Ugly Ducklings Finish First

by Gail, Stacy

  “Nineteen-thirteen.”

  Blank-eyed, Wiley looked around. “What?”

  “Now I know how to beat you. Just mention Payton’s name and watch you zone out. Are we still playing, or what?”

  Playing? The word echoed like a taunt in Wiley’s head, if only because it seemed to be an apt description when it came to summing up his life. “Yeah, we’re still playing. I was a little distracted.”

  “Dude, you were off in dreamland. Thinking about what it would be like if she stayed?”

  Wiley sighed and wished Donovan didn’t know him so well. “I have too much on my plate to even think about the possibility. Give me the ball, cheater.”

  Donovan bounced it to him. “I suppose you do have a few things on your mind, at that. Have you had any more vandalism craziness?”

  “Nope, and Sheriff Berry has been about as helpful as a box of rocks. I’m hopeful now that the reunion’s behind me, whoever I pissed off will calm down and go back to forgetting I exist.”

  Donovan frowned, his dark eyes growing darker as he absorbed this. “Didn’t the Hulk-smash episode on all your windows happen after the reunion?”

  “Yeah.” And that was the real fly in the ointment for his theory. “But I can’t ignore the fact that the vandalism came hand in hand with the invitation to the class reunion. What’s more, there haven’t been any more problems since my windows got smashed, so I have a feeling whoever was targeting me has already lost interest.” At least he could always hope.

  “So you’re sure it was someone you went to school with?”

  “I can’t be sure about any of it, but the sheriff thinks that’s the only thing that makes sense. Aside from the harassment starting up when the reunion invitations went out, the graffiti spray-painted on my house referred to my old high school nickname.” He sighed, dribbling low as his friend tried a moving screen. “Let’s face it, man. I wasn’t exactly a choirboy in my youth.”

  “That’s putting it mildly. And Carlos’s case? How’s that coming along?”

  “I’m meeting with a bank commissioner in San Antonio tomorrow.” With an illegal elbow flying, Wiley pushed Donovan back. “If nothing else, it’ll shed light on the banking here in town.”

  “Are you wanting a full investigation into the foreclosure?”

  “Foreclosures.” Seeing an opportunity, Wiley skirted around Donovan for a layup. “I still don’t know if I can get to the bottom of it, though. That’s twenty-one, by the way.”

  Donovan swore before following Wiley back to where they’d parked their cars, wiping a forearm across his sweaty brow. “I saw Alex the other day. He promised he’d try and get Carlos to the Rodriguezes’ block party tonight, but he said not to get any hopes up.”

  “I wonder if we’ll be as crotchety as Carlos is when we’re that old.” Wiley reached into the Corvette’s passenger’s side and came up with a minicooler filled with iced-down sports drinks. “How can anyone say no to a block party?”

  “I know I can’t.” Donovan accepted a bottle and drained nearly half of it in a few swallows. “Leslie Ann wanted to know if you’re bringing Payton.”

  “Absolutely.”

  “She’s a good sport, driving in all the way from San Antonio.”

  “Actually, Payton’s going to be staying at my place for the rest of her time here.”

  Donovan went still. “She’s staying with you?”

  “She went into San Antonio to get her things, which is why I’m killing time here.” Wiley leaned back against the car and eyed his friend. “Come on, Donovan. Don’t go small-town on me now.”

  “Dumbass, it’s not that. Are you sure bringing her into your home is the safest thing to do, considering what’s been going on in your life lately?”

  “We talked about that.” Wiley’s brows drew together. The fact was, he wasn’t sure it was the right thing to do. But when he’d brought up his reservations and saw Payton’s immediate uncertainty, he knew she suspected it was nothing more than an excuse to keep her away. But with the reunion now behind them and no further signs of vandalism appearing, he’d caved in to the need to have her near. “She only has a few days left in this part of Texas, and we want to spend as much of that time together as we can. And when we’re not together, Payton plans on spending time with her mother.”

  “I’m sure Deborah will be happy about that.” But Donovan’s expression remained somber as he searched Wiley’s face. “I’ve never known you to bring a woman into your home, and under these circumstances... Payton can’t hurt you, can she, Wiley?”

  “No way.” He tried to laugh off the suggestion, but even he could hear the strain.

  * * *

  To put it mildly, Payton decided, living in another person’s house was a new experience. In fact, everything about the past twenty-four hours fell into that category. Having her mind blown by spectacular, screaming-the-walls-down sex topped the list, right along with craving it again—and again—until she lost basic motor function. Maybe having sex with the Coyote turned normal women into nymphomaniacs.

  It certainly had with her.

  Turning nympho had to be the reason why she’d been so insanely thrilled when Wiley gave her a house key and invited her to think of his place as her own. After all, moving in with him hadn’t been her intention when she finally gave in to her desire. She’d just wanted to have a short-term affair. A fling, some would say. Ninety-six hours longer than a one-night stand.

  Payton grimaced. Ugh. She should have stopped at fling.

  After unpacking, she found herself wandering to the living room to study Wiley’s graduation portrait again. With a smile like that, it was no wonder she’d fallen for him. No, she corrected, snapping her head to the side to dodge the errant thought. She hadn’t fallen. Falling in love with the wrong kind of man was totally unacceptable. Her parents were proof that loving the wrong person could turn love into a soul-killing weapon. No way was she stupid enough to follow in their miserable footsteps. What she felt was lust. Pure, healthy lust.

  How else was a born-again nymphomaniac supposed to feel?

  A rattle at the front door had her heading down the hall. For a moment she and Wiley stared at each other before he pocketed his keys, closing the door behind him.

  “This is so weird.” Wiley wandered up the hall to where she stood, hauling a battered gym bag off his shoulder as he went. “I have the strongest desire to say ‘honey, I’m home.’”

  Her tension evaporated as she eased into his arms with a laugh. “Tell me about it. I never imagined I’d feel so awkward.”

  “We’ll get used to it.”

  “It’d be better if we didn’t.” Payton tried to say it lightly, but she could feel her smile turn brittle. To fight off the gloom, she brought her lips to within a breath of his. “Tell me, Counselor. Do you always dress in shorts and a San Antonio Spurs jersey for court?”

  “Sure. The basketball court.” As though he couldn’t resist her with their bodies so close, he dropped his mouth to the line of her jaw. “I beat Donovan at a game of one-on-one.”

  “Basketball?” Payton’s eyes fluttered closed at the warm suckling of his mouth, and she nearly lost her train of thought. “Weren’t you in court today?”

  “The hearing I had scheduled was postponed until Monday.”

  Monday. She would be gone by then, back to Houston. Back to her life.

  Out of his.

  Blindly Payton brought their mouths together, crushing the odd spurt of panic with a kiss. His response was immediate, and a moan of pleasure sighed out of her as his tongue invaded her mouth. The seduction behind the kiss scoured away every thought but him, and it nearly broke her in two when he tore his mouth away long enough for him to delve into the bag he’d dropped at their feet. He came up with his wallet and a condom before he rose and pressed
her up against the wall. His mouth found hers once more even as her feet left the floor, his arms tightened around her in a hold that made her feel both cherished and devoured. His mouth never left hers as he positioned his arms under her hips while the crush of his body pushed her legs apart.

  “I missed you.” The growing hardness in his shorts surged against the apex of her thighs. She gasped out loud as his hips thrust as if he were already gloved inside her, and her hidden cleft became hot and wet with need. “How can I miss you so much when I only left you hours ago?”

  The memory of their morning loving, combined with the blatant mating pulse of his hips, sparked a voluptuous unfurling deep inside her. Payton wrapped her legs around his waist, her hands biting into his tensed shoulders for balance. “I want you.” Exquisite sensations poured into every cell like a narcotic, drugging her to everything but the burning need for sensual satiation. “I want you, Wiley. Now.”

  A feral growl erupted from Wiley as her words seemed to push him from the razor’s edge of everything that was civilized. Triumph mingled with desperation as he curled his fingers on the neckline of her simple white linen dress and yanked. The screech of fabric tearing cut through the silence as he exposed a pale, perfect breast veiled with ivory lace. Like a starving man he took it into his mouth, material and all, abrading the point with teeth and tongue in the same rhythm of his thrusting hips.

  A shudder that flirted with the completion of climax ripped through her hard enough to make her cry out, and that sound of mindless pleasure seemed to spark a similar response in him. He lowered her just long enough so that together they pushed his shorts aside and slid the condom into place. Her fingers lingered there, gliding along his heavy shaft that pulsed with need for her, and she wasn’t satisfied until a growl of incoherent delight rumbled from him. She could feel him shaking with the enormity of his desire, and he seemed oblivious that his breath came in short, harsh gasps. With a fumbling awkwardness that spoke volumes of the force of his need, Wiley pushed her skirt up and plunged his fingers past the thin barrier of her panties. She cried out again, her cleft pulsing with damp heat, and he purred in satisfaction when he discovered she was more than ready for him. With no thought to finesse, he tore the delicate lace from her with one maddened jerk.

  His name burst from Payton’s lips when he lifted her once more against the wall. Tilting her pelvis toward him, she wrapped her legs around his waist and clenched him as he filled her, surging into her until she thought she’d die of the pleasure. The pace he set rode the frenzied edge of madness, their bodies straining as they chased after it with ferocious intensity, her heels pushing into his buttocks as he drove her hard against the wall. Almost instantly she crested; the ecstasy shattered her from the inside out, and it seemed like the shattering would never end. They were entwined together as tightly as two humans could be when he joined her in the excruciating rapture. Lost in shuddering pleasure so hot it seared her all the way to her soul, she heard him growl out her name through gritted teeth, a ragged sound of triumph before they slid to the floor like two castaways from a killer storm. She closed her eyes, reveling in the sensation of him still inside her as she rested her mouth against his salt-flavored shoulder. She’d never thought such a thorough sense of satisfaction could be reached, as though all her nerves had been hyperdosed with euphoria, but that was what he did to her. It wasn’t just sex. It wasn’t even great sex.

  It was perfect.

  “Perfect.” Wiley murmured the word into the curve of her neck, and the shock of him echoing her thoughts dragged her eyes open. “Every time I have you, it’s so damn...perfect.”

  “Weird, isn’t it?” She had just enough strength to gently bite his shoulder. “It’s almost an agony, it’s so sweet. And then I feel like...”

  “What?” He caught a fistful of hair and brought her heavy-lidded eyes to his. “I want to know everything you feel.”

  “Like I’m melting.” She caressed his lean cheek with a butterfly kiss. “Shattering.” His other cheek was graced. “Dying.” Her mouth was open, seeking the pleasure of his tongue against hers. A shiver raced down her spine when he obliged her.

  “God, woman.” With a ragged breath, he broke away to stare at her. “You turn me inside out and make me helpless. And you’re not even trying, are you?”

  “I guess I’m just gifted.”

  His laughter affected her like champagne before he turned his attention to her neck. “My wild, passionate Payton. You are the sexiest woman I’ve ever known.”

  “I’m not so sure about that. I’ve never done that before.”

  He lifted a brow. “For a doctor, you have a surprisingly bad memory.”

  “I meant standing up.” A laugh escaped her, and even to her ears it sounded like a purr. “I never thought it was possible. I can’t tell you how delighted I am to know I was wrong.”

  “Glad you enjoyed yourself. We’ll have to do it again sometime.”

  It would have to be sometime soon, her mind pounded out like a relentless mantra. She wouldn’t be there much longer.

  Payton forced a laugh and began to shift away. “I suppose enjoying myself is one way of putting it.”

  “Don’t.” He pressed against the small of her back. “Don’t go. Not yet.”

  “Wiley.” Her smile came more naturally this time as she leaned in to kiss him. “We need to get ready for the party.”

  “It won’t take us that long.”

  Honestly, the man was insatiable. “You need to shower and I need to find another dress.”

  “Look, just... I don’t want you to go.”

  Payton froze. There were so many ways she could take that, especially since he’d wanted to say those words to her so long ago. But the only way she should take it now was at face value. Anything else would be the height of idiocy.

  “All right, then.” She smiled, determined to play it as lightly as she had seen him play situations like these in the past. “If you don’t want me to go, then I suppose the only option I have is to shower with you.”

  The urgent pressure of his fingers eased. “That sounds reasonable. For starters.”

  “And then you can help me get dressed.”

  “I’d rather help you get undressed.”

  “After the party, I promise.”

  His eyes lit up like a kid’s who’d been told Christmas was coming early. “We could skip the party.”

  “And miss the Rodriguez baby’s debut?”

  “They won’t miss us.”

  “I’m the doc who delivered her, pal,” she returned, narrowing her eyes dangerously as they got to their feet and he disappeared into the powder room long enough to dispose of the condom. “We are going, and that is that.”

  Returning to her, Wiley sighed and tugged her dress back up on her shoulder. When it fell limply off again, he slid her a wary look. “You weren’t planning on wearing this, were you?”

  “I was.” Payton stifled a laugh at his expression. “Considering what it led to, I’m thinking a dress is a small price to pay.”

  “I’ll buy you a new one.” He smiled into her eyes, and her heart turned over in a slow, sweet somersault. There was nothing left for her to do but tilt her head up for another kiss when the sound of the phone interrupted her. He sighed and caressed her mouth with a too-quick brush of his. “Hold that thought.”

  “Better not.” She glanced at her watch while he made his way to the phone. “I still need to figure out what I’m going to wear—”

  He pointed a stern finger. “Don’t you move from that spot, I’ll be with you in a second. Hello? Oh. Mrs. Bimmel.”

  Stooping to pick up what was left of her underwear, Payton turned back in surprise. In fascination she watched as his mood changed before her eyes. His gaze sharpened, his face hardened and an aura of focused intensity radiated from him. Ther
e were so many sides to him, from sharp to tender, carefree to intense. He had an agile intellect she’d always admired, and a steel core that never failed to amaze her. He followed through with whatever it was he believed in, and went to extreme lengths to protect those he cared about, even going so far as to get his perfect nose broken in youthful defense of her. He liked to smile and loved to laugh. He was compassionate enough to take on a case when the client wanted nothing to do with him, and relentless enough to try and help anyway.

  Was it any wonder she loved him?

  There. She’d admitted it. Ta-da. And it was love, damn it all. There was no mistaking the joy filling her stupid heart, right along with the pain and futility of a love unrequited.

  Fabulous. Now she was a cliché.

  It was all right, though. She could still handle it. After all, she’d known this was one of the risks she ran when they became lovers. She’d always been aware of the danger of not being able to keep her heart safe. Now that it had happened, there wasn’t anything left to fear.

  Which was a bald-faced lie. There was plenty to fear. Like that little problem of being gutted from the inside out by a man who didn’t know what real love was all about.

  “Well, well.” Hanging up, Wiley looked at Payton with eyes alight with excitement. “Mrs. Bimmel, intrepid soul that she is, has been digging through every record she’s accumulated in her life.”

  It was a struggle, but Payton pushed her dark thoughts aside. “Quite an undertaking.”

  “To say the least. Apparently she’s enlisted every relative she has to help in the search. She’s claiming she’s found some documents I might be interested in.”