Too Hot to Handle, page 12
He raised his head from the pillow. “Merry? You okay?”
“I think so,” she whispered.
“I didn’t hurt you?”
A shy smile flashed over her face. “I think I’ll recover.”
He collapsed beside her, shaking himself, although he was shaking with laughter. “Are you putting me in my place?”
“No!” She covered her face with her hands then seemed to remember she had other parts to cover as well. He watched her cover her breasts, then a helpless hand hovered over that lovely triangle of hair for a moment.
“Could you, um…” She tugged desperately at the covers. “Could you get up for a second?”
He wanted to say no and make her lounge naked for an hour, but instead he got up and went to the bathroom. The bedroom was dim in the evening light, and when he came back he switched on the light, but Merry squealed. “Turn that off!”
“Are you shy?” he teased.
She threw a pillow at his head. Shane caught it and tossed it back, but he switched off the light. That was the extent of his concession, though. He slipped under the covers with her, but tugged them down to expose her breasts. Merry immediately snatched them back up.
“Come on. I want to see you.”
“Shut up.”
“You’ve got nothing to hide now. I’ve seen it all.”
“Shut up!”
“From a couple of different angles.”
The pillow hit him smack in the face. Shane brushed it aside and kissed her. She still wouldn’t let go of the blanket.
“Please?” he coaxed. “If you pull down the blanket, I’ll be topless, too.” He raised his eyebrows. “Are you going to pass up the chance to ogle my chest?”
Merry finally peeked up at him. Her grip loosened. “Well…” When her gaze drifted to his chest, she finally let go of the blanket to brush her palm softly over his chest. “It is very nice.”
Shane eased the blanket down to her waist and cupped her breast gently in his hand. But then he forgot what his point had been, because instead of looking at her, he found himself watching her hands as they skimmed lightly over the hair on his chest, then settled right over his heart. She seemed fascinated, and he felt…strange. Giddy and overwhelmed in a way he hadn’t felt since he was thirteen and had his first uncertain crush on a pretty girl.
His heart raced under her fingers. He hoped she didn’t notice.
“You sure you won’t let me turn on the light?” he asked.
“Are you always like this after sex?”
His thumb caught on her nipple and he circled it carefully, watching as it tightened again at the renewed attention. “Like what?”
“You’re so relaxed and…”
He leaned down and put his open mouth to her nipple.
“And you keep…teasing me.”
He was teasing her. He didn’t know why. But he did know he wasn’t usually like this. He kissed her one last time. “You’re cute when you laugh,” he said, which was true enough, but not the whole story. Her smile made him happy, but he couldn’t say that. Ever.
“Only when I laugh, huh?”
“Oh, also when you say my name and beg me to fuck you.”
“Jesus, Shane!” She shoved him hard and dragged the covers up over her head.
He laughed. Hard. And he only laughed harder when one of her fists emerged from the covers to punch his shoulder. But he finally took pity and lay down next to her, mostly because he was suddenly exhausted. He hadn’t come that hard in a very long time, if ever. And it had been much longer since he’d laughed that hard. He felt as if his muscles had melted into pools of warm liquid.
“Christ, Merry,” he breathed. “That was good.”
She was silent for a long moment, and he was beginning to worry she didn’t agree. But then he heard her draw a deep breath. “Was it good? It felt really good.”
He smiled at the ceiling. “I think that’s the only measure.”
“I’ve never…”
Those two words trailed over his skin as they disappeared into silence. He turned toward her, but in the dark room he couldn’t see anything more than a faint glimmer of her eyes in the shadow of the blankets.
“I’ve never come like that before.”
“Like what?”
“During sex like that. With you inside me. It was…” Her smile flashed white for a moment. “Nice.”
Shane grinned. He couldn’t help it. If he had more energy, he would have jumped up on the bed and hooted while he beat his chest. Thank God his exhaustion could masquerade as dignity.
“I’m glad,” he murmured. “Because it was pretty high up in great moments of my life.”
Merry laughed so hard she snorted, which gave him another thing to tease her about. But his amusement died when she snuggled close. Shane put his arm around her and pulled her head to his chest. And as her breath chased over his skin in gentle puffs, he didn’t feel like laughing at all. He just stared into the darkness and wondered what the hell he’d done.
* * *
MERRY SNUCK INTO Grace’s apartment, sure that dirty guilt was written all over her face. Her clothes probably looked normal, but she felt generally rumpled, and she was certain she could smell Shane on her skin.
God. She blushed at the very thought of his name, but the warmth kept traveling over her skin, falling from her face to her neck and her chest and all the way down to her thighs.
She’d been very thoroughly fucked, and she felt it in every inch of her body. There was no way she looked the same.
Luckily the apartment was empty. A glance at the clock revealed that only sixty minutes had passed since she’d left the bar. How was that possible? It had felt like hours. She shook her head in surprise but grabbed a pair of sweatpants and moved quickly to the bathroom. She needed to wash off the invisible depravity that covered her skin.
Yes, she thought to herself as she let the shower heat up. That was how she felt. Depraved. Dirty. Wonderful.
And still embarrassed. She couldn’t help it. Being naked like that, being exposed…it felt so vulnerable. She’d always been in awe of Grace, who used her body for pleasure whenever the urge struck. Merry could never be that brave. To let a man inside her and just accept that as her right. It felt scary. And she couldn’t tell if it was scarier that she hardly knew Shane or terrifying because she knew him at all.
She stepped beneath the hot water with a groan of relief.
Thank God she’d gone to the saloon. Thank God she’d had those two martinis, or she’d never have been able to let that happen.
She cringed at her own thought. That she had to let it happen. That she was barely an active participant. But right now she couldn’t make the semantics matter, because it had been fucking fabulous.
Merry looked around the shower as if someone else would be watching, then she took a deep breath, balled her hands into fists and danced on her tiptoes to a silent squeal of triumph.
“Ohmigod,” she panted, covering her open mouth with her hands to keep the water out. “Ohmigod.”
He’d been perfect. And big. And perfect. And he’d made her feel beautiful for a few minutes. He’d made her feel like she was the woman he wanted.
God. If this was only friends with benefits, she’d take it. She’d take it and she’d worship him from across the hall and swallow her worries for her heart and she would take it all.
“Okay,” she whispered. “Okay, be cool.”
She could be cool. She’d kill herself being cool about it if she had to. She’d taken a chance and it had been worth every second.
Merry washed up and when she got out of the bathroom, she felt more in control. She tucked her wet hair up into a bun and fired up her iPad to send an email. If she didn’t get the answer she wanted, then she’d take one more chance. What the hell.
Life was good today. And Merry was determined to make tomorrow even better.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
MERRY LOOKED AT EACH of their faces, Levi and Harry, both creased and leathered by the sun, Marvin, still plump and pale under his standard fisherman’s hat, and the women: Kristen, a handsome sixty-two-year-old woman with carefully styled hair, and Jeanine, starting to stoop a little with age. To a person, each of them stood in the bright morning sun and stared openmouthed at the sign.
Black paint had dripped from the crude letters and stained the rough grass beneath the fence.
“Oh, my word,” Kristen said for the third time since she’d stepped from Levi’s car.
“I know,” Merry said solemnly. “It’s crazy. You should probably call an emergency meeting and decide how to proceed from here.”
“What we should do,” insisted Jeanine, “is call the sheriff!”
Merry’s stomach twisted as the whole group murmured agreement. “Call the sheriff? I wouldn’t say this was a crime.”
“It’s vandalism!” Harry said.
“Well… It’s really just an old scrap of wood nailed to an even older fence post. I don’t think anything’s been damaged.”
Jeanine sniffed. “Maybe not, but it’s a threat.”
“Yes!” Kristen added. “It’s intimidation!”
Merry felt her fingers go numb and looked down to see that she’d twisted them into a knot. She forced herself to let go. “It only says No More Tourists! That’s not exactly threatening anything. The sheriff has real crime to fight. We shouldn’t bother him.”
They all looked at her like she was crazy. Merry squirmed and fought the urge to blurt out a confession. “How about we take pictures of it? File a report so there’s a record.”
Levi seemed to consider it. “There could be fingerprints. Tire prints.”
Oh, good Lord. Why did they have to make everything so difficult? “As far as I know, that doesn’t really happen in a case like this. My car was stolen two years ago, and when they found it, even then they didn’t take fingerprints. Department funding and things like that. But you guys do whatever you think is best.”
“I’ll call the sheriff,” Jeanine said firmly.
Merry felt sweat drip down her neck and sneak past her shoulder blades.
She hadn’t done anything illegal, per se. A sign wasn’t vandalism. She’d been careful not to make the message scary. And she wasn’t the one reporting it as a crime. Surely she couldn’t go to jail. How would they even know it was her?
Her mind latched with a vengeance onto the hundreds of hours of television she’d watched over her life. The little clues that TV detectives always found. A hairpin. A stray drop of paint. A certain curlicue in the letter E that she couldn’t help but make even when she was trying to disguise her writing.
Oh, God. Merry ran a surreptitious hand through her hair just to reassure herself that she hadn’t worn any barrettes or ponytail holders. No. Her hair was just long and straight as usual. And she’d already checked for paint drops like she was looking for ticks after a camping trip.
Still… She stared down at her hands. Did paint traces show up under a blacklight like blood? There were no telltale smudges of black, but would she stand up to a good swabbing? What if they could test for latex paint the same way they tested for gunpowder residue? What if—?
Jeanine snapped her phone closed and walked back to the group with a frown. “The dispatcher said there’s a grassfire outside town and we should just take pictures and file a report.”
“Oh, thank God,” Merry gasped.
Five pairs of eyes looked straight at her.
“I mean, I’m glad we can report this without having to pull them away from the fire. Good news. Boys in blue, saving lives.” She was in full-on flop sweat now. “Okay! I’ll take the photos! In HD, of course.”
The group backed away while Merry snapped away with her phone. She took a few pictures of the ground around the sign, then about a dozen of the sign itself, then two from the other side of the fence, just to be sure she looked enthusiastic.
“All right!” She dusted off her hands and waited for them to figure out the meeting schedule. But apparently they’d been having a totally different discussion.
“Who knows a reporter with the paper? I bet we can get someone out here this afternoon.”
What the hell? She’d only stepped away from them for a few minutes.
“Whoa, whoa! A reporter? I don’t think that’s a good idea at all.”
Jeanine crossed her arms. “We need to make clear that we won’t put up with this. If that little ingrate thinks he can—”
“We don’t know who did this. It could’ve been anyone. And if you start throwing accusations around, the board could be sued! This guy has already proven he’s litigious, right? Bad idea. We could lose everything.”
“She’s got a good point,” Levi said. Harry grunted in agreement.
The women did not agree. Kristen swept her manicured hands in a wide sweep. “So we’re supposed to just put up with this? I can hardly sleep at night! This is awful!”
Apparently Kristen Bishop hadn’t faced very many scary situations in her life. A broken mailbox and vague sign wouldn’t have even registered on Merry’s radar as a kid. Still, she felt terrible about her distress.
“I have an idea,” she said, trying to sound calm. “Maybe we should fight vinegar with honey. If that’s a thing people say. Do people say that? Anyway.” She cleared her throat and tried again. “Calling a reporter is a great idea, but instead of focusing on the negative, maybe we could get someone to do a whole write-up about Providence. About the trust. About what Gideon Bishop was trying to do and what this community meant to the area.”
“Hmm,” Levi responded, rocking back on his heels.
“Public opinion,” she pressed. “I’m not saying we don’t mention the troubles we’ve had with the lawsuit, but the best thing we can do for the case is create goodwill, don’t you think? Get the town on our side.”
“But what about the sign?” Kristen asked. “What about the mailbox?”
“Listen, if the town is on our side, I bet no one would dare to try anything else.”
Harry nodded. “It’s not a bad idea.”
Jeanine looked doubtful, but she held her tongue, and with Jeanine, that was nearly enthusiastic agreement.
“This is all so awful,” Kristen said again, defaulting to her martyr role. Merry could hardly resent it, though. She’d helped to create it.
Levi clapped his hands together. “Well, this is clearly an emergency situation. We’ll email you the meeting details when we have them, Merry. Ladies, let’s get you back in the car and out of this sun.”
They all turned away, murmuring to each other about the horror of it all. She was almost in the clear when Levi turned back. “I’d better take the sign as evidence.”
“Oh, I can do it. I’ll take it in and send them the pictures, too.”
“No, that’s too upsetting for a young woman like yourself.” She wouldn’t have been surprised if he’d offered smelling salts at that point, but she couldn’t take offense. Not when she was trying to keep a low profile. So instead of objecting, she watched Mr. Cannon pry the sign off the fence post and tuck it under his arm. “See?” He gestured toward the post. “Good as new. If you want to take a few days off, feel free. At the very least, you should probably work from home until this dies down.”
“Oh, maybe. We’ll see. Thank you, Mr. Cannon.”
She watched him toss the sign in the trunk and wished she could snatch it back.
Despite the problem of kidnapped evidence, Merry breathed a huge sigh of relief as the car rolled away. Then she coughed up some gravel dust and told herself not to feel proud. She’d done something awful. Terrible. She’d perpetuated a con.
But she had her meeting.
“All’s fair in love and war,” she muttered to herself. And ghost towns, apparently.
Or she’d just done the worst thing of her life and she’d regret it later. She’d find out soon enough.
CHAPTER TWELVE
“OH, PLEASE,” NATE HENDRICKS said as they walked down the block toward the Stud Farm. “That chase scene sucked it, big time.”
Shane rolled his eyes. “I don’t think it was written to stand up to the analysis of actual cops. Come on, when that train flew over the road? That was awesome.”
“It was pretty damn awesome,” Walker agreed.
Shane tried not to shoot the guy a glare. When Cole had suggested catching a movie on Saturday afternoon, he’d invited both Shane and Jenny’s new boyfriend, Nate. But on their way out of the apartment building, they’d run into Walker, and Cole had invited him, as well.
The guy was fine. Shane had known him for a few years, and he seemed decent enough. Except for the fact that he’d flirted with Merry. And she’d flirted back.
Shane bit back a growl. He’d sat on the far side of their group at the theater, three seats away from Walker.
But there was no reason for jealousy. Flirtation meant nothing after what he and Merry had done. She’d flirted with Walker, yes, but she hadn’t had sex with him. That she’d saved for Shane.
So it didn’t matter. But he was still happy when Walker said a quick goodbye and jogged up the steps of the Stud Farm. Nate said goodbye as well, and Shane and Cole dropped into the two ancient metal chairs that sat beside the front steps.
“So when are you planning to build the house?” Cole asked.
Shane had told him that he’d inherited land from his grandfather and planned to build on it, but he hadn’t said more than that. “Everything’s still caught up in probate, but hopefully this fall.”
“That’ll be great for you. Are you still renting storage space for your carpentry stuff?”
“Yeah. Not to mention boarding my horse. It might take me a couple of years to get it built, but it’ll get there. How’s life as a ranch owner?”
Cole smiled with the satisfaction of a man whose life was falling perfectly into place. Shane wasn’t sure how much of that satisfaction could be credited to the ranch. “I can’t complain. Took a damn long time, but I’m finally just where I want to be. Don’t sweat a couple of years. It took me a dozen.”
