Good Girls Do (15 page)

The younger dogs didn’t have a clue as to what was going on. Some of them were even running backward as their owners tried to coax them to get moving; others just pranced around in circles.

Rosebud came in third. Not bad for her first appearance.

“Now on to the main event.” Phil’s voice boomed over the rickety sound system. “I know the winner will
relish
a wiener victory here. Just a reminder that any dog who veers from the course will be disqualified.”

Scanning the crowd, Julia was surprised to see her sister Skye on the other side of the race route. Toni was next to her, but not for long.

No sooner had Phil proclaimed the race begun than Julia’s four-year-old wild child niece ran into the track, distracting the dogs who scattered to the winds.

For the first time in Wiener Race history, not one dog crossed the finish line.

Only Toni the Biter did.

Luke cracked up. “You’re right. This town is marginally more interesting than it used to be,” he noted with a grin at the chaos surrounding them. “Let’s give them all something else to talk about, shall we?” Taking her in his arms, Luke kissed her.

Luke
was kissing her. On the mouth. His tongue parting her lips and tangling with hers. Right there in the middle of the town square.

Julia should have been upset. Outraged. Not delighted. Or exhilarated.

Maybe she was demented, but she was savoring every delicious moment.

Luke tasted like spicy mustard and forbidden temptation. He caught her bottom lip betwen his teeth and drew it into his mouth to suck and nibble. Rough yet gentle, he took his time. The kiss was full of surprises, like the dart of his tongue in a feathery caress across the roof of her mouth. Shockingly seductive.

Tilting his head in the opposite direction, he targeted her mouth again in a continuation of his kiss that made her toes tingle and curl. It blossomed into an erotic exchange between his skillful tongue and hers, eager to catch up and learn more.

Her hands were on his shoulders, his on her waist. She vaguely recognized those facts, but her main focus remained on his mouth covering hers.

This was everything she’d anticipated and so much more. First kisses weren’t supposed to be like this. They were supposed to be sweet, or gently exploring, or tentative. Awkward, even.

But she and Luke and been building to this moment for weeks. Ever since that first day when he’d shown up in town on the back of his big, bad Harley, looking so male-to-female dangerous.

The sultry taste and touch of him instantly went to her head, making her dizzy with desire.

Julia had never really understood the appeal of French kissing before because she’d never been handled by a master in the fine art. As Luke leisurely unleashed his tongue in a moist probing of every curve and corner of her mouth, she truly became a convert. He convinced her that there was incredible gratification to be found in this oral thrust and parry.

Awesome, awesome.
The words echoed in her head like a mantra.

Now he was adding slow reverent strokes to his repetoire. Julia would have moaned in pleasure, but that would have meant breaking off the contact, and she couldn’t face that.

A wild ecstatic surge of sexual energy consumed her entire body. He nudged his knee between her legs, and she lifted her knee to enable him to come closer.

“Stop that!” The order came over the loud speaker system and eventually worked its way into Julia’s consciousness. “Stop that right now!”

The real reason she stepped away from Luke was because she needed some oxygen or she’d pass out.

“Humans are not allowed in the dog race,” Phil barked into the microphone.

Slowly Julia became aware of her surroundings once again. Like one of those stop-action scenes in the movies, where everything else faded, telescoping in and out of reality.

A second ago her reality had been focused on Luke’s mouth on hers, his tongue dancing across the roof of her mouth.

“You’re breaking the rules,” Phil continued as the crowd scattered in disarray.

Julia slowly nodded. That kiss had definitely broken all the rules she’d set up for herself here in Serenity Falls.

She looked at Luke. He looked at her. And smiled. She knew what his smile tasted like now. And that changed everything.

For her.

But was it the same for him?

“Why did you do that?” Her lips felt swollen from his touch.

“Because I wanted to. You wanted it, too.”

Yes, she had.

But did she want Luke’s kisses enough to risk everything else she’d worked so hard to obtain here in this quiet town? That was the million-dollar question and one she had no immediate answer to.

 

 

“We’ve been shopping all morning,” Pam declared, “and you have yet to mention the kiss that shook the world.”

Once a month Julia and Pam went antiquing, hitting their favorite spots within a hundred-mile radius before stopping for lunch at a little French bistro they loved. The quaint dining room with its lace curtains and warm colors created a warm and cozy environment that was perfect for “girls who lunch.”

Julia had to admit that it felt good to get out of Dodge—or Serenity Falls—for a little while. Away from her zany family, away from the memory of Luke kissing her yesterday afternoon.

“It’s not right. It’s very wrong,” Pam vehemently stated.

Julia realized that she shouldn’t have allowed Luke to kiss her, but even so, she was surprised by her friend’s intense reaction.

“It’s wrong for you not to talk to me about it,” Pam clarified. “I’m your friend.”

“I already know you don’t approve of Luke.”

“That was before I knew that Sister Mary liked him.”

“Ah, the nun with the attitude. She’s from Rock Creek,” Julia reminded her, recalling Pam’s comments from the last time they’d gotten together.

Pam grinned. “I know, but I don’t hold that against her.”

Julia made no comment, instead focusing her attention on the excellent lobster bisque soup in front of her.

But Pam was not easily dissuaded. “All kinds of things have been happening this past week. Sue Ellen sees mystical faces in your llamas and is busted by Sister Mary. Toni disrupts the wiener races. And Luke disrupts the entire town by kissing you.”

“They’re not my llamas.”

“You know what I meant.”

“Now you know why I never talked about my family.”

“They do seem a little . . .”

“Wacky?”

“That wasn’t exactly the way I was going to put it, but if you say so I’ll go along with
wacky.
After all, you know them better than I do.”

“Yes, I do. And I had no idea they were coming.”

“Would it have made things easier if you had known?”

“It would have given me a chance to prepare. Although there’s really no way to entirely prepare for them, because I never know what they’re going to be into or what they’re up to.” Julia shook her head. “You couldn’t possibly understand.”

“Why is that?”

“Because you come from the perfect All-American family. Totally normal.”

“Every family has their issues to deal with. Even mine.”

“Has your mom ever been arrested for starting a riot?” Julia demanded.

Pam sat back in surprise. “Well, no.”

“Mine has. Not that I even call her mom. She prefers that I call her Angel.”

“Okay, so she’s a little unusual.”

“More than a little. She has llamas in my backyard.”

“They seem kind of cute.”

“You want them in
your
backyard?”

“Not really.”

“I rest my case. I’ve really tried to make a new life for myself here.”

“And you have.”

“Until I disrupted the races yesterday.”

“Well, actually your niece did the disrupting. You just did the kissing.”

“I didn’t start that. Luke did.” Julia groaned. “Listen to me. I sound like a five-year-old.”

“Are you falling for Luke?”

“Do I look that stupid?”

“Hey, I was just asking.”

“If I’m stupid?”

“No, if you’re falling for Luke.”

“Well, I’m not. Despite the fact that he’s an awesome kisser.”

“He is, huh?”

“That’s hardly a surprise. He’s had tons of experience.”

“Mmmm.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Nothing. I was just agreeing with you.”

“I suppose everyone is still gossiping about it.”

Pam nodded. “That and the lack of a winner at the wiener races. Your niece was the only one who actually crossed the finish line, but humans aren’t allowed in the race.”

“And now we know why.”

Pam nodded.

Julia groaned. “I can’t believe my sister just let Toni loose like that. She has no idea of discipline.”

“Who doesn’t? Your sister or Toni?”

“Either one of them. Skye believes that saying ‘no’ introduces negative energy into Toni’s world.”

“So she never says ‘no’?”

“Not unless Skye is talking to me. Then she has no problem saying ‘no.’ We don’t always get along very well. Maybe because we’re so different.”

“How so?”

“She’s always been the wild one. I’ve always been the one to pick up the pieces.”

“That’s got to be tiring.”

“Tell me about it.”

“Let’s get back to Luke . . .”

“I already told you I’m not falling for him.”

“Just kissing him for fun?”

“You think he was kissing me in front of half the town to make a fool of me, is that it?”

“Is that what you think?”

“No.” Julia didn’t want to have those thoughts. But that didn’t stop them from creeping into her mind like a dark sludge.

Wishing didn’t make it so, despite her mother’s New Age philosophy to the contrary. Wishing that Luke wasn’t trying to make a fool of her didn’t mean it wasn’t true.

Okay, now her thought process was getting muddled, and Julia hated that, almost as much as she hated the doubts nibbling away at her insides. She knew Luke liked making waves, shaking things up. He’d told her so himself plenty of times. And she’d heard it from others as well.

“What do you think?” Julia asked Pam.

“I don’t know. When it comes to Luke I thought I had him figured out. Maybe there is more there than meets the eye. Not that what meets the eye isn’t mighty fine.”

“He’s not that easy to figure out,” Julia said. “Believe me, I’ve tried.”

“Sister Mary isn’t easily conned. If she thinks Luke is worthwhile, then she must see something there.”

“You could try not to sound quite so doubtful.”

Pam shrugged. “I just don’t want to see you get hurt because of him.”

“That’s not something I want either.”

“What about his kiss? Was that something you wanted? It sure looked like it.”

“He caught me by surprise.”

“And . . . ?”

“And he’s an awesome kisser, like I said. I forgot where I was for a minute or two.”

“Four.”

Julia blinked. “What?”

“Mabel timed it. The kiss lasted four minutes, twenty-three seconds.”

Julia felt her face heating up. Putting her hands to her cheeks, she could feel the warmth there. “I don’t believe this.”

“Mabel had her stop watch out, so I think her timekeeping is pretty accurate.”

“I mean I don’t believe they were timing my kiss!”

“I believe only Mabel was.”

“Then they might as well all have, because she’ll tell everyone in town anyway.”

“At least Luke erased the digital picture that Billy took of you two and wanted to post on the Internet.”

“Where did you hear that?”

“From Mabel, so again, it must be true.”

“If Luke wanted to humiliate me, then he wouldn’t have gone out of his way to delete that picture.”

“That’s one way of looking at it. But in my book, he shouldn’t have kissed you that way in front of everyone to begin with if he didn’t want people gossiping about you. He may be used to the gossip, but you’re not.”

Actually, Julia
was
used to it, just not here in Serenity Falls. But all through her childhood and teenage years, there had been plenty of gossip about her family and their unconventional ways.

One of her most painful memories was being in school, kindergarten maybe or first grade, and being given a work-book her first day there. The other kids had already been together for months, but Angel had just moved into that area of Washington state, so Julia was the new kid in class. The teacher had told Julia to circle the things that were different from the others.

One of the other kids had laughed and pointed at Julia, with her tye-dyed skirt and too-big Mother Earth T-shirt, loudly declaring that she was the one different from all the rest.

That feeling of being the odd one had stuck with her, even though Angel had chosen after that to homeschool Julia and Skye until their teenage years.

Julia wasn’t just the odd one as far as the rest of society was concerned; she was the odd one within her own odd family. She never felt like she fit in.

Her mother and sister had no problem living in what they always called the “eternal present moment.”

Julia worried where they were going to get food the next day or pay the rent the next month.

Somehow Angel usually came through, but there was never any security in knowing that everything would be all right. Somehow Julia lacked those genes that assured the other two women in her family that there was never anything to worry about.

Or maybe they didn’t worry because that was Julia’s job. She’d never asked them. Maybe she should.

Julia’s thoughts were interrupted by the arrival of their waiter asking them if they wanted dessert.