Page 67 of Silver-Tongued Devil
She turned to look at him, all her wariness back. “I’m waiting.”
“Why can’t we have a… a relationship? Why the hell not?”
She laughed.Laughed,and he was burning up. “You don’t want to have a relationship with me.”
“I don’t?” He’d sat up now, too. “Maybe you should let me say what I want and don’t want. Maybe I know a little better than you do.” It wasn’t true, of course. He had no clue. But it sounded good.
She crossed her arms under her pretty breasts, and that might have distracted him for a minute. Her hair was wild and tumbled, she was wearing nothing but that tiny silver heart, her legs were tucked to one side, and she was… well. She was something to look at.
She said, “My eyes are up here.”
“Oh. Sorry. Uh… what were we saying?”
“You were telling me that you knew what you wanted.”
“Oh. Right. Yeah. I do. I want you to spend the night with me. I want to go to sleep holding you, because it would feel so good. I want to wake up and make love to you again. I want to go to breakfast with you. I want to tell Russell that I’m dating his daughter, because she’s pretty damn special and I like her a whole lot. I want this whole town to know it, too. How’s that?”
She seemed to be considering, and that was good. What she said next, though, wasn’t. “So you know. I have a life plan.”
This time, he didn’t have any problem looking at her face.What?Did she know abouthislife plan? How? Why was she using that word, otherwise? For that matter—wait. What didhethink about his life plan?
She didn’t seem to notice that he was grappling in the weeds. She said, “So you know where I am—it’s this. Russell has about forty thousand left on the mortgage. If I can keep selling my glass all right, I can pay that off in three years. An extra thousand every month, and I can do it. If you can get him fixed up better, so he can… so he’s not hurting so much…” That one stopped her for a minute, but she went on. “I’ll appreciate it more than I’ve ever appreciated anything. After that, though, I’m paying off his mortgage, and I’m going. I’m going back to Portland, and I’m going to work on getting that life I want. I’m going to save for myself this time. I’m going to go to Costa Rica, even if I have to work my way there somehow. I’m going to hike in the rainforest and snorkel from the beach. I’m going to see dolphins. I’m going to see birds and animals and colors, and I’m going to make glass out of what I’ve seen. I’m going to have alife.And when I come back to Wild Horse…” That one hung her up for another moment. “When I come back to see Russell, I’m going to come back knowing I don’t have to stay. I’m going to have a name, even if it’s a little name. I’m going to come back knowing I’ve built my own life, and that it’s good. That I don’t need anybody here, and I don’t care what they think of me. Nobody but Russell and Evan.”
His throat was dry.Wow.“And you can’t go out with me why?”
“Oh. Huh.” She considered. “I guess I can. As long as I’m not stupid. As long as I’m not romantic.”
Why didn’t that sound one bit good to him? “Sure you can. Besides, just think how it’ll stick in Melody’s craw.”
She started to smile, and the hard moment passed. “Yeah. That’s a good one. Oh, yeah. Let me guess. She let you know she’d entertain your advances.”
He laughed. He was completely confused, but still, she made him laugh. “Darlin’, you were born to be a Southern girl. Yes, she did. Just imagine when I take you to breakfast tomorrow, and when I can’t help but buy you some pretty new earrings, because your ears are so sexy. When I put diamonds in there, and she has to look at those diamonds and know they aren’t hers. Even if shewasthe head cheerleader and she has shiny hair.”
“Blake Orbison,” she said, her arms crossed again, “are you offering to buy my honor?”
“Nah, baby. I’m asking you to give me your time and your company. And I’m sure hoping you say yes. I’m hoping you say it quick, too, so I can crawl in this bed with you and hold you some more. There’s this place my hand wants to be while I fall asleep. I’ve waited this long for you. I don’t want to let you go.”
She hesitated, and he said with a sigh, “We’re bargaining again. I knew it. Tell me.”
“You’re not dating anybody else,” she said. “Nobody in Wild Horse, I mean. I’m not going to find out I was your…”
Steve’s smug voice was right there in his head.Dakota’s used to being that side piece. There are girls you fuck and girls you marry, and she knows which one she is.He said, “No, I’m not dating anybody else, in Wild Horse or anywhere. And you’d better not be doing it either. I’m the jealous kind. It’s exclusive, or it’s nothing. And I’ve had quicker negotiations to buy a million-dollar property. I’m just saying.”
“Well,” she said sweetly, “Melody’s probably still available.”
He slapped a hand over his heart, fell onto his back, and groaned. “You got me. Come on, wild thing. I’ll find you a toothbrush. Anything. I want you in my bed, and I don’t care what I have to do to get it.”
How was Dakota supposed to resist that? She couldn’t. And it didn’t matter anyway. She’d told him her plan. She’d laid it out as much for herself as for him. They were all clear.
So she sent Russell a quick text and took her shower. And when she climbed into bed, Blake pulled her back against him, his arm came around her, his hand settled gently over her breast, and he sighed and said, “Yeah. Exactly what I had in mind. That’s just about perfect.”
He was asleep in minutes, but she lay awake. The boat rocked gently in the water, lulling her into peace, and Blake was warm and solid behind her. Like a security… not even a blanket. A securitywall.Which was nuts.
He’d said he was crazy about her. That was nice. And her body was still humming, ticking over, letting her know that as well as he’d satisfied it, it wouldn’t mind doing it all again. It couldn’twaitto do it all again.
That had just been talk about the diamonds, of course, but it was sure a satisfying image. She’d have given a lot to see Melody’s face. Not to mention Ingrid’s.
It was all going to be fine. Good sex with a good man was something worth having, and if that man made you laugh and wanted to hold you close afterwards? That was even better. There was nothing wrong with taking something special when it offered itself to you, she told herself just before the lake and the darkness and Blake’s warm body soothed her into sleep. Not if you kept your mind and your priorities clear.
