Читать книгу Some Like It Sizzling - Jamie Sobrato - Страница 10

IT TOOK JUDD A MINUTE to figure out who Lucy was talking about. And then he remembered—Buck Samson. He was the ranch’s most popular employee with the female guests. Claire Elliot had apparently heard about him through word of mouth and called to request that Buck himself pick up Lucy and escort her to the ranch.

Judd’s older brother Mason was the owner of the Fantasy Ranch, and in the past three months he’d been experiencing what he believed were elements of a plot to ruin his business. With the busy last weekend of summer coming up, when much of the ranch’s return business was decided, Mason was anxious to ensure no disasters occurred like the ones the ranch had already experienced—tainted food at the restaurant, theft, unpleasant deliveries made to guests’ rooms—and that was where Judd came in.

Mason had reason to believe that Sunny Horizons Travel Agency might be involved in the sabotage, through its connection with his vengeful ex-girlfriend. Right now he was at the height of paranoia and trusted no one, including his star employee Buck, so he’d hired Judd as his private investigator and sent him on his way to find out what he could about Lucy Connors.

So here he was in the most ridiculous undercover operation he’d ever conducted, dressed like an idiot in this sleazy cowboy getup.

“I’m Buck’s replacement,” he explained. “He couldn’t make it to be your escort, so the owner sent me instead. Is that okay?”

She still looked confused. “It’s just that Claire said your name would be Buck.”

“I forgot to tell her I was replacing him. The subject of my name never came up when she let me into the apartment.”

“Oh.” She took a step back, obviously not thrilled to find a total stranger whose name was not Buck in her apartment.

He could understand her reluctance. “Why don’t you call the ranch and speak to the owner, Mason Walker. He can confirm for you that I am indeed your escort and that I don’t bite—” he forced himself to add in typical Fantasy Ranch style “—unless you want me to.” He realized too late that his little act didn’t help the situation, so he set down the suitcase and reached for his wallet to retrieve his brother’s business card.

Lucy stared at it for a moment and then looked up at him. “Walker? Isn’t that your last name, too?”

“Mason’s my brother.”

“Oh. Well, if you don’t mind holding on a minute, I think I will call, just to be safe.” She eyed him warily, and he began to feel as if he had fangs.

“Why don’t I wait outside?” he offered, hoping that might help her relax.

“No, that’s not necessary. It’s not like I haven’t already been alone with you all this time.”

She sat on the sofa and dialed the number to the ranch.

Judd occupied himself looking at her photos again. Why couldn’t this in-person Lucy be more like the conservative Lucy in the picture? That was the kind of woman he needed to spend a week with, not an obvious seductress. It was almost impossible to tell if the real-life woman and the woman in the photo were one and the same.

If he had to spend an entire week keeping an eye on Lucy, he was in big trouble. The promise he’d made to himself only a month ago would be out the window in no time flat if she kept looking at him the way she did, with those satin brown eyes of hers. He had a thing for brown eyes. A bad, bad thing. But why couldn’t he run into nice, respectable women with irresistible brown eyes and made-for-sin bodies?

Instead he attracted sex kittens. He’d already promised himself—no more wild women. They’d brought him nothing but trouble in the first thirty years of his life, and now that he was ready to settle down, he needed someone steady, respectable, and maybe even a little bit boring.

Lucy Connors, with her natural beauty, lush pink lips, wild bedroom hair and slim little waist that begged to be gripped, was definitely not boring. And in her presence he was already forgetting that he was supposed to be conducting an investigation.

He’d had enough of red-hot lust and crash-and-burn passion. He’d been scalded one too many times. He’d nearly lost himself to women like Lucy.

Judd winced at the memory of his most notable disaster—the woman who’d cost him his career in the police force. It had been his own fault for hopping into bed with a near stranger, for letting passion rule his decision-making. He should have guessed she might have been involved with one of his co-workers by her very presence at the party full of cops where they had met, but he’d never imagined she was his own boss’s girlfriend.

He had put that mistake behind him and was now well on his way to respectability. The last thing he needed was to be led back into temptation by a woman who could addle his brain with her beauty and turn him back into a man ruled by his sexual urges.

But he’d promised Mason.

He made a mental note to himself to kick Mason’s ass at the soonest possible opportunity. Just like when they were kids, his brother could still get him in trouble. Only this time Judd had walked into it with his eyes wide open. He never would have agreed to the investigation if his older brother hadn’t sounded as though he needed the favor so desperately. Judd hadn’t seen any way to say no.

“You’ll have the perfect opportunity to keep an eye on her,” Mason had said. “Just pretend that maybe you’re attracted to her on your off hours and she’ll be putty in your hands.” Mason had given him the same pleading look he’d used when they were kids to get Judd to tell their mother it had been him who’d broken two plates from the china collection.

Lucy’s voice interrupted his thoughts and snapped him back to the present. “Okay, thank you very much, Mr. Walker. Goodbye.” She hung up the phone and offered Judd a crooked smile. “Your story checks out, so I guess we can go.”

Judd took a deep breath and smiled at the woman that was sure to be his undoing.

NOW THAT SHE HAD A GOOD view of Judd’s face, Lucy couldn’t stop staring. He was handsome the way banana splits were delicious—decadently so, with a little too much of the good stuff. Too much beauty for one man to contain, yet he managed it somehow. Remarkably, those silvery gray eyes, that nose a plastic surgeon would be proud of, those soap-opera-hunk cheekbones, and that outrageously lush mouth all combined to make a face that was gorgeous in an unmistakably masculine way.

Lucy melted a little every time she looked at him. And that was only in the beginning. After those early moments in his presence, the full weight of the situation began to sink in…And sink in some more, bringing with it a schoolgirl giddiness that threatened to undermine her sex-kitten wannabe disguise. How could she be a cool seductress as she constantly resisted the urge to blush and giggle?

She couldn’t, at least not without a little help. Her plan became clear when Judd showed her to the rear passenger seat of the sport utility vehicle and offered her the complimentary bottle of champagne and box of overpriced chocolates. She’d succeed with the assistance of alcohol.

Although the rear seat had the advantage of proximity to the vehicle’s built-in bar, Lucy smiled with as much confidence as she could muster and said, “How ’bout I sit up front…and keep you company.”

Judd nodded one time. “Whatever you like.”

She plucked the already-opened bottle and a plastic glass from his hand, eyeballing the box of chocolates he also offered with apprehension. Boring Lucy would never succumb to the wanton calorie binge that gold foil box of sin represented, but she had the feeling Wild-and-Crazy Lucy would relish every bite without thinking twice about the health consequences. It had been so long since she’d eaten real chocolates, she could barely remember their flavor.

“I’d better take those, too. Champagne makes me hungry.” She took the box with her free hand and tucked it under her arm before climbing into the front seat.

A little alcohol-induced courage was just what she needed to get the vacation started right, Lucy told herself as she promptly filled and emptied the champagne flute twice. Since they hadn’t even started moving yet, she was thankful when Judd climbed into the driver’s seat and studiously ignored the suddenly emptier champagne bottle that sat in the little cooler between their seats.

“Ready to go?” His gaze stopped for a moment at her shoulder, and she imagined he was checking to make sure she was buckled in, an act she found incongruously charming.

He’s doing it for insurance purposes, the librarian voice in her head pointed out.

“Ready and willing,” she blurted, feeling her face heat up.

Okay, so she needed a little more champagne. Problem was, she had no idea how many glasses would produce the desired confidence without bringing with it the stumbling drunkenness she hoped to avoid. Too bad alcoholic beverages didn’t come with recommended dosages like prescription medications. For increased confidence, take three eight-ounce servings every four to six hours.

But they didn’t, so she realized her plan had a big chance of backfiring. Especially since she normally didn’t drink. Lucy had heard all about Claire’s drunken escapades, though, so she knew it was an accepted thing for party girls to drink a little too much champagne now and again. If things got out of hand, she could always explain it away later as her way of getting rid of the stress of the workweek.

As Judd pulled out of her apartment building’s parking lot, Lucy downed her third glass, and a few minutes later she was wrapped in a fuzzy sense of well-being the likes of which she couldn’t remember. It occurred to her as she peered at her tantalizing driver from across the darkened cab that her plan needed another step to be complete.

Seduce Judd Walker. What the heck. If she could pick any birthday present in the world, at that moment he was what she most wanted.

She wanted to touch him, to taste him, to feel their limbs tangled together in bed. She wanted to make love to him all night, then wake up and do it again in the morning. It was the most outrageous idea she’d ever had. And possibly the most brilliant.

She opened the box of chocolates, picked one out, and took a big, sinful bite.

JUDD DIDN’T HAVE REASON yet to suspect Lucy was anything but a woman taking a vacation. He realized with a little pang of guilt that he’d already let his attraction to her cloud his reasoning. He didn’t want her to be guilty of anything clandestine.

Before calling in Judd to investigate, Mason had figured out on his own that all the sabotage so far had taken place while employees of the Sunny Horizons Travel Agency, where Lucy worked, were staying at the ranch. And he’d made that connection because the travel agency was owned by the same corporation that owned the resort’s biggest competitor, the Oasis Spa and Resort, also the same corporation run by Mason’s slightly psycho ex-girlfriend.

It sounded more than a little far-fetched to Judd, but he had to agree with his brother that it was all they had to go on so far.

Judd peered over at Lucy for a moment, wondering if she’d had enough to drink yet to get loose-lipped and slip him some helpful information. “You enjoy being a travel agent?”

“How did you know what kind of work I do?”

“I did my homework, checked out your guest bio. Said you’re celebrating your birthday, right?”

“Right. What’s there to celebrate? Getting another year closer to death?”

“Gee, you look like you’re all of what? Twenty-four, twenty-five years old? I’d say you better invest in a burial plot now before it’s too late.”

She laughed softly. “You get paid to say nice things like that.”

“So how old are you?”

“Twenty-nine, as of tomorrow.”

“Why the bad attitude?” He heard the sound of more champagne being poured into her glass. “I’m almost thirty-one, and trust me, it’s not as bad as it sounds.”

“This is sort of a forced celebration. I wasn’t planning to go on the trip, even after I found you handcuffed to my headboard.”

He hadn’t been a tempting-enough invitation? Judd considered that his first impression of her as a wild party girl might not have been totally accurate. Some of the facts formed a different picture—Lucy’s sedately decorated apartment, her worry over whether to pack vitamins, her affection for her two overweight cats. The contrasts formed a puzzle he could hardly wait to solve.

“Your friend Claire’s the enforcer?”

“Yep.”

“What made you change your mind and come with me?”

She was silent for several moments, and he began to think she wasn’t going to answer, but then she said with a little laugh, “The cats. Definitely the cats.”

“I guarantee you won’t regret coming.” What the hell did he say that for? He made it sound as if he personally was going to ensure that she had a great time.

“How did you get involved in this field?” she asked.

“This field?”

“I mean, did you set out to work at a resort?”

“No, I just sort of stumbled on the job. Mason offered it, and I accepted.”

She probably thought he was an air-headed male bimbo using his body to get by in life. He wasn’t sure why that bothered him so much, but it did. He’d worked hard to make his private investigation business a success and was a damn good cop before that. Whatever he accomplished in life, he didn’t want to do it relying on his looks.

Judd took a mental inventory of all the ridiculous things Mason had told him would be part of his “duties.” To be able to watch Lucy in a variety of settings, his brother had given him the job of fill-in, which meant he went wherever help was needed, or more accurately, wherever Mason decided he would be needed at the moment.

Mostly, he was supposed to hover nearby in the guise of making sure Lucy was happy, watching her for clues of her involvement in a plot to ruin the ranch. During the times when she wanted to be left to herself, he had to keep up the facade of being a regular employee by performing a few of the other duties. Duties he’d hotly protested, such as leading karaoke, making sure the nightclub stayed hopping at all hours of the night and joining in the “wet boxers” contest when there weren’t enough entrants…Judd gripped the leather steering wheel tighter as his temper flared.

When Mason had bought a failing resort and claimed he’d wanted to turn it into an adults-only playground, Judd thought it was a stupid idea. But his brother was confident that the Fantasy Ranch would be a sure moneymaker, and he’d been right. Judd still couldn’t understand the appeal of the place, especially not when things got out of hand as often as they did. Mason, however, thrived on the constant challenge.

It quickly became clear that Lucy wasn’t much of a drinker. The champagne had gone straight to her head, and now when she spoke, her words slurred together slightly. When he’d glanced over at her a few minutes earlier, she’d been listing to the right in her seat, as if they were going around a sharp curve, but the road was dead straight. Judd was about to ask her if she’d had enough to drink when a low, soft moan came from her side of the Suburban. And another moan, this time louder.

His body responded primitively, and he shifted in his seat, afraid to look over to see what exactly was the cause of the moaning.

“This is incredible,” she said, a little breathless.

Judd took a quick mental inventory. The leather seats? They were comfortable, but not moan-worthy. The scenery? It was pitch-black outside. Must have been the champagne then. But why the delayed reaction?

And then he caught the scent of chocolate in the air. She’d tried another one, and as he glanced over, he saw her head tilt back and her eyes close in silent rapture. She had a streak of chocolate on her lower lip.

“You’re a big chocolate fan, huh?”

“I am now.” She bit into another truffle and groaned deep in her throat.

“Something special about those chocolates?”

“It’s just that,” she said with her mouth full, pausing to swallow, “I really never eat chocolate. So many empty calories, such high fat content—”

“So you’re one of those health fanatics?”

“I’m not a fanatic, I just believe in proper nutrition.”

“Even on vacation?”

“Mmm, raspberry,” she moaned, ignoring his question. “Oh, this is so good, why can’t carrots come with raspberry filling? Want to try one?”

“I’ll take that as a no.”

“Hmm?”

“Never mind.” He shook his head, smiling in spite of himself.

She must have finished the box, because a few moments later Judd heard it hit the floor with a soft thud.

“You know, chocolate, I think, is like sex for a woman, only better.”

Judd raised an eyebrow. “This from a woman who claims never to eat chocolate?”

“Hey, I just ate a whole box of the stuff, didn’t I? Besides, I have friends who eat it all the time, and I see what it does for them.”

“And what is that, exactly?”

She emitted an inexplicable gush of giggles. Once she recovered, she said, “It’s pure pleasure without the frustration. Like getting an orgasm every time. No worry about whether he’s going to be too fast, or too distracted, or too self-absorbed…”

“I think you’ve had a little too much to drink. And you’ve definitely been meeting the wrong kind of guys.”

She succumbed to another giggling fit, and Judd took note of her laughter. It sounded…nice. Not at all the throaty seductress laugh he’d imagine her having.

“I have, haven’t I?”

He decided not to ask if she was agreeing to one of his statements or both.

“I bet you get a lot of crazy drunks at the ranch.” She pushed herself up in her seat and deposited an empty champagne flute in the nearest cup holder. “That must make your job more interesting—or difficult.”

Judd had heard his brother’s stories of the guests’ antics, some of which were legendary. “Well, there was the time a woman somehow managed to get her head stuck between the legs of the cowboy statue in the cactus garden. She was, um, not wearing any clothes at the time.”

“Not even underwear?”

“Not even a smile.”

“Wow.”

“Yeah, that’s what the firemen said when they got there. And that’s how the cowboy statue came to be known as One-Legged Joe.”

They rode in a silence occasionally broken by Lucy’s drunken giggles as Judd turned off the highway and drove along the road that led to the resort. But around the last bend they were forced to stop in the middle of the road to accommodate a pair of lovers who’d sprawled themselves across it in a sort of From Here to Eternity scene, minus the beach.

“What the—” Lucy muttered.

Judd wasn’t sure if she’d want to know that such occurrences were quite common, so he tapped the horn lightly and waited for the lovers to vacate the road. Instead, they kept kissing as if they hadn’t heard the blare of the horn. Judd tried again. No reaction.

He put the vehicle in park and stepped out, approaching the couple warily in case they mistook him for a willing third party.

“Excuse me.”

They stopped kissing and looked at him as if he’d appeared out of nowhere.

“I need to get past, and I’m sure you’d be more comfortable on one of the ranch’s many king-size beds,” he said with a cheesy, customer-service smile, repeating the response Mason had taught him for any situation in which a couple was getting out of hand in public.

Without responding, the couple looked at one another and giggled, then crawled up off the road and wandered hand in hand toward the desert.

Judd climbed back into the Suburban and gave Lucy an apologetic grin. “I think they’re about to give the coyotes an X-rated show.”

Lucy’s eyes widened for a moment. “Does this sort of thing happen often here?”

The wonder in her voice caught him off guard. “It isn’t called Fantasy Ranch for nothing.”

Before Judd could put the Suburban back into drive, he heard a nervous giggle only a few inches from his ear. He turned to find Lucy leaning toward him, her face next to his, and her bleary gaze focused on his mouth. She let out a little hiccup and Judd caught the scent of champagne and chocolate on her breath.

Her sudden nearness set his nerve endings on alert.

“So I guess with all the crazy stuff that goes on here, you wouldn’t be surprised if I did this.”

And that was when she kissed him.