I’ll Be Seeing U

by Dianne Castell

  Preston grinned as another clap of thunder rattled the building. “A girl could get in big trouble singing a song like that.”

  She laughed and glanced around. “Thanks to the rain no one’s here but you and me and a few of my regulars. I think I’m safe.”

  Preston bobbed with the music. “If you didn’t already belong to Demar Thacker I’d make a play for you myself.”

  Sally laughed, “And what about your Ida? You just going to forget about her?”

  Preston pulled off a section of rib. “She’s got Beau, and I don’t think there’s much I can do about that. He’s one smooth operator and not quite what you think. I’ve heard him talking on the phone, and that southern accent you can cut with a knife sure fades away real fast when he thinks no one around here’s listening.”

  “I bet he’s using it to charm Ida. He knows how she likes all things southern. She prides herself on being a true-blue southern belle.”

  “I think maybe he’s trying to sweet talk her into selling Ivy Acres to him for his restaurant. But if I warn her she’ll think I’m jealous and trumping up trouble.”

  Sally put her hand on Preston’s arm. “I’m sorry about Ida, Preston, I really am, and I know how you feel about things not going right. They aren’t all that terrific with Demar and me either.”

  She tore off a chunk of meat from his plate and nibbled. Eating under stress was calorie-free, everyone knew that, and when it came to Demar there was enough stress to last three lifetimes. Ryan strolled in and took a seat beside Preston and she said, “You look like you’ve been ridden hard and put away wet. What’s wrong?”

  “I’ll have a shot of Black Jack and a beer.”

  “Honey, it’s only three in the afternoon. I know it’s raining and you’re used to all that San Diego sun but you’ll adjust, it’s not that bad.”

  He leveled her a long look that said this was not about lack of sunshine. She’d known Ryan all her life, they grew up together, read Playboys that she snuck from her dad’s secret hiding place, figured out the facts of life together, and then lost their virginity to each other one hot summer night on the banks of the Mississippi. Something special about your first time, and there’d always be something special between her and Ryan O’Fallon. Whatever he had to tell her, he didn’t want to. “Spill it. What’s going on?”

  He cut his eyes to Preston, and Sally said, “Preston’s okay, just say what you have to say and get it over with before I jump out of my skin.”

  He ran his fingers through his hair. “Look, I have no right to tell you this, in fact it’s putting my nose where it doesn’t belong and it’s none of my damn business, and I hate busybodies who go around and cause trouble where they think—”

  Sally grabbed the front of Ryan’s shirt and pulled him across the bar and peered deep into his eyes. “Whatever it is, it’s got to be better than this blabbering, you’re driving me nuts.”

  “Dammit to hell, it’s Demar, okay? I was at Hastings House and he was…he and Jett were…he…Ah, hell, Sally, he was kissing her and she was kissing him back like she meant it. There, I said it and I feel like shit.” Ryan swiped Preston’s beer and downed the contents in one long gulp. He banged the empty on the countertop and swiped his hand across his lips. “Fuck,” he muttered under his breath.

  “You saw him do that too?”

  “Good God, no!”

  “Well thank heavens for big favors. Least he’s not screwing around on me.”

  Ryan went behind the bar and got his own beer and another for Preston, and gave Sally the shot of Black Jack. She pushed it aside and perched her elbow on the bar then rested her chin in her palm. “What am I going to do now?”

  “Running him over with Quaid’s Jeep is looking pretty good.”

  “I don’t want to lose Demar, least not without one more crack at him, and that just might be my bat over his head, but at least I’ll go down fighting. The question is, what does Jett have that I don’t?” She glanced down at her chest. “For openers, a nice set of womanly attributes up top, and less rounded womanly attributes below. Bet she’s a card-carrying member of Fat Fighters. I think I hate Fat Fighters.” Sally stole another rib from Preston’s plate and wolfed it down.

  Ryan took a swig of beer while lightning zigzagged outside the window. “Want me to talk to him?”

  Sally arched one brow. “Oh, I can just imagine what that conversation would be like. Quaid already had a run in with Demar and I’m betting it was over this very thing.” She kissed Ryan gently on the lips. “You are the sweetest man, and that includes your whole family. But this is between me and Demar and we have to figure it out on our own.”

  “Which means…?” Preston asked.

  Sally took off her apron, hooked it over Ryan’s head, and draped the bar towel across Preston’s shoulder. “It means I’m going to figure out why Demar’s cattin’ around with someone besides me, and then I’m going to fix it, if I can.”

  She started for the door and Ryan snagged her arm. “You’re too good for him, Sally.”

  “But I love him, I really do, and I’ve got to give us one more shot or I’ll never forgive myself.” She pulled a letter from the back pocket of her shorts. “I just got a terrific offer from a first-rate investment firm in Seattle. Dad’s recouped from his heart attack, and if Demar and I aren’t meant to be then…”

  “Good God, you’re taking the job? We all finally get back here and now you want to leave again?”

  “Every song, every sunset, every plate of barbecue will remind me of Demar and I’ll lose my mind if I stay.” She kissed Ryan on the cheek this time, then did the same to Preston. “Take care of my bar for a while, boys. I’ve got a hot date to tend to.”

  Sally headed upstairs to the apartment and her room, and sat on a window seat, staring out at the storm. Demar was like a…stock, going down in price when it should be going up. Why? She needed a stronger product. She needed…Google. Now there was a good stock—new, edgy, innovative, flashy, hip and trendy. So what made a woman all those things? Sure wasn’t being a barmaid.

  She caught her reflection in the next flash of lightning. She needed to do something more than just tend bar. She loved it, no doubt about that, but it was a waste of an education and her dad had paid dearly for that education. “Face it, sweet cakes, you’re hiding out.” She’d been licking her wounds after getting roughed up on Wall Street. “Coward.”

  Well, her coward days were over, starting tonight. She was going after what she wanted—and that was Demar Thacker in her bed keeping her warm and satisfied. And if he wanted new, flashy, innovative, edgy…she’d give it to him.

  Demar stifled a yawn as he climbed the stairs to his apartment. The day from hell was over. The only reason it hadn’t slipped over into the night from hell is that he told Jett he had a migraine. Really bad excuse, but the best he could come up with, getting out of dates wasn’t his usual practice. Then again, since he’d met Sally dating was the last thing on his mind…unless it was her. He opened the door to his apartment, went inside, and something struck him in the back.

  “Put your hands up high.”

  “Sally? Why are you jabbing a…carrot into my back?”

  “It’s a gun.”

  “Sweet thing, you hate guns.”

  The carrot jabbed again. “Into the bedroom and lay face down.”

  “What are you doing? What are we doing? Have you been reading porn? I think I like it.”

  “I have not been reading porn, a carrot is the only gun-like thing I have around. Think innovation.”

  Except it had been a day of innovation, mostly on his part, to stay at arm’s length from Jett and for sure out of her bed. Right now he wanted basic existence: a beer, the blues, his babe Sally. God he wanted her, but if she wanted carrots he’d go along with it.

  He stumbled into the bedroom lit with candles. “Nice décor.” He sniffed. “Spice?”

  “Glade Plug Ins. Best I could do for the Landing. We so need a Target out
here.”

  He collapsed facedown on the mattress and she sat on his butt. “Good start, but I’d rather you’d be sitting on what’s on the other side.”

  “Tonight belongs to me.”

  “Because you have the carrot?” He started to laugh, and suddenly felt something close over his wrists, both of them. “What the hell?” He tried to free himself. “Where’d you get handcuffs?”

  “Your sock drawer, of course. One on each arm and hooked together in the middle looked really uncomfortable, being so tight across your back, so being the nice girl that I am I gave you more room.”

  He turned his head to the side. “Girl, I got to tell you that I am in no mood for—”

  “You’re in no mood?” Her voice rose an octave and she slid off him; he could feel the heat from her sex slide across him making him, instantly hard in spite of being handcuffed with his own equipment.

  She added, “I get to hear how you’re playing smash mouth with your ex-partner and now you’re not in the mood for me?”

  Could this day get any worse? “Look, that kiss was a…mistake.”

  “Yeah, and you made it. Well, it’s my turn and I’m going to seduce you, Demar Thacker, if it takes all night.”

  It was so not going to take all night after he’d thought about her all damn day. “Look, I have no problem with seduction but can we just ditch the preliminaries and get to the good stuff?”

  “Namely, you boinking me then going to sleep? No way. I want you to remember more than just a good piece of ass.”

  “I know you’re more than that, I swear. Give me a break, Sally. I’m really beat.”

  “Tough, because I’m going to screw your brains out.”

  There were worse things, and he suddenly didn’t feel so tired. “I probably shouldn’t ask this but…why?”

  “To win you over to my side.”

  “I’m yours, babe, all yours, I swear it. You got to trust me on this. I know things feel off, but they aren’t. They’re on, just you and me.”

  She rolled him onto his back and tossed the carrot, which landed on his chest with a soft plop. He’d rather Sally landed there with a soft plop. The sultry beat of “Tennessee Stripper” vibrated the room, and Sally sang along with the lyrics, “Take a look but you can’t touch, I can tease you till it’s too much.” And he believed every word.

  A spotlight flashed on, highlighting Sally with her arm bowed around a horizontal pole—where’d she get that pole? She wore a fringy red dress, white boa, long white gloves and a rope of pearls that hung the length of the dress.

  “Dang, you have been reading porn.”

  “For God’s sake, Demar, I’m an MBA from Harvard, this is Google.”

  “Google? What the hell does Google have to do with this?” Then she started to sway with the music and he didn’t care about Google or anything else. She smiled and rolled her shoulders with the music, as she pushed one glove down her arm and then, with her teeth, suggestively pulled the cloth from each fingertip. Taking the long white swatch, she swung it around her head and sent it sailing, landing on top of the carrot.

  She danced around the pole and sang, “Peek at this and peek at that.” Then she slid off the other glove and sent it his way. She peeled the dress down, bit by bit, revealing one lovely naked breast then the other, except that damn boa kept getting in the way, ruining his view. “Take off the boa!”

  “You are so damn demanding. Always the cop. Be patient.”

  “No.”

  “Bet Mae West never had these problems,” she groused.

  She slid the dress off, leaving her in thigh-high hose, heels, beads and the boa. If he had his way he’d keep her like this for the rest of her life. She leaned one way on the pole, lifting one breast as if offering it to him, making his mouth dry. She leaned the other way and offered the other breast, making his mouth drier still. He’d kill for a beer, even drink it through a straw, since his hands were tied.

  Then she did a little swing around the pole twitching her great hips, her fanny—till the pole moved, then completely gave way.

  “Yikes!” she yelled as she stumbled and the pole crashed to the floor. She spun across the floor, bounced against his nightstand, then tripped onto the floor.

  He tried to stand to help her but couldn’t because his damn hands were behind his damn back, throwing him off balance. “That’s it,” he said as he fought the cuffs. “Get me out of these things.”

  One of Sally’s hands crept over the edge of the bed beside him, then the other, then her head appeared. Hair hung in her face and she blew it out of the way, but it just fell back. “Are you okay? Get me out of these things.”

  She plucked a key from the nightstand, he rolled over and she undid the cuffs. He rolled back and pulled her off the floor and onto his chest. He laid her back; heavily made-up eyes complete with glitter and sequins looked into his, her mouth touching his. “What the hell is this all about? First you get me in the storage room and entice the hell out of me, then the cognac, now this? I’m not complaining, mind you, but I’m just curious. Besides, I’m worried you may not live through another episode.”

  Her index finger trailed a line from his forehead to his lips. “I wanted tonight to be something special but it didn’t work out…again.” She kissed him. “Using one of those spring-mounted shower curtain bars for a dance pole wasn’t a great idea but it’s all I could get, had to bring it from my bathroom at home. I can never seem to get it right. I thought you’d like a striptease. Everybody does.”

  “Really. Do you?”

  “Trust me, Demar, a woman taking off her clothes does nothing for me, unless it’s a dress on sale that she doesn’t want but I do.”

  “What about a man?”

  “If he wants the dress he has to fight for it like the rest of us. Gay rights don’t count for squat in a sale.”

  He rolled to the side of the bed and kicked off his shoes, and she whined, “Don’t go away.”

  “Not a chance.” He stood in the spotlight, gave her a devil look, then pulled up a corner of his T-shirt to give her a peek at his abs that he worked hard to keep in shape. He let the blue cotton slide back down, as he did a side step and quick turn that he had used as tight end playing football at the University of Tennessee.

  Sally laughed and giggled then slid her two little fingers to the corners of her mouth and let out a terrific wolf whistle worthy of any man. “Bring it to mama, baby. Let me see it all. Shake it, shake it.”

  He laughed and peeled off his shirt, then did a few more steps, trying to imitate a Gregory Hines move he’d seen. He thrust his hips, unzipped his jeans, rezipped, then finally peeled them off over his hips and down his legs…which must look really awkward. Had to respect those Chippendale guys. This left only his briefs, as she called, “Take it off, all off, Demar. I wanna see what I’m going to get.”

  He grinned, slid out of his briefs, and kicked them into the air. Sally caught them, cheered and hooted, “Oh, baby. You are my man. And you better be watching how you move or you’ll break something and I so do not want that something broken.”

  He shuffled her way and lifted her in his arms, one under her knees, the other across her smooth back, her arms around his neck. He danced, swaying to the music, then collapsed with her onto the bed, both laughing.

  “I never knew this side of you, Demar.”

  Reaching into the nightstand, he took out a condom. He grinned down at her, “Oh, babe, you are fun. What would I ever do without you?”

  “I hope you never find out.” She took the condom from his fingers and tore it open. “You are one sweet dancer, Demar.” She sat up, gazing at his hard dick. “And you sure got the stuff to strut.”

  She rolled the latex on, massaging as she covered him with excruciating slowness, driving him nuts. She sat back on his thighs and studied his shaft, kneading his testicles now, rendering him speechless. She peered into his eyes, hers hot with desire. “I love feeling you inside me.” Her fingers held hi
m tighter. “You being so much a part of me.”

  He cupped her breasts, appreciating the tight pink nubs at the tips, the satin softness of her warm dark skin resting in his palm. “You are so smooth, so perfect. I’ve never wanted a woman like I want you. Hold on to me tight, baby. Love me all the way.”

  He rolled them over, bracing himself on top of her. “Wrap your legs around me. I want to take you so deep you’ll never forget. I want to fill every sweet inch of you, make you mine with all I have.”

  His heart slammed his ribs, his arms quivered as her velvety thighs rubbed across his waist, bringing her wet hot sex against his dick, making his head swim and his vision blur. He arched his hips and entered her, just a bit at first, his insides screaming for more…all…now. But he wanted to make this last. “You are so fine, girl. Everything about you is perfection.”

  He eased into her a fraction more, watching her pupils dilate with need, her breath quicken, feel her fingertips dig into his shoulder muscles, exciting him all the more. He pushed again in one fluid movement, this time giving her all, the sensation of burying himself in her sweet slick passage more intoxicating than anything he’d ever experienced. Her lips formed a perfect O, her hips arched to him, taking him in.

  “Demar,” she moaned, her head falling back, her lovely chest arched and curving up as she surrendered her body totally to him.

  His insides screamed for release this very second, but his mind wanted the memory that went beyond the physical. He eased himself out, deliberately slow, her tight muscles not ready for his absence and holding firmer. “Demar?”

  “Patience, baby, patience.” He pumped into her again, this time a fraction faster, increasing the rhythm as he spread her again, increasing the intense pleasure of making love to Sally. She sucked in a quick long breath. “I can’t hold on, Demar. I want you now.”

  “A little more. Just a little longer. I don’t want this to end.” He filled her once more, his testicles tight to her body, her heat surrounding him. The scent of raw sex mixed with the spice, the aroma decadent, indulgent. He withdrew, almost completely, knowing he’d then get to replenish her again. Her legs held him tighter, the first shudders of climax claiming her as he sank into her hard.