The Trouble With Scarecrows (The Trouble With Men Book 2) (6 page)

Chapter 10

Neal groaned. Why the hell had he spilled his guts to Brenda Fisher? He’d never spoken a word of what had happened to anyone. Not to Larry and not even to Rocky. He wasn’t sorry for expressing his feelings to Alexandria, but he had planned to take the secret to his grave. If Alexandria fessed up to Jay, he would suffer the consequences then but not before.

But he had left one part out: the reason Alexandria had chosen Jay. She said Jay could give her what she wanted. Jay was more mature, stable. In other words, he had more money. Neal couldn’t compete with that. Not if that was Alexandria’s priority. That had been the moment a little of his obsession had melted. Still, he’d waited for her to realize that material things weren’t as important as love, but it never happened. And that was why he could say he was over Alexandria.

Still, why had he blurted everything out like that? What the hell?

Neal washed his hands and then exited the men’s room to see a guy talking to Brenda. From a distance, she actually did look approachable. She had at youthful glow, but at the same time, she was classy. A guy could easily think she was versatile, like seeing the pretty, girl-next-door, who usually went all-natural, dressed up for the school dance.

As Neal neared, he laughed. Was this guy in for a rude awakening! This crow would be a breeze to scare away.

“Hey pal,” he said and stood at least a foot taller. “She’s with me. Get lost.”

“Oh okay,” he said and practically ran.

“Wait . . .” Brenda called after the guy, but he didn’t turn around. “What the hell, Neal?”

“Huh?”

“Did I give you the signal?” she asked.

“No, but . . .”

“Did you hear me say, ‘red flag?’ An interesting man finally approached me, and you scared him away.”

“Wait a minute. That guy? That guy who was just standing here? That little goofy guy?”

“He wasn’t goofy! He was sweet.”

“That’s the kind of guy that you go for? He’s not right for you. You’d eat him alive.”

“What’s it to you what kind of guy I go for? Didn’t we already establish that you are not my matchmaker?”

“What would y’all do if you took him home? Play video games? How old is he? I bet he has a curfew.”

“Not that it is any of your business, but for one, he’s old enough, he’s a doctor, and two, I’m not whoring around. I’m actually trying to find someone to have a real relationship with. Besides,” she mumbled, “I’ve got to lose a few pounds before I sleep with anyone.”

“Seriously?”

“What?”

“You don’t really think you need to lose weight, do you?”

“I’ve gained, like, ten pounds in the last three months. You saw.”

“I did. You’re right, I did see. I saw a smokin’ hot sexy body.”

“You’re just saying that. You’re all perfect. I bet you go to the gym five times a day where all those skinny young girls are with their perfect bodies.”

“Your body is perfect.”

She picked up her glass and swished the wine around. “You’re just saying that so I won’t throw you out of the house.”

“No, I’m not. I don’t
just say
things I don’t mean.”

She looked up at him, her wine still moving in the still glass, her expression questioning.

Then the image of her standing beside his shower popped into his head. And the feel of her body under his as they lay wet inside her bathtub stirred the daydream he had earlier.

Neal came back to reality after Brenda turned away, taking a sip of her drink. Neal wondered if he’d been drooling. He ordered a water, and they sat in silence for a few minutes, the bar even more of a downer than earlier. After a little while, they were the only customers left in the bar.

Neal asked, “Do you want to call it a night?”

Brenda swiveled her chair back around to face him. “Might as well.” She shrugged and smiled.

Neal nodded to the bartender and then said to Brenda, “Let me take you home.” He knew how it sounded the minute he’d said it, and he waited for her to slap him with her words.

Before she’d said anything the bartender set the bill on the bar. Neal grabbed it.

“I’m paying,” Brenda said, trying to get it away from Neal. “You’re my scarecrow. I said I would pay, and I will. A deal’s a deal.”

“I got it,” he said, handing the bartender his debit card.

“Why? Because you’re the man?”

Brenda dug into her purse. “I don’t see why men think that they have to pay in order to be a man. I make good money. I can pay for myself. Why did you have to go and be so nice to me anyway? Ah-ha!” She pulled out her keys and stumbled down from the high stool.

As she shifted, her skirt slid way up her legs, and she tugged it down, but not before it caused all kinds of naughty thoughts to enter Neal’s head.

He shook it off then held his hand out for the keys.

Brenda placed the keys in his hand and rolled her eyes. “Fine. You can drive my car. I saw what you drive. I think we’ll risk letting it get stolen.” She laughed. “Like that’s going to happen.”

As soon as they were belted in and on the road, Brenda started talking as she slipped out of her shoes. “Did you know that Haley was my assistant?”

“Really?”

“Women like her don’t have to be ambitious. They get to walk through life without trying. They are born with looks and personality. They don’t have to try to be nice. They are born with sugar for blood. Sweet, sweet, sweet. I mean, Haley waltzed in and stole the man I’ve loved since college without even breaking a sweat. Me, I have to work at this.” She swooped her hands down her body. “Not that I’ve done a very good job lately. But I wasn’t born with any of this. I was chubby as a kid, my dad called it big-boned, and guess what? I’m not a natural blonde. Well, I was when I was a kid. So I kind of am.” She leaned her head back on the headrest and faced the window.

After a moment, Neal thought she’d fallen asleep and maybe it was for best. But then Brenda turned to him, without lifting her head off the headrest, and started talking again.

“I’ve known Larry since college. Did you know we were engaged? Hey, why didn’t we meet then? You went to A&M too, right?”

“Only for a little while. I left before you met Larry. He told me all about you, though.”

“Did he? Did he tell you he asked me to marry him and then changed his mind? He wasn’t ready. But I was. Don’t tell him I said that. I didn’t want him to think I was clingy, so I said I wasn’t ready either. I have my pride, you know.

“Then he started dating other girls, and it about killed me. I wasn’t going to let him see that it upset me. And then he saw how needy that first girl was, and so he broke up with her and came back to me.

“I didn’t want to lose him, so I pretended that casual was okay with me. That’s what I did. He dated other women, but he always showed back up at my door. And this last time, he stayed at my apartment with me. We went out together as a couple. We made love. I thought . . . I thought he didn’t want to go back home because he didn’t want to leave me. I thought it was our time. I thought he had finally had enough of being single and had gotten all the running around out of his system. I thought he was in love and ready to finally settle down.” She laughed wearily.

“All that stuff was true,” she continued. “All true, except it wasn’t with me. It was Haley. How could he do that to me?”

“I’m sorry,” Neal said. “He’s a blind jerk.”

From the corner of his eye, Neal saw her stare, but he kept his attention on the road.

Brenda sighed and looked out the window again. “Maybe,” she said. “But maybe I was delusional. And oh shit, stupid and naïve. I can’t believe I’m using that word to describe myself. But
there it is.”

“You’re none of those things. You can’t control other people’s actions.”

“I should be able to control my own. I did some pretty nasty things in order to keep him. At least, to keep what we had. I would’ve settled with how the relationship was, forever. But they drove me to it. I was desperate, weak.”

“You deserve better. You deserve a lot better than being someone’s on-the-side.”

They pulled up at the multiplex and parked. When they got out, he wrapped his arm around her without thinking about it, then froze, waiting for her to say she didn’t need him to help her. She didn’t say anything. Instead, she actually leaned in.

She felt nice in his arms, like she fit perfectly, and he walked her inside and to her apartment. She opened her door.

“Well, good night,” he said, and he turned to walk away.

“Hey, Neal,” she whispered.

His feet stopped; his heart sped up.

“Would you like to come inside for a drink?”

He swallowed as he turned around. “Are you sure a drink is what you want right now?”

She played with her lower lip and let her fingers slid down her neck to her throat. “I’m awfully thirsty.”

So was he, but still, he had to make sure. “You’ve already had a lot of wine.”

“I promise, I know how much I can handle.”

Neal took the step toward her, no longer able to hold back the craving that had built up inside him. And Brenda’s quiver on impact let him know she had the same repressed desires. The softness of her lips and the taste of her tongue and the feel of her body crushed against his was everything he’d imagined, only he had no idea how much more he would want her after he knew she wanted him too.

Something nagged at him though as he backed Brenda inside the apartment. But letting reason emerge was too much to ask of his brain at the moment because he’d already made his decision the second he’d taken that step toward her. And now he kicked the door shut behind them without letting go of her, backing her up until they ran into the couch.

Without parting lips for more than seconds at a time, they removed each other’s clothing until the heat of their bodies meshed. But then, as much as he wanted her right that second, he wanted to enjoy every inch of her. He scooped her up into his arms and carried her to the bedroom.

Chapter 11

Brenda yawned and stretched her arms above her head, causing the sheet to slide down to her waist, exposing her bare chest. “Oh!” She usually didn’t sleep in the nude, preferring a silky nighty against her skin. When she heard Neal stir beside her, the memory of the night before flooded her mind. She squeezed her eyes together as regret made the pleasure of the evening seem insignificant.

She put her hand over her mouth. Before he’d only seen her naked for a second, but last night he’d explored. She hadn’t been ready for any man to see her, especially one as perfect as Neal. But he hadn’t seemed to mind, quite the contrary. Before she let herself think any further about it, she remembered something else and let out a small moan. Why had she said all those things last night? Did she really tell him she had been a fat kid? She hadn’t had that much to drink! And, even worse, she’d told him all about Larry.

“Shit,” she said under her breath. Neal had felt sorry for her. It had been pity sex. She jumped out of bed, taking the bedding with her.

“Hey,” he said, his back to her, attempting to grab the sheet as it slid off of him. He lay there completely naked. She eyed him swiftly from his shaved head on the pillow to his cute butt, which appeared small and pale compared to the rest of his very masculine tanned body. He turned over to face her, and she couldn’t stop the sigh that escape her lips from the full sight of him.

And then he smiled up at her. “Good morning.”

“Get out.”

His smile went limp and she wasn’t going to check to see if anything else did. She turned to her suitcase on the floor and pulled out random clothes.

“What?”

“You heard me.” She went to the bathroom and shut and locked the door.

She stared at herself in the mirror. She was a mess. Her makeup was all smeared and her pores were uncovered. Stepping back, she opened the blanket and examined her body but then jumped and covered herself back up when she heard Neal pounding on the door. “Out, Neal! I’m not going to discuss this.”

“I gotta pee, then you can throw me out.”

“Go to your own apartment and pee.” She grabbed her brush and yanked it through her hair.

“Seriously? I don’t know what your trip is this morning, but I’m not leaving until you let me take a piss. I swear I can’t hold it much longer.”

“Uhh!” She wiped under her eyes with a washcloth before opening the door.

Neal actually did seem like he was about to bust as he squirmed.

“You’re such a child.”

He stuck his tongue out at her.

She moved out of his way, still holding all the clothes and the sheet in her hands as she maneuvered back to her room.

The bathroom door slammed.

What the hell had she done? This was so unlike her. She hadn’t intended on sleeping with Neal. This had not been planned! She had not thought it through. She had not thought of the morning after or anything. This was bad. This was horrific. This was going to change everything.

As she put her clothes on, she tried with all her might to stay mad at herself. The night before, however, kept seeping into her thoughts. She exhaled as she sat on the bed, the memory of him gently laying her down on the bed sent tingles up her spine. He’d been so different than any lover she’d ever been with. He’d been so powerful and masculine, yet gentle. Even the feel of his hands against her skin had been this new fascinating sensation. She was used to smooth on smooth. Neal had a working man’s hands. They were the hands of a real man: textured, roughed . . . skilled.

Neal stormed out of the bathroom. He stood there, his face and entire head all mad-red, as if he wasn’t completely naked. “What the fuck? Is there something you’re not telling me? You have a split personality or something?”

She cleared her throat, and her mind of her silly thoughts. “Yeah,” she said but couldn’t look him in the eyes. “And they both don’t like men who seduce vulnerable women.”

“Vulnerable, my ass. You begged for it.” He put his hands on his face and dramatically rubbed them down his face, distorting his voice while saying,
“I’m soooo thirsty. And you’re a cold drink of water. I want to drink you up.”

She looked at him now. “You are such an exaggerator. What happened was, you told me, when I was inebriated, that I had a perfect body and said my ex—who dumped me—was a jerk. You did that on purpose.”

“What? What is that supposed to mean? I did that on purpose? I said those things because . . .” He glanced to the side, his tongue scraping the inside of his mouth.

She knew it. “You felt sorry for me. You were going to say you felt sorry for me. Weren’t you? Well, guess what? I don’t need or want your pity. I don’t need anyone’s pity!”

“I wasn’t going to say that. I was going to say—”

“Shh.” She put out a ‘be quiet’ finger. “I don’t care what you were going to say. I had too much to drink, you took advantage of the situation, and this was all a colossal mistake.”

“You’re delusional. I did not . . . Never mind! Forget it! It’s clear you regret last night and you know what? So. Do. I.” He left the room.

A second later, Brenda jumped when she heard the front door slam.

She plopped down on the bed. “That’s right. I regret it.” Brenda fell back and closed her eyes. The image of Neal bending over her made her want to melt into the bed. She licked her lips at the memory of his kiss, deep, wanting, all consuming. Last night, she’d felt the heat from his body before it had touched hers, making her crave that contact more than anything. There was nothing in this world that would have stopped her last night.

She wished she had ‘being drunk’ as an excuse, but she would have never put herself into such a helpless state. Then what the hell had it been? She’d never let lust rule her either, but that had to be it because what else could it be? The break-up with Larry had crushed her. She’d felt so alone for such a long time, and Neal had been so understanding, and shit if he wasn’t hot. Smoldering, even. The way he had stared at her at the bar, like she was the sexiest woman on earth . . .
that’s
how he made her feel. He
had
wanted her, right? Because last night she’d felt it with everything she had. Yes, Neal had seduced her, but she had allowed herself to be seduced. “Nope.” She sighed. “I don’t regret it one bit.” But the last thing she wanted or could even handle right then was a shallow physical relationship. She needed more, and she didn’t think Neal was capable of giving her want she really needed.

So she knew she had to try and put the night behind her and move on. Somehow.