Venus in Blue Jeans (36 page)

“It’s
not
mine.” Docia’s voice rose with a faint edge of hysteria. “I don’t want it! I want it out of my store. Let it be somebody else’s problem!”

“Now, darlin’.” Her mother’s voice was back to honey again. “Just calm down. Everything’s okay.”

“Docia, can’t we keep it a little while just to look at it?” Janie’s eyes shone. “I bet if we put it on display, we’d get lots of people in who wanted to see it. Potential customers, I mean.”

Cal watched Docia’s eyes. The flecks in the irises were burning.

“We could have a reception,” Allie mused. “Lee and Ken could cater.”

Wonder nodded. “Blackeyed peas, barbecue, beer. Should be a big hit.” His eyes turned dreamy. “And scones. Lots of scones.”

“No, you barbarian!” Allie waved her hands in the air, conjuring up a banquet table. “Roasted quail on polenta squares, like they did for the art exhibit last month. With champagne. And I could do a really great
tres leches
cake. This is Sam Houston we’re talking about.”

Docia’s lower lip trembled—her eyes began to fill. To Cal she looked like a woman who was very close to the end of her rope. And nobody else seemed to notice.

“I know someone who could look at this and tell us what we’ve got,” Billy mused. “Let’s just roll it up for now. We can put it away somewhere.” He leaned toward the table.

Cal looked at Docia’s stricken face and something hard and primitive rose in his gut. All of a sudden, he desperately wanted to punch somebody. He stepped in front of the map, blocking Billy and everyone else. “Back off! Everybody just back off! You heard what the lady said. She doesn’t want it.” He pulled himself up to his full height, towering over Billy, over everybody in the room.

Six heads swiveled toward him.

“Docia’s gone through hell because of this thing, and she’s had enough. If she wants it out of here, it’s out of here!” He glanced from face to face, his shoulders taut. “The map goes to the Rangers. They sort it out. If they decide to return it, then you can make plans. Until then, leave her alone.”

Docia looked up at him, her eyes still full of tears, her lips trembling.

Cal reached for her, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her close. She snuggled against his chest, tucking the top of her head under his chin, like a boat sliding into a safe harbor. Like she belonged there.

Which, he finally admitted, she did.

Thirty minutes later, Docia was ready for them all to go. Cal hadn’t let go of her once during that time, but she didn’t want to push her luck. They had some serious making up to do, which couldn’t really happen until everybody else went away. But nobody was ready to do that yet.

Daddy called the Rangers, grumbling. Allie and Janie apologized profusely and went to finish the wine and snacks. Her mama cornered Wonder to ask him about composite tooth veneers.

Docia stayed where she was, huddled in Cal’s arms, feeling safe and warm again, what she’d been missing for the past two days. She really wanted to tell everybody to go home, but they were her friends. And the ones who weren’t her friends were her parents. “I want them all to go away,” she murmured against Cal’s chest.

“Not gonna happen, babe,” Cal murmured back. “They’re having too much fun.”

She held herself against him for a few more moments, closing her eyes, and tried not to hear the sounds of the multiple conversations going on around her. She could smell that faint animal scent that always clung to Cal’s clothes. She hadn’t realized how much she’d missed it until now.

Her father returned to the workroom, folding his cell phone. “Rangers are on the way. Said I’d meet them here and hand it over.”

“I’ll stay with you,” her mother said as she reached for an olive. “I want to see what happens.”

“Could I stay too?” Janie grinned. “I’m dying to know what they say when they see the signature.”

“I could go back to Allie’s and get some more munchies to make it through the evening.” Wonder’s voice sounded hopeful.

“Feel free to volunteer my kitchen, Steve.” Allie gave him a dry smile, then reached out to pat his hand.

Docia leaned her forehead against Cal’s shoulder. “They’re not going to leave, are they?” she murmured.

“Nope.”

“Then let’s go away.” She lifted her face to gaze up at him, watching his eyes crinkle at the edges as he smiled. The tightness in her shoulders began to ease, replaced by tightness lower down in her body.

Cal pushed a frizzing lock of hair away from her forehead. “To your apartment?”

“No.” Docia took a deep breath. “To the barn. If I’m welcome there, that is.”

Cal leaned down and kissed her temple. “Always, babe. What about the map?”

Docia sighed. “The Rangers can have it. Daddy can have it. Hell, Janie can have it for all I care. Let them all sort it out. I’m done for the evening.”

“Sounds good to me.” He moved his lips across her forehead. “Besides, we need to settle up.”

Docia raised an eyebrow, pushing back so that she could look up at him again. “Settle up?”

“You owe me.” He folded his arms across his chest. His very broad chest. “I won your prize, toots.”

Chapter Twenty-One

Docia slept late the next morning, which, given her usual early morning habits, meant she slept until after eight. Cal didn’t mind. He liked to watch her sleep, and he hadn’t been able to for the last couple of days.

Nico was usually their alarm clock, given his need for perpetual breakfast. But Nico was at the shop under Janie’s watchful eye, and Pep was with Docia’s mother.

And Cal, lucky man, was back with Docia again, alone in an oversized bed. Somewhere the gods were smiling.

They hadn’t exactly worked out all their problems the night before, mainly because Docia had fallen asleep in the truck before they got to the barn. Cal had carried her inside, even though she’d warned him, drowsily, that he’d get a hernia if he did it.

If he worked on it, Cal could still feel a vague remnant of the hurt and disappointment from two days ago. It hadn’t gone away. But he was willing not to think about it for now.

He closed his eyes for a moment, just a moment, cool from the air conditioning, warm from the sun and Docia’s closeness. Pushing all his other feelings to the side, he was totally content for the first time since Docia had hopped out of his truck and into the back door of the shop to have her “alone time”.

Several seconds later, moist breath blew against his ear and soft fingers feathered down his chest. His body immediately came to full attention.

“Are you really asleep or are you playing possum?” Docia’s voice hummed while she licked the outline of his ear.

“I would never play possum with you,” Cal murmured, keeping his eyes closed tight. Could he possibly become any harder than he already was?

Docia’s lips moved to his chest. He felt the faint rasp of her tongue around his nipple, then the tip traced a warm, wet line across his pecs.

He sucked in a breath, his muscles rigid. Yep, harder was definitely possible.

Light butterfly kisses traveled down the length of his abdomen toward his groin. His hands wound themselves into the sheet at his sides as Docia’s fingers slipped along his thighs.

If this was a wet dream, he’d definitely gotten a lot better at them than he’d been as a teenager.

Docia’s fingers wrapped around his erect shaft. Docia’s lips closed around the head.

Cal’s eyes snapped open.

Docia raised her gaze to his, smiling. Then she leaned down again. She took him into the warmth and wetness of her mouth, then ran her tongue along the underside of his shaft. Her lips caressed the head of his cock, sucking him deeper. He felt the light graze of teeth along the edge.

“Jesus.” The word came out on a gasp.

He tried to think of something besides the warm lips that pulled him down and nibbled at the last crumbs of his control. Reaching into the dim memories of anatomy class, he ran through the muscles of the back. Trapezius. Deltoid. Teres minor. Teres major. Infraspinatus.

Holy God in heaven!

“Docia,” he choked out. “Let me…”

“No,” she murmured around his cock.

Cal slid his hands to her shoulders, pushing her up and over. He had her on her back in a split second. “Sorry,” he gasped. “No time to discuss it. Need to be inside.”

Docia spread her legs beneath him, and then he thrust himself into her depths, into heat, her muscles sheathing him tight. His hips moved convulsively as he fought to keep some remnant of his brain functioning.

Muscles of the back. Rhomboideus. Latissimus dorsi. External oblique. Gluteus…

Heat moved up his spine to explode through his chest, his abdomen, his cock. “Oh, sweet Lord!”

The muscles of the back vaporized.

Cal wasn’t sure how long it took for him to get enough breath in his lungs to talk. Maybe a couple of hours. Even then, all he could do was croak. “Docia?”

Docia turned her head to gaze at him, eyes languid. “Hmmm?”

“Was that my prize?”

She grinned and shook her head. “No, sweetheart, that was mine.”

Docia fixed them breakfast. Cal was having trouble finding his way around the room, although she wasn’t sure why.

Well, actually she had a pretty good idea why. Docia grinned to herself as she located cinnamon to make some of Lourdes’ special toast. Driving Cal to distraction could become one of her favorite pastimes.

Assuming they could get over her two massive mistakes—number one, doubting him and number two, telling him about it. They still had some patching up to do, but at least Docia was more optimistic today than she had been yesterday.

Cal’s cell rang after they’d finished off the first two plates of toast. Wonder, calling from town. Docia remembered suddenly that she hadn’t checked in with Mama and Daddy yet. Lord only knew what had happened to the map!

“Yeah.” Cal’s voice sounded gloomy. “Thanks.” He tucked the cell back into his pocket.

Docia raised an eyebrow. “Trouble?”

He shrugged. “Not exactly. Margaret’s back.”

“Here?” Docia put her coffee cup down. “Back at home, you mean?”

He shook his head. “Konigsburg hospital. But Wonder thinks they’re going to release her soon. I guess the injuries weren’t as bad as they thought at first.”

“Well, that’s good news, isn’t it?” Docia hadn’t thought about Margaret since the night she’d found Clete in her shop. Now she tried to figure out if she was supposed to be worried about something she’d forgotten.

Cal still looked glum. “I need to talk her into letting me keep Pep.”

Oh
.

Yes, definitely something to be worried about. “Do we have to?” Docia mused. “I mean, couldn’t we just say he went missing?”

One corner of Cal’s mouth edged up. “And then tell her this identical brown Chihuahua just happened to jump into my pocket one day?”

Docia sighed. “I see the problem.”

“I’ll just tell her we’ve gotten used to each other and I don’t want to give him up.” Cal got to his feet. “I don’t think she was all that attached to him anyway.”

“No!” Docia leaned forward, holding out a hand to stop him. “If you tell her that, she’ll never let you have him.”

Cal frowned. “Docia…”

“No.” Docia took a breath. “Look, I’m sorry she got hurt, but that probably won’t change her basic personality. She was mad at you because of me, because we’re together and she hates my guts for some reason. If she thinks you want Pep, she might decide to keep him out of spite! Tell her you’ll take him off her hands to make it up to her for getting hurt or something. Tell her Pep’s too high maintenance for her now since she needs to take care of herself, and you don’t want her to worry about anything. And for God’s sake, don’t mention me.”

“I’ll just…” Cal rubbed his hand across the back of his neck. “Well, I’ll think of something.”

“You do that. I’ll go get him from Mama.” Docia began to gather dishes from the table. “But I swear I’ll turn him loose out here in the hills before I let her take him back.”

Cal gave her a slightly sour grin. “Good idea. I’ll go talk to Margaret. You see if you can find a roving pack of feral Chihuahuas that’s looking for a new member.”

Margaret was bored to tears. She had been almost from the moment she’d concluded she wouldn’t die. Hospital food tasted ghastly. The reading matter was grim. The TV sets didn’t get premium cable, and she had been reduced to watching a series of increasingly depressing reality shows.

She gazed around the room—pale green walls, beige linoleum, white sheets. Was color supposed to be unsanitary? At least she had a room by herself. She didn’t think she could have stood being around somebody who was really sick. She still had two or three bouquets left over from the Austin hospital—carnations, mostly, but they were better than nothing.

She wanted out of the hospital so badly she was willing to forego the sympathy calls from Konigsburgers. Besides, people could always visit her at home. She would have demanded that they let her go home as soon as she got back to Konigsburg if it hadn’t been for the other thing.