“Oh.” She smiled. “That’s nice.”
Reading between the lines, he chose to believe she was happier about his tour schedule than she was letting on.
Pulling into a gravel parking lot where a few pickups and old cars were parked, he said, “Here we are.”
Josie looked up at the utilitarian sign that read Mabel’s. “You said she’s a friend of your mother’s?”
“Yeah, they go to church together. Come on,” he said, cutting the engine. “I’ll introduce you.” Mabel was a born gossip. He’d never brought a girl in here before so he knew by Sunday his mother’s social circle would be buzzing about D.J.’s new girlfriend. Not that he minded.
All the regulars, mostly truckers, farmers, ranchers, and shift workers, stopped to stare for a beat before returning to their meal or conversation. That was one of the things D.J. loved most about this place, they treated him like just another customer. Except for Mabel. She loved to bust his chops.
“Looky there, Jenna,” Mabel said, loud enough for the whole restaurant to hear. “A bonafide celebrity in our midst.”
A few customers looked up again, nodding, waving, or smiling, but D.J. sensed most were more interested in the pretty stranger on his arm than they were in him. “How’s the prettiest girl I know?” he asked, reaching over the counter to drop a smacking kiss on Mabel’s cheek.
Her flaming red hair meant Mabel blushed at the drop of a hat and D.J. took pleasure being the one to embarrass her from time to time.
“I don’t know, why don’t you ask her?” Mabel asked, hooking a thumb toward Josie.
It was Josie’s turn to blush as she hoisted herself up on a stool and tried to ignore the men on either side of her, gawking at her cleavage. “Hi,” she said, offering her hand to Mabel. “Cute place you have here, Mabel. I’m Josie.”
Mabel back-handed D.J. across the chest. “Where are you manners, boy? Your mama would be appalled.”
“I was gonna introduce you,” D.J. said, claiming the stool next to Josie’s. “Josie Denton, Mabel Redding, the reigning queen of fried chicken. Trust me, no one does it better.”
“This coming from the grill master,” Mabel said, winking at him as she propped her elbows on the counter in front of them. “Have you tasted his cooking yet?” she asked, Josie. “Trust me, he’s shortchanging you by bringing you here. He oughta be grillin’ for you.”
“I have tasted his chicken wings,” Josie said, nudging him with her elbow. “I have to admit, they were pretty awesome.”
D.J. was relieved she could think about that night and smile. “I was workin’ all day,” he said to Mabel. “I was hopin’ you could fix us up with some of your famous salads and fried chicken to go.”
“You got it,” Mabel said, slapping D.J.’s forearm. “Y’all want somethin’ to drink while you’re waitin’?”
“I could go for a cold Corona,” D.J. said. “How about you, Jos?”
“Just a bottled water, thanks.” She smiled at Mabel as the man to her left nudged his buddy before whispering something about Josie’s rack.
D.J. frowned before rapping his knuckles on the counter to get their attention. “Hey, I know I didn’t just hear you—”
“I got this,” Mabel said, staring down the burly man in the sleeveless plaid shirt, baseball cap and dirty jeans. “You apologize to the lady before I tell your pretty little wife you been in here makin’ a fool of yourself, Earl.”
“Sorry,” he muttered, looking chagrined. “Won’t happen again.”
Josie spun her stool around so her back was to him and she was facing D.J. instead. “I’m just going to go to the ladies’ room. I’ll be right back.”
Mabel slipped away to place their order, but she was back in record time to get the dirt on D.J.’s date. “You can’t blame these poor guys,” Mabel said, gesturing to the labourers crowding the tables. “The only time they see a girl who looks like that is in magazines or on T.V.”
D.J. chuckled, keeping one eye on the restroom doors. He didn’t want Josie to feel even more uncomfortable if she returned to find out they’d been talking about her.
“Who is she?” Mabel demanded. “Where did you meet her?”
“A friend of a friend introduced us.”
“That’s how me and my Fred met,” she said, popping her bubble gum. “At the county fair. My friend, Betsy, was dating his buddy Jim and…” She waved a hand in the air. “Forget about all that. We don’t have much time. So, is it serious with you and the beauty queen?”
Laughing at Mabel’s characterization of Josie, D.J. said, “Don’t tell Mama to run out and order the wedding invitations just yet. We’re still gettin’ to know each other.”
“Oh you,” she said, slapping his shoulder. “Don’t tease me. I want the scoop. Do you like her or what?”
“Of course I do. I wouldn’t be with her if I didn’t.”
Mabel chuckled. “According to your mama, you’ll go out with anything in a short skirt. Says you’ve always been like that, even before you got all famous.”
“Excuse me,” Josie said. “I didn’t mean to interrupt. I have to make a phone call. I’m just going to step outside. It was nice to meet you, Mabel.”
Mabel cast a quick, apologetic glance in D.J.’s direction before smiling at Josie. “It was real nice to meet you too, hon. I hope we see you around here again, real soon.”
D.J. closed his eyes and dropped his head when he heard the bell over the door ring, indicating her departure. Damn it, he couldn’t catch a break.
“Me and my big mouth,” Mabel said, dropping her head into her hands. “I’m sorry about that, D.J. I didn’t even see her comin’ round the corner.”
“It’s okay. It’s not your fault. You’re right. Everything you said is true.” He looked back, spotting Josie walking back and forth in front of the plate glass window with her cell phone pressed to her ear. He knew cell reception was sketchy out here, so she may well be faking it just to get away from him. Not that he could blame her. He probably would have done the same thing in her position. “But it’s different with Josie, Mabel. She’s not even that into me, which is the real rub.”
“Oh, I don’t know about that. I saw the way she looked at you. I’d say she likes you just fine.”
“She thinks I’m a player.”
Mabel threw her head back, her booming laughter ringing out through the small diner. “You are. You just admitted as much.”
“I know.” D.J. winced. “But here’s the thing, I want to be… different with her.” He knew he wasn’t making much sense, but he didn’t know how to describe what he was feeling for Josie.
“Different how?” she asked, pulling up the stool she kept on the other side of the counter. Mabel suffered from arthritis and often needed to rest her aching bones as she put it.
“When I’m with her, I’m not thinking about anything or anyone else. That’s a first for me. Usually, work’s always in the back of my mind, but not when I’m with Josie. With her I’m totally focused on her.”
“Is that so?” she asked, looking amused. “She seems like the type who would give you a run for your money. I betcha like that too, don’t you?”
“Yeah, I do,” he said, grinning. “No guy likes a girl who makes it too easy for him, Mabel. You know that.”
“Do I ever,” she said, rolling her eyes. “That’s what I keep tryin’ to tell my daughter. Ever since the divorce, she’s been giving her milk away all over town and I keep telling her no man’s gonna buy that.”
D.J. tried not to pull a face at that visual, but when he couldn’t help himself, Mabel just laughed. “Hey, you know I can be colorful. That’s part of my charm.”
“Indeed it is,” D.J. said, patting her hand.
“So, you really like this girl, huh?” Mabel asked, watching Josie through the window. “You gotta be yourself with her. Charming, sweet, sincere. Let her see the real you.”
D.J. considered Mabel’s advice. He’d always treated women with respe
ct, but he’d been guarded, knowing if he said too much they’d have his face splashed all over the tabloids. He couldn’t afford any bad publicity with his career at another precipice. “You think I should let my guard down… trust her?”
“Only you can decide if she’s trustworthy,” Mabel said. “But you can’t expect this relationship to go anywhere if you can’t be honest with her about who you are.”
“You’re right,” D.J. said, stealing a glance at Josie. She was leaning against his bumper, one leg propped up as she laughed at something the person on the other end of the line said. His gut twisted with fear because he knew tonight it would be his turn to share some of his secrets.
Chapter Six
They were lying on a blanket, side by side, staring up at the stars, stuffed from eating like they’d never seen food before, when D.J. asked, “Tell me your most embarrassing moment.”
Josie shot him a side-long glance to gauge whether he was serious. Apparently he was. “Um, that’s a tough one.”
“Because there have been so many?” he teased, bumping his bent leg against hers.
“No!” She laughed, enjoying the easy rapport they’d had since the diner. What she’d overheard Mabel say should have troubled her, but it didn’t. It just reinforced her belief they could never be more than friends. Possibly good friends. Definitely not friends with benefits.
“So tell me,” he said, lacing his hands behind his head.
“Hmmm, when I was sixteen, I drove my father’s pickup into the drugstore. That was pretty embarrassing.”
He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye before he burst out laughing. “You did not.”
Raising her right hand, she grinned and said, “I did. I swear. He was trying to teach me to drive a stick shift. He’s a pretty intimidating guy, especially when he starts barking orders. I got nervous and panicked, drove the truck straight through their front door. Poor Mr. Hyden, the pharmacist, was counting pills and nearly had a heart attack.” By the time she finished, they were both laughing so hard their sides hurt and they had to roll over to relieve the pain.
Of course that meant facing each other and the amusement quickly turned to something else.
“I love that you can make me laugh without even trying,” he said softly. “No woman has ever been able to make me laugh like you do.”
Josie basked in the glow of his appreciation while trying to ignore the magnetic pull guiding her lips to his. “I have fun with you too, D.J.”
His hand rested on her hip, almost as though he was testing the waters. “I wish I…” He shook his head. “I’m not gonna go there. I’m just gonna be happy with where we are and what we have. This is good. Real good.”
“I think so too.” She knew it wasn’t easy for him to rein himself in, but she appreciated his effort to respect her boundaries. Unfortunately, now she was the one thinking about crossing the line.
“So you’re takin’ your ex to the wedding, huh? How come?”
She could tell he was trying to play it cool, pretend it didn’t bother him, but he was failing miserably. It was kind of cute actually. “Like I said, I asked him a while back, when he mentioned he was going to be in town this weekend.”
“He’s still in love with you?”
He posed it as a question, but she had a feeling he knew more about her previous relationship than he was letting on. No doubt their good friend, Cassidy, had filled him in. “He knows it’s not going anywhere.” She glimpsed a triangle of skin in the opening of his button down shirt and wondered how he would react if she peeled it off to expose his bare chest. “But when I broke up with him, he took it pretty hard. I told him we could still be friends and I’m trying to honor that promise.”
“What if you had a new boyfriend?” he asked, skimming his hand up her side, over her ribcage. “Would you still honour that promise even if it made your boyfriend uncomfortable?”
His thumb was rubbing hypnotic circles under her breast, making it difficult to form a coherent sentence. “I don’t think I have to worry about that since I don’t intend to have a boyfriend anytime soon.”
He inched closer, his hot breath fanning her neck as he brushed her hair aside. He wedged his leg between hers, one hand cupping the back of her head as his other moved to her bottom, pressing her body closer to his. “What about your lover? What if it made him crazy knowin’ you were still goin’ out with your ex?”
Her heart was beating erratically as the proof of his arousal stole her will to fight. She wanted this. She wanted him. “I don’t have a lover.”
“You could have.” His lips grazed her neck as she threaded her hands through his hair. “You could have me.”
Any woman in her right mind would take him up on his offer. He was D.J.-freakin-Stevens. Country music’s sexiest man, with the magazine headline to prove it. Before Josie’s conscience had a chance to rear its ugly head, she began unbuttoning his shirt, just like she’d fantasized about earlier.
“Jos,” he said, grabbing her hand before she could go any further. “You sure about this?”
She looked up at the stars as she considered her options. She could play it safe and walk away or give herself this one magical night in the arms of a man who was every woman’s fantasy. “I’m sure, but maybe we should go somewhere else?”
He flashed a quick grin that made her heart kick up a notch. “You ever made love outside before?”
“Can’t say that I have.”
“Then you don’t know what you’re missin’.”
“What if someone catches us?”
“That’s the best part,” he said, guiding her fingers back to his buttons. “This is private property.”
“It is?” she asked, looking at the hundreds of acres surrounding them, complete with a small man-made lake. “Who owns it?”
“I do.” He shrugged, looking adorably shy as he dipped his head. “I always thought it would be a great place to build a little studio. I knew if I built one at home, I’d be workin’ all the time. This spot is just far enough from my house for it to work.”
“It seems like the perfect spot,” she said, pushing him onto his back as she straddled him. “For a studio… and a little fun.” She made quick work of unbuttoning his shirt before spreading it open. Biting her bottom lip, she smoothed her hands over his hard chest. “You’re so sexy.”
“That’s my line,” he said, reaching for the bottom of her tank top and hauling it over her head.
Josie shook her hair loose, grateful she’d chosen the hot pink bra and panties to match her tank that morning. She wanted him to be as turned on as she was, to remember this night fondly, long after they’d both moved on.
“It seems like I’ve been thinkin’ about this every minute since the first time I laid eyes on you,” he muttered, pinching the front clasp of her bra to expose her breasts. “But nothing could have prepared me for the way I’m feelin’ right now.”
Her stomach clenched at the untold promise of what was to come. She instinctively knew D.J. would take her places she’d never been and she couldn’t wait to go.
D.J. spun his thumbs around her nipples until they peaked, causing her to shudder and throw her head back as she planted her hands firmly on his chest.
“Come here, beautiful.”
She leaned forward, teasing him with her breasts. She knew, according to most men, they were her best feature, and the way D.J. was devouring her with his eyes made her believe he concurred.
He played with her breasts, alternating between his hands and mouth as he tantalized her into a mind-numbing state of excitement. No one had ever taken so much time to pleasure her. It was usually just a few minutes to get her primed and ready to go, but D.J. made it seem like he had nowhere to be and nothing he would rather be doing than simply caressing her.
He drew her down for a kiss so intense it coursed through her body and erupted in a hot, pooling swirl deep in her core.
“God, I need you.” His breathing was laboured, hi
s voice barely more than a whisper as he kissed her neck. “I’ve never needed anyone like this, Jos. Ever.”
She tried to ignore the little thrill she felt as his words resonated with the feminine part of her that wanted to believe she was special.
“Make love to me.”
She trapped his eyes with hers, trying to read his expression. She’d pegged him for a man who’d demand to be in control as he used baser words to describe their coupling, and his wariness at her hesitation told her his quiet command had been spontaneous.
Reaching for his belt buckle, she watched him as she wrestled with his cowboy boots before stripping the rest of his clothes off. His eyes never left her as she peeled her shorts off and tossed them aside. She let her bra fall off her shoulders as she stood over him, hooking her thumbs in her panties. Even though the only light was the moon overhead, she’d never felt more exposed.
“You are unbelievably gorgeous,” he whispered, gripping her hips as she held her body above his.
“I bet you say that to all the girls,” she said, trying not to let his sweet-talk crack the veneer around her heart.
“Don’t compare yourself to anyone else,” he said, his tone bordering on annoyance. “I don’t.”
She reached over his head. “I think I have a condom in my purse.”
His fingers dug into her soft flesh as he demanded, “Why the hell do you keep a condom in your purse? Before you answer that, it better be because you were expectin’ this to happen tonight.”
She smirked as she triumphantly pulled the plastic square out of her purse. “I wasn’t even expecting to see you tonight, remember?”
He grabbed her, pulling her down and pinning her with the weight of his body. “Then maybe you better explain why you keep a condom in your purse. You said you don’t do one-night stands. Was that a lie?”
Jaded (Music City Moguls Book 5) Page 7