Impulsive (9 page)

"Right!" came the derisive reply from a linebacker.
"And what're you gonna use for muscle? Boobs, maybe?"

"Good idea," Shasta said, thrusting out her ample chest.
"We might do better with these than you big apes do with your hammy thighs
and beer bellies."

"Hey, woman! I've worked hard for this excellent
physique," Sir Loin Simms objected. He patted his protruding stomach.
"I've got a lot of pasta and beef invested here. You ought to learn the
difference between fat and muscle."

"Well, buddy, this
is
muscle," Shasta contended,
bringing her arms in to her sides to accentuate her cleavage.

The cheerleaders all nodded, each mimicking Shasta.

"I'd wager there are more rubber bumpers here than there were
in the parking lot tonight!" Jack Hays proposed on a brusque laugh.

"More silicone, anyway," Corey muttered in disgust.

"Or maybe they just used Miracle Grow," Ty suggested,
winking at Jess, as if they shared a private joke.

Jess was not amused at his comment, particularly since she wasn't
sure his jest wasn't aimed at her. She was sure he'd noticed her improved
figure, and wondered if he wasn't poking fun at her. Anger and embarrassment
combined to render her pink-faced and momentarily speechless.

At the same time, Bambi, ignoring Jess entirely, approached Ty and
wantonly pressed her chest against his. "Now, honey," she purred
silkily, batting her long lashes at him, "you know these are the genuine
article. Every single morsel. Heaven knows you inspected them thoroughly
enough, and I've still got the love bites to prove it!"

Despite himself, Ty felt a blush creeping up his neck. The damned
brazen hussy! So he did get into a hot and heavy petting session with her the
one night they had gone out! Did she have to announce it to the whole world?
Right here in front of Jess, to boot?

He stared down at Bambi, his gaze stony and unblinking, as he took
her arm and put her away from him. A humorless smirk slanted his lips as he
said softly, but audibly, "Trouble is, Bambi, a man might suffocate in all
that surplus flesh. I wouldn't care to risk it again. I'm just thankful we
stopped at the preliminary stages, or you might have smothered me. Besides,
I've been saving myself for Jess."

Sporadic chuckles broke out, tentative at first, then heartier as
Ty's friends overcame their initial discomfort and rallied around him.

"Saving yourself for Jess? That's a good one, T.D."

"Can I get that on tape?" someone else hooted.

As Bambi stalked off in a huff, Gabe walked up, slapped his pal on
the back, and teased, "Yeah, Ty. I always did suspect you were as pure as
a lily. That must be why you're so uptight most of the time. Jess, you ought to
help him loosen up a little. Maybe it'll improve his timing."

Corey took pity on her new friend, who now looked as if she'd been
dipped in poppy red paint. "Cool it, guys. Especially you, Gabe. You're
embarrassing Jess. She's not used to your ribald humor the way I am."

She looped an arm across Jess's shoulders. "Come on, gal.
Let's go rustle up some chips and dip and other goodies while these yahoos fire
up the barbecue grill."

Corey then turned and surveyed her guests, her lilac-gray eyes
glittering. Her perfectly sculpted face, with its flawless café-au-lait
complexion, took on a regal expression, one that
had
graced the covers of magazines the world over. "Ladies, feel free to join
us. You'll note I used the word
ladies.
Those of you who must behave
like ho-bags, feel free to leave or shape up, whichever suits you, but in my
home I reserve the right to set high standards of decorum. Abide by them, or
don't bother to darken my door until you can."

Jess and several other women followed their hostess into the
kitchen. "You didn't have to say that on my account," Jess told her.

"I didn't do it for your sake alone," Corey assured her.
"I simply won't abide bad behavior in my own house. That goes for the guys
as well as the women, and everyone might just as well learn the guidelines from
the start."

"Then maybe you'd better post a list of no-no's,"
Shannon Baxter suggested wryly. "I'm sure there are people here who
wouldn't know proper manners if they stumbled over them."

Corey merely laughed and fluttered her brightly manicured fingers
in a nonchalant manner. "They'll learn fairly quickly what I will tolerate
and what I won't. Believe me, Gabe and I have been through this before, with
other teams in other cities. I'm an old hand at reforming the irreformable, and
at politely booting the rest out."

The party went smoothly from that point on. Bambi and a couple of
her cohorts had opted to depart the premises, but most of the guests had
remained and were on their best behavior.

Jess actually enjoyed herself, despite the fact that she was
totally miffed at Ty. Not only had he put her on the defensive with that remark
about Miracle Grow and that oh-so-obvious wink at her, but all evening she'd
caught him stealing glances at her when he thought she didn't notice—looks she
could swear were aimed at her chest more often than her face. But what really
rubbed a raw spot was knowing that the rotten lecher had not only dated Bimbo
Bambi, but hadn't denied fondling the cheerleader's bountiful assets. Sure, he'd
claimed it hadn't gone far, and had also professed to prefer Jess, but she knew
that was all for show, part of the act to convince everyone that they were a
couple. In reality, he was one of
countless
men Jess had met who would choose boobs over brains any day of the week.

The gathering broke up around midnight. After thanking Gabe and
Corey for their hospitality, Jess headed for her car. She was halfway down the
walk when Ty caught up with her. "Hey! Wait up. Don't I even get a goodbye
kiss?"

Jess rounded on him, her face furious. "I'll tell you what
you can kiss, mister," she snarled. "A maggot-infested garbage
can!"

Ty held up his palms and backed off a step. "Whoa! You're
really ticked! Care to tell me why?"

"As if you didn't know, you swine!" she hissed.
"How dare you humiliate me like that in front of all those people! Staring
at my chest! Making snide remarks about Miracle Grow! But I guess I shouldn't
expect any better from a man who has the temerity to publicly admit dating
someone named Bambi."

He had the gall to grin. "So that's what has your britches in
a bind! You're jealous!"

"Oh, grow some brains, James! Preferably somewhere other than
in your pants!"

"As soon as you cultivate a sense of humor," he
countered bluntly. "You're entirely too sensitive, Miss Know-It-All. That
Miracle Grow comment was made as a joke between you and me, a silly dig at
Bambi and company. It was not in any way meant as an insult to you or to
divulge your intimate secrets."

"You're doing it again," she stated testily.

"Doing what?"

"You're staring at my breasts, you oversexed beast!"

"Well, hell!" he exclaimed with exasperation. "I'm
a man. All normal, red-blooded, sighted men do it. Furthermore, you can't tell
me women don't check out a guy's physique."

She offered a nasty smirk. "Of course we do, but we do try to
make eye contact once in a while during the course of a conversation, if only
for propriety's sake."

In a move that took her completely by surprise, Ty stepped closer,
raising his hands and clasping them around her midriff. His palms skimmed her
ribs, coming to rest along the curve of her breasts. Despite the barrier of her
knit top, his fingers
found the outline of her bra beneath it, brushing over the
lace-adorned cups. As his thumbs whispered across her nipples, even through two
layers of cloth, Jess shivered. She stood spellbound as his mouth lowered
toward hers.

"Lace," he murmured. "Over silk?"

"S... satin," she stammered, her mouth suddenly
desert-dry.

His mouth brushed hers, so lightly she might have imagined it.
"What color?"

"Peach."

"I love peaches," he claimed huskily.

"I could be wrong. It might be apricot," she said
breathlessly.

"Sounds delicious."

His thumbs grazed the aroused peaks again. Jess quivered anew, her
sigh melting against his lips as they claimed hers. His kiss was hot, inviting
and demanding in like measure. His tongue traced her lips, exploring their
shape, their texture, then slipped between them to leisurely twine with hers.
His lips sipped at hers, learning her taste.

The ground tilted beneath Jess's feet, but Ty's arm was there to
keep her from falling. He pulled her close, allowing only enough space between
them for his hand to cradle her breast, for his fingers to ply their skillful
magic on the dimpled crest. His lips and tongue teased, advancing and
retreating, until Jess caught his head between her hands and anchored his mouth
to hers. A groan rumbled in his chest as her tongue slid seductively past his
teeth, initiating her own bold foray into his mouth.

They were both breathing heavily, lost in the heat of their
embrace. Ty's hand was tugging at her shirt, trying to dislodge it from the
waistband of her slacks, when loud laughter brought them abruptly back to
earth. Jess gasped, lurching backward, and would have tripped had Ty not held
on to her arm—though he didn't appear to be all that steady himself at the
moment. He looked as dazed as she felt.

Three couples leaving the party trooped past them, issuing
friendly taunts as they went.

"Administering a little mouth-to-mouth there, James?"

"What did Corey put in that jalapeño dip, anyway?"

"I don't know, but I hope you had some, honey."

"Carry on, folks. Don't mind us."

Jess wanted nothing more than to find a large hole, crawl into it,
and pull it in after her! She'd never been so mortified! At least not since the
"falsie" incident. Ty, blast his hide, just shrugged and chuckled
along with them, as if it were no big deal to get caught necking in his
friends' front yard.

From the porch, Corey flipped the light switch off and on again.
Gabe called out, "Can't you wait until you get home?"

"Indeed!" Corey added, her tone as amused as her
husband's. "This is a respectable neighborhood. Now go make out someplace
else, before someone calls the cops. And Ty, get your big feet off my pansies,
before I take a broom handle to your head!"

Ty was at Jess's apartment at nine o'clock the next morning,
apparently intent on beating her door down, from the sounds of it. Still in her
jersey-nightie, Jess peered at him through the peephole. Even distorted by the
minilens, he looked gorgeous! It just wasn't fair!

"Open up, Jess!" he hollered. "I know you're in
there. Your car's still here."

"Go away!" she called back through the door.

"Oh, c'mon!" he wheedled. "I was counting on a
couple cups of cappuccino."

"There's an espresso place two blocks south of here,"
she informed him. "Now, stop banging and yelling at me or I'm going to sic
my dog on you."

He laughed. "You don't have a dog."

"I bought one this morning," she lied blatantly. "A
big Doberman with a penchant for biting annoying quarterbacks."

"I don't hear him barking."

Jess waved her foot in front of the motion-activated rubber frog
sitting on the floor just inside her front door. It gave its customary
"ribbet... ribbet."

Ty let loose with another laugh. "Since when do Dobermans
croak?"

"He has a cold," she ad-libbed.

"It's August, and so hot you can fry eggs on the
sidewalk," he reminded her.

"It's a summer cold. Or maybe an allergy. It's pollen
season."

"You're nuts, you know that?" he claimed. "Speaking
of which, I brought donuts. Those gooey pecan twists you said were your
favorites. Now, will you please open the door?"

Jess relented. He'd hit her weak point with the donuts.

Ty stepped inside, triggering the frog again as he entered. He
stared down at it, his mouth quirked in a wry grin. "A poor excuse for a
security system, if you ask me. But better than my first assumption, which was
that you were in here kissing toads, trying to turn one of them into a prince,
and risking warts in the process."

"Been there. Done that," she quipped. "It doesn't
work. You're still a toad this morning."

He ogled the long expanse of leg beneath her sleep shirt.
"Want me to check you over for warts?"

"Do you want to wear those donuts?" she countered.

"Your moods are as changeable as the wind," he
complained, docilely following her into the kitchen. "You didn't seem to
mind my hands on you last night. In fact, I'd swear you were enjoying yourself
immensely."

"The kiss was nice," she admitted, "until we got caught
looking like two sex-starved teenie-boppers."

Ty chuckled. "Yeah, that doused the flames real fast, didn't
it?"