Hurts So Good (13 page)

"You sound like Andrea."

"I'll take that as a compliment. She be good for you, boy. Now be good to her, and just maybe you'll be invitin' me and Liza to your home come next summer. It's way past due. For us. But mostly for you. Gawd's seen fit to give you a second chance. Take it, and don't blow it this time around."

Lou grabbed the bottle of Dixie in Neil's hand, took a long gulp, and gave it back to him. "Catch you later, Slick? Maybe some the wiser if any of this sank past that thick skull of yours."

"You know you love me, Lou."

"That I do, and only Gawd knows why."

Neil got up and embraced his Big Daddy before slapping a high-five and striding toward the wharf. "Lou, tell Liza her gumbo's the best in all of Louisiana if it's half as good as the last batch, and I'd like two bowls, thank you. And as for my old bed, I'm sleeping elsewhere tonight."

* * *

From the corner of her eye Andrea saw Neil step onto the pier. She gripped her bottle tighter and made some innocuous comment to the man standing beside her. She'd already sent several others on their way. But Neil didn't know that, and she wasn't inclined to tell him after their latest contest of wills and his subsequent silent treatment.

An icy glass was pressed between her shoulder blades. When she ignored it and the yank on her ponytail, Neil slid his hand around her waist and placed his legs on either side of hers. The posture was unmistakably of a male staking his territory.

Her latest companion stepped back. "This lady with you, Neil?"

"Uh-huh." Neil's other hand, which held the bottle, came around to pull her closer against him. He pressed the cold bottle between her breasts, and she gasped less from the chill than from his action.

"Sorry, I didn't know."

Andrea bit back the retort that she didn't know it either, since he'd been ignoring her.

"Now you do." The arm he'd all but wrapped around her tightened, and she felt the urge to throw him over her shoulder into the muddy bayou. "What's that I hear? Sounds like your name, don't it? I do believe you're being paged from one of those picnic tables. Best that you trot down the wharf and go check it out."

"Good idea, Neil. Nice meeting you, Andrea. Later."

"I don't think so," Neil said flatly.

"Uh... right. Enjoy the view."

"I am." Neil's chuckle as the third party took off fast became a low whistle. "And what a view it is. All that creamy skin dipping and swelling's worth a pay-per-view showing. For an audience of one.
Me."

"You're sweating on me, Neil." She tried to sound put out, but it was awfully hard when the feel of his chest against her back was sexy as hell.

"You don't like my sweat? I'm hurt,
chere.
Anything I can do to change your mind, since you seemed to like it just fine before I got into one of my snits?"

Did he have to sound as if he really meant that? And did he have to roll the bottle between her breasts while his thumb swished close to her navel, spreading the trickle of condensed moisture over her skin until she shivered?

"I suppose there's a chance I could put up with it. After all, I have been putting up with your—"

"Obnoxious, immature, and totally uncalled-for behavior. I'm sorry, Andrea, and I mean that. I came to make peace and fetch you to come eat."

"And here I thought you came over to get rid of my latest company so I wouldn't have anyone to talk to."

"You could've kept talking to Liza or some of the other women instead of flirting with all the men."

"I wasn't flirting!"

"Don't matter. You're with me, and that's that. Please keep that in mind from here on out."

"Why? So you won't have to spoil Lou's party by straightening someone else out with a fist?"

"I ain't punched nobody out for a good five years, but if I caught someone laying a hand on you, I wouldn't give a second's thought to it. Does that tell you anything?"

Andrea hid her smile behind the arm he'd crooked over her shoulder. "It tells me you've got a jealous streak."

"A mile wide and as far as the eye can see. Makes me feel very peculiar."

"And it makes me feel... wanted."

He dropped his arm. "Turn around. That's good. Now, look me in the eyeballs and get an earful of this: I want you. No deals and no strings. Here, there... uh..." He groaned.

"Neil?"

"Anywhere. Including your current residence, which is getting an overhaul whether or not you move out. There, I said it. And don't ask me to say it again, okay? I've got a jam session after we dig in, and hard as that was to get past the lips, they need some recovery time."

"Can I kiss them and make it better?"

"Can't think of a finer way to perfect my playing technique. You know, proper positioning of the mouth, correct fingering, tonguing and breathing just right."

With no more than the sultry stare he fixed on her mouth, a hot, liquid sensation pooled in her belly. Shaken by the intensity and quickness of her arousal, Andrea pinched her legs together and tried to cool down by glancing away from the cause of her excitement.

Her gaze connected with Lou's. He stood in a group close to the water's edge, but his attention was focused on her and the fingertip Neil glided over her lips. Even from the distance she saw Lou's big grin and the approving nod of his head.

"Lou's watching us, Neil."

"I just bet he is. Let's make this one worth watching. Give old Lou a thrill. Big Daddy thinks you be the best thing that's come along since buttered bread, where I'm concerned, anyway. Why don't you convince me that just maybe he's right, and quit worrying about who sees what?"

"Why don't I convince you elsewhere? I'm not comfortable with other people being privy to my personal exchanges."

"Me either. But these are my friends. Besides, you'll have to get used to it, keeping company with me. It's not near as bad as it used to be when strangers constantly came at me with cameras and nosy questions about my crazy life. Juicy copy for sure, but none of their business. Every now and then someone comes sniffing at my tracks again, so keep your lips buttoned—except to open them up for me. Do it now. I need a kiss.
Bad."

"Neil, I—" Her mouth was silenced by his, while the bitter taste of guilt swilled around the tongue she couldn't force away from his to admit the truth.

And so she kissed him in apology, and with desperation that showed in the bite of her nails in his back. A low groan of delight was his response. Determination to nourish their love until it flourished and could stand up even to her deceit was in the hungry slant of her lips, the soft nibbling of his mouth's bottom lobe until he thrust his tongue deep and she fed upon it. She loved his earthy taste; she loved his rough edges and smooth moves.

"I do love you," she whispered urgently. "Love me back, Neil, until you don't think it's just a maybe."

"Put your mouth back here where it belongs, and don't take it away till I've made up my mind. It's gettin' close, real close. Being pissed in public's one thing, and I've got the record to prove it. But showing I care, in front of other folks, is not something I do. Kiss me. Kiss me hard. I want everyone to see what I feel for you."

She felt as if they were in a fishbowl, kissing like mad for anyone who wanted to watch. It wasn't a comfortable sensation, and yet knowing that his love of privacy bowed to the intensity of what they shared was heady. It humbled her. It amazed her.

She gave back as good as she got. For once she wasn't on the outside looking in, recording her observations of someone else's triumph or tragedy. Neil had had enough of both recorded in inky black on white against his will, and all because he couldn't stop himself from turning his pain into something moving and beautiful.

Was this how it felt to be in his place? To expose one's most intimate emotions because compulsion demanded it, regardless of the empathy or criticism or indifference of others?

Andrea tore her mouth from his and buried her head against his chest. It was horrible to be laid so bare. And just as wonderful to feel something so deeply that she didn't care what anyone else saw or thought because it was too stunning and grand to hide or compromise.

That mix of emotions captured how she felt about the growing number of pages in her drawer, pages she knew she should tear up to cover her secret. But just as Neil was driven to compose and perform, she was compelled to chronicle his complexity. Neil was in her blood, and writing about him was the only way to fulfill her need to understand him.

"You've kissed me plenty of times before,
chere,
but you never kissed me like I was a raft and you were going under for the last count. If it was your purpose to sway a 'maybe' to a 'you betcha,' all I can say is, if I'm ever playing tug-of-war, I definitely want you on my side of the rope."

"Think we could leave early, Neil? Maybe after your jam session? I'm hanging on to that raft for dear life, because I'm close to drowning with no shore in sight."

"Lord, woman, let's get back to the party, then make tracks to our joint property." He squeezed her tight, and she squeezed him back until he picked her up in his arms and headed for land.

The sound of whistles and applause snapped her attention to the crowd raising bottles in a salute. Couples shared deep kisses not unlike their own.

But that wasn't what held her gaze and warmed her heart.

It was Lou dancing a jig with Liza.

Chapter 10

"Care for another crawdad,
chere?"

"I'm stuffed, but one more's too good to resist."

Neil tore off the head, cracked open the tiny lobsterlike shell with his fingers, and peeled off the strip of meat from its back. He teased her nose with the bristles on the head, and Andrea clamped her lips.

"Aw, c'mon, quit being such a priss. Suck just one head, and you'll beg for more. All the juices are in there. Tastiest stuff that delectable tongue of yours'll ever try." He darted a glance at his crotch. "Almost, anyway."

Andrea quickly reached for her beer, needing to wet her throat and avert her gaze.

"I sure like it when you turn that particular color. Can't help but wonder if you blush other places too."

"Quit it, Neil. Someone might hear."

"Yes ma'am, I do wonder about that," he said louder. "And I do look forward to finding out for myself."

"Shh!"

"Want me to shut up?" he whispered. "Then suck this crawdad head." When she hesitated, he raised his voice again. "Of course, any woman who can kiss like you, the only one I ever met who could match me, just might make me plumb forget to look and—"

"Give me the head," she demanded, snatching it from him. Shutting her eyes tightly, she put the head to her lips and sipped.

The spicy liquid wasn't bad. In fact, as long as she kept her eyes closed and didn't think about where the juice was coming from, she wouldn't mind another.

"Told ya," Neil said, chuckling. "Aren't you glad I went to the trouble of expanding your education?"

"Next time I'll thank you to go about it differently."

"Will do. Next lesson: body shots."

"Not here," she asserted.

"You don't even know what they are."

"I don't have to. There's a distinctly lustful sound about them. Kissing you in public is one thing, but that's as far as I'm willing to indulge you."

"And that's as far as I'd let anything go. My feelings for you, and those you claim for me, are special. Don't really know how to handle them, but they're between us and no one else. I was yanking your chain, hollering about the way you blush and such. As you well know, I covet my privacy. And if I didn't covet you, I never would've laid my mouth on yours that long and hot in public. Body shots,
chere.
Tonight. Alone. Best you make that your last beer."

"I've only had two."

"And I've only had one more than that. Least bit of drinking I've done in more years than you've been legal. Funny, but I've had the most fun today since I can't remember when. Lou's right. You
are
good for me." He kissed her and stealthily slipped his tongue inside. Smacking his lips, he asked hopefully, "And could it be that just maybe I'm good for you?"