DAC_II_GenVers_Sept2013 (18 page)

But
why
was that the case? What was it about the younger man that snuck past her reserves? It made no sense to her that one man could make you draw as far as you could into yourself to emotionally escape him, while another one managed to liberate some wild creature hiding inside your body. She simply hadn’t recognized the woman who had tackled a laughing Walter from behind and dragged him to her bedroom floor after their shower together. Of course, she had made it worth his while, but still.

They’d had shower sex. And kitchen table sex. . .no wait, they had ended up in a chair, so that couldn’t make the list. She guessed ‘in a chair’ belonged on the list, but it seemed redundant since Walter more often than not had pulled her into his lap one way or the other. She had come to think of it as Walter’s ‘resting’ phase during their marathon sessions. It was his way of slowing things down or getting her to share in the work.

When reflecting about all they’d done for the two days he’d stayed, she certainly had to concede to a new appreciation for the odd-shaped, way too masculine couch she’d inherited from her father’s condo. Her Aunt Rachel had hated the reddish brown leather. Since her old couch had been threadbare, it had ended up with her. Walter’s heavy body sinking them both into the butter soft layers was something Jane didn’t think she’d be forgetting anytime soon. The smell of freshly cleaned leather combined with Walter was now imprinted into her sensory memory.

She was still thinking about the weekend while she was parking her car.

The delay in her cycle had allowed her one more unexpected day of hedonistic paradise. Her pre-cycle cramping had even subsided, which she probably owed to Walter’s lovemaking. She was still bloated and still had the pimple, but somehow neither fact seemed to bother her much. Her purse was packed with ample emergency products in case she ended up dealing with a flooding problem today.

Jane stopped inside the doorway, stunned as she viewed the multi-colored silk and lace version of the main lodge. Sliding her sunglasses back into place over her eyes, she decided it was a good idea to keep some privacy for her thoughts for as long as she could. With that in mind, she deftly avoided the office at North Winds as she walked through the twenty or thirty residents helping remove the colorful clutter. They were so involved in going through it that they didn’t even notice her sneaking out the side door.

Which was probably the second foreshadowing about the dire consequences for her actions. The first one was when Walter hadn’t called Sunday night—not that she’d expected him to call—but he hadn’t. She knew he was pulling his regular weekend shift at the fire station. She wished she could say she had expected nothing at all from him, but that would have been a giant lie.

Outside, she stopped to stare at the now sadly empty swimming pool while she further pondered her stupidity. She nearly screamed when someone’s hand clamped down on her shoulder. It took a few seconds to recognize it was only Brenner trying to get her attention.

“Hangover?” he asked, grinning when she slowly took off her sunglasses.

“No. I never drink enough to have a hangover,” she said, patting her too rapidly beating heart. “I’m just. . .I’m just having an unusual morning. Guess I didn’t get enough sleep over the weekend.”

Another hand clamping down on her other shoulder sent her screaming after all, and lunging to the side to escape. “What the hell. People need to stop touching me this morning.”

A surprised Walter stared at her outburst.

“Oh. . .it’s just you,” Jane said, taking a deep breath to calm herself. She shook her head and put out a hand to touch his arm. “Sorry, Walter. I’m jittery this morning.”

The apology was automatic. So was the flow of lust that followed the trail of her fingers sliding over his shirt sleeve. She yanked her hand off Walter’s arm when she realized the danger, but it was too late to stop the inevitable reaction he caused in her. Like it or not, she was going to be walking around in wet underwear today. She should have just put some protection on regardless. Being a woman totally sucked at times.

“Jane? Are you alright?” Walter asked.

“Sure. I’m fine,” she said, hearing her voice squeak out. “Why?”

Walter ran a hand over his hair. “Did you stop by the office?”

“No,” Jane replied, because it was technically true. And she was glad not to have to outright lie in front of Brenner. She slid her sunglasses back into place once more. They made her feel better. “Did Amanda need something from me?”

“No,” Walter said softly, listening to Brenner laugh beside both of them. “Apparently, there were some unexpected deliveries this weekend. I was just wondering if you saw them.”

Jane looked at the empty pool again. “No, I didn’t see anything. I just saw the pool was drained. It was smart to get that done so quickly.”

She stopped at the odd expression scrunching Walter’s face up until it was a mass of folded lines. He looked like a Shar-Pei puppy. “What is it, Walter?” she asked, even though she knew damn well what was wrong with him. But she had her own mental welfare to think about.

Brenner laughed which drew her attention away from Walter to him.

“Walter’s fan club stopped by to visit while everyone was out of the office. They left him some gifts,” Brenner said.

“Really? What did they bring this time?” Jane asked, determined not to let Brenner see her chaotic emotional state. She had managed to keep her divorce from affecting her business dealings. She wasn’t about to let Mr. March groupies stringing lingerie everywhere get the better of her poise. “There’s been a steady stream of flowers, candy, and balloons since the calendar reprint. Handy publicity if Walter was inclined to exploit it.”

“Underwear this time,” Walter said flatly, frowning because he thought he’d managed to keep that other stuff from her. Which meant Jane was lying about not seeing anything this morning. Damn she was good. He had almost been fooled by what she’d said to Brenner.

“The crazy women left underwear, as in lingerie. They hung underwear from every surface in the main lodge with notes attached. Plus, there are wrapped gift packages that haven’t even been opened. I gave a lot of the stuff away already. You know how the residents are. The sex toys went quickly.”

Jane snorted at the description realizing that she had seen some of the distribution on her way in. When Walter bowed his head instead of laughing along with Brenner, she realized none of what he’d described had been a joke. . .or even an exaggeration. She hoped a joke could cover up how appalled she was.

“Well, I bet you’re the popular person around here this morning. Dorothy and David find something good?”

“Let’s just say both Harrison and Amanda are still laughing at the squabbling among the residents. Blackmail has been mentioned. There was so much of it that Harrison suggested a raffle. He said the payout could probably finance the new swimming pool,” Walter said.

“Imagine Walter here having all the single women in Falls Church sending him lingerie and asking for a date. He is living the dream, Jane,” Brenner said, grinning as he recalled all he’d seen. “Tell Jane about the phone numbers, Walter. And the pictures. You wouldn’t believe the things some of those women wrote to him on the back of their pictures. Hell, I couldn’t believe it when I read the notes.”

“Jane’s not interested in that craziness,” Walter said firmly.

Jane nodded her head, moving it up and down rapidly like one of those bobble-head dolls, the metal of her sunglasses jingling against her temples. While the groupies had been leaving lingerie and sexy notes for him, she had been dragging Mr. March to the floor. What had she been thinking? He had probably read the notes and discovered just how limited her range of sexual creativity was. She’d rather just not know what he thought.

“I’m sure Walter is handling the attention as well as could be expected of any man,” Jane said, keeping her breathing even and her voice casual.

Walter frowned at Jane, not sure what to think of her calmness. If their situation had been reversed, he would have been freaked out. Hell, he was still mentally reliving the stand-off with her ex over and over.

“I can handle it just fine because I know it will eventually pass. It’s the woman I’m sleeping with who worries me. I wonder what she’s thinking about it,” Walter said.

“Well, I wouldn’t worry too much about her. Hopefully, she’ll see the humor in the situation,” Jane said quickly. After this morning, she didn’t want to talk about their personal life in front of Brenner, who was still laughing and envious of all the women chasing Walter.

“Will she?” Walter demanded.

Jane sighed and adjusted her sunglasses. “I have an appointment downtown this morning, Walter. It may take all day. I forgot to mention it this we. . .when I saw you last. I just dropped by to let you know.”

Once the first lie had slipped off her tongue, the others had fallen naturally after it.

A glance at Brenner showed him still busy with his phone.

A glance at Walter saw him looking like he’d eaten too many prunes. It was his Shar-Pei puppy look again. Why hadn’t she ever noticed that his face wrinkled when he was distressed? When he got older, it was going to take a whole lot of collagen injections to fill in those lines. Of course, men never seemed to worry about those things. Besides, it would be years before Walter saw the first line anyway.

“Okay, we can do without you for a day,” Walter said, rubbing the back of his head. “Can I call you later?”

“Of course,” Jane said.

She hoped the giggle laugh she forced out would cover up the fact that her cheeks heated with guilt, the real kind. She didn’t lie well unless it was for business. But she just couldn’t hang around North Winds mooning over Walter’s opinions of lacy lingerie and sex toys all day.

She turned on her heel to leave.

“Wait. . .Jane. Got a few minutes to take a look at something? It won’t take long,” Walter promised.

Jane stopped walking and nodded. When she turned to look at Walter again, the lines on his face were gone. Instead, there was just a strange look in his eyes. It had her swallowing nervously and looking at Brenner whose attention was luckily still not on them.

“Follow me to the pool house,” Walter said, walking ahead of her with barely a glance in her direction.

She wasn’t fooled by the ploy. Walter obviously wanted to talk. Fine. They should talk. They should just get her discomfort and embarrassment out there and get it over with. The weekend had been just one huge mistake anyway. It had been that chemistry thing between them blowing up in their faces. Really they should be glad they got the initial lust thing out of their systems. Now they could move on with more suitable partners.

Inside the pool house, Walter locked the door behind them saying what she had expected to hear. “Jane. . .we need to talk.”

Her head was shaking even before she spoke. “What really is there to talk about, Walter? I understand that when I slept with you, I slept with Mr. March. Lucky me, right? The lingerie fiasco is a bit over the top, but you should probably be flattered. Brenner’s gleefully chauvinistic point of view is typical of most men, isn’t it?”

She heard Walter make a growling sound of warning just before his mouth swept down on hers. When he removed his tongue, he looked down at her, desperation in his gaze.

“Tell me you don’t believe that crap, and I’ll let you out of here. Otherwise. . .”

“How can I believe that you’re unaffected by all this? No man is that good—not even you,” Jane said fiercely.

“I’m not that good. I’m just more interested in a woman who sleeps in her worn-out college clothes than anyone wearing anything hung in the lodge,” he said.

Walter pulled Jane closer, his hands sliding down and up under the skirt she’d worn today. He slid it up to her waist, his hands circling her hips and cupping her rear. He was still trying to decide if he was really going through with making love to her in the pool house when the beast in him urged him to slide a hand between her legs. He found her wet and wonderful. That was the woman he wanted. That woman was Jane. He pushed the scrap of clothing keeping him from her aside on his way to touching heaven. Her groan of welcome brought a kind a relief he hadn’t known existed.

“Walter? What are we doing?” Jane heard her mouth asking the right question, but her busy hands were seeking the only answer her body cared about at that moment. Finding him rigid, her fingers made short work of unfastening his jeans to free him. She didn’t care that they’d left a laughing Brenner outside busy with his phone. The noises of heavy equipment drowned out her groaning.

Grinning, Walter kissed Jane’s temple while she released a ragged sigh.

“What kind of magical power do you have over me?” she asked.

“Right back at you, lady,” Walter said.

He was already inside her before they even hit the floor. After that, all he remembered was kissing her to keep her from calling out at the end. Finding his own pleasure took the edge off his desperation, but filled him with a totally different kind of need. He didn’t want Jane to think that their raging lust for each other was all that was between them.

“I missed you last night,” Walter said. “There were two fires and four 911 calls. In between them, I had to sleep to make up for what I lost both Friday and Saturday night.”

When Jane said nothing in response to his explanation, after a couple minutes he pushed to his feet and left her body. It was the worst feeling in the world to pull away, but Brenner was still outside. Soon the man would wonder where he and Jane had gone for so long.

Reaching down, he offered Jane a hand, sweeping her still damp underwear from the floor with his other one as he helped her stand up. Though weaving in front of him on high heeled shoes that had never left her feet, Jane smoothed down her skirt like she’d just finished a long meeting. Her serious face was back. When she held a hand out for her panties, Walter handed them over, but he had to try damn hard not to laugh. Her businesswoman poise was in place, but her face and hair were totally ruined. Brenner was going to take one look at her and know exactly what they had done. Smiling over that fact wasn’t one of his best character moments, but it was honest. All he wanted was to hear her say they could do it again.