Crimson and Clover (15 page)

“Well, bloody hell, Katie. What are you waiting for? Him to say it first?” Maureen looked expectant. When Katie didn’t answer, her mouth firmed into a straight line. “You are, aren’t you? Darling, you’ve been reading too many of those romance novels.”

“No, I haven’t,” Katie retorted automatically. “Why shouldn’t he tell me first?”

“Perhaps he’s waiting for you to say something. Perhaps he isn’t sure about how you feel. Nicky wasn’t, you know. He waited for me to say it first.”

“You did?” Startled, Katie turned to Maureen. “What happened?”

“We were in bed and I just told him I loved him.” One shoulder lifted in a slight shrug. “Then he said he loves me, too, and Bob’s your uncle.”

“Yeah, well, that’s different.”

“Only in that I didn’t wait half a year after we met to say something.”

“Oh, God, you’re right.” Katie buried her face in her hands. “I’ve waited too long, haven’t I? I kept thinking it wasn’t the right time because he’s been so busy recording the album and producing it with Nicky, and off playing all those pubs; and I’ve let it drag on too long now to say anything without sounding like a complete idiot, haven’t I?” She looked at Maureen in a panic. “Have I blown it? He’s the one, Maureen, you know he is, and I can’t stop thinking that I’m going to lose him. I’m not going to lose him, am I?”

With grace, Maureen rose to her feet. “You have exactly thirty minutes,” she said with authority.

“For what?” Katie eyed her friend with suspicion. “Do you expect me to rush down to Abbey Road, burst in on them, declare my love and then demand that Jay either shit or get off the pot?”

“No, but I’m getting you out of here before you go completely barmy. You’re close to it now and it isn’t pretty, I assure you. You and I are going out dancing and you have a half hour to get ready. I’m going up to change and put on my eyelashes and I expect you to be ready and waiting when I return.”

Katie pouted. “What if I don’t want to go dancing?”

Maureen’s only answer was to flip Katie the bird as she walked out the door.

Their entrance into The Marquee forty-five minutes later caused no small amount of interest. But Maureen and Katie always caused a stir when they stepped out together. The contrast in the two girls was striking. Maureen’s light, geometrically cut hair, her bright blue eyes and her peaches and cream complexion were the perfect foil for Katie’s darker good looks. They looked like the personification of good and evil and as they entered the club, their expressions added to that impression. Maureen’s face was bright and excited as she scanned the club looking for friends and acquaintances, but the dark cloud hanging over Katie’s head was almost visible to the naked eye.

They threaded their way to the crowded bar and ordered Cokes. Maureen whipped a small bottle of rum from her purse and, using Katie as a shield, added liberal amounts to their cups. She passed Katie her illicit beverage and stowed the bottle out of sight again, this time in Katie’s purse, with no one the wiser.

Katie drank half her rum and Coke in one swallow and realized immediately she’d have to go easy on them. The drink tasted like a glass of straight rum with the word “Coke” breathed gently over the rim as it was served. She wondered how Maureen had managed to get so much alcohol into the cup and realized she must have drunk over half the Coke before adding the rum.

“Well, there you are.” At Maureen’s soft purr she turned to find her friend wrapped around Nicky Majors.

“And here you are.” Nicky grinned. “Fancy meeting the two of you out and about.”

“Good thing you showed up,” Maureen declared. “I’ve been feeling distinctly lonely as of late.” She gave Katie a shrewd glance. “And, by the bye, where’s Jay?”

“When I left, he and Stuart were still there nit-picking. We’ve finished, but it’s our last night there so they decided to try to find something wrong so they could fix it.” He gave Katie an apologetic glance. “You know how he is.”

“Oh, I know.” Katie turned her cup up and sucked down the contents. Spotting an empty chair, she sat down and repressed a sigh.

Maureen slid her arms around Nicky’s waist. “Dance with me,” she invited with a look Aphrodite had invented but Maureen had perfected.

Laughing, Nicky gathered her up in his arms and headed off with her.

Left alone, Katie ordered a second Coke, drank half of it one gulp, doctored the remainder with rum and let the potent brew wipe out some of her brain cells while she watched Nicky and Maureen. After the upbeat tune ended, they swayed together on the sticky floor as a slow song poured through the speakers. It heartened Katie to see that love at first sight was more than just a trite phrase, despite the fact that she herself was hanging over an abyss of doubt.

Derailing that uncomfortable train of thought, Katie sighed and guzzled the last of her drink. Should she have another, or call it a night? True, she hadn’t been there long, but she was buzzing from the strong drinks on an empty stomach and Maureen didn’t need her now since Nicky had arrived. Besides, she hadn’t been in the mood to go out anyway and she wasn’t enjoying it at all.

As she pondered, a long arm holding a cup from which whiskey fumes rose in an almost visible cloud slid into sight. Recognizing the long lines of the arm, she turned and found Jay smiling down at her.

“So this is where you’ve got off to,” he said, and she could tell the drink he held was not the first one he’d consumed. His cheeks were flushed and there was an expression in his eyes she didn’t recognize: amused, dangerous, and predatory at the same time.

“This is it. I can’t sit around waiting for you forever, can I?” Katie was taken aback by the sound of her own voice. She hadn’t realized she’d spoken aloud. Damn the alcohol.

The amusement fled from Jay’s expression and the danger intensified. Seeing it, she hastened to reassure him. “Maureen dragged me here. She said we were going stir crazy and needed to get out.” She surveyed the crowded room, but saw no trace of her friend. “It appears Nicky’s absconded with her, though. Damn it, I’ve been abandoned.”

Jay looked her up and down. “Ah, poor Katie. Will my company do?”

She didn’t know if it was the look in his eyes, the amount of alcohol she’d consumed, or the end of her patience, but she opened her mouth and spoke from her heart. “There’s no one else in the world I ever want to be with.”

His face changed and her breath caught at the blazing look in his eyes. Jay tossed his cup in a nearby rubbish bin and pulled her up, leading her toward the door. He didn’t slow his stride when Katie pulled on his hand in an attempt to catch up. This was a side of him with which she wasn’t familiar. Maybe it was the alcohol. She’d seen him inebriated, but never like this.

Outside, Jay hailed a cab and handed her into the back seat, giving the driver the address of her flat as he climbed in after her. The ride was filled with silence that Katie didn’t dare break. Jay kept his face turned toward the window and Katie felt a shiver of apprehension in her midsection. It was like being trapped in the car with a tiger — a creature of unearthly beauty, but wild and liable to bite with no warning. She must have made some sound because Jay turned his head to glance at her. Her apprehension turned to a quiver of anticipation at the predatory look in his eyes.

When they reached her building, Jay paid the cab, took her arm and steered her through the door into her flat. It had barely closed when he grabbed her and spun her around, pushing her against the wall as his lips came crashing down on hers.

The kiss was rough and demanding and Katie responded to it with hunger. Her wrists were in his hands, pinned against the wall over her head, and Jay held her immobile as his mouth devoured hers. Dizzy from the combination of tearing lust and lack of oxygen, Katie broke the kiss and turned her head away, taking deep gulps of air into her starved lungs.

Jay’s body leaned into hers and his voice was a low growl, the words coming between gasps of air and searing themselves into her mind. “You’re all I want, Katie. Sometimes it seems like you’re all I’ve ever wanted.” He leaned forward until his eyes filled her vision. “When I came by and you weren’t here, I thought all sorts of things; things that scared the bleeding hell out of me. If I ever lost you, it would fucking drive me mad, do you hear me?”

“What, I can’t leave my flat?” Her chest rose and fell with her rapid breathing. “You’d hold me here until you find the time to be with me?”

His grip on her wrists tightened. “Hold you?” The tip of his tongue appeared to moisten his lips. “I want to hold you, baby,” he growled. “Hold you down and make you scream.”

Katie melted against him and sighed, “Yes, Jay.” She pushed her hips against his. “Show me.”

Jay released her hands and jerked her blouse open, the buttons striking the floor like hailstones. His hands were hot on her bare breasts and she arched her back, fitting them closer into his grasp. His face was buried in her neck, biting, sucking, bruising; Katie raised her chin to bare her neck to whatever he wanted.

The calloused tips of his fingers found her nipples and teased them, bringing them to hard points and sending waves of desire crashing through her. Knees weak, Katie braced herself against the wall as Jay stripped her blouse from her and flung it aside. He was breathing hard as he yanked off his own shirt and took her to the floor. Pushing her skirt up, he pulled her panties to her knees with a complete lack of gentleness. As he paused to open his jeans, Katie got one foot up to her panties and pushed them off, opening her legs to him. She’d asked for it and couldn’t wait until he gave it to her.

Jay engaged in silent battle with his jeans, kicking his way out of them until they slid to his ankles, his belt buckle scraping against the floor. The feel of his body wriggling against hers as he fought to free himself from his jeans pushed Katie to the edge. She raised her arms to pull him down to her, but he grasped her wrists and pinned them to the floor, holding her arms outstretched. He lowered himself between her spread thighs and pushed into her to the hilt with one thrust. Katie pulled in her breath with a gasp as he filled her, stretched her, hammered her; she felt herself begin to climax at once. She couldn’t stop the scream that passed her lips, not sure if it was a scream of pleasure or of pain. The two seemed to be one and the same as Jay’s mouth covered hers, muffling the sound. Her legs wrapped around him as her hips rose to meet his. She gloried in the feel of that hardness inside her, the feel of it sliding back and then shoving into her again, pushing her, pounding her, filling her. Jay released her wrists and grasped her thighs, the full weight of his body pressing into her. He pulled her legs higher on his waist as he took her over the edge of pain into pure pleasure.

God, she’d never come like this — no beginning, no end; just one intense, mind-shattering climax that rose higher and hotter with each hard thrust of his body into hers. Some primitive, naked emotion made her want to taste him, rend him; a tigress unleashed by his wildness. Her nails raked his back and her teeth clamped down on his lip, the iron taste of blood against her tongue. He jerked his mouth from hers, grunting with surprise, and raised her hips even higher.

She could feel her thighs bruising from the relentless pounding and she moaned, her head rolling on the floor. Her body convulsed on his and she cried out. “Yes, Jay!”

Jay looked down, his hair framing his set face, his eyes intent on hers. “What?”

The sight of him above her sent her spiraling into orbit. “Christ, you heard me! Yes!” Her nails dug into his skin again.

Jay arched his back. “Shit, Katie!” He grabbed her arms and jerked them down to the floor again. He lowered his head, his hair falling over her face as he continued to thrust into her. “I want you. Damn it, Katie, I need you!”

Need, yes; she burned with the need to have him, and have him, and have him again. The need to touch him, taste him, to become part of him. She squirmed and thrashed, not in an effort to get away, but in an attempt to meld their bodies together. Another climax flamed through her and she cried out again. It was becoming too much for her to take and she pulled against his grip on her wrists. “Please, Jay, I can’t … I can’t … ”

His movements reached a furious peak before he froze, throwing his head back. “Oh, God!” He lowered his forehead to hers and gritted the words through clenched teeth, “Yes, Katie!” She felt each surge as he spilled himself into her and shook at his release. Spent, he collapsed on top of her and dropped his head onto her shoulder.

They came slowly back to themselves, not moving, still joined. Katie knew that some vital question had been asked and answered in their encounter. No one had ever used her like that and she had never responded so strongly, or so violently. Had it hurt? Hell, yes. Did she like it? Oh,
hell
, yes. But she knew that it had been more than just sex. Something had happened between them on a deeper level and she was almost afraid to contemplate it further in case it wasn’t what she hoped. She felt Jay stir and nuzzle his face in her neck.

“I want you again,” he whispered against her skin. He laughed weakly at her start of surprise. “Don’t worry, I can’t.” The laughter faded from his voice. “But I want to.”

Feeling as if she were moving underwater, Katie’s hand floated up to his neck, grabbed a handful of his hair and pulled, making him gasp. Smiling, she growled in his ear. “So do I.”

• • •

The insistent ring of the telephone woke Katie the next morning. She rolled away from Jay and groping blindly, located the handset and raised it, cutting off the annoying noise. Placing the phone to her ear, she sighed. “Yeah?”

“Good morning, Mary Sunshine,” Stuart’s voice was full of irritating cheer.

“Jesus, Stu, what time is it?” Katie yawned.

“Oh, shit,” Jay muttered.

“Sorry, honey,” drawled Stuart’s Texas accent. “But do you happen to know where Jay is?”

Well, yes; Jay was rolling on top of her, tangling them in the sheet. “Yeah, he’s right here.”

“Tell them to start rehearsing without me and I’ll be there as soon as I can,” Jay said. Lowering his head, he teased her nipple with his tongue.