She turned around and, keeping her back to Randy, pumped her fist.
* * * *
After dinner, they returned to Blake’s. Randy stepped inside first, but Blake stopped her from entering. He waited a beat before speaking. “I hope you don’t mind if I don’t ask you in, but I need to speak with Randy alone. Ground rules needed to be set, if you know what I mean.”
If they were going to be in a relationship, she completely got that Randy couldn’t have sex with her then mentally disappear.
“Don’t worry about it. I can use the morning to study.” Otherwise, she’d watch Blake cook and they’d talk for hours.
Blake leaned over and gave her a toe-numbing kiss. “I have a surprise for us tomorrow. You free around one?”
She’d make herself free anytime Blake or Randy wanted to make time for her. “Sure.”
“Great. Randy and I will pick you up, assuming he’s up for it.”
Gus took over the chores at the barn on the weekends, so both men had the time off. “What are we doing?”
“It’s nothing fancy.”
She knew when to pry. Tomorrow would be soon enough to find out his secret.
When she got home, she recreated the evening, trying to figure out exactly how and why it ended so strangely. Yes, she’d had amazing sex with Randy. He’d been considerate and wonderful. Add in Blake, and the evening was spectacular. But even at dinner, Randy remained withdrawn. She’d asked about his music pieces, but he never elaborated. Darn. He was a hard nut to crack. She hoped that after his talk with Blake, Randy would be willing go out today to some unknown place with them and hopefully open up.
At one, her doorbell rang. She loved that Blake was always on time. As soon as she opened the door, he pulled her into a hug and kissed her. It wasn’t the hard and fast kind, but one that was made for slow afternoons. He came up for air then dived right back in. She pressed her hands to his chest. “Is Randy here?”
“He’s in the car. Let him stew.” He trailed kisses down her neck.
She dropped back her head and allowed the tender touch to streak down her body. Her panties moistened. “We can’t.”
“Don’t want to have sex in the open-air hallway?” He laughed.
She pulled back and swatted his arm. “No. I’m getting too turned on. I’ll want to drag you inside and do you.”
“Ooh. Promises. You ready?”
She’d already grabbed her purse. “Yes.”
They jogged downstairs. Randy was leaning against the passenger door and pulled it open for her. “Madam.”
She smiled, glad that he was in a better mood. His I’m cool persona was nicely back in place. “Thank you.”
She slid in. “So where are we going?”
“To Cheyenne.”
“No more info?”
“Nope.”
She leaned back to enjoy the hour-long drive. Blake had something fun planned, she was sure. When they pulled in front of the science museum, she really wasn’t surprised. She twisted around in the seat. “You okay with this, Randy?”
He cocked a brow. “Aren’t I smart enough for you, babe?”
She winced. “I didn’t mean that.” Shit. She’d hurt his feelings.
He laughed. “I like science. Didn’t you know that math and music go together?”
“I did know that.”
Blake cut the engine. “We are going to the Children’s Museum.”
Okay, now she was confused. “We are?”
He jumped out, rushed to her side, and pulled open the door. “This is going to be so much fun.”
“Have you ever been here?” They’d only arrived a few months ago.
“As a matter of fact, yes. Now come on.”
She expected Randy to protest, but he walked alongside them. Blake paid their entry fee. The sign said this exhibit would be here for another two months. Maybe she could bring her class here. It might be a great way to start the year.
The first part was on space. The first exhibit was on how much things weighed in outer space. Different sized weights sat in a can topped by a flap of plastic. “It says here that this is what a five-pound weight would be like on the moon.” She lifted the lid and pulled. It was really light.
Randy lifted the next one. “This is what it would feel like on Mars. In earth terms, it feels like two pounds.”
There was a whole row of them. She felt like a ten-year-old playing with the gear. Next, she headed over to the black hole display.
Blake came up behind her and handed her a penny. “Drop this into the slot.” He pointed to the spot.
“What does it do?”
“You’ll see.”
Randy joined them as she did the demonstration. The coin rolled around and around on its edge and seemed to take forever to go into the black hole. As it got closer to the bottom, the coin sped up. The movement mesmerized her. When the penny disappeared, she turned to Blake. “That was really cool.”
“That was good.” He took out a quarter and repeated the experiment.
All three watched in silence until the coin disappeared. She could see how much fun her students would have in here.
Next, Randy headed for the scale and dropped in a quarter. She and Blake watched what he weighed on earth as compared to five other planets. Randy clocked in at two hundred thirty earth pounds, but only thirty-eight pounds on the moon. She and Blake had to try, too.
Once they finished weighing themselves, Blake pointed to the sign above the next room. “Hey, it’s the Physics Room.”
They headed inside. After they walked around a bit to see what kind of experiments there were, Blake motioned them toward a black square. “This one is really interesting. It uses a Kirlian Aura Camera.”
She glanced at Randy, but he shook his head. “What does it do?”
“If you place an object like your hand on the plate, an electromagnetic force charges across it, and an aura of your hand appears. I’ll show you.” He placed his palm on the plate and pushed a button. A few seconds later, an outline of his hand appeared with what looked like white and red hairs coming out of it.
“That’s kind of cool.”
He tapped a chart. “In theory, this camera is supposed to show if two people are compatible. If there is a red aura between them, they are in love. A pink aura says they really like each other. Yellow is neutral and white implies there is no connection.”
This would be so much fun. “Why don’t you and Randy go first? We know you don’t love each other, at least not in the romantic way.”
Randy’s jaw tensed for a moment as if he was afraid it would show how much Blake meant to him. When Blake followed the instructions, Randy followed. They both pressed their faces on the place. Their noses were only inches from each other. She pressed the button and waited for the reaction. “It’s pink.”
Both men stepped back. “This is bullshit,” Randy said. “I don’t love him or even care that much for him.”
She laughed. “It says there is a strong connection. You’re practically brothers. Let me ask you this. If Blake were in trouble, wouldn’t you do anything you could to save him?”
He looked around. “Hell, yeah.”
“See?”
She spotted someone in a Children’s Museum T-shirt. She waved the young lady over.
“Yes?”
“Can you do us a favor and put your face on this with me? These men think it’s rigged.”
She smiled. “I get that all the time. The Kirlian Aura Camera is very accurate.”
Both she and the woman placed their faces on the plate, and the worker pressed the button. A few seconds later, the tiny hairs glowed white. April turned to her men. “See?”
“Thank you.”
The worker smiled and went to help another person. April pulled Randy near. After wiping off the plate, she made him press his face to the black glass. She did the same then pressed the button.
�
��Red,” Blake announced. “That’s hot.”
“That’s bullshit.”
She had to laugh. Randy did have a difficult time acknowledging a connection with anyone, it seemed. “Blake, how about you and me?”
He glanced at Randy. “I know it will glow red.”
She hoped so. They repeated the experiment and sure enough it turned red. He leaned over and kissed her. Randy pulled Blake back. “There are kids in here. Give them a break.”
She chuckled. If any one of her students had seen her, she’d never live it down.
Something else caught Randy’s attention and he moved over to it. Both she and Blake followed. The information panel stated this was a Chladni plate.
“What is it?” she asked.
Randy seemed to know what it was, so she watched as he picked up the bass fiddle bow. There was a square piece of thin metal, about eighteen inches on each side, with what looked like salt on it. Randy picked up the violin bow and dragged it along the edge of the metal. While the sound was painful to her ears, the salt moved into a beautiful pattern.
“That’s so cool.”
Randy changed the angle of the bow, played another “note,” and a different pattern resulted. There were pictures of the possible patterns on the information placard, along with directions on how to make the salt form the lovely designs.
Randy handed her the bow. “You try it.”
“What do I do?” She was determined to bring her students here, and she needed to be able to demonstrate.
“First, rub rosin on the bow.” She did as he suggested. “Next hold your fingers firmly on these nodes and run the bow along the edge of the metal.”
She tried it and the salt scattered randomly, creating nothing recognizable. Randy held his hand over hers and guided her the next time. Amazingly, thin lines formed. “How did you know to do that?”
He tapped his head. “I’m smart.”
They spent another hour trying out all the fun experiments from showing how light bends through a prism to looking at the stars in the galaxy at different times of the year.
Her stomach grumbled, and Blake wrapped an arm around her waist. “I think it’s time to go. I’ve made my grandmother’s famous meat sauce. We’re having spaghetti for dinner.”
“Yum.”
This day couldn’t have gone much better. They’d all laughed and played with the kids’ hands-on demonstrations. Even Randy got into it after a while. Blake said Randy’s innate ability to understand the physics of the Chladni plate was impressive. How he understood that playing between the nodes would result in a definitive pattern still perplexed her. But then again, she sucked at physics.
Once they got to their house, the two men went to work on the dinner. She’d been assigned to assemble the salad and set the table. In no time, the garlic bread was heated and the spaghetti cooked. They sat down to dinner and went over again what a cool day they’d had at the museum. Neither of the men brought up the fact that the Kirlian Aura Camera demonstration clearly showed an intense connection between them. Randy still seemed uncomfortable showing his emotions.
After dinner they watched Back to the Future since Blake said he loved to think about how much fun it would be to go back or forward in time.
She wrapped her legs under her and faced Blake. “Suppose you could go forward in time, say one thousand years, but couldn’t return. Would you go?”
“Hell, yes, assuming I could bring both of you with me.”
He was a dear man. “Not me. You wouldn’t know how to do anything. Cars might not even go on roads. I bet you wouldn’t recognize the food either.”
Randy leaned forward. “People will probably all be as big as me because of all the added steroids and hormones in the food.”
“Yuck. Can you imagine what their internal organs would look like? No, thank you. Given the change in technology, people might not even be talking. They’ll just text each other when they want to communicate.” None of that appealed to her.
“We could go back in time then,” Blake said.
“Yeah,” Randy added. “I’d be super smart. I could play the stock market once it was invented and help build the first car, assuming I remembered anything from high school shop class.”
“That would be pretty neat. I’d like to meet Jonas Salk and help him brainstorm ways to cure polio. However, the disadvantages would outweigh the advantages. I like to take a shower every day, which might not be possible, and I wouldn’t like taking hours to get anywhere, especially since I’d have to be on a horse.”
Randy laughed. “That reminds me. You never did stop by for your second lesson.”
She hoped he’d have forgotten. “I’ll be sure to stop by.” Or not.
Blake tossed out what looked like a fake yawn. “I think it’s time for bed. You good, April?”
He was asking her to spend the night. That was a big step. She wondered if all three would share. “Sure.”
Randy stood. “I never got to work out today. Would it bother you to hear a bit of clanking?”
She was a bit disappointed that he didn’t plan on being part of the group. “No.” She then decided it was time to find out why he always pulled away. “Randy, can I ask you something?”
He turned around. “You can ask, but I might not answer.”
“Why are you so mercurial?”
“Mercurial?”
“Yeah. One minute you’re up for a good time and the next you’re withdrawn, like you don’t want to be around me.”
Blake placed a hand over hers. “Yeah, Randy, why is that?”
Randy blew out a breath and dragged a hand down his chin. “Blake knows.”
She glanced at Blake, but he kept his face toward Randy. “I’m sure he does, but I want to hear it from you.” If they were going to be together, she had to understand why he acted so reserved at times.
Randy sat on the chair opposite them. “It’s not a big deal. I’m a foster kid.”
“Blake mentioned that, but that doesn’t explain everything about you. What are you afraid of?”
“Whoa. You want to cut me open pretty fast.”
“I want to understand you.”
“Not much to understand.” His jaw tightened. “I had a dad who liked to use my mom and me as a punching bag.”
Her gut soured. Maybe that was why he wanted to be stronger than anyone else. “That must have been terrible.”
He shrugged. “I could take it, but not when he touched my mom.”
“Why didn’t she leave him?” She understood that leaving an abusive relationship wasn’t always easy.
“She did. We were on the run for a few years. Eventually, he found her.” His hands twisted and he couldn’t look her in the eye.
Blake stepped in. “What’s too painful for him to say is that when his dad caught up with them, he shot his mom right in front of Randy.”
“Jesus Christ. No one could survive that without being scarred.” Randy looked down to the side. “I’m sorry.”
“Wasn’t your fault.”
“Is that when the Danforth family took you in?”
“Yeah.”
She imagined he’d have a hard time trusting anyone after that. “Thank you for telling me.”
He stood. “I’m going to lift.”
“Sure.” She never thought his deep secret would cut her to the core as much.
Once Randy disappeared down the hall, Blake pulled her up to a stand. Because she thought she might end up at their house, she’d packed a few things and stuffed them in her backpack purse just in case. They went into his bedroom. “Maybe I shouldn’t have asked about his past.”
“You needed to know. I hope that with his background in the open, Randy won’t be so defensive around you. Not many people know.”
“I hope he knows he’s free to talk about anything with me. I’ll try not to judge.”
Blake flipped on the light. “I’ll leave t
he door open in case Randy changes his mind.”
“He won’t.”
“Why do you say that?” Blake stepped close.
“Not after that confession.”
“He’s had a few years to get over it. I agree that he’s leery of letting anyone into his life, though.”
She walked around the room. “When he played the piano for me, it was like he turned into a different person. I saw the real Randy Stark, not someone who wore a mask. He certainly didn’t act like a young boy who’d lost his mom.”
Blake kissed her. “That’s what I love about you. You see right through a person. I know the real Randy, and you’re right. He is truly himself when he plays.”
Excitement sped through her. “I know. It’s like his demons are vanquished only when he’s at those keys.”
“Speaking of playing. How about I play with your body?”
She pushed aside the horror of Randy’s upbringing and focused on Blake. “Now, you’re talking.”
He backpedaled her to the bed until her knees hit the edge, and she dropped onto the comforter.
“While I really like that top, I think it needs to go.” He lifted the hem.
“I like the way you think.” As soon as her tee cleared her head, she unsnapped his jeans.
He grinned and pressed her down to the bed. His lips hovered over hers as if he wanted to savor the moment before enjoying the actual event. Needing him closer, she pulled him near. The moment their lips touched, it was like a shock of electricity bolted through her. She slid her hands to his back and hugged him hard. As their mouths teased and tasted each other, she ripped the shirt out of his pants. The skin-to-skin contact ratcheted up the heat between them.
Her pussy had to have him. “You need to get naked.”
Chapter Eleven
Blake leaned back and with torturous slowness, ran a finger down April’s cheek. “We have all night.”
“Can’t we have fast, mindless sex first?”
His eyes sparkled. “I thought women liked romance.”
“I do, but I also want your cock.”
He laughed so hard he rolled over onto his back. He swiped a finger under his eye. “You are one interesting woman, April Callen.”
Secret Temptation [The Callens 3] (Siren Publishing M?nage Everlasting) Page 10
