Tall Tales and Wedding Veils (18 page)

Alison’s whole body heaved with a sigh, and she turned to look at Heather, only to shrink away with a startled expression.

“
Aaack!
Your hair! What did you do to it?”

Heather cringed. “Looks like hell, doesn’t it?”

Alison’s shock slowly faded. She tilted her head first one way, then the other. “Actually, no. It just surprised me a little. Is this how it was in high school?”

“Yes.”

“Are you sure?”

“Oh, yeah. It’s pretty unforgettable.”

“Why did we think that was a bad thing?”

“Because I looked liked I stuck my finger in an electrical outlet?”

“I don’t know, Heather. These days, people pay good money to get their hair to look like yours.”

“So I’ve been told.”

“I just don’t remember it looking exactly like that. But, then, a lot of the stuff we loved back then looks horrible today. Maybe it works the other way around, too. What made you let it go?”

“I didn’t do it on purpose. Tony hid my flatiron. He says he likes it this way.”

“I think he has a point.”

“Never mind my hair. Tell me about your date.”

Alison let out another big sigh. “What’s wrong with me, Heather? Seriously. What is it about me that’s a magnet for every weird, dysfunctional, or disgusting man in the Dallas metroplex? That isn’t a rhetorical question. I want an answer.”

“Bad karma?”

“Yeah? Well, I must have done something pretty damned wicked in a past life to get stuck with
this
life.”

“What happened?”

“Well, let’s see. While we were standing in line for the movie, he scratched his balls.”

Heather tried not to make a face. “So he scratched his balls in public. What man hasn’t at one time or another?”

“On a first date?”

“Is that really a deal-breaker?”

“No. I’m getting too old to worry about standard disgusting male behavior.”

“Then what
was
the deal-breaker?”

“We went to a late dinner after the movie. He blew his nose on a cloth napkin.”

Okay.
That
was disgusting.

“If he does that kind of stuff right out in public, imagine what he does in private.”

“You’re right. That’s a deal-breaker.” Heather smiled. “But don’t worry. I’m sure the next one will be better.”

“Will you stop? You know how much I hate cheerful optimism when I’m dating-depressed.”

“Sorry.”

“So how are things between you and Tony?”

“Same as always.”

“So why is he staring at you?”

“What?”

“Tony. At the other end of the bar.”

Heather glanced over to see Tony sitting with Andy and Kyle. The moment her attention turned to him, his gaze slithered from her face to her breasts, hovered there for a moment, then continued down to her legs crossed beneath the bar. Then it moved slowly back up again, lingering here and there, practically scorching her right through her clothes. He met her eyes for several seconds, then slowly turned back around, took a lazy sip of his beer, and continued with his conversation.

“My God,” Alison said. “I think I just had an orgasm, and you were the one he was looking at. What’s going on between you two?”

“Nothing. We barely even see each other.”

“Nope. You’re lying. Something’s up. Now spill it.”

Heather poked at her spear of olives, then let out a sigh of frustration. “He came on to me last night.”

Alison jerked to attention. “Came on to you? What exactly do you mean by that?”

“He told me that since we couldn’t sleep with anybody else for the next month, we might as well have a good time together. And then he kissed me. If I hadn’t stopped him—”

“You
stopped
him?”

“Of course I did.”

Alison thunked her forehead on the bar. “You’re killing me, Heather.
Killing
me.” She jerked her head up again. “The best I can do is a nose-blowing, ball-scratching loser, and you’re living with a gorgeous guy who wants to ravish you. And you won’t
let
him?”

“He only wants me because he can’t have anybody else. Do you know how that makes me feel?”

Alison grabbed Heather’s wrist and dragged her closer. “Heather, listen to me. And I mean this from the bottom of my heart. If you don’t go over there right now, drag him into his office, and have your way with him, I’m going to.”

“Do it. Then maybe he’ll leave me alone.”

“You know what your problem is? You’re thinking about this all wrong. You’re thinking if you sleep with him, he’s using you.”

“Exactly.”

“But won’t you be using him, too?”

“What?”

“Tony’s a player. You know that. So stop thinking about him the same way you’d think about a man you really wanted to marry. There are men who commit, and there are men you just have fun with. Stop lumping them together in your mind.”

“What are you talking about?”

“You’re splitting up in less than a month, right? If it helps, think of Tony as a boy toy you married, and in a few weeks, when you get bored with him, you’re going to toss him away. But in the meantime, you’re going to get all the hot sex you can get your hands on.”

Heather mulled that over. She really hadn’t thought about it from that point of view. And since she knew exactly what kind of man he was, when their time together ended, she certainly wasn’t going to expect anything more from him, so she wouldn’t be falling for him and causing herself that kind of grief. They’d simply part company, and that would be that.

“Come on, Heather. What are you scared of where Tony’s concerned? The worst thing that could happen is that you have wild, hot, cataclysmic sex for the next couple of weeks, then smile, shake hands, and say good-bye.”

Was it possible? Could Alison be right?

There’s a wild woman inside you who’s just dying to come out and play.

She had to admit that there was something going on inside her that had started that night in Vegas, and it was only getting stronger. Spending time with Tony made her feel like somebody else, somebody she used to lie awake at night wishing she could become. She’d never experienced wild, hot, cataclysmic sex before. Wouldn’t it be nice to do it at least once before she died?

“Okay,” she said. “I’ll do it.”

Alison whipped around. “You will?”

“Yes. You’re right. There’s Mr. Right, and there’s Mr. Right Now. I just have to start thinking of myself as
Mrs.
Right Now.”

“Exactly! So when are you going to do it?”

“I don’t know.”

“Do it tonight. Otherwise you’ll chicken out.”

“But it’ll be really late when we get home.”

“Would you stop being so damned practical? Who cares if you lose a little sleep?”

Heather took a deep, shaky breath. “Okay. Tonight.”

“I can’t believe you actually came to your senses,” Alison said with a smile, only to frown all over again. “God, I envy you.”

“Don’t. It’s not like we’re staying together forever. But for now—”

“It’s the ‘for now’ I’m jealous about. Do you have something hot to wear?”

Heather froze. She hadn’t thought about that. She had ratty T-shirts and white cotton panties. For all Tony’s insistence that they sleep together, he’d probably run screaming from that.

No, wait. He’d tried to seduce her last night, and she’d been wearing those things in addition to her ugly robe and slippers. Clearly he hadn’t been deterred. Still, showing up looking like a bag lady wasn’t going to give her a whole lot of confidence.

“I’ll find something,” Heather said, vaguely remembering one black nightgown that might be in one of the boxes she brought from her parents’ house.

“So . . . are you nervous?” Alison asked.

“Nervous?”

“Well, yeah. The women Tony dates are borderline anorexics who buy all their lingerie at Victoria’s Secret. They probably know every sex trick in the book. I’d feel a little out of my league.”

“Thanks, Alison. I wasn’t feeling inadequate enough, but you solved that problem.”

“I didn’t say you should feel that way. I’m just telling you how
I’d
feel.”

Which was exactly the way Heather felt now.

“Just be cool,” Alison said. “Act nonchalant, like you sleep with hot guys every day. Tony won’t know the difference.”

Heather thought about her too-thick thighs, her lack of sexual adventure, and her absence of a really nice lingerie wardrobe. Tony was a lot of things, but dumb wasn’t one of them. He’d know the difference, all right. From five miles away, he’d know.

She glanced down the bar. Tony had evidently gone into the kitchen, because he was nowhere to be seen. If she was going to do this, she needed some time to make sure she was in control of things. The crowd had thinned out considerably. If she left now, it wouldn’t be a problem.

She circled the bar to grab her purse.

“Do me a favor,” she said to Alison. “Tell Tony I left.”

“Why? Where are you going?”

“Just tell him, will you?”

“Okay. But call me tomorrow. I want to hear . . .”

But Heather was already halfway to the door, and Alison’s voice was drowned out by the music. It was going to be good. Better than good. She had a feeling it was going to be even hotter and more cataclysmic than she could even imagine.

As long as she didn’t talk herself out of it.

As Tony drove toward his apartment, he tapped his fingers on the steering wheel, thinking he should feel tired, but he didn’t. And he knew it was because of all this damned pent-up sexual energy he couldn’t let out.

He’d hoped to keep Heather on perpetual simmer this evening with the goal of sparking a nice, hot blaze with her tonight, only to turn around and find her gone. She hadn’t even told Alison where she was going, or if she had, Alison wasn’t saying. If she’d simply wanted to go home, why hadn’t she just said so?

He could get inside the head of virtually any woman on the planet. It was a skill he’d honed all these years, leaving other misguided men in the dust when it came to success with the opposite sex. But Heather . . . hell, they could stay married for fifty years and he still wouldn’t be able to figure her out.

A few minutes later, he pulled into a parking space in front of his apartment. Heather’s car was there, which meant she was at least home, and he took that as a good sign. But when he came through the front door and she was nowhere to be seen, he took that as a bad one.

He looked in the kitchen. Nothing.

He went to her bedroom door to find it closed. No light shone from beneath it. He put his ear to the door and heard nothing.

Damn.
She’d simply come home, closed her door, turned out the light, and gone to bed?

Tony stood there in the hall, frustrated as hell. So much for his new, improved seduction plan. It was just as abysmal a failure as everything else he’d tried. Women lined up around the block to sleep with him, yet he was having to chase after Heather like a horny high school kid. What was
wrong
with her? Or, more to the point, what was wrong with him that she wasn’t the least bit interested?

Pretty soon, though, his frustration faded, and he reached a conclusion he didn’t want to face.

It was time for him to stop being so selfish.

He was getting way more out of their make-believe marriage than she ever would. What kind of jerk was he to demand more? Instead, he should be counting his lucky stars. He should be grateful Heather was helping him launch his business, because she was damned good at the things he wasn’t. He needed to get over the fact that she had no intention of being his wife in every sense of the word. He was going to accept the fact that she wasn’t going to have sex with him, take the shot to his ego, and get over it.

Deep breath.
There. He’d done it.

Feeling rational and reasonable, he flipped off the living room light and strode to his bedroom, telling himself he was dead tired, anyway. It was a good thing they wouldn’t be having sex tonight. He took pride in pleasing women, and he needed to be rested to be at the top of his game. In fact, he felt so tired he wasn’t sure he could even get out of his clothes before he collapsed on the bed.

Then he opened his bedroom door, and his second wind came roaring back.

Heather was in his bed. The sheet was pulled up to her chest, but because her shoulders were bare, he could only conclude . . .

She was stark naked.

Chapter 16

W
hen Tony opened the door, Heather’s heart leaped, then settled into a hard, heavy rhythm. She’d heard him at her bedroom door and knew it was only a matter of time before he found her here. Now that he had, she was officially terrified.

Earlier, when she couldn’t find the black nightgown, she did away with the lingerie problem by wearing nothing at all. Even if she had a nightgown on, he’d eventually take it off her, anyway. She was hoping to mask her oversized thighs by turning out the lamp and lighting the Glade French Vanilla candles she’d picked up at a convenience store on the way home. It was said that every woman looked beautiful by candlelight, and she just prayed that was true. As for her lack of sexual adventure, she hadn’t found a spur-of-the-moment remedy for that.

Just be cool,
she reminded herself.
Act like you sleep with hot guys all the time.

At first Tony looked stunned, clearly unable to believe she’d done something so completely out of character. But true to
his
character, it wasn’t long before a lazy smile made its way across his face.

“Hey, there, Goldilocks. Is that bed just right?”

Panic seized her. Oh, Lord. She should have known he was going to talk. Sexy banter. She was lousy at that kind of thing. She scooted the sheet higher on her chest and opened her mouth to speak, but her vocal cords were tied in a knot.

No. You can do this. What would a wild woman say?

“The bed’s nice enough,” she said provocatively, “but it would be better if you were in it, too.”

God, that’s dumb,
she thought, but she forced herself to act nonchalant, as if she slept with men every day of her life and twice on Sunday.

“And here I thought you were a good girl,” Tony said.

Another lob she had to return.
Think! Think!

“I am a good girl,” she said, dropping her voice suggestively. “Come on over here and I’ll show you just how
good
I can be.”

Damn.
She sounded like somebody doing a bad Lauren Bacall impression.

But just when she was sure he was on the verge of laughing, he started toward her. His footsteps were nearly silent, but every one of them seemed to thunder in her head.
He’s coming this way. All six feet of gorgeous, soon-to-be-naked man.

Maybe she sounded sexy after all.

He stopped at the side of the bed, tilting his head questioningly, a smile still playing across his lips. “Who are you, and what have you done with that uptight CPA I married?”

“She took the night off,” Heather purred. “Now it’s just you and me.”

Lauren Bacall, eat your heart out.

“Naked in my bed,” Tony said, his gaze moving up and down her body beneath the sheet. “Now, that’s something I never expected.”

She toyed with a strand of her hair, twirling it around her finger. “Well, now. It looks as if I’m more of a mystery than you realized, doesn’t it?”

“Hmm.” He got a thoughtful look on his face. “Speaking of mysteries, I have been wondering something for the past couple of days.”

“What’s that?”

“What you look like naked.”

Naked? Heather nearly choked. In spite of the fact that she was naked under this sheet, she thought they’d be working their way up to the unveiling.

Trying to stay calm, she settled back against the pillow, but her heart was beating wildly. To her horror, Tony reached down and grabbed the sheet that covered her. Slowly he began to pull it toward him.

Oh, God. Did he actually intend to uncover her in one big swoop? Suddenly the candles felt as bright as spotlights in a theater, and she was center stage. Why had she lit
three
of them?

As the sheet started to slip past her breasts, she grabbed it back and sat up suddenly. “Don’t.”

Tony drew back. “What’s wrong?”

Heather felt more mortified than she ever had in her life. Why couldn’t she do something as simple as have sex without getting all uptight about it?

“I’m . . . uh . . . cold.”

“Yeah? It doesn’t seem all that cold in here to me.”

She forced herself to smile provocatively. “So are you telling me you don’t want to get
under
these covers with me?”

“Nope. I want you over them.”

Her hands started to tremble, and she tightened them against the sheet. “Now, Tony. Where’s the mystery in that?”

“Mystery doesn’t turn me on. Naked.
That
turns me on.”

He reached for the sheet again, but she grabbed it away before he could take hold of it.

“Heather? What’s wrong?”

“I’m sorry,” she said suddenly. “I can’t do this.” She scrambled to the edge of the bed, dragging the sheet along with her. “I don’t know what I was thinking. I must have been out of my mind.” She stood up, clumsily wrapping the sheet around herself. “This isn’t me. I’m not a wild woman. I’m not even a little bit disorderly.”

“Where are you going?”

“To that crappy sofa bed where I should have been in the first place. Sorry about the sheet. You’ll just have to do without it. I’ll wash it and return it to you tomorrow.”

She headed for the door, tripping a little on the edge of the sheet and righting herself again, trying to preserve what little dignity she might possibly have left.

“Looks as if my uptight CPA is back,” Tony said.

“Yes, she is,” Heather said. “Whether you like it or not.”

“Oh, I like it,” he said. “I like it a lot.”

She spun around, blinked dumbly. “What did you say?”

“For a while there, I thought the pod people came and took the real Heather. Fortunately, that’s not the case.”

She looked at him incredulously. “What is
with
you? Huh? You tell me I’m too uptight, but when I try not to be uptight, you tell me that’s not right, either!”

“Right now I just want you to be you, Heather. Slutty women are a dime a dozen. That’s not why I’m attracted to you.”

Attracted to her?

She had no idea exactly what a guy like Tony meant when he said that, but the words seemed to fuse her feet to the floor. As she stood there clutching that sheet to her chest, Tony walked over and stood in front of her, looking big and imposing and way,
way
more comfortable than she felt, which made her realize how far out of her element she really was. After the kinds of women he’d been with in his life, she’d be nothing but a big, fat disappointment. If she thought she was embarrassed now, wait until
that
happened.

She ducked her head. “I’m sorry, Tony. I thought I could do this, but I can’t.”

“Why not?”

She expelled a breath of frustration. “Because I’m not really into recreational sex.”

He frowned. “You make it sound like a round of golf.”

“You know what I mean. But you are.”

“I’m what?”

“Into recreational sex.”

“Is that a problem?”

“You do it a lot.”

“Yeah.”

“But I don’t do it a lot, so this is never going to work.”

“Look, sweetheart, I know you’re trying to tell me something here, but I’m afraid I’m just not getting—” He stopped short, looking a little panicked. “Are you telling me you’re a
virgin?
”

“Oh, for God’s sake, Tony! I’ll be thirty in July. What woman gets to thirty without having done it at least once?”

“So how many times have you done it?”

She swallowed hard, her voice suddenly deserting her.

“Once?”

“No!”

“Two times?”

She closed her eyes. This was turning into a major disaster.

“Three?” he asked.

She exhaled. “More like two and a half.”

“How do you do it two and a
half
times?”

“His roommate came home early.”

When Tony smiled, then laughed a little, Heather felt like a total loser.

“See, I knew that was going to be a problem,” she said. “I don’t know why I did this. Temporary insanity. Bad phase of the moon. Split personality. Hell, I don’t know. I just know I’m out of here.”

She started for the door again, but he caught her arm. “Now, hold on there. We’re going to talk about this.”

“Tony? Why can’t you be like other men? They don’t like to talk. Women have to drag the words out of them. But not you. You never shut up. You talk and talk and—”

“Tell me why you’ve had sex only two and a half times.”

“You’re teasing me.”

“No. I just want to know.”

She shrugged weakly. “The first two and a half times didn’t go so well, so I thought I’d wait until I knew that it
would
go well.”

“There’s never any guarantee of that.” He paused, his teasing smile returning. “With most men, anyway.”

Heather shook her head. “Is that ego of yours
ever
going to take a vacation?”

“Tell the truth, Heather. You like my ego. You like having a man around who’s sure of himself and knows what he wants.” He inched closer. “And do you know what I want right now?”

“What?”

He took a step forward, closing the gap between them, then took her face in his hands. “You.”

He lowered his mouth to hers in a gentle kiss, and in spite of the mortification she felt, her heart went crazy. He trailed the backs of his fingertips sensuously along her cheek and then kissed her again, this time touching his tongue to her lips, and when she opened to him, he slid his arm around her back and deepened the kiss. She clung to the sheet with both hands, her world going blurry. He kissed her again and again, taking his time, making her want him more with every moment that passed.

Finally he eased away and looked down at her hands clutching the sheet. “Tell you what. Why don’t I blow out the candles?”

He backed away slowly, then went to each candle and extinguished it. She looked toward the window, where the full moon shone in like a searchlight. Even though the blinds were closed, the room was still too bright.

“I don’t suppose you’d consider turning off the moon, too?” she asked.

“Sorry. My superpowers are limited to sex.” He held out his hand. “Come here.”

She took a deep, shaky breath and went to him. She shifted uncomfortably, tugging the sheet higher on her chest.

“I know it feels awkward,” Tony said. “But I promise you it won’t for long. Just let go of the sheet.”

“You’re not going to like what you see.”

“Heather,” he whispered. “Let go.”

Her stomach churning with apprehension, she released the sheet, closing her eyes at the same time so she wouldn’t see his face when he saw her. Seconds sluggishly ticked by. She could only imagine how disappointed he must be.

Then she felt his hand against her hip.
Oh, God. He’s not just looking. He’s touching.

She held her breath as he stroked his hand upward, leaving a trail of seared nerve endings in its wake. She squeezed her eyes tightly closed, every muscle in her body tensing with anticipation. He closed both hands around her waist. She felt him shift, and a second later, his lips touched the side of her neck in a gentle kiss.

“Heather?” he said.

“What?”

“Where did you ever get the idea that I wouldn’t like what I saw?”

Taken aback, she slowly opened her eyes as his gaze came around to meet hers. Every word he spoke could be a lie. Every word probably
was
a lie. But she saw nothing but sincerity in his eyes.

Tony slid his hand beneath the mass of hair at her neck, the warmth of his fingers sending tiny shock waves across her shoulders. He leaned in and whispered in her ear, his breath hot against her neck. “I’ve been dying to get my hands on you. And now you’re all mine.”

All mine.
Heather felt a slow, heavy pull of desire right down to her toes.

“I thought about holding you like this,” he said, moving behind her, splaying his hand across her abdomen and pulling her against him. She felt his erection at the small of her back, and even through his jeans it felt hard and demanding.

“And kissing you like this,” he murmured, pulling her hair away from the side of her neck and placing a hot, wet kiss there. Shivers zoomed all the way to her toes.

“You’re still tense,” he said.

“A little.”

“The good thing about sex is that you just do what comes naturally.”

“I don’t remember it feeling all that natural.”

“That’s because you were thinking too hard. You have to go with the flow.”

He ran his hands slowly and sensuously along her waist to her hips, then slid them down to stroke the tender flesh of her inner thighs. Then he brought his hands slowly back up across her hips, moving them upward to caress her breasts, then strum his thumbs across her nipples. She swallowed a gasp. They were already so swollen and hot that the slightest touch made her squirm.