Her mouth was so close to his. All he had to do was bend his head slightly and take her lips. It was probably the hundredth time he’d had this thought today, and he knew it was time to go.
He shifted away from her. She let out a soft moan in her sleep and reached for him, pushing her body against his once again.
She wasn’t going to make this easy for him.
He sat up this time, breaking all contact. She woke up and stretched her long body, causing her shirt to ride up and exposing all her creamy-colored flesh. Her curls were all over her head. Her eyes were sleepy. She had a little smile on her plump lips.
She’s a goddamn sex goddess.
He nearly moaned.
He jumped out of bed and completely away from her before he lost control.
“Aren’t we a couple of party animals. What time is it?” she asked, sitting up.
He glanced at the clock, surprised to see it wasn’t all that late. “A quarter after ten.”
“Oh.” She brought her knees up and rested her head on them. He could see up her skirt. Her panties were white.
He resisted the urge to bite his knuckle.
The thought of plain white cotton underwear had never turned him on before, but on her …
“I’m going to go.” He headed toward the window. He could have used the door, but he needed space from her as quickly as possible.
“Why?”
“You’re tired,” he said quickly, trying not to look at her. “You need your sleep.”
“I don’t. We fell asleep before nine, I don’t think I’ll be able to go back to bed now. Take me out.”
“Take you out?”
“Yes. People go out at night, don’t they?”
“Well, yeah.”
“You weren’t going to go right to bed, were you?”
No, he was going to hop in the shower and soothe the unruly pain in the ass his cock had become these past couple of days.
“Let’s go get a drink,” he said before he brain could calculate the consequences. Adding alcohol to his already funky mood just couldn’t be a good thing.
“At a bar?”
“We could get a jug of wine, bring it back here, and split it between the two of us.”
Her eyes widened. “We could do that. I’ve never had wine before.”
“How have you never had wine? You didn’t grow up in a box.”
“My father doesn’t drink. I didn’t live on campus when I went to college. I stayed with my great-aunt Helen, and the wildest she got was drinking fully caffeinated tea after eight.”
“Your family is the complete opposite of mine.”
“Your family goes to prison. Mine works in them.” She grinned.
“Go change your clothes,” he said, finding himself slightly annoyed that he couldn’t deny her. “Wear one of your new things and put some makeup on if you’ve got any. If we’re going to a bar we’re going to look the part.”
He regretted telling her that. She came out wearing a short denim skirt and light-green tank top that fit her curves perfectly. On her face she wore the slightest bit of makeup, just a little mascara and touch of lipstick. Nothing about her had drastically changed in the past five minutes, but he knew that for the rest of the night he was going to have a hard time taking his eyes off her.
“Is this okay?” She gave her skirt a self-conscious tug.
“Yeah, it’s okay.”
“I’m not sure what to do about my hair. I’ve worn it up for the past ten years. Do you think I should braid it?”
“No. We’re not going to a picnic.” He grabbed her hand and led her out of the house.
“My skirt’s not too short?” she asked as they got out of the car a few minutes later. “I’m feeling air on parts of me that have never felt air before.”
“It’s not too short,” he said truthfully. It was a skirt most women their age would wear out to run errands. It shouldn’t be sexy at all, but on her it was. “You look pretty. Stop fussing with yourself.”
“I’ve never been to this place before.”
“Neither have I.” Levi looked at Comet’s Tavern, noting that it hadn’t changed much. The same neon sign hung out front, blinking in that obnoxious shade of orange, and for a moment he regretted coming here. There was another bar in town, but when he thought of drinking in Destiny he thought of this place. “My dad used to spend all his free time here,” he said as he stared sightlessly at the neon.
“Oh.” Shelly slipped her hand into his.
“Colt and Duke made me wait out here once while they dragged him out. It was right before he left. It was right before Duke beat the hell out of him for going after me.”
He wasn’t expecting that memory to sneak up on him, but it had and now he couldn’t get the image out of his head of his brothers, still boys themselves, trying to control their belligerent father.
“Let’s get out of here. That jug of wine sounded good. I’ve got crazy straws in the house.”
He laughed. He hadn’t expected to when he was in the grip of remembering one of those huge moments that had changed his life forever. “No. Let’s go in. I want to see it,” he said, grabbing her hand and leading her inside. He would regret it more if he didn’t get to see the place where his father spent more nights than at home with them. He thought it would be some grungy dive bar, but it wasn’t. It had an old-fashioned vibe with red leather stools and a smooth polished wood counter. There was jukebox in the corner, a pool table in the back, and a wide dance floor that was empty at the moment.
“Is that Levi King?” the bartender asked as he was pouring a beer.
“Yes, sir.” Levi didn’t recognize the man, but he wasn’t much older than him.
“We heard rumors you all were back in town. Didn’t think we would ever see the day.”
Neither did they. “How’s it going?”
“It’s Jim Petersen, by the way. I was in school with Duke. Bought this place a few years ago. My kid loves your show.”
“Thank you, can you take care of the lady first?” He guided Shelly to an empty stool.
“What would you like, miss?” he asked before he paused and stared at Shelly. “Hey, weren’t you my kid’s teacher a couple of years ago?”
“Hello, Mr. Petersen. How is Bobby?” Shelly asked in a quiet voice. He had forgotten how shy she was. He could tell how uncomfortable she was in that moment—and then he remembered her comment about there being two of her. The woman the town expected her to be and the woman she really was.
“Wow,” Jim said in disbelief. “You sure do look … different.” He shook his head. “Bobby’s doing great. He loved you, you know. First time that kid liked going to school. I think you turned things around for him.”
She shook her head and glanced down at the bar, her cheeks slightly pink. “I’m sure I didn’t.”
“You did. I’m sure he’ll get a kick out of it when I tell him you came into the bar tonight.”
“Oh.” Her head popped up, anxiety in her eyes. “Don’t tell him. I’m sure he wouldn’t care.”
“You, in here? I think he would. In fact I think he would care way more than hearing about the host of his favorite TV show in here.” He laughed and slapped the counter. “Your drinks are on me for life.”
“Oh!” Her eyes widened. “I couldn’t. That’s not necessary.”
“It is. What would you like?”
Shelly’s cheeks went pink. “Just a Coke please.”
“That’s it?” he asked, unbelieving.
“Yes. That’s it.”
“But, Shelly …” Levi started until he saw the distress on her face. “Excuse us for a moment, Jim. We’ll be right back.”
He took Shelly by the shoulders and let her outside. “What’s wrong? I thought you wanted to be here.”
“I do. It’s just I can’t be here.”
“Why not?”
“The lady in blue at the end of the bar is the mother of one of my students. The two older guys playi
ng pool go to my church and are friends with my father. I tutored the bartender’s son for a year after school.”
“So? Teachers can have a drink and so can churchgoing girls. You’re not doing anything wrong.”
“No, but I don’t want parents to tell their kids they saw me. I don’t want the people from church to gossip about me wearing a short skirt while in a bar with a man they don’t know.”
“It’s not a big deal. You aren’t doing anything wrong.”
“But it is a big deal, Levi. Don’t you get it? It is a big deal because it’s not expected of me. Not much goes on in this town, but this will be news. This will be something they talk about. Did you hear about Shelly Walker? She missed midweek women’s Bible study to go drinking. What’s going on with her? Maybe she’ll take up going to strip clubs and sleeping around?”
He wanted to laugh off her concern, but he had to admit she might have a point. There wasn’t much to do in Destiny but gossip. Levi knew firsthand how much people talked in this town. It was usually his own family’s name on their lips. But he knew how unsatisfied Shelly had been with her life up until now and he knew he was going to have to push her a little. Or else she would find herself married with four kids and wondering about the life she could have had. “It won’t be so bad. I won’t let it be.”
“Maybe we should go home now.” She took a step toward his Scrambler. “What was I thinking? These clothes … this idea … it’s just not me. ”
If she went home now she would go back into hiding. And he didn’t want that for her. “Who are you, Shelly?”
“I don’t know.”
“Who do you want to be?”
“Like you. Brave. Confident.”
He was the last person she should want to be like. He was nowhere near as good as she was. He wasn’t brave, either. He’d taken up racing because he had been searching for a way to feel his blood pump, the rush he had been missing since he had left here. “Then I think we should go back inside. How often am I in town? How often do you get the chance to do something for the first time?”
“Never,” she said quietly.
“That’s going to change because this will be your summer of first times.”
“I’m not sure I like the sound of that. It could be the first time I get an infectious disease. The first time I lose my life savings. The first time I die.”
His shook his head and couldn’t help but laugh. “You’re nuts.” He took her hand and led her back inside.
“I’m cautiously nuts.”
Within moments of being back inside he felt rather than saw Shelly’s demeanor change. The shy self-conscious girl was coming back. She didn’t feel comfortable being the funny, sexy woman she was when they were alone. He wanted people to see that side of her, too, but he knew he had to make her comfortable with herself first.
He walked back up to Jim. “How much would it cost me to rent out the bar for the rest of the night?”
Jim froze for a moment. “More than all these people would drink tonight.”
“Done.” He slipped a few large bills across the bar and Jim’s head snapped up.
“Everybody out! We’re shutting down early.”
“Levi!” Shelly gasped.
He glanced back at her to see that her face had turned beet red. He just shrugged and took a seat as people started to file out one by one.
“The idea was not to have people talk about me tonight.”
“Nobody knows what’s going on. And I’ll be the one they talk about. I don’t know if you know this, but I’m a pretty big deal.”
She let out a soft laugh. Soon the bar was empty.
“Now, Jim. Shelly here wants to have a nice evening, but she’s afraid that people will gossip about her because she thinks that nice girls aren’t supposed to have a good time.”
“You’re entitled to a few drinks,” Jim said. “A bartender is like a therapist. Nothing you do or say here will leave this place. And truthfully, Ms. Walker, people around here call you a nun. I’m glad to see you’re human.”
“A nun!”
“Well, yeah. You and your father live by a set of standards that it seems impossible for the rest of us to live up to. You don’t curse or drink or speed. I bet you don’t even have bad thoughts. I mean you taught my kid and he said you never raised your voice once. And my kid is a huge pain in the ass.”
“He could be a little challenging, but he was a lovely boy.”
Jim grinned at her. “My wife and I used to say that you’d explode one day. That the pressure of being nice all the time would get to you and you would just pop and run your car into town hall or something.”
“But I wouldn’t!”
“No, of course you wouldn’t.” He gave her an indulgent grin. “Now, what can I get you? And please don’t tell me a Coke.”
“I’ll take a whiskey, damn it,” she said, pounding her fist on the bar in a way that looked more adorable than anything.
“You got it.” He winked at her and turned away. “What can I get you, Levi?”
“Whatever you got on tap.” He looked down at Shelly, half amused, half concerned about her. “Shells, are you sure you want whiskey?”
“I don’t know.” Her eyes went wide again. “I’ve never had it.”
Jim slid their drinks in front of them. “Here you go.”
“Thank you very much and I’m sorry I said a cuss word.”
“Of course you are, darling,” he said as he chuckled and walked away.
“I’m nervous,” she said as she kind of bounced in her seat.
“Maybe you want to try beer first?” He slid his mug toward her. “That’s what most people do. Beer, wine, and then the hard stuff.”
“I’ve got to start with this. People think I’m a nun. That I’m sexless and humorless and boring.”
“Nobody said that. Nuns can be cool. There was that flying one. And Maria from The Sound of Music.”
“Maybe if I start breaking out in song, people will think more favorably of me.” She picked up her glass and sniffed the honey-colored liquor. “It’s time for me to go big or go home, and since you rented out the entire place, I’m going big.” She lifted the glass to her mouth and took a big sip.
Rookie mistake.
She gagged and sputtered. Her eyes teared. Her face went a purply red.
Levi laughed. He couldn’t help himself. He laughed harder than he had in years.
“I’m dying,” she gasped. “You’re laughing at me while I’m dying.” She slapped at his chest. “What a dick.”
“Whoa. You get a little whiskey in you and the salty language starts to fly.”
“He put bleach in this.” Her hand went up to her chest. “Or acid. It’s burning my insides. I think I need to go to a hospital. I don’t think I can see anymore.”
“Stop being dramatic. They don’t call it firewater for nothing. Try this.” He handed her his beer.
She sniffed it, a little bit of foam getting on her nose. “It smells like the bowling alley.” He reached up and removed the suds with his thumb. This would be one of those nights that would stay with him. The image of her with beer on her nose, looking up at him with those innocent green eyes. It would be a good memory for him.
She took a tentative sip and then frowned. “Ew. Ick. No. It’s bitter. It tastes like gym sock water. Why do people like this stuff so much?”
Jim came back with a large glass of water and a glass of red wine. “A lot of the ladies who come in here drink this. Try it.”
“What kind of wine is this?”
“Merlot.”
“I’ve seen people on TV swirl it around and study it like a textbook before they drink it. Why do they do that?”
“I don’t know, Miss Walker. People around here don’t do that much. They just drink a lot of it.”
They both watched her take a sip, her expression apprehensive.
“Nope. Uh-uhn,” Shelly said in utter revulsion. “This tastes like—like sour yo
gurt or that bad taste in your mouth before you brush your teeth. I always thought it would taste like grape juice. This is not grape juice.”
“Colt loves this shit. Maybe it’s an acquired taste.”
“And to think we were going to get a jug of this stuff. Do you think Colt keeps jugs of this in his house?”
“No, I think Colt keeps fancy bottles of this in his house that are worth more than your car.”
“Does it taste better if it costs more?” she asked, frowning.
“I doubt it. But let’s not tell Colt that. He takes his wine very seriously.”
“I’ve got one more thing for you to try,” Jim said, looking highly amused by Shelly. “My mother likes these.”
He handed her a glass of what looked like orange juice. Shelly gazed at it as if she was scared, but when she took a sip her face lit up. “Oh, this is wonderful! This tastes like little fairies kissed it. What is it?”
“You know, Miss Walker, I think I’m going to have to write down the descriptions you have of these drinks and put them on the menu. And you’re drinking a fuzzy navel.”
“That’s a terrible name! It sounds like a belly button full of lint. But this is amazing.” She took another sip, a much larger one this time, and Levi put his hand on her arm to slow her down.
“It’s peach schnapps and orange juice,” he explained to her. “Always be careful with these. Schnapps can be tricky because you can’t really taste the alcohol because of all the sugar. I learned this the hard way when I was sixteen and I drank half a bottle with my friend. I nearly threw up my internal organs.”
“You wrote to me about that. You said Colt punished you by playing death metal when you were hung over.”
“I haven’t been that drunk since.”
She took another large sip and set the glass down. “I feel weird.” She giggled. “I feel loopy. I feel like dancing.”
Heart of a Bad Boy (Bad Boys of Destiny #3) Page 8
