Just One (Dangerously Dimpled) (2 page)

His eyes carelessly examine the length of
my body as I stand to greet him.

“Oh c’mon now, Alex, that’s hardly a
proper introduction.” Spencer grabs my hand and bends over, grazing my knuckles
with dry lips. His breath is hot against my skin and I fight the urge to pull
my hand back.

“Spence is an old college friend.” Alex
comes to stand next to me. The word ‘friend’ lands with a thud on the ground, but
Spencer doesn’t seem to notice. “Charlie is Paige’s sister.”

Unlike Alex, Spencer doesn’t seem the
least bit surprised. “Well of course you are. I could’ve pulled you out of a
crowd. Same platinum hair, same fantastic body…”

“Easy, Spence.” Alex’s low tone rumbles
through me.

“C’mon, Alex, I’m not bothering anybody.
I was simply complimenting Charlie here on her beauty.” His eyes focus on my
chest. “Say, Charlie, how about a dance?”

I’ve known men like Spencer Ross. Brought
up to be a wolf in gentleman’s clothing. I cross my arms against my cleavage
and Alex moves to stand between us. “You’re interrupting our conversation,
Spence. Time to head back inside.”

Spencer doesn’t flinch, but the
bitterness creasing his green eyes feels threatening.

He takes a long drag from the cigarette,
picking a piece of tobacco from his lip as he exhales. “My apologies. It was
lovely to meet you, Charlie. A rain-check, perhaps?”

I give him a tight-lipped smile and nod,
desperate to see him go. I learned back in my college days that money and
boredom ignite like wildfire when you throw liquor into the mix.

Spencer clasps Alex on the shoulder and
squeezes. “I’ll see you around, buddy,” he says, his voice void of any good
humor.

Alex doesn’t turn around until Spencer
and his cronies make their way back inside. When he does face me, his eyes are
dark, serious, and his body stiff with anger. It floods me with excitement.
“Sorry about him.”

I smile and wave the apology off.
“There’s nothing for you to be sorry about. Anyway, when you’re in my line of
work, creeps are a dime a dozen,” I say, trying to lighten the mood.

Alex helps me back to my seat. “Don’t
tell me you’re a lawyer too,” he jokes.

I laugh. “No, definitely not a lawyer. I
work at the oil fields over in Harlow, with my dad.”

Alex’s eyebrows arch in surprise. “I
wasn’t expecting that.” His smile acts like a drug and his body relaxes. “I
thought they called those places ‘man camps?’ Isn’t it a little rough?”

I lift my chin. Alex wouldn’t be the
first man to have a hard time believing I can hold my own with the roughnecks
and engineers at the field. He wouldn’t be the first to be proven wrong. “It’s
not a glamorous job but it keeps me close to home, close to my dad. I’m saving
to open a bakery in my hometown. It’s been a dream of mine since I was a little
girl.”

He shakes his head. “You’re just one
surprise after another. I don’t know what’s coming next. You’re not married,
are you?” The question is asked cautiously and it makes my heart beat quicken.

“Not married.”

His dimples deepen. “Good, because if you
were married, I couldn’t ask you for a dance.”

My insides jump. The thought of dancing
with him, the idea of feeling his strong arms surrounding me, has me all hot
and bothered. Well, hotter and bothered, anyway. “That’s awful sweet of you but
I don’t think my feet could take it.” I lift a leg and wiggle my fancy shoe at
Alex. His eyes roam across the smooth expanse of skin from ankle to thigh.
Suddenly, the damn thing feels as heavy as a tree trunk.

Alex reaches and grabs my calf, pulling
my foot into his lap. “How about,” he says, his fingers working the tiny clasp
at the ankle, “we save you from another possible disaster and get rid of these
things before you do some real damage?”

His hand is warm against the arch of my
foot as he slides the shoe off. My toes curl when he brushes past my calf
sending another power surge straight through me. When he guides my shoeless
foot to the floor, and rubs his palm against the back of my leg, my heartbeat
leaves my chest and travels south. Auntie Brook warned me about this.
“Any man with an ounce of charm and a clear
conviction record is capable of making your heart skip a beat. It’s the ones that
make your vagina jump you need to keep an eye on.”

Alex reaches for my other leg and I don’t
resist. He works the other shoe off, again brushing his hand along my leg. I
salivate, his touch stirring up lusty feelings. I grab the sweet tea and down
the rest in one go.

 
He watches, a contemplative look in his
eyes. “Dance with me, Charlie?” He extends his hand and stands.

“But…there isn’t any music.”

“So?”

His relaxed smile and cool patience make
me feel a little stupid for bringing it up.

“C’mon, Charlie. One dance won’t kill
you.”

“Just one?” I ask.

“Just one.”

I twiddle my fingers nervously. What’s
the harm in one little dance with a guy who, let’s face it, doesn’t exactly run
in my social circle? I somehow don’t see Alex Ramirez waltzing into The Cavern
for dollar draft night.

 
I let him help me to my feet. Without the
shoes I’m significantly shorter, and I have to crane my neck backward to look
in his eyes. “Good Lord, you’re a tall one,” I say, allowing my internal
trailer park to lead the conversation.

Alex chuckles and pulls me forward. “I’ll
lean over.”

We come to a stop near the middle of the
garden’s grassy floor. The spongy Kentucky blue feels like kitten fur against
my sore soles. It’s a good thing he removed the stilettos. I would’ve sunk like
quicksand trying to dance on this lawn.

Alex brings me in close, his free hand
rests low on my hip. I allow him to guide me, to tug me forward until our
bodies make contact. It’s like getting zapped with a stun gun. I turn my head
toward his chest and am faced with the open collar of his button down shirt.
His skin is smooth and I can feel the hard ridge of muscle beneath his clothes.
I follow his lead, my hips moving side to side, my brain about to short circuit
from the friction between us.

“Are you headed home tonight or are you
staying at the hotel?”

I’ve been so focused on the pressure of
his hand against my back, his voice startles me. “I’m, uh, staying overnight.
Paige got me a room.”

“That’s nice.”

“Don’t be so sure. If I know my baby
sister at all, it’s part of her master plan to get me out of Harlow.”

“How so?”

Alex’s breath tickles the top of my head.
I’m afraid to look up because I know the only thing keeping my lips off those
dimples is simple geography. “She’s got some crazy notion I’m too good for that
place. Her mission is to sway me toward greener pastures by showing me how the
other half lives.”

“I take it you remain unconvinced?” The
hand holding me to him draws me nearer. His fingers tap out a melody against
the small of my back, and two years of pent-up sexual frustration bubbles to
the surface.

I lean against him and close my eyes. His
cologne smells expensive and exotic. I press into him, undone by his closeness.
“I just don’t belong here is all.”

He brushes his lips against the
sleeked-down hair on the top of my head, sending thunder down under. “You seem
like you fit in okay to me.”

“This isn’t me; this is all Paige. The
hair, the dress, the shoes, all her doing. I’m not fancy like her. I’m simple,
plain old Charlie.”

Alex stops moving, pulling just far
enough away to look down at me. “We just met, and you are surely many things,
but simple isn’t one of them.”

In the dimly lit garden, his eyes look
almost black. I lick my lips, my mouth dry from quick breaths. His gaze follows
the movement and the hand on my back forces me flush against him.

Mama,
I know you’re up there in Heaven, watching over me, but could you shut your
eyes for just a minute? Your little girl’s about to get her some.

I arch my neck and focus on the fullness of
Alex’s lips. It’s been so long since I’ve been kissed, I hope to hell it’s like
riding a bike. I flex onto tiptoes, ready to make my move, when the hotel door
opens behind us. The cool conditioned air makes a whooshing sound behind
whoever has stepped into the garden. A shiver runs down my spine.

Alex ’s hold on me slackens. His hard
body pulls away from my eager one. “Hi,” he calls. “What’s going on?”

“We’re bringing out the birthday cake, I
came to find you.” I’d recognize that voice anywhere.

I drop Alex’s hand and turn slowly, dread
chasing away the lust. Cadence Spelling, my sister’s best friend and
porcelain-skinned demon, has ascended from the mouth of Hades, and is standing
at the far end of the courtyard.

“Lord have mercy, is that you Charlotte Davies?”
Cadence’s shrill twang sounds happy and excited but she doesn’t fool me.
Southern women know how to make an insult sound like a lesson in good manners.
“Oh my God, I hardly recognized you. You look so pretty!”

“Hi Cadence.” I watch in dread as she
moves toward Alex and me on impossibly thin legs. Some years back, Cadence had
an ill-fated love affair. Her
very
personal trainer left her with a botched boob job and a touch of anorexia. The
poufy coral couture dress she’s wearing makes her look like an orange caught
between two toothpicks.

“I’m so glad I thought to look in the
garden.” She reaches us, and leans in to give me an air kiss. “Paige has been
absolutely beside herself looking for you, Charlotte.”

I bite my lip, refusing to rise to the
bait. She knows how much I hate being called Charlotte.

“What were y’all doing?”

“We were dan-”

“I was just introducing myself,” Alex
interrupts.

I turn sharply and look up at him. Before
Cadence showed up he was going to kiss me, I’m sure of it. So why is he acting
like nothing happened?

“Oh, I didn’t realize the two of you had
never met. I would’ve thought with Paige and Ken getting so close, you’d be old
friends by now. But I guess Paige doesn’t make it back to the trailer park much
these days. How is your daddy, Charlie? You and he still living at the Pueblo
Princess?”

I cringe inwardly. I’m not ashamed of who
I am or where I’ve come from, but that doesn’t mean I want Alex thinking of me
as the trailer trash he found lying in the dirt at a fancy party. “We’re doing
just fine, thank you.”

“Well I’m glad to hear it. Paige was so
excited to get you up here this weekend. She thought she could win you over to
life in the big city, but I told her to just let you be. I mean, can you
imagine, Charlotte, you out of Harlow County? That’d be like putting a fur coat
on an armadillo.”

The
hell you say?
I stare
Cadence down and place a hand on my hip. That’s Southern for, ‘
Come and get it, bitch.’

Cadence laughs uncomfortably and turns
her attention to Alex. “And you, mister, I’ve been around and around trying to
find where you went to hide. Alex is notoriously surly at parties, Charlotte.
He’s practically famous for sneaking off early.”

Alex shoves both hands in his pockets.
“I’m not much of a party animal, I guess.”

The tension hovering over the three of us
is so uncomfortable, even the crickets have stopped chirping. I risk a look in
Alex’s direction. He’s turned away from us but I can see the outline of his
frown. What in the name of George Dubya is going on between him, and the hoofed
waif at my side?

Cadence’s prep-school manners come to the
rescue. “Goodness gracious, it’s like an oven out here. Charlotte, we better
get you inside before all that makeup just slides right off your face.”

Oh
no she did not.
I open my
mouth to lay a few choice words on her, but Alex speaks first. “It was a
pleasure meeting you, Charlie. Enjoy the party.” His smile doesn’t reach his
eyes and his hands stay firmly in his pockets, as though he doesn’t want to be
witnessed touching me. “Give my best to your sister.”

“Silly,” Cadence coos, “you can tell her
yourself. I promised Jackson James I’d introduce the two of you. He’s looking
for someone to negotiate a new lease on some land out near Fort Smith. It’s
quite a big deal, from what I gather.”

Alex gives a tight nod to Cadence. I
swallow my disappointment and allow her to usher me toward the bistro table.
What happened to the charming guy who saved me from the bushes and took off my
shoes so we could dance?

 
“Grab your shoes, Charlotte, this isn’t a
hoedown for Heaven’s sake. ” She waits as I gather my sister’s discarded heels.
“And don’t stay out here too long, young man,” she calls to Alex, marching me
toward the hotel. “The birthday girl’s about to make her wish!”

I catch a glimpse of Alex for a split
second as we pass him by. He looks strained, like he wants to say something,
but can’t. Disappointment covers my arms in goose bumps. Cadence doesn’t seem
to notice.