Betting Hearts (3 page)

“Hey! You awake?” Burke stared down at CB, trying to decide if she was conscious or not. He really didn’t want to get wet hauling her out.

Her eyelids lifted and he suddenly got the impression she was mad. Might have had something to do with her splashing to an upright position and screeching unintelligibly.
Damn, there goes the plan to stay dry.

“Brought you something fresh to wear.”

“What are you
doing
in here?”

“Didn’t I just tell you?”

She crossed her arms over her chest. “I’m naked, Burke!”

“So?”

That was the wrong thing to say. Her face turned a shade of red that lit up the sprinkle of freckles on her cheeks and made those green eyes glow like something unholy. “So?
So!
”

And here comes more screeching…

She didn’t disappoint. She continued calling him names as she groped around for a towel, but it was out of her reach. That’s what she got for hijacking a man’s bathtub. He got an evil eye or two before she finally gave up trying to stay in the bubbles and get the towel at the same time. “Will you grab it for me?”

“Sorry, didn’t catch that. You might want to repeat it in…what language did you say I spoke? Backwoods Redneckese?”

“Just get me the damn towel!”

He shrugged. “Get it yourself.”

For a second, she seemed to pout. “If I do, you’ll see me.”

“Seen it all before. What do
you
have that’s special?”

There it was again, the flinch of her eye. When did CB start getting sensitive? She’d always had the skin of a rhino. Was he supposed to start worrying over everything he said to her? No doubt, Hansen had to be behind this, too. Whatever was wrong with her, she didn’t feel like talking about it because she went right back to being mad, mouth in a cranky little rainbow of gloom.

“Fine.” She stood, bubbles dripping off her, and reached for the towel, having to bend down and secure one hand on the edge of the tub to keep from slipping. She covered herself as quickly as she could, dunking half the towel in soapy water before flouncing her way out of the tub, past him and out the bathroom door like Sheba, queen of the sandbox. He couldn’t quite say where she went afterward.

He was too busy trying to breathe.

Naked women. He knew he’d seen them before. Plenty of them. Somehow, he’d never seen one like that. Bronzed arms and shoulders slowly lightened into pale, pale cream. Not a single freckle there or there or…he swallowed,
there
.

Maybe it was the water sluicing over her. That had to be it. How many other women were lucky enough to be backlit by golden sunshine glittering down their sudsy curves the first time they were seen in the buck?

Somehow, breathing wasn’t getting easier.

Where did she get off having breasts anyway? He’d never noticed them before, and a set like that would have demanded his attention. Even on CB. And who the hell gave her permission to have an ass like
that
? Did her brother know about this?

He turned around, not quite sure why he expected her to still be in the doorway. He wasn’t even angry about the big sploshes of water on the tiled floor. He wasn’t anything but… No, he wasn’t aroused. Not by Little Miss Mud Pie. He dropped down onto the black commode, running a hand over his face, pretending to himself he wasn’t uncomfortable in his jeans.

Hayne—the brother who should have warned him about this—would kill him. Theirs was an agreement from ages ago. To hang out with CB without supervision, he could never see her as anything worth getting a hard-on over. Ever. The more women he dated and dropped, unable to feel anything for them beyond boredom, the more Hayne invoked the sacred oath. No hard-ons. Which was fine. The good buddy below had obliged without question. Until now.

No, not now. Not ever. He wasn’t aroused. He was shocked. Surprised. Disturbed. Yes, that was a better word. Extremely, extremely disturbed. He took a deep breath.

So, CB had…feminine attributes. He supposed she was allowed. If he thought about it, he should have noticed when he stripped her the night before. Of course, she was still in her underwear and he
was
pretty mad. So mad he hadn’t seen her pert, strawberry colored nipples. Not that those should bother him. Everyone had nipples.
He
had nipples. Nipples were a good thing. Tasty, sweet things…

Damn it, Hayne
was
going to kill him.

“Burke, where are those clothes?” she called from one of the bedrooms.

“In my—” He stopped to cough, wondering where the taut, higher pitch in his voice came from. “Grab something from my drawers!”

That was
not
some kind of Freudian slip.

“Sweats okay?”

Sure, sweating was good. He was sweating right now. “Perfect. Look, I’m gonna…I have to…I’m…I’ll be back.”

“Wait, if you’re leaving you can give me a lift back to my place!”

“No!” Catching himself, he walked out of the bathroom and nearly ran into her in the hallway.

She was still in that damn black towel, scowling up at him like a kitten unable to figure out how to get up a tree. “You okay?”

“Fine, I’m just not headed that way, and you’re best out of sight.”
Out of sight, out of mind.

“But—”

“Relax, I’ll be right back.”

“But—”

Rather than think about one more but—or worse, remember getting too good a look at one—Burke grabbed his keys from the dish and rushed out of his house.

Chapter Two

Just when she thought the man might have a brain in his head, he went and proved her wrong. Cass pulled Burke’s too long sweatpants up over her hips, allowing the elastic binding at the ends to cup the fabric under her feet like ready-made slippers. She would have put on the matching sweatshirt, but if Burke could get a look at her naked, she could steal his favorite T-shirt.

The dark purple cotton smelled like the cedar from his dresser, a scent she had to admit she associated with him. Regardless of his jackass tendencies, the smell was comforting and she willingly wrapped herself up in it. He’d never know anyway, so there.

She hadn’t figured out yet what happened earlier. He said he’d seen more than one naked female body and hers was the last one on earth to stun him. Why the big frazzle? Maybe he was still upset about Luke returning? Well, why not? She was.

Of course, Burke upset meant he did one of two things; beat someone up or worked on a car. Since Luke was already sufficiently beaten—not to mention gone—she figured he went to the shop. Good, she didn’t want him around during a hangover anyway. Burke was only good for two things: whining to and playing poker with. He wasn’t bad at cooking either, but he had too many rules about eating. Not in front of the television, not in a hurry and not from the drive-thru. At least he didn’t begrudge her pizza from time to time.

Restlessly, she got back up and went into his kitchen. Maybe he had something salty. Hangover or not, her stomach could only be held off for so long. Thankfully, he had pretzels all set for tonight’s poker game.

The game was a weekly institution for them, something they started back in high school. Even Luke had to come if he wanted her time. For a while, it was only she, Burke and Hayne. Later Sel Panyon, another teen buddy, came back to town and he edged into the game. Then he brought his wife, Alice, who had a poker face even Cass envied. Before they knew it, there were three others who rotated in and out of the game on any given week. Made for some rousing Friday nights.

Cass grabbed the bag and promised herself to bring a replacement when she came back to play. If Burke ever gave her a ride home. Geez, you’d think a guy could bang out his frustrations a little faster. Well, until he got back she was going to lay all over his furniture, eat wherever she wanted and leave crumbs on his immaculate leather couch. Teach him to take his time. Settling into the seat, she ripped open the bag only to be interrupted at the chime of the doorbell.

Just my luck.
She snitched two pretzels, popping them past her lips before hustling to the door.

The last person Cass expected there was Luke Hanson. Her jaws crunched down on the tiny bread sticks. If God was kind, she didn’t look like she’d stuffed a hanger in her mouth. Luke snickered. She thought. Hard to tell, what with his face behind the gauze covering him from bridge to upper lip. All she could go on was the plunger popping sound from beneath it all.

“How did I know I’d find you here?” His slow drawl lost something important without the ability to stick his consonants.

Where else would I be?
“You bought a brain in LA?”

He managed to smirk at her, looking her up and down until his gaze turned into a leer. “I can totally see your nips through your shirt.”

Cass crossed her arms. Not because she cared if he took a look at her breasts or not—though the thought made her skin twitch. No, she did it to keep her hands pressed firmly to her sides. Why bother swinging? He wouldn’t feel it if she punched him again, not through all the gauze. She leaned against the door instead, feigning nonchalance. “Hope you enjoyed it, you’ll never see them again.”

“Thank God for small miracles.” Was his smile always this mean? What exactly did she love about this guy? “Real small.”

It would be nice to wrap her hands around his neck. Better yet, ram her knee into his breadbasket and leave him wheezing on Burke’s porch, but by the time the thought finished playing in her imagination, she was bored. Gauzed or perfect, he just wasn’t worth her time. She flicked her fingers at him, shooing him off the stoop. “Goodbye, Luke.”

He grabbed the hem of Burke’s T-shirt to keep her from escaping. “Not so fast, Bazooka Jane.”

Cass swiped the fabric out of his hands, her hand fisting to strike. Maybe just one more broken bone…

Hands raised, Luke let her go. “Can’t leave without your invite, can you?”

“My what?” She forced her fingers to relax.

Luke extended his hand with a small white card. It was one of those pretty invitations with gold embossing and edges torn professionally to look feathered. The kind she wanted for her wedding but
he
complained were too expensive. “It’s for you. I can’t tell you how much we want you to be there.”

He flicked it at her, the corner poking her in the empty valley between her breasts before fluttering to the ground with a whisper. “See you there.”

She was still staring at it when he walked away.

“A little early for you to be drinking, isn’t it, Burke?”

He hunched over the beer glass, giving May Belle Butner what he hoped was an evil eye. Since he was preparing to down his second beer in ten minutes, he figured he had a pretty good one. But May Belle had probably seen better. “No, it’s not.”

“First CB is in here getting bombed, now you. Something we should know about?” We
being the entire town of Rancho Del Cielo, of course.

“What I want to know is how CB got to my house last night.”

“I told Jimmy to take her home. I guess he’s got peculiar ideas where that is.” She shrugged, her Shirley Temple blonde curls bouncing with indifference. She wasn’t about to apologize for her husband—not that Jimmy ever needed her to. “She tell you about Luke?”

At one in the afternoon, Shaky Jake’s wasn’t particularly busy, but Burke heartily wished it was. He didn’t want to talk about Luke or CB or anything else. He wanted to have his beer and pretend he didn’t see anything worth looking at. Unfortunately, May Belle could sniff a bit of gossip the way bloodhounds found invisible trails.

“I can tell by that glare she did. I wasn’t much happier seeing him back in town either, but what am I supposed to do? Business is business, I guess.”

Burke frowned. “What business?”

May Belle picked up a towel and started drying glasses. “Turns out Luke’s decided to get married here at home. His mother called me not ten minutes ago to ask if I could do the catering. We’re working out the details later.”

“He
what
?” Burke slammed his glass mug down hard enough to slosh half the beer over his hand.

May Belle didn’t bat an eye at his volume or the mess. “Even someone as dumb as Luke doesn’t need four hours in the emergency room to think up something vengeful. Too bad, too, because his little fiancée is actually sweet—”

“I don’t care if she gives you diabetes, May, you can’t cater that wedding.”

She raised a shaped eyebrow. “You gonna pay me not to?”

“What do you think it’s going to do to CB if he gets married here?”

May Belle shrugged, picking up a new glass to dry. “Probably not much, seeing as how she’s glad to be free of him.”

Burke shook his head. CB played a good bluff, but he knew better than most how hard she took losing the pretty boy. He was surprised May Belle fell for it, though. She had the sharpest eye in town. “We can’t let him embarrass her this way.”

“Burke, honey, CB can take care of herself. You taught her how, remember?”