by Quint, Suzie
That alone should have told her he’d liked her more than she thought.
The spring had been unseasonably wet, and the ground everywhere was muddy. They pitched silage into the troughs as quickly as they could, hoping to beat the rain that threatened. It began sprinkling as they finished, so they took a shortcut back to his pickup, running across an open field. He jumped the last ditch then held out his hand for her. She caught it as she jumped, but her foot came down on the bank, and she started slipping backward into the ditch. Sol hauled on her hand. She came forward hard. Knocked off balance on the slippery mud, he backpedaled.
He wrapped his arms around her, trying to save himself, but she wasn’t steady enough in the slick mud to save either of them. He went down on his back, his breath whooshing out as she landed on top of him.
The rain fell faster as he made strangled noises, trying to get his breath back. She knew how painful it was to have the wind knocked out of you, but when she tried to lever herself off of him, he held on tighter.
Georgia had wondered what it would be like to kiss him, had wished he would try. She’d started to doubt he ever would. Soon they’d be graduating, and she’d only see him when they ran into each other in town when she was home from college. Lying on top of him in the mud and the rain, she knew this might be her only chance. Just as he was starting to breathe normally again, a half-formed excuse formed in her head about giving him mouth-to-mouth.
Panicked that she was about to lose her chance, she put her lips against his. His grip loosened as his eyes opened wide in astonishment. For another moment, his body was rigid, then his arms tightened around her again, and he kissed her back.
Georgia had never let a boy get close enough to feel his erection, but she was a country girl. She’d seen bulls and stallions bred often enough that she felt no confusion about what stirred in his jeans.
When his hand found its way under her shirt to touch her breasts, his touch was neither clumsy nor sneaky. He touched her because he wanted to touch her. And she let him because she wanted to be touched.
By the time they got to his truck, they were both soaked, and his backside was plastered with mud from head to boots.
They never talked about the change between them, but he began driving her home and helping with her chores. Then they’d sit in his pickup, necking and petting until they were both fired up and wanting more. Even so, he never asked her to go all the way, though they’d come frighteningly close a couple of times.
As morally upright as his family was, she hadn’t been surprised that he was as much a virgin as she was. Even so, two days before graduation, he astonished her with the suggestion that they drive to Las Vegas and get married. She doubted either of them thought about anything beyond the wedding night.
Georgia realized Sol had asked her a question. Lost in the conversation, she blinked. “What?”
“I said, what are you smiling about?”
“Oh, nothing. I was just remembering something.”
“Is it something I’d want to hear?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know. I was thinking about a guy I used to know.”
He shook his head and scowled. “I definitely don’t want to hear it, then.”
Georgia smiled. The tension uncoiled inside her, leaving her feeling lighter than she had. Garth Brooks’ You Move Me started playing on the jukebox.
She brushed the corner of his mustache with her fingertips. It was soft under her touch. Had she ever told him how sexy she thought Tom Selleck was? She couldn’t remember it ever coming up. Would it tickle if Sol kissed her? “Why did you grow this?”
“I made a bet with Gideon and lost.”
Her smile widened. “Don’t you know better than that by now?” Ruth referred to Gideon as her fey child, and a couple of times Georgia had heard Sol’s brother say things that made her wonder if there wasn’t something besides an affectionate teasing behind Ruth’s words.
“I thought I was right,” Sol said, meeting her eyes.
“You always think you’re right,” she said kindly.
“And I usually am.” His gaze deepened, and she fell into his soft, gray eyes. Her lips parted and her breath grew shallow even before he leaned forward.
His lips brushed softly against hers then came back with purpose. When he slipped his tongue between her lips, her entire body felt electrified. He laid his hand on her rib cage to hold her steady then slid it upward until he’d framed her breast in an L between his thumb and fingers. Her nipples tightened into hard points, but he paused there, just short of caressing her. She couldn’t keep herself from whimpering softly. It had been so long since she’d felt his hands on her body.
The only waitress on the floor picked that moment to swing by their table. “How are you folks—? Whoops.”
Sol pulled back. In the second before he turned to the waitress, his eyes were full of promise and desire. She tried to swallow down a surge of lust. The booth suddenly felt too small.
He cleared his throat and said, “We need another round here.”
As the waitress moved away, Georgia pushed on his shoulder to get him to move. “Let me out. I need to go to the ladies’ room.”
Georgia had the restroom to herself. She looked at herself in the mirror. What are you thinking? she asked her reflection. Being with Sol was a bad, bad idea.
She was feeling isolated and vulnerable, that’s all it was. Knowing that didn’t lessen how much she wanted to be with him. Even thinking about Daniel didn’t bring her to her senses.
It wasn’t as if she was being disloyal because, so far, she and Daniel were only friends. She entered a stall, still arguing with herself about making another stupid mistake with Sol. As she peed, she read the graffiti on the inside of the stall. She gasped and her heart dropped when she read, Sol McK is HUNG! and Yee-haw!
Georgia felt like throwing up again.
Below Sol’s endorsement, someone else had written Jake, too! There were a couple more comments about Jake. The McKnight boys were obviously cutting a wide swath among the local population.
Then, Zach makes three! An arrow pointed to the last line. Behind the arrow, it said Too bad—he’s taken! Touch him and die! Mrs. Z. McK.
Georgia let her head fall between her knees as she laughed. God bless Maddie for helping her get things into perspective. But it still made her a little sick to think of Sol with someone else, and her reaction would only grow stronger if she let herself be swept up by him.
The door swung open as she was washing her hands. If she hadn’t looked up, she’d have missed the hitch in Missy’s step.
Their eyes met. Apparently, that was all the greeting Missy felt she needed. She plopped the ugly monstrosity that passed for her purse on the edge of the next sink and dug into it. Georgia reached for the paper towel dispenser.
“Sorry to hear about your mama.”
Surprised, Georgia turned. Missy held a tube of bright red lipstick, ready to apply it to her mouth.
“Thanks.”
“It’s a bitch when your folks get helpless, ain’t it?” Missy smiled but it didn’t reach her eyes.
Georgia had nearly forgotten that Missy was the youngest of her large family, so she knew all about having older parents.
“Yeah,” Georgia said. “It’s not the best time I’ve ever had.”
Missy barked a laugh. “Yeah.” The lipstick approaching her mouth stalled. “You getting back with Sollie?”
Sollie? I bet he hates that. “No.” Not that it’s any of your business.
This time, Missy’s smile reached her eyes, and the lipstick touched her mouth.
Georgia’s hackles rose.
“But we do have a daughter together. You know how that is.”
The smile fell off Missy’s face.
“You never really quite divorce the father of your kid.” Take that, you floozy bitch. Georgia dropped the paper towel in the wastebasket. “See ya.”
When she came out, Sol stood to let her into
the booth, but she slid in on the other side instead. His eyes darkened as she reached across the table for her glass of Baileys.
Was he angry? He sat down across from her, but before he even got settled, she heard Lydia’s voice. “Hey, there!”
No! No! No!
Lydia stood at the end of their booth dressed in tight jeans and a tighter top. “I haven’t seen you since the rodeo, Georgia.” She turned her gaze on Sol. “And you were supposed to call me.”
“Uh, well, things got busy at the ranch,” Sol said.
“And I’ve been tied up with Mama.” What was going on? Was Sol emitting some kind of pheromones that drew women from three counties away?
“So y’all are taking a break, but you didn’t call me?” Lydia pouted for affect.
“Uh, do you want to join us?” he asked.
Under the table, Georgia kicked his shin. He jerked at the contact, but Lydia didn’t seem to notice.
“I don’t want to impose,” she said as she slid into the booth beside him.
Georgia didn’t believe that for a second. Why had she ever introduced them? She didn’t like the flirtatious looks Lydia was giving Sol. Not wanting to watch Sol’s response, Georgia gazed across the bar and saw Missy leave the ladies’ room. It must be girls’ night out, Georgia thought when Missy sat down near the pool tables with two girls from high school. Missy scanned the bar casually. Marking her targets, Georgia thought.
Damn. Where were the guys Missy had tormented Tommy with?
Georgia pulled her attention back to her own booth, gritting her teeth as she watched Lydia flirt with Sol, throwing an occasional comment Georgia’s way. Georgia sipped on her drink while she tried to decide what to do. She really didn’t want to go home, but watching Sol being nice to Lydia, knowing Missy sat in the wings in case an opportunity arose, wasn’t her idea of a good time either.
When Lydia’s hand disappeared under the table to rest on Sol’s thigh—Georgia hoped it was his thigh—she decided she’d had enough. She had to face the music at home eventually. That was punishment enough. She didn’t have to subject herself to this, too.
“I should be getting home, Sol.”
“Sure thing, honey.”
His immediate agreement surprised her. Was he as eager to get away from Lydia as she was? Or did he just want to get rid of his ex-wife, so he could come back on his own? Unless Lydia had changed radically, she’d hop into Sol’s bed without thinking twice. And if, by some remote chance, she had changed, there was always Missy.
Lydia pouted when they said good night, and Georgia stewed about it all the way to the far corner of the dark parking lot. Sol opened the passenger door for her. When she didn’t get right in, he looked at her with questioning eyes.
Before she knew she was even thinking about it, Georgia’s hands captured his face. She pulled him down and lip-locked him. In less than a second, he had her backed up against the side of the truck, and his tongue was fencing with hers.
His instantaneous response gave Georgia a primal thrill. His hand slid under her T-shirt to fondle her breast through her lace bra. She moaned into his mouth as his touch sizzled through her, igniting fires in her belly, womb, and other southern localities. When he pressed his hips against her, she felt his hard-on. Her pulse beat violently. Helpless to stop herself, she ground her groin against his.
He groaned and nuzzled her neck, sending goose bumps everywhere. “Take me home, Sol,” she whispered.
His lips moved against her skin. “Whose home, baby? Yours or mine?”
She couldn’t turn him loose to come back to Lydia and Missy in this condition. “Yours.”
His mouth came back to hers as he lifted her and set her inside the truck.
He left her breathless and a little befuddled, and she couldn’t help grinning when he exuberantly slapped the hood a couple of times as he raced around the front to get to the driver’s seat.
###
Sol tugged her close to him on the bench seat so her knees straddled the gearshift.
“Shit!” The keys fell to the floor. He felt like a pimply kid on his first date. With his head nearly in her lap, he felt around until he found them. Her fingers brushed the hair at the nape of his neck. Encouraged, he nipped her denim-clad thigh with his teeth. Her shocked gasp gratified him. He couldn’t help grinning as he straightened up. The key slid into the ignition smoothly this time.
Between shifting from first to second gear, he rested his hand on her knee. When she didn’t object, he let it slide up her thigh between shifting from second to third. He felt like a kid on Christmas Eve who’d lain in wait, shot the reindeer, and now had a whole sleigh full of presents begging to be unwrapped.
By the time they were cruising down the road in fourth, the edge of his hand caressed the crotch of her jeans. A sound that was a cross between a growl and a purr rose from deep in her throat. He stepped harder on the gas.
They were a mile from Sol’s trailer when the red and blue lights flashed in his rearview mirror. “Shit, damn, and hellfire!” Sol ground out from clenched teeth. “We’re on a back road, for pity’s sake!” He eased over to the shoulder.
Georgia slid away as he reached into his hip pocket for his license. “Registration’s in the glove box. Would’ja get it for me?”
A flashlight shone in through his window. “In a hurry, Sol?”
“Not anymore,” Sol grumbled as he offered his license. “How you doing, Tyrone?”
“Better’n you.” Tyrone flashed the light at Georgia. “Then again, maybe not.”
Georgia shielded her eyes from the glare, and Tyrone lowered the light so it didn’t catch her dead-on. Sol stifled a growl as it lit up her chest.
“Hey, Georgia. I heard about your mama. How’s she doing?”
Georgia hesitated as though shifting mental gears then said, “She getting better, but it’s a slow process.” She pressed the registration into Sol’s hand. Sol offered it up, blocking the light that illuminated her chest.
“Heard you was taking care of her,” Tyrone said, talking around Sol. “How long you figure to be around?”
“You gonna write me a ticket, Tyrone?” Sol interrupted. This wasn’t a damned class reunion.
The flashlight shifted to the license. “You been drinking tonight?” Tyrone’s voice lost its chatty quality.
“Not me,” Sol lied.
Tyrone pursed his lips and waited as though a little silence could get Sol to confess.
Sol kept his gaze steady and his mouth shut.
“You gonna keep driving like you got a bear on your tail?”
Sol sighed heavily. “No.”
“I should write you up anyway.”
Sol ground his teeth. Tyrone was one of the good ol’ boys, but Jake had gone out with Tyrone’s girlfriend a couple of months before when he was home on break from Texas A&M, and Tyrone wasn’t above making Sol pay for his brother’s indiscretion.
“You promise to slow it down, and I’ll let you go with a warning.”
“You got my word,” Sol said, grateful to the bone that Tyrone wasn’t pulling him out of the truck and making him do stupid human tricks to prove his sobriety. “Slow and easy.”
He took his time pocketing his wallet. By the time the registration was back in the glove box, Tyrone had driven away. Sol watched the patrol car’s taillights disappear down the road ahead of them then glanced at Georgia. Looking at her, his chest went all hollow, and he had to struggle to breathe. He couldn’t believe she was there with him. Then he saw the look on her face and knew she was about to change directions on him.
He reached over, hooked her neck, dragged her over to him, and laid a hard, wet kiss on her mouth before she could say it. He kissed her until he felt the resistance pass out of her, like an evil spirit being exorcised.
I love you. If his lips hadn’t been busy, he would have said it out loud. The close call made him pull back. She didn’t want to hear that. At least not from him.
She looked
at him through glazed eyes. Her lips were parted and already swollen from his kisses, and her breasts rose and fell with her accelerated breathing. God, how could he help feeling the way he did when she looked at him like that?
Without a word, he started the pickup and pulled back onto the road. Her hand stroked his thigh as he drove.
He swung into the short gravel driveway, killed the engine and the lights, and let the truck coast to a stop a couple of feet from the front steps. The moon played peek-a-boo behind a cloud.
He picked up the hand on his thigh and held it in his. They sat in the dark, not speaking, not moving, listening to the tick of the cooling engine.
Sol kissed her palm. She jolted and he knew she remembered that he’d done that often during their short marriage. “Last chance to change your mind.” It was easy to be magnanimous when he knew there wasn’t much chance she’d take him up on it.
She leaned into him and nibbled on his mustache near the corner of his mouth.
If he could only make tonight last forever.
Chapter Nine
I shouldn’t be here, Georgia thought as Sol led her into his trailer. It was irresponsible. But she was tired of being responsible. Everyone wanted a piece of her without any consideration of her needs.
Even Sol wanted something from her, but at least, from him, she’d get something back.
His trailer held the heat of the day, but that didn’t seem to bother him because he turned just inside the door and pulled her up against him. Oh, damn. What was wrong with her? She loved him like this, all masculine and in charge. And yet it was part of what had driven her away.
But at this moment, it was perfect. Exactly what she needed from him.
He kissed her like he was going to devour her. The mustache tickled a little but not enough to distract her. His hands cupped her ass, pulling her tight against him, lifting her onto her toes, where she could feel his erection. She was reminded in an up-front and personal manner that the writing on the ladies’ room wall wasn’t an exaggeration. An anticipatory shiver washed through her.
As much as she like the forceful way he came on once they were inside, a minute or two later, she decided he wasn’t moving fast enough to suit her. She laid her hands flat against his chest and gently pushed, forcing him to step back toward the bedroom. Back, back, back up against the bed. She pushed, sending him sprawling across the bed. His hat flipped off and tumbled over the far edge.