by Starla Kaye
Shoving that unpleasant thought aside, he pictured for the billionth time how he'd seen tears glistening in Kandee's eyes when he'd turned back to her after flirting with Beth--Or was it Caroline? Or Tina? She'd spun on her heels and hurried from the room. He hadn't tried to stop her. He hadn't gone after her, not even gone looking for her when she hadn't shown up an hour later. Jerk that he'd been, he'd gone back to partying. No one had even noticed she wasn't there at her own birthday party. Not even her parents. He'd remembered the incident over the years--because it haunted him. He felt sickened every time. He'd been a real ass. Not that it had changed his behavior. He'd gone on flirting, playing around with lover after lover without ever giving his behavior with women much consideration. But then the women who chased after him and his money didn't really care about him. That had become startlingly clear after his latest injury. His lovers had abandoned him and gone after the kid who had replaced him on the team.
Through the diner's front window, he saw Kandee get up and head for the restroom. Yes, he'd been right. she had some incredible curves well revealed in a red dress that highlighted each and every one of them. And her hair was no longer brown or wild and out of control. Blond hair, sleekly straight, flowed down to mid-back. He wanted to touch it, drive his hands through it, and have it draped over him as she...
What the hell are you thinking? She was even more out of his league now than she'd been all those years ago. A big-dog doctor--no matter what her specialty--would want nothing to do with a washed up ex-football player now stumbling around in his attempt to become a rancher.
He turned the engine on, gunning it in his need to get out of here. His glance slid to the diner and, to his distress, Kandee had returned and was watching him. She wasn't smiling or frowning...just watching. He was the first to look away and quickly backed out of his parking space. He didn't look back again, but he was almost certain she still watched him. It made him uneasy, puzzled. And, oddly, aroused.
* * *
Kandee turned away from the window, heart racing after the silent gaze-to-gaze experience with Sean. He'd looked so...haunted...lost. Even if he'd hurt her all those years ago, she hated seeing him this way. She was even more determined to get him to the party. Maybe they could both find a way to help each other.
She felt the curious gazes focused on her from the crowded diner full of townspeople she sort of remembered. She didn't like being the center of attention. She understood their curiosity, their second and third glances. Because of her parents' importance in the community, everyone had known her as she'd grown up here. But the girl they remembered wasn't the woman standing in their midst now.
"Are you sure you want to do it?" Aimee followed Kandee's gaze out the window to where Sean was driving away. "He probably won't come. He's become a real recluse out at that ranch."
Kandee's stomach tightened with nerves. She wasn't quite as confident as she'd tired to let on. Again, she forced a determined smile. "He'll come. Even if I have to go out there, rope and tie him, and drag him to the party." She giggled nervously. "That idea has real appeal."
Roping and tying up Sean and having her way with him sounded so wicked, so out of character for her. She'd have to dig out those books she'd bought and study up on just what some wicked ways entailed. A brazen idea flashed in her mind, no doubt due to the recent number of naughty books she'd been reading. Books where women challenged their strong, alpha men until the men bent them over their knee for a sound spanking. Or where seductive women enticed their willing men into warming their bottom, leading to some major sex. Spanking foreplay. Now that sounded intriguing.
Her heart pounded at the naughty thoughts and her clit fluttered. Sean had such nice big hands. How would they feel against her bare bottom? And his fingers were big, too, long. She'd read about men putting...
"Are you all right?" Aimee interrupted her heated musings. "You're looking kind of funny."
"Just thinking."Kandee grinned, knowing her cheeks were hot, but not nearly as hot as her visions. "Thinking about some things you don't need to know about."
Aimee smiled as Sally Mae set her pancakes down. Then after the older woman walked away, she said pointedly, "I'd bet they have to do with Sean."
"Most definitely."
* * *
"The Halloween party is tomorrow, Sean. Most of our old teammates and their wives are coming. We want you there, too."
Sean braced his arms on the top rail of the fence surrounding the paddock where three of the ranch hands were working with some of the new horses he'd bought at auction last week. He studied the scene worriedly and glanced at his long-time friend. "What do you think about those horses? Did I make a mistake buying them?"
This was all so new to him. He should have paid more attention when his dad had tried to teach him how to manage the ranch. But he'd been a teenager with his dreams set on being anywhere but here. Still, he was giving this his best shot. He didn't want to let his parents down now that they'd decided to retire and have him take over the ranch. He didn't want to fail again.
Chad shrugged. "You know a hell of a lot more about horses than I ever will. Now, if you want to talk about accounting or taxes..."
"No thanks. You've been taking care of that part of my business for years and it'll stay that way." He studied the three chestnut Morgans and the piebald Paint he'd bought with the intention of adding having trail rides to help the ranch's income. The seller had sworn these horses would be perfect for his plan. He'd liked and trusted the man, but had he been duped?
"They look good, boss," his foreman called out. "We'll get them settled in and start working more with them tomorrow."
He nodded, relieved that maybe he hadn't been an idiot with his first big purchase for the ranch.
"About the party," Chad prodded. "Aimee really thinks you should come. So do your old buddies. And me, of course."
Playing football and partying had been almost his entire life for a lot of years. He'd partied long and hard. He'd gone home with women he barely knew, never taking them to his place. He wasn't sure why, but wherever he lived was home, not a place for bringing women just for the heck of it. He didn't want to go back down that road of partying to dawn and drinking almost to oblivion. He didn't want to end up in some strange woman's bed again. Although having been celibate for over six months was getting damn frustrating. Especially after seeing Kandee last week...every breathing man's walking wet dream.
"I don't feel like being the odd man out." Flimsy excuse, but he'd use it anyway.
"What do you mean?" Chad thought about it a second and then shook his head. "Not all of the guys are married anymore. A couple are divorced. Tim has a significant other who lives with him. And Don is...well, Don turned out to be gay. He'll bring his current boyfriend, though. Will that bother you?"
Sean snorted. "Are you kidding me? Do you have any idea how many football players are gay?" He shook his head. "That stuff doesn't bother me."
"So you'll come?"
"It sounds like everyone, including Tim and Don, will come as couples. So, no, I'll pass. But thanks." He looked back toward the paddock, not liking the disappointment on his friend's face. "I'm not really fit company right now anyway."
Chad stood silently next to him for several minutes. Finally, he blew out a breath and said grimly, "Aimee has her mind set on you coming. So does Kandee O'Connor."
Now that surprised him. He faced Chad, furrowing his brow. "Why? Why would either of them want me there? Aimee was never a real fan of mine, only tolerated me because of our friendship."
He thought about Kandee and his body battled longing again, just as it had been doing ever since he'd seen her at the diner yesterday. "O'Connor can't possibly want to be anywhere near me after what I did." He'd purposely used her last name, wanting at least some kind of distance. They weren't for one another.
"Do you really think she is still upset about what happened all those years ago?" Chad questioned, sounding surprised. "She's moved on from
then...in a lot of ways."
His friend was the only one Chad had ever admitted to how bad he'd felt about how he'd treated Kandee. It had happened during one of Sean's rare serious moods back then. He'd generally kept his real feelings about anything to himself, buried deep. On the surface, he'd always shown the world his bad boy side, his I'll-do-whatever-the-hell-I-want side. But he'd had his moments of regrets, of knowing he was full of b.s. Chad had always stuck by him no matter how big of an ass he'd been sometimes.
"No. I just can't go."
Chad heaved a sigh and nodded. "Okay, I won't nag you about it, even if I'd really like you to come. But I'm pretty sure Aimee and Kandee won't give up so easily. Just warning you, buddy." He turned and headed for his Lexus parked nearby. "Women can be awful stubborn sometimes," he called over his shoulder.
* * *
Was she being crazy coming here like this? Kandee turned her vintage red Mustang into the driveway leading to the main yard of Sean's ranch. Her stomach tumbled with nerves. She worried her lower lip.
Chad had attempted this morning to press Sean into coming to the party and failed. She'd been helping Aimee with decorations when he returned from the ranch with his bad news. Aimee had told Kandee to accept Sean's answer and focus on enjoying the party anyway. But her heart was set on having him there.
She couldn't stop thinking about the sad look in his troubled eyes, about how different he was now from the vibrant boy she remembered. She could help him out of this slump. She'd gotten through bad moments in her life; she could get him through this, too. Yet she wasn't sure why doing this was so important to her. At first, when she'd told herself she wanted Sean Masters to be hers while she was in town, she'd been more focused on finally having the man who'd barely even noticed her as a boy fully notice her now. She'd dreamed of him for so long--stupid as that was--and how he would take her virginity, make her into the kind of woman that pleased him in bed. But now... Okay, she still wanted him to make love to her.
You can do this. Be confident. You are not going to drive away from here without getting his agreement to come to the party. You. Are. Not.
She looked at the big, two-story house that she'd been to many times while growing up. Her parents and his were good friends. She'd come with her parents here for a lot of suppers. Sean had never once been there. Could she really do this? Panic started to set in.
She stopped the car at the end of the driveway. Her palms were sweating as she turned off the engine. She couldn't seem to actually get out of the car.
Then he came striding out of the house as if he had somewhere he'd intended to go. He spotted her in the Mustang and froze. Their gazes locked and she felt incredibly foolish for having come here, believing she could talk him into coming to the party.
Her fingers were still on the key, ready to turn the switch, when he walked up next to her door. When she didn't roll down the window, he pulled the door open. His expression wasn't encouraging, nor was his tone when he finally spoke.
"If you're here about the party, I'm not going."
She bristled. "You'd rather continue to hide out here, away from your friends who are worried about you." A spark of anger had lit at his stubborn refusal.
"They don't need to worry about me. I'm fine." His jaw tightened, a vein pulsed in the side of his neck. But there was a hint of vulnerability in his eyes.
She turned up the challenge another notch. "Fine. Mope around here. I tried."
He looked surprised that she'd given in so easily. "I'm not moping."
She gave him a disbelieving glance and pulled her door closed. He took a step back from the car and she cranked the window down even as she turned on the engine. She looked straight at him. "I'll be wearing this really sexy, really naughty pirate costume. Too bad you won't get to see it."
His eyes widened and he swallowed hard, hopefully envisioning her in the outfit. Before he could say anything, she shifted into reverse and started to drive away.
When she looked in the rearview mirror, she saw that he hadn't moved an inch. Suddenly she stopped and backed up until she was even with him again, cranking down the passenger's window. This is really crazy. Don't do this. Don't say it. The words flew out of her mouth before she could stop them, "Have you ever spanked anyone? In foreplay, I mean."
His eyes widened even more and his jaw dropped in shock.
Her face heated and she inwardly groaned at her idiocy. She drove away before she could make an even bigger fool of herself. God, if anyone ever found out what she'd asked him... Thank heavens, he wasn't coming to the party. She didn't think she could ever face him again.
Chapter Two
Sean woke up so tangled in his sheets he couldn't move, so he cursed instead. Cursed a night spent tossing and turning and dreaming wild things that involved a woman he shouldn't even be thinking about: Kandee O'Connor. He cursed the fact that he had a hard-on to end all hard-ons...because of her. The woman was making him nuts. Why the hell did she have to mature into such a damn beauty? Why couldn't she have continued on wearing thick glasses, kept her hair mousy brown? And shy, too quiet to speak more than two words to him, what had happened to that?
The sun would be hinting at a new day before long and he might as well get up. Clearly he wasn't going to get any more sleep. Any more? He didn't feel like he'd had any sleep all night. The blame lie entirely with Kandee. No man could have forgotten how sexy she'd looked as she'd sat there in her Mustang. The red sweater she'd worn had dipped so low he'd gotten a mouth-watering view of cleavage between those spectacular breasts. And her voice...soft and husky when she'd told him about the "naughty pirate costume." He'd spent a lot of time since then envisioning that and, in his visions, there hadn't been much to the costume.
With a groan, he managed to push his way out of his near mummy state within the covers. He sat on the side of the bed and scrubbed a hand over his face. He was still damn tired. Today promised to be busy and he wasn't looking forward to it. He needed to go into town and talk to his banker, pick up some supplies his foreman had ordered, and come back here to deal with the enormous amount of email from his agent, his coach, and his PR advisor that he'd been trying to ignore. His knee was better, but he knew it would never be good enough to let him play serious football again. But none of them were ready to accept that he'd truly retired from the game. They thought he should see yet another special physical therapist. Not happening. He was done with that. And their constant harassment--yes, that's how he saw their emails and calls--didn't help his situation.
He stood, felt a twinge of pain in his knee, and heaved a heavy sigh. Yep, he was done as a quarterback. He needed to put all of that far behind him, settle in completely at the ranch, and accept his new life. But he was not out here moping around! Kandee had a lot of nerve saying something like that. Moping, really? He was just taking his time adjusting, that's all. It was nobody's business how long it took him to get adjusted to this drastic change in his life. It certainly wasn't any of her business.
"Have you ever spanked anyone...in foreplay?" Her words flashed into his thoughts. What the hell had that been about? Spanking? Foreplay? If anyone ever needed her butt burned, it was Kandee. For pressing him about going to a party when he'd already told his buddy "no." For thinking she could come out here and flash some breast, tease him with her sexy voice... He'd like to flip her over his knee, but it wouldn't be for foreplay.
His cock shot out long and proud. Even the thought of spanking her turned him on. Damn. He was in a lot of trouble.
He headed for the bathroom, determined to get the day started. As he passed the long dresser covered with clean clothes he needed to actually put in the drawers, he spotted his cellphone. Before he could stop himself, he speed dialed Chad. He realized what he was doing and almost ended the call when his friend's voice stopped him.
"What's up?" Chad asked, sounding curious, probably because Sean didn't normally call him before eight o'clock in the morning.
"I...uh..." Sean dre
w in a steadying breath. Idiot. "Are you still having the party?" What the hell am I doing?
"Changed your mind? You're coming after all. Great! Aimee and Kandee will be thrilled." Chad hesitated. "I really didn't think you would. Guess Kandee can be pretty persuasive."
Sean frowned. "I'm coming because of you and the guys, not because of her." Yeah, right.
"Sure, whatever you say, buddy. Remember it's a costume party, but I'm sure there will be some people who don't want to dress up. Even I don't want to, but Aimee's pretty stubborn. So I'll be Batman." He laughed. "Hard to imagine me as a super hero, huh?"
"I forgot about the costume thing, but I'll come up with something." Forgot about the costumes? Not a chance. All he could think about was seeing Kandee in some kind of lady pirate get-up. A "sexy" pirate costume, she'd said. He really shouldn't be going. He didn't want to be anymore tempted by her than he already was. "I'm changing my mind again--"
"No way!" Chad protested and then sounded amused. "Unless you're too chicken to come see the skimpy outfit Kandee is planning on wearing. She told me that she'd mentioned it to you. Man, I've seen it...not on her...but it's darn skimpy. A guy can only imagine." He grew serious. "Don't ever tell Aimee I was imagining Kandee in that outfit."
* * *
"The house looks great!" Kandee climbed down from the stepladder after attaching a final strip of black crepe paper across the wide doorway leading into Aimee's great room. She and her friend had been working on decorations and snacks for the party since early this morning. All the effort had been worth it, the place definitely looked Halloweenish and fun.