Talk Me Down (11 page)

“It’s not funny to me,” Molly said with a leer. “It’s damn serious.”

“Oh, I can see that, you little ho.”

Helen Stowe gave her a thumbs-up from the other side of the table. “Work it, girl.” Helen was forty, just divorced, and trying to find a new life. She’d been thrilled when Lori had invited her to meet them there for girls’ night out. She’d also encouraged them to stop hiding behind highball glasses, so tonight they were drinking bright pink cosmos out of martini glasses with no shame at all.

“Speaking of working it,” Molly drawled as she made her way around the table to Helen. “I think I’ve noticed you making a little eye contact.”

“With who?” she asked, even as a blush worked its way up her cheeks. Funny that she seemed suddenly shy. She was showing cleavage out to there, not to mention her loads of eye makeup and some curvy hips that loved to shake to the music.

Molly winked and looked over her shoulder toward the bar. Juan immediately looked away.

“He’s almost young enough to be my son,” Helen hissed.

“Hey, I didn’t say anything! But…Isn’t your son nineteen?”

“Yes.”

“Well, Juan just turned thirty. He’s almost a full-grown man.” She and Lori broke into laughter at that, but Helen just shook her head.

“His last girlfriend was probably a cheerleader. Nothing is going to happen. I’m just here to have a good time.”

“Hmm. Looks like he’s got the same idea.” Helen’s head shot up, her eyes locked with Juan’s, and then they both looked quickly away.

Molly tapped her arm. “Just keep it in mind.”

“Oh, I couldn’t…” But her voice trailed off to nothing, which Molly took as an encouraging sign.

When their pool game ended, they cleared out for the group of men waiting and ordered another round brought to their small side table.

Molly caught sight of a cute stranger as soon as she took a seat. “You’ve been holding out on me, ladies. Who’s that?”

Lori glanced toward a table near the front door. “Cute guy with black hair? That’s Aaron.”

“He’s adorable!” The guy met her eyes just as she spoke, and she was convinced he read her lips. “Oops.
Awk-ward,
” she sang to her table.

“That boy
is
adorable and he knows it. Gets around like nobody’s business. Aaron comes into heat as soon as tourist season starts.”

“Is he one of the river guides?” Molly guessed.

“You got it. He gets depressed when the weather turns cold and he has to put on a shirt.”

“Have you ever dated him?”

Lori snorted. “I do have some standards. Plus I’m over twenty-one and I don’t giggle when he wraps his hands around his beer and flexes.”

Looking through her lashes, she saw that Aaron was watching their table. “You sure you don’t like him? I think he’s looking at you.”

“Thanks, but I listened to my gynecologist’s lecture on HPV. I’m not walking on that wild side.”

“Time for play interception then. He’s coming this way.”

He pulled up a chair and dropped into it with a poof of woodsy cologne. “Hello, ladies. How’s everybody doing tonight?”

They engaged in a chorus of “hellos” and “greats” while Aaron nodded as if he were personally responsible for their good time. Up close he was even more gorgeous. His blue-green eyes twinkled over high cheekbones and a slim nose. His lips were almost feminine—wide and soft.

Molly thought of him in a sweet, ruffled, A-line dress and grinned.

Aaron grinned right back. “I don’t think we’ve been introduced.”

“I’m Molly.”

“Hi, Molly.” Holding her gaze, he crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair, showing off the bulge of muscles beneath the tight sleeves of his polo shirt. Okay, maybe not totally feminine. “I’m Aaron.”

“Hi, Aaron,” she answered in a breathy, little-girl voice that made Lori kick her under her chair. Molly bit the inside of her cheek to keep from laughing.

Aaron didn’t notice. He was too busy seducing her with his eyes.

Pah.
This guy had nothing on the domineering policeman eyes that Ben was always hitting her with. Aaron was a lightweight and he didn’t even know it.

“Are you visiting?” he asked and his eyes flickered toward Lori and widened. “Oh, a friend of Lori’s?”

“I sure am,” Molly giggled, and Lori kicked her again.

“Oh.” He slumped a little, but then his gaze darted back and forth between them a few times and his biceps flexed. The smile returned, even brighter than before. “Any friend of Lori’s is a friend of mine. Let’s keep this party going, huh? Can I buy another round of drinks?”

Lori snorted. “These drinks are kind of pricey for you, Aaron.”

He nodded, totally unselfconscious. “How about a pitcher of beer then? Oof!” Aaron looked up at Juan who’d bumped him from behind. “Watch it there.”

Juan glared at him, looking pretty threatening for a man who was carrying a tray of three pink drinks with cherries in them.

Aaron watched in dismay as Juan set the glasses down one by one.

“Oh, for God’s sake,” Lori huffed. “Don’t worry, Aaron, we already paid for them.”

“Thank you, Juan,” Helen said softly.

“My pleasure,” he whispered, not budging from his spot next to Aaron. Molly noticed that he had quite the view of Helen’s substantial bosom from up there, judging by the slight glaze over his eyes.

Aaron elbowed him. Juan elbowed back, catching him in the side of the head. Before it could deteriorate from there, someone shouted “Beer!” from the bar. Juan gave Aaron one last glare, nodded his head to Helen, then went off to refill a pitcher.

“Hey, bring a pitcher over here too!” Aaron shouted. “These girls are thirsty!” He swiveled back around on his chair and aimed a brilliant smile in Molly’s direction. “So, Molly…” When he leaned closer the brilliant white of his teeth made her squint. “Have you ever been with a man?”

He was determined to find out.

As he crossed the street, eyes locked on the door of The Bar, his brain was trying explain to his body—in patient detail—that he wasn’t going to find his answers under that little plaid skirt of hers. No matter how long he looked or how hard, the tops of the stockings weren’t going to offer any clues. Nor that naughty red bra.

But I’m wearing her down,
his body replied.
I’m working on her until she…until she breaks.

“Exactly,” Ben agreed, taking a definite side and putting a stop to his brain’s annoying chattering. He whipped the door open and swept the room for Molly’s blond hair. And found her. Cozied up with that gigolo Aaron.

“Can’t you arrest that guy or something?” Juan growled from behind the bar.

Ben looked over to be sure they were focused on the same guy. Judging from the direction of the bartender’s narrow glare and the angry red color of his face, they were. “You got any good information?”

“No. Unfortunately.”

“Well, I’ll see what I can do.” He grabbed the beer Juan held out and made a beeline for the stiff gelled spikes rising from the back of Aaron’s head.

A small curl of satisfaction erased some of his jealousy when Molly looked up and saw him approaching. Her eyes crinkled in…was that delight? Still, no harm in getting rid of the vermin.

“Aaron!” Ben barked from right behind his head. The man jumped and spilled beer onto his lap.

“Shit!” he was too busy mopping up to look behind him.

“Hey, there’s an eighteen-year-old girl outside looking for someone to buy her beer.”

“Is it Jasmine?”

He leaned over until he caught Aaron’s eye.
“Excuse me?”

“Chief! Shit! I, uh…That was just a, uh, a joke.”

Ben let anger show in his eyes and eased around the chair until he could meet Aaron’s gaze head-on. “If I catch you in even a hint of a situation involving alcohol or sex and underage girls, I will drown you in that goddamn river you love so much, do you understand?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Now get out of my fucking chair.”

“Yes, sir,” he repeated, scrambling away so fast that he stumbled and sloshed beer down the rest of his pants.

Ben dropped into the chair and glared at the table of women. “Ladies. One of you got a thing for pretty boys?”

“Me!” Molly piped up. “I like my men as smooth and perfumed as a harem girl!”

Lori rolled her eyes. “You’re in luck then. Aaron sure smells pretty and I bet he waxes the hell out of his—”

“Stop. Right. There.” Ben held up a hand. “I’ve already had my share of scary images today. That one would push me over the edge.”

Molly leaned forward and his eyes fell to the spot where her cleavage had been, but she seemed to have buttoned up. He felt immense satisfaction that Aaron hadn’t gotten the pleasure.

Her bottom lip sulked. “I sure hope you’re not talking about me, Chief.”

“Hmm?”

“Scary images?”

“Oh. Oh!” He met the bright laughter in her eyes and smiled in helpless response. “Well, there was that one moment when my life flashed before my eyes, but I wouldn’t—”

“Stop. Right. There,” Lori interrupted, waving her hands, and Ben blinked from a daze. He’d been talking to Lori not five seconds before. How the hell had he forgotten she was there?

He cleared his throat and tried to pretend he wasn’t blushing again.

“But don’t worry,” Molly said. “Aaron thinks I’m Lori’s girlfriend.”

Lori rolled her eyes. “Thanks for that, by the way.”

“Hey, he came to that conclusion all by himself.”

Her annoyed frown melted slowly into a smile. “I may have encouraged him to think that last winter when he kept dropping by the garage to watch me do oil changes.”

“Then why’d you kick me?”

“Did you really think picturing us in bed together was going to
dis
courage him?”

“I didn’t know he was perverted.”

Ben arched an eyebrow. “Nothing perverted about that.” He raised his beer in a toast and drained half of it before Molly’s shoe poked into his shin. “Did you just kick me?”

“Stop being pervy. You’re a man of the law.”

He had no idea what that made her think of, but she began to shake with laughter. “What?”

“Nothing. Just thinking of pervy lawmen.”

“Like who?”

“No one. Just a sheriff I once knew.”

Sheriff, my ass.
She was thinking of Cameron Kasten. Being pervy.
Fucking A.
Ben wrapped his hands around his beer and squeezed. He glared at the tabletop in an effort to keep from demanding that Molly tell him everything
right now.

A plate of sliced fruit suddenly clapped down in front of him, distracting him from his last thought. Irritated, he glanced up with the rest of the table and found Juan hovering.

“You ladies seem to like the little garnishes in your drinks. I thought maybe, you know…You always eat the oranges and cherries and…” His bronze face quickly warmed to bright red when they all just stared at him.

“You need any refills?” he stammered.

They shook their heads, and he spun to leave. Helen Stowe half stood, then dropped back down to her chair. “Thank you!” she called to Juan’s retreating back. A few seconds passed before she looked back down to the fruit and whispered, “That was so sweet.”

Ben just shook his head, his anger fading, but his determination growing by the second. “You ladies ready to go yet?”

“I don’t need a ride,” Lori protested, but Ben shrugged.

“Humor me. It’s icy. And I have a new reputation to maintain, Sappho.”

The cherry she’d popped into her mouth got lodged somewhere too far back, so Ben leaned over and slapped her a few times until she coughed and swallowed.

Molly snorted. “I feel like I should make a joke about you choking on your cherry, but I can’t seem to put it together.”

“Too bad,” Lori rasped, “I was just thinking how much I miss high school humor.”

“You’re way off,” Ben said. “That’s junior high. And if you keep on chasing men away, you won’t have to worry about your swallowing techniques anyway.” Molly threw an orange rind at him while they both booed. “Hey, you said you were looking for high school humor.”

Lori sat way back in her chair and gave him the once-over. “What in the world’s gotten into Ben Lawson? Jokes? Flirting? Maybe I
should
sleep with Molly. I think she’s got a magic hooha.”

“Lori!” Molly yelped, laughing so hard that the table shook Ben’s beer close to the edge. “That’s top secret!”

Resigned to this round of mortification, Ben just finished his beer and stood to motion them up. “Come on, hussies, I’ll take you home. You, too, Helen, if you need a ride.”

Distracted, Helen continued her efforts to tie one cherry stem into ten knots. “No, thanks.”

“You sure you’re all right?”

“I’m fine. I think I’ll just…um…”

“She’s gonna hang out here for a while,” Molly said as she shrugged into her coat. “Bye, Helen. Bye, Juan!” she added as they walked toward the bar.

Ben opened the door for the women and let them through. He was almost through himself when a man shouted, “Chief!” and hurried after them. Wilhelm Smythe, a fairly harmless drunk.

“Chief! Chief, you giving rides?”

Oh, Jesus. “No.”

“I had seven beers, Chief, I don’t think I can dr—”

“Walk.”

“I’m living down by the south ridge now. It’s a pretty good haul.”

He glanced outside. Lori was nowhere in sight, but Molly was leaning over to fix her shoe. Way over. Good Lord. With a glare meant to burn the man alive, he motioned Wilhelm forward.

“This is the only time this will happen, is that clear?”

The man nodded as he staggered across the street toward Ben’s truck.

“Where’s Lori?” Ben asked.

“She walked home.”

“Shit. I’m sorry about this.”

“No, it’ll be fun! Like we’re on a date in high school taking your obnoxious friend home before we make out.”

“A date? That’s a great word for it, actually.”

“I said ‘like’ a date, Chief. You didn’t even buy me a drink.”

Reaching out, he started to grab her to swing her back to the bar, but she danced away, skirt flipping up to tantalize and tempt him. “Nuh-uh. Too late.”

“We’re dating, Molly.”

“It’s called ‘hooking up,’ Ben. All the young kids are doing it.”

“I’m not young and, despite your look tonight, you’re not a kid.”

“And aren’t you glad about that?” she purred.

Boy, was he.

“I’m sure glad,” Wilhelm slurred from his post by the truck.

Jesus Christ, he’d forgotten they weren’t alone
again.
He was totally falling apart.

Stalking to the driver’s side, he popped the locks and growled, “Get in the damn truck and don’t say another word.” Wilhelm obeyed, but Molly didn’t. Big surprise.

“Thanks for giving us a ride, Chief Lawson. You’re very generous,” she said, climbing in.

She had to know her damn skirt had ridden up high enough to show her thighs. When she twisted to buckle the seat belt, it rode even higher.

“I can see your panties,” Ben hissed in a voice he thought was soft.

“Oh, sorry, Chief!” Wilhelm called from the back. The truck shook when he bounced up and down to hitch up his jeans.

Molly collapsed against her door, hands pressed to her mouth to hold back laughter and, if anything, showing more of her bright-red panties.

Black stockings, red panties. Ben’s heart began to thump faster. He thought of those shiny black heels, the black lace on her bra. He remembered how easily she’d made white and pink cotton look sexy the night before.

“Where the hell am I going, Wilhelm?” he barked.

“Mile and a half south. Take a left at Teddy’s old trailer.”

Ben forced himself not to peel out as he pulled from the curb. He kept his eyes on the road, and his thoughts on driving. There was no naked-thighed woman in the passenger seat, no promise of mind-blowing sex in her eyes. He wouldn’t speed, wouldn’t drive recklessly.

He even remembered to slow as he passed Lori’s place to see that all her lights were blazing. He waited until he saw her shadow pass in front of one of the windows before he drove on. He was cool, impervious. Not the least bit sex-crazed.

And then Molly took his hand and placed it directly on her left thigh.

His pulse sped as his foot pressed harder on the pedal.

Warm and impossibly soft…His thumb and two fingers touched the satiny texture of one black stocking, but his last two fingers touched the skin of her thigh and all the promise that it held.

He could have jerked away, should have, but her hand was on his, her fingers spreading to cover him, hold him in place. He
needed
to pull away, but he
wanted
to edge his pinky finger over to rub the edge of her panties, so he chose the path of least resistance and just stayed still, absorbing her heat into his nerve endings.

Okay, he could do this. Despite her teasing, they weren’t teenagers and he could control his libido. He could touch a woman’s thigh and drive at the same time.

She shifted and her muscles tensed enough to remind him of her thighs shaking as she came. He’d been slightly hard since he’d caught a glimpse of her red panties, but now he was rock-hard and throbbing, and glaring at the blacktop as if it were his enemy.

“Slow down,” Wilhelm called. “Turn’s coming up.”

Slow down, slow down.

Her fingers spread wider, shifting his pinky, and suddenly his finger was pressed snug against the edge of her panties and she was burning hot there, and her throat held back a little sigh that fought to get out.

Forcing his foot to ease down on the brake pedal, he tried to drive like a sane person and not a boy offered his first chance to get into a hot girl’s pants. But he rubbed his finger over the fabric and found it damp, and he knew what was waiting for him. Heat and slippery desire. Tightness and moaning.

The old abandoned trailer appeared in his headlights and Ben slammed on the brakes. Gravel flew, pinging against the underside of the truck as he took the turn too fast.

Wilhelm grunted in shock, but Molly just tipped up her hips and let his finger slip beneath the satin. Sucking in a gulp of air, he tried to keep his mind on the road, but she was humming next to him, a sound of need so sweet he had to grind his teeth together to keep control.

Except he didn’t keep control. He slowed the truck to a half-way safe speed and slid his hand down, easing all of his fingers under so he could cup her wetness in his hand.