Page 75 of Tempting Fate
“Nope, I was in a band. It was a cross between Bon Jovi and Springsteen.”
“How very New Jersey. Were you any good?”
“God awful. Couldn’t carry a tune to save my life, and played the same two chords over and over again.” He laughed at the memory. “We actually got gigs, though. And groupies.”
“Then you went into the Navy?”
“Yep. Met Logan my first day of BUD/S. We’ve been inseparable ever since.”
“I never did thank you for coming to Denver with him and helping me move out.”
“That was some house.” He whistled, because it was the ugliest house he’d ever seen. “It reminded me of Tara.”
She shuddered. “What can I say? I had really bad taste back then. And I think part of it was sadistic…I went forty-thousand dollars over budget building that house. It almost gave Butch a coronary.”
Gabe chuckled, though it sounded like Raylene had a significant spending problem, which made him think of her finances. “What happens if you don’t find the gold? Will you be okay financially?”
She blew out a breath. “I don’t think I’ll be able to buy a ranch for my horse farm with only the proceeds from the property, but I’ll survive.”
From the hesitance in her voice, it sounded like she’d still be on shaky ground. “You still planning to give a chunk of change to that women’s shelter?”
“Yep. They’re counting on it.”
She was a contradiction, to be sure. The world thought Raylene was a vain, self-indulgent, spoiled brat. Yet it seemed there was a side of her no one knew—no one but him.
“How long have you been involved with this operation?”
“It’s a battered women’s shelter, not an operation. Since I moved to Santa Monica. I was walking around the neighborhood—yes, people actually walk in LA—and saw it. At first, the big 1920s Mediterranean looked like any of the other stately single-family homes in the area. But on my daily walks I started to notice different women coming in and out. Some of them had toddlers on their hips or a small child’s hand in theirs. And all of them looked hauntingly familiar.” She paused. “Because they looked like me.”
“Butch abused you?”
“My dad, Butch…it’s a pattern, you know?” She turned on her side so he could no longer see her face in the dim moonlight.
“You seem strong to me, Ray, not like someone who would put up with that shit.” It was the wrong thing to say, because she sprang up.
“I am strong, and I didn’t, as you say, put up with that shit. But you try stopping someone twice your size, someone who has the power to cut you like a knife with a single sentence, someone who holds your financial well-being in his hands, to be nice. He was my father, Gabe. It took a long time to realize that the way he treated me wasn’t normal. My entire childhood I thought the things Ray did and said were simply tough love. Later, I thought if I was a good wife to Butch, who my father handpicked, I’d make Daddy proud and he’d love me more.”
“I shouldn’t have said that.” He gently nudged her back down. “I have no idea what it was like for you…what I said was stupid.” His parents had been the gentlest people on earth. They were big on praise and short on disapproval, unless he or his siblings deserved to be put in their place. He had no concept of what it was like to be in an abusive relationship.
“A lot of people think it’s easy to walk away. I can attest that it’s the most difficult thing I’ve ever done. But I did it, and now I’m helping other women do the same.”
“That’s huge, Ray. You should be really proud of what you’ve accomplished. The booze, too. I was right about you being strong, that part I didn’t get wrong.”
“I am,” she said. “And every day I’m getting stronger.”
He flipped over on his side and brushed away a strand of hair from her face. “I’ll miss you when you leave. Between you and me, you might even be more fun than Logan.”
That made her smile. “You can visit me in LA. I’m sure we can find someone to surveil or shadow.”
He couldn’t help himself. He leaned over and kissed her. All night he’d wanted to, but not more than now. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him closer, returning the kiss with equal fervor. Next thing he knew, he was on top of her, pressed between her thighs. She unzipped his jacket, reached under his thermal shirt, and rested her palms against his chest. Gabe wondered if she could feel the rapid beat of his heart. He ground against her, wishing they didn’t have so many clothes between them.
He sucked in a breath as her hands trailed down his abs to the waistband of his jeans. “We gonna do this in the back of the car?”
“Mm.” She rubbed against the hard bulge in his pants. “May as well.”
He had to laugh at her feigned indifference, because her body told a different story. Even through her jacket he could tell her nipples were hard, and he’d bet his last nickel she was wet. To test the theory, he unbuttoned her jeans and slid his hands inside her panties. Wet didn’t begin to describe it—soaked was more like it. He played for a while, watching her tremble as he dipped a finger inside her. When he used two fingers she whimpered, the sound so arousing it went straight to his groin.
He struggled with her clothes, trying to remove them, but in the cramped quarters nothing seemed to cooperate. She somehow managed to shrug out of her jacket while still kissing him. He got his off and tossed it up front, then went to work on her sweater, dragging it over her head. Her bra was black and lacy and he took a few seconds to admire it—and her breasts. She tore at his shirt and he slapped her hands away, laughing.
