Twice the Temptation

by Francis Ray

  Standing on tiptoes, Julia clung to Chase, her senses alive and her body humming. When he asked her to go out with him the following night, she eagerly accepted.

  In the days that followed they spent every possible moment together. The place didn’t seem to matter. They had just as much fun playing billiards at Chase’s hotel as they did at a Howard University faculty get-together, helping with a birthday party at the nursing home, and wandering the many museums and national monuments D.C. had to offer.

  An unexpected pleasure for Chase was going with her to see Swan Lake at the Kennedy Center. Ballet wasn’t his thing. He had little doubt his eyes would cross with boredom and he’d embarrass Julia by falling asleep before the end of the first act. However, instead of watching the dancers, he’d watched the play of emotions on Julia’s expressive face. He’d never seen anything more beautiful or more heart-wrenching. His pleasure came from seeing her happy. His hand closed over hers. Inexplicably he felt content and restless at the same time when she laid her head on his shoulder at the swan’s metamorphosis into a beautiful woman. Caring for Julia was ridiculously easy and undeniably foolish.

  He had never wanted to love a woman or to be loved by one. He had always thought the risks for both of them far outweighed the brief span of happiness they might share. His family and friends in law enforcement had taught him that. However, when he touched Julia, held her, looked into her eyes it was difficult to remember he never wanted that heavy-duty responsibility. He had to.

  His life was in Texas, just as hers was in D.C.

  The next afternoon, when he went with her to Virginia to scout out a possible location for her second store, he felt more at ease with their situation. They were just enjoying each other’s company. Neither one of them could afford to forget that their futures lay in different directions.

  After dating Chase for almost two weeks, Julia now well understood why couples sat across from each other instead of next to each other. You wanted to see the person’s face, catch, learn, then study all the little nuances that made them who they were.

  You also just liked looking, liked getting that little quivering sensation in the pit of your stomach when they looked back, like the way your senses were heightened yet somehow strangely muted and focused on that special someone across from you.

  They were dining at what was becoming their favorite table at their favorite restaurant, Leo’s. Wearing a charcoal gray sports jacket that fit his broad shoulders perfectly, Chase looked dangerously handsome. She’d certainly been right about the place being conducive to romance.

  Blissfully happy she sipped her white wine and accepted the growing sexual awareness between them, the pull that she realized would only become stronger if she continued to see him. She searched her mind for a reason to pull back besides the obvious one.

  “Would you like to dance?” Chase asked. He laughed at the flash of surprise that crossed her face. “In high school, dancing was a sure way to get the girls into your arms,” he confessed with a roguish grin.

  “I’d say it still works.” Setting her glass down, she placed her hand in his and allowed him to lead her to the crowded dance floor.

  Slowly he pulled her into his arms. She fit perfectly with her head resting over his heart. They moved as one, as if they had always danced together, as if they always would.

  The live music curled around them like the arms of a jealous lover. Raw, possessive, driven. The slow, mournful wail of the sax warned them of a lost love, of a love gone bad, of the pain and heartache that replaced the joy of falling in love.

  Julia lifted her head from Chase’s jacket and stared into midnight black eyes. Yes, she could understand the pain and heartache, but she could also see that sometimes your heart made a decision without consulting you.

  “What are you thinking?” he asked, his thumb lazily stroking her back.

  “Different things,” she answered evasively, then laid her head back on his chest, following his steps with her thoughts elsewhere. Could it be possible that her heart had decided already?

  Lips, warm, gentle, and fleeting, brushed across her temple. Shock waves of pleasure and surprise had her lifting her head.

  “That’s what I was thinking,” Chase murmured.

  She studied the passion burning in his coal black eyes. Sometimes your heart and mind made a decision they both could agree on. “How fast can you get us back to my place?”

  He grabbed her hand and started from the dance floor. “Not fast enough.”

  “Then maybe you should let me drive.”

  FIVE

  She was having second thoughts.

  Her increased nervousness as they neared her condo, her silence on the ride up the elevator, made that fact abundantly clear. Her reaction helped to explain and solidify what he had suspected even without Percival’s comment or Suzanne’s interrogation: Julia’s experience with men was minimal.

  She stood several feet inside her condo, her bottom lip caught between her teeth, her hands gripping her purse. The sight tore at him. He wanted to give, not take, and only then if she wanted. He went to her and traced a long, lean brown finger down her cheek. She trembled beneath his touch and he breathed easier. Her unease hadn’t destroyed her desire.

  “We can always leave.”

  “You must think I’m silly.”

  His fingers followed the curve of her jaw and pressed against her lips. “I think you’re a beautiful, desirable woman who might be having second thoughts.”

  She wasn’t. At least not about kissing Chase. It was where the kisses might lead that had her a bit nervous. “Do you want—”

  “Yes.” Slowly Chase pulled her into his arms, his lips lowering toward her, giving her time to retreat if she wished. She didn’t. Closing her eyes, she sighed and leaned into him.

  Her lips were sweet, soft, yielding. Chase took his time tasting and learning her mouth, getting reacquainted with their taste and texture, savoring each new discovery, nibbling as a child miserly bites his favorite candy.

  Something dropped to the floor. Chase realized it was Julia’s purse when her hands pressed flat against his chest. He rewarded her by suckling her lower lip. She rewarded him by sinking more heavily against him.

  One arm locked securely around her waist, he gave his full attention to her mouth and took her on a slow glide into passion, building the heat, degree by incredible degree. Slowly he backed her toward the sofa.

  Julia felt the yielding softness of the silk sofa at her back and Chase’s hardness above her. A moment of unease swept through her; then he deepened the kiss, his hand running boldly over her body, and thinking ceased to be important.

  She whimpered. Her fingers clutched his lapel, telling him of her need.

  Boldly his tongue swept into her mouth. His hands moved down to cup her hips, molding her to his rigid hardness. When he moved against her in the same slow rhythm as his tongue inside her mouth, she shuddered.

  One hand closed over her breast, his thumb flicking over the turgid point of her nipple, again and again.

  She was on fire. She needed. She wanted.

  Julia wanted the dress gone. She wanted his hands on her body, hers on his. She whimpered in growing frustration.

  “The dress stays!”

  Her eyes flew open and she stared into Chase’s equally wide ones. His outburst was a direct contradiction to what she’d been thinking, what she wanted.

  Groaning, he buried his face between the crook of her neck and her shoulder. “Sorry. I don’t usually argue with myself.” His mouth brushed tantalizingly against her neck.

  “I don’t understand?” she stammered.

  “If the dress comes off, only an act of God will keep me from making love to you.”

  Julia was caught between being indignant that he thought she was that easy and trying to come to grips with the possibility that she just might be when he continued speaking: “Percival was on duty when we came back.”

  Her puzzlement increased.
“Percival? What has he to do with this?”

  Chase lifted his head, stared down into her open face, felt the softness of her body beneath his, and knew it was the wrong way to have a conversation. Sitting up, he pulled her into his lap. “Besides being a Saturday night, it’s the first time we’ve come back from a date before he got off duty.” There was no way he would embarrass her by telling her of Percival’s initial warning. “Then there is the interrogator.”

  “I can handle Suzanne,” Julia said with confidence. “She asked about you after the first time we went out. I didn’t tell her anything.”

  “Because there was nothing to tell,” he told her, accepting that there would be nothing to tell about tonight, either. “You’re not very good at hiding your feelings and I don’t think you’d like people knowing we had been intimate.”

  Julia bit her lip. He was right. She laid her head back on his chest, her fingers idly toying with a white button on his shirt. “Not very modern, is it?”

  “No.” Chase brushed a kiss across the top of her head to soften his pronouncement. “But in your case, I approve.”

  “You’re not angry?” she asked, softly angling her head up to see his face.

  “A woman should always be able to say no.”

  Julia heard what he said, but she was sitting on very hard proof that his body was saying something vastly different. He wanted her. She wanted him. But she needed more.

  Men tended to think with their eyes, women with their hearts. At the moment, hers was telling her she was falling in love.

  “What do you want from me, Chase? Besides the obvious?” she asked, making herself maintain eye contact with him.

  His large hands cupped her face. “I stopped having sex for sex’s sake in high school. If I didn’t care about you, I wouldn’t be here. As for what else I want, I don’t know. All I know is that I can’t wait to see you, and when I’m not with you I want to be.”

  “Oh, Chase.” Her voice trembled. “What are we going to do?”

  “Steal each moment we can to be with each other,” he told her.

  “Then what?” she asked, dreading the answer but voicing it anyway.

  For the first time that night, his gaze wavered. “For as long as I can remember I’ve wanted to be a Texas Ranger. It’s not just a job; it’s what I believe, what I’m good at. Just like you are with your customers at Sweet Temptation. I watched you and them. They’re not just there because of the candy; they’re there because of you. You plan to open a second store soon. Your life is here.”

  He was right. “You have your family and job in Texas and I have mine here in D.C.,” she said, her voice unsteady.

  “Yes.”

  There it was. When it was over, it was over.

  Julia stared into Chase’s set features and took a deep breath. He was leaving her with no false illusions about their relationship. Could she continue seeing him and risk her heart, as Suzanne had warned against?

  “I know it’s selfish,” Chase said, interrupting her thoughts as he pulled her back into his arms. “But is it wrong to want to see you, hold you, kiss you, make love to you?”

  The rapid pounding of his heart that matched her own answered her question and his. Sometimes the greatest risks yielded the greatest gain. It wasn’t wrong. She wanted to be with Chase, felt alive as never before in his arms. She was mature enough to give him part of what he wanted, what she wanted.

  “Excuse me.” As gracefully as possible, she got off his lap.

  Chase came to his feet, surprise, frustration, and disbelief in his eyes. “You’re throwing me back.”

  The desolate words stopped Julia two feet away. She came back to him, her gaze locked with his every inch of the way. “Like the woman said, only a fool would do that.”

  He frowned. “Then where were you going?”

  She grinned. “To the kitchen to set the timer. Percival gets off at ten, and until then I intend for you to be too busy paying attention to me to care about the time.”

  He flashed her a roguish smile. “Julia Ferrington, you never cease to amaze me.”

  “After I set the timer, you can show me how much you appreciate that fact.”

  He wasn’t going to make it.

  Jumping into the Cherokee, Chase started the engine, then shoved the vehicle into reverse. He threw a glance at the digital clock on the dashboard before straightening and shifting into second: 10:06.

  He had followed Julia into the kitchen to cut off the timer; then she had kissed him. They’d immediately become more interested in each other than the passage of time. Regaining some control, he’d gone to the door, turned to say good night, and looked at her lips glistening and pouty from his kisses, her eyes dark with passion, and hauled her into his arms.

  His jaw set, he drove out of the garage wishing he were holding Julia instead of a steering wheel. He fully intended to bypass Percival. If not for his interference, Chase would still have Julia in his arms, seeing how close he could take them both to the edge and not go over.

  The elderly security guard apparently had other ideas. Stepping out of the booth with the other guard, Percival directed Chase to pull over to one side. With ill-concealed annoyance, he did as directed.

  Percival stared at Chase’s profile long and hard; then the older man’s dark, leathery face split into a wide grin. He slapped Chase on the shoulder with surprising strength. “I knew I could trust you.”

  Chase cut him a look.

  “Now don’t be angry.” The older man looked back at the new guard on duty, then leaned closer and opened his gray metal lunch pail. “Have some of my candy. Luther’s got hands like a linebacker. If he saw, I’d lose half. I figure you deserve a reward, too.”

  Chase looked at the candy, which the older man no doubt greatly enjoyed, hoarded, and looked forward to but was willing to share to show his appreciation. Chase’s annoyance changed to gratitude. Percival would always watch out for Julia. Chase reached for a chocolate and popped the cream-filled candy in his mouth.

  Percival nodded. “You’ll do.”

  “Thanks,” Chase said, acknowledging the older man for more than just the candy.

  “My pleasure.” Percival straightened. “Miss Ferrington backed me, believed in me. There isn’t anything I wouldn’t do for her to keep her safe and happy. So if I seem nosy, I am.”

  Chase grinned. “The thought had crossed my mind.”

  “I’ll just bet it did.” Humming, Percival walked off.

  The phone was ringing when Chase entered his room. He rushed to the end table in the sitting room and jerked up the receiver. “Hello.”

  “So you’re finally home.”

  “Oh, it’s you.” Disappointed, Chase plopped down on the arm of the sofa.

  A deep chuckle came through the receiver clearly. “Don’t tell me you’ve been out of my sight four weeks and you let some woman get her hooks into you.”

  “Don’t start, Colt.”

  “Dad, Chase is having women problems!” Colt yelled. “No wonder he didn’t come home this weekend or last.”

  “I thought you two were always telling me to stay here.” Chase plucked a chocolate peanut cluster from the basket and eased onto the couch.

  “That was before we knew about her. So give.”

  In between bites, Chase briefly told Colt about Julia, intentionally leaving out the last hour of heavy petting. He and his big brother were extremely close and shared a lot, but neither of them discussed the intimate details about the women they dated.

  “Watch it, Bro,” Colt warned once Chase finished. “The candy was just to soften you up.”

  “You are too suspicious.” Chase polished off the candy and considered another piece. “You sound like her sister, who, by the way, could beat you at interrogation.”

  “Sounds like a busybody,” Colt said. “Stay away from that family.”

  Chase knew it was useless arguing with his brother. Ever since he’d caught his ex-wife in an affair, he’d bee
n distrustful of women. With a start, Chase realized some of Colt’s resentment had rubbed off on him—until he met Julia. “From experience, I’d say this is one family I wouldn’t judge until I met them in person.”

  “Maybe Dad and I should come up there to make sure you aren’t getting in over your head.”

  “Big brother, I can handle it.”

  “See that you do. Marriage and lawmen don’t mix.” Bitterness tinged Colt’s words.

  Chase straightened, all thought of the candy forgotten. “Who said anything about marriage?”

  “You’re the noble, romantic type. All those mystical, heroic stories about the Texas Rangers are what attracted you in the first place,” Colt told him. “I’m surprised you’ve stayed single this long.”

  “You’re just mad because you have to wear a uniform and I don’t.”

  “But I’m cuter.”

  “So is a baby elephant to its mother.”

  Both men laughed and settled down to talk. From time to time Chase’s father, Charles, got on the phone. An hour later Chase hung up the phone and pushed to his feet. Restless, he opened the cabinet doors of the entertainment center and turned on the TV. He channel-surfed for several seconds, then shut it off. The remote control still in his hand, he stared at the telephone.

  He knew why he was edgy, what would take the edge off; and just as certainly knew it wouldn’t happen tonight. If ever. Crossing the room, he picked up the phone and dialed. With Julia he was finding he wanted much more than her body. However, by the eighth ring he vacillated between anger and concern.

  “Hello. Hello,” she finally answered breathlessly.

  “Where were you?” Chase asked, his voice sharp and accusatory.

  “In the shower. I tried to hurry.”

  If she had wanted to pay him back, she couldn’t have chosen a better method. He didn’t have to close his eyes to imagine droplets of water rolling down her sleek body or imagine his tongue lapping them from her skin. He groaned.