0-69 in 5 Minutes (3 page)

“
Perfect.” He laced her
hand through the crook of his arm. Manicured nails on her fingers
and toes. Not over done or flashy. Classy. Sophisticated. Downright
sexy. It would be hard, but he’d have to keep his stained fingers
hidden. Otherwise, she might be disgusted with them, and he wanted
to put them on her body. Especially those legs.

He escorted her to an out-of-the-way table
in a dim corner and pulled out a chair. A woman like her deserved
to be pampered. After all, they did have to make it look real. It
couldn’t hurt to put a smile on her face and a few stars in her
eyes.

“
What’s your poison?”
Information he probably needed to know about his newly acquired,
long-time girlfriend.

“
Sex on the beach.” She
rewarded him with a smile.

So, it was like that was it? “Coming right
up.” He walked through the almost empty club to the bar and bought
her the cocktail and a beer for himself. Loud music played from a
live band and the lights burned low. A couple of guys sat at the
bar drinking and flirting with each other. It made him a bit
uneasy, but at least someone would score tonight. Maybe he’d get
lucky too.

After he paid for the drinks, he walked back
to their table.

“
I see you’re a beer man.”
She nodded at his mug.

“
Yes, I am.” Information
he knew she would learn quickly. Not that he drank a lot. A beer or
two through the week after a long day in the hot garage was the
limit to his alcohol consumption. He never went for the hard stuff
or wine.

“
As long as it’s not
brandy, I don’t care what you drink.” She rolled her eyes and took
a swig of her drink.

Perhaps a secret loomed behind the brandy.
He only had two weeks to learn all of them so he’d better start.
“What’s wrong with brandy?”

With a clang, she let the glass slip from
her hand to the table. “It’s what Tyler drank. Every night. Three
or four glasses before he would go to bed with me.” A sadness
emerged in her voice. “Most of the time he just passed out.”

What kind of man would need a drink to sleep
with Val? Her body was a knock out, and she didn’t strike him as
the nagging type. What more could a man want of a woman in his bed?
“Tell me something about this Tyler. Other than being stupid.”

Giggles emerged from her throat and a light
came back to her expression.

“
There really isn’t much
to say. We were friends in high school, parted ways for a while
then dated for a couple of years.” As she spoke, she scrubbed the
water off the table where their drinks had sweated. “He asked me to
marry him. I was so blind and stupid, I said yes.”

“
What makes you say that?”
Anyone who owned and operated a successful business had to be
intelligent.

The smile dimmed again. “I
thought he was charming and on his way to the top of a film career.
Not that fame and fortune matters, but I thought he had ambition
and drive. Turns out, he had too much drive. I caught him cheating
with some bimbo. In
my
car.” She pointed to her chest. “All those nights he said he
was working on his career, he spent banging someone else.” Her
voice rose and cracked.

“
I’m sorry. Men can be
jerks.”

“
Don’t be sorry.” She
patted his hand.

He wanted to grab her hand and hold it.
Comfort her, but she pulled it away.

“
I’m over him. Really I
am, but I want to show him. Let him know I’m doing great without
him.”

“
Why do you have to be
with another man to prove you’re fine?”

Her gaze wandered around the bar. No one new
had come in and no one had left either. The band continued to play
and the bartender wiped down glasses. What had happened with Tyler
to make her feel uncomfortable talking about it?

“
Tyler said things to me,
a lot. Things like I was fat, lazy, no one would ever want me or
put up with me other than him. I just want him to know he’s wrong.
There is someone out there for me. Where I don’t know, but I will
find him one day.”

What a prick! The woman oozed class,
intelligence, and beauty. On top of that, he sensed a pure heart.
Physical and/or emotional abusers warranted an ass kicking.

“
He’s wrong, and you
deserve so much better.” Noah leaned in close, inhaled her scent, a
mixture of roses and jasmine—flowers his grandmother had grown in
the garden. Then he whispered in her ear. “Intoxicating. What are
you wearing?”

When his breath landed on her neck, she
giggled and shivered. “Red Door.”

“
It suits you well. A
delicate flowery smell for a delicate flower.” He changed his voice
from a whisper to more authoritative. “Forget about the creep.
Concentrate on us getting to know each other. By the end of the
reunion, there’ll be no doubt as to how we feel about each other.”
He raised his mug toward her and then took a swig.

Candlelight swept across her cheek as she
turned her face and gazed down. The corners of her mouth crept into
a stunning grin. Not flashy or fake. Simply down to earth.
Charming.

“
What do you want to know
about me?” Her voice came out soft and sexy.

Should he be brave and ask what he really
wanted to know? Yeah, he never took things slow. Why should he now?
“The kind of panties you wear.” He placed a light kiss on her neck.
Information he wanted to know for his own imagination. Thong came
to mind, showing off her tight ass. If she didn’t, he’d buy her
some and convert her.

Straightening her back, she projected her
voice louder. “Thong, when I wear any.”

Holy shit!
Blood pulsed in his cock and a lump formed in his
throat. Visions materialized in his mind. Did she have any on
now?
Shaven or unshaved? God, get a
grip!

“
What about you? Boxers?
Brief? Or a boxer brief man?” She raised her glass. Her lips
parted, allowing the fruity liquid to pour into her
mouth.

Where has this woman been
all my life?
They’d only talked for a few
minutes, and he already knew what kind of panties she wore. Or
didn’t wear.

“
Boxer briefs.” He’d let
her see, if and when she wanted. Tonight would be good.

Glancing down, he noticed she bent over the
table a tad as she put her glass down. Cleavage spilled from her
blouse, and he took in an eye-full.

She brushed her hair from her shoulders.
“Like what you see?”

“
Very much.” If he liked
anymore, he’d explode in his snug fitting boxer briefs.

“
Good. We have to make it
look real or no one will believe us. So look all you
want.”

So it was all an act, her being into him,
flirting. Well, it wasn’t what he’d wanted to hear. The rush of
excitement he’d felt ten seconds ago disappeared into a cloud of
dust behind screeching tires on a dirt track. He’d started to like
her, and thought she liked him too. But whatever happened, he
planned to get his fair peek. Make it all seem real, for her
benefit, of course.

“
Now that you’ve looked
over the goods, we have a few things to go over.” She took another
drink.

This time she licked her lips. Was she
teasing him? Whether she attempted to or not, it didn’t matter. It
worked. He wanted to kiss her lips. Explore the very mouth that
teased him so. Suck her tongue. Taste the fruity drink. Run his
hands up and down her long gorgeous legs.

“
Noah?” Val’s voice broke
into his thoughts.

“
What?”

“
Our
back-story.”

“
Oh, right. Sorry, my mind
wandered off there for a moment.”
And it
was a hell of a place to go.

“
As I was saying, we met
about six months ago in a bar. You bought me a drink; we talked,
laughed, and had a few dates. Then about three months ago we
started seeing each other exclusively. Started out slow, but now
we’ve moved to the meet-the-parents stage.” Feminine hands flew
around the table cleaning and reorganizing things as she rushed
through another well rehearsed speech.

“
Meet-the-parents stage?”
Were there stages to a relationship? Usually, he met a woman, slept
with her, and got married. Of course, that had never worked for him
either. He wanted to do things right on his next try. Maybe he
could learn something here.

“
You know- I think things
are going good, the guy might be in my life for a while, Mom and
Dad need to see a living, breathing person to believe me. That sort
of thing. Anyway, your name’s Sam…”

“
Whoa, wait. You didn’t
say anything about changing my name.”

“
I can’t have a boyfriend
without them wanting to know his name.” She looked at him like he’d
stepped out of the Twilight Zone.

Even though the thought had never crossed
his mind, it made sense. He took a long swig of his beer. Drained
the mug. “Okay, but why Sam?”

“
Don’t laugh, but I was
cooking dinner when Mom called. We got to talking. She started with
the ‘when are you going to settle down bit’.” Her voice raised an
octave, imitating her mother. “‘Tyler’s coming to town’. So I made
up a guy.” Val finished off her drink. “Mom asked for a name, and I
choked. I had salmon cooking in the oven, about to burn. I said
salmon to myself. Mom heard Sam.”

This might be harder to pull off than he
thought. Before, he’d assumed he could be himself. Now he knew he
had to do a bit of acting. “What else should I know before this
event?” And when did he get to learn more of her dirty little
secrets?

* * * *

Val didn’t need to go into all the details
of her lies. Nor did she need to scare him off after he’d agreed to
her scheme. He fit the profile she’d conjured up and that’s all
that mattered.

The next two weeks would give them enough
time to pass as lovers. All they had to do was spend an hour or so
at dinner one night with the parents and a couple of hours at the
reunion to make Tyler green with envy. Once he left town, she’d
tell her parents the truth.

Guilt surfaced again. Her mother might get
hurt by the truth. Best to keep it hidden to avoid causing undue
pain. She’d tell her parents she and Sam had a stupid fight and
cooled things off for a bit. A few weeks would turn into months and
things wouldn’t work out. No big deal. Then no one would get
hurt.

“
Let’s see.” She wiggled
her empty glass. “I tend to flirt and get a bit crazy when I’m
drunk.”

A spark of interest lit his eyes. “Another
sex on the beach for the lady.” He scooted his chair back in a rush
and walked to the bar to get her another drink.

She watched his tight buns
and wondered what he looked like under the layers of clothing. Was
she really doing this? Could she pick up a guy and take him home?
What if he had a taste for blood or a sick desire to chop her in
little pieces?
Get a grip, he’s a nice
guy.
Of course, everyone had said that
about Ted Bundy too.

Stop it.
If she didn’t go through with her plan, she’d
wish she were dead when Tyler laughed at her in front of all their
old high school friends. She wanted to see
him
squirm for once. The plan was
set and that was that. Plus, her girlfriends would want to know
what her hot stud was like in the sack. Should she tell them it was
none of their business, make something up, or find out for
real?

It could be fun to answer the question, but
she never slept with anyone on the first date. First date? Was she
crazy? This wasn’t a date. A chance meeting and a few drinks, in
which refills to those drinks were on the way.

He scooted his chair as close to her as he
could and sat the mixed drink on the table. A smile crossed his
face when she took a long drag. The man wanted to get her drunk.
Flattered a sexy creature like Noah wanted to sleep with her, she
took another drink and dreamed of seeing his dimples in the morning
sun.

“
You have the cutest
dimples I’ve ever seen.” They made her body warm when he used them
on her. Who was she kidding? She wanted to take him home and make
him smile, put dimples on his face for hours. And she wouldn’t let
guilt cloud her mind about this. It had been far too long since a
man had held her through the night.

To her disappointment, he stopped smiling
and scowled. “What’s wrong?” Knots formed in her stomach, and she
found it hard to breathe. Had she done something to cause the sour
look?

“
Nothing.” He took a drink
from his refilled mug.

“
Did I do something to
upset you?” She’d never seen a person change moods so quickly. Was
this his temper surfacing again? Well, plain and simple, she needed
him for a short time. Then she could say good-bye and get back to
her boyfriend-temper-free life. “If we’re going to pull this off,
then I need to understand your moods.”

Swallowing hard, he ran a finger around the
rim of his mug. “It’s nothing, really. I just got a bit of heart
burn there for a second.” He pushed on his chest.

“
Oh. Do you want to
leave?”
Go on, say it. You know you want
to.
“Maybe see where I live? I mean, since
I’ve told everyone you’re over all the time, you’ll need to know
where it’s at.”

His eyes widened in surprise. Had she
shocked him? Moved too soon? Would he think her a slut? She tried
to read his face, but she didn’t know him well enough to understand
his expressions.