Slow Hands (8 page)

He chuckled. If he’d wanted money, he would have gone on to medical school, as he’d considered doing after college. Para-medics weren’t exactly rolling in the green stuff. “My job’s not what you’d consider—”

She put her hand up, palm out. “I don’t want to hear the gory details about your
job
. We’re keeping this entirely impersonal, aren’t we?”

Touchy, touchy. But he let her get away with it. Aside from the fact that some people truly were squeamish about medical stuff—which
could
be gory—Maddy had put that wall back up in place around herself. He had to slowly ease his way over it as he had the other day when they’d gone for their picnic lunch. With small, easy steps.

Seeing a tiny price tag still hanging from the side of her brightly colored ball cap, he reached up and tugged it free. “Went shopping, huh?”

She snagged the corner of that full bottom lip between her teeth. “It’s my first professional game,” she whispered. “I wanted to look the part.”

“Your first ball game? Are you kidding?” Suddenly realizing something, he murmured, “I’m sorry, if you’re really not interested, we could do something else.”

“No way! I love baseball. But I never got the chance to go see a game in person.”

“I’m surprised your bank doesn’t have a box.”

“We do. But that’s so…removed from everything. I can just as easily sit in my living room and watch it on TV. If I’m going in person, I want to sit in the stands, and eat peanuts and drink beer, glare at drunks spitting in the next row and yell at the ump when he makes a bad call.”

Yep. Pretty typical ball game, in Jake’s experience. “Well, then, I think you bid on the right man.”

She shifted her eyes away, mumbling something.

“What?”

“Nothing.” Then she glanced at his pickup. “Do you want to take my car? You can drive.”

“Sorry. I don’t drive chick cars.” He headed for the passenger seat instead. “But I guess it won’t kill my reputation to be seen riding in one.”

She rolled her eyes. “I’ll warn you to keep your head down when we’re coming up to any crowded intersection. We wouldn’t want to damage your…reputation.”

She got in beside him, and in the close confines of the tiny car, he suddenly noticed the sweet, light fragrance of her skin. The fruity scent of her hair. And the earthier scent of pure, unadulterated woman.

He was, quite simply, unable to resist her any longer.

“Maddy?”

She had reached for the ignition, but paused, turning to give him her full attention. “Yes?”

“I know this isn’t exactly protocol for a first date. But I can’t help it.”

“Help what?”

“Help this,” he whispered. And without another word, he leaned over, caressed her smooth cheek with the tips of his fingers, and covered her beautiful, soft lips with his own.

She tensed for the slightest moment, then, with a little sigh of acceptance, relaxed. The tension left her jaw, the stiffness departed from her mouth, and she parted her lips slightly, to share a warm breath with him.

Jake inhaled it, tasting her, letting himself be filled by her essence. The kiss remained light, sweet, innocent. They were joined only by the softest brush of lips and scrape of his fingers on her cheek. And he knew that despite how desperately he wanted to sink his tongue into her for a fuller taste, he couldn’t deny himself the sweetness of this simple, innocent pleasure.

Finally, when he no longer trusted himself to keep it simple and innocent, he slowly pulled away. “I’m sorry.”

“Sorry you kissed me?” she whispered, blinking a few times as if she’d just awakened from a dream.

He shook his head. “Sorry I had to stop.”

“Oh.”

He shifted in his seat, trying to stretch his long legs in the cramped front seat, wondering if she’d noticed how much
tighter
the fit was now that he’d let himself give in to the need to taste her. Especially the fit of his jeans.

“That was
supposed
to be a friendly kiss hello.”

“Aren’t those usually on the cheek?”

“I think they’re usually in the air an inch from the cheek in your social set, aren’t they?”

She nodded, her choppy, audible breaths finally slowing as she, too, returned to normal. “Yes.” Then, not meeting his eye, she added, “But I think I like your way better.”

T
HE AFTERNOON
was everything Maddy had dreamed it would be. Her twenty-five thousand dollars had bought her nosebleed seats at a game the Cubs were about to lose. But it didn’t matter. She was so excited to be in the crowd, experiencing live Major League Baseball the way she’d always imagined it would be, that she simply didn’t care.

Jake treated her like the girl-next-door she’d proclaimed herself to be. And he—despite his supposedly international upbringing, which she’d seen absolutely
no
evidence of since they’d met—was playing the role of all-American boy as if he’d invented it. It was hard to believe he was anything other than a normal, hardworking guy from any small town, rather than a paid escort competed over by rich women.

Maybe Tabby made a mistake
.

No. It wasn’t a mistake. She’d told Maddy the exact number, and their stepmother and her cronies had bid like wild women on Bachelor Number Nineteen. Plus, from what Maddy remembered about his bio in the program, it had said he liked to travel the world in search of beautiful women and sexy adventures.

Not quite like the guy cheering on the home team beside her. So he obviously wore a different persona depending on the situation. She honestly didn’t know, however, which was the real man.

“Want some peanuts?” he asked, already flagging down a vendor.

“I think that was on my list of requirements for today,” she admitted.

Jake grinned, put an icy-cold beer in her hand, and glared down anyone around them who got too close with their wildly gesticulating arms and elbows.

He also kept up a running commentary on the game, explaining all the plays. She let him. It seemed such an innate man thing—the need to explain sports to the little woman—that she didn’t have the heart to tell him she’d been a star of her college fast-pitch softball team. She’d even thought about going further with it and shooting for the national team.

Maddy might be soft from several years working in the bank, but she’d once been pretty damned athletic. She’d even considered breast reduction surgery. Sport bras did not do much to help a woman with a D cup. Her teammates used to joke that one day, if she bounced too much as she ran, she’d knock herself out.

Maddy had given up her Olympic hopes when her father had gone through his last divorce, from his third wife. Maddy had been so worried about him, she’d decided to go home after graduation, rather than pursue that dream.

Which meant her breasts were safe. And prominent enough to draw the gawking attention of a few guys around her. She’d heard the comments from a creep sitting behind her for the last half hour, but was quite adept at ignoring them. She’d had lots of practice.

Jake, however, had not.

After the slurred voice behind her got loud enough for Jake to hear it over the crowd, he leaped to his feet, turned around and thrust an angry finger into the drunk man’s face. “Didn’t your mother ever teach you to keep your eyes to your own damn self and your fat mouth closed?” he snapped.

The foulmouthed fan, a heavyset, sweaty guy with red cheeks and beer-scented breath, rose, too, swaying on his feet. “Hey man, she’s hot.”

“She’s also not deaf,” Maddy murmured, turning in her seat to watch. She’d be damned if she would rise to her feet to prevent the jackass from leering down her shirt some more. It wasn’t low-cut. And she didn’t have a single thing to be ashamed of.

“You’re hot,” the guy repeated as he gaped from above.

“So you said.”

Despite the crudeness she’d heard from the stranger before Jake had caught on and launched at him, she remained more annoyed than offended. Leave it to a breast-obsessed little boy wearing men’s triple-X sized clothing to ruin her lovely afternoon.

It wasn’t as though she’d never experienced it before. A woman with her build had to either get used to men treating her like a walking pair of breasts or spend her entire life in a constant state of annoyance.

He gave Maddy a bleary smile, still oblivious to the depth of Jake’s anger. “Bet if you flash ’em, the camera’ll focus in on ya and put ya up on the big screen.”

“Oh, and I live for just such a moment.”

“You must not like your teeth very much, buddy,” Jake snapped. “Keep talking and you’re going to be saying goodbye to quite a few of them.”

Maddy had become adept at retaliating against offensive men, even if, quite often, her put-downs went right over their imbecilic heads. “Please, Jake, let it go,” she added. “I’m quite sure that in the world of this gentleman’s favorite show,
The Girls Next Door
, he’s behaving with absolutely perfect gentility.”

“Hey! That
is
my favorite show!”

Uh-huh. Right over his poor wee imbecilic head.

She almost laughed—until she realized Jake was not merely angry, he was downright furious. Rage flashed behind his eyes and his tightly clenched body seemed ready to lash out. He appeared capable of real violence, all because some stupid drunk had opened his mouth.

The stupid drunk was apparently too far gone to realize he was about two inches from death-by-enraged-gigolo. “They’re real, ain’t they?”

“Sit down,” Maddy snapped, finally starting to lose her patience. She grabbed Jake’s arm, stopping him midgrowl as he began to climb over the back of his seat. “You, too. Before you get us all thrown out.”

“Maddy…”

She kept her hand on his arm, her nails digging in tight, determined to handle this situation herself. Without violence. Though, she had to admit, a teeny, tiny part of her liked how protective Jake was, even if she usually had absolutely no use for such blatant displays of testosterone.

“You. Sit. I mean it,” she ordered the intoxicated stranger, pointing to his seat.

The man sat.

“Now, I’m quite certain that somewhere in your beer-sodden brain, you believe I’m flattered by your eloquently worded…
compliments
.” Maddy didn’t have to raise her voice to make sure she was being heard. All around them, conversations had quieted, and she didn’t think a single spectator in their section was watching what was going on down in the field. The showdown here was apparently much more interesting.

“However, while I’m sure you are a man who possesses many admirable porcine qualities, as you can see, I
am
here in the company of another gentleman. And neither of us appreciates your attentions. Will you please, therefore, refrain from commenting further and allow us to get back to the game?”

The man’s mouth fell open. “What’d she say?”

The embarrassed-looking man next to him—his friend who’d made no effort to provide backup to the drunk—muttered, “I’m pretty sure she told you to shut the hell up.”

“Yeah,” someone else said. “So please do us all a favor and do it!”

“Oh,” the drunk said, finally glancing around and realizing what a spectacle he’d made of himself. If Maddy had railed at him, he probably wouldn’t have backed down. As it was, though, her calm, courteous reply made him look an absolute fool. And he wasn’t too drunk to realize it.

“Sorry,” he mumbled.

“Thank you.” Maddy smiled and nodded politely, then turned back around to face the field, putting a definite end to the interaction. It was the top of the ninth and things were getting interesting. She wasn’t going to waste another moment of the beautiful day on a blithering fool.

She didn’t even glance over as Jake slowly dropped back into his seat beside her. “I can take care of myself, you know,” she murmured, watching the field.

“Yeah, I noticed.” Jake leaned closer, near enough for her to feel the warmth of his breath on her hair. Not to mention the way his shoulders shook with laughter. His anger had disappeared as quickly as steam off a bathroom mirror. “Correct me if I’m wrong…did you just call him a pig?”

“I’m certain I don’t know what you mean.”

“Uh-huh. Sure you don’t.”

Still chuckling, Jake casually dropped his big, solid hand onto her thigh, above her knee, and squeezed it. Not exactly the most erogenous zone on her body, but still, every molecule inside her leaped to attention. Her blood roared in her veins at the feel of that strong, warm touch, and she was completely incapable of stopping the visual images that flooded her mind.

Maddy’s skin tingled beneath the soft fabric of her capris at the thought of him sliding that touch higher, caressing her all the way up her thigh as he kissed her again, just as he had in the car. Slow, sweet…then deeper, harder. Wetter and faster.

She wanted him to kiss her in every way a man could kiss a woman. And in every place on her body.

God, she was a wreck. Yet he seemed completely unaffected, still smiling that easygoing smile. “Remind me never to get on your bad side. I’m slightly more literate than our friend back there. And I do believe that tongue of yours could draw blood if the person actually understood what the hell you were saying.”