Betrayal (Southern Belles) (3 page)

They trekked through the mud and overgrown hedges that surrounded the old house. She could see several pairs of footsteps, “Hey, look! Footprints” Tommy laughed “Those are mine, ma’am. From last night.”

“Oh, duh!” As she smacked her forehead.

They went all around the outside of the house, Tommy looking close at the door and the ground around it. The fence had been knocked down, and they both walked over to look at it.

Tommy played a little with the short chain-link, and the stubby post that had held it up. Amidst all the green growth, it was a mangled half-rotted mess. He glanced back at her. “This old post needs replacing. It just collapsed. I don’t think anyone knocked it down. Actually, this whole fence needs replacing.”

She nodded. She had no choice but to believe him. “Are you sure? No one was here?”

He pointed out several small animal tracks in the dirt. They looked kind of like dog-paws. “See this?” She nodded. “These are coyote tracks. There are a lot more over by your door.”

She turned to look over at the door in surprise.

“My guess…” he said, letting go of the post, and brushing his hands on his pants, leaving marks behind “…is that you cooked some amazing, fancy L.A. food last night, the coyotes smelled it, wanted it and they tried to break in.” He smiled at her, even though she felt silly. “Good thing your door was bolted too. Coyotes can cause quite the ruckus, though they usually try to avoid people.” He pointed to the door. “You can see the scratch marks all up the door though; they were hell bent on getting in. I bet it was my siren that sent them away.”

Annie shivered, suddenly cold in the brisk morning air. “They can’t get in though, right?”

He smiled reassuringly at her. “No, Ma’am uhm… Annie. They didn’t get in last night. They won’t get in tonight. Just keep all your doors locked and you’ll be all right.” He waved toward the fence. “But, you ought to see about getting that fence repaired. They’ll keep scratching at your door until you do.”

Annie nodded. She’d have to go into town to see if she could find someone who could fix it for her. Her grandfather had always insisted that she shouldn’t be working on the ranch, so she was not even going to try to fix it herself. He’d wanted her to become a famous actress almost as much as she had.

Tommy walked quietly with her, back toward the house. He had the most amazing body she had ever seen. Especially from the back side. She giggled thinking to herself.
He could crack a walnut with that ass
. Annie looked at him, feeling herself flush, her nipples hard in the cool morning air. She quickly crossed her arms again. He caught her looking, and raised an eyebrow.

“You fixin’ to ask me something?” he asked.

She blushed. “Sorry, I just can’t get over how much you’ve changed. You’ve grown up so much. A policeman…oh, wait…
not
a policeman, a
sheriff
and you're so freakin’ hot. Way too sexy for these parts!” The words were out of her mouth before she realized it, and then she looked away, blushing even harder.

Shit! Did I say that?

He looked at her, his lopsided grin returning. He spread his arms wide, bowing slightly for her. “I’m glad you approve, m’ lady.” Annie giggled. “Damn straight I do.”

They made it back to the porch, and Annie pulled her long hair out of the way, smiling at Tommy. He stood nervously; his eyes appeared to see everything but her. Suddenly, he leaned in to give her an awkward hug. “Glad you’re alright, ma’am”

Annie hugged him back, her breasts brushing in tight against his ripped chest. Her nipples pushing hard against the fabric of her pajamas. She blushed, folding her arms across her chest again, hiding what was there.

He headed down the steps, and glanced back at her, swallowing hard. “Hey, Annie?”

“Yeah?”

“Maybe we could catch up sometime. You know, go in to town or something?” He was stumbling over his words, and suddenly Annie had no difficulty seeing young Tommy in him.

She smiled. “Sure, that would be nice.” He gulped. “Yeah? You mean…like a date?” Realization hit her, and she blushed again. She felt her voice go all girly. “Yeah, I’d like that.” He blinked for a minute, as though he didn’t understand her, and then his smile lit up his whole face. “Great.” He shifted a little in his jacket, glancing back at her. “How about Friday night? I’ll come ‘round about seven?”

Annie pulled her arms tight against herself, and felt them tingling with anticipation. She found herself having to push away a sudden thought of how the evening might go, that made the rest of her body quiver. She would love to spend an evening with Tommy Donovan.

She nodded, clearing her throat. At last, she found words. “That’d be great.”

He beamed at her, stumbling a little as he backed off the porch. Finally, he broke her gaze, turning back to his car. He stopped there and waved as he got in. Annie stayed in the doorway, watching him drive off, and all she could think of was that her very lonely life might just have taken a very nice turn.

Chapter 6

When Annie told Marti about the coyotes, Marti laughed and told her that she would fix the fence for her. Annie had gone into town, but hadn’t been able to find what she needed. Who was she kidding? She didn’t have a clue about fixing the fence. People were nice enough, she’d just been afraid to ask one of her old acquaintances after all this time. She had to admit that she was relieved when Marti offered. Marti was still sleeping over, but she knew that couldn’t last forever. Marti had a life to live.

She met Marti in town after school got out, and Marti led her through the shops to buy the supplies that they needed. As they shopped, Annie told Marti about Tommy asking her out.

“Wait,” Marti said, pausing in the aisle. “Seriously? You mean that he asked… just like that?”

Annie was already blushing again as old Tim turned to stack up their purchases on the feed and grain store’s counter. She picked at the peeling linoleum top, darting glances at Marti. “Yeah.” She smiled. “He did. I mean, I might have called him sexy...”

Marti’s mouth opened even wider. “You did what? Wait - seriously?” She stared at Annie. “You just told him ‘hey sexy guy’? I can’t believe you said that. What are ya, crazy?”

Annie giggled then glanced back, her eyes bright. “Why not? He
is
sexy. I wasn’t lying. See how well it turned out? Maybe you should try it next time a hot, sexy guy rolls through town.”

She laughed, but was surprised when Marti blushed a little. Marti wasn’t really the blushing type. “What?” Annie asked, intrigued. “You have someone you are keeping a secret?”

Marti cleared her throat, looking away. “Come on,” she said, her voice slowly returning to its familiar clipped tone, “You know that the only guy in town I’m interested in is old Tim here.”

Old Tim’s head snapped up in surprise and he backed away a little, as though threatened. Marti and Annie laughed, and he seemed to realize it was a joke, chuckling as well.

“There you are, ladies,” he said, pushing their purchases toward them. “Hope ya’ll have a good day.”

Annie and Marti thanked him and headed out into the bright sunlight, laughing. They continued on, forgetting the conversation from before, but Annie couldn’t help but wonder just who could make Marti blush like that. He must be quite the man.

Chapter 7

Tommy was 15 minutes early, and Annie rushed to finish getting ready while he stood nervously in the doorway. He had brought her flowers, which made her blush even more. She couldn’t remember the last time a guy had bothered to bring her flowers. Especially one as handsome as Tommy, with his piercing dark eyes and broad shoulders under a black tailored button-down shirt, with his faded jeans catching in all the right places down his legs.

At last she was ready, in a pink silk blouse, dark jeans and stilettos. Even with the stilettos, he towered over her.

Tommy held the door for her as she slipped into his car. She brushed against him and he could smell her sweet perfume. He wanted to reach out and grab her, but thought twice about it. It was only their first date.

He drove her to the only fancy restaurant in town, a Creole and sushi place that Annie had wanted to try since she’d first spotted it. Inside, Tommy waved hello to the waitress, and they sat down in a dark little corner booth.

Annie studied the menu, her heart racing a little as she tried to think of things to talk about. They’d managed a little small talk in the car, and he was glad to find out that Marti was helping her with her fence. Yet, now they sat awkwardly, and Annie felt a little silly. This wasn’t anything like when she dated in the city. Back then, she didn’t know anything about the guy, so it was easy to come up with small talk. This time, she was out with Tommy. She knew Tommy. She could remember his dad polishing the counter at the town bar, leaning over to scowl at her and Marti when they came in asking for peanuts or to find Marti’s dad.

Finally, she cleared her throat. “So, you’re sheriff now? Why sheriff? Seems like a pretty stressful job to me.”

He smiled. “Stress? Not really. Only when beautiful ladies get terrified of wild animals looking for food.” They laughed and the nervousness subsided. “No, actually, I did two tours in Iraq and when I got back, I went straight to the academy in Savannah. Been a policeman ever since. That old badger Vernon finally passed about a year back.” His eyes twinkled when he talked and it made her heart race. “And since I was the most senior officer, everyone just assumed that I would pick it up.” He shrugged. “I guess it made sense. No one else even ran for the office, so I got the position automatically.”

Annie nodded. “That’s kind of amazing. I mean, you’re really a young Sheriff.”

He shrugged. “I know. It’s a lot of responsibility, but -” his eyes met hers, “I like it.” He looked back down to toy with his menu for a minute. “I guess I just wanted to be worthy of you when you came back.”

Annie blinked, surprised. Of course, she had known that Tommy had liked her. Everyone in town had known. But Tommy had been so awkward back then, with his head always tucked in a book, his body tucked into a corner. The kids were always so mean to him, especially her and Marti. She didn’t think grown up Tommy would have the same feelings.

His eyes rose to meet hers as the silence stretched on, and Annie looked down. “Thanks.” She looked back up to smile at him. “You know, you were always a pretty cool kid. I was just too much of a jerk back then to know it.”

He smiled, though his eyes didn’t look like he believed her. “Nah, don’t worry about it, I was kind of a loser. That’s all changed now.”

Annie felt a blush sting across her cheeks, and her eyes met his. His smile was still mischievous. “You know, Annie, I saw everything that you were in. Even the silly vacuum commercial.”

Annie was startled. “What? You saw me? That crap was ridiculous. It was just something to help pay the bills.”

He shrugged. “It
was
nice to see you, though. I’d like to think that you were almost famous.”

She grinned. “Well, that was the plan, wasn’t it?”

Tommy winked. “Maybe there’s a reason that plan didn’t work out?”

The waitress stepped up to take their order, and Tommy ordered for the both of them. As they waited, they talked about Iraq, L.A., Grandpa Graham, elementary school and growing up in a small town. This was Tommy. With him, she could be completely comfortable and just be herself.

When they were ready to leave, Tommy stood and held out his arm for her, she wanted to grab and devour him right there, but gracefully placed her hand in the crook of it and walked out to the car. Tommy was truly a gentleman, and feeling a little light-headed from the wine, she clung to his arm a little bit more than she needed to as he helped her into the car and drove home.

He had promised her that he would show her his house, and he pulled into the drive of a big antiquated manor with the most beautiful garden she had ever seen. The grass was cut perfectly and flowers of every color lined the yard. Columns surrounded the massive double doors and the house was immaculate on the outside. It definitely rivalled the Ranch house. “Th-this is your house?” she asked, eyes wide. “Yeah, my daddy gave it to me when he and my mama moved to Mississippi. It’s a big house, lots of work, but I love it!” He helped her out of the car, and they walked together up the drive to the house. Annie breathed deeply, taking in the beauty of it all. She was in awe of this man and his living arrangements. For a minute he played with his keys, and then he looked over at her nervously.

“You sure you want to come in?”

She smiled at him, blushing. “I’ve been hoping for it all night.”

He looked into her eyes, stepping just a little closer. He stood tall above her and she could smell his cologne, a heavy musk scent. Her heart beating almost as fast as the cicadas outside. He leaned over, sliding his hand around the back of her neck, pressing his lips to hers. Her whole body tingled, her senses awakening as she moved closer against him, pushing into his kiss. His tongue slowly slid along her bottom lip, over into her mouth and she moaned against him.

She gripped the front of his shirt tightly in her fist as he gently moved his hands to cup her face. He whispered in her ear “Annie, you are so beautiful. Let’s go inside.” through the gentle kisses caressing her face.

Chapter 8

The minute Tommy closed the door behind them, they were intertwined. His big hands reaching for her waist, he pulled her toward him and she arched her back a little, enjoying the feeling on her skin. Her hands raced over his chest and upper arms, feeling the rippled muscles beneath the silk of his shirt. Their eyes met and Annie felt little shivers run up her spine as his dark eyes seemed to uncover her soul.

“This - this is okay, right? I don’t want to do something you don’t want to do.” he asked. His breath came in gasps, and she could feel his hardness through his jeans.

She pressed her hips against him, her own breath gasping. “God, yes.”

His lopsided smile spread across his face, and he leaned down and placed his arm behind her knees and lifted her up. He kissed her forehead and carried her to the bedroom. She could smell his musky cologne and feel his heart thumping as she placed her head on his chest.