Читать книгу Secret Admirer - Karen Rose Smith - Страница 14

A devil bit him in the tail when Matt saw her street sign and realized he was almost to her house. He finger-combed his inky hair. He adjusted his red tie with the pink flamingos. Hell. Maybe the thing was too loud. He ripped it out of his collar and tossed it behind him as he yanked his collar open.

What was it? Every time he got around Jane, he got like this.

Maybe the big sexy mouth that had haunted him ever since he’d gotten up this morning had him a little crazed. Maybe it was the thought of her perfect yellow house with its perfect white shutters and a picket fence, yes, a real picket fence, damn it, the kind that made a man think of kids and a future and a sweet, alluring woman waiting for him at night, that unnerved him. Or maybe it was just her.

Not to mention the letter.

Had she written it?

Whoa! He wished that phrase that kept replaying like a broken record while the big, neon-red lips puckered would stop. His head hurt just thinking about it. He’d popped two aspirin, but they weren’t cutting the pain.

…there has never been anyone in my heart except you.

How could this be when she ran from him instead of to him that night. People who kissed like that and couldn’t stop belonged in bed together. He’d been a coward not to go after her. But after some of the hurtful things she’d said, Matt knew he’d done damage and should leave well enough alone.

As if this helped his current predicament, he thought gloomily. Without having a why for the childish insanity that getting anywhere near her brought out in him, he stomped on the gas pedal so hard the powerful engine roared. It was 7:30 a.m. sharp when Matt skidded into her driveway, leaving a trail of black marks just to prove he was the big grown-up brat she thought he was. Next he honked. Just a couple of light taps just to make her mad.

She had ears like a lynx. She’d hear him.

Her front door opened immediately. The second he caught the merest glimpse of her slim, curvy body in the shadowy doorway, a hot bolt zapped him. As always, she hid that perfect figure under one of her dull conservative black suits and high-collared blouses. As always, every pearl button was securely fastened. As usual, her long, platinum-blond hair was tied back in that odious little knot in an attempt to downplay her looks.

Oddly, the severe hairdo served to accentuate the high cheekbones and the classic lines of her exquisite face. And it was exquisite—a perfect oval. Everything she did just made her more attractive, at least to him, which was probably why she did it—to annoy him. She’d been annoying the hell out of him since she’d been a first-grader, so she was an expert at it by now.

Her blue eyes swept over her perfectly manicured lawn, the row of potted geraniums and the well-tended ivies hanging in her oak trees before zeroing in on him. Pushing her stylish, if thick, metal-framed glasses up the slender bridge of her nose, she stepped onto her porch. Her blue eyes, which were fringed by long, inky lashes, widened before they narrowed—on him. Her beautiful mouth, the mouth of his wet dreams, opened and closed with distaste.

“Your mom said you needed a ride,” he yelled. She pivoted on a single high heel and slammed the door in his face.

“Good morning to you too, darlin’!”

Okay, so he shouldn’t have honked.

Gripping the steering wheel, he waited a minute. When she didn’t come out, he got out, finger-combed his hair again, and then climbed her steps two at a time. Before he could knock, she opened the door.

She was on her cell phone now. “Mom! Mother! I know you’re there.” Abruptly Jane snapped her phone shut. With her eyes glued on his pink shirt, she said, “She hung up.”

“Happy birthday, darlin’.” He bowed low.

She didn’t smile.

“We’d better go,” he said.

“I’ll just be a minute,” she said icily, and true to her word, she was back in seconds with her briefcase and purse. He helped her into the Porsche, and in no time, they were zooming out of her driveway.

“Sorry about this,” she said. “My mother—”

“Mothers like ours are forces of nature.”

“She should have called me first, not you.”

“It’s a done deal now, darlin’.”

“It’s not that simple.”

“It would be, if you’d let it,” he said. “You always complicate everything.”

She inhaled deeply. As he sped down the familiar, oak-lined streets, she turned her back to him and stared out her window gloomily. “It’s just that I hate to owe a man like—”

“Me? A man like me? What do you think a man like me will exact as repayment—a pound or two of your delectable flesh?” He grinned at the back of her head. “You can relax. No hidden camera today.”

She whirled around, her face red. “See—this is why I always dread being anywhere near you. You make light of things that matter a great deal to me.”

“I was just teasing,” he said softly.

“I don’t like it.”

“Sorry. I grew up with brothers.” He paused. “You smell good. Like jasmine.”

“Would you stop?”

“I can’t tease. I can’t compliment you. What does that leave?”

“Nothing. I want absolutely nothing to do with you other than a civil relationship at work.”

“Why?”

“Why? We have this awful history, for starters—your stupid camera.”

“Before that you had a crush on me in grade school.”

“I did not!”

“Did too. Okay, I know I should have ripped the negatives of those pictures to bits.”

“You shouldn’t have plastered them all over the locker room!”

He scowled at the bitter memory. “I paid for it.”

She lapsed into silence. His temples were throbbing when she finally spoke to him again. “I don’t want to talk about it any more than you do. I just think we would both be happier if we never had to see each other—except at work.”

“I wouldn’t be,” he muttered.

“Don’t start.”

“What?”

“Doing what you probably do with every woman.”

“Is that it? You’re jealous?”

“Hell, no. But we’re competing for the same job, for one thing. We have to work together. But on a personal level we can’t…”

“We can’t what?”

“I—I don’t know.” But she did know. As always, ever since she’d come back to town, there was a hot spark of electricity between them. She hated it and hated him because of it.

She continued to stare out the window. Her hands that were folded tightly in her lap shook.

“Your mother told me to read the letters to the editor this morning,” he said. “Did you happen to see that anonymous love letter?”

She blushed furiously, guiltily, and then shyly.

His heart leaped. Had she written it? Did she feel that way about him but was so repressed she couldn’t face herself or him? This possibility was incredibly exciting.

“That…er…anonymous person…is living with a lot of regret,” he said smoothly.

She flashed him an odd look that seemed both vulnerable and desperate. “I don’t feel comfortable talking about it.”

“Why the hell not?”

“Because. Just because. I…I can’t believe it’s taking this long to get out of Red Rock.”

Frankly, he’d been too absorbed with her to notice where they were. He’d never been this close to her for this long. She always ran. In his eagerness, he spoke before he thought. “Your mother said you don’t have a date to the Spring Fling. Well, it so happens that I don’t either.”

“My mother should mind her own business!” she snapped.

“A lot of people in Red Rock should do that.” He hesitated, grinding his teeth. “I was trying to ask you to go with me to the Spring Fling.”

“What? Us? You and me?”

“Why not us? Maybe we could get past the past if we did that—show the town we’ve buried what happened in high school.”

She turned and her eyes narrowed on his face. “Did you ask me because you and I are both up for director of market research?”

“Hell no.” He felt himself getting mad, too.

“I don’t believe you,” she said. “You asked me before when we were kids deliberately to humiliate me.”

“I did not.”

“You snuck up on us and took those pictures. Then you—”

“Like I told you then—I didn’t.”

Like always when he defended himself, she glared at him.

Damn it. He hadn’t. He clenched the steering wheel, remembering the stupid misadventure that had caused both of them so much pain when they were kids.

J.K. had lured him into the cedar-brush country right behind the Snows’ place with the promise of some exciting wildlife. J.K. had been toting his .22-caliber rifle and Matt had his camera.

“I don’t see anything worth wasting good film on,” Matt said when J.K. grabbed his arm and pulled him down behind a huge red rock.

“Just you wait.”

Sure enough, it couldn’t have been more than five minutes before they heard the Snows’ back door close. Next, leaves crackled in the direction of the Snows’ property. They heard giggles and a dog barking. Then the branches parted and Jane and Mindy Snow and their chocolate Lab, Grizzly, stepped out into the sun. The girls wore white T-shirts, and maybe, hell maybe—nothing else! A guy could hope, couldn’t he? Mindy was dragging a gushing hose, which she tossed into a bed of roses.

Matt liked the way the wind blew the girls’ hair, especially Jane’s. When they opened their backpacks and pulled out two towels, the wind caught hold of the towels so that they flapped like orange and purple flags. Slowly, the threesome ambled over to some flat rocks sheltered by a high limestone cliff. The girls positioned their towels and then lay down on them with their legs in the sun and their heads in the shade. They began to read. Meanwhile, Grizzly ran about, sniffing rocks and chasing rabbits. Once when the Lab raised his leg on a rock not far from the boys, they were sure the dog would catch them. Fortunately, they were downwind from the beast, and the Lab trotted back to the girls, who petted him.

Jane looked so beautiful and peaceful as she read and petted the Lab that Matt started snapping pictures of her. Her legs were long and slim and curvy. When she raised her T-shirt a little, he saw she was wearing a pink polka-dot bikini bottom.

Her butt was tight and round, just great. He took a few more pictures and then stopped when she slowly got up and went over to where the hose was. She lifted it. Splashing her face first, she then began to sip.

Then Mindy got up and snuck up behind her. Playfully grabbing the hose, Mindy sprayed her. Jane yelled and the girls began fighting over the hose, drenching each other.

The wet T-shirt revealed Jane’s huge breasts, which she always took such pains to hide at school.

“Hot damn,” Jerry Keith said. “Her nipples are as big as chocolate Oreos. Zoom in on ’em.”

Matt was cold and hot and hard at the same time. When Jerry Keith grabbed his camera, he got so mad he nearly yelled.

Grizzly was the next to get sprayed.

“I’ll be damned,” Jerry Keith said, taking more pictures as Matt lunged for the camera. When the girls dropped the hose and looked over, Matt had it in his hand. Her cheeks reddening, Jane tried to cover herself with her hands. Grizzly started barking. Teeth bared, the animal lived up to its name and raced toward them.

The boys scrambled up the nearest oak tree.

Matt wasn’t concentrating on driving, when Jane screamed.

“Watch where you’re going!”

Instantly he came back to the present.

“Red light!” she cried. “Stop! Or you’ll kill us in this thing!”

He slammed on his brakes and the Porsche skidded to a halt as they hit the last red light before leaving town.

She drew a deep, relieved breath but said nothing. He did the same.

His feelings were overpowering him the way they always did when she was too close. Maybe it was her perfume that had him so crazy. What was it—roses? Or jasmine?

Craving fresh air, while she continued her pout or whatever it was, he lowered his window. But the warm cedar-scented breeze just made him hotter.

He’d tried to be nice. He’d paid for his sins in high school. Boy had he paid. He’d even asked her on a date. He hated rejection and he always had to win. Hell, he was out on a limb here. Nobody but Jane Snow ever made him feel this crazy.

And then it happened.

She’d glanced out her window again, so she didn’t see it coming. Thus, she didn’t flinch or pull away when he leaned closer, cupped her chin and crushed her lips to his.

The second his mouth claimed hers, the same magic that had knocked him senseless under the mistletoe zapped him again, only harder. Must’ve zapped her, too, because her fingers came around his neck and threaded themselves into his hair. As she began kissing him back, he felt her breasts quiver and go soft against his chest. He pressed her closer into his hard body.

“What’s happening?” she whispered, pulling back a little. Her blue eyes were soft and crushed and vulnerable.

“This is what you’re so scared of, isn’t it?” he murmured. “You want me, too.”

“This can’t be happening.”

His big hands worked through her hair. Before she could cry out, pins showered onto her seat. Next came tangles of platinum-blond hair falling onto her shoulders. Out of the corner of his eye, he noted that the light changed but he was afraid to drive for fear he’d lose her.

“Fire and ice. That’s what you are,” he whispered as he began kissing her again.

He didn’t want to stop kissing her. Not ever. This was better than last Christmas. He’d never felt such mindless lust or need for anyone. Whatever it was, it lit an unquenchable fire in his being.

The guy behind him sat on his horn.

Somehow Matt managed to let her go. Breathing hard, he stepped on the gas and drove carefully, but the first chance he got, he pulled off onto the shoulder—to resume kissing or whatever it was they were doing.

“Work,” she said. “We’ve got to get to work.”

“Later,” he muttered, grabbing her again. “Kissing the enemy is way more fun.”

“This is downright embarrassing,” she whispered on a raspy shudder.

“Yeah, it damn sure is. You’re a witch, and I’m helpless in your spell.”

“Don’t tease me.”

“Can’t help myself, darlin’. Do you have a better explanation?”

“I’m the one girl in town you haven’t slept with yet. You want to add another notch onto your gun belt, so you’re pouring on the sexual charm mighty strong.”

“If you really think that, my reputation as a lover damn sure exceeds the reality. But don’t tell anybody.”

He smiled down at her and for the first time, maybe ever, she smiled back. He caught his breath. His heart beat wildly. He wanted her to like him. He wanted it more than anything.

He kissed her neck, and then the hollow of her throat. Barely conscious of what he was doing, he began un-buttoning her blouse, kissing the tops of her huge breasts until his mouth came to a lacy pink-and-black bra.

“I never figured you for the sexy-underwear type,” he murmured. “Nice.”

“Type. I’m not a type.”

“Of course not,” he agreed, his mouth nuzzling a nipple. He’d spent years dreaming about her breasts. Years. “I’ve been waiting for somebody like you all my life.”

“Somebody like me?”

“Shut up and kiss me.”

For once she obeyed him. Their mouths came together again, her tongue mating with his.

“Let’s call in sick and go to bed,” he whispered.

Before he could stop her, she slipped out from under him faster than if she’d slicked herself with butter. Opening her door, she flung herself out of his car just as Ol’ Bill Sinclair drove by on his way to the Gazette. When she began buttoning her blouse, the old coot tooted.

“God, now everybody in town will know,” she wailed, turning red.

“Get back in the car before anybody else sees you.”

“Only…only if you promise not to touch me.”

“Hell.” When he jumped out of the car too, she started to run back to town. “Okay. Okay.” He held up his hands. “I promise. No touching.”

She turned and ran toward him just as he recognized Helen Geary’s giant beehive hairdo as she whizzed by in her brand-new red Caddy, her eyes out on stems. Helen, being Helen, honked at them too, of course.

“I can’t believe this,” Jane moaned. “She’ll tell everybody.”

“What the hell was that all about?” Matt asked once they were both in his Porsche again. He stared at her while she groped on the floor for her hairpins.

“You tell me. You started it, Harper.”

He turned the key in the ignition. “That takes me back to Red Rock Public School. That’s what you said after you tossed my cowboy hat back at me after you’d sat on it and squashed it flatter than a Frisbee.”

“You started that one too, Harper. You shouldn’t have pulled the ribbons out of my pigtails.”

“Did you know I still have one of those red ribbons?”

“Just like you probably still have the negatives of those pictures.”

He growled. “I don’t have them. I told you that already.”

“Liar.”

“There’s no use talking to some people,” he grumbled.

Aware that she was warier than ever of him, he drove the rest of the way to Fortune TX in a tense, electric silence. He did nothing more to try to break the wall of ice between them. The traffic on the interstate was thick and fast, so he shifted and downshifted, paying attention to his driving instead of her.

When he pulled into his space at the parking garage, she said in the frosty voice he was all too accustomed to, “Let’s not go in together.”

“Right,” he said, his tone as clipped as hers. “Business as usual.”

She’d disappeared by the time he had his shirt buttoned, his tie with the flamingos back on and his hair combed. He was about to get out himself when he noticed the corner of a manila folder under her seat. It must’ve fallen out of her briefcase. After picking it up, he couldn’t resist thumbing through it.

It was mainly boring lists that had to do with that after-school care fund-raiser she was chairing.

He read through it and laughed out loud.

She was good, but so was he.

Bake sale. Down-home cooking.

Silent auction at the baseball game in Red Rock.

Then he came to the last item.

She was planning to auction her “down-home” cooking services to the highest bidder.

In a flash he saw a way to turn the tables on her both in work and play.

She wouldn’t like it.

Or would she? She’d damn sure kissed him back. Still, it was risky. No matter what, he intended to play his hand for all it was worth. Unlike her, he was a gambler.

Happy birthday, darlin’.

He was whistling “The Yellow Rose of Texas” when he got out of the car.