Power Play

by Warren, Nancy

  He met some of the people she’d told him about, including Ramona, who he remembered was a Wal-Mart employee and struck him as both sharp-featured and sharp-tongued.

  Leanne, the bride, gave a whoop and launched herself at him in a hug that left them both winded. “I am so happy to meet you!”

  The hug seriously disarranged her fake chest and when she pulled away from him a wad of tissue was hanging out so she looked like a grown-woman-size Kleenex dispenser. She glanced from one to the other. “I knew I was going to like you.” And then in a stage whisper they could probably hear back at the ice rink she hissed, “Sweet! Good going, cousin.”

  Leanne might be at her own stagette party, but she made a point of hanging around to talk with him and Emily. In spite of the ridiculous outfit she was wearing, and the drunken way she’d launched herself at him, he got the sense of a strong protective instinct. She’d be a hell of a mother, and right now he suspected her mothering instincts were on full alert on her cousin’s behalf. He liked her right away.

  Derek, her husband-to-be, couldn’t seem to be in the vicinity without touching his woman. He had a feeling those two would be burning up the sheets tonight.

  A pretty blonde with a jagged haircut that looked way too avant-garde for Elk Crossing wandered over. She had a delicate black dress on, bizarre stockings with huge black squares and weird clunky shoe-boots that he imagined were pretty stylin’. He counted eight earrings in one ear, and couldn’t help but wonder how much it had hurt to drill the silver post through the cartilage where her ear met her face. Beneath her sexy demeanor was a wistfulness he found intriguing.

  She sank to a seat across from Emily. Her eyes searched the surrounding area like a child looking for a lost pet.

  “Jonah, this is Kirsten.”

  They shook hands and he noticed that her black nail polish was a mess. Like she’d gnawed most of it off. She sat there for a minute. “What time is it?” she asked Emily.

  “Around ten, I think.”

  Once more the pretty brown eyes searched the area.

  “Did you lose something?”

  She took a sip of her drink, looked down into a black leather bag, pulled out a pack of cigarettes and then shoved it back again. “My boyfriend was supposed to meet me here.”

  “Are you still seeing Tyler?” Emily asked.

  She glanced down before nodding her head. As though she was ashamed.

  “How’s the job hunt going?”

  Kirsten shrugged. “There’s not much in my field.”

  “Not in Elk Crossing. There’s not much in anyone’s field in Elk Crossing. Are you looking in bigger cities?”

  “Of course I am. I want something better. But it’s not that easy to find a job in promotions, not in this economy.”

  “I know. But you’re smart and bright and have all kinds of potential. It’ll happen.”

  Kirsten looked down at her hands and began to scratch the polish off one nail with another. Which he supposed was slightly less unsightly than gnawing it off. “Tyler wants us to move in together, so we can save some money.”

  There was a beat of silence. He didn’t know Emily all that well but he could sense from the way her body tightened beside him that she thought this was a terrible idea.

  “Doesn’t Tyler still live with his mother?”

  “Yeah. We’d both live there. She’s fixing up her basement for us. But I don’t really want—”

  “Jonah, so that’s where you’ve been hiding yourself,” a grinning Sadhu said loudly, approaching the three of them. His teeth were so white you’d have thought he’d stopped to polish them on his way to the table.

  Next to Emily, Kirsten was the hottest woman in the room. He was surprised it had taken his buddy so long to get here.

  “My teammate Sadhu,” he said. “And this is—”

  “Hey, guys,” a new male voice said behind him.

  He bowed to the inevitable, not even surprised that the two single Paters were suddenly his closest friends. It was now official. Leanne’s stagette included the hottest women in the bar. “And this is Kevin.”

  The players introduced themselves and as Kevin stepped forward to Kirsten, Sadhu cut him off as smoothly as he’d cut off the Gettysburg Grandpas on their way to the net, stealing the puck with so much stealth they barely noticed it was missing until he’d scored.

  “I didn’t catch your name clearly,” Sadhu said, slipping into the vacant seat beside her. “Was it Kirsten or Kristen?”

  Kevin didn’t waste a lot of time on a lost cause. He took a swift glance around and settled on a well-endowed redhead named Lisa.

  Tyler, his mother and her basement seemed forgotten as Kirsten let herself enjoy Sadhu’s attentions. He was good at making a woman feel as if she was the only woman in the room, in the whole world, and soon Kirsten had stopped peeling away her nail polish. When she laughed, she even lost her wistful expression.

  Kevin and Lisa were getting on almost as well. Leanne and Derek were dancing so closely he hoped they’d remembered birth control.

  Jonah was surrounded by couples who were on their way to getting lucky.

  Unlike him. He took a sip of beer.

  He’d made Emily a promise that he wouldn’t hit on her and he tried to be a man of his word, but never had he regretted a promise more.

  He had a feeling, once they got back to the room and went to their separate beds, it was going to be a long, uncomfortable night.

  If only he hadn’t kissed her.

  9

  “AND NOW, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN,” the DJ boomed into his mic, “ladies’ night at Brandy’s continues with our famous Thursday Night Karaoke.”

  “Karaoke? You’re kidding me.” Jonah glanced at the people around him with an expression of acute horror. Sadhu and Kirsten were too busy to notice. But Emily answered him.

  “I wish it was a joke. Welcome to the biggest excitement in Elk Crossing on a Thursday night.”

  Jonah had shaved again since this morning, she was certain, but even so she could see the faint beard under his skin. He smelled good and the navy cotton shirt covered a torso she’d been eyeing for days.

  Why had she kissed him? All she could think about was how great his mouth had felt against hers, how her body had leaped to life and she’d all but crawled into his clothes when their bodies had touched.

  The only good thing was that the kiss had made Buddy back off, but she knew she was playing with fire. As far back as nursery school when she’d read all those fairy tales, she’d learned that it was never a good idea to tease a wolf.

  Especially if you happened to be sharing a hotel room with him.

  The DJ started things off with a rousing rendition of “Lady.”

  After the applause died down he yelled out, “I hear we have a hen party tonight. I want to call on Leanne the bride to come up and give us a number.”

  “No,” Leanne shrieked. “No.”

  But her friends Ramona and Lisa dragged her up to the stage with loud encouragement from the audience. Once at the mic, she held on to the pair of them so tightly that they ended up singing “Like a Virgin” as a trio. Very badly. And with a lot of giggling. The shout-outs coming from the stag party and Sadhu and Kevin weren’t helping.

  “I need to get out of here,” Jonah said after they’d finished. “My ears can’t take this kind of pain.”

  He chose an unfortunate moment to rise, for the DJ immediately stuck a spotlight on him. “All right. Our next contestant.”

  “No,” he said, but Leanne was grabbing him by the hand; obviously happy now that her ordeal was over to force other innocents into karaoke hell. The wedding party were all cheering, and Emily took one look at his face and started laughing so hard she had tears in her eyes.

  When Leanne used her free hand to grab on to Emily and tug her to her feet, suddenly it wasn’t so funny.

  “No, Leanne. We don’t want to sing. We were leaving.”

  “It’s my party and you’ll sing
if I want you to.” Then she giggled. “That’s almost a song.”

  “Okay, folks,” said the DJ after they’d been dragged up to the stage. “What are you going to sing for us?”

  “Give them a love song duet. They’re so in love,” Leanne called out, her voice beginning to sound hoarse.

  He took one look at the pair of them and said, “I’ve got exactly the song right here. Come on up, folks. Here’s a microphone for you, ma’am. And one for you, sir.”

  Emily blinked through a spotlight to look out at the crowd, her own people hooting and cheering, and then at Jonah, who seemed to be as stunned as she.

  The DJ fiddled with his machine, and said, “I’ve chosen something very special for you two lovers.

  “Now, follow the bouncing ball and sing along with the words.” The DJ clapped them both on the shoulder. “Have fun.”

  She glanced down at the screen and groaned. “No.”

  But the music had already started. She looked up and Jonah was giving her that laughing look that for some reason reminded her of the steamy kiss. It seemed to her that in that moment they made an unspoken agreement to get through this thing with as much style as possible. Retreat was out of the question and butchering the song seemed a little cruel to the people stuck listening to them. Besides, Emily could sing.

  The DJ said, “Let’s hear it for Emily and Jonah singing Sonny and Cher’s ‘I Got You Babe.’” Amid laughter, clapping and cheers, their cue arrived. She leaned closer to her mike. Jonah did the same, holding her gaze.

  They sang.

  He had a pretty good voice, too, she discovered, and seemed to feel that now they were up here, they should give the crowd something that was at least in tune.

  Emily had performed in all the high school musicals, so she soon fell into performance mode, rusty though it might be.

  The secret, she recalled her drama teacher telling them, to handling something really cornball was to play it straight. So she acted like she was Cher singing to her Sonny, and they were in love, except that he was Jonah and it wasn’t love she was feeling but a serious case of lust. When she belted out the lyrics, she pictured the two of them in that hotel room all night long and something in her tone must have expressed her sudden desire, or maybe it was the bump and grind she did with her hips, because the air grew thick with wolf whistles.

  When the song ended, Jonah pulled her to him for a kiss, and the crowd went wild. Well, Leanne and Derek’s wedding party went wild and they were loud enough for everyone.

  It was only supposed to be a silly kiss, she was certain, to accompany a karaoke duet of equal foolishness, but the second their mouths fused she felt the heat between them, the power of their mutual attraction, and everything inside her began to hum.

  Naturally, the wolf whistles, hoots and hollers only grew louder. Laughing, a little embarrassed and a lot turned on, she pulled away, executed a curtsy that would have impressed the queen of England and ran off the stage. Jonah was right behind her.

  She got back to their table and noticed he was no longer with her.

  “Oh, my God,” shrieked Leanne, “I’d forgotten you could sing.”

  “Really, I can’t. I was only goofing around.”

  The bride leaned closer. “You and Jonah are so hot together. Phew.” She fanned herself, sending the tiara with a pouf of tulle attached sliding down over one ear. “No wonder you’re always in such a hurry to get back to your hotel.”

  Instinctively, Emily’s gaze turned to where her internal radar informed her that Jonah was. He was leaning against one of the tables, a bottle of beer halfway to his lips, and he was looking at her. S-i-z-z-l-e.

  His eyes looked so dark from here she could lose herself in their shadow. His posture was casual but she felt that every cell of his body was alert. Waiting for her. For them.

  And how every cell in her body responded. Her heart sped up, her breathing grew suddenly shallow, and her skin started to tingle.

  He lifted the bottle to her in a silent toast.

  “You’re leaving, aren’t you?” Leanne demanded. Then she looked over at Jonah significantly. “Not that I blame you. He is hot.”

  She followed her cousin’s gaze. “I know.” However, she was at a stagette and took pride in not being the kind of woman who dumps her girlfriends when her guy shows up, so she said, “He’ll still be hot when I get him home. I’m in no hurry.” Liar.

  “Good. Have another drink. It’s my bachelorette party and I insist.” The tipsy bride waved down their cocktail waitress.

  “Drinks for my bridesmaids.”

  Emily sent a helpless look to Jonah. She wanted to leave. With him. Now. But she was also well aware that her duties as a bridesmaid included seeing Leanne through to the end of the night. She was sort of hoping that Derek could speed up the end of the stagette, but he was off laughing and joking with his friends so it didn’t seem as though that was going to happen.

  As she settled back onto a bar stool, her cell phone rang. How annoying was that? “Sorry,” she said to Leanne, who hadn’t even noticed with all the other commotion going on around them. She picked up the phone and flipped it open, before she realized that it wasn’t a call, but a text message. Her partners often texted her about things, so she pressed the icon.

  The message read:

  Pickup confirmed. Saturday. Midnight.

  Huh?

  “What are you doing with my phone?” Buddy stormed toward her from the direction of the men’s bathroom looking irate.

  Instinctively she pulled the phone back from his outstretched palm. “It’s my phone.”

  But even as she pulled the phone her way the obvious truth hit her. This wasn’t her phone. It didn’t have the right heft in her palm. Its shape was slightly different.

  She looked down at the phone. “Sorry,” she said sheepishly. “I thought it was mine. Here.”

  Instead of being nice about an honest mistake he grabbed the cell from her, his eyes narrowing in fury. “Did you answer it?”

  “No.”

  She’d read a text, which wasn’t the same thing as answering a phone, and based on the way he was already glaring at her she certainly wasn’t going to tell him what she’d done.

  It had been an innocent mixup.

  Fortunately, at that moment a welcome diversion occurred. The DJ was booming over the sound system once again. “Here’s a special song dedicated to our bride, Leanne.”

  They all looked around and Leanne cried out, “Derek, what are you doing?” She glanced at Emily in mock panic. “He can’t sing. And he’s shy. What is he doing? He must be drunk.”

  But Derek didn’t seem particularly drunk, not that they were perhaps in the best state to judge. He found Leanne in the crowd and said, “I want to climb a mountain for you, slay a dragon with my bare hands, write your name in the clouds to prove how much I love you. But I guess you know how hard this is for me.” He gulped and they could see his Adam’s apple bob. “I love you, Leanne.”

  “Oh, Derek,” Leanne said, grabbing a tissue from her overstuffed bra and wiping her eyes. “I love you, too.”

  Derek wasn’t the greatest singer in the world and Emily wasn’t sure the king himself would have recognized this version of “Love Me Tender,” but she didn’t remember when she’d felt so emotional over a sentimental old love song.

  The way Derek was looking at Leanne, as though his heart and soul belonged to her, was enough to touch even a confirmed cynic and Emily found herself reaching into the leopard bra cups for her own tissue. Between herself, Leanne and the rest of the stagette girls, Leanne went from a double D to a B cup before the song was over.

  Nobody was ever going to mistake Derek for Harry Connick Jr. but neither could anyone doubt the depth of his love for his bride. The audience was surprisingly silent as he sang his way through the verses, but responded with rousing cheers and applause when he was done.

  Leanne just got out of her seat and ran toward him, launching herself into his a
rms as he descended from the stage. She jumped up, wrapping her legs around his waist and her arms around his neck. “I love you,” she sobbed.

  Derek just hoisted her higher, gave a single-handed wave to the two stag groups and kept walking in the direction of the exit.

  “Well,” Ramona said after the bride and groom had left and a stunned silence ensued. “I think the stagette is officially over.”

  10

  EXCITEMENT, ANTICIPATION, a thrill of nerves skittered through Emily’s system as she opened the door to the hotel room she and Jonah were sharing. He was right behind her and she could swear she could feel his body heat as he stood there.

  She’d probably been this sexually primed, pumped up, excited, horny before. She simply couldn’t remember when. But then she’d never in her life experienced foreplay in the form of a leaky roof or karaoke, either.

  Jonah had been uncommonly silent on the ride home, which she assumed was his way of coping with an attraction she knew he felt as strongly as she.

  The door opened. She stepped inside, almost smiling when she heard the steady drip of the leaking roof spilling into the buckets. Her body stirred.

  She stepped away from the door, watched Jonah enter and take his time locking up behind him. She’d pictured them throwing themselves at each other the second the door shut, but she was a little hesitant. All she needed was the slightest move from him and she’d be in his arms.

  He paused. Looked at her. A second ticked by. Three. Five. He scowled. “You want to use the bathroom first?”

  Was he fussy about kissing a woman before she’d brushed and flossed? She had no idea, but some of her lust was cooling. He seemed so strange. Grumpy, almost.

  “Okay. Sure.”

  She put down her purse, toed off her heels and headed for the bathroom. The stack of her good lingerie was on the desk waiting to be put away. She’d assumed she’d be naked by now, instead she was trying to decide whether she should slip into one of her sexy nighties or what. It didn’t help that Jonah was watching her every move like a guy looking for trouble.