Sweet Southern Betrayal (10 page)

…

“Your wife just sold my mother a vibrator and a set of sensual massage oils,” Lucky said as he plopped down into the booth and slid a beer across the table to the three men seated there.

Teague, Jack, and Beck all turned to where Risa stood by a group of women, discussing the different products she offered as she navigated around Mrs. Hilton’s iPad. She was radiant, glowing with her excitement about talking shop, and the women were all giggling and drinking more of the champagne. His prediction was that there would be lots of happy husbands in Elliott soon and a few hurting heads tomorrow morning.

“So, tell me how this happened,” Jack asked.

In a total stall move, Teague lifted his beer to his lips and took a huge drink before placing it on the table. He looked around the booth—their booth—and faced the “you’ve got to be kidding me” expressions on Beck’s, Lucky’s, and Jack’s faces.

“I have no fucking idea. I got drunk and got married.” He looked at Lucky, who broke into laughter, which shook the table and rattled their beer bottles. Teague kicked Lucky under the table. “Could you please not be an ass here? I’m in deep shit.”

“Hey, genius, we figured that out already. The whole town figured it out.” Beck snorted, his eyes rolling over the rim of his beer bottle as he took a sip of the foamy brew. “They’re just playing along to help your mom out. She’s had a rough year.”

“Yep. My mom came right out and asked your mother about it and that’s when they cooked up the idea for this party,” Lucky said. “My mom, Aunt Dolly, and your mom have gotten pretty tight. There was no way they were going to let this pass without making sure everybody thought you and Risa were legit.”

“For the next eighteen days we will be,” Teague said, knowing he was going to explain it all. These guys were his best friends. “In eighteen days our annulment will be final and my buddy in Vegas will wipe it from the records.”

Silence descended on the group.

Jack was the first to speak. “Not Big Tony? You didn’t ask him, did you?”

“Hell no.” Teague sent up a prayer of thanks that he didn’t have to ask that guy to help him out. “I called in a huge favor with a guy in the local court system.” He paused, finally voicing what had been hovering in the back of his mind since Risa had shown up on his doorstep. “I’m not entirely sure that Tony didn’t have something to do with it.”

“With the marriage?” Lucky asked.

“With the marriage, Risa, everything.”

“Shit,” Jack said.

Teague took another long swallow from his beer, thinking over the extent of his problem. “You
know
what I want to do with my career. I can’t have this kind of thing in my past.”

“Marrying a chorus girl,” Beck said.

“Who sells sex toys,” Lucky added.

“Getting drunk off my ass and marrying a girl I didn’t know,” Teague said, trying hard to keep the frustration out of his voice. They made it sound like he just wanted to get rid of her because of what she did, when that was small potatoes when you looked at the bigger picture. Risa really wasn’t the problem. “No one is going to back a guy, forget vote for him, who did something like that.”

“But she seems really cool,” Beck said. “And she’s smokin’.
Please
tell me you’re tappin’ that.”

Teague ignored the last question. “No argument there, but that’s no reason to stay married to a woman I don’t know.”

“So why don’t you get to know her?” Jack asked and Teague groaned. Lucky was the joker and Beck was crazy, but Jack was the quiet, thoughtful one of the group and he rarely barged into your life and gave advice unless he thought it was important. This was clearly one of those times. “You don’t do stuff like this. So I’m thinking that if you did then there’s something about Risa that made it happen. She got you to a place where ‘the plan’ wasn’t controlling you.”

“That was the Jose Cuervo,” he said, hating where this talk was going. “Or it might have been Big Tony. I’m not ruling him out. I turned down his job offer so maybe he’s pissed and is sending me a message. I just don’t know.”

“Maybe it was the woman you haven’t been able to stop looking at all night,” Jack said.

Teague took another swig from his bottle. “Thinking a woman is hot or admiring her sense of humor and business skill is not a love connection. So can we stop with the Dr. Phil moments? I need your help.”

That got their attention.

“What do you need?” Jack leaned forward, ready to leap the minute he knew how high.

“I need you to run a background check on Risa.”

“What? No way.”

“Hear me out. There’s something going on with her that she won’t tell me about. She owes money to someone and she works for Big Tony. I think she might be in over her head.”

“Do you think she was part of whatever Big Tony might have done to you?” Jack asked, his face like stone with his disapproval at Teague’s request.

Teague paused at the question, not sure of his answer but going with his gut. “I don’t think so.”

“You just going with your gut on this one?” Lucky asked.

Teague nodded.

“He’s sleeping with her,” Beck stated.

“I’m
not
sleeping with her.”

“But you
want
to.”

“Yes.” Teague considered lying but it was pointless since they’d all know it wasn’t true. “But that isn’t why I can’t believe she’d be a part of something. There’s just something about her… I can’t explain it.”

“So your gut isn’t currently clouded by what’s going on between the sheets? Thank God for that.” Jack groaned, rubbing his face with his hand.

“I need to be sure. So run the check for me?”

“Fine,” Jack said.

Teague was stalled from continuing the conversation by a call from the other side of the diner. Turning, he saw his mother and Sissy Landon waving him over.

“They want you to go cut the cake.” Beck slid out of the booth to allow him to exit. “Don’t smash it in her face. That will get you no newlywed nooky later.”

Ignoring whatever comments Jack and Lucky felt they needed to add, he wove his way through the tables until he reached Risa and the cake. She was smiling at him, her eyes telling him that she had enjoyed hanging out with the ladies.

“Having fun?” he asked.

“Yes. I am.” Her lips pursed together in the cutest bow as she tried to hold back the giggle that eventually escaped. “This has been the craziest wedding reception I’ve ever attended.”

Teague slid his hand to her hip, squeezing lightly there and drawing her a little closer. Guilt washed over him when he thought of what he’d just asked Jack to do. But as sweet as she was, he didn’t know her and he needed to protect his future. His gut told him that someone who’d fly across the country to tell you this news in person and then stick around to help you out with your family wouldn’t be in bed with Big Tony. But he’d been fooled before and he couldn’t afford not to know the truth.

They might be acting a part, but they couldn’t fake this attraction. This was real. This was something that alcohol or even Big Tony couldn’t maneuver. Yes, he might have a million questions when it came to Risa Clay, but none of them were about how she made him feel.

The forgotten crowd in the diner began to call out.

“Give him a real kiss, Risa!”

Laughing, she leaned up and kissed him lightly on the cheek.

“Is that how newlyweds kiss?”

“Teague, you can do better than that!”

“Kiss him!”

Teague glanced over her shoulder, noting the smiles of his family and friends, and finally back to Risa.

What the hell
. A smirk pulled at the edge of his lips. “The audience wants an encore.”

Risa lifted her face, slowly closing the distance between their mouths. She licked her lips as her eyes flickered down and he involuntarily swept his tongue across his lip in invitation. The first press of their mouths together was electric. He couldn’t help himself; he lightly nipped her bottom lip and instantly the kiss turned hotter, wetter. Teague groaned and reached out to grasp her hips, his fingers lightly digging into her flesh, tugging her closer. His mouth slanted over hers and his tongue stroked past her lips, only delving in enough to whet his appetite for more. Risa’s fingers clutched the fabric of his shirt, dragging him closer as their kiss lingered.

The sound of whooping and clapping startled him. Risa stepped far enough away from him to end the kiss. Her chest was heaving and her lips were swollen—she was fucking gorgeous. Teague was panting slightly, giving her some space, but he couldn’t let go of her.

Fully aware of their audience, Risa tried to pull back farther but Teague shook his head, holding her tight. He swallowed hard and gave a shaky smile. “We need to call the major news networks.”

“Why?”

“I think we should let them know the world is going to end.”

She looked confused for a moment but then her cheeks flushed pink and she bit her bottom lip to try and hold back her laugh. “Oh really? We’re really going to have apocalypse sex?”

“Oh yes. We really are.” He was either going to have to have her in his bed tonight or he’d have to spend half the night running off this arousal until he collapsed in exhaustion.

“You’re crazy.”

“I wouldn’t make any snap judgments.”

She sighed, the sound somewhere between frustration and anticipation, and it made his groin ache. “This is the worst idea ever.”

“Definitely.”

“I’m still leaving tomorrow.”

“Yes, Risa, you’re leaving tomorrow and our little world ends. So, the question is, how do you want to spend your last night?”

She only paused for a second before whispering, “With you.”

“Then let’s go.”

Chapter Nine

They were going to have apocalypse sex.

Risa walked along the empty and hushed sidewalk of Main Street, the sounds of the party still going on at the diner behind her. Teague was beside her, his large palm heavy and warm against the small of her back as they approached the doorway that led to the apartment. They’d said their good-byes, ignoring the mild jokes and innuendo about why they were leaving early.

She shouldn’t want this. Correction: she shouldn’t be allowed to have this. One night with him had been selfish—two was insanity. But she wanted it. With every cell in her body she craved just one more night of him and she was going to take it. God forgive her.

“What are you thinking?” Teague’s voice was deeper, richer in the semidarkness as he unlocked the door.

“Oh God.” She couldn’t slow her scattered thoughts down enough to latch onto just one. “I can’t think.”

“Then I think we just need to find something for you to focus on.”

Without any warning, Risa was tugged against him and guided into a darkened enclave of the apartment entryway. She stumbled, but Teague had a tight grip on her and guided her until her back was cool where it was pressed against the brick wall.

He kissed her. Her mouth opened on a moan the moment his lips touched hers and she would have been embarrassed if it wasn’t exactly what she wanted. She curled her fingers around his biceps, pulling him closer as he invaded her with his tongue.

“Is that better?” He placed kisses along the skin of her cheek as he wedged a leg between her thighs until she was riding his strong muscle in time with the heavy beat of her heart.

“What?”

“Can you focus now?” he asked again, punctuating his question with a sharp nip of teeth on her earlobe.

“Umm…what?” She’d heard him fine the first time, but she couldn’t resist teasing him back.

“Oh, being a smart-ass, huh?” Teague lifted his head and caught her eyes in the shadows, staring her down as he trailed a hand along the strap of her dress, hooked his fingers along the edge, and tugged it down. Risa sucked in a breath when the cool air caressed her nipple.

He lowered his head and swirled his tongue around her hard peak. It was the single best thing she’d ever felt and she never wanted him to stop—until he took the entire nipple into his mouth. The tugging, the sucking, the heat made her ache between her legs.

Risa lifted her hands and dug them into his hair, twisting the short silky strands to gain purchase and direct him where she wanted, but he wasn’t cooperating. He sucked when she wanted him to lick. He licked when she wanted him to nip with teeth.

Teague shifted his leg between her thighs and she realized that she was humping against him with every beat of her pulse…so close.

“Please,” she begged, not caring if it made her look weak. She was a big bundle of want and she had to find release soon or she just might lose her mind.

“Shh.” He lifted his head for a moment and she panicked at the loss of sensation. “The door isn’t soundproof, and I don’t want anyone to interrupt our fun.”

She nodded, moaning as he took her nipple again, stifling the sound in her throat to the point of pain. Agonizing silence was a small price to pay for this pleasure even though she loved getting vocal during lovemaking. She wanted the whole experience—scent, touch, sight, and sound.