by Cach, Lisa
When Holly and Erica came home half an hour later, Kelsey was singing along in front of the television as she tried to copy Beyoncé’s music video moves. Holly’s jaw dropped open when Kelsey got her skinny butt to shimmy in ways it had never moved before.
“Hi!” Kelsey called over the music. “Can we go out dancing tonight? I want to go dancing!”
Holly found the remote and muted the TV. “Kelsey, what’s going on?”
“Nothing! I got some new shoes. Look!” She held up a foot. “They want to go dancing.”
“The shoes do?”
“Yeah! Erica, can you fix my hair? I think maybe I need to liven up the color. I’m thinking red, red, red! Fire engine red!”
“Is she on something?” Erica whispered to Holly.
“I got new shoes!” Kelsey said, standing still now and pointing to her feet. “I’m on new shoes!”
“Yeah, we see them,” Holly said. She picked up the empty wine glass on top of the TV. “How much did you drink?”
Kelsey shrugged. “Do you have anything I could wear tonight?”
Holly and Erica exchanged glances.
“I could be back in fifteen minutes with the dye,” Erica, a hairdresser by trade, said in a low voice. “We’ve been wanting to do a makeover on her for ages. I say we take the opportunity and run with it. Who cares if she’s drunk?”
“I’m not drunk. I’m efflorescing!”
Holly dug in her purse and handed Erica a wad of cash. “Get the dye.”
Chapter Five
“I can’t believe I let you talk me into this,” Jack said.
“It’s one of his last nights of freedom,” his old friend Richard said. “On Sunday my baby brother is delivering himself into the clutches of one Marielle Huntington, may God help him. She’s a ‘short leasher’. He’ll never have another night out with the boys.”
Ahead of them on the sidewalk, their arms around each other’s shoulders, three younger men staggered forward together, hooting and howling and staring too long at groups of women. It was approaching one o’clock in the morning, and the nightclubs were hitting their stride.
“I’m getting old, man,” Jack said. “I wish I were home in bed.” Four short hours ago he’d gotten off a fourteen-hour flight from Kuala Lumpur, and he was beat.
“Look at all the hotties!” Richard said, the sweep of his arm taking in a group of drunk, muffin-topped women huddling together, sucking on cigarettes. “One of these beauties could be yours tonight!”
“My lust knows no bounds.”
“Suffer through one more club, and then I absolve you. You’ll be free to go.”
“One more.”
Their group – twelve in all – joined the slowly moving line outside a basement nightclub, the thump of over-amplified music banging out onto the street.
“Can I tell you again how glad I am I moved out of downtown?” Jack said, slipping in earplugs to bring the decibel level down a notch.
“Yeah, yeah, but you’re never going to meet anyone living in that neighborhood. It’s no place for a single guy.”
They reached the front of the line and worked their way into the club. The rest of the group was already absorbed into the dancing mob. Jack pointed at the stairs to the balcony, where there were civilized things like tables and cocktail waitresses. Richard followed.
“I never met anyone downtown, either. It’s quiet in my neighborhood. I like it. No one plays loud music.”
“You are turning into an old man. Next you’re going to be yelling at kids to get out of your yard.”
“Damn right,” Jack said, snagging a table at the rail and sitting down. “I don’t want them messing with the goats.”
“With the what?”
But Jack didn’t hear him. His attention had been snagged by a woman on the dance floor below, her mane of glossy red hair bobbing and swinging with her movements. Her skin was as white as the moon, and glowed in contrast to the backless, short black dress she wore. Half a dozen men were gyrating around her, vying for her attention, but she was lost in her own world. Arms above her head, she swaying and undulated with her eyes closed, her lips slightly parted. It almost looked like she was having sex.
Her eyes opened and locked with his, the twenty feet between them too little to keep the power of her gaze from pinning him in place. Her mouth moved, and for one insane moment he thought he’d read his name on her lips.
“Jack! Jack!” Richard shook his arm.
“What?!” he demanded, angry at the interruption. He turned and saw the waitress standing beside their table.
“What do you want to drink?” Richard asked.
“I don’t care. Anything. Gin and tonic.” He looked back to the dance floor, and she was gone. A cry of frustration rose in his throat and he stood, leaning over the rail, trying to spot her.
“What’s the matter with you?” Richard demanded after the waitress left. “Jack? Jack!”
“Where’d she go?” he asked, hanging as far as he could over the rail. He stood straight and scanned the rest of the balcony. “She can’t have disappeared!”
“Who are you talking about?”
“Didn’t you see her? The knockout redhead on the dance floor.”
“It doesn’t look like your long flight is bothering you now,” Richard said dryly. He pulled on the hem of Jack’s sport coat. “Christ, man, sit down. She probably ran off because you’re acting like a deranged stalker.”
Jack eased back into his seat, eyes still scanning the club. “I think I just saw my future wife.”
“Oh for crying out loud. Wake up, Jackie boy! I think you fell asleep with your eyes open. You’re dreaming.”
“You’re right.” An involuntary laugh rose in his throat. “Maybe I have lost it. I don’t even want to get married yet.”
Richard was staring at something over Jack’s shoulder, his eyes round as poker chips. “Ho-ly crap, you were not kidding.”
The hairs rose on the back of Jack’s neck and he slowly turned. The redhead was walking towards him, trailed by two pretty women as handmaidens. The club went silent around him and all he heard was the ringing of silver bells in his ears and the racing of his own heartbeat. He popped the earplugs out and shoved them in a pocket.
The redhead stopped in front of him. “Hi.”
Jack and Richard both stumbled to their feet, Jack’s chair falling over behind him. He scrambled to right it, feeling like a klutz, fearing that any chance he had with her was already slipping away. “Hi,” he said, struggling to find words to follow. He gestured at their vacated seats, and grabbed a temporarily empty seat from another table, sliding it into place.
“Thank you,” she said, and the trio of eye candy sat down.
Jack and Richard stole more chairs and crowded into place between the women. Jack introduced himself and Richard, the redhead’s piercing blue-green eyes on him the whole time, gently laughing at some secret joke.
“I’m… Rosa,” she said, offering her hand. It was surprisingly rough and strong. “Rosa Rugosa. This is my… cousin, Holly, and our friend Erica.”
Jack was vaguely aware that the handmaidens looked confused and uncomfortable, but Richard would take care of them. The waitress returned with his and Richard’s drinks, and took new orders for the women. Rosa asked for a gin gimlet.
Gin gimlet, gin gimlet. He had to remember that.
“I saw you dancing,” he said to Rosa, feeling like an idiot even as he said it. Of course she knew he’d seen her. Her proximity was fogging his rational thought: His arm was up against hers, their faces only a foot apart. He could see dewdrops of sweat on her skin, and the places where her hair had stuck to her forehead and neck. She was breathing heavily, still recovering from her exertions on the dance floor.
He barely controlled the urge to lick the sweat off her.
“Do you want to get out of here and go get something to eat?” he asked, and immediately cursed himself. Too forward, too fast! Dammit, where was his
self-control?
“Sure.”
“Great!” They got up and he surreptitiously handed some cash to Richard to cover the drinks.
“Wait a minute,” the brunette handmaiden said, grabbing Rosa’s arm as they went past. “Where are you going?”
“It’s okay,” Rosa said. “Don’t worry.”
The brunette – he’d forgotten her name and that of the blonde – got up and pulled Rosa aside, whispering furiously to her.
“I’m not a psycho,” he offered to the remaining handmaiden. “Really.”
“Rosa is more naïve than she looks. We don’t want to see her get herself into trouble.”
“He’s not much trouble,” Richard said. “He wants to marry your friend.”
The blonde raised a brow. “You really don’t know her,” she said, the words heavy with unspoken meaning.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Jack bristled.
“It means you don’t know her,” Richard said, then he leaned close to the blonde. “So what gives? What’s the story?”
She tightened her lips and shook her head.
The confab between cousins ended and Rosa rejoined him, sliding her hand into the crook of his arm. Her touch sent an electric jolt down his torso and straight to his loins. “Jack, would you please show my cousin your driver’s license?” Rosa asked.
He’d show her his bank statements and give her the password to his debit card if it meant she’d let Rosa leave with him. He dug out his wallet and handed her the card. She copied down the information on a piece of paper from her purse and then looked up under her brows at him, like a suspicious police woman. “Is this information current?”
“Uh, no. I just bought a house, you see, and I haven’t had time…” he trailed off. “Here, let me write down the new address.” He took the paper and wrote, then handed it back.
Rosa whispered something in the brunette’s ear. She nodded, not looking happy about it. “You call me if you need anything,” she said. “I don’t care what time it is.”
And then finally, miracle of miracles, he had Rosa on his arm and they stepped out of the club and into the cool, open air.
Chapter Six
The happy, hazy glow of unreality through which Kelsey had been viewing the evening slipped a bit as she and Jack walked up the street from the nightclub. The night air was cold on her damp skin, its chill slapping her into consciousness and reminding her that in the real world, there were consequences to her actions. She shivered.
Jack shrugged out of his jacket and draped it over her shoulders, then put his arm around her, enveloping her in instant warmth. Chill reality slid back into hiding and she snuggled against his side, luxuriating in the contact and the attention. No guy had ever done the borrowed-coat thing for her before.
This is was what it’s like to be one of the beautiful, careless people, she thought. I like it.
Since putting on her new shoes, her fears and inhibitions had gone into hiding. She didn’t care what she said, she didn’t care what people thought of her, she didn’t care if she made a fool of herself. The only emotion that motivated her was desire: to be beautiful, to dance, to be in the company of a handsome man. She’d lost the power to say no to herself, and it was glorious.
“I think we have enough time to get to Dick’s Drive-In before they close,” Jack said.
“All right.” Agreement came easily to her while she wore the shoes. Everything came easily: dancing, beauty, conversation. Men.
She peeked up at Jack. His face was stark in the harsh amber glow of the streetlights, his arm around her moving her along as if afraid she might bolt and escape him.
Holly’s concern was beginning to make a vague sort of sense. What did she truly know about Jack? Not enough to make going off alone and half drunk with him in the middle of the night a good idea. She wasn’t afraid, but cold logic told her that this was not smart.
Kelsey tried to stop, but her feet disobeyed her and kept on walking. There wasn’t so much as a hesitation in her forward movement.
Uh-oh.
She looked down at her feet, prancing swiftly up the sidewalk in the high heels. They looked like they knew where they wanted to go, logic be damned.
And wasn’t that really where she wanted to go? To hell with caution, that’s what tonight was about. To hell with hesitation and doubt, self-censorship and stifled desires.
They reached his car; it was low, sporty, and silver. He opened the door for her and she slid into the passenger seat, careful to keep her thighs together as the skirt rode up her legs.
“What do you do for a living?” Kelsey asked as he got in the driver’s seat and started the car. The question rolled easily off her tongue without her usual worries over offending someone or making a fool of herself.
“I’m a project manager for global event marketing for the video game division of a software company,” he said, pulling out onto the street.
“What does that mean?”
“It’s marketing, basically. We plan events to gain publicity for our games, and also look for ways to partner our games to other events.”
“Do you travel a lot?”
“Too much.”
“You don’t enjoy it?” she asked, surprised. “I would love to be able to travel.”
“Everyone thinks it sounds glamorous to travel for work, but after the novelty wears off it’s a slog. You’re away from friends and family and you’re working fourteen-hour days in unfamiliar cities. You don’t know where to eat, you don’t even know where to buy toothpaste, and your body can’t figure out what time it is. The constant change in environment is exhausting.”
“Sounds miserable,” Kelsey said. Holding up her end of a conversation with a man was a lot easier than she’d known. All she had to do was ask him questions about himself.
“Maybe I oversold the negatives,” he said, looking over at her with a grin. “It’s not that bad. I can handle it better than the people who have spouses and kids at home, and I do make an effort to explore and talk to the locals. I always have to leave a place before I’m ready, though; before I feel like I’ve gotten more than a taste of it. Not even a taste – more like the whiff of food you sometimes get outside a restaurant, when you’re hungry but on your way to someplace else. My job has left me with an enormous appetite for places I don’t have time to go back and see.”
“Rush rush rush.”
“Yeah,” he said, changing lanes and turning into the parking lot of Dick’s Drive-In. He parked and they got out of the car, walking together to one of the windows. A dozen other club-goers were hanging around, waiting for food or wolfing down burgers. Dick’s was a long-standing fixture in the late-night food map for Seattleites, the ‘50s era architecture giving it a retro-chic air.
“I think you might be the type to thrive on busy-ness,” she said. They stood close together, Kelsey’s arm brushing his.
“Maybe.”
She smiled at him.
“I can’t go a hundred miles an hour all the time, though. I’m trying to find space for the important things in life.”
She didn’t even have to talk! Smiles and attention were all he needed. Why hadn’t she figured this out about men sooner?
They ordered and moved aside, standing with the other couples waiting on fries and milkshakes. A jostling tumult erupted amongst a group of loud young men, but it seemed to be happening on the other side of a glass wall. She felt protected from the other patrons, shielded as she was by Jack’s body. She saw his gaze go to the rowdy guys, and he shifted his position to put himself more squarely between her and them.
“What are the important things in your life?” she asked, pulling edges of his jacket close around her.
“I’m still trying to figure that out.” He met her eyes. “The only thing I know for sure is that I want someone to share it with.”
Her heart went ker-thunk in her chest and she felt heat in her cheeks. He reached over and traced his fingertips down the sid
e of her face, down her neck, and then slid his warm hand under her hair, along the back of her neck. With gentle pressure he pulled her towards him.
Her stomach dropped and her limbs went weak. She let him tilt back her head, her lips parting. As his face lowered to hers she closed her eyes, dissolving into the sensation of touch. She was exquisitely aware of the cold air on her legs, the silken liner of his jacket on her arms, and the heat of his hand on her neck and of his body a few inches from hers. His lips brushed over her mouth once, then again, and then she felt the full pressure of his kiss. He slid his other hand inside the jacket and around her waist, pulling her up against him.
Kelsey lost all strength in her legs. She clutched at his shoulders for support and felt the hardness of his thigh against her sex as she sagged against him. She pressed herself against it, hunger rousing in her.
He deepened the kiss, and beneath the jacket she felt his hand slide down to squeeze her buttock. She moaned into his mouth, and he lifted her off the ground, pressed like wallpaper to his body.
“Get a room, will ya?” someone said loudly. “Kee-rist!”
“Two shakes!” the girl at the food window called. It was their order. “Two shakes! Two vanilla shakes?”
She felt Jack’s chuckle in his chest as he lowered her back to the ground and released her. “The gods have spoken,” he said.
She barely processed his words, standing stunned and mussed while he retrieved their milkshakes from the window. There were no thoughts in her head; she was lost in sensation, her body throbbing with aroused passions.
Jack stuck her milkshake in her hand and with an arm around her shoulders led her back to the car. “Let’s go to my place.”
She nodded. Inside the car she stuck the untasted milkshake into the cup holder, then leaned back in the seat and like a dumb animal stared at Jack. He caught her gaze, and when she knew he was looking at her she slowly slid her hand up her bare thigh and closed her eyes. A small part of the normal Kelsey watched her actions and was horrified. The rest of her purred with satisfaction when she heard Jack’s helpless moan and felt his lips come down hard against her own, and his hand slip inside the loose neckline of her dress. He massaged her naked breast as if his palm was starving for the feel of it. He paused only long enough to fumble for the seat back release and dropped her to a reclined position. “Sorry,” he mumbled against her mouth, then plunged his tongue inside.
