“Michael has this CD! I put it on when I vacuum! It helps keep my feet moving!” Regina declared but moved away as the vocals started again.
Quinton tried to ignore his own embarrassment and enjoy the dance. It was amazing how many different sides this woman had to her. Who would have thought her prone to death rock?
***
Regina danced like it was the last night of her life. She never let loose like this in public. The only time she had ever danced in her entire constrained life was at home, doing the housework, by herself. No one else had ever seen her dance. Not even the kids. They constantly tried to get her to move to the music in the car, but she stoically refused. But not tonight. Tonight, she was going to enjoy herself. Quinton did not look like he was having quite as good a time, but she let him fend for himself. It was not every night that she was out with a handsome man, enjoying the hell out of the moment.
The music changed, and the beat slowed. Tired and thirsty, Regina went to move off the dance floor, but Quinton caught her hand. In a single motion, he pulled her into his embrace. Already flushed from the exertion, Regina was certain that her cheeks were a flaming red. Quinton tenderly put his arm around her waist and held their bodies close together. Caught in his arms, and not wanting the moment to end, she put her hand upon his shoulder. Quinton brought her other hand up to his chest and held it there. There was no more than an inch between them; they were pressed so tightly against one another.
As the music swayed their bodies, Regina leaned into Quinton’s chest and laid her cheek upon his shirt. The smell of his sweat was almost overwhelming but in a wonderful sort of way. She had stirrings and desires that she had only read about. Regina could almost taste the sexual tension between them. Quinton’s hand wandered up her back and down again, this time resting a little below her waist. No one had touched her there, not even Wayne, for years. The skin was all tingly under his touch, and the rest of her body cried out in jealousy. Every part of her wanted to feel his gentle caress. The rise and fall of his chest lulled Regina into an almost dream-like state. She could easily imagine being with this man. Kissing his fingers. Stroking his well-muscled arms -- making love to him. In this moment, Regina wished that there were no clothes between them and that the dance floor was vacant except for the two of them.
Unfortunately, the song ended and an upbeat sound throbbed out of the speakers. She was no longer in the mood to bounce around. Regina wanted to stay attached at the hip forever. Quinton backed away first and indicated towards the door. Flustered and burning hot, Regina was only too happy to leave the club.
Cold air slapped her in the face, reminding her that what they had just experienced was not reality. That was a dream come true. She could not expect the rest to become real. She was a married woman, and he was a man on the go. Silently, they crossed the street and arrived at their vehicles. Regina noticed that he was equally out of breath.
“Would you like to find a quieter spot? Maybe get some coffee?” Quinton asked.
Sadly, Regina shook her head. It was not that she did not want to spend more time with him. Regina just knew that if she did go off to some secluded spot that things would happen that could never be taken back, and she was not ready for that type of turmoil in her life. She still had her sanity to maintain.
“No. I’d best get home. I’m sure Wayne has called sixteen zillion times.” Which was not too much of an exaggeration. Last night alone, he had left nineteen messages while they were out. Regina was certain that an equal number would be on the answering machine. She was learning how to lie, but she did not think she could keep making love to Quinton a secret. Regina would want to shout it from the rooftops, which would not be conducive to staying in Crow’s Landing.
“How about tomorrow?” he asked, not letting her squirm out of it.
Backing away, Regina tried to put some distance between them. She could not think clearly when his body was so near. “No. I’ve got the kids and --”
“Tomorrow night, then?” Quinton rushed on before Regina could politely decline. “I went dancing with you. It’s your turn to do some of my kind of dancing.”
Once again, Regina was lulled into a playful game with Quinton. “And what type would that be?”
“You’ll see. Tomorrow night.”
“Where would we meet?”
“Leave that to me. I’ll call you in the afternoon.”
This all sounded great, but Regina knew they could never pull it off. “Wayne may be home tomorrow, and Meryl’s got a soccer game and --”
“Arrange it. Okay?”
The gravely tone to Quinton’s voice, stopped any protest Regina might have thought of. If he kept talking like that, she would do anything that he said. “All right. I’ll wait for your call then.”
Quinton closed the distance between them. Oh god, Regina thought, there was that smell again -- all musky and sexy. His presence occupied all of her senses. The world was reduced to their own private envelope in time and space.
She needed to say something, anything to end this moment. It was too painful to feel this way and not act upon it. “It’s good night then.”
The man took her hand and brought it up to her lips. Instead of kissing the back of her hand, Quinton turned her hand over. Cradling the back of her hand, he leaned down to her palm. His mustache tickled her skin, but lord knows that she did not giggle. There was nothing funny about this moment. Ever so slowly, Quinton touched his lips to her palm. He spread his lips apart just enough to allow the hint of moisture on her skin. With a final bit of pressure, he ended the kiss, and Regina feared her knees would give out. It was the single most sensual experience of her life.
Quinton pulled her closer and looked like he was going to repeat the process on her lips, but the dogs must have awaken in the back of their cars for they began barking hysterically, trying to get out and play with one another. The hold Quinton had over Regina’s motor functions was shattered, and she was able to step away.
The man allowed her to break the intimacy, but a sexy smile painted his lips. “We’re leaving the dogs home tomorrow night.”
Oh definitely, Regina thought.
CHAPTER 8
Quinton caught himself humming that obnoxious tune from last night’s dance excursion as he worked on his report. Ralph did not seem to notice, but then again, the younger man looked whipped. They had not discussed it yet, but Quinton was sure that his assistant had another strenuous night with Natalie. Briefly, Quinton wondered if Ralph knew what was in store for him all weekend long. Did he know that Natalie had canceled her out-of-town plans?
“I’m going to go grab some more coffee. You want some?” Ralph asked.
“No thanks. I got plenty of sleep,” Quinton replied, completely honestly. He had not had such a sound night’s rest in years. His whole body felt invigorated, and he was more than ready for another late night tonight.
Ralph scowled. “I would have too, but she woke me up four times. Count ‘em. Four.”
“The price you pay, boy. The price you pay.”
“Shut up.” Ralph tossed a dirty sock at him, which hit Quinton right in the face. His assistant was busy digging under the bed for his shoes. Quinton had finally set up his laptop in Ralph’s disheveled room because it was the only way to get the younger man out of bed.
Putting on one shoe, Ralph began quizzing Quinton. “You never told me what you were doing.”
“Nothing,” Quinton said with a shrug.
“Please. Your truck was gone. Fess up. Where were you?”
“Did a little sight-seeing.” Quinton tried to hedge, but in reality he wanted to talk about his night. He wanted Ralph to push for more information. Talking about the evening made him feel closer to Regina. And he loved the rush he got thinking about spending another night with her.
Unfortunately, the younger man was a bit pre-occupied with his quest for coffee. “Really?” Ralph said in a distracted voice, as if he really believed that Quinton had found someth
ing to sight see in Central Oregon in the middle of the night. “Where did you go?”
“Queen’s Court.” When Ralph did not respond, Quinton dropped another hint. “A French restaurant called Chateau L’Blanche.”
His assistant jerked his head up from under the bed. “Hey! You said you hated French food! You wouldn’t stop there on the way into town.” Ralph’s eyes squinted as he studied at his boss. “Are you stepping out on the town without telling me?”
Hiding a smile, Quinton just shrugged and tried to look like he was concentrating really hard on the report.
The younger man’s eyes dilated. “No way! Regina? You actually went out with Togglehorn’s wife?”
Quinton was reveling a bit in Ralph’s amazement. It was nice to feel like he could shock the younger generation. “Yep. And she met me later in the evening in Queen’s Court for a night of dinner and dance.”
Ralph sat down hard on the bed. “You’re really striking up a clandestine affair with the boss’ wife? You have got balls, man.” His assistant hopped up and began scrounging for his shoe again. “I’m going to sell tickets when Mr. Togglehorn finds out. This is going to be righteous.”
Squirming a bit, Quinton asked his assistant. “You don’t think that he’s going to find out, do you?
“What do you think?” Ralph asked with a incredulous look on his face. “You said yourself that the man owns this town. Do you think he doesn’t know what his wife does every moment of every day? Come on, dude. Pull your head out. If you continue, you’re going to have to face the music on this.”
Quinton did not tell the younger man, but he was quite happy being in denial. Even though he despised Wayne, Quinton had to admit to himself that he was none too eager to confront the man on his turf. Even though last night he had rehearsed exactly the pummeling he would give Wayne, Quinton knew those sorts of confrontations did not happen in real life. The best that he and Regina could hope for was a nice, quiet, private affair that they could look back upon with fond memories.
“Got it!” Ralph proclaimed as he pulled another shoe out from between the mattresses.
A loud, insistent knock came at the door. Since the younger man was busy putting on his shoe, Quinton answered the door. Before him stood the Sheriff and two deputies.
“Mr. Spear, we have a few more questions for you.”
Quinton sighed but opened the door wider. “Come right in gentlemen.”
Ralph was up and tried to get out the door past the peace officers. “I’ll be right back. I’m going for coffee.” The younger man’s voice was strained, but Quinton was proud of his assistant for being so polite. “Does anyone else want any?”
“No one is going anywhere until I have some answers about where you both were last night.”
Quinton was certain that the look that passed between himself and Ralph looked horribly guilty but not for the reason the sheriff thought.
Ralph was insistent, though. “Look, I’ll be much more coherent if I get some more caffeine. Can’t one of your deputies take me to the office?”
Dooley did not look like he was going to comply, but finally the Sheriff nodded and let Ralph walk off with one of his men. Immediately, the huge man turned on Quinton. “You’ve got a lot of explaining to do, mister. And if I don’t like your answers, we’ll be talking down at the station.”
Quinton shuffled his papers and tried to respond as casually as possible. “I thought we had straightened this mess out yesterday?”
“So did I, but we had a rash of damn vandalism and sabotage last night. Right in the northern sector where you two were doing your bullshit study.”
Dooley’ words were harsh, but at least Quinton knew for certain how much the sheriff disliked him. There was no chance this was going to be easy. Quinton could only hope that Ralph was bright enough to keep his mouth shut around the deputy while they were walking. They needed to try and weave together a sufficient alibi before the sheriff got smart enough to separate them.
“Where were you last night?” Dooley asked.
Quinton shrugged. “Right here, doing this.”
“The office manager says that your truck wasn’t here until after one a.m. So, my question still stands. Where were you last night?”
Crap, Quinton thought. He should have known it would not be that easy. Small towns had more eyes than big cities. He needed to think quickly and pray that Ralph could catch on to the ruse.
“We went out for dinner in Queen’s Court and ran out of gas on the way home. Took us a while to find a station that was open. Didn’t realize we got in so late.”
Ralph entered the room, a big smile on his face. “Damn, Quinton. I was just telling the deputy how much we both like French food.”
“Yeah, I was just informing the sheriff how much we enjoyed the food at Chateau L’Blanche before we ran out of gas.”
The sheriff did not seem to notice the subterfuge. “That’s a mighty expensive restaurant to be going out for a late night snack.”
Ralph was totally on his charm game. “What can we say? We were in the mood for French?”
“You two expect me to believe that you went all the way to Queen’s Court for dinner?”
Quinton was a bit surprised when Ralph sat down next to him, really, really close. The younger man put a hand on Quinton’s leg while he spoke. “And why not?”
The Sheriff looked flustered, but Quinton was not quite sure if this was the way he wanted their alibi to go.
“No matter what you queers say, I’ll need some proof, or we’ll be down at the station having this conversation.”
Quinton got up and moved away from Ralph. Not that he had any problems with gay people, he just did not like acting like one. “There are reservations in my name for a party of two at eight o’clock. Just call the restaurant and verify it.”
Dooley nodded to one of his men, who picked up the phone and dialed information. After a moment, the deputy informed the sheriff, “The restaurant won’t be open until after four this afternoon.”
It was clear that the sheriff did not believe Quinton, but it was equally clear that the sheriff had absolutely no evidence to haul them in with either. After a few seconds of puffing up his chest, Dooley warned, “I’m going to go easy on you, but only until four o’clock. If your story doesn’t check out, expect another visit. And no more out of town jaunts. I want you where I can reach you at all times.”
“Got it,” Ralph quipped as the men filed out of the room. Once the door was closed, the younger man whistled quite dramatically. “Shit all mighty. Did you even think a visit to Crow’s Landing would be this adventure-filled?”
Quinton did not comment. He was too preoccupied. His only thoughts were of Regina. If they dug deep enough at the Chateau they would find out that Quinton had certainly been there but not with his assistant. He desperately needed to talk to Regina.
“I’m going to use a pay phone.”
Ralph blocked his way. “Whoa, there. I’m equally worried, but we are not calling anyone right now. These may be yokels, but they will be watching us. The best favor we can do ourselves and our ladies is to stay put.”
“But --”
“No buts, Quinton. Granted they’re not very bright, but I bet you they’re going to be watching us for a while. Luckily, those two goons didn’t look like they had much of an attention span.” Ralph shrugged. “So, we’ll bore them for a few hours and make sure we’re not followed before we head out to use the phone. On foot, I might add.”
Quinton chaffed at the younger man’s warning tone, but he knew his assistant was right. Quinton had kept the presence of mind to realize that the Sheriff could easily check the phone records of the hotel room. Ralph was correct. If the cops caught them using a pay phone, they could easily find out who they called, and that was the last thing Quinton wanted the Sheriff to know. His assistant’s plan was sound. It was the only way to keep their lives the least bit private. Still, he ached to hear Regina’s voice.
Ral
ph plopped himself down on the bed and threw his body back onto the mattress. “I can’t believe our luck. We both find chicks, and then we’re under house arrest. Guess we’ll be ordering in pizza, tonight.”
Snorting, Quinton dug back into his paperwork. Ralph could give up on Natalie that easily, but there was no way Quinton was going to stay in tonight. The ache he felt in his belly could only be relieved by seeing Regina. He had no idea how he was going to swing it, but come hell or high water or a red-neck sheriff or an irate husband, Quinton was taking Regina out tonight. Nothing was going to come between him and his plans.
***
“Meryl, will you please hurry up?” Regina shouted down the hallway. “Your ride is going to be here any minute.”
With only one cleat on and trying to pull the other sock up while running, Meryl stumbled down the hall. “But, Mom, why aren’t you taking me? Aren’t you going to watch my soccer game?”
“Sweetheart, I’ve explained this all ready. I am waiting for an important phone call, and I’ll be over to the field as soon as I can.”
“What kind of important call could you have?” Meryl asked.
Under normal circumstances the girl would be right, but Regina bristled at the idea of her life not having any sort of importance. She gave her daughter the patented icy stare, and the girl moped off, mumbling her apologies.
Michael came crashing around the corner and almost knocked the three of them over. He had a duffel bag filled to the brim.
“And where do you think you’re going?” Regina asked.
“Out,” the teenager sullenly answered.
Digging through the contents of the bag she found only clean clothes. “Moving out?”
Michael tried to shrug casually, but it came off as mildly guilty. But just about everything her son did seemed tainted by guilt these days. “No! I’m just spending the night over at Evan’s house.”
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