Garden of Dreams

by Patricia Rice

  Startled, Nina waited for explanation. The corner of JD’s mouth curled up in that reckless grin. “I’m taking you out to dinner and to see the lights of Vegas. You’ll get your money’s worth out of this vacation.”

  Chapter 28

  While Nina showered, JD ran down to the hotel shops and bought a clean shirt. He returned just in time to catch Nina as she stepped out of the bathroom in her new minidress. He thought his eyes probably spun in their sockets like the slot machines downstairs as he took in all that leggy magnificence.

  “Maybe we shouldn’t go out,” he murmured thickly, while visions of what he’d much rather do played an erotic film before his mind’s eye.

  JD caught the flicker of disappointment in her expression before she could politely agree with his asinine statement. Nina was too damned innocent even to know what he’d just suggested. That thought scared him, but as usual, he ignored the warning.

  “I’m teasing. You look gorgeous, Nina. I’m afraid someone will steal you if I let you out in public.”

  To his delight, her cheeks colored, and a pleased smile flirted around the edges of her mouth before she returned to practicality.

  “You thought I looked like a clown when you first saw me,” she reminded him.

  “Yeah, and I’d just been bashed over the head, if you remember correctly. Actually, I thought you looked like one of those big-eyed waifs they used to paint on velvet,” he countered, “but I hadn’t seen you in anything that looked like this.” He gave the clingy scrap of fabric another lecherous look, for his benefit as well as hers. “You have no idea what that dress does to a man’s mind.”

  Or other parts of his body, but JD figured he’d given her enough to go on while he took his turn in the shower. He didn’t dare leave Nina alone long enough to go back for fresh clothing and his shaving gear. She’d just have to take him as he was tonight. He’d show her around town, give her her money’s worth, and put her on the midnight plane out of here. Or maybe the dawn one. He showered faster at that thought. Maybe he’d think more clearly once he got some physical release.

  Finished, JD dried off, wrapped a towel around his hips, and, realizing he had no comb, stepped out of the bathroom and asked Nina if he could borrow hers.

  She sat at the desk table writing all her charge receipts into a little notebook. At his question, she glanced up, and her eyes widened into saucers.

  He’d forgotten he wore only a towel and that Nina wasn’t quite as sophisticated as his usual women, but JD didn’t regret his mistake. His grin broadened as the decided look of admiration in her eyes momentarily soothed his bruised self-esteem.

  “Still want to go out tonight?” he taunted her recklessly.

  She gulped, nodded, and pointed at the brush and comb on the dresser. JD wasn’t fooled. He’d scared her half to death, but he’d damned well opened her schoolteacher eyes. If she meant to run around rescuing men, she’d best learn everything that entailed.

  Taking the comb back to the bathroom, JD toweled his hair and dressed. Pulling his new shirt out of the bag, he slipped a couple of other purchases into his back pocket. Now that she’d invaded his world, JD considered the tables turned. Miss Nina Toon had become fair game.

  She didn’t say anything as he came out straightening his cuffs, but she had on her high-heeled sandals and wore eye shadow and mascara. For him. She’d dressed up for him. JD thought he might burst his shirt buttons.

  “You know you’re going home first thing tomorrow, don’t you?” he warned as he took her arm and guided her from the room.

  “No, I’m not,” she replied stubbornly.

  JD couldn’t remember ever having quite this effect on a woman before, and it tickled him no end. Usually, the women he went out with criticized his hair, his lack of tie, his choice of shirt, even the places he took them. He could learn to like Nina’s kind of acceptance. She hadn’t even complained about his beard.

  “I’ll get you drunk and pour you on the plane,” he threatened, only half jokingly, as they rode the elevator down.

  That brought a flash of irritation from her lovely eyes. “I don’t drink,” she informed him.

  “You will,” he answered knowingly. “This is Las Vegas.”

  ***

  Staring at the garishly adorned, half-naked dancers on the stage, Nina sipped unthinkingly at the champagne JD poured for her. Rock music pounded through her veins like jungle drums. Flashing lights and alcohol sang a siren call in her brain. But she knew perfectly well most of her spinning senses were caused by the man across the table.

  Her feelings went way beyond infatuation, she’d admitted long ago. She didn’t know much about lust, but she had a decided feeling the excitement, pain, and sheer terror roiling inside her right now went beyond lust, too. The man across from her tied her insides into knots with just one look. Though JD hadn’t shaved or dressed up, she thought him the most handsome man in here. Even Pierce Brosnan couldn’t compare. If she thought about his kisses, or the way he’d conjured up her garden and chased away her personal dragons, she would most likely swoon at his feet.

  She sneaked a peek at JD again. Instead of watching the nubile young dancers, he was nibbling on shrimp and watching her. He winked when he caught her look, and Nina considered throwing the shrimp at him. But he’d gone out and bought that shirt just for her. It had probably cost him a fortune in the hotel shop.

  He didn’t look like a man on the edge anymore. He wasn’t a stranger either. She could read the look in his eyes, and instead of alarm bells, it rang a clarion of anticipation. He was just waiting for her to say the word.

  After the dinner show, JD took her dancing. Unless school dances counted, she’d never gone dancing in her life. She wasn’t a great dancer. Neither was he. But together—together, they somehow became something explosive.

  “It’s the champagne,” Nina murmured as JD led her from the floor after a slow dance that nearly had her in flames.

  He circled his hand at the small of her back. “No, it’s not.”

  Nina scowled. “Must you argue with everything?”

  “Not if you tell me you’re ready to go.”

  The smoldering look in his eyes could have ignited kindling. Nina was much more flammable.

  She had known it was coming. He’d made it clear enough all evening. She’d exceeded the bounds of propriety by chasing him out here. Aunt Hattie would have been horrified. Aunt Hattie had died a lonely old woman.

  Of course, if Nina looked at this carefully, she could summon up her mother’s bad-girl image and know the danger she courted. Helen had sought men and pleasure and had shirked responsibility all her life, and look where it landed her.

  Nina had worked dutifully all her life, and she hadn’t fared any better than Hattie or Helen. So to hell with it. She’d learn from her own experience for a change.

  Nodding once, she picked up her purse from the table. “I’m ready.”

  JD seemed almost as stunned by her acquiescence as she was, but he recovered quickly. Throwing a bill onto the table, he guided her through the dark maze of chairs and into the casino beyond.

  Walking through the flashing maze of lights, Nina tried ignoring the humming in her head. She blamed it on the champagne, the man beside her, the sensory overload. As they came in sight of the door to the outside world, she couldn’t bear the noise anymore.

  Grabbing JD’s arm, Nina halted and pointed at a lone machine near the door. “What happens when one of those things breaks down?”

  JD glanced at the flashing slot machine and furrowed his brow. “I don’t know. I’ve never seen one break down.” He shot her a quizzical look. “Why?”

  “That one’s humming.”

  Any other man would have brushed her comment aside and hurried her out of here. Nina understood the tension in the arm beneath her fingers, knew JD had focused on one thing and one thing alone, and it certainly wasn’t on that mechanical one-armed bandit. She liked knowing she had his complete attention, even i
f it was all sexual. She liked it even better when—without questioning—he pulled a quarter from his pocket.

  Dark eyes gleamed as he handed the coin to her. “All right, let’s see what happens when a slot breaks down.”

  Delight washed through Nina as she took the coin and heard his acceptance. He understood. He believed her. She just hoped she wasn’t about to make a fool of herself. But then, neither of them knew what happened when a machine broke. Maybe it didn’t do anything. It was enough to know he accepted the potential.

  Biting her bottom lip, Nina inserted the quarter in the slot, hesitated, then pulled the handle.

  Lights blinked. Little pictures twirled. Cards flashed. And then the machine screamed.

  Nina covered her ears as dozens of coins poured into the tray and onto the floor, and the machine kept screaming.

  Or maybe she kept screaming. People crowded around, laughing, pointing, handing JD hats and cups to scoop up the change, yelling their advice and questions. Blinking in disbelief at the cascade of silver, Nina stood frozen.

  The laughter in JD’s eyes as he handed her the money returned her senses. She loved it when he laughed. She loved it that she had the ability to drive away his fears, if only briefly. She loved it that he had believed her without question. She loved him.

  Dizzy from that discovery, Nina had no idea how they escaped the noisy casino. The sultry desert air of the Las Vegas night slapped her back to reality.

  Fluorescent lights blinked and gleamed along the strip as far as the eye could see. In the distance, the volcano at the Mirage erupted, spewing a firework display of glittering embers. Earlier, Nina had laughed at the battling pirate ships, gasped in awe at the volcano, gawked like a kid at the circus acts. She’d seen enough glitz, played enough games. She wanted something more substantial.

  JD’s hand holding hers as he hailed a taxi was the grip she needed. Just the grasp of his fingers had a reassuring effect. Maybe the champagne made it easier to admit what he did to her, but Nina didn’t think alcohol explained this sensation. It came from somewhere deep inside her, somewhere that had stayed empty and alone for too long, somewhere that grew warm and expectant when JD looked at her as he was doing now.

  The hotel he gave the driver wasn’t hers, and startled, she looked at him questioningly.

  He brushed a finger across her lips. “I know a better place.”

  Nina relaxed and let him hold her. He wasn’t putting her on an airplane yet. Maybe by morning, he would have accepted that she couldn’t leave without him. She could hope, anyway. She just had to keep from thinking about what would happen between now and morning. The newfound knowledge of love made it easier and more difficult at the same time. She had to throw away everything she’d ever learned about caution before she could dive headfirst into this boiling cauldron of the unknown.

  In the darkness of the taxi, JD brushed kisses across her hair and played dangerous games through the fabric of her dress, escalating the drums pounding in her veins, providing the oblivion she needed. Thriving on sensation and not thinking could be habit-forming.

  The taxi rolled down a drive carved from a jungle. Nina gaped at the lantern-lit trees, hanging baskets, and flowering vines. Surely they’d found Eden.

  Instead of the glare and blare of a casino when they entered the hotel, they walked through a tropical garden of calling birds and trickling water. Utterly fascinated by the lush greenery, Nina scarcely heard JD as he arranged for a room and picked up the card key. Soft music played from a nearby lounge. People wandered jungle paths in every direction. It was too surreal to comprehend in her current condition.

  They took another path out of the main stream of traffic, into a quieter world. The music and the jungle fell behind them. JD pushed open a glass door, and they entered a new scene, this one of moonlight and fresh air, emerald lawns and garden beds.

  “Better?” JD murmured, swinging her hand while she took in the view.

  “Much better,” she sighed. “Thank you. It’s perfect.”

  “A real oasis,” he agreed. “Are you sorry all those coins didn’t turn to riches?”

  Nina didn’t think it was her winnings he questioned. He’d converted them into a neat stack of twenties for her. It didn’t cover the price of her vacation, but it came close. But what was bothering JD went beyond money.

  She smiled and wrapped both hands around his arm. “I’m not sorry about anything.”

  “Good.” He pressed a kiss to her hair and stepped into the moonlight.

  They said nothing more as they followed the path to patio doors overlooking the garden. Nina bit her trembling lip as JD unlocked the door with his card. This was it then. She couldn’t turn back now.

  She didn’t want to turn back now.

  He made it so incredibly easy. He closed and locked the door, slipped the key in his pocket, and pulled her into his arms. It was that simple.

  Nina closed her eyes and drank in the bliss of JD’s mouth pressed to hers. Her lips parted, and she tasted the champagne and chocolate they’d eaten last. Her arms found a natural perch around his shoulders. Her fingers pulled at his long hair. Her hips cradled in the heat of his without once flinching at the pressure there.

  Her useless gown slid to the floor, and she merely stepped out of it along with her shoes. She hadn’t worn stockings. Thanks to JD, she didn’t wear her bra or panties for long either.

  The bed had already been turned down. Chilly linen caressed Nina’s back as JD lowered her across the mattress. He hadn’t pulled the light-concealing draperies, and moonlight shimmering through the sheers illuminated his bronzed shoulders as his shirt joined her dress on the floor. Again, she thought him the most handsome man in the world. He wasn’t pretty. He wasn’t even good-looking. But she loved the character of his sharp nose and jutting chin, loved the way his dark eyes gleamed when he looked at her, loved the way his muscles rippled beneath the dusky whorls of hair as he discarded the rest of his clothing.

  She thought she’d be frightened when he came to her naked, but she wasn’t. Excited, definitely. Nervous, a little. But not frightened. JD kissed her lips and cuddled her breast, and it all seemed as natural as rain on a spring day.

  They didn’t say much. They would only have argued if they had tried, as they had argued off and on all evening. Nina knew JD still expected her to leave. She didn’t know what kind of women he’d known in the past who would leave him without a fight, but she wasn’t one of them. He wouldn’t accept that. Couldn’t, maybe.

  She figured he thought of this as a one-night stand, a casual encounter they both needed to slake their lusts. She didn’t believe in casual sex. She didn’t much believe in lust, either. She felt something powerful, admittedly, something that intensified and grew to the point of explosion as JD’s fingers explored and discovered the sensitive secrets of her body. But it wasn’t just his fingers or the heat of his kisses causing the ache inside her. Those were purely physical sensations. What she felt was connected to the man in the swing, the man at the computer, the man on the tractor, all the men she’d seen in him these past weeks.

  So as she melted in his hands, stretched to accommodate him, and accepted the thickness invading her body, she accepted the whole man, not just his physical parts. No other man but John David Marshall could have fit beneath her heart so neatly.

  The flashing lights and pounding drums exploded inside of her then, and she forgot to think at all.

  ***

  Through the grogginess of utter exhaustion, JD recognized the slender curves pressed against his side as he lay on his back. If he’d had any doubt, the throbbing in that part of him over which he had no control verified his suspicions. He’d awakened like this every night for weeks, and only one female of his acquaintance could cause it. And apparently, one release wasn’t enough, even one as explosive and mind-blowing as they’d shared last night.

  He still couldn’t believe it. He’d rather count program line numbers than think of what Nina had gi
ven him last night. Their lovemaking had been terrifying—and spectacular. In the past, he’d used sex the same way he used his gym equipment, as a physical release of tension. What Nina had given him last night no way in hell resembled the sex he’d known. The knowledge scared him. And made him hot all over. He wanted it again, wanted to see if it had been the alcohol or the music or anything but this slender woman blowing the gaskets of his mind. And he was afraid to find out.

  Cursing silently as a small hand moved cautiously against his skin, JD sought reasons why he shouldn’t do this again. He’d known Nina’s relative innocence since the beginning, but he’d ignored the warnings. She’d told him how she’d grown up with the men in town and saw them only as boys. She’d told him she’d rushed home to her ailing aunt after classes at the university. He’d known she hadn’t had much opportunity and would never accept casual sex. And he’d done it anyway.

  He couldn’t believe the mind-boggling pleasure she’d given him last night. Nina had given herself to him and to no one else. Triumph and male pride and a primal possessiveness figured into the equation, all emotions with which he had little acquaintance. He should try it again while entirely sober.

  JD groaned and captured Nina’s hand as it curled in the hairs on his chest. “I’ll hurt you, Nina.” He didn’t even know if his warning meant physically or otherwise. Probably both. He wanted so damned much.

  Her stroking hesitated. Then she freed her hand and began a teasing trek downward. “Shouldn’t I be the judge of that?”

  Hell, yes, he agreed silently, as certain parts of him jerked to complete attention. She was a grown woman. Why should he think he had to protect her against herself?

  As JD turned on his side and found Nina’s mouth with his, he wished she were a machine he could set aside in the morning. Machines, he could handle.

  ***

  Nina had always wondered how she would feel the morning after. As a young girl, of course, she’d thought it would be after her wedding night. As she grew older and occasionally indulged in a romantic movie or two, she’d wondered and daydreamed a bit. Now she knew. She felt wonderful. And she ached like hell.