Only in Texas

by Christie Craig

  “It’s really over?” Nikki asked Dallas that evening as she sipped from a glass of champagne. The cold bubbles danced on her tongue.

  “You’re officially off the suspect list, Ms. Hunt.” He pulled her against him and kissed her so softly that she leaned into him and let herself enjoy being close. She’d planned on coming here, gathering her things and going home. Not angrily, not to call it quits, not even for a time-out. She just needed a slow down. Time to regroup her emotions.

  “I figured we’d celebrate privately tonight.” He ran his palm up her arm. “But tomorrow night, I thought we would take Nance and his grandmother, Tyler, Austin—hell, invite the Ol’ Timers group, and let’s all go out to eat.”

  “That would be fun.” Nikki rethought her plans. Maybe she’d stay tonight. One last night. Bud came over and dropped at her feet, whining for her attention.

  “She’s mine tonight,” Dallas told Bud and started swaying as if to a slow song. “You know, I’ve never danced with you. You like to dance?”

  “Yeah,” she said.

  “How about I take you dancing one night? You can get all sexy, wear some of your colored underwear under something slinky and short and low.” He ran his hand over the top of her breasts. “Drive me crazy all night.”

  “I’d like that.” She brushed her free hand over his chest. “Thank you.”

  “For what?”

  “For getting me off the suspect list.”

  “Oh, yeah. How does it feel?” He undid the top button on her blouse and they swayed ever so softly.

  “Good,” she said, unable to think about much more than his hands caressing her breasts. Then his thigh moved between her legs and she thought about that.

  He undid another button. “Just good?”

  She grinned and set her glass on a nearby table. “I had faith in you.”

  “That’s nice. Have you ever slow danced naked?”

  “I don’t think I have.”

  “It’s a lot of fun.” He undid the last button on her blouse and slid it off her shoulders.

  “You’re going to have to pick out the artwork you earned.”

  “That’s right, you owe me. Wanna barter for something else?” The edges of his eyes crinkled with a smile

  “I’m serious.”

  “I told you what I want. The bust of you.”

  “You should take a painting.”

  “I want the bust. I like your bust.” He undid her bra. Her breasts spilled out. “I really like your bust.” He stopped dancing and slipped his finger in his mouth and then painted her nipple with cool wetness.

  “Okay, take the bust,” she said breathlessly, as her bra slid to the floor, “but… you get a painting, too.”

  “Fine.” He undid her pants.

  “It’s only four in the afternoon,” she said.

  “Is there a four o’clock rule about sex?”

  “No, but…” He slipped his hand inside her pants, under her panties and into the folds of her sex.

  “But what?” He moved his finger deeper.

  “I lost my train of thought.”

  “Then think about this.” His finger moved deeper.

  A loud bang on the door made Nikki jump.

  “Dallas!” Tyler called out from behind the door.

  Nikki pulled his hand out of her pants. “Maybe we should…”

  “Not now!” Dallas yelled.

  “Someone’s here,” Tyler said. “I think…”

  Nikki snatched up her bra and top.

  “Tell them to go away,” Dallas called out.

  “Take care of it,” Nikki told him and smiled. “We can pick up later.”

  “Dallas?” a female voice called out.

  Nikki looked at Dallas and saw his expression harden. “Who is it?” she asked.

  “My ex.”

  “Oh.” Nikki covered her breasts. “I should…” She motioned toward the bathroom and, at his nod, she hurried off.

  After dressing, Nikki stood by the bathroom door, unsure if she should stay hidden, or go out. Oh hell. It wasn’t as if Dallas was married. She didn’t have anything to feel guilty about and she was curious to meet the woman Dallas had obviously loved at one time.

  Opening the door, she heard Dallas say, “Yes, it’s a pink sofa—so the hell what?”

  “You told my lawyer you’d sign the papers,” a woman said.

  “You don’t even like the dog. Why are you doing this? To make me miserable?”

  “I like the dog.”

  Nikki bit her lip and remembered what LeAnn had said about Dallas’s ex. Classy, pretty. And that Dallas had thought the sun rose and set on her. Jealousy tingled in Nikki’s chest.

  “Bullshit! He’s been begging to be petted since you got here, and you haven’t even acknowledged him.”

  “Fine,” she said. “Maybe it’s not the dog I want. I want you.”

  Wow! Nikki took a deep gulp of air and consider going back into the bathroom.

  “You have to be fucking kidding,” Dallas said. “You’re engaged to another man.”

  “I’ll break it off,” she said. “We were good together, Dallas.”

  Nikki stayed where she was. Maybe she needed to hear this. In her head she heard Nana say, If you keep looking for bad things, sooner or later, you’ll find them. She started to go back into the bathroom.

  “No, we were not,” Dallas countered. Nikki hesitated and listened. Not that she was looking for trouble or potholes, but…

  “The sex is still good.” Her voice went sultry. “We proved that.”

  Nikki’s breath caught. Mentally she felt herself fall face-first into a pothole so big she didn’t know if she could ever pull herself out of it. They proved it? When had they proved it?

  Nikki’s heart started racing and she flashbacked to walking into her office and finding Jack and her employee going at it. Hadn’t Dallas told her it was over with his ex?

  “Leave, Serena.”

  “Is that champagne? You have company, don’t you?”

  “Yes, and I’d like for you to get the hell out.”

  Dallas dropped onto his pink sofa and waited for Nikki to come out of the bathroom. He would have gone looking for her, but he was just so damn mad. Seeing Serena did that to him. She made him feel… betrayed. She brought back all the bitterness that had consumed him during his time in prison.

  He breathed in. He breathed out. Realizing Nikki probably thought she was still here, he stood up and went to the end of the hall. “Nikki?” he called.

  Nikki yanked open the bathroom door. She looked at him with blue fire in her eyes, fire that expressed both anger and hurt.

  He stepped out of her way. “I’m sorry,” he bit out, still trying to turn off his own emotional storm and unsure what hers was about. Then it hit. She’d heard Serena. Christ! The sex’s still good. We proved that. Did she think he’d been with Serena since he’d met her?

  “Whatever you’re thinking, you’re wrong,” he said.

  Her chin tilted up. “You said it was over between you.”

  “It is. Did that sound like sweet talk to you?”

  She blinked and he could swear she’d been crying. “You said it was over when she divorced you.”

  “It was.”

  “So she lied about you two having sex?”

  He ran a hand through his hair. “It happened once. Six months ago. I was drunk. It was a one-time mistake.”

  She dropped into his living room chair. He sank down in the pink leather sofa. “You can’t be mad about this.”

  “I’m not. But it shows how little we know about each other.”

  “We’re working on that,” he said, somehow sensing this wasn’t just about Serena, but about what had been bothering her for the last few days.

  “It’s all happened so fast and…” A tear slipped from the corner of her eye.

  “Hey.” He went and knelt in front of her. “What’s wrong with fast?”

  “I need to move back home
.”

  “I know that… eventually.” His words came out easily enough, but they seemed to hang in the air and he wished he could yank them back. Hold on to her, son. You’ll regret it if you don’t.

  “It’s not supposed to work that way.” Another tear slipped out and she wiped that away before he could do it for her.

  “What’s not supposed to work that way?”

  “You’re supposed to meet someone and eventually move in with them, not move in with them and eventually move out.”

  “What are you saying?” His breath seemed caught in his lungs and a storm of emotions raged in his chest.

  She gazed steadily at him. “After we have dinner with everyone tomorrow, I’ll go home.”

  “Okay…,” he said, finding complete relief that she wasn’t walking away right now. And who knew, by tomorrow he could change her mind and talk her into hanging around for while. He leaned in and kissed her. “In the meantime, why don’t we…” pick up where we left off. Something warned him she wasn’t in the mood for that anymore. “Why don’t we go dancing tonight?” He’d get her in the mood slowly.

  She touched his cheek. “No more surprises like this, right?”

  “No more.” But as soon as he said it, he realized she meant no more surprises like learning he’d slept with his ex. That made him think of Suzan. He started to tell her, but saw the doubt in her eyes and he didn’t want to add more.

  Hold on to her, son. You’ll regret it if you don’t. Again his dad’s words played in his head.

  “What do you say? Go out on a date with me. Dinner… dancing?”

  The smell of Chinese food greeted Tony when he opened the door that evening. LeAnn had said she’d do dinner since she didn’t have to work. He grinned. Her idea of “doing dinner” had almost always consisted of ordering in. Not that he minded. She’d once told him she’d had to cook all her childhood due to the lack of a mom, and she’d decided she needed about ten years of ordering in to make up for it.

  He’d give her twenty, or more. He’d give whatever she wanted.

  Being home with LeAnn was heaven… and hell. Every night she teased him a little more. Her towels were getting shorter, worn lower, and every night he went to bed with a hard-on that could hammer nails. While he’d come within a breath of making a move, his gut told him she needed to take that first step. It didn’t have to be a big step, it could be just a tiny one, and he’d be there with her.

  “I’m home,” he called out and purposely pushed the whole cemetery experience from his mind.

  “Be right out,” she called. His heart squeezed just hearing her voice.

  He stored his gun in the cabinet beside the TV and kept his gaze on the hall, yearning to see her and wanting to tell her the good news. For some reason, LeAnn had instantly liked Nikki and was always asking him about how things were going. Today he could tell her that Nikki was pretty much off the suspect list.

  She stepped out and his breath caught. She wore a peach-colored sundress, one of those dresses that made a guy wonder how little was worn beneath it. She had her hair pulled up with one of those clippy things that women loved and men loved to remove. Not that her hair didn’t look nice. Several strands of warm brown hair hung down to tease her shoulders and led the eye to ample cleavage the dress revealed. Oh, hell, she was hot. And now he was hot. And hard.

  “You look…,” sexy as hell, “great.”

  “Thanks.” Her smile came off all sass. “I ordered Chinese. I hope that’s okay.”

  She walked past him and he got a whiff of something she was wearing, something that smelled like the color of her dress. Peaches.

  “Yeah,” he said, and repeated his vow that she would make the first move.

  They ate, and over dinner he told her about Nikki. “Thank God,” she said. “She didn’t deserve that crap.” She cut him a glance. “Were you nice to her?”

  “I didn’t see her today, but when I saw her and Dallas at her gallery a few days ago, I was nice.”

  “Good.” She started stacking plates. When she reached, her scoop neckline scooped a little more and gave him a wonderful view of her breasts. Warmth caught in his chest and spread lower. He couldn’t help but smile at how happy just… looking at her made him feel. Happy to be this close. Not that he didn’t want to get closer.

  They did the dishes. Several times, purposely or accidentally, she bumped into him. Sweet torture. When they’d finished, she looked at him as if she had something to say, but then she blinked and started out of the kitchen.

  “I think I’ll go read.” She looked back over her shoulder.

  “More weight lifter stories?”

  She grinned. “Maybe.” And then she sashayed her cute little, peach-covered ass out of the kitchen.

  He counted to ten, begged for willpower and then went to the extra bedroom to get ready for his shower. Hell maybe… just maybe tonight she’d join him. And if not, he was going to need a cold one. Of course, maybe it was time he take this game a step farther.

  LeAnn plopped onto her bed and moaned into the covers. Would the man do it already? What did she have to do—put a sign on her back that said, “Will have sex, just try me?”

  A knocked sounded at the door. She grabbed her book, yanked her dress top down a few inches and pulled up the hem a bit. “Come in.”

  He stepped in. She looked up and gasped.

  “Gonna take a shower,” he said, and walked his bareass self into the bathroom. “You’re welcome to join me,” he added over his shoulder.

  As soon as the door clicked shut, she buried her face in a pillow and started laughing.

  Then, feeling brave, she jumped off the bed, slipped the dress from her shoulders and went to see if he needed someone to wash his back.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

  NIKKI HAD FORGOTTEN what it felt like to sit across the table from a guy who had eyes just for her. To feel the sting of embarrassment when her date looked at her like he was more interested in getting her naked than he was in eating.

  She’d had him drive her by her apartment so she could get dressed. She had only one black party dress that suited the evening, but it fit really nice. She felt good in it. Dallas noticed, too. He hadn’t stopped making love to her with his eyes. As conflicted as she was about where things between them were going, she decided that tonight she was going to enjoy herself.

  But when dinner was finished and she stepped on the dance floor and into his arms, Nikki knew how imperative it was that she leave tomorrow. She wasn’t falling in love with Dallas O’Connor, she was smack-dab in the middle of it. But for tonight she was going to pretend it wasn’t going to end. Tomorrow, she’d pick up the pieces and try to put herself back together.

  Tony heard the bathroom door open. He held his breath and prayed he hadn’t imagined it. Seconds later, the door to the two-man shower squeaked open.

  “Need someone to wash your back?” She sounded nervous.

  He turned and saw her, naked and so damn beautiful it hurt to look at her. Warm steam rose around them, and the spray of water hit his lower back. His heart pounded as he reached out and pulled her against him. Her nipples were hard as they brushed across his chest. He removed the clip she still wore and her hair cascaded down around her shoulders.

  “God, I missed you.” His voice came out hoarse.

  “Me, too,” she said.

  Leaning down, he brushed his lips against her mouth. He tasted the wine she’d drunk. He tasted the sweetness of the fortune cookie she’d eaten. He tasted LeAnn and nothing in his entire life tasted better. He wasn’t sure how long they kissed—a minute, maybe five. Never long enough.

  She ran her hand up his chest and touched the scar on the corner of his shoulder. He grabbed her hand and kissed her palm. Then he reached up and touched her breasts. They felt ripe and heavy and he wanted his mouth there. Then he knew what he’d missed more than anything. He knelt in front of her and kissed the top of her sweet mound.

  He heard her moan. L
eAnn had never been shy about letting him know what she liked, and she liked it when he used his tongue on her. He ran a finger down the sweet cleft of her sex. Felt the slickness of her wanting, and then touched her with his mouth.

  He’d barely gotten started when she screamed out and collapsed against the tiled wall. Before he realized it, she’d slipped. He caught her, but they both went down, sitting on the floor of the shower.

  “You okay?” he asked, laughing.

  “Yeah,” she said, breathing hard and grinning. “I think you knocked me off my feet.”

  She reached out and wrapped her hand around him, shifting it up and down, slowly. Then she leaned over. As her head came into his lap, he stopped her. “No, I want the first time to be inside you.”

  “Okay,” she said. “But how about I just do this?” She leaned down and ran her tongue over the tip of his sex.

  He caught her head and pulled her up. “Do that one more time and I swear I’ll come.”

  “Poor thing,” she teased and ran her finger over his tip again then popped the sweet little digit into her mouth and slowly pulled it out.

  “You want me to explode right now, don’t you?” Tony rose, turned off the water, pulled her up and carried her into their bedroom. And for the first time in almost nine months, he made love to his wife.

  Slow sweet love that told her just how much he’d missed her. How much he loved her. How happy he was to be back in her life. And most important of all, that he would never leave her again.

  Dallas couldn’t wait to get that little black dress off Nikki. All night she’d teased him about what color her underwear was. He’d guessed black. He knew women liked matching things. But she swore she’d decided to be daring tonight. Maybe she’d worn red? Red was daring. Oh, hell, he wanted to see her underwear, then he wanted to remove it and slide inside her. Him hard. Her wet. He wanted to make her scream his name—over and over again. Then he wanted her to promise him she wouldn’t leave tomorrow. For a second, he considered asking her to move in with him, but that didn’t feel right. Just thinking about it sent him into emotional overload.

  He shoved that aside and tried to just think about the here and now.