Impulsive (19 page)

"You've got to be kidding!" she hissed. "I feel
like an idiot!"

"Well, you look fantastic," he assured her. His grin
grew. "I had a feeling this was the one I'd like. There's just something
about those two big eyes on your breasts, and that smiley mouth on the bottom
half. A touch of whimsy, if you will. And it makes your belly button look like
a nose."

"I'm so glad you're amused." Her look said otherwise.
"Who has ever heard of a smiley-face bikini?"

"We're buying it," he announced.

"You can buy it, but I am not wearing it in public," she
informed him.

"That's what you think." In the blink of an eye, Ty
darted into the changing stall, grabbed her clothes, and rolled them into a
bundle. "C'mon. Gabe and Corey are waiting for us."

He started for the sales counter, her clothes tucked under his
arm.

"Tyler! You get back here!"

"No way. Now, stop being such a child, and loosen up. If you
don't trust my judgement, you can at least let Corey see you in it and give you
her opinion."

Jess was left with little choice but to sprint after Ty, who was
nearly running to keep ahead of her. She couldn't believe hotel security didn't
nab her for indecent exposure as she loped down the hall toward the access door
to the pool area. Moreover, she'd never in her born days felt so utterly
conspicuous—so totally exposed! Or so righteously irate! When she caught up
with him, she was going to kill Tyler James and stuff his drowned corpse down
the pool drain!

Gabe was the first to see them coming. His greeting froze in his
throat as his jaw dropped comically. A single word emerged. "Wow!"

Corey turned to see, and her expression mirrored her husband's.
"Whoa, gal!" she exclaimed, her face bursting into a smile. "Now
you're showing your true colors, and these guys don't stand a snowball's chance
in hell against your arsenal, honey. They might as well surrender from the
start and save their energy."

"Any other man gets within ten feet of her, and I'll lay him
flat," Ty declared loudly.

By now Jess was breathless and next to tears. "Will you
people please stop making fun of me?" she beseeched. "This wasn't my
idea. It was Ty's. And I'm so mad right now I could spit!"

"Jess, sugar, we're not teasing you," Corey proclaimed
sincerely. "Honestly. I meant every word. You are simply stunning in that
suit, and any male with eyeballs will verify that."

"You can say that again," Gabe agreed.

"Seriously?" Jess asked querulously. "I look
okay?"

"More than okay," Ty told her. "You're a
knockout."

"So why aren't you dressed for swimming?" Gabe inquired
of Ty.

"Home, James." Jess giggled, and punched Ty on the arm.
"I've always wanted to say that!"

Ty grinned and pulled her closer to him in the backseat of the
taxi, making room for Corey to get in. "You're sloshed, love," he
told her.

Jess fluttered her hand, as if swatting a mosquito. "Nah, I'm
just feelin' good." That set her off, and she began to sing. "I feel
good. So good. Yeah!"

On the other side of her, Corey laughed. "I'll bet you won't
be feeling so perky in the morning."

From the front passenger's seat, Gabe added, "Just let us
know if you need to have the driver pull over to the side of the road. Feel
free to pass out any time you want, but please don't puke in the car."

"Oh, you guys are being so silly!" Jess hooted. "I
just had a couple of margaritas."

"A couple?" Ty echoed. "You had two at dinner, and
at least three at the nightclub, despite all the time we spent on the dance
floor."

"I like that place," Jess announced. "The people
are so friendly."

"Right," Ty agreed mockingly. "Even when you bump
into them and step on their toes. God knows, I'll be hobbling all through the
game tomorrow."

"Me, too," Gabe concurred. "But I guess it was
worth it to see Jess loosen up the way she did. Who would have guessed
it?"

Corey chuckled. "You were really shaking your booty out
there, Jess, high heels and all."

"I never went to the prom," Jess mused in a faraway
tone. "No one asked me, and it would have been foolish to buy a dress just
to sit on the sidelines like some dumb wallflower." She ran her hand over
the skirt of her new dress. "I felt so... pretty tonight, all dressed up
like this."

"Sweetheart, you are pretty, even when you're not all dolled
up," Ty assured her, giving her a hug.

"Of course you are," Corey added. "And don't you
let anybody try to tell you differently."

"You do have sort of an extra glow about you tonight,"
Gabe put in kindly. "I thought it was your sunburn, but maybe it's just
the real you showing through."

Jess pushed a lock of hair from her face. "It was probably
all that dancing. Whew! I really worked up a thirst."

Ty's mouth twisted in a wry smile. "We noticed. Which is why
I'll bet you're going to have one dandy hangover tomorrow and not remember half
of what you did tonight."

In the hotel elevator, Jess leaned against Ty's side and hummed
happily to herself. As the doors opened on their floor, Ty scooped her into his
arms and carried her down the hall toward their room. "I'd better pour her
into bed before she collapses face first," he remarked to the other two.

"I'd offer to help, but I'm sure you can handle undressing
her on your own," Corey said with a grin. " 'Night, now. Have
fun."

Over Ty's shoulder, Jess waggled her fingers at Gabe and Corey,
who had stopped in front of their own door. " 'Night, all. Don't do
anything we wouldn't do."

Ty rolled his eyes. "Oh, boy! Remind me not to ply you with
liquor anytime in the near future."

He got her inside and set her on the bed. Kneeling beside her, he
slipped her heels off and began massaging her arches.

Jess purred. "Oh, that feels marvelous. I'll give you a month
to stop." She reached out to thread her fingers through his hair, savoring
the silky feel of it. "It's like spun gold," she
murmured.
"So soft and shiny. Have I told you that you're the first blond I've
dated?"

"I don't believe you mentioned it." He delved beneath
her skirt to tug at her panty hose.

Jess giggled. "Is it true that blonds have more fun?"

"Yeah, it's a regular riot." He finally managed to peel
them down her legs.

Reaching behind her for the zipper of her dress, he was already
off balance when Jess leaned back, pulling him with her onto the bed. She
pursed her lips close to his. "Kiss me quick, before I turn into a
pumpkin."

They shared a long, slow, torrid kiss that left them both wanting
when their lips finally parted. Jess, now lying half over him, sighed and
rested her head on his chest. Her fingers found his shirt buttons and began
working them loose, while Ty took the opportunity to unzip the back of her
dress and unsnap her bra.

Jess burrowed her nose in Ty's chest hair, her hands now wandering
to his belt buckle. "You smell so delicious. Good enough to eat." She
lapped at his exposed nipple, giving a low laugh as it tightened into a rigid
bud.

Ty shoved the sagging top of her dress to her waist, along with
her bra. "Don't start anything you can't finish, darlin'."

Her dress pooled around her hips as she pushed herself up to her
knees. "Don't worry about it, big guy." Her hand slid into the open
gap of his trousers to cup him through his shorts. Her fingers kneaded gently,
eliciting a groan of pleasure from him.

For someone he'd judged to be fairly intoxicated, Jess was
remarkably dexterous and definitely in an amorous mood. Ty didn't know whether
to let her continue, or to put a stop to it before she pushed him any farther.
Like as not, she was two blinks from passing out and leaving him all hot and
bothered.

Before he could decide which course to take, Jess had him free of
his pants and engulfed in her hot, sweet mouth. Her hair fell in a sleek
curtain around her face, adding to the torment by tickling his stomach. Ty
reached down and anchored it back. He wanted to watch her, to revel in the look
of desire blossoming
on her face as she suckled him. It had to be the most sensual
thing he'd ever witnessed—her eyes glowing through half-closed lids; her face
all flushed; her lips, moist and rosy, gliding up and down over his engorged
shaft.

Before she took him to the point of exploding, Ty reversed their
positions, barely remembering to sweep her dress aside as he knelt between her
thighs. His mouth claimed one pert nipple as he plunged into her, burying
himself in her silken depths.

The dual assault sent Jess into a frenzy. She thrashed beneath
him, her head thrown back and her hips arching upward to meet his. Her hands
clawed at him, urging him on—faster, deeper, harder—until their entwined bodies
burst into a million sizzling shards, flaring high above them, only to enshroud
them moments later in a glorious glimmer.

Jess's hangover wasn't nearly as bad as Ty had predicted, for
which she was supremely grateful. Moreover, she remembered everything they had
done the night before, including their passionate coupling, in vivid detail.

"I don't believe it," Ty groused. "You get soused
to the gills and don't even have to pay with a hangover. However, now that I
know you can handle your liquor that well, and how aggressive you become when
you've tipped a few, I just may be tempted to ply you with it more often."
He waggled his brows at her playfully. "You really were hot to trot last
night, honey bunny. In fact, if I hadn't given in so readily, you'd probably
have ravished me, whether I was willing or not."

"Hey, Jess! Where were you last night?" Pepper asked,
sidling up to Jess as they stood on the sidelines awaiting the start of the game.
"Your bed wasn't even slept in."

"Now, Pep, you know she was with Ty," Destiny put in
before Jess could reply for herself. "Why would she want to room with us,
when she can bed down with a hunk like him?"

"Why, indeed?" Jazz commented with a naughty wink.

"Okay, you three. Enough already," Jess told them, her
face turning pink. She still wasn't used to being teased this way by other
women. Not tormented, but teased in a friendly manner that held no rancor.
Moreover, she was surprised to find that the more she got to know them, the
more she liked these gals.

Pepper was a hoot, her sense of humor as earthy as her voice. That
sexy, raspy timbre, Jess had learned, was a result of a childhood accident that
had damaged Pepper's vocal chords. Thus the nickname. Jazz's name was a
shortened version of her real one, which was Jasmine. Actually, Jazz fit her
better, for she was energetic to the point of being hyperactive. Destiny's
ditzy outlook on life, and her name, were a direct result of being raised by
hippie parents. Though somewhat spacey, she didn't have a mean bone in her
body.

"Hey! I really dig that new swimsuit of yours," Destiny
said now. "A smiley face! Talk about super cool!"

"You saw it? Me?" Jess stammered.

"Sure did, along with about a hundred other people at the
pool," Jazz told her. "And I've got to tell you, that suit is a
winner. I just wish I could wear something like that, but I've got too much
chest to pull it off."

Pepper laughed. "Me, too. Half my butt would be hanging out
the bottom, and my breasts would droop too far for anyone to see those cute
little eyeballs on the cups."

Jazz poked her friend. "Shoot, Pep, those flimsy straps would
snap and your big flabby boobs would unroll like window blinds and break your
kneecaps!"

Pepper swatted at Jazz, who was laughing uproariously at her own
joke. "You should talk, girl! You could grow mushrooms between your toes
and never see them. It's a wonder you don't get those things stuck going
through a revolving door!"

"I did that once," Destiny admitted sheepishly.
"Only, it was a sliding door. Hurt like the dickens, too! I had a flat
nipple for a month—after the swelling went down, of course. Guess I was lucky I
didn't get it caught in something more dangerous, like a garbage
disposal."

By now Jess was laughing so hard she could barely stand
upright.
"And to think I've always envied women who are built like you," she
blurted. "I always saw the advantages, but never realized the
hazards."

"Shucks, honey," Pepper said. "There isn't a woman
alive who is one hundred percent satisfied with the way she looks. If it's not
her figure she hates, it's her hair. Or some part of her face, or her laugh, or
the way she walks. It took me years to adjust to the fact that I'll always
sound like a frog."