Beefcake & Retakes

by Fennell, Judi

  Never in his wildest dreams had he conjured up this scenario.

  “Hey, sweetheart.” He swooped in with a kiss to her neck to distract her while he took the flute from her hand so she wouldn’t complain.

  That flush on her cheeks when he came up for air said there would be no complaining.

  Or it could just be the effects of the champagne.

  But what was his excuse?

  “Nice to see you, too, Tanner.” Tamra smirked at him. “Quite the greeting for the woman you’ve been married to for seven years.”

  He looked at her. Did she know something? “Tamra.” He tucked Juliet’s arm around his waist. “Mind if I steal Juliet away?”

  “Be my guest.” She raised her eyebrows as he steered Juliet toward a small café table in a grove of potted palm trees Delia had probably rented for the occasion.

  Yeah, Tamra knew something.

  “Tanner, that wasn’t nice.” Juliet’s words were a bit slurred.

  “Neither is getting drunk at Delia’s party.” He put his hand in the small of her back to steady her. At least, that was his story.

  “I’m not drunk.”

  “Let’s keep it that way.”

  “Let go.” She shoved him, but he had his arm locked around her.

  “Juliet, don’t create a scene.”

  “Why not?” She shoved some hair off her face with the palm of her hand, not the delicate, graceful Juliet he’d always known. “Delia would love it. And then no one will be surprised when you leave. I should put on a really good show. And maybe you could even leave now. I can tell Nana you got called away on business. She’d believe me. She always believes me.”

  “I’m not going to do that and you know it. Otherwise you wouldn’t have asked me to come in the first place. You love your grandmother; you wouldn’t do anything to hurt her. And neither would I.”

  Juliet’s big blue eyes filled with tears and that full bottom lip that he’d loved to suck on pouted. “I don’t ever want to hurt anyone. Never ever.”

  Oh boy. Those three glasses of champagne had gone straight to her head. She’d always been a lightweight; he didn’t know why he thought time would have changed that.

  Because time had changed other things about Juliet.

  He wasn’t going to think about that. “Come on, Jules. I think we should leave.”

  “I don’t wanna.” She hopped onto one of the stools.

  Her dress hiked up her legs, revealing more tanned, toned thighs—

  “Jules.”

  She draped her bare arms on his shoulders. “I like when you call me that, Tanner. No one else does.”

  That’s because she hated the name. He’d only started calling her that when he hadn’t known how to tell her he’d liked her back in fifth grade. So he’d annoyed her.

  Stupid, really, but pre-pubescent boys weren’t known for their logic and analytical thinking. It’d gotten her to pay attention to him, so he’d kept doing it.

  Later, it had become a term of endearment that she liked. Something just between them. Like the three taps.

  She’d tapped him earlier that way. He hadn’t responded. Because those three taps had shot straight to his gut with a thud. Not so much her touch—because it was a “barely there” touch—but what those taps meant.

  God, if only he could still trust in that sentiment.

  “Let’s go home, Jules. I’ve had enough.”

  “You? Had enough? Tanner, you never drink too much.”

  “I didn’t mean alcohol.”

  She leveled her gaze with his, her perfect lips twisting sideways as she tried to figure out what he meant.

  “Ohhhhh…” She tapped him on his lips. “Gotcha. Okay, then, we can go. We should say goodbye to Delia.” She hopped down and would have taken off, but he caught her at the waist.

  “Really? You want to give her a chance to comment on the amount of champagne you’ve had?”

  Juliet shoved her fist to her hip. “I haven’t had a lot of champagne.”

  “For other people, no, you haven’t. But your limit is one and you’ve had three times that amount.”

  “You were counting?”

  “I was watching. Alcohol tends to loosen tongues and we don’t want to blow our cover story.”

  She licked her lips. “Is it going to loosen your tongue, Tanner?”

  He didn’t say anything. He couldn’t.

  It took her a few seconds before she realized what she’d said.

  Her hand flew to her lip sand those gorgeous blue eyes opened wide. “Ooops. I didn’t mean—”

  “It’s okay, Julies. Let’s just get out of here.”

  For a second, the briefest possible second, he heard those words and imagined an entirely different meaning.

  One that stuck with him the entire drive back to her place.

  Chapter Fifteen

  “I wouldn’t mind, you know. If the beer loosened your tongue.” Juliet trailed her hand along the hood of her Mercedes as she headed toward her front door. “I mean, we are still married.”

  Not a safe topic of conversation. Best not to say anything. It was the champagne talking for Juliet, but if he spoke, it’d be all him.

  And with what he’d like to say…

  Man, if only they could just have sex. Just jump into bed and scratch that itch, as it were.

  “Tanner? Did you hear me?” She planted both hands on the hood of the car behind her and leaned back, trying to be provocative if her statement was anything to go by…

  She was succeeding, dammit. But it wasn’t a surprise. Juliet was sexy no matter what she did. She could be covered in mud and she’d be beautiful.

  Dammit. He didn’t need this. Bad enough he was still attracted to her, but to have her basically offering everything he wanted—

  And everything he didn’t. He couldn’t trust her. Trust was huge. The biggest part of a relationship after attraction and respect.

  So you’re attracted to her and you respect who she’s become. Trust can be rebuilt.

  His damn libido again. If he listened to it, he’d never get out of bed.

  And that would be a bad thing, why?

  Because he didn’t take advantage of people, and doing anything with Juliet right now would be taking advantage of her.

  Do you hear yourself? Dude, she took advantage of you. Your feelings, your trust, your future. Turnabout is fair play.

  He shut down the voice. Shut down the images. Shut down the temptation.

  “Tanner?”

  Shut down Juliet—by grabbing one of her arms and tugging her after him into her house, ignoring the top button that had come undone, threatening to give him more than a peek at what was beneath the bodice. “Coffee, Juliet. Now.”

  She stumbled after him. “I don’t have coffee.”

  “Tea, then. I know you have tea.”

  “I don’t want tea. It’s already too hot out.”

  It was too hot in, but that didn’t seem to register with her.

  Or maybe it did…

  “You’ve had too much champagne.”

  “Is there really such a thing as too much champagne?” She giggled after that, trailing her fingertips along the back of the railing up her front porch.

  “Yes. There is. And you’re the poster child for it.” He held out his hand. “Inside.”

  She made a big production of exhaling as she tried to sweep past him in her best Southern belle flounce. He’d always loved watching her do that because she was so damn cute when she did it.

  Things hadn’t changed in that arena.

  “You’re awfully bossy. And it’s not even your house.” She leaned against the back of the chair that divided her living room from her foyer and crossed her arms.

  That motion had been designed by the devil to tempt men more than any apple could have. And he was no saint.

  “Juliet, please. You’ve had a little too much to drink. Let’s get you some tea and you’ll feel better.”

  “
I feel just fine, thank you very much.” She crossed her arms the other way and the bodice gaped dangerously. “And I don’t need any tea.”

  “Yes, you do.”

  “Why? Whatcha gonna do about it if I don’t drink it? You going to punish me, Tanner?”

  The comment tossed images of her on her stomach, with that sweet ass in the air and—

  No, he’d never be able to hurt Juliet. Not even if she begged him.

  Jesus, man, you got it bad. Question is, what are you going to do about it? The woman is straight-out coming on to you. You gonna turn her down?

  As much as it pained him—and he meant that literally—yes, he was going to turn her down. It’d be one thing if she were in full command of her faculties, but compromised?

  No way in hell.

  Tanner Wentworth didn’t take advantage of drunk women.

  He’d never had to and he wasn’t going to start now. Especially with his wife.

  Juliet heard herself say the words and wondered where her nerve came from.

  Uh, the bottom of three glasses of champagne?

  Actually, it might have been four.

  Probably not the best idea to drink that much, but with Delia’s comments and having to put up a front for their friends… man, did it feel good right about now.

  Tanner felt good right about now.

  She stood up and uncrossed her arms. Tanner liked her boobs. And she liked him liking them. And if he could focus on them instead of the past, if he could be in the moment now, maybe, just maybe, they could get beyond the mistakes she’d made and move forward. Together.

  It was a shot she wanted desperately to take and if the champagne was giving her the balls to say what she wanted to say, what did she have to lose?

  “So whatcha gonna do, Tan? Whatsamatter? Can’t come up with anything? That’s not like you.” She walked toward him and ran her finger along his beltline. “It wouldn’t be wrong, you know.”

  He squeezed his eyes shut and she made sure to brush her hair against his bicep. He’d always liked her to trail her hair over his skin. Mostly in other, um, more sensitive areas, but Tanner loved her hair. Loved bunching it up in his fist to keep her in one place…

  “Juliet.” His voice was tight. “Stop.”

  “Whatever you say.” She stopped all right. Right beside him. Facing him. So her breasts were on either side of his arm.

  A muscled in his jaw ticked. “Where’s the tea?”

  “In the kitchen. But I really don’t want any.”

  “But I really want you to have some.”

  So he said, yet he didn’t take a step away.

  She tilted her head and her hair slid over her shoulder, the ends brushing his arm again.

  She caught a quick shiver. “Why?”

  “Why?”

  “Yeah, why? Why do you want me to have tea?”

  “To sober you up.”

  “Well maybe I don’t want to be sobered up. Not yet anyway.”

  He looked down at her then, his brows arching and, if she wasn’t mistaken, interest in his eyes.

  She didn’t want to be mistaken. She also didn’t want to be imagining things. It was one thing if he was interested; it was entirely something else if he was humoring her.

  He swallowed. Hard.

  He wasn’t humoring her.

  He also wasn’t avoiding her.

  She wanted to make the first move. But even with all the champagne, she couldn’t. It had to come from him. Otherwise he’d blame her for leading him on.

  “Juliet…”

  “I promise I won’t tell if you won’t.” She tacked on a smile to make it easy for him. So he wouldn’t see all her hopes and dreams tied up in this conversation.

  One kiss. That was all she wanted. All she needed. All they needed. He’d take one kiss and he’d see—

  “No.” He shook his head and cleared his throat, and this time, he did step back. “No.”

  “Really?” Nothing like a buzz-kill to kill her buzz. And she couldn’t believe it. He’d really turned away from her? Really didn’t want to kiss her? Well thank God she’d had the four glasses of champagne. She might just want to go find a few more to drown the rest of her sorrows since the effect of those three had suddenly—and drastically—been reduced thanks to his lack of interest.

  Tanner swallowed hard again. Clenched his fists. Rolled his head like he did back in the day to loosen it before a game to ease the tension.

  Maybe he wasn’t as disinterested as he was trying to be.

  “Okay, Tanner, I guess I can’t force you to want to kiss me.” She flipped her hair back and let the strap of her dress slip over her shoulder, putting as much blasé into her little speech as she could muster. Let him think it was no big deal. He’d stew on that. And then he’d—

  Kiss her.

  By pulling her toward him with a hand on the back of her neck, his lips grinding down on hers, and his rock-hard chest pressed against her aching breasts, he ran his hand down her back and cupped her butt and pulled her against him where she felt—

  Oh yeah. He wanted her.

  Juliet sighed into his mouth, giving his tongue the entrance they both wanted. She slid her fingers thorough his hair, loving the way it curled over them, a bit longer than before. She stroked her thumb along his jaw, feeling his mouth open to devour hers, his tongue sweeping through hers, demanding hers dance with it.

  God, she’d always loved kissing Tanner. The one time she’d played spin-the-bottle and had to kiss J.D. and Rick hadn’t been anything like the first kiss with Tanner. Sparks had flown, colors had burst behind her eyelids, and goose bumps had set up camp all over her skin.

  Just like now.

  She tugged his hair, trying to get closer. She grabbed his butt, dragging him against her and—hell—she wanted to do a lot more with Tanner than this.

  He backed her up against the chair, practically bending her over it with the force of his kiss.

  She wanted his hands on her breasts. Wanted him to drag her shirt over her head and lick and tease and kiss and suck them until her legs gave out. She wanted to be naked and writhing with Tanner and she wanted to give him such pleasure he’d never think about leaving again.

  He tried to drag his lips from hers. “We need to stop.”

  She wouldn’t let him go, sucking his bottom lip into her mouth as she shook her head. “That’s the one thing we shouldn’t do.”

  He gripped her arms and Juliet had a feeling that, no matter what she said, she wouldn’t get him to change his mind.

  Then do something…

  She pressed her breasts against his chest. Wrapped one leg around his calf. Groaned as she opened her own mouth beneath his, ready to beg for this. One night. That’s all. Just one more night.

  Tanner slid his hand around her back again as he took the kiss deeper.

  But only for a few seconds.

  Then he was pulling away, straightening, and running a hand across his mouth.

  Erasing the taste of her?

  Well, damn. Juliet let her foot drop to the floor.

  “That was a very bad idea.”

  “I didn’t think so.” She wasn’t going to pretend that flame didn’t exist between them. His brain might have taken over at the end and put a stop to their kiss, but his body had recognized what it wanted and had been on its way to get it. And she would have let him.

  She put her palm against his cheek. “You still turn me on, Tanner. And we’re both adults. There are no illusions about what this is. You’re divorcing me in a few weeks; this doesn’t have to be anything more than tonight.”

  He opened his mouth to say something but then closed it.

  He did it again.

  “I…” The third time was the charm as he finally managed a full sentence. “I don’t even know how to reply to that.”

  “Perhaps you don’t have to. Maybe all you have to do is kiss me again and the answer will come to us.”

  “We can’t get involved, Jul
iet.”

  “Oh, Tanner, don’t try to fool yourself. We’re already involved. We have been since we were kids and even if you divorce me, we always will be. We’re a huge part of each other’s life; that’s never going to go away.”

  “Then we shouldn’t complicate it.”

  “What’s complicated about it? I want you; you want me. Not complicated at all.”

  “The emotions—”

  “So leave emotion out of it.” Brave words when this was all about emotion for her. And if she could just get the two of them into bed together, that could happen on its own.

  Oh, God. What was she doing? Trying to manipulate his feelings again? Use their lovemaking to keep him? That hadn’t worked well before; it definitely wouldn’t now.

  “Tanner, I’m… I’m sorry.” This time, she was the one who stepped away. She was the one who clenched her fists and straightened her shoulders. The one who took a long, deep look into his eyes and saw the fight going on inside of him, and she was the one who walked away.

  If Tanner wanted her, it had to be of his own volition, not because she’d coerced or manipulated or forced him to want her.

  “Juliet. Wait.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  She froze. Didn’t turn around, didn’t take a breath.

  Didn’t hope.

  She heard him sigh. Heard him scratch his head in that rough way he did when he was thinking hard.

  Heard him walk up behind her.

  “I want you.”

  Glory be and hallelujah! She wanted to shout it from the rooftops.

  Instead, she took a deep breath of her own and slowly turned to face him. “And…?”

  He arched an eyebrow. “And? I thought that statement was pretty self-explanatory.”

  “Well, Tanner, it really isn’t a secret that you want me. Some things you’ve never been able to hide from me.” She resisted glancing down at his pants, but only because she wanted to see what was in his eyes. Wanted to see if there was anger or derision or, God forbid, loathing, but what she saw…

  It took her breath away.

  “No strings.” He took a step closer and raised a palm to her cheek. “It won’t change anything between us. We’re still getting a divorce when this is all over.”