Play It Safe

by Kristen Ashley

“Yeah. Stands to reason, you can naturally play pool, you got a head for geometry, physics. If you see angles, can instantly assess velocity, force, impact then you’d have a head for science, numbers.”

  I hadn’t thought of that.

  I also left school at twelve so I really had no idea.

  That said, I was good with money, for instance, I could assess the percentage of a tip without even thinking about it. I could also without thinking take our bank and divide it knowing down to the penny how much time we had before we needed another score.

  Maybe I was.

  “Maybe I do,” I told Gray. “I hadn’t really thought about it. Just thought I could play pool.”

  “You can’t play pool, dollface, you dominate. Never seen anything like it. It’s sensational. Like watchin’ a master at a canvas. A prima ballerina on a stage,” his arm gave me a squeeze and my eyes, which had drifted to our moving feet, went back to his face to see he was grinning down at me, “not that I ever saw either of those. I’m just guessing.”

  I grinned up at him.

  Then I replied quietly, “I haven’t seen either of those either but what you said was nice.”

  His arm gave me another squeeze; I felt my arm should reciprocate the gesture so it did.

  His grin turned into a smile.

  I made note of that for future reference.

  His eyes turned to face forward.

  My eyes drifted down to my feet.

  And we both shifted to silence.

  Then, it seemed liked seconds had gone by (but it was more like minutes just that I liked walking tucked to Gray in the cold) we were at my door.

  Belly full of great food, beer, time spent in interesting and not demanding conversation, Gray’s eyes on me, my eyes able to take in Gray any time I wanted and Janie smiling on happily, I was lost in the night. A nice night.

  No, a great night.

  The best I ever had. None even came close. Not even when Casey and I scored huge with that idiot with the Rolex who bet five thousand dollars on a single game of pool.

  And I’d never been on a date.

  So it didn’t occur to me that we were at my hotel door and it was the end of our date.

  So it also didn’t occur to me what normally happened at the end of a date.

  Not even when Gray’s arm curled me to press my front to his and his other arm slid around me at my waist.

  “Be back tomorrow, take you to breakfast at the diner, take you to my place, give you a ride. Does eight work for you?” he asked, his voice soft.

  I smiled, liking that I got to go to sleep thinking that was going to be what I woke up to.

  Liking it a whole lot.

  Then I nodded.

  “Good,” he muttered, his eyes dropping to my mouth and then his head dropped and then…then…

  Then his beautiful lips were on mine and he was kissing me.

  Kissing me!

  My first kiss.

  It wasn’t a stealth attack but I was still surprised and this worked in my favor because the touch of his mouth to mine, the hardness of his body against mine, his arms around me, his warmth, his smell, all that was him, I liked it. So much, I got lost in it and my body automatically melted into his, my arms around him going tight, my elbows bent, forearms running up his back either side of his spine. My hands felt leather and under that hardness and they pressed in.

  Then Gray touched his tongue to my mouth.

  My stomach dipped instantly, tingles shot down the fronts of my thighs and my lips opened instinctively.

  His tongue slid inside.

  Oh my.

  That was nice.

  Oh my.

  That was nice.

  My fingers fisted in the leather, my knees got weak, more tingles shot through my legs but these were different, stronger, racing up not down, straight between my legs as Gray’s arms got super tight and he held me super close and my tongue intuitively danced with his.

  He looked good. He sounded good. He smelled good. He felt good.

  And now I knew he tasted good.

  Sublime.

  The best taste to touch my tongue.

  Absolutely.

  Then it got better. His arm around my shoulders moved, his long fingers ran up the back of my neck, sifted in my hair, cupped the back of my head and that felt lovely.

  Then he used his hand at my head to tip mine to the side, his slanted the other way and the kiss went deep.

  Way deep.

  Straight through my mouth, down my throat, through my belly to spasm between my legs even as it seared straight into my soul.

  I whimpered involuntarily, that sound a sound I never made and a sound that spoke volumes.

  At it, Gray moved us, shuffling me back. I hit door, Gray’s entire body pressed into mine and the kiss hit the stratosphere.

  When he tore his lips from mine I found my hand had somehow made its way into his leather jacket, curled around and my fist was now in his sweater. My other hand had plunged into his soft, thick hair, holding his head to me and I was up on tiptoes, squeezing myself tight to him.

  I blinked hazily into his eyes as he muttered, “Fuck.”

  “What?” my mouth said without me telling it to.

  “Your brother is unpredictable, Gran would lose her mind I took you home and there is no way in hell I’m movin’ somethin’ that hot and sweet forward on the bench seat of an old, cold, dirty pickup.”

  I stopped breathing.

  “Say goodnight, Ivey,” he growled, not letting go of me.

  Something was happening and I might not have had a date and that might have been my first kiss, the greatest first kiss of all time, but I wasn’t naïve.

  I knew what was happening.

  My brother was my brother and he got himself laid regularly. And I spent most my time in seedy dive bars, or just bars, around men. They said things, with their mouths and with their eyes.

  I knew exactly what was happening.

  And I liked that it was happening between Gray and me.

  I delayed too long in doing as ordered. I knew it when Gray’s arms got tight and his hips pressed into my belly.

  “Say…goodnight…Ivey,” he growled again.

  “Goodnight, Gray,” I whispered.

  “Fuck,” he whispered back, touched his mouth to mine and let me go.

  At the loss of his arms, his heat, his strength, the cold smacked straight through me.

  “Get inside,” he demanded.

  I nodded, jerked my head down, dug the key out of my purse and turned to the door. I opened it, took a half step in and turned back.

  Gray was still where I left him.

  “Lights on, darlin’,” he said softly.

  I didn’t tear my eyes from him as I felt the wall for the switched and flipped it on.

  “Right, get in, I wanna hear the chain.”

  I nodded but didn’t move.

  “Now, Ivey.”

  I nodded again but still didn’t move.

  He grinned and I saw the dimple.

  And I fell, right then, right then, straight, fast and hard…in love.

  “Eight, baby,” he whispered.

  “Eight, Gray,” I whispered back.

  “Get warm, honey.”

  I nodded. “Thanks for a nice night.”

  “We’ll have more.”

  We’ll have more.

  I felt tears sting my nose as my mind sent my gratitude heavenward.

  Thank you, God.

  “Eight,” Gray repeated.

  I smiled.

  Then, so he could get out of the cold, I scurried in, closed the door, flipped the lock and set the chain.

  Then I moved to the curtain. Trying to hide, I peeked out but I didn’t need to try to hide.

  He was sauntering away.

  I watched, smiling.

  Then, when I lost sight of him, I moved from the curtain and looked around the hotel room.

  Then I wrapped my arms around my belly.
/>   Then I smiled so big it hurt my face, I twirled around like what I didn’t know was a teenager, danced to the bed and dropped on it on my back, giggling the whole way.

  Chapter Eleven

  I Was Free

  Twelve hours later…

  Gray pulled back on the horse’s reins and although the view was stunning, the snowy plains, the flowing creek, its sides crusted with ice twinkling in the bright sun, the far off mountains blue against the skyline, I didn’t want him to.

  This was because, being held tight against Gray with one of his arms around my belly on top of a magnificent equine beast, I didn’t want to stop. Not ever.

  Not ever.

  Still, he did.

  Then again, we were far from his ranch-slash-orchard (and I saw, in daylight, the rows and rows and rows of densely planted, short peach trees that nearly surrounded the house and the outbuildings that also undoubtedly in spring were amazing) so we’d have to climb back on to get back.

  Again, something to look forward to.

  Something to look forward to.

  I didn’t know if I could get used to that. I’d never had that either until last night.

  I loved it even though I was so excited for the morning to come, I didn’t sleep a wink. And I didn’t care that Casey didn’t come back before I left again. I just wrote him a note, got ready and was waiting impatiently by the time Gray knocked on my door.

  Breakfast at the diner, meeting his “beauties” which were just that (there were twelve of them, twelve!) and now this.

  A ride over his land.

  And there was a lot of it.

  He shifted, throwing off a long, heavy leg, he dropped down then his hands came up to my waist and pulled me down. Then his gloved hand curled around mine which was also gloved since he went into the house and grabbed a pair of his Gran’s that I could borrow.

  Grandma Miriam was not there, by the way. She was in town with some ladies, “knittin’ or whatever they do, probably just jabberin’,” (as Gray said).

  This, too, surprised me about Grandma. She was in a wheelchair so, stupidly, I didn’t think it was easy for her to get around so I guessed she wouldn’t.

  Obviously, she did.

  Gray led me to the edge of the creek, his horse trailing behind us since Gray still held his reins. He stopped, dropped my hand but curled an arm around my shoulders and looked to the creek.

  I curled my arm around his waist and looked to his profile.

  “Is this your favorite place?” I guessed and he stopped looking at the creek to grin down at me.

  “One of ‘em. Got a lotta land, dollface, and it’s gorgeous land. So got a lotta places.”

  I could see that. We’d been riding awhile, maybe ten minutes and not at a sedate walk (which was fun). Everything I’d seen had been a candidate for top spot.

  He turned his head, jerked his chin in front of him and my eyes followed.

  When they did, he shared, “Across that creek, Bud Sharp’s Daddy owns that land.”

  Wow.

  “Really?” I asked, staring at it.

  “His Daddy tried to buy ours from mine. His Daddy’s Daddy tried to buy it from my Granddad. This goes on, darlin’, for four generations. Four generations they wanted their hands on Cody land.”

  That explained that.

  Gray went on with brutal honesty.

  “Bud wanted Cecily before me, had her after me.”

  My body jolted.

  No. Now that explained that.

  His arm gave me a squeeze and I looked up at him to see his eyes on me.

  “Before her was Connie. Before her was Donna. Before her was Debbie. All the way back to junior high when he picked up with a girl named Emily after I got tired of makin’ out with her at recess.” He grinned again. “Which was around about the time she got braces. I liked my lips the way they were. Bud’s were torn up for a month before he cottoned on.”

  I didn’t want to find this amusing because it was kind of scary in a lot of ways. One of those being that he started kissing in junior high which put him around twelve or thirteen and I thought that was kind of young. And another was that he’d been kissing at that age and I’d just had my first kiss last night. But I couldn’t stop the small giggle from escaping.

  Gray’s grin became a smile.

  I bit my lip and looked back across the creek, letting it go and noting, “He didn’t look much like a rancher cowboy to me.”

  And he didn’t. Smooth hands. Nice clothes. Gray’s clothes were nice, masculine, decent-quality, attractive but durable and not showy. And his hands were nice, beautiful actually, but that didn’t mean they weren’t callused. He was a man who worked with his hands. Bud Sharp was not.

  “Buddy Sharp has got a lot of problems. One of ‘em’s bein’ a pansy-ass. He doesn’t like hard work. Sends his Dad over the edge. Got some degree, don’t know what, works one county over at the flagship branch of that county’s bank. Heard word, since Bud spread it, he makes big money. He’s got two sisters. Daddy Sharp is not feelin’ much joy with his son. You got land, you pass it down to your boy you spend a lifetime trainin’ to work it. You do not pass it down to your daughter’s husband unless you have no son.”

  “Daddy Sharp share this with his son?” I asked quietly.

  “Frequently and publicly which means also frequently privately,” Gray answered.

  “So, seeing as Buddy is not into ranching and probably couldn’t care less about your land, he took the family feud with you in a different way.”

  I felt Gray move and my eyes went back to him to see his movement meant he was looking at me.

  “Not a family feud, Ivey, we get along fine. They make offers, we decline. They got twice as much land as us, though, not near as pretty.” He grinned yet again and I returned it. Then he continued, “They run livestock, got two orchards, a vineyard, they make wine. I hire hands for peach season and bring in help when I’m breakin’ a horse. Other than that, it’s just me. Jeb Sharp, he’s got five ranch hands, full time. I lost my mind, accepted an offer, they’d be happy to expand their operation. The answer’s no, Jeb don’t care.”

  “So what’s Buddy’s problem?”

  “Fuck if I know,” he muttered, looking back across the creek. “Though my Dad lived his life tellin’ me often he loved me and was proud of me. He died and I knew those two things down to my bones. Don’t know what would drive me if my Dad was openly disappointed in me for bein’ just who I was which wasn’t bad until I became an asshole.”

  I again couldn’t hold it back and laughed silently, this shaking my body so Gray looked back down at me, the dimple out.

  Then I sobered and said softly, “You are who his father wants him to be.”

  “Say again?”

  I turned and pressed my front to his side, tipping my head way back. “Gray, you are who Jeb Sharp wants his son to be. And if he doesn’t mind frequently and publicly telling his son he’s disappointed in who he’s become, it probably stands to reason that the personification of that right across a creek has passed his lips on more than one occasion.”

  Gray’s eyes drifted across the creek as he muttered, “Well, fuck me.”

  “Then again, maybe Jeb Sharp doesn’t say anything and Bud Sharp just looks at you and knows. So, he bests you somehow, with women or earning money or whatever, he proves to his father and everyone that he’s better.” Gray looked back at me and I advised, “Maybe you should throw him a bone.”

  That got me a treat, the best gift I ever received. And this was, while Gray burst out laughing and I got to watch and listen, his body also shifted so we were front to front, his other arm stole around me and he held me tight.

  When he sobered but was still smiling big and beautiful, his eyes tipped down to me and he asked, “And what do you reckon I should throw him, dollface?” Before I could answer this unanswerable question, his face got warm, his arms got tighter and he kept talking. “’Cause, see, just found me something I like a lot
, Bud likes her just as much and she’s a bone no fuckin’ way I’m gonna throw.”

  I felt my body ease against his just as my legs trembled.

  “Gray,” I whispered.

  One of Gray’s hands drifted up my back, my neck and held me at the base of my head.

  “You’re the prettiest thing I’ve ever seen, Ivey,” he said softly and my body eased more into his even as I felt my eyes sting with tears. I battled for control as he went on, “I got shit to do today and it sucks, but soon, I gotta put you in my truck and take you back. Sayin’ that, after I’m done, I’m gonna drive back into town and pick you up. I want you in my house eatin’ dinner tonight then I want you to stay with me and watch TV. Your brother’s got a place to be, I talk to Manny after I drop you off, you give up that room because I ‘spect you need the money. No strings, no funny stuff, you sleep under my roof but in your own bed. We take that at your pace. But he’s screwin’ around with whatever he’s screwin’ around with and you and me are gettin’ to know each other, you don’t need to blow whatever stash you got on a hotel. You with me?”

  I was but I wasn’t.

  “Gray, your Gran,” I whispered.

  “Love her, she helped raise me but, honey, I’m a man and I make the decisions that pertain to my life and it’s my house even though it’s both our homes. I’m not gonna lie, she’s not gonna like it but I also don’t care. She’s an adult, you are and so am I. She’ll have to deal.”

  “I’m not sure that’s cool,” I said quietly.

  “Maybe not but it’s the only time I’ve ever done it so I hope she gets my point and, knowin’ that now, I hope you do too.”

  Wow.

  I got it.

  I got his point, definitely.

  And I loved his point.

  I didn’t respond, just looked into his blue eyes with their dark, russet tipped lashes.

  “Ivey, darlin’, you with me?”

  “If she feels uncomfortable enough that I feel it, will you take me back to the hotel?” I asked.

  “Absolutely,” he answered.

  I gave him more of my weight then I whispered, “I’ll try not to walk in on you in the bathroom.”

  He grinned. “Didn’t complain last time.”

  No, he didn’t.

  I grinned back.