by Nikki Duvall
He gathered several pillows and draped a couple comforters over his wide shoulders on his way to the deck. Halee took a big gulp of margarita, then chased it with another and felt the slow burn of courage rise from her throat to her head. She’d begun the night angry and determined to make J.D. pay for the way he’d treated her, for scorning her love and inviting another woman into his bed. But now he was headed for New York, for a new life that did not include her. She needed this night to set things straight between them. Tonight she would show him the mistake he’d made. Tonight she would imprint Halee McCarthy into his memory for all time.
Arriving at the top of the stairs, she gasped. J.D. had fashioned a plush bed on the deck lit by candles and moonlight. He’d removed his jacket and shirt, and pulled off his boots. The faint light danced off the etched muscles of his bare chest. She took another shot of margarita and inched forward.
“I’m feeling a little guilty.”
“Sam’s a good friend,” said J.D. “Won’t mind a bit.”
“I’m talking about your fiancé.”
“That really hasn’t been finalized.”
“I see,” said Halee, more confused than ever, but somehow pleased. “The contract hasn’t been signed?”
“You might say that.”
“So we’re not hurting anyone.”
“Exactly.” He moved closer, drawing her into his arms. “Music’s still playing,” he whispered against her ear. His hips glanced hers, encouraging her to follow. “Shame to let it go to waste.”
“The man can dance,” she giggled. “He’s a sharp dresser, and he has classy friends.”
“You’re surprised.”
“Mmm.”
“I like surprising you.” He picked up the pace, shifting into a salsa rhythm, leaning his forehead against hers and locking eyes as their hips rocked to the beat. She met him every step of the way, laughing when he broke away to spin her and then pulled her back against his broad chest. “Stay with me,” he said in a low, sexy voice, leading her to the edge of the bed he had prepared. “Stay the night.”
She knelt down on the soft blankets and extended one hand in invitation. All the demons had fled, replaced by an inebriating rush of freedom and desire. She felt his warm lips on the palm of her hand, and then the heat of his body next to hers as his kisses shifted to her neck, then her shoulders, then her arms, trailing her dress as it fell from her body. The cool night air kissed her naked skin, drowning her in rich sensation as his hands moved over every inch of her flesh, exploring all he’d tried to forget but never could. He tasted like rain, smelled like cut pine and grass under a summer sun. His overworked muscles strained under smooth skin. She lingered at the shoulder he’d been protecting all night, her lips softly soothing the pain she knew remained there.
“Halee,” he murmured with appreciation, drinking in the full picture of her naked body under the pale moonlight. He picked up a soft curl, working his fingers along the edges is a quiet reverence, then ran both hands along the length of her hair, caressing her scalp and drawing her upturned mouth toward his. “Beautiful Halee.”
He captured her mouth in a kiss first gentle, then achingly romantic, as if he meant to say what he couldn’t say with words alone. She wanted to reassure him, tell him he was forgiven, but they were beyond words now. Their hearts were speaking a language only they could understand.
He laid her back against the silky makeshift bed and drew her under him, seeking their union. The first tear slipped down her cheek, welling against his strong shoulder. He shouldn’t mean this much to her. He didn’t belong to her. But as he entered her, she rose to that sacred place where none of it mattered. All she wanted was in her arms, for now and for always. Tomorrow would come soon enough. For now, the sheer bliss of J.D. was everything she needed.
“Halee.” Her name danced off his lips like his favorite song. “I just can’t get enough of you, Halee.” He slid deep inside her, pulsing against her tender flesh, hitting all the sweet spots with the skill of an artisan. Making love to J.D. was a total body experience, exciting every major nerve and leaving each one singing in his wake. She suddenly hated his mysterious fiancé and every girl that came before and would come after her.
The first orgasm climbed through her, but she pushed back, flipping J.D. under her and taking charge of the moment. Placing her palms against his chiseled abs, she rose to cowgirl position, riding her bronco with a skill that had him grinning with surprised delight.
“Baby,” he cooed.
“Tequila Halee,” she corrected. “Remember me, J.D. Remember me just like this.” She cupped him, riding his hard body to the rhythm of the calypso beat two slips down, watching the need in his fiery eyes rise until he cried out, his body kicking beneath her like a broken bull. Pulse after pulse of ecstasy twitched through her as he exploded inside her, cutting off her air until at last she released her pleasure in one long sigh of satisfaction.
“I think I’m in love,” sang J.D., pulling her into a bear hug. “Where’d you learn those moves, Girl?”
Halee smiled her best sexy smile. “You inspire me, J.D.”
“Holy cow, Honey!” he panted. “Give me a few minutes and I’ll work up some more inspiration.”
He pulled the comforter around them and tucked the corners up against her naked body. She nestled against his heat and breathed in the delicious clean aroma of their sex. The stars glistened overhead and the moon shyly peeked out from behind a bank of clouds, as if embarrassed by the display of their passion. But she wasn’t. She felt all woman, all powerful seductress. She liked Tequila Halee and from the way J.D. was raining kisses along her shoulders, so did he.
“See that constellation, there?” asked J.D. “The one that looks like a teapot?”
Halee’s eyes followed his pointed finger, squinting to make out anything that looked remotely like a teapot and coming up short.
“Sagittarius,” said J.D. confidently. She nodded, delighted with this new found depth to J.D.’s personality. Maybe baseball and sex weren’t all he thought about, after all.
He turned her chin toward the north. “The line of stars that form a W- that’s Cassiopeia.”
“Cassiopeia,” Halee repeated, nuzzling his neck.
He pulled her closer and dipped his head back to look straight up overhead. She followed suit. “Vega and Deneb,” he said almost reverently, “the brightest stars in the night sky.”
“How do you know all this?” asked Halee.
“You grow up where I did, there ain’t nothin’ much else to do on a summer night ‘cept stare at the sky.” He gave her a quick kiss. “I’m hungry. Wanna watch me cook?”
“I suppose Sam has a fully stocked refrigerator?”
“Gourmet organic.”
“Now I’m hungry.”
“Guess I’ll have to work harder.” J.D. caught her mouth with his, drawing her lower lip gently between his teeth. She sighed audibly.
“Another satisfied customer.” He jumped up and grabbed his shorts, sliding them over his lean long legs and fastening the drawstring low along his perfect hips. Halee drank in the sight of his naked body, all muscle and sinew. He grabbed her dress from the deck, then reached down and pulled her up with his left arm. “I think you should stay naked,” he said with a grin, holding the dress at arm’s length.
“Oh, no,” she teased. “I’m way too sexy. They’ll find you starved to death in a pool of your own semen.”
J.D. grimaced. “Tequila Halee, you’re scarin’ me.”
Halee tossed her head, delighted with her surge in confidence. She grabbed her dress and slid it over her head.
“Come on, Sexy. Let’s eat.” He led her down the narrow stairs into the small cabin. She leaned against the bar and drank down the rest of her margarita. “Refill,” she demanded.
“You alright?”
“Never better.”
“How about a little food with that tequila?” he asked, popping a carrot stick into her mouth.
/> “I could eat a cow.” She leaned into the refrigerator, side by side with J.D., bare thigh to bare thigh. She nibbled on the carrot. He nibbled on her ear. She giggled.
“You might be right about that pool of semen.”
“You’re not ready…”
He caught her question in his mouth. Kicking the refrigerator door closed with his right foot, he backed her up to the bunk and tossed her into the pile of down, climbing in on top. He reached for his drawstring.
“Wait. Let me.” She sat up halfway and took the drawstring between her teeth, pulling slowly.
J.D. groaned. “Lord have mercy!”
“Who’s the sexiest woman alive?” murmured Halee against his tender flesh.
J.D. hesitated. Halee gave a little bite.
“AHHH! You! You are the sexiest woman alive!”
“Say my name.”
J.D. dropped his head back and closed his eyes as if being transported to another galaxy. “Halee,” he panted. “Halee McCarthy.”
“It’s a shame you’ll be moving to New York.”
“Damn shame.”
“Only Chicago girls know how to do this properly.”
J.D. groaned and flipped her underneath him. “Let me show you how we do it in Oklahoma.” And for the next hour he worked his own magic until at last she begged for mercy.
He collapsed at her side and pulled her close, listening to her soft breathing and thinking of the stars and the sweet taste of Halee McCarthy until his grumbling stomach reminded him it needed filled.
“Wanna watch me cook?” he murmured against Halee’s neck.
But Halee had already drifted off to sleep.
~THREE~
Halee opened one eye to the merciless sun blazing through the opened curtains and slapped a hand to her aching forehead. “Holy Moses!” she moaned. “Who hit me?”
“I believe his name is Jose Cuervo.”
Halee opened her other eye and peered toward the female voice coming from somewhere behind her. She rolled over and met the amused gaze of a small woman with café au lait skin wearing a white silk sleeveless sweater and well fitted jeans. Her hair was cropped into a short curly tumble and she wore dark rimmed eye glasses that made her look like an intelligent artist. She held up an empty bottle of tequila and smiled. “Jose is not your friend.”
“Now you tell me.”
“And neither is J.D., between you and me,” said the woman, approaching the bunk. “He’s the leaving kind.”
“You’re not...”
“Samantha Billings. You can call me Sam.”
Halee shook her head, trying to make sense of the situation. “I thought…”
“That Sam was a man? I’m sure my name works in J.D.’s favor every time he borrows my boat. And your name?”
“Halee. I’m Halee.” She reached down for her dress.
“Anne Klein,” noted Sam. “Always elegant.”
“J.D. bought it for me.”
“Of course, he did. Played country ballads in that fancy little sports car of his, too, didn’t he? Let me guess- Travis Tritt.” Sam broke into song. “If you wonder if I’m strong enough to be your man…yes, I am.”
Halee grimaced. “Thanks for spoiling that memory. I would have preferred to believe that song was just for me.”
“You’re a complicated lady, that’s for sure…” bellowed Sam in a country twang, doubling over with laughter. “I know Travis. He’s the leaving kind, too.”
Halee groaned and covered her eyes. “I can’t believe this. He’s sleeping with you, isn’t he? How many of you are there?”
“Relax, Sister,” said Sam. “J.D. and I are just friends, although I do admit that I’ve been tempted a time or two. I let him hang around, mostly because he tells a good story. We keep our hands to ourselves,” she said, allowing her eyes to roam Halee’s exposed skin, “because I dig chicks. Which means you have about thirty seconds to slip on that dress before I make a pass at you.”
“Omigod…” Halee turned her back and hurriedly slipped the dress over her head. “I’m sorry about the mess,” she said, rolling off the bunk and straightening the comforters.
“No worries. The maid comes this afternoon.” Sam studied her. “Need some breakfast?”
Halee had slipped one green shoe on her foot and was down on her hands and knees looking for the other. “I can grab something on the way…”
“I understand what he sees in you,” said Sam, placing a big bowl of granola and raspberries on the counter. “You’re kind of sweet. Not like his normal conquest.”
“Thanks…I think.”
“His other girlfriends would never apologize for anything. In fact, they’d probably assume I was the maid.”
Halee cringed.
“Oh, now you’re worried about offending me. Where did he find you?”
“I’m a leftover from last year,” Halee admitted, more to herself than anyone. “Where is he, anyway?”
“J.D.? He went to practice. Gotta pay for the Porsche.” She stared at Halee a full minute. “Sit down and eat something or you’ll be sick.” She tossed the empty tequila bottle in the trash. “You didn’t drink this all by yourself, did you?”
“I don’t remember.” Halee slid onto the barstool and chugged down a full glass of orange juice.
“It’s not his, you know.”
“What?”
“The Porsche. It’s not his. The dealers pay him to drive their cars.”
“I didn’t know. I never thought about it, really.”
“God, you really are different.”
“Maybe that’s why I’m a leftover.”
“Maybe. The penthouse isn’t his, either. The team provides it gratis. J.D.’s image is more important to them than his talent. He lives in style but the day he quits he leaves it all behind.”
“He did quit.”
Sam raised her brows. "The Federals gig?"
Halee nodded.
“Sweet! Are you ok with that?”
Halee shrugged her shoulders. “It's not up to me."
"But you're the one left behind."
"I suppose so," said Halee.
“Girls tend to mistake sex for love."
"Yes, well, I'm all grown up."
"Good to know. What did he tell you about me?”
“He said you painted these pictures.” Halee scanned the walls with an appreciative eye. “They’re amazing.”
“Which one do you want?” asked Sam.
Halee shook her head. “I’m a little broke right now. Just finishing grad school.”
“Which one do you like the best?”
“The field of sunflowers,” Halee admitted. “I love sunflowers.”
“It’s yours.”
“I can’t…”
Sam held up her hand. “I figure you gotta walk away with something when you take up with J.D. God knows you won’t get his heart.”
“He's really not as cold as you make him out to be.”
“Cold, no. Uncommitted, yes. There’s a reason why J.D. is so successful. He’s got his eye on what he wants and nothing is going to stop him.”
Halee stirred her bowl of granola thoughtfully. “What does he want?”
“Revenge.”
Halee dropped her spoon. “Revenge?”
Sam nodded. “He’s a poor kid, just like me. Kids like us spend our whole lives trying to prove we’re somebody. J.D. wants to go back to his hometown and be Big Man.”
“Where’s home?”
“Some fool town in Oklahoma. Ranch hand’s kid. Got pushed around a lot; baseball seemed like the best way out. Daddy died young, the whole nine yards. Where are you from, Halee?”
“Right here.”
“No kidding.”
“Yup.”
“I should have known by the way you drag your a’s.”
“Halee laughed. “I’m not from Boston.”
“No.” Sam laughed along with her. “But you Chicago natives kind of sit on your a’s, make t
hem flat.”
“Okay.”
“See- just like that.”
Halee finished her bowl of cereal and slid off the barstool. “I have to get to class, that is, if they’ll let me in the door an hour late.”
“Let me know if they don’t,” said Sam. “You’re good company.” She reached up and pulled the sunflower painting off the wall. “Sorry you took up with J.D. Hope it was worth it.”
Halee smiled, despite herself. “Always is.”
***
J.D. shut the Titan manager’s office door behind him and sized up the petite woman studying her nails. Catrina Hiett was fresh from the salon, ten little red toes peering out from a pair of sparkly gold sandals. Her white shorts showed off a pair of long tanned legs and a half carat belly button ring. She’d piled her blonde hair taller than any self-respecting Texan slut. J.D. couldn’t help but smile.
“You get those claws sharpened, Cat?” He leaned over and poured a cup of water from the cooler. Better to let Catrina get her fill of him with his back turned. Those piercing blue eyes could make a man’s skin crawl.
“Just in time,” said Catrina with a sneer. “Come over here and let me try them on you.”
J.D. straightened and met Catrina’s eyes over his paper cup.
“I thought you were gone,” she said.
“Almost. I need a favor.”
“The answer is no.”
“Still sore?”
“I don’t deal well with rejection.”
“I prefer my women sober and responsive, Catrina. It’s embarrassing when they fall asleep on me.”
“Sober I can manage. Responsive is up to you.”
“I’d offer you a do-over but Roudy would kick my ass.”
“Just as well. I’m not in the mood for you or any other man.”
J.D. raised his brows. “Trouble in Camelot?”
“It’s temporary.”
“Does it matter?”
Catrina’s painted eyes turned misty.
“Looks like it matters. Maybe I can help.”
“Wild sex with J.D. Shaw?” Catrina sniffled. “Hold me back.”
“I’m thinkin’ about something more permanent.”
“I don’t do permanent.”
“Neither do I. That’s why we’re perfect partners in this little venture.”
