I Want Crazy

by Codi Gary

  His chest shook under her cheek, and she looked up, wondering what he found so humorous. “What’s funny about that?”

  His hand smoothed over her cheek. “Nothing, it’s just something Jake would say.”

  “I just meant—”

  His mouth covered hers before she could finish her thought, and the sweep of his tongue against hers sent a shiver up her spine that had nothing to do with the cold. Holding on to his shoulders, she kissed him back and wondered how she’d forgotten how amazing kissing could feel.

  It took her a minute to realize Will hadn’t been a fan of kissing.

  Just another strike in the old ex category.

  Red’s hands on her waist moved up and under her shirt, and she pulled away with a cry as his cold palms spread across her back.

  “Cold! Cold hands.”

  “Sorry.” But didn’t remove them, and his laughter belied his sincerity.

  She was just about to call him out when she noticed movement just above Red and saw a huge, fluffy possum perched on the branch inches above them.

  It hissed at her, and she scrambled back with a shriek.

  “What the—”

  She didn’t even stop backing up until her ass hit the water. She watched in horror as Red stood up and was almost eye to eye with the ugly thing.

  “What are you doing, you idiot? Are you trying to get—”

  Before she could finish, he was reaching into the tackle box and pulling out a plastic baggie and a bowl.

  “What’s up, Norman?” Red asked, his tone practically jolly.

  It took Jessie a second to realize he was talking to the possum. “Did you just call that thing Norman?”

  He walked over to a clump of trees and set the bowl down, emptying the contents of the bag into it. “Jessie, this is Norman. Norman, this is Jessie.”

  Suddenly, Jessie realized she was soaking wet and cold and all because he’d made friends with the local wildlife. “Aren’t there laws about feeding wild animals?”

  “Norman is a bit of an odd duck. I’m pretty sure he was someone’s pet, and they dumped him out here when they got tired of him. I’ve been coming here for most of my life, and the last four years, Norman here has shown up looking for handouts.”

  Getting up on her feet, she tried to shake off, but the sound of his laughter froze her movements.

  “You…backed…into the…water?”

  His wheezing between guffaws pissed her off, and she glared at him. “I was sitting there, minding my own business, and your fucking pet scared the shit out of me.”

  The bastard had the audacity to hoot at her, and she took off her shoes, dancing from foot to foot as she wiggled out of her jeans.

  “What are you doing?” he asked, sounding wheezy.

  Slipping her shoes back on, she walked over to where he lay and threw the wet jeans in his face.

  “Hey!”

  While he was distracted, she shoved her hand into the front pocket of his jeans and grabbed his keys. Before he could grab her, she was running down the trail to his car, his angry shouts following her.

  “Damn it, Jessie, get back here!”

  She ignored him and kept running, her feet kicking up dirt as she raced to the car. He wasn’t going to be laughing long when she stole his car.

  She was ten feet away when the sound of his shoes eating up the distance pushed her to go faster, but it was too late. His arms wrapped around her waist, and she let out an oomph as he rolled with her, taking the brunt of the impact. She tried to get up, but he wrestled her onto her back, his hands holding her wrists above her head.

  He hovered above her, and she was achingly aware of his chest heaving against hers, her nipples tightening with every movement. Before she could catch her breath, he was pulling his keys from her fingers and shoving them into his back pocket, making him press into her harder.

  “I can’t believe you were going to take off with my car.”

  She was desperately aware of the cool air on her bare legs and that the thin cotton of her panties was doing nothing to protect her from the rough denim of his jeans.

  And now she couldn’t remember why she was running in the first place.

  Her tone flirtatious, she whispered, “Maybe I just wanted you to chase me.”

  His eyebrows shot up, and she laughed out loud at his surprise. Laughter that stopped abruptly as he leaned over her, his lips inches away. With one hand, he still held her wrists, but she felt the other fall on her calf and start sliding up, heating her skin wherever it touched. As it slipped between their bodies, trailing fingers over the inside of her thighs, she sucked in her breath and her legs spread involuntarily. She didn’t even care that she was lying on a bed of dead leaves and dirt, not when his large hand cupped her between her legs and he ran one of his digits along the wet cotton, teasing her.

  She whimpered as he pressed in, and his lips claimed hers, his tongue slipping inside her mouth to rub against hers. She pulled away from his hands, and when he released her, she reached up to push his jacket off his shoulders. He moved his hand from her heat and helped her, jerking his arms out of the sleeves and tossing it aside as her hands found the bottom of his T-shirt, bunching the fabric as she pulled it up his torso. His shirt followed his jacket, flying off to land next to the car.

  He pulled away, and she devoured his wide shoulders and sculpted chest, wondering what she was thinking when she thought she didn’t like muscles. He was a thing of beauty in the soft moonlight and the blue-and-red glow…

  Blue and red?

  Suddenly, a siren and a loud speaker boomed. “Freeze!”

  She turned her head to see a white police cruiser parking behind Red’s Charger, the blue-and-red lights on top spraying the dirt road with color. Red cursed but held his hands up, and if she wasn’t embarrassed as hell, she would have laughed.

  The door to the cruiser opened, and an older man climbed out, one hand on his hip. As he approached the two of them, he pulled his gun, and Jessie held her breath as he trained his weapon on Red.

  “Get up off the lady, big fella, and lie face down on the ground, slowly.”

  Red did as he was told, keeping quiet, but Jessie wasn’t about to let Red get shot by some Barney Fife. “Sir, he—”

  “You just stay right there, ma’am, while I take care of him.”

  The officer went to where Red was lying and knelt into his back as he slapped the cuffs on him. “You just stay here while I talk to the lady.”

  Red still hadn’t said anything, so Jessie tried again. “Sir, there’s been a mistake. He wasn’t doing anything—”

  “I got a call from the owner of this land saying he saw headlights going toward his fishing hole and then a woman’s scream. Y’all realize you were trespassing?”

  Jessie hadn’t, but what mattered was getting Red out of those cuffs. “I’m sorry I alarmed anyone, sir, but I got startled by a possum and fell in the creek. We were just doing a little night fishing—”

  “Oh, so you were trespassing and poaching? And you’re saying that this man wasn’t attacking you?”

  Jessie shook her head. “He’s my friend.”

  “Well, miss, your friend’s got you in a heap of trouble. I’m going to have to take y’all in and charge you—”

  “You’re going to charge us?” By the look on his face, she got her answer and tried another approach, radiating demureness. “I understand you have to do what you think is right, but would you mind terribly if I put my pants back on? I’m afraid they’re still wet, but you wouldn’t make me walk into a police station half-naked, would you?”

  The officer seemed to notice for the first time that she was in her sweatshirt and cotton underwear, cut high to show off her hips and bare legs. If she wasn’t mistaken, the officer’s cheeks turned a deep red, and she smiled. “I really am sorry to have caused all this trouble. I’m new to Loco, and my friend was just showing me around some of his favorite places. I’m sure he didn’t realize he was trespassing.
”

  “There’s clear signs everywhere that say no trespassing.” His tone was gruff, but Jessie could tell by the way his gaze shifted over her legs that he found her attractive. She might be able to talk their way out of this.

  “Okay, well, is there any way we can just forget this one instance? It’s just, I’m trying to finish getting ready for my bar opening next week—”

  “Which bar?” the officer asked abruptly.

  “The Watering Hole in Loco.”

  “I know it.” Jessie realized that what she thought had been a slur in his speech was caused by the massive amount of dip he had shoved in his bottom lip.

  Pulling her sweatshirt down a little, she said, “I don’t suppose you’d be willing to just let us go and maybe stop by next week for my grand opening and let me buy you a drink?”

  Red groaned at the same time the officer stiffened. “Are you bribing me, ma’am?”

  “No!” Jessie was tempted to pull her hair out in frustration. “I just… Please, I am begging you, can you please just let us go?”

  The officer reached down and hefted Red up. “I’m gonna let y’all go with a warning, but I catch you making any other kind of mischief, I’ll haul you in so fast, your head’ll spin around. Do I make myself clear?”

  “Yes.” Jessie waited impatiently for him to unlock Red’s cuffs. Once he was free, Red scowled at the smaller man while he rubbed his wrists.

  “Don’t you glower at me, son. You’re lucky the little lady talks so sweet, or I’d have already shoved your ass in my backseat.”

  Jessie started to head back toward the creek, and the officer called out, “And where do you think you’re going?”

  “To get my pants and our fishing poles.” Although by the shake of his head, she had a feeling she was going home without her jeans.

  “Y’all have a minute to gather your gear and get out of here.”

  The man actually pressed a button on his stopwatch.

  Before she could start sprinting, Red put a hand on her arm. “Just get in the car, and I’ll gather up everything.”

  Jessie didn’t argue but climbed into the passenger side and waited. Once she sat down, she reached up and felt her hair, which was embedded with leaves and twigs. As she started to pull out the debris, she felt something crawl across her face. Screaming, she started slapping her face and jumped out of the car, shaking her head and flailing. When she finally calmed down, she looked up to find the officer staring at her with his hand on the butt of his gun.

  “If you’re about done having a hissy fit, why don’t you get back in the car and I’ll take you home?” Red asked.

  A hissy fit? A hissy fit? She had almost let him do her on the ground, which was crawling with insects and other gross, nasty things and he had the nerve to yell at her in front of Officer Straitlaced. What a grade A douche bag. Well, if he thought he was getting anywhere with her now, he had another thing coming.

  * * *

  Red was aching to hit something, to hurt something. It had been humiliating to be handcuffed like a criminal in front of Jessie, but then to have her debase herself in front of that idiot… Well, it had been all he could do not to tell the self-righteous prick to fuck off.

  Of course, that would have been a guaranteed trip to the sheriff’s office, since he’d noticed the deputy badge, and a state trooper would have hauled his ass in no matter what Jessie said.

  From the silent, angry waves radiating off her, he had a feeling he’d stepped in it again with her. He hadn’t meant to take his anger out on her, but every time he tried to apologize, the words got stuck in his throat.

  He pulled up in front of the hotel, and before he could say anything, she was out of the car and walking, pantsless, toward the entrance.

  “Hey!” He jumped out of the car, and she didn’t even slow, just walked inside. She marched across the entryway, and Red saw Jeffrey, the owner’s little brother and night desk clerk, checking out her ass as she sauntered by. Scowling menacingly at the little shit, he sped up and grabbed hold of her, picking her up in his arms despite her struggles.

  “Put me down,” she said through gritted teeth.

  “Stop walking around with your ass hanging out.”

  “My ass is none of your business—”

  He reached the top of the stairs, and dropped her to her feet, his temper flaring. “I’m sorry for the way I spoke to you, okay?”

  She crossed her arms over her chest. “Usually, an apology isn’t yelled in someone’s face.”

  Running a hand over his short hair, he took a calming breath. “I’m sorry. I was embarrassed and pissed off, and I just wanted to get out of there. I wanted tonight to be romantic and fun, and instead it turned into a disaster.”

  She was quiet, and he almost kept talking, but her hand reached out, splaying against his chest. “Not every part was a disaster. There were several moments in there that were pretty spectacular.”

  He took another shaky breath and chuckled. “I just can’t seem to do anything right when it comes to you.”

  “That’s not true,” she said, stepping into him. “When it’s just you and me, things tend to go so right, I don’t even notice there are bugs in my hair.”

  He looked into her green-gold eyes and her teasing grin and relaxed. “So, if I was to ask you out on a midnight fishing trip again—”

  “I’d say hell no.”

  She turned and walked to her door. Pulling the key from her sweatshirt, she slid it home and pushed the door open before adding, “But anything else will be a definite maybe.”

  Her door closed with a snap, and he shook his head at the turn his life had taken.

  It was several hours before he stopped typing and fell asleep, but before he did, he sent one last text.

  What about skinny-dipping?

  Beep.

  Definitely, maybe.

  Chapter Twelve

  Saturday night, Jessie was a bundle of nerves. She’d hired a full staff including two bartenders and Ray as head chef. She’d paid a photographer to take pictures of the town earlier in the day and of the guests tonight and hoped to use most of the pictures to decorate the bare black walls. She kept telling herself she was ready, but she still couldn’t stop shaking.

  Besides the opening, there was also the unfinished business with Red. After their late-night date and make-out session she hadn’t seen hide nor hair of him, only their playful texts and a couple of late-night phone calls that had gotten a little, well…hot. But it seemed like he was keeping his distance from her, and she wondered if she’d misjudged him. What if he had a girlfriend in another town or was a serial killer? What if he wasn’t a great guy and she was making another mistake?

  It was five minutes to seven, and, taking a deep breath, she went to the front doors and peeked out. And almost cried.

  There were only about fifteen people outside. Jessie’s heart sank as she stepped out, trying to smile.

  “Hey everyone!” She saw that Red, his sisters, Jake, and Rand were all there, and the girls who’d helped with flyers last week. “Welcome to Jessie’s!”

  Rand gave her a hug as she passed, as did Red’s sisters, but Red hung back until everyone else went inside. He stopped in front of her, frowning. “What’s wrong? You look like you’re going to cry.”

  “No one is coming,” she said dejectedly.

  “You don’t know that.” Red put his hand on her shoulder. “It’s only seven.”

  “Come on, Red,” she said, fighting her tears. “I offered the first round free. If they were coming, they’d be lined up at the door.”

  She felt the warmth of his lips on her temple and wanted to lean into him. To absorb his strength and bury her head in his chest. But she couldn’t lose herself in him if this was a mistake, couldn’t let herself need him.

  Pulling away from him, she headed back inside. Smiling and hugging her new friends as she passed, she finally made it behind the bar, and yelled, “Who wants a drink?”

&nb
sp; The loud cheers eased her disappointment, and she tried to think positively. The people of Loco would come around eventually.

  * * *

  Red didn’t like the way Jessie looked, like someone had kicked her puppy or something, and he wanted to fix it. It wasn’t a surprise that the citizens of Loco hadn’t shown up. He hadn’t been shy about voicing his earlier opinions of her “improvements.” Apparently, he hadn’t been as convincing with his retraction.

  Pulling out his cell phone, he called Finn Meyers.

  “Officer Meyers.”

  “Hey, it’s Red.”

  “Red, hey, buddy, you behaving yourself?”

  “Shut up, I need a favor.”

  “Only if you ask nicely.”

  Red ignored Finn’s teasing. “When are you off duty?”

  “Heading in now, why?”

  “Can you make a loudspeaker announcement?”

  “Sure, what’s up?”

  “First round free at the former Watering Hole. Big-screens with the sports package.”

  “Uh, Red…”

  “And tell your girlfriend to come down too.”

  “Red, we kind of had plans…”

  “Please, man. I wouldn’t ask you if it weren’t important.”

  “Wait, didn’t I almost have to arrest you for protesting that place two weeks ago?”

  “Things change,” Red grumbled.

  “So…how was that kiss again the other night?” Male laughter met his ear. “I heard you were rounding home before Deputy Hill caught you with your pants down.”

  Gritting his teeth and cursing small-town life, Red snapped, “Shut up,” before hanging up on Finn’s last whoop.

  * * *

  Jessie was sitting with Red’s sisters, talking, when the door burst open and people started filing inside. Their gazes traveled over the walls, the TVs, and the guy in front called, “I hear you’re giving away the first round?”

  Jessie jumped up, giddiness racing through her. “We’ve got some great food too! Come on in.”

  Before too long, the place was packed, and Jessie was scrambling to help run orders from the kitchen. After about an hour, she started making the rounds, introducing herself. When she asked a table if they’d seen her flyer, one of the men said, “Yeah, but it was actually the loud speaker message that got me here.”