Calling His Bluff

by Amy Jo Cousins

  She headed downstairs, one hand sliding down the smooth curve of the metal railing. It always made her wince to see how fast J.D. sprinted up and down the steep, twisty steps that seemed to float in midair. Echoes of her kindergarten teacher “—One hand on the railing!—” slid through her mind on every ascent and descent.

  Laughter and two voices carried from what had to be a wide-open doorway, based on the arctic draft skidding across the concrete floor and chilling her feet. Quite an extended conversation with the pizza guy.

  “All the way in or all the way out,” she called in their general direction. She could see that Mama Cat was still in the box by the fire. “We’re losing heat here!”

  “In, thanks! My tits are freezing out here. You guys are crazy motherfuckers to live here.” J.D.’s laugh was a low rumble, but the voice was high-pitched and feminine.

  And familiar.

  Damn it.

  Chapter Eleven

  “No, no, no, no, no. Absolutely not.” Her eyes shut tight, she shook her head in refusal. “This is not happening to me.”

  She opened her eyes again and looked down at herself, just in case she’d forgotten and had actually put on a sparkly cocktail dress or a pair of two-hundred-dollar designer jeans that made her ass look like a teenage girl’s.

  Alas, no. Sweatpants. In gray. And a long-sleeve T-shirt. Navy.

  Admittedly, she was naked underneath the erstwhile workout clothes, certainly a plus in J.D.’s mind, but one unlikely to be retained as this bombshell, literally and figuratively, walked into the place like she owned it.

  Damn it. This was not the look she wanted to be rocking around Lana.

  She yanked the towel off her head and dropped it on the arm of the sofa. Screw the leather. Vanity clearly trumped any potential cleaning fees. She perched herself on the arm of the sofa and crossed her arms over her chest.

  Might as well let them come to her.

  J.D. was loud as he followed Lana in.

  “Lana, seriously. We’re cool, okay? I accepted your apology about Jane. But you gotta give me a break, dude, or I’m gonna need a restraining order.”

  Calling the gorgeous woman dude did not make her any less intimidatingly gorgeous. J.D. pushed ahead of his ex-wife with his shoulder and strode directly over to Sarah. She didn’t uncross her arms or lean her head against him as he hugged her to his chest. “I’m sorry, babe. I know it’s terrible timing, but she was freezing her butt off out there.”

  Of course she was. Not that Lana had any butt to freeze off.

  Still, no harm in being gracious. After all, she was the one married to the man Lana wished she’d never let go. Sucked to be her, right?

  Whoa. Where had that come from? She was happy to be married to J.D. all of a sudden?

  Focus, for crying out loud. Hot bisexual blonde in the house, stalking J.D. with grins and jokes from their shared past.

  “Hello, Lana.” She plastered a smile on her face.

  The actress smiled at her as she gave a slow shimmy of her shoulders and torso that made her knee-length chocolate-brown cashmere coat slide down her arms. Sarah blamed J.D.’s perfectly timed grab of the coat on instinct and good manners.

  He glanced over his shoulder at her and blanched at her frown. Handing the coat back to Lana, he moved quickly behind Sarah, standing there with his hands on her shoulders. She let herself lean back into him a little now, her spine resting against his warm belly as he rubbed his palms up and down her arms. J.D. wanted her, not this blonde glamazon.

  The glamazon slung her coat across the trestle table that drew the dividing line between the kitchen space and the living room. She slicked her hands down the stretchy hunter-green material of a dress that stopped well short of the brown leather thigh-high boots encasing some seriously magnificent legs.

  Sarah felt herself relax a little bit more. The deliberate posing was almost entertaining, if you could see the humor in it.

  Also, she’d won. Only one of them had just had sex up against the wall with J.D.

  She let a hand creep up to cover J.D.’s on her shoulder and squeezed.

  Lana zeroed in on Sarah, ignoring J.D. for the moment.

  “So, Sally—”

  Strike one.

  “Sarah.”

  “—we need to work this out, right?”

  The other woman’s eyes slid up and down Sarah. It was as if she had measured and weighed her and found her just the teensiest bit wanting. Lana was still smiling at her, but her eyes narrowed a bit, as if she were finally getting serious.

  “Were you just working out together?” Lana asked. She lifted a brow at the utilitarian sweatpants that Sarah wished she could incinerate in the fireplace. With lighter fluid and a grenade perhaps. “What a cute couple thing to do.” Her voice changed, turning throatier as she lasered in on her ex. “Remember when I used to tie you to the bed and give you a workout, J.D.? Don’t worry, sweetie,” she said, winging fastballs at Sarah again, “I’m sure your crunches or lunges or whatever are just as exciting.” She trailed her fingernails down the expanse of bare skin from the hollow of her throat to the deep V of her neckline.

  Nice try. No cigar.

  “Since I just fucked his brains out in the shower, I think you’d call it water aerobics, sweetie.” Sarah’s smile stretched wide until she was showing her teeth. She tugged the hand of J.D.’s that she was holding down to her mouth and scraped her teeth gently over his knuckles before pressing her lips to them.

  “Jesus, Sarah.” J.D.’s sharp exhale was either from laughter or shock. He thrust the fingers of his free hand into her hair at the nape of her neck and gave a gentle settle down now tug. She cocked her head to one side and kept her smile locked and loaded.

  Strike two, sweetie. Wanna see if you have a curve ball in that bag of tricks?

  Lana just laughed and shook her head, conceding the out. “Okay, you win that one.”

  As the only male in the room and the object of a burgeoning verbal catfight between two women, J.D. opted to skip the first nine innings and get right to the final pitch.

  “Knock it off, Lana. What do you want?” His voice was still patient, far more patient that Sarah wanted him to be at this point. It would be way more reassuring if he couldn’t stand his ex, damn it. Sarah squeezed his hand.

  “A glass of wine would be lovely,” she drawled.

  “Not happening. You and alcohol are a dangerous combination.” J.D. moved his hands back to Sarah’s shoulders. She could hear the smile in his voice and flinched when Lana threw back her head and laughed.

  “I get us arrested one time at Carnival and the man never forgives,” she explained to Sarah. “I figured that it was one party where you could dance naked on the bar and no one would blink an eye, right?”

  Awesome. Exotic travel together. Naked dance parties. Bonding over shared overnight jail time. She didn’t feel like a third wheel. Not at all.

  Lana didn’t quit.

  “I ran into Ben at the airport in Vegas. We talked about that new project of his. I hear he wants you to document it.” She drew out the last half dozen words as if they were diamonds she were slowly pouring into his lap, clearly anticipating a dramatic reaction. Sarah felt her spine go rigid.

  Was he leaving already? She couldn’t believe he hadn’t told her.

  J.D. was quick to reassure her.

  “I’m taking a break from Hollywood right now. Anything else? No?” He waited a beat. Strike three. Maybe he was getting tired of Lana after all. “Go home, god, please. I’ll kick you out, if that’s what it takes.”

  “But…but it’s Ben. He’s your boy.” Her eyes bounced from J.D. to Sarah and back, then back again. She’d obviously expected her words to have more of an effect. Sarah knew from her brother’s years of relating gossip about J.D. that Ben was the one person who’d really changed his life. The only person he was closer to was Tyler himself. And, she’d thought recently, her. “I know that your girl here might not understand—”


  “Give it up, Lana, please.” He stepped away from Sarah and moved toward his ex-wife, stopping short of her reach.

  “—but I know you get it. It’s just business, right? And the two of us can still take ’em by storm, babe. This film will launch you to a new level. You’ll be famous. All Ben could talk about in that shitty airport bar was how much he couldn’t wait to work with you again. He misses you, you know. None of us actually thought you’d come back here to stay.”

  She saw him flinch. For the first time, she realized that J.D. might actually be giving something up by being here. That it wasn’t an easy call for him. She wasn’t used to thinking of him as someone who made sacrifices, which was a pretty crappy judgment on her part. There was a moment of silence before J.D. answered, his voice low and rough.

  “Not interested. And Ben knows that.”

  He didn’t look happy about it though. Whatever conversation he’d had with his friend, it had clearly been a tough decision.

  J.D. picked up Lana’s coat from the counter and handed it to her. She did nothing to catch it, staring at him with narrowed eyes as if trying to figure out what key she had to shove in his lock to open it, and the knee-length cashmere trench coat hit the concrete floor. He sighed, picked up the coat and started walking Lana to the door, a gentle but firm hand at her elbow.

  “Wait!” She hung back, leaning against his determined steering. “Fine. Don’t do it for him. Do it for me. As your wife, he’d put me on that project in a heartbeat and you know it. Please, J.D. Just this one last favor and I’ll get out of your hair for good.” She tried to laugh but it rang hollow this time. Desperation was creeping into her voice.

  “You’re not my wife, hon.” J.D., obviously trying not to hurt her, continued to maneuver her toward the door. “We’re divorced.”

  “We are married,” Sarah called out helpfully, and then clapped her hand over her mouth as she felt her eyes grow big and round.

  It wasn’t a secret, obviously. Lana had heard the gossip in Vegas. But this was the first time she’d said the words out loud proudly. Not as a complaint, but a brag.

  J.D. had whipped his head around at her words. He didn’t say anything. Just stared at her.

  And stared at her.

  The need to look away, to leap up off her perch on the arm of the couch and minimize what she’d just said by acting as if it didn’t mean anything, was nearly overwhelming. The heat built in her cheeks as she flushed and still he was looking at her. She knew that if she shrugged and laughed it off, she could make him drop it. She could, in a heartbeat, bring J.D. back to their status quo where the acknowledged truth was that they were merely biding their time until they could get divorced and pretend the whole thing had never happened.

  Or she could take that heartbeat, and change it.

  If she knew what she wanted, she could use this moment to let J.D. know it, too. To let him know that she was going to drive events in a new direction. In her direction. If she knew what she wanted.

  She didn’t have the faintest fucking clue what would come next.

  All she knew was that she didn’t want this crazy ride to end.

  “Since when?”

  For the first time, Sarah noticed that Lana looked as startled as she and J.D. did. She’d dropped the smooth, self-assured drawl and was acting like a shocked bystander who’d happened upon the scene of a terrible car accident. “I thought they were kidding. When did that happen?”

  J.D. just looked at her and raised an eyebrow. He was clearly willing to let her field that one. He didn’t even look nervous about what she might say. Why wasn’t he nervous? What if she said that they were married and madly in love and planning on having a dozen babies in short order?

  Sarah felt the roller coaster drop and spin of her stomach that had become her daily companion over these past few weeks with J.D. She cupped her palms over her stomach and felt a little sick.

  Holy shit, she wanted to be married to J.D.

  Maybe even throw in that baby thing at some point.

  Something must have shown on her face. She couldn’t imagine what her expression looked like, something between shock and awe she guessed, but J.D. dropped his hands from Lana’s elbows and turned back to her, his dark eyes absolutely enormous and locked on hers.

  “Sarah?”

  Her eyes felt hot and wet. A smile crept onto her face and she felt shaky and a little nauseated for a moment. J.D.’s eyes got even wider and the sunburst of his smile was possessive and heated as he strode over to her and stopped right in front of her. He didn’t touch her, still waiting for her to say something, and suddenly she was sure. So sure that the laughter erupted from her as she slid her arms around his waist and rested her head on his shoulder, and for a moment her laughter sounded like a shaky sob. She couldn’t get a grip on these emotions running riot through her system. But with J.D. to anchor her, for once she wouldn’t stuff a lid on her out of control feelings.

  She didn’t even turn her head to look at Lana as she said it. She looked up at J.D. and his eyes were all dark pupils, just a thin ring of brown around that black flare of desire and heat and what she knew, what she absolutely knew was love.

  “Yes, we’re married.” Her voice was a little shaky, but who could blame her? She got the words out, which was all that mattered. “We’re married and we’re madly in love and we’re going to have a dozen babies.”

  J.D. made a sound like a growl and planted one on her. His hands slid under her hips, lifting her up, and his mouth attacked her, his tongue sweeping inside to tangle with hers. But a moment later he broke off the kiss, boosting her up with his hands until she got the hint and wrapped her legs around his waist. His smile was wicked before he leaned forward again and licked a hot trail up the side of her neck until his lips stopped by her ear. His voice was soft and hard all at once. “Immediately.”

  She flushed with heat and wrapped her arms around his neck as he turned and headed for the stairs, Sarah still wrapped around him like a clinging vine. She could see Lana over J.D.’s shoulder, staring after them with a clenched jaw and her hands balled up at her sides. Sarah bit her lip to keep her shit-eating grin under control and ducked her head until her cheek was pressed to the side of J.D.’s neck.

  She could feel his voice rumbling through his body when he called out to Lana.

  “Stay. Go. I don’t really care.”

  “Where are you going?”

  “Upstairs. To practice knocking up my wife.”

  “Can I watch?” Her laughter was bitter and she was still trying to find a way to flirt with J.D., but Sarah didn’t care anymore.

  She felt her bones melt. Rubbed her cheek against his shoulder and inhaled the clean soap smell of his skin.

  When Lana kept talking, she wasn’t really surprised. It was probably too much to hope that she would go gently into the night just because Sarah was ready to trip J.D. and race him to the floor.

  “Well, this visit is going to be even more interesting than I’d thought.” Her voice had lost its singsong quality, flattening out. Sarah cracked a reluctant eyelid open. Lana crossed her arms over her breasts. “You’re gonna wanna hear this one, babe.”

  “No, I’m not.” J.D. planted one foot on the first step of the spiral staircase. Sarah could feel his muscles tense in preparation for the effort of hauling her up the stairs, but she found herself hooking a hand on the railing and tugging him to a halt.

  “Wait,” she said.

  J.D. looked down at her. Looked up at his loft bedroom. Licked his lips.

  Before she had a chance to get the words “I’ve got a bad feeling about this…” out, Lana detonated her bombshell.

  “I’ll contest the divorce. And California won’t recognize a Dominican divorce if one party wasn’t present and contests. You’ll still be married to me.”

  Looking over J.D.’s shoulder, Sarah had a perfect view of J.D.’s ex-wife. Lana’s lips were compressed in a grim smile. She didn’t look particularly happy, but
she didn’t look like she was planning on giving in, either.

  J.D.’s body had turned to stone with tension. Sarah pulled her head back to look at him. He refused to meet her gaze. After a moment, he dropped his forehead against hers and his breath feathered warmly over her face. He didn’t turn to face Lana, but his words were clearly directed at her.

  “Why, Lana? Even at our worst, we were never like this. Why are you doing this?”

  Sarah could still see Lana, whose tight fingers were unconsciously twisting her expensive coat. She saw it, the moment when Lana dropped all her defenses and stripped herself as naked as she’d no doubt been while table dancing in Rio.

  “I’m sorry,” she whispered. Her voice wavered a little and her eyes were shiny bright. “But no one wants to hire me. Everyone laughed at my drama until the thing with Jane. It was all just a bit of fun, right? Only she thought I was single. That we had, you know, an open marriage.” She blushed for once and avoided looking at Sarah. “When she found out the truth, she cut my role and they sent me home. I didn’t tell you because…well, you were in the hospital already and not really speaking to me. I was pretty humiliated.” Lana had the grace, or the acting chops, to blush here. “Jane’s, um, a nice person, I guess. At least, nice enough to not want to sleep with a cheater. And people respect her.”

  J.D. didn’t soften toward Lana for a second. “I still don’t see why you’re coming after me.”

  Lana threw her hands in the air. “It’s like I’m a leper. No one will take my calls. I’ve had three auditions cancel on me already. Since I got kicked off Jane’s project, I didn’t get an invite to the award ceremony, so I had to let that total sleazeball paw me all night just to get him to bring me as his date. God, I was just fooling around, you know?”

  “You had to know you were going to hurt somebody eventually, Lana, right?” He still hadn’t looked at Sarah.

  “I know I hurt you.” She was crying a little now, but like they did in the movies, tears trickling delicately down her cheek while her voice held steady. “And I’m sorry for that. But I need your help, J.D. This is the only thing I’ve ever wanted. You know that. I’m sorry I couldn’t want us as much as I wanted this. But you just have to help me one last time. I need a chance to make it right and then that’s it. I’m gone. I promise.”