The Tycoon (61 page)

She had received messages from Drake here and there and had sent a few to him. That they were both busy was just as well. Hawaii had been emotional in a way Shannon had never experienced. Time apart gave them a chance to step back and look at where they were going. For the first time in a month, she forced all of her energy and time onto her business.

Soon, the date for the Lubbock trip loomed just a few days ahead. In a phone call to discuss the arrangements, Drake offered to hire someone to stay with Grammy Evelyn, but Shannon declined. The idea seemed absurd when Colleen lived twenty minutes away.

Shannon decided to tell Colleen who she was seeing. Perhaps sharing personal information would make Colleen more cooperative in the future. She drove out to Colleen and Gavin’s house on Saturday to discuss it.

She found her sister in the kitchen baking. Colleen invited her in and offered her a seat at the white breakfast counter and a cup of coffee. While Shannon shrugged out of her coat and laid it on a neighboring stool, Colleen took a glass from the cupboard and filled it with ice cubes. The sound of a football game came from the family room’s TV.

“I’m going out of town again,” Shannon said. She sipped at the coffee. “That’s good coffee, Colleen.”

“It’s a special blend I got at one of those stores downtown on the square.” Colleen opened a drawer and pulled out hot pads. “I knew you didn’t come out just to visit. I don’t get it. Don’t you and your boyfriend ever do anything in town?”

“He lives in Fort Worth. His work requires him to travel sometimes.”

“Humph. A traveling salesman. I’m not surprised.” Colleen turned her back and opened the oven door.

Irked by the remark’s implication, Shannon said to her back, “You know something, Colleen? I haven’t told you his name because I don’t want a big deal made of it. It’s Drake Lockhart I’m dating. I’m sure I don’t have to add that he’s got projects going on all over the place.”

Colleen closed the oven door, tossed her hot pads onto the counter and planted a skinny fist on her hip. “Is that a name that’s supposed to mean something?”

Shannon sighed, not surprised that Colleen hadn’t heard of Drake. Her world was as small and confined as a turtle’ s.

But Gavin was a different story and he was standing in the kitchen doorway, a newspaper dangling from one hand. “You expect us to believe you’re shacking up with Drake Lockhart? In your dreams. What a bunch of BS.”

A shot of rage zinged up Shannon’s spine and she sprang to her feet. “I’m not shacking up, Gavin, and I wasn’t talking to you.” She turned to her sister. “Colleen, all I want you to do is keep an eye on Grammy Evelyn for a few days just like you did before. Can’t you do that? Just stop in and check to see that she’s okay or if she needs anything? It’d give you a chance to spend some time with her. You hardly ever see her.”

“That’s not true,” Colleen replied indignantly. “We take her to church.”

“Every two or three months? Big deal. Drake offered to hire someone to look after her, but I thought that was unnecessary when she has a granddaughter a short drive away.”

“You’re really going off on a trip with Drake Lockhart. You’re not kidding,” Gavin said. Statements, not questions, as if he finally believed it.

Colleen glowered at her husband. “Well, my Lord. Who is Drake Lockhart?”

Shannon suddenly felt as if a hammer pounded an anvil between her temples. She picked up her coat. “You know what? This is ridiculous. Just forget it. Drake and I’ll pay for someone.”

Gavin came over, tossed his newspaper onto the counter and thrust his face at her. His
lawyer
mode. Shannon had been on the receiving end of that look before, when she had tried to confronted him about lifting the lien on Grammy Evelyn’s home.

“How’d you meet somebody like him?” Gavin demanded.

Roasting him with a glare, Shannon zipped up her coat, picked up her purse and started for the door.

“We didn’t say we wouldn’t do it,” Gavin said, following her. Now he was more like a Toy Poodle than a Rottweiler.

“Yes, you did,” Shannon replied. “I can’t count on my
family
for one damn thing. And neither can Grammy Evelyn.”

She reached for the doorknob, but Gavin had already grasped it. He had a silly grin on his face. “That’s cool that you’re dating somebody like that. Really cool, man. Your taste is getting better, little sister. Hell, he’s a rock star. I read about him all the time.”

“Move your hand, Gavin. I need to go,” Shannon said.

Colleen had come up behind them. “Who is Drake Lockhart?”

Ignoring his wife, Gavin said, “I’d like to meet him. You know, maybe get a good word from him, know what I mean? ’Course a guy like him’s probably a Republican.”

Shannon knew what was going through her brother-in-law’s mind. Now that he had

decided to run for something, he was suddenly interested in begging for an endorsement from someone like Drake. Exactly what she had expected if and when Gavin and Colleen learned about Drake. “A lot of people would like to meet him, Gavin. I need to go.”

“You think you might introduce him to your family?”

“We’re a long way from that.”

“But, hey, if you decide you want to, we can have y’all out to dinner sometime. Your grandmother, too. Make it a family affair.”

“We’re only
shacking up
, Gavin. I don’t think that calls for a family dinner.”

Sighing, he straightened. At least he had the civility to back off. “Well, anyway, we’ll keep an eye on Grammy Evelyn, won’t we Colleen? Don’t worry about it, okay.”

“Thank you,” Shannon said. “Now will you please let go of the doorknob?”

Shannon’s anger cooled the closer she got to town and she started to think about the position Drake was in every day of his life. Someone always wanted something from him. She was glad now that she had considered asking him for a loan for no more than a nanosecond. She would never do that. She would never ask him for anything.

Chapter 36

Shannon drove to Fort Worth Monday afternoon, packed and prepared to travel to Lubbock the next morning. The sky was gray and bleak and the temperature had dropped into the twenties, but thank God, there was no moisture to freeze on the highway. When she arrived at Drake’s condo, he had just reached home himself. She knew he always walked to and from his office above the deli. With his cheeks rosy from the cold and still wearing his overcoat, he looked handsome and dashing.

That he was glad to see her showed in his eyes. Between covering her face and mouth with kisses, he helped her peel off her coat. “I haven’t had time to order supper,” he said, grabbing her around the waist. He swept her tightly against him and planted a fierce kiss on her lips. “God, I want you. How long has it been? Six months?”

She giggled as a thrill zipped through her. She had anticipated just such a welcome for the whole forty-five-mile trip from Camden. She, too, had been counting days since they had last been together. “Ten days since the rodeo.”

“That makes it almost three weeks,” he said, pushing her sweater up and pulling it over her head. She pushed his overcoat back and slid her hands up his chest, unhooking  buttons. He whipped off his coat, stepped into the living room and tossed it across a chair back. “C’mon.” he grasped her hand and led her to the bedroom. They hurriedly shed their clothes and scrambled under his covers.

Without preamble, he moved between her legs, kneeing them apart. “Do I have to use a rubber?”

Indeed, the Hawaii trip had spoiled him. Her, too. “Probably a good idea.”

Swearing, he stood on his knees between her legs, reached for the bedside table drawer and groped for a condom inside it. She couldn’t keep from staring at his jutting penis. It almost had a life of its own.

“Like the view?” he asked, rolling on the condom with trembling fingers.

She watched, fascinated as much as eager. At the moment, she didn’t care whether he wore a condom. She just wanted the hot swollen thing inside her. “Love it,” she answered breathlessly. “Hurry.

He leaned over her, braced himself on one hand and pushed into her so powerfully and completely, she couldn’t hold back a gasp.

“Okay?” he rasped. “I’ll make it up to you later.”

“’Sokay,” she said, so excited by his hunger that she didn’t even miss foreplay.

He heaved a sigh and held himself still for a few seconds. Then he slid his arms underneath her and tightly hugged her to him. “I feel so much better.”

“Are you all right? What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. Now.” His hands tangled in her hair and he began kissing her and kissing her, declaring between kisses how must he had missed her and what he intended to do to her.

But you’ve hardly called me
, she wanted to say, but instead, she wrapped her legs around his buttocks, glided her hands all over his smooth shoulders and back, wanting to touch all of him at once.

He kept kissing her, clutching her head, not letting her turn away even once from his hungry mouth. “I’ve nearly gone nuts,” he said raggedly, pinning her wrists beside her head and capturing her eyes with his “Don’t close your eyes.” He started a steady in and out.

“I won’t.”

His hard thickness stroked every inch of her with mind-numbing friction. Flames of passion licked inside her, all around her, threatened to consume her. She wanted to close her eyes and give in to the sensations raging through her, but she kept her gaze locked with his. “Drake,” she breathed. “I’m so hot. I need you to—”

“This?” He moved up, picked up the tempo, pressed the root of himself against her clitoris with steady strokes.

Tension began to build low in her belly, poised for release. “Yes,” she gasped. “Yes…That’s it…”

He stopped. Not releasing her wrists, he drew a great breath through his nose and pulled out.

“Oh, no!” She squirmed against him. “Drake, I’m going crazy.”

His warm open mouth moved over her breasts. “That’s good…” He drew deeply on her nipple, pressing it against the roof of his mouth and sucking her so hard she felt it at her very core. “I want you crazy…crazy for me…every time….” He moved to the other nipple.

His mouth left her breasts and frantically raced down her belly. “I want to kiss you everywhere.”

And she wanted him to. She let her thighs fall wide and lifted herself to him, offering the tiny magical spot that strained begged for his attention. “Yes, yes. Just hurry”

He parted her with his fingers and sucked her clit full into the hot wetness of mouth. Instantly, she zoomed into a shower of stars. She cried out, but he gave her no mercy. As if he were a hungry babe, he sucked and sucked as so many orgasms battered her, it seemed like one long one. She bit into his shoulder and hung on with her teeth, huffed like an animal, lost in glorious ecstasy she had found only with him.

She finished, still panting and wanting. She gripped a fistful of his hair, pulling him up. “Drake….Come back up here.”

His mouth crawled back up her body and he pushed his penis into her again, hooked his forearms behind her knees and pushed them high and wide, pinning her. He hammered into her, the powerful strokes lifting her buttocks off the mattress. The need exploded within her again and her deepest muscles convulsed against him. His own release overtook him and he came hard, grunting and growling and puffing. She hung onto him, wrapping him tightly in her arms. He seemed to be in such a state, it was the least she could do for him.

When it was over, he eased down on top of her, his chest heaving. He was drenched with sweat. So was she. “That damn near killed me,” he rasped, clasping her hands beside her head and interlocking their fingers.