Page 28 of Shine On Oklahoma

“Aw, come on now. Lie back or it’s all wrong.What are you, afraid I’ll pounce on you?”

“Of course not.”

“Afraid I won’t?” He asked it with a wiggleof his brows that made her laugh and give in. She lay down, puttingher hands behind her head, and straightened her legs out, crossingthem at the ankles.

The new position put the thundering waterfalldirectly into her line of sight.

“You’ve barely noticed the falls since we’vebeen here,” he said. “All you’ve been seeing is the whirlwind goingon inside your head.”

“I noticed the falls.” It would’ve beenimpossible not to hear their roar. But he was right, it had onlybeen background noise. She hadn’t really looked at the waterfall.She looked now. The water wasn’t just one color, but a hundred.Dark slate gray here, crystalline there, frothy and white somewhereelse. And the way the sun hit the cascade created a rainbow in theair in front of them. Had she really been having lunch under arainbow for the past hour and not even seen it?

She took a deep breath and let her musclesunclench a little bit. Her head relaxed back onto her hands, andshe gazed at the rainbow and thought of how her sister had alwaysbelieved in angels and fairies, the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus,and how she used to tease Kiley over it. Kendra had never believeda word of it. She’d seen it all as a con that parents played ontheir kids. In her mind, her father’s voice repeated one of thegems of parental wisdom he’d shared over and over with hisdaughters.

There are two kinds of people in this world,girls. Players and marks. People who don’t know that are alwaysmarks. People who do know it, well, they get to choose. Do you wantto be the girl crying in her pillow ‘cause she got taken, or theone walkin’ away with a wad of cash, whistlin’ Dixie?

There was a third kind of person though. Thekind who walked away with a wad of cashandsobbed into herpillow. Kiley had been one of those. But only for a little while.Eventually she’d chosen to be neither a mark nor a con. She’dchosen to be a good person who knew the score. She was street toughand savvy. And she knew how to run a game. She was also a happywife, a business owner, a local hero and about to be a mamma.

How the hell did shedothat?

“Hey.”

“What?”

“You’re in your head again,” Dax said. “Ifthat waterfall can’t keep your attention, there must be somethingmore than baby shower planning on your mind.”

“Yeah.” She looked at him. His blue eyes weredeep and full of tender strength. She’d always loved that abouthim, that sense of power, and of his kind soul holding its reinswith easy confidence. There was something comforting aboutthat.

“You want to tell me about it?”

She pursed her lips. Time to launch. Sheneeded him to keep the track, and stop poking around in the books.Deep breath, look him in the eyes and lie like you meanit.

“I’ve got this idea. I mean, it’s …like thegreatest idea ever. But I’m afraid if I tell you, you’ll think I’mtrying to play you again.”

He rolled onto his side toward her, studiedher face like if he looked deep enough into her eyes, he could seeher thoughts. “But you’re gonna tell me anyway.”

“I think I have to. I told myself I was gonnabe honest with you this time, Dax. If I didn’t tell you, thatwouldn’t be honest.” She sighed and lowered her eyes, then met hisagain, and gave a deliberately tremulous smile.

He seemed mesmerized by her lips all thesudden. She tipped her chin a millimeter, to tell him yes, and hekissed her just like she knew he would. He kissed like a man wholoved kissing. She loved the way his thick lips moved sensuallyover hers, parting and closing in ultra-slow motion.

Her brain melted, every thought just drainedaway. This was what could shut off the maelstrom of thoughts alwaysswirling inside her mind. This. Nothing else, not a horseback rideor a waterfall rainbow or her sister’s cold fried chicken, couldsmother her brain into silence the way Dax’s kiss could.

She kissed him back, and they startedfumbling with each other’s clothes the way they’d always done. Suchsweet familiarity, the way she unbuttoned his shirt and ran herhands and lips over his chest, until he gently pulled her up andreturned all of it back to her. They shucked their jeans, andunderthings and wrapped their arms and legs around each other,kissing and rubbing, and rolling every now and then, so he was ontop and then she was and then he was again. And when neither ofthem could stand to wait anymore, they made love; sweet, slow,tender, passionate love. And it was even better than before.

After the second time she whispered his nameagainst his neck and held him while he lost his mind, she wonderedif it really was that.Lovemaking. And she wondered why fatewas so mean, to force her to have to play him again when he was theonly man who’d ever made her feel this way.

They lay there, all wrapped up in each other,and it was the middle of the afternoon, and someone could comealong at any time. Maybe someone had; she wouldn’t have known. Shegrabbed his shirt off the ground nearby and pulled it over her.

“Gee thanks, just leave me out here for allthe world to see,” Dax said. But he whispered it as he pushed herhair off her face, and kissed her forehead.

She reached down for one of the shirt’ssleeves, and draped it over his junk. “Better?”

“Immensely.”

She sighed. Orgasm releases oxytocin in aman’s brain, a chemical that makes them want to bond. Now was thebest possible time, even though she hadn’t planned it that way.“So, can I tell you my idea now?”

He blinked like when someone claps theirhands in front of your face. Then he sighed, heavily, closed hiseyes and listened.

“I want you to accept your inheritance andlet me run the race track for you.”

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