Flirting with Texas (Deep in the Heart of Texas) (8 page)

“You planning on diving out while traveling over sixty miles per hour?”

Jenna glanced up at Beau, who was peeking over the edge of the mattress. His hair was mussed and his jaw twice as bruised as hers. He was right. If it hadn’t been for her, he wouldn’t be in this mess.

“Look, I’m sorry about getting you involved in this,” she said.

“So who do you think it is?”

“Probably Bruno Sawyer, who owns the Fresh Marts I’ve been picketing. He’s the only one who employs a goon the size of Andre the Giant. Although I can’t see Bruno’s guys wearing masks or sneaking around in the dark.”

Beau jumped down from the bunk, and Jenna had a hard time keeping her gaze off his bare chest. He didn’t have bulging muscles, just long, lean ones that washed down his stomach in smooth ripples. And every ripple was tanned a toasty brown.

She had noticed his muscles and tan the night before. What she hadn’t noticed was the small tattoo on his chest. Since it was partially covered by his sling, she couldn’t tell what it was. But it looked like some kind of Japanese writing. She got a closer look when he leaned over her to test the strength of the metal on the window.

“Well, whoever it is,” he said, “he’s worked hard to make sure we can’t escape.” He brushed by her and checked the door before looking in all the cabinets. When he reached the small door next to the bunk, he opened it and sighed with relief. “Thank God.”

Jenna sat up. “What is it? Did you find a way out?”

He stepped in and closed the door behind him. The steady splash, followed with the whoosh of a flush, answered Jenna’s questions. Beau stepped out and climbed up the short ladder to the bunk.

“What are you doing?” she asked.

“I’m going to get some sleep.” He stuffed a pillow under his head.

“But we need to find a way out of here.”

“I problem solve better after a few hours of sleep. Wake me if we stop.” He stretched his stocking feet over the edge.

There was a hole in one sock, and his big toe stuck out.

Not wanting to spend her time staring at Beau’s toe, she got up and searched through the drawers and cabinets. The only useful thing she found was a butter knife
that she bent trying to pry open the door. The camper seemed to be going faster now. Since the only windows she could see out of were in the bunk, she shut off the light and climbed up the ladder.

“Scoot over.” She pushed at Beau’s feet. He grumbled before inching over just enough for her to get up on the small bed. In order not to touch him, she had to scoot as close to the window as she could get. She couldn’t see anything, just the glow of taillights and the occasional flash of headlights. She tried to keep her eyes open by imagining what she was going to do to Bruno when he released them, but soon the gentle rocking of the cab lulled her to sleep.

Jenna woke from a very pleasant dream. Pressing her face into the pillow, she tried to recapture the image. But it was too late. Reality slipped in, and she started to notice things. Like the rocking of the bed. The soreness of her jaw. And the fact that the pillow she rested against wasn’t a pillow but a warm chest that held the scent of spicy soap and… cow?

She opened her eyes to bright sunlight and the slightly whiskered jaw of the man who was stretched out beneath her. A man that didn’t smell like cigarettes, stale beer, and hair products. And he didn’t feel like skin and bones. This man felt like muscles. Warm, defined muscles that seemed all tight and flexed.

Slowly, she lifted her head.

Beau was watching her, the sapphire of his eyes peeking through the dark fringe of his lashes. A warning signal went off in her head, but before she could take heed and move away, he tipped his head to the side and captured
her mouth with his. The signal cut off in mid-warning as every thought in her head dissolved beneath the scorching kiss. He kissed like he smiled, teasing and sizzling hot. His tongue brushed against hers and coaxed it into his mouth where he gently sucked on it until she moaned.

While he kissed her with a skill that no boyfriend had ever had, his hand slid up her bare thigh to the edge of her boxers. His fingers slipped under the fabric and caressed her butt cheek, sending a line of heat straight to the spot between her legs. She clamped them together, but it only intensified the sensation. He seemed to understand her dilemma, because his callused hand didn’t stop at her cheek. It dipped beneath her panties, the tips of his fingers brushing the crack of her flexed butt.

With a swirl of tongue and heated suction, he pulled back from the kiss and nibbled his way over to her ear. “Easy, sweetheart. Just relax. I’m not going to do anything you don’t want me to.”

That was the problem. Jenna couldn’t think of a thing she didn’t want him to do.

His tongue flicked out against her earlobe. “Lean up just a little,” he whispered. “Just enough that I can get to those sweet breasts of yours.”

Probably for the first time in her life, Jenna obeyed without question. She pressed her hands to the mattress on either side of his head and held herself up so her breasts were inches from his mouth.

He looked at her, his eyes hot and his lips without a hint of smile. “Do you know how long I’ve been wanting to do this?” He leaned up and captured a nipple in his mouth. Moisture saturated the fabric of her shirt. “It feels like forever.”

Jenna was so caught up in what his mouth was doing she didn’t even pay attention to his hand until it settled over her butt cheeks and pressed her firmly against the rock-hard bulge beneath his jeans. She moaned at the intense feeling of being held tightly in Beau’s hand on one side and pressed against his hardness on the other. She adjusted her hips, settling his rigid length between her legs. Consequently, the movement allowed his fingers deeper access. Her eyes widened as he dipped into her wet heat.

“Sweet.” His mouth moved over to her other breast. “I knew you would taste sweet.”

As his fingers thrust, his mouth manipulated her nipple through her shirt, the pull of his lips perfectly synchronized to every stroke of his fingers. Her orgasm burst upon her with a suddenness that took her by surprise.

As the intense feelings crested, Beau’s fingers deepened, and he bit down gently on her nipple, prolonging the intense sensations coursing through her body. When it was over, she slumped down to his bare chest, careful not to rest on the arm in the sling. She would’ve gone back to sleep if he hadn’t spoken.

“You’re going to have to help me with these jeans, sweetheart.” When she didn’t move or say anything, he shifted her to one side. Transfixed by the play of sunlight on the muscles of his abdomen, all she could do was watch as he unsnapped his pants and pulled down the zipper. She had just gotten a peek of navy boxer briefs when he froze.

“Sonofabitch.” He flopped an arm over his eyes.

“What happened? Is it your shoulder?”

He peeked out from under his arm. “I don’t have a condom.”

The word “condom” brought Jenna out of her sexual haze and back to reality.

“Oh my god.” She scooted as far away from Beau’s hard body as she could get. “What am I doing?”

Beau lowered his arm and looked at her. “I think it’s called sex, but if you’d like to refer to it as making love, I don’t have a problem with that.”

“No!” She sat up, cracked her head on the ceiling, and then flopped back down.

“Obviously a slow learner,” Beau said as he reached over to rub her head. She ducked away.

“There was no making love,” she stated. “It was sex. Just sex.”

Beau tipped his head. “Okay with me. Now can we get back to the ‘just sex’ because, if my memory serves me, I haven’t had my turn?”

Jenna’s mouth opened, and when not one word showed up, she snapped it shut.

There were about a million things she could’ve said, but not one of them made any sense. Probably because she couldn’t make sense of what had just taken place. As it turned out, Beau didn’t have any such problem.

“Oh, I get it. Now that you’ve used me to take care of your physical needs, you’re suddenly feeling guilty about cheating on Davy. But if I remember correctly, didn’t he walk out on you?”

“Because of you,” she snapped. She didn’t know why she was suddenly so angry. Maybe because the truth hurt. She had used Beau to take care of her physical needs. And Davy had walked out on her. And she’d let him.

“Now I don’t think you can blame me for that.” Beau readjusted the pillow behind his head. “According to what
I heard, he left because you emasculated him. You took on the male role, leaving him to be the woman.”

Jenna pulled her gaze from his belly button in the sea of ripped muscles. “Well, you must have a hearing problem because that’s not what he said at all. He did not leave me because I was too manly.” She stared up at the ceiling, trying to remember the conversation. “He left because he…”

“Didn’t feel needed,” Beau finished for her.

Since that was exactly what Davy had said, she couldn’t deny it. She also couldn’t let Beau have the last word.

“He loves me, and I love him.”

“I don’t doubt it in the least. But we’re not talking about love. We’re talking about need. And need is a much stronger emotion than love. We need things we can’t live without—air, water, food.” He glanced over at the tiny kitchen. “Speaking of which, I wonder if the fridge has milk to go with those boxes of cereal—”

“Well, I need Davy,” she cut him off.

He looked back at her. “For what?”

Jenna scrambled through her mind, but not one thing popped into her head. She could make a mile-long list of why she loved him, but not one reason why she needed him. Not to pay her bills. Or pick up dinner or groceries. Or fix things around the apartment.

Or give her orgasms.

“It’s nothing to get too upset about, sweetheart,” Beau said. “It’s not easy finding a person you love and need. It will happen, just give it time.” He squinted up at the window. “Do you think you could close those curtains? For early morning, that sun is blinding.”

With her mind consumed with finding something she needed Davy for, Jenna followed his direction without argument. The sun
was
bright. And for the first time since waking up, she wondered what time it was. Certainly, they would’ve gotten to Jersey by now. Pressing her head against the glass, she tried to see where the sun was in the sky. Before she could, Beau’s hand settled on her thigh, his fingers skating up toward her butt.

“I was wondering if there’s any possibility that we could get back to the ‘just sex.’ ”

Before she could smack his hand away and explain that she had no intentions of making the same mistake twice, a road sign out the window caught her attention. A sign that had her eyes widening and her heart pounding. She forgot all about Beau and Davy and everything else but the white reflective words and numbers.

N
ASHVILLE 248 MILES
.

T
HE TOWN OF
B
RAMBLE
, Texas, was ready for summer and the patriotic holidays the season brought with it. Red, white, and blue bunting was draped across Main Street, where it would remain until after Labor Day, and American flags filled shop windows and flapped over every doorway, commercial or residential.

Marcy Henderson paid little attention to the decorations as she pulled her Pinto into the first empty parking space she came to. Her mind was preoccupied with other things—mainly with becoming a hooker.

The hens had turned out to be a sweet group of old ladies, but either they had forgotten everything they learned about prostitution or they didn’t want to teach it to Marcy. Sunshine had taught her how to make a bed you could bounce a quarter off of. Baby had taught her how to make chicken and dumplings and a delicious apple pie. And Minnie had talked her ear off about the history of the henhouse. But when Marcy asked questions about “the business,” the hens looked at her as if she was speaking a foreign language.

Maybe Minnie thought Marcy knew everything she needed to know about sex. It wasn’t like Marcy hadn’t had sex before. Her teenage years had been filled with enough sexual experimentation to earn her the title of town slut. And in the years that followed, she hadn’t had a problem feeding into the gossip. She had chased after men like a trailer-park dog after cars. Her sister, Samantha, thought Marcy’s preoccupation with men had to do with the lack of love she’d gotten from their daddy. Sam was probably right. No matter how many men Marcy had slept with, she could never seem to fill the hole inside her heart.

But the epiphany had come a little late.

Or maybe it came just in time. A hooker didn’t need a heart. What she did need was a little more information than she was getting about how to turn sex into a lucrative business.

Marcy climbed out of her car and stepped up on the curb. Across the street, Moses Tate was snoozing on the bench in front of Sutter’s Pharmacy. So far, Moses was the only male customer who had been out to Miss Hattie’s. Marcy might need the money, but she was happy the old, wrinkled guy had a thing for Minnie.

After adjusting the straps of her high heels, Marcy strutted past the bright pink caboose that served as Josephine’s Diner. On a Saturday morning, it was jam-packed with people, a few spilling over into the parking lot as they waited for a table.

“Hey, Hot Mama! You lookin’ for a little Johnnycakes?”

Marcy wanted to ignore the man who yelled, but Johnny Reardon wasn’t the type of man who liked to be ignored. She had made the mistake of having sex with him one night when she’d had a little too much to drink,
and she’d had to endure his bullying and asinine pickup lines ever since.

“Hey, yourself,” she called and kept right on walking. “I’m late for an appointment, Johnny, but I’ll catch you later at Bootlegger’s.”

Fortunately, Johnny was too lazy to try and catch up with her, and she continued down the street toward the public library.

Most folks would be surprised to find out that the library was Marcy’s favorite place in town. Growing up in a house with arguing parents, it had been the only place she could find peace and quiet. But it wasn’t peace and quiet that greeted her when she pulled open the door. It was the strong smell of permanent solution and nonstop chatter that she recognized immediately.