settle for a burger.” One more soft kiss, then he asked, “So, when can I meet him?”
“Who?” I pretended not to know who he was talking about.
“Tommy?”
“Oh.” How about an hour past never? “He’s shy.”
“Seriously, Tequila. I really want to show him how to do some of the pitches I learned back in my high school days.” Reaching around me, he took the ball out of the bag that was on the floor at my feet. “I’m really good at this and it would make me happy to teach your son what I know.”
“And I think that’s super freaking nice of you. I really do. But he’s not into sports.” Tommy totally was into sports. Baseball being his favorite. But there was no way in hell that I was about to let him come around the kid at all.
“What’s he into then?” he asked with a determined expression on his overly handsome face. “He’s got to be into something. Give me something that I can use to find some common ground with him. If we’re going to be together.”
I had to stop him right there. “Hold on. Me and you have nothing to do with him. I’m not that kind of person. He and I are not
a package deal the way most other moms and kids are. I’ve got my family to see to him when I can’t. I don’t need anyone else’s help.”
“Ouch.”
I knew that sounded harsh. But he needed to know that my family was off-limits. “He’s ten. He’s gotten through with just us this far, he doesn’t need anyone else. And if you think he needs a father-figure, he’s got Edward.”
With raised brows, he could only smile at that. “I’m a bit more of a man than your brother seems to be.”
“Yes, Edward is on the sensitive side.” He had no idea how sensitive my brother was. “But that’s okay. As far as male stuff, he’s got everything that Tommy does. So, if there are any questions he needs answering, Edward can do that for him.”
“You’ve said that your family is overprotective. You seem to fall into that category as well,” he pointed out.
“Yes. That’s true.” I saw no reason to try to lie. “It’s something that we all are. I see no reason to try to change.”
“It’s not an emotionally healthy way to be. You’re making it seem like the people of this world are not to be trusted when you send out the message that protection is needed at all times.” He tossed the ball up a little then caught it. “You let him go to school right?”
I didn’t know what he meant by that. The last thing I wanted was him knowing where Tommy’s school was. “Can we talk about something else? Anything else.”
The waitress roller-skated up to the side of his truck. “That’ll be fifteen, fifty-five, please.”
Pulling a twenty out of the same place in the dash he’d pulled the other bill from, he handed it to her. “Keep the change.” He looked into the bag she’d brought. “Ketchup, salt, pepper, it’s all here.” Folding the top of the bag neatly, he put it on the floor near his feet as the waitress left us alone.
I scooted over, glad for a reason to make some space between us as I took the bottle of water he handed me. “Eat. Don’t let it get cold.”
“I don’t want to munch out in front of you.” He put his shake in a cupholder in the back. “It’ll keep until I get to the hotel.” His dark brows arched. “Hey, why don’t you come back there with me for a bit? I’ll bring you home later.”
“Later? After what?” I took a sip of the water. “Sex?”
“Sex?” His grin made me smile. “What’s wrong with you? Is that all you think about, Tequila Rose? I was thinking that we could watch a movie together was all.”
“Sure you were.” Laughing, I knew better than that. “It’s a hotel. There are only one or two uncomfortable chairs in the room. We’d end up getting comfy on the bed. Then you’d take your boots off to get even more comfortable.”
“And you could slip out of that bra.” He wiggled his eyebrows. “But that doesn’t mean we have to have sex now, does it? What a naughty mind you have.”
“Yes, I’m so very naughty.” I hadn’t been naughty in a while. My inner woman screamed at me that it was in the mood.
Sex had to come into play at some time. I’d known that from the start. But I needed to prepare myself mentally for something like that.
Picking up the bag, he pulled the burger out. “Okay then, we’ll sit here. While I eat, you tell me about your life. I want us to know everything about each other.”
“We’re not high school sweethearts. I don’t think we need to act that way. My life is boring anyway.” He was crazy if he thought I was about to spill my life out there for him. But maybe I could find out some things about him. “So, let’s start with your life. Have you ever loved, anyone? I mean, besides your parents.”
Shaking his head, he took a big bite to make it impossible for him to talk. Which was fine with me. I sipped on my water as he chewed up his food then swallowed it. Waiting him out had proven to be good for me. “Once, I felt as close to love as I have ever gotten. But I was young. Plus, I’d already signed up for the Marines.”
“What was her name?” My jaw tightened with what felt a lot like jealousy. Why? I had no idea. I didn’t have a thing to be jealous about.
He shook his head as he picked up three fries at once. “No. I’ve never told anyone her name. She was too special for that. We didn’t have much. Well, nothing. We had nothing. But then we had this little bit of time where we had it all. I never want to sully that memory of her by talking about her like she was just some name in a hat full of them.”
Sitting there with my bottle of water nearly crushing in my hand, I had to will myself to stop squeezing it. “So, before you were a Marine, then.”
Even though I hadn’t phrased that as a question, he answered, “Yes. The last night before I left home.”
My heart stopped and my body began to shake. Hugging myself, I didn’t want him to see that. “So, you kind of have this girl stuck in your heart then. It seems like there might not be room for anyone else. Maybe I’ve stumbled upon the reason you’re single.”
Reaching back, he picked up the shake and took a drink of it as he seemed to be thinking. “That was long ago. I’m not saying that she’s not in there. But there’s room. I’ve just never found anyone who has filled it.”
I had to know more. “Have you ever spoken to her after that?”
He shook his head as he put the drink back. “No.”
My curiosity wouldn’t let up as I asked, “If you saw her again, then what?”
His eyes became glued to the dashboard as he contemplated his answer. Finally, he said, “I don’t know.”
Freezing in place, I didn’t know what to say. Here I was, sitting there – a woman he’d been heavily hinting at wanting something serious with – and he didn’t know what he would do if he saw this girl who’d taken a piece of his heart again. “Wow.”
“Yeah.” He looked at me with glistening eyes. “Sorry. Or no, I’m not sorry. It’s an honest answer. I truly don’t know what I would do. It’s like I said. We didn’t have more than a few hours. I didn’t really know her. And I have no idea what life has made her into. But there was a spark, a connection.” With another shake of his head, he smiled. “It’s kind of like what I feel when I’m with you. We’ve got what she and I had. Only we’ve got it a hell of a lot more than what I’d had back then.”
I was lost for words. Here he was, being so open and honest with me and I couldn’t do the same for him. “Um, well, I guess.”
Placing his finger to my lips, he stopped me. “Let me take you away this weekend.”
“I can’t leave.” I never got too far away from my responsibilities at home, with the MC, or work. But the idea of spending the weekend with him sounded great to my body anyway. And my mind wasn’t far behind. “But I can see if my family would be okay with me taking the weekend to myself. If you’re sure about wanting to be holed up with me for two days.”
“So, my hotel room?” He looked excited. “That tub has been giving me all kinds of ideas about how we could spend some quality time together, submerged in the hot bubbling water.”
It was time to step up my game. “Sounds good. It’s a date.”
A weekend of debauchery sounds like an awesome idea.
Chapter Thirteen
Clyde
The rest of the week had gone by with me barely getting to see Tequila at all. With my training and her being busy with work and her son, that left zero minutes for us.
But the weekend had come, and she was on her way to me at the hotel. I’d lit some candles in the bathroom to set the mood. A lobster dinner sat underneath sterling silver domes on the dining table that had been covered with a white linen tablecloth to make it resemble the restaurant’s tables downstairs. Soft music played on a speaker I’d bought and all that was missing was her.
Outside the door, I heard her talking and went to open it for her, “I’ll call you later to see how things are working out there. I can’t believe he’s starting this shit now. It’s the Goddamn weekend.”
Pulling the door open, I greeted her with a glass of white wine. “Still working? Or is t
his mother’s work?”
With a swipe of her finger over the cell’s screen, she ended the call, put the phone in her purse, then took the glass out of my hand. “Regular work. Thank you. I’ve never needed a drink more than I do right now.”
Stepping back so she could come inside, I had to ask, “I hope that doesn’t have anything to do with your son.”
Tipping the glass up, she took down half of the wine all at once. “No. It’s work. Well, that and the MC. There’s this prick who’s been after the president spot. Not that he ran for it when I did. No, he’s only decided since I got the job that he wants it and feels he would make a better president than I am.” She drank the other half of the wine then put the empty glass on the table. “This is nice, Clyde.”
Pulling out the chair, I thought eating might help settle her down. “Shall we? It’s hot. Lobster is the main dish.”
She took the seat I offered as I refilled her glass before taking the chair across from her. Pulling the silver dome off her plate she smiled as she saw what it had covered. “This looks so good. Lobster, steamed broccoli, and a side salad with shrimp on it.” She picked up the lemon wedge on the side of the salad bowl. “How did you know that I only eat salad with a drizzle of fresh lemon?”
“I asked, of course.” Her assistant had been very helpful. “You don’t eat starches, sugars, or heavy dressings of any kind. You also prefer white wine to red.” It was obvious by her diet that she did have to keep working on her weight. But she’d done a great job of it. “So, I ordered the same thing. I thought that I should take a page out of your book. You’re so fit, that the way you eat must make it easier to stay that way. I might as well make things easier on my body as well. I want to stay in shape the same way you do after all.”
“I used to be fat.” She poked her fork into the salad. “It’s not as hard to maintain my weight as it was to get it off. But I never want to have to deal with that again.”
It was strange how good it felt to me for her to tell me something about herself that was so intimate. I took her hand, rubbing my thumb over her knuckles. “Thanks for sharing that with me. I mean that.”