Jake had agreed to accompany her on various outings around town and play the loving boyfriend for the next week in exchange for more of last night.
She still couldn’t believe he’d made the offer. Hell, she couldn’t believe she’d asked him to help her in the first place. But she’d been so freaked out on hearing that he intended to hang around town a full week that she’d had to do something.
She’d asked and he’d kissed and now they were officially a couple.
She reached for a paper towel and dabbed her face.
He wanted sex.
Correction—he wanted exciting, phenomenal, stupendous sex. The kind they’d had last night.
But that had tipped the scales toward the fabulous because it had been spontaneous. Wild. Crazy. Temporary. She hadn’t had to worry about what to make him for breakfast. Or what to say when he left. Or when they would see each other again. Or if they would ever see each other.
There’d been none of the typical obsessing over outfits or hairstyles or exciting conversation topics.
Because last night had been last night. There’d been no tomorrow where Jake McCann had been concerned, and so she’d been able to let her hair down and be herself.
As soon as the thought struck, she pushed it right back out. She hadn’t been herself last night. She’d been sex-starved. A responsible, sane, normal person who’d been pushed to the limit by stress and deprived hormones.
Today she was back to normal and this…this was just a business arrangement. Not a real relationship. It wasn’t as if they were going to send out Christmas cards together or buy monogrammed towels. In seven days Jake would be history and she would be back to her search for a nice, normal, forever kind of relationship, and so the worry over tomorrow wasn’t a factor. Rather, this particular situation involved sex only.
Just like last night.
She stared into the mirror and noted her flushed cheeks and trembling lips. Her eyes gleamed with a bright, hungry light. Anticipation bubbled inside and pumped her heart faster and she frowned.
It wasn’t as if she was looking forward to hot, wild sex with a man she hardly knew. She was simply happy that Jake had agreed to help her preserve her reputation.
Relieved.
If only relief didn’t feel a lot like full-blown, pulse-pounding excitement.
“I SWEAR YOU’RE TRYING to give me a heart attack.” Nikki eyed the black-and-chrome motorcycle parked at the curb just outside of the Shade Tree.
“It’s just a bike, sugar.” Jake straddled the leather seat and patted the space behind him. “It won’t bite.”
“No, but it might splatter me all over Main Street.” Nikki shook her head. “Forget it.”
“I’ve got an extra helmet and I’m a safe driver.” His compelling silver gaze locked with hers, and her heart started to beat even faster. In a flash, she saw herself climbing behind him, sliding her arms around and holding tight. Her fingers itched to feel the soft cotton of his T-shirt, and her chest hitched.
As if he read the thoughts racing through her mind, he smiled.
She frowned, breaking the temporary spell. “I’ll take my SUV and meet you there.”
“Sort of defeats the purpose, doesn’t it? If we’re supposed to be a couple, we shouldn’t be using separate means of transportation. If I’m crazy over the moon for you, there’s no way I’d let you drive your own vehicle.”
And if she were “crazy over the moon” for him, no way would she not climb onto the back of his bike.
“Come on.” His deep voice coaxed her. “It’ll be fun.”
It would, and that was the problem in itself. Nikki Braxton didn’t throw caution to the wind in the name of fun. She never had and she never would.
She colored inside the lines. Followed the rules. Cherished her routine.
“My hair will get messed up.” It was a lame excuse considering she hadn’t so much as brushed her hair all day. But hey, she was a hairdresser. With any luck, he would think that sort of thing was important to her.
“It’s already messed up.” He eyed her. “And it looks damned sexy.”
Then again, he had a point. If they were really and truly a couple, they would be inseparable.
“Give me the helmet.”
She took the silver contraption he handed her and popped it on her head. She started to adjust the chin straps and he climbed off.
“I can do it myself,” she told him when he reached for her.
“Have you ever adjusted a helmet before?”
“I’ve adjusted a bicycle helmet.”
He grinned, a full-blown ear-to-ear that did funny things to her heartbeat. “This is different, sugar. The straps are wider and the catch is larger.” His fingers grazed her chin as he took the straps from her hand and fastened the ends. He adjusted the fit, his knuckle grazing here, his thumb brushing there, and her skin tingled at each point of contact. Her stomach flipped and her breath caught. “There,” he finally declared, his hands falling away. “That wasn’t so bad, was it?”
Her gaze rooted on his lips and she had the sudden urge to kiss him. A full, deep, forget-everything-and-everyone kiss. “I…” She licked her lips and ignored the urge. “Can we just get this over with?” She motioned to the bike.
A grin tugged at the corner of his mouth. “Anxious to get to the good part?” A teasing light danced in his eyes, along with something dark and intense that made her want to rip off her clothes and jump him right then and there.
She stiffened. “Don’t flatter yourself. It wasn’t that good.”
“You’re right, sugar.” He winked. “It wasn’t even close to good.” It was great.
His lips didn’t move on the last part. Rather, his voice echoed inside her head.
Wait a second. Back the tractor up….
Of course his lips had moved. She’d heard him. Loud and crystal clear. And in order for her to hear him, his lips had to have moved.
An image flashed in her mind of Jake poised above her, his head thrown back, his eyes closed, his mouth open and his fangs extended….
“Let’s go.” His deep voice lured her back to reality, away from the crazy detour her thoughts were trying to take. He turned and straddled the bike.
Nikki ignored the strange tingling in her stomach and climbed on behind him. Sliding her arms around, she clutched the soft cotton of his shirt and braced herself as he kick-started the bike. In a matter of seconds they were speeding down Main Street. The wind rushed at her face and pushed away the disturbing thoughts until the only thing on her mind was holding tight to the man in front of her.
Just a man, she told herself.
If only she really and truly believed it.
“I TOLD YOU SHE WASN’T a lesbian.” The man’s voice, soft and distant, sliced through the usual carnival sounds and slid into Jake’s ear.
His gaze skimmed past the ticket booth where he waited with Nikki and pushed through the crowd until he spotted the couple several yards away. Well out of hearing range.
For anyone but Jake, that is.
The sounds faded as he tuned in to the couple who approached. He heard the soft draw of the woman’s breath and the steady crunch of gravel beneath the man’s high-dollar snakeskin boots.
“That’ll be six dollars, please.” A voice drew Jake’s attention and he turned toward the ticket stand.
Nikki reached for her wallet, but Jake was already laying a twenty down on the counter.
“Handsome and a gentleman,” the ticket lady said as she took the money and turned to retrieve change. “I’m impressed.” She counted out a handful of one-dollar bills for Jake. “Good for you, honey.” She handed the money to Jake and winked at Nikki.
“Thanks, Marie.”
The woman eyed Jake again and smiled. “My pleasure.”
“I could have paid,” Nikki told Jake as he pressed his hand into the small of her back and ushered her past the entrance gate.
“You wanted a boyfriend, and in my book, a
boyfriend pays.”
“But this isn’t for real. While you made a commitment to pretend, you didn’t agree to cover any expenses. You’re already doing me a big favor. I don’t want to be a hardship.”
“Trust me, I can afford it. Besides, this isn’t a favor.” He eyed her and her bottom lip trembled ever so slightly. “You’ll be paying me back soon enough.”
“Still,” she started, a stubborn light firing her eyes. “I don’t think—”
“I’ll run a tab and we can settle up later.”
“Okay.” She licked her lips. “So when you said ‘I can afford it,’ did you mean ‘I’m filthy rich and this is chump change,’ or ‘I’ll have to skip tomorrow’s Starbucks, but it’s doable’? Not that it matters,” she rushed on. “It’s just, I don’t really know much about you, and since you did agree to play the dutiful boyfriend, I probably should know a little bit about you, like what you do for a living.”
“I design custom motorcycles. I do the actual construction and my partner does the design.”
“What’s his name?”
“Garret. Garret Sawyer.”
“We’ve got some Sawyers here in Skull Creek. Mabel and Earl. They live over on Maple and Fifth. Really nice people.”
“I doubt they’re any relation.”
“You never know. So where’s home base?”
“We don’t really have one. We’ve been working out of a small shop in Houston for the past few months while we do some work for a few clients in the area. Before that we were in Georgia for a while. Before that it was Miami. Nashville. L.A.”
“So you really are just passing through.”
He grinned. “I don’t lie, sugar. Even if it’s a one-night stand.”
“I didn’t mean that. It’s just, sometimes people say what other people want to hear—”
“It’s called lying.” He shook his head. “And I don’t.”
Then tell me why you really kissed me last night at the carnival. Why me?
The comment was there in her head, glittering in the whiskey-colored depths of her eyes, but it never made it to her full pink lips. Instead a man’s voice rang out as the couple who’d been having the lesbian conversation finally reached them.
“If it isn’t the best hairdresser this side of the Rio Grande,” the man said.
A smile touched Nikki’s lips as she turned. “This is Charlie,” Nikki told Jake. “We work together.”
“Actually, I work. Nikki prances in late.” He winked. “And this shameless hussy by my side is my wife Darlene. Say hi, honey.”
“Hi, there, honey.” Despite her suggestive words, it was obvious the woman was head over heels for her husband. She leaned into his side, and a warmth fired her expression as she poked him in the ribs. “And don’t call me a hussy.”
“What about shameless?”
“That works.” She winked. “Lucky for you.”
Jake smiled. “Pleased to meet you both.” He shook Charlie’s hand and then his wife’s.
“So have you been on the Master Blaster? Charlie and I rode it about fifteen minutes ago and I swear my stomach still hasn’t calmed down.”
“Actually, we just got here.” Nikki glanced around. While there were a few people moving here and there, the majority of the crowd seemed to be clustered around a large white tent several yards away. “What’s going on?”
“Sherman Calhoun is this close to being pushed off his throne.”
“So that’s what the crowd is all about,” Nikki said, glancing toward the gathering throng of people. “Sherman is the reigning rib king,” she told Jake.
“When folks heard he was competing, advance ticket sales tripled,” Darlene added. “Everyone in town wants a front-row seat for this.”
“Why is that?” Jake asked.
Nikki grinned. “Big cities have professional sports, we’ve got public humiliation.”
“DOES HE USUALLY CRY like that when he doesn’t get his way?” Jake asked ten minutes later as they stared at the spectacle on stage. A chubby Sherman stood next to the town’s mayor, tears rolling down his cheeks as he clutched his second-place ribbon.
“Usually he throws punches,” Nikki said. “Or chairs. Or barbecue forks. One time he even pulled out his shotgun and tried to take out Marvin Helmsley during a rib-eye grilling competition. I’ve seen him spit and cuss, but the crying’s a first.”
“It’s part of his anger management therapy,” Darlene offered. “Remember last Fourth of July when he lost the brisket competition? He got so angry that he shoved a sparkler down the back of Jim Limpkin’s pants and set him on fire.”
“Oh, yeah. Poor Jim couldn’t sit down for months.”
“Of course, now he’s got the best tush in town, so all the pain was worth it,” Darline said. When Jake frowned, she added, “He had a really flat butt before. But after the sparkler incident, his insurance coughed up money for skin grafts and implants. Now he fills out a pair of Wranglers the way a man should. It was definitely the best day of his life, which brings us back to Sherman. Jim was so thankful that instead of pressing charges, he gave Sherman a reward. Sherman wanted to buy a new barbecue pit, but his wife Maureen made him sign up for anger management classes at the local junior college. Anyhow, now instead of blowing his lid, as an effective means of releasing his stress, he cries.”
Jake watched as the man shook his head, let out a loud wail and rushed off the stage, a box of Kleenex in his hands.
“Looks like the show’s over,” Charlie said, clapping his hands together. He slid an arm around Darlene’s shoulder. “What say we call it a night and leave these two lovebirds to fend for themselves?”
The two exchanged glances and she nodded. “Yes, I am a little tired.”
“It’s barely ten,” Nikki protested, as if the sudden thought of being alone with Jake made her nervous.
It did. He could feel the emotion rolling off her, along with a rush of excitement.
The knowledge stirred his lust, and it took extreme effort to force a casual smile and say goodbye to Nikki’s friends.
His hands itched. And his gut clenched. And his mouth watered. He wanted to kiss her. Bad.
“So what do you say?” She turned toward him. “Are you hungry?”
“You wouldn’t believe.”
“I was talking about the ribs.”
He tamped down on his raging lust and ignored the urge to reach out. Barely.
The realization made him stiffen. Because Jake didn’t let his urges—not the thirst for blood or the unquenchable desire for sex—get the best of him. Yes, he nurtured them both, but only as a means of controlling them. To keep them from controlling him.
He called the shots.
But then Nikki looked at him with those wide, sparkling eyes and the only thing he wanted to do was dive straight in and forget everything else.
“They’re the best ribs in town,” she prodded, a grin tugging her full lips. “You won’t be sorry.”
But he already was. The last thing—the very last thing—he needed was to lose his self-control over a woman. Especially a wholesome, I-want-it-all type like Nikki.
At the same time, it had been a helluva long time since he’d had some really good ribs. While he couldn’t chow down in the traditional sense, he could indulge in the flavorful aroma. A vampire’s sense of smell was even more heightened—and much more satisfying—than a human’s sense of taste. Which meant he could still enjoy the experience.
The sudden hankering certainly had nothing to do with the fact that Nikki was hungry and Jake wanted nothing more than to satisfy her every need. To see her full and content and happy.
Hell, no.
This was strictly sex.
“Lead the way,” he told her. He was talking pure, rejuvenating, power-infusing sex. The woman had to keep up her strength.
9
“HOW HOT DO YOU WANT it, honey?” The question came from the middle-aged woman standing behind the counter at the barbecue stand. She
wore a stained white apron and plastic gloves. Behind her, a silver drum-shaped pit gave off puffs of smoke. The smell of mesquite filled the air.
The woman held up the plate of prize-winning ribs Jake had just ordered and indicated the row of bottled sauces. “We got everything from Sissy Sauce to Hell, Fire & Brimstone,” she added, “which, I have to tell you, ain’t for weaklings.” She pointed to a white piece of cardboard posted near a roll of paper towels. The sign warned against everything from mild indigestion to unwanted back hair.
Jake grinned and slid a gaze toward Nikki. His expression faded as he stared at her for several pulse-pounding moments. Then a teasing light fired his eyes and a grin tugged at the corner of his sensuous mouth. “I say the hotter, the better.”
“Coming right up.” Miss Myrna doused Jake’s plate with enough sauce to eat through a sheet of cast iron. The spicy scent of Tabasco, chili pepper and jalapeño cut through the musky air and burned her nostrils.
At the same time, her mouth watered and she had the sudden vision of herself licking a wayward dribble of sauce from Jake’s chin. Her taste buds buzzed in anticipation.
She forced a smile. “No sauce for me.”
“None?” Jake sounded incredulous as they took their plates and walked toward a cluster of picnic tables. “And here I thought you liked things blazing-hot.”
“The ribs are fine on their own.” She angled herself onto a nearby bench and set her plate in front of her.
Jake folded himself in across from her. His gaze locked with hers and those amazing silver eyes drilled into her. “Is that just a personal choice or is there an actual health concern that makes you antisauce?”
“Personal.” She’d meant to stop at that. But he stared at her so intently—as if what she had to say really mattered to him—that she couldn’t help herself. “My mom and I lived with my great aunt while I was growing up—my aunt Izzie. She’s really sweet and she helped us out a lot.”
“Where was your father?”
“He wasn’t in the picture. My mother was sixteen when she had me. Alone. Unmarried. Her parents died in a car accident when she was really young and Aunt Izzie took her in. Anyhow, I grew up with them both, which wasn’t very easy. They’re polar opposites. Aunt Izzie’s very stiff and proper and my mother isn’t.”
Love at First Bite Bundle Page 7