A Trashy Affair (21 page)

Jane took a deep gulp of black coffee as if fortifying herself. “Merlin, I don’t want you to threaten or hit anyone. Bernard Freeman will send you to jail even if Waldo didn’t. You can’t assault a councilman and get away with it.”

“Not a drop of blood will be shed, his or mine. I can be very persuasive.” He got up and put more raisin bread in the toaster. “See, I’m making breakfast for you. I can be housebroken, too.”

“I believe the persuasive part. Okay, deal on the house. I have to sell it anyhow and know you wanted it badly. You’ll take good care of it. Thanks in advance for letting me live here until I find work.”

“Believe you me the council will beg you to come back to your old job.” The toast popped. Merlin plated it and added the peanut butter. He set the slices in front of Jane. “
Et
voila!
My first astounding feat—preparing breakfast for a woman.”

He made Jane smile. Good enough for now. Too bad one of her wants had not been Merlin Tauzin. That would have been so easy to supply.

Chapter Nineteen

Daisy Derouen never let time lag between an offer and a sale. On Friday, she met Merlin and Jane beneath the antique clock outside the First National Bank of Chapelle and escorted them into the boardroom where the lawyer waited to do the closing. Before letting Jane take her seat, the Realtor drew her aside.

“Honey, I am sure I can get you a better deal if you’ll wait a week. The other buyer is in Africa hunting lions right now and is a tad hard to get on the phone. I know he’d double this offer he wants that land so bad.”

“Mr. Tauzin is paying me enough to cover my mortgage, the renovation costs, closing fees and your commission, plus letting me stay in the house until I get another job. There is no better deal than that.”

The little houses on Daisy’s charm bracelet jingled like gold coins chinking into a sack. “But there could be if you want to put this off a week or so.”

“No, I’m ready now. I want Merlin to have the house.”

“The customer is always right. Here we go then.”

The humorless lawyer recommended by Daisy from the firm of Lasky, Jefferson, and Babcock ran through the details of the sale and transferred all of Jane’s debt onto Merlin’s big shoulders with quick dispatch. She remembered feeling queasy when she sealed the deal on her first mortgage and the huge renovation loan thinking she’d signed her life away. Close to true now that she’d lost her job. Merlin, however, didn’t break a sweat. His blue eyes possessed a clear, cold quality unmarred by alcohol consumption. Though he’d come to watch the sunset with her every evening in the past week, he left his beer at home, turned down her offer of wine, and returned to his place not long after total darkness fell. Taking in every word of the transaction, he nodded at the right places and put his name on the papers, here, here, and here.

“Mr. Tauzin, you do understand that until the sale of your townhouse, the bank will hold the papers on your Ford as collateral for the pending twenty-thousand dollar down payment?” said Mr. Jefferson.

“Sure, no problem.” He handed over the title to the big-ass truck.

Jane’s hand flashed out and tugged the title from the lawyer’s hand much to the attorney’s annoyance. “Merlin, your truck! You can’t do this.”

His grin appeared like the first star of evening in the night sky. Daisy Derouen sucked in her breath either because she feared the sale would fall through or she was simply stunned by Merlin’s transformation from dark and surly to handsome and sexy. Jane had no idea which. She’d gotten so used to both sides of the man the lightning changes no longer caught her off guard.

“No worries, sweetness. We’ll have this all cleared up by the New Year.”

“But your truck
is
you, what you’d be if you were a truck, I mean. Big, rugged, electric blue, ready for anything, and a little overbearing. How will you get to work if you lose it?”

“I know you wanted to say ‘a lot overbearing’, so thanks for that, but it’s only a vehicle, babe. You’d loan me your car if I needed it, right?”

“Right, though I can hardly imagine you behind the wheel of my hybrid.”

“Ahem,” the lawyer said. “I do have another closing in an hour. If we could proceed.”

Merlin removed the papers from her grip and signed his truck over to the bank for the time being. He took the new mortgage, rolled it in his fist, and tapped the wad of papers against the flawless, polished surface of the boardroom table. “That’s that.”

Rising, Merlin shook the lawyer’s hand and gave Daisy a peck on the cheek that left her so flustered her charm bracelet tinkled. “Want to go to lunch and celebrate, Jane? How about the Golden Dragon Chinese Buffet since you think I need more vegetables in my life.”

“Okay, if you promise not to eat only the brown side of the buffet.”

“The brown side?”

“Yes, fried egg rolls, fried fish, popcorn shrimp, breaded sweet and sour pork, sesame chicken, etc.”

“I think they have boiled shrimp and crabs on Fridays. I’ll bring the truck around.” Happy as a Cajun could be on his way to a seafood buffet, Merlin strode out the door deeply in debt and not a bit concerned about it.

The lawyer packed his papers and briskly left the room. Daisy put an arm around Jane’s shoulders and gave her a hug. “My, my, my, maybe you did make the better deal if you’re going to be living with him. I’d heard Merlin Tauzin burned out in the war, but I’d say he has risen from the ashes.”

“No, he will be upstairs. I will be downstairs. We are not living together.”

“Whatever you say, Jane, but I sure wouldn’t miss out on that opportunity. Good luck with your future, honey.”

****

Like Daisy, Merlin lost no time sealing his deal. Louisiana provided great weather for moving on Saturday, one of those freakishly hot December days without a cloud in the sky. Harley came over bright and early to help disassemble the king-sized bed and lug the recliner and big-ass TV into the rear of the truck. They filled in the gaps with boxes of odds and ends and a filthy duffel bag containing most of his non-work clothes. His uniforms, a suit, and a few dress shirts made the trip bagged in plastic on the dry cleaner’s hangers and slung over his leather chair. Merlin backed the entire load across the front lawn as close to the outside stairs as he could. The two men got the oversized chair into the
garçonniere
and the television before Harley remembered he had to be somewhere.

“Probably somewhere with less work to be done,” Merlin remarked to Jane who hauled the boxes and the duffel bag upstairs. “I can get the bed frame parts and the two box springs up there, no trouble, but you’ll have help with the mattress.”

He took the lead up the narrow stairs with Jane pushing the unwieldy burden one step at a time from behind. At the small doorway, Merlin fought the springs to fold the mattress over and both of them shoved it inch by inch through the opening. Once on the other side, it snapped open and fell flat with a thud.

Merlin wiped the sweat on his forehead with the back of his hand. “I think I like it there just fine.” Taking Jane with him, he fell back on the mattress and shut the attic door with one swift kick.

“Fair warning, I’m taking off my shirt.” He did exactly that, peeling the sweat-soaked garment off his chest and over his head. It landed in a ball in the general vicinity of the shower. Merlin tucked his hands behind his head and showed off a smoothly muscled chest on a body a little too thin for his size. A mat of black hair plastered down over his pecs. “Look all you want since I got a good gander at yours last time.”

Jane, who had been staring up at the rafters after her exertions, rolled onto her side. “You really expect me to be so inflamed with passion by the sight of a hairy chest that I’d jump you?”

“Nope, but a guy can hope.”

“The only way that would happen is if you took off your pants, too.”

Off came his jeans, his athletic shoes going with them, and no briefs to bother about at all. “See, I’m already inflamed by that suggestion.”

“Impressive,” she admitted, drawing a fingernail lightly down the length of his erection and making it jump like a bass to bait. She cradled his balls and massaged them with her thumb.

“Condom in the rear pocket of my jeans. You’d better suit me up and get mounted because if you keep doing that I will not last.”

Jane found the sheath and smoothed it down his length. He shivered. “Cold?”

“Nope, just get into position quick, and take your top and bra off first. I want to watch your girls jiggle. Oh, just so you know, this has nothing to do with your rent. It is part of the
lagniappe
I mentioned.”

“Something extra for you or for me?” Perversely, Jane stripped off her jeans, panties, and shoes, but remained in a buttoned-down pale blue shirt with long tails and her bra. She straddled him and began moving over him very slowly.

“For both of us.” His hands cupped her hind cheeks, helping her along, up and down, for a few strokes before they wandered up under the shirttails to her bra hooks. He opened them with a fairly nimble move, pushed the bra away, and moved to the front to tease her nipples and stroke her breasts. His eyes closed.

“What, is unbuttoning the shirt too much work?”

“I have a good imagination. Just keep doing what you’re doing, sugar tits, maybe pick up the pace.”

Jane tweaked his brown nipple in its nest of dark hair.

“Baby, if you think that turned me off, you are so wrong.”

He bucked up against her and pumped his hips relentlessly letting her know that now no longer in control, she only went along for the ride. She was losing it, losing it very rapidly. He pulled her upright by the back of her open collar and rubbed her clit as he pounded into her. She came with a long, drawn out moan as extended as her orgasm. Only two thrusts behind, Merlin released with a final hard thrust and a great gasp. He hooked his fingers in her shirt collar and drew her down to rest on his heaving chest.

“Leaving the shirt on worked out really great for me. You?”

“Oh, yes,” Jane answered, still panting.

“I always knew when to seize an opportunity. You know what I could use now—lunch.”

Jane raised her head. “You expect me to get dressed and trot downstairs to make sandwiches right this minute? Really?”

“Nope, I’ll spring for pizza. Order two large with everything and extra cheese. Forgot my manners. Get one with whatever you want. We can have them for both lunch and dinner unless you want to get chicken from the Fast ’N Fun.”

“Unlike fried chicken, pizza has some redeeming qualities paired with a salad and some fruit. Let’s stick to that. Say, did you remember to empty your refrigerator at the townhouse? Men always forget that little detail. You won’t get a sale if the entire place stinks of rotten food.”

“Nothing in it but beer, and I gave that to Harley for helping. He promised to save the cans.”

Jane found her jeans and panties and climbed into them. When she couldn’t refasten her bra without taking off her shirt, Merlin helped her out. Placing a kiss on the back of her neck, he said, “I’m going to take a shower. Don’t forget to phone for the pizza, extra cheese.”

She heaved her sneaker at him just as he shut the door to the tiny bathroom. He laughed out loud, a good sound, music to her ears actually.

Jane went downstairs to do some washing of her own before placing the order, setting the table, and pouring tall glasses of lemonade made from her bumper crop of lemons. She assembled the rest of the meal and waited.

Fresh, clean-shaven, and smelling great, Merlin arrived in the kitchen about the same time as the pies. He eyed the salad and apple wedges before opening the top box, then the second one. “You forgot the extra cheese.”

“No, I did not. The last thing you need is extra cheese, but both have everything on them, only mine has no jalapenos. Fair enough?”

“Yep.” He loaded three slices on his plate. “Looks like extra veggies on this.”

“Yep.” Jane took two pieces, her limit for a lunch.

“I think I might need to get one of those little refrigerators for upstairs.”

“You can use mine, yours, ours. Whatever.”

“I want you to keep your doors locked at night and take that key out of the garage. I stay up all hours and lately, I got my appetite back again. I can keep some snacks and cold drinks upstairs if I get my own fridge.”

Jane watched him over the lip of her lemonade glass. “Still don’t trust yourself?”

“Right.”

****

Regardless of what Merlin thought, Jane noted he slept soundlessly above her that night. He showered in the morning, went to church with his granny, had Sunday dinner at Magnolia Villa, but did not go to his mom’s trailer to watch football with Harley. Instead, he invited Jane upstairs to watch Louisiana’s team on his TV because “that one you have downstairs hidden in the cabinet is simply pitiful.”

Jane curled in his recliner while he disassembled the trundle bed under the rafters only bumping his head twice and holding in the curse words. Football players jumped out at her in high-definition.

“I’ll move this to your junk room, the table and chairs, too. I think I need a computer table under that window.”

“I don’t have a junk room!” she protested. “That’s my exercise space.”

“Yeah, I saw the dust on the treadmill.”

“So I go to the Pink Power Palace, the ladies gym in the strip mall. I like to socialize while I exercise.”

“If you can talk, that isn’t exercise.”

“You sound like Nadia,” she pouted.

“Maybe, but I’m better looking. I’d like to use the treadmill before its gears rust. I’m supposed to work out to kill the blues.”

“By all means, do.” Jane bunched her legs and put her arms around them in the big chair. Merlin merely picked up the neat bundle she made and sat her in his lap.

“Don’t be mad now. Come on, uncurl. Let me make you feel better.”

The two-minute warning sounded for the first half. He used that time for foreplay, longer because of all the penalties and time outs, and concluded with an amazing twenty minute halftime performance without ever leaving the recliner.

Still, Merlin would not let Jane stay the night. He did not disturb her rest until he turned on the shower before dawn and clomped down the stairs to leave for work Monday morning. His truck roared off on its way to Intracoastal City, and Jane snuggled into her covers happy he left sober and well rested.