Taming the Moguls (11 page)

Tanna let out a mirthless laugh. “Weeks? Some
of us haven’t had sex in months.”

“I’m not used to waiting. It’s killing me.
Why won’t he sleep with me?”

“I don’t get it,” Melody said. “He’s the one
who lost his job, accused you of cheating, and left you stranded on
the side of the road. Why are you begging him to sleep with you
instead of the other way around?”

“He thinks we should wait until he’s back on
his feet. I don’t want to wait. I’m tired of waiting.”

Melody’s mouth quirked into a smirk. “So turn
the tables and make him wait.”

“What do you mean?”

“He told you to unlock your window,
right?”

“Yeah.”

“So don’t unlock it. Let him climb up there
and then don’t let him in.”

“But I want him to come in. I
need
him to come in.”

“He needs to understand how unhappy you are.
What’s going to change if he’s making all the decisions and getting
some booty? He shouldn’t be able to have his cake and eat it
too.”

Shiloh took a deep breath and let it out
slowly. She understood Melody’s logic, but she didn’t know if she
could go through with it. “But then I’m punishing myself.”

“No pain,” Tanna said, “no gain.”

Melody pointed at Shiloh. “I’d make him
suffer. Wear something sexy, get him all worked up, and then refuse
to let him in.”

“If I wear something sexy and get us both
worked up, I’m going to want him to come in. I love Kevin. I want
to have sex with him. What good will it do if I turn him away?”

“Do you want Kevin to let you live with him
at Lyle’s?” Melody asked.

“Yes. I don’t care if we sleep on the floor.
I want to be with him.” Shiloh sat back against the cushion and
rapped her fingers on the table. “I’ll have to think about this.”
She looked around the dingy bar. “I’m happy we’re back home. I
didn’t like living in Denver.”

“I thought you loved it,” Tanna said. “You
went on and on about your house and how great it was to be in a big
city.”

“I wanted it to be great, but Kevin was gone
all the time. I didn’t know anybody.” She shrugged and looked at
the table. “I didn’t want everyone thinking I was miserable.”

“We thought you were having the time of your
life.”

“That’s what I wanted you to think. I guess
the joke’s on me because now we’re home, broke, and separated.”

“None of that is your fault,” Melody
said.

Shiloh was grateful for her friend’s support,
but she knew the truth. “It’s not all my fault, but I’m not
blameless. I wanted too much, too soon. I could always talk him
into anything, and I used that to get what I wanted. I hated living
in the apartment, so I thought we’d be happier in a house. I wasn’t
any happier, so I came up with decorating and remodeling plans. All
the while, Kevin was stressed out about work and paying for
everything I wanted.”

“So you screwed up,” Tanna said. “I’m maxed
out on my credit card and working to pay it off. I learned my
lesson the hard way. Sounds like you’re in the same boat.”

“I guess,” Shiloh said.

“I still think you need to make him suffer.”
Melody hailed the waitress from the bar. “You can do this. All you
need is a little liquid fortification.”

***

Kevin parked along the main road and walked
by the light of the moon toward Shiloh’s house. He could have cut
through the woods, like he used to when he was a teenager, but the
call of a coyote had sent him straight to his car. Or her car. It
smelled like her. Just as her scent had fused into his skin, it had
somehow penetrated the leather seats of her sedan, and it taunted
him whenever he got behind the wheel.

With every step, he knew he should turn
around. He said no sex. Sex clouded his mind, made it impossible to
say no to whatever she wanted. But she hadn’t made any demands. She
hadn’t balked when he told her he’d been fired. She didn’t even
flinch when he said he’d put the house on the market. The only
thing she wanted was him. And by God, he wanted her too. He always
had.

He remembered listening to his dad talk about
how one look at his mom was all it took.
Your
mother had me, boys, hook, line, and sinker, from the moment I saw
her.
Kevin chalked his attraction to Shi up the same way.
One look, one wink from those impossibly blue eyes, and he’d been a
goner, too.

Shiloh’s dad’s truck was in the carport next
to her mom’s sedan. Kevin’s car sat off to the side. His stomach
tightened the way it used to when he’d sneak over to Shiloh’s house
and throw pebbles at her window. The first time he sneaked inside,
he’d been just shy of seventeen. They’d giggled so loudly he felt
sure her dad was going to burst into her room with a shotgun.

Her dad hadn’t caught them then, but the
threat lingered. Kevin approached the house and the trellis that
had barely held his weight as a teenager. He looked at Shiloh’s
window. She’d left the curtains open, but the lights were out. On a
deep breath, he tested the bottom rung of the trellis with his
boot. When it held, he climbed.

The roof creaked when he scrambled up and
crawled across it. He clung to her windowsill with one hand and
attempted to lift the window with the other. It didn’t budge. He
tugged harder, assuming the Robinsons’ last paint job had sealed
the window tight. The window moved up a fraction, but no more.

When Shiloh appeared on the other side of the
window wearing a sexy black teddy, his mouth fell open. He stopped
to appreciate the view. When he got his tongue to work, he
whispered, “Help me with the window. It’s stuck.”

“It’s not stuck,” she said from the other
side of the thin glass. “It’s still locked.”

One glance down told him she hadn’t turned
the latch. “Unhook it. I’m freezing.”

She stepped back instead of stepping forward,
and he could only stare. Her fingers moved to the hem of her
lingerie, and she lifted it an inch, swaying her hips to some music
only women heard when seducing a man. Kevin’s mouth went dry, and
he forgot all about being cold. She turned around, stuck her sweet
ass in his face, and played peek-a-boo with her nightie. His jeans
became three sizes too small. When she turned around with a devious
smile, he motioned to unlock the window, but she just kept moving,
back and forth, round and round. One thin black strap fell from her
shoulder. She lifted the second and let it fall. The thin satiny
material clung to the tips of her breasts.

Kevin swallowed. His fingers slipped from the
sill, and he had to slap the roof behind him to keep from sliding
off. “How much did you have to drink?”

She shook her head and slid the material down
to her hips. He had two pulse beats to stare at the glory of her
chest before she slowly, playfully turned around. With her palms
over each cheek, she slid the material over her butt and stood in
nothing but a thin black thong. He was a hair’s breadth away from
breaking the glass.

“Shi,” he whispered roughly, “please, baby.
Let me in.”

She turned around, holding her breasts,
kneading them and moving her body like a temptress. “Do you want
me?”

“You know I do.”

“Do you want to touch me? Like this?” She
plucked at her nipples, and his hips jerked. “Or this?”

He nearly toppled over when her hand moved
inside the tiny black V. Kevin groaned and leaned his forehead
against the glass. “Shi, please.”

She stepped closer and put her face against
the glass. “You’re not going to get it, honey, until you figure out
a way for us to live together.”

“Are you serious?” he blurted, not even
mindful of his voice carrying.

“I love you. I want you inside me, but we’re
not in high school anymore. If you want me, then we need to figure
a way out of this mess together.” She knelt, but her boobs hanging
like globes of fruit in front of him didn’t help his concentration.
“I don’t like living with my parents while you live with your
brother. You’re not sneaking into my bedroom like you did when we
were kids and didn’t have any other choice. You’ve got a choice.
It’s not your way. It’s not my way. It’s our way. Until you figure
out how to trust me so we can make decisions about our future
together, you can’t have me.”

“I do trust you. It’s me I don’t trust.”

“Then figure out how to trust yourself.” She
stood and flung her hands on her hips. Her naked chest taunted him
through the window. “I know darn well how to please myself, and I’m
more than happy to do so until you figure things out.” When she
yanked the curtains closed, Kevin sat where he was, painfully
aroused and more confused than ever. When he heard the bed creak,
he imagined her doing just what she’d threatened. He shimmied back
to the trellis and made his way down clumsily. By the time his feet
hit the ground, he knew he deserved what she’d done. He might be
able to appreciate her methods after his body stopped throbbing. In
a weirdly twisted way, he was proud of her for taking a stand.

She’d taken one hell of a stand.

Chapter 22

Dodge walked into the Golden Tap hungry,
tired, and looking for the owner. He figured he’d order his
favorite bacon burger, and by the time it was ready, Tommy would
make an appearance. If he didn’t, Dodge would trek across the
street to Golden Mountain Sports. Dodge had just flipped through
the front section of the local paper when Tommy barreled in wearing
a dark green sock cap, a day-old beard, and a scowl. Dodge waved
him over with the lift of his chin.

“Hey,” Tommy said when he stopped by the
table. “You need me to see what’s up with your order?”

“No.” Dodge kicked out the chair in front of
Tommy. “Have a seat.”

Tommy looked over his shoulder at the
half-full restaurant, shrugged, and sat down. He steepled his
fingers on the table and blew out a breath. “I don’t want to talk
about it.”

“How do you know what I’m going to say?”

“Did you want to discuss the storm predicted
to hit us this weekend? The cost of hay? Complain about my
food?”

“Storm predictions are never right, the cost
of hay is what I expected, and I haven’t had any food yet today, so
you’re batting a thousand in that department. Ahhh,” he said as
Tommy’s new waitress delivered his burger and fries. “Give me a
minute, and I’ll let you know.”

Tommy passed Dodge a bottle of ketchup and
waited. “How’s my average now?”

“Home run,” Dodge said and wiped his mouth.
“I don’t want to sour this delicious meal with a bunch of personal
talk, but that meeting the other day’s been sitting on my mind.
When I can’t get something off my mind, I start to get pissed. I
don’t want to be pissed at you.”

Tommy ripped the sock cap from his head and
ran a hand through his hair. “We were involved.”

“I figured that much. How involved and
when?”

“Very involved. College.”

Dodge knew an evasive answer when he heard it
but decided not to push. “It didn’t end well?”

“It ended when she ran off to marry somebody
else. I haven’t seen or spoken to her since. I guess you could say
I’m harboring some lingering resentment.”

Dodge folded a fry into his mouth. “Patrick’s
been asking questions. I don’t like any Garrity coming around and
poking into my business. I’d rather know what’s up so I can shut
him down. Telling him, ‘I don’t know,’ only seems to keep him
interested.”

“Patrick,” Tommy mumbled under his breath.
“He’s relentless.”

“He’s getting folks stirred up. Pretty soon
everyone’s going to ask questions, and I won’t get anything done.
Spill it, son, so I can get on with my nice, quiet life.”

“Garrity’s digging into Gretchen’s past. He
digs deep enough, he’ll find me. I’m not going to have to step down
from STS. I’m going to get run out of town.”

Dodge took a sip of soda and did what he
hated most: butt his nose into someone’s personal business. “Before
you do something stupid like step down, you need to get over your
resentment so we can get back to fighting the development.”

“It’s not that simple,” Tommy said. “I read
the file Patrick started on Gretchen. The resentment’s not going
anywhere.”

“You read the file?”

“He dangled it in front of my face like a
carrot to a horse. As pissed off at her as I am, I won’t use
anything he finds. I can’t.”

“That means there’re still feelings involved.
We can’t fight Holcomb with emotion.”

Tommy sighed. He looked as if he hadn’t slept
in days. “I thought I knew her better than anyone. Thanks to
Garrity and his father’s detective, I know that wasn’t true. No
volunteer job is worth stirring up all that old bullshit.”

“Hell, son, it’s already stirred. The way I
see it, there’s only one way to put it aside.”

“What’s that?”

“Talk to her. Clear the air.”

“I can’t do that. I won’t go through that
again.”

“I saw her face when she walked in. She put
up a good front, but the woman was scared out of her mind to see
you.”

“So?”

“So I don’t think a woman that scared would
put herself through a meeting with you if she didn’t have to.”

“Of course she had to. She’s Holcomb’s
flunky.”

“I don’t know about you, but I don’t think
any job is worth facing the firing squad of a lover scorned. Would
you put yourself through that unless you didn’t have a choice?”

“No, and I’m not going to.” Tommy tugged the
sock cap back on his head. “I can’t even begin to wonder what was
going through her mind.”

“I know what it looks like to be sick in love
and not know what to do. I saw it on my face when I almost let
Sarah go. I see it every day on my stepson’s face since he mucked
up his marriage. I see it,”—Dodge pointed a finger between Tommy’s
eyes—“sitting in front of me. Neither one of you is fit to broker a
peace treaty between Holcomb and STS.”