The bike idled beneath them. Reiner unsnapped his helmet, removed it, and ran his fingers through his hair. Setting the kickstand, he killed the ignition and reached around to help Katie Sara off.
“Reiner, I’m not sure this is a good idea.”
Laying a hand along the side of her face, he whispered, “Nothin’ will happen that you don’t want, sugar. I found the beast all fueled up at Auntie Belham’s, and I knew where to find Paradox’s most gorgeous lady, tucked away in her tower. Seemed a shame to waste such a beautiful night.”
“Waste not, want not.”
“Oh, I want,” he growled, staring at the long, slender neck exposed when Katie Sara scooped up her hair. “I want plenty.”
From his saddlebag, he retrieved a rolled-up blanket.
“Just happened to have that, did you?”
“Hey, I was a Boy Scout.”
She elbowed him. “You were not!”
He chuckled, feeling lighter, better than he had in ages. “Could have been if I’d wanted to.”
“You were too busy hitting on the Girl Scouts.”
“Yeah, there was that. All those little green uniforms.” He grinned and spread the blanket. Sitting down, he patted the spot beside him. “Sit with me. Nothing funny. Promise.”
She eyed him suspiciously, then gave in to the night, the moonlight, the peace and quiet of the moment. Gazing at the starry sky, she sighed. “I’d forgotten how different the sky is here. Away from city lights, you can really see it.”
“The man in the moon seems to be smilin’ tonight, like he knows some private joke.”
She lay back to study the stars and pointed. “Look at that cloud scudding past the moon. It’s shaped like a unicorn.”
“Uh-uh. A feisty stallion with a raised front leg. Probably lookin’ for his mare.”
Katie Sara mumbled something and rose up on one elbow. He knelt, laid a hand on her arm. “No. Don’t. I’ll behave.”
She studied him a second, then dropped back on the blanket. Reiner lay down beside her, too aware of the heat where their bodies touched.
At first the silence was so complete, it almost hurt his ears. Then came the deep call of a frog, answered by another, then the buzz of one, two, a dozen cicadas. Trees rustled in the summer breeze. Night sounds. Nature sounds. The smell of damp earth, of fresh air, of freedom whispered over them.
“There’s a plane,” he said. “Wonder where it’s headed?”
“Somewhere fun. Maybe Disneyland.”
He smiled in the dark. “Do you ever look at an airplane and picture the people up there, sittin’ in it? Wonder about their lives? Where they’re goin’ and why?”
“Yes.”
“Remember how you used to insist that someday you’d travel to every single capital city—just so you could say you’d done it?”
They laughed.
His throat tightened; his voice grew husky. “Do you remember this?”
He kissed her, and the world tilted on its axis. Her fingers fisted in his shirt. The years vanished right along with his good intentions. In a move as old as time, he wrapped her in his arms and drew her against him, her body warm and supple and oh, so, right.
Her mouth tasted sweeter now, fuller. The touch of her lips on his sent fire chasing straight to his belly. When their tongues touched, he almost lost it like some wet-behind-the-ears fourteen-year-old. The woman unmanned him with a touch—and he doubted she even knew it.
And if he were smart, he’d keep it that way. If she ever discovered the power she wielded, he was dog-meat.
His hand slid to the front of her blouse. Ran smack-dab into her first line of defense. The battalion of buttons. He groaned.
She nibbled his ear; her tongue…Ah!
Fingers trailed beneath the fabric of her blouse. Found room to maneuver without undoing those hellish buttons. Forgot about them as he explored the silky skin of her stomach, the tops of her breasts.
Kissing her mouth, her neck, he worked the catch of her bra. Released it. Splayed his hands over Heaven!
Her hands slid beneath his shirt, slid it up and over his head. Her fingers trailed over his shoulders, down his back, along his torso.
When he thought he’d surely die, he toed off his shoes, unzipped his jeans, and slid out of them. Then he undid the snap of Katie Sara’s jeans, slid the zipper down. Kissed her smooth, flat stomach. Ran his tongue over, into her belly button. His fingers slipped beneath the elastic of her silken panties.
“What are you doing?” She jerked upright, clipping his chin with her knee.
He rolled onto his back and rubbed his chin. Ahhh. Fifteen yard penalty! “What do you mean, what am I doin’?”
Working his jaw, he decided nothing was broken. He looked up as she hooked her bra. Watched her straighten her blouse, green eyes blazing.
Shit!
“Seems to me, sugar, the two of us were gettin’ ready to make love.”
“No.”
“What’s wrong with you?” He pulled back to study her.
“What’s wrong with me? You were doing this same thing with Gina last night. And it had—has—nothing to do with love. Lust. L-u-s-t. Can’t do it.”
“Oh, for…” He fell back onto the blanket.
“No, Reiner. I don’t play football.” She leaned down, put her finger under his bruised chin. Narrowed her eyes. “But that’s how you see all this. Today’s my turn, home field advantage. Tomorrow, you play an away game—back to Gina—or somebody else.” She snorted. “I don’t think so, Mr. Quarterback. I’m an only child. That whole sharing thing always seemed wrong to me. Never did get the hang of it. What’s mine is mine.” She threw his shirt at him.
“We’re beginnin’ to sound like a broken record, Ace. I told you. Nothing happened last night.”
“Nothing?”
He blushed, and even in the moonlight, she spotted it. “Ah-ha! The truth will out.”
“The truth will—” With a groan, he tucked an arm under his head to pillow it, then reached for her hand, but she pulled away. “Please, Ace, don’t do this.” It was as close to begging as he’d come since the backseat of his dad’s car. And it had been Katie Sara that time, too.
None of the other girls he’d dated needed much encouragement. Once he got their engines running, they were good to go. But not Ace. Oh, no. She was always shifting that mind of hers from drive into park. And dang if it didn’t always mean trouble…and frustration…for him.
“You’re sendin’ out real mixed signals here, Katie Sara.”
“No, I’m not.” She pushed her hair from her face and sighed. “All right, maybe I am.”
His heart did a sixty-yard dash in record time.
“But you caught me off-guard. It won’t happen again, Reiner.”
Takedown on the twenty-yard line.
“What we had is in the past.” She laid a hand on his bare chest, jerked it away as if burned. “We have no future.”
“Bull!”
“Put on your pants.”
“Maybe I don’t want to.”
“Up to you. It’ll be uncomfortable riding a Harley like that, though. I’ve heard of hanging loose, but…” She searched for her second shoe. “Take me home.”
“Sure. Of course.” He rolled to his feet and grabbed up his clothes. “Pull yourself together there; give me a minute, then I’ll take you back to the nunnery.”
Stuffing his legs into the pants and jamming his arms into the shirt, he growled, “I need to take a walk.” He headed into the darkness, leaving her with the cicadas for company.
When he returned, she stood right where he’d left her, arms folded across her chest. All buttoned up, prim and proper.
“What happened, Katie Sara?”
“I grew up.”
His hand slashed the air. “I don’t mean this…tonight. What happened twelve years ago? Why’d you leave without a word? You never called. Never wrote.”
Her chest rose and fell with her rapid breathing.
A tree threw shadows across her face, but he didn’t need to see her expression to feel her distress.
“Please, don’t ask,” she whispered.
“I think I have a right to know.”
Her answer shocked him. “I agree. You do. And I will tell you, but not tonight. I can’t.” She walked to the bike. “I need to go home. Please.”
Without another word, he whipped the blanket from the ground, shook it, and rolled it, then stashed it in the saddlebag.
The moon lost itself behind the clouds on the ride home. Still, the drive through the inky black sliced only by his solitary headlamp wasn’t half as dark as his heart. He pulled up in front of her house, tipped the bike so she could dismount, and without so much as a backward glance, roared off into the night, waking every dog in the neighborhood.
Their barks pummeled Katie Sara as the screen door slapped shut behind her. Why hadn’t she told him? It had to be done; it could all be over with now. But he’d surprised her tonight. She’d been unprepared. And yet hadn’t she had twelve years to prepare?
Half-blinded by tears, she struggled up the stairs, knowing she’d sleep no more tonight.
****
The humid night air whipped his face, and he urged the bike faster and faster. A cat ran out between two parked cars. He swerved automatically, tires squealing, and nearly dumped the Harley. Good job, Broderick. Make mincemeat out of yourself.
Stupid!
Throttling down, he cruised the side streets of Paradox. Lights were on in a few houses—insomnia, a good movie or book, worries over money, maybe, or a big day coming up. Other than that, it was him, his Harley, and the barking dogs.
All in all, good thing he’d done this tonight. Gotten it out of his system. For a few minutes there, he’d actually thought… But, no. Just a good old-fashioned case of lust—for a cold fish—and now he was free to move on. Thank you, Jesus.
He rolled down the streets, past Gina’s house, past his red ’Vette, and eventually to his own house.
His empty, soulless house.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Chapter Nine
A cup of convenience-store coffee in hand, a notebook tucked under her arm, Katie Sara opened the door of her alma mater and stepped into the high-ceilinged hall as a member of its faculty.
Boy, would HGTV love to get its hands on this place. The green on the walls and ceiling looked like the underbelly of something that had crawled from beneath a rock.
Rhonda, in the front office, glanced up as she passed, then raced into the hall. “You look awful,” she whispered. “What happened?”
“Don’t ask. Not one of my better mornings.”
“You okay?”
Katie Sara nodded. “Can we talk?”
“Yeah, let’s go.” She pointed down the hall. “Are you sick?”
Of moonlight, motorcycles, and bad boys, maybe. Her temperature spiked. Reiner’s finger, sliding beneath her—
Lost in thought, she stopped.
“Katie Sara?” Rhonda, a good ten feet in front of her, frowned.
“Coming!” Oh, jeez! Flushing, she fanned herself with her notebook and hurried to catch up with her friend. The old high school still had oak floors, and her short heels echoed hollowly. Where was everybody?
Mentally, Katie Sara called Reiner every foul name she’d ever heard, made up a few, then moved on to herself, running through every synonym for imbecile known to mankind.
“What’s up?” Rhonda asked.
“Stop it! That’s worse!” Hand up, Katie Sara ground to a halt in the middle of the hallway. “Don’t say another word!”
Grabbing Rhonda’s sleeve, she headed toward the girls’ room and all but pushed her inside. Kneeling, she peeked under every stall.
Rhonda stood just inside the door, watching her warily. Finally her petite blond friend had had enough. “What in the world is wrong with you? Not a good first-day impression.”
Certain they were alone, Katie Sara fell back against one of the stalls. “I know, but every single thing I think, every single thing anyone says reminds me of sex!” She turned tired, frustrated eyes to her friend.
Rhonda stared, dumbfounded.
Face tipped toward the ceiling, Katie Sara groaned. “I’m not kidding, Rhonda.” She closed her eyes. “This is serious. How can I teach sex ed if I’m constantly…constantly…”
“Turned on?” Rhonda laughed, and Katie Sara snarled and swatted her.
“Not funny! I’m teaching abstinence.”
“To thirteen and fourteen-year-olds, not twenty-nine-year-olds, for Heaven’s sake.”
“To people who aren’t married,” Katie Sara countered.
“Bull.”
“All right, smarty. How do you handle it?”
“Now you’re gettin’ personal.” Rhonda’s fair skin turned bright red.
“Sorry. You’re right. I withdraw the question.”
“No, I’ll answer it.” Her chin came up. “To be honest, Woody never really was all that great. He was interested in one thing. Himself. Never entered his mind to consider if he…satisfied me.” Disgusted, she grimaced. “Didn’t matter to him. He just did his thing, and that was that. And quite frankly, since I finally got strong enough to go it alone, I’ve been too busy and too tired for sex to be much of a priority.”
Eyes that held a mixture of sadness and hope met Katie Sara’s. “Maybe someday I’ll meet Prince Charming, and I’ll find out what all the fuss is about. I’m leaving my light on.” Her blue eyes sparkled. “Easy as shootin’ fish in a barrel to see all this has something to do with Reiner. I’d bet my grandmama’s pearls that you two have the answer to the sex question all figured out.”
“My problem doesn’t have anything to do with Reiner,” Katie Sara bit out.
At Rhonda’s quirked brow, she backed down. “Okay, maybe a little bit.” Sheepishly, she shared an abridged version of the moonlight ride, one that excluded the blanket interlude. “I didn’t sleep the rest of the night.”
“No, I wouldn’t imagine you did.”
“It’s been too long, Rhonda. I didn’t think I’d miss sex, haven’t up till now. The motorcycle ride stirred up old memories, that’s all.”
“Have you dated since you and Corbin broke up?”
Katie Sara moved to the sink and toyed with the water faucet, turning it on and off. “A couple of times.”
“Slept with anyone?”
“Well…”
“That’s what I thought. It’s been a year, right?
She lifted her eyes, met Rhonda’s in the speckled mirror. “Eleven months.”
“Nothing serious since then?”
“No, and I’m not sure the deal with Corbin was really all that serious. Our split didn’t leave me broken-hearted.”
Rhonda’s mouth kicked up in a cat-ate-the-mouse grin. “These…ah…feelings you’re having. They’ve been botherin’ you for quite a while?”
“No! That’s just it. All of a sudden—” She stopped. Recognized the trap her conniving pal had baited and set. She shook her head. “Uh-uh. You’re wrong.”
She strode across the room, pushed the door open and stepped into the hallway, Rhonda hot on her heels.
“Keep tellin’ yourself that, sugar, if it makes you feel better.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Suppose it had been Kip outside your window last night.”
“Kip’s married!”
“Oh, bother! I know that! I just pulled his name out of the air. Okay, how about—”
Katie Sara laid a hand on Rhonda’s arm.
A superb male specimen headed toward them. Bronzed and buff, she figured he must be a second cousin twice removed from the Greek gods. He rumbled good morning to Rhonda as he passed, but his tawny eyes zeroed in on Katie Sara. Brief exchanged smiles. A hint of warm masculine aftershave.
When he disappeared around the corner, Katie Sara murmured, “Nice butt. Seriously nice butt.”
“Dru Denn
ison, the chemistry teacher.” Hands on her hips, Rhonda faced her. “Okay, so here’s the question. Would you have ended up naked under the moonlight with him?”
“I said we went for a ride!”
“Uh-huh.”
“We didn’t get naked. Not completely.”
“Splittin’ hairs. And you didn’t answer the question.”
“God, did the CIA train you?”
Rhonda didn’t bat an eye. “The truth. Would you have gotten naked with Dru Dennison?”
“No.”
“Point made.”
Katie Sara sighed. “I have to get ready for class.”
“Of course you do.”
“It would only have been our first date!” she called after her friend. “Ask me again after our second or third one!”
****
“So how was school today, squirt?” Reiner leaned over to open the door of his ’Vette. He’d had Tim drive him over to Gina’s to pick it up. Talk about uncomfortable. He wouldn’t pull that stunt again.
Felicity shrugged, and Reiner noticed the black cropped-top was way too short for school. Way too short for public! And the black jeans were way too baggy. Practically falling off her. How had the outfit escaped Bel’s censorship? This whole daddy thing should be interesting.
One hand on the door, she said, “Some of the kids are staring at you. Some probably at the car, but most at you.”
“More likely, they’re starin’ at the good lookin’ girl hoppin’ in beside me.” He’d put the top down and hand-combed his fingers through his wind-blown hair.
“Get real!”
He grinned. “I am. Lose that nose-jewelry so a boy figures he can get close enough to kiss you, and who knows? But—” He pointed a finger at her. “Not on my watch. Come on, now. Toss your books in, and let’s go.”
“Don’t you hate that, Uncle Reiner? People always nosing around and snooping into your business?”
“You get used to it. Part of the package.” He shrugged. “First day okay? Considerin’ it’s summer school.” He pulled a face.
“Today was pretty sweet, actually.” She slid in and dumped her backpack on the floor. “Ms. McMichaels is cool.”
Moonlight, motorcycles and bad boys Page 7
