All Flash No Cash (13 page)

“Miss Tandy will choose the winner of the
bike.” CJ took the mic and jumped off the stage as a bouncer spun
the drum and Miss Tandy posed for photos in spike-heeled black
boots, fishnet stockings, and a dress that barely covered
everything important.

“Mmm. Miss Tandy.” Huck grinned at her. She
waved at him and winked.

Of course, everyone at their table gave Huck
shit about that.

A drumroll sounded.

She reached into the barrel pulled out one
card and held it up toward CJ.

The room went silent, everyone holding their
ticket stubs and their breath.

Taking the card from Tandy, CJ looked around
the room. “The winning ticket number is 4723.”

Groans sounded from every corner of the room.
Shaw and Harper set their tickets on the table, and Huck tossed
his. Dax stared at his.

“Number 4723? Are you here tonight?”

“Mother Mercy.” Dax stood. “That’s me.”

Pete couldn’t get a breath. His smile broke
out. “You’re shitting me.” He stood and looked at the ticket. “You
won!”

Harper stood, jumping up and down. Shaw and
Huck got to their feet too, smacking Dax on the back.

“Come on up here, cowboy.” CJ gestured to
Dax, but looked at Pete. “Let’s get your picture with your new
bike.”

Applause sounded around the room as the sound
level increased once again.

Pete watched as Dax was photographed with the
bike, with Miss Tandy and the bike, with CJ handing him the keys,
then he called Pete up, and they got some pictures, too.

Dax’s grin was bright as a solar flare.

CJ let the band start again, and headed out
the door toward the bar.

Dax came and collapsed into his chair. “I
can’t believe it.”

“Lucky duck!” Harper rubbed his shoulder.
“Rub off some luck for me.”

He laughed. “I’m coming back tomorrow to sign
papers and pick up the bike.”

Pete shook his head. “That’s incredible.” He
had to ask. “Do you like the artwork? I can change it if—”

“The fuck you’ll change it!” Dax leveled a
stare at Pete. “It’s incredible, a tribute to a great man. I
wouldn’t let you change anything.”

Shaw leaned in. “What about those buffalo and
snakes and eagles. You don’t want them added?”

Pete laughed, then sobered, sad, almost
depressed that those wild times with CJ were gone. Forever.

After the Halloween revelers cleared out, CJ
trudged up to her apartment. Alone. She loaded the memory chip on
her computer. Almost a form of self-punishment, tonight had proven
that, for romantic relationships, she was the worst human on the
planet. How could Pete even consider asking for more than a few
nights with her? She had no seductive skills, no flattery skills,
no game at all.

The photos came up and she clicked to enlarge
the first one. Her on the bike, looking stiff and unsure. What did
he see in her?

Then the photos got better. The look in her
eyes, the hungry set of her lips. That had to be when Pete was
getting naked.

When the shot of Pete kneeling between her
legs popped up, his head bent in to her pussy, his naked body
muscled and trim… CJ touched her belly, and almost ran her fingers
down between her legs. This was hot stuff.

She’d gotten a shot of Pete sitting on the
bike, his big cock pointing toward the ceiling, red and swollen.
Standing next to him in only her bikini top, her body looked long
and toned.

The next pictures showed her on him, riding
him with her feet braced on the pegs, her head thrown back, her
long fingers gripping his big shoulders. Next, his head at her
breast, and finally, their embrace after they’d both come. Their
bodies wrapped together so tightly, it looked like they’d never
come apart. Deep desire in her core warred with the pain of loss in
her heart.

He trusted her with the photos. He hadn’t
forced her to go through with the bet and expose her bikini-clad
body to the whole world. He’d shown her compassion like no one else
had. Why was she pushing him away?

She shoved back and looked out her window,
down at the garage and the huge tent that wouldn’t come down until
tomorrow. The need for air sent her out the door without a jacket.
The cool night startled her, woke her from her thoughts.

Heading down the stairs, she tried to sort
out a direction. Where was she going? And wasn’t that a loaded
question? Stepping through the gate, she headed into the bar.
Keying in the passcode, she yanked open the door to find Dolby
standing in front of her, gun pointed.

“Jeez, you scared the crap out of me.” Her
heart thudded.

“You usually call if you’re coming down.” He
holstered the gun and switched on the light. “What’s
happening?”

“I don’t know. I need a drink, I guess.” She
wandered past him to the bar.

“Sit. Let me bartend.” Dolby walked behind
the bar and switched on the low lights. “What’ll it be,
stranger?”

She let out a quick laugh. “You’re a
natural.” She perused the bottles lined up and shiny. “Give me a
shot of tequila.”

One of his brows went up. “Ah ha. Serious
drinking tonight.” He set a shot glass on the bar and chose a very
expensive brand. “What’s going on with you?”

“Dad.” She picked up the shot glass.

Dolby poured himself a lowball of coke and
held it up. “To Harry Overton.”

They tapped glasses and downed their
respective drinks, then thumped the empty glasses on the bar.

“I never realized how much he meant to
people.” She tapped her fingernail on her glass and Dolby refilled
it.

“That’s because you never let people tell you
before.” He leaned on the bar. “You didn’t want to hear the stories
until recently.” He smirked. “Why is that, do you think?”

She pursed her lips. Pete. He opened her up
with his drawing, the bike and the picture of her he’d given to
Harry. “Maybe I’m just getting old and wise.” She batted her eyes.
“Like you.”

“Ha.” He pointed to a poster of the
motorcycle. “He’s a good man, CJ. I could tell right off the bat,
and the more I got to know him, the more I saw something in him.”
Dolby gave her the fatherly stare he’d perfected with his own
family. “Why aren’t you trying with him?”

“It’s better this way. I can’t get involved
with a rancher. He’d want me to cook and clean and pop out a baby
every year.” Why didn’t that scare her as much as it once had?
Fuck, she had a plan for her life. “I want to sell this heap and
travel when Dad…doesn’t need me anymore.” Her voice seemed to
whine, and she took a shot, feeling the burn all the way down to
her belly. “Dolby, you know I want to see the US, Mexico, Europe,
maybe other places. That ain’t gonna happen if I settle in with a
hayseed.”

“Girl, the US, Mexico, Europe, and maybe
other places, are gonna be there for a long time.” He took her
empty shot glass and set it in the dishwasher along with his glass.
“The hayseed…he ain’t.” He knocked twice on the bar and walked
away.

CJ stared at her reflection in the mirror
behind the bottles. She’d have money from the sale of the bar. She
could pay Pete’s way, if he was interested in seeing the world with
her. She’d pay for him to hire someone to run the ranch when they
traveled.

“Goddamn stubborn man.” He probably wouldn’t.
Too proud, too set in his ways. Too perfect. She set her arms on
the bar and dropped her forehead onto her forearm. “Why couldn’t he
just be a landless drifter looking for a sugar momma?”

****

Saturday afternoon, Pete pushed an
industrial-size broom around the floor of his framed-in house. The
workers had just left, and a chill settled on the air. Buttoning
his denim jacket, he looked up through the roof trusses at the
sunny afternoon sky. Next week, they’d get exterior walls and
hopefully, the roof on. Snow season wasn’t too far off, and he’d
like to have the shell in place before Mother Nature dumped on
them.

He swept a pile into a bucket shovel and
heard a vehicle approaching. His parents liked to come and inspect
every so often, but when he turned to look, he didn’t recognize the
small red car that pulled up behind his truck.

The sun reflected off the windshield as the
driver pulled to a stop. The door opened and…

“CJ?” He set down the broom and shovel and
jumped off the floor onto where the front porch would be. “Hi.” His
chest swelled with excitement, but he hammered down the emotion.
She could be here for any number of reasons.

“Hi.” In a fluffy blue winter coat over tight
bluejeans and black cowgirl boots, she looked good enough to eat.
“I’m not interrupting?” She gazed around the house frame.

“No, not at all. How did you find me?” He
held back the urge to run to her and instead strolled casually over
to where she stood next to the car.

“I stopped by your parents’ house, thinking
you’d be there.” She gestured. “But here you are, building your own
place.”

“Yeah. You met my parents. Living with them
at my age is…getting old.”

She curved her lips up a little.

“Your car?” The red late-model sports car
looked expensive.

“Dad’s.” She touched the hood. “He bought it
just months before he lost the ability to drive. I used to drive
him around in it.” She shook her head. “But that’s not why I’m
here.”

“Okay.” He tipped his head toward the house
frame. “Want to come in?”

A short laugh came from her chest.
“Sure.”

He helped her up the makeshift steps onto the
plywood floor.

“Is it all on one-level?”

“There’s a loft above, but mostly one level.
Easier to live, in my opinion. Want a tour?”

“Yes, please.”

He showed her the huge kitchen with windows
facing the best view of the buttes and the sunrise, the living
room, fireplace rough-in, dining room, man cave, even the
bathrooms. She loved the four-car garage and big studio where he’d
do his painting. They wandered past four smaller bedrooms sharing
two bathrooms between them, but the main bedroom suite got her
attention.

“It’s huge.” She wandered into one of the
roughed-in space. “Is this the bathroom?” She spread her arms.

“That’s the closet.” He guided her to a room
twice that big. “Bathroom. Glass shower here. Big whirlpool tub
with a sunset view over there.” The sun was moving close to the
horizon.

She frowned. “What, did you win the
lottery?”

He shook his head. “Why are you here,
CJ?”

Her eyes shifted and her breathing quickened.
“I’m here to tell you…” She sucked in an uneven breath, then looked
right into his eyes. In the direct sunlight, her green eyes glowed
like jewels. “I made a mistake, and if it’s not too late, I’d like
to change my mind.”

He smiled. “Oh yeah? Just exactly what are
you talking about?” He lifted his hands. “I mean, is this about my
expense report? Or about giving me a reference on my work on
the—”

“Shut up, Pete.” She stepped closer and
grabbed his jacket in both fists. “I’m sorry I was so nearsighted.
I don’t want to be just casual sex for you, and you for me. I want
to go for it all.”

“Really?” He lifted a brow. This seemed too
quick to be real. “Why’s that?”

She let go of his jacket with a growl, but he
pulled her back with his hands on her hips. She held onto his
shoulders. “You’re gonna make me say this, huh?”

“If you don’t mind.” He needed to know this
was real.

“Pete Gonally, you’ve gotten yourself lodged
in my heart, and I can’t shake you loose.”

He smiled. “Okay. I feel like a giant
splinter, but go on.”

“You’re fascinating to me. I can’t stop
thinking about you. You are the perfect man for me, and I hope I
can learn to…or somehow become…become someone you’d be willing to
fall for.”

He nearly choked on that last bit. Didn’t she
know how much he loved her already? No, probably not. He’d never
said it, and barely had time to show it before she’d shoved him
away and ran. “You feel something for me?”

“I do.” She blinked a few times. “I feel
something I’ve never felt before. And I want to give this a go,
Pete.”

He leaned in and pressed his lips to
hers.

She responded, wrapping her arms around his
waist, opening her mouth, and touching her tongue to his. She was
hungry today, and he was going to give her everything she
craved.

As their tongues explored each other’s
mouths, his hand came up under her coat, under her shirt, and found
her bare breast. Damn, no bra? He pinched her nipple, warming his
cool hand on her skin.

She ground her hips against his, the swell of
desire heating his groin. She looked around. “Is there someplace we
can go to, um, talk?”

He thought for a moment. Parents were home,
the barn wasn’t sexy at all. “Hold on.” He jumped off the
foundation and ran to his truck. Pulling out three plastic trash
bags, he raced back to the bedroom. “This is gonna sound strange,
but sometimes I sleep here, just because it’s mine, you know?” He
unfolded the air mattress and pressed the start-button on the
battery-fill. It whined as it pumped air into the bed.

“I can appreciate that.” CJ wandered to stand
next to him. “This is your very own space.”

“It is. Do you…like it?” Would she be able to
live here?

“I really love it. But I have a proposition
for you.”

The air mattress stopped its whining and Pete
capped it off. Opening the other bags, he tossed out pillows and
blankets. “Come and sit. Let’s talk.”

They got comfortable, his back against a
heavy beam, her leaning against his shoulder.

“What’s your proposition, boss lady?”

She choked a quick laugh. “About that. I
don’t want to be the boss anymore. I mean, I want to sell the bar
soon. As soon as…Dad doesn’t have long.”

He hugged her tight. “I’m sorry. He’s been
your whole life.”