Wild & Hexy (25 page)

‘‘Don’t tell me you talked the bride into risking her nails to catch for you.’’ Jeremy wouldn’t mind volunteering for the job. They could both get a little hot and sweaty and take a shower together.

‘‘No chance,’’ Annie said with a laugh. ‘‘But the old net’s still up in the backyard. Mom never got around to taking it down, and I found a canvas bag full of softballs in the basement. I’d forgotten how much I loved pitching.’’

‘‘You were great at it. The best Big Knob varsity ever had.’’

Despite the intervening years, he could easily conjure up an image of Annie standing on the mound, her blond hair pulled into a ponytail high on her head. Annie had campaigned for regular baseball pants instead of the shorts and knee socks girl softball players often wore. She’d won that battle, and the knees of her white pants were usually smudged with dirt from sliding into base.

He used to sit, mesmerized, as she wound up and delivered a fastball underhand with such speed that he could hear it pop in the glove. Very few could hit Annie’s fastball.

‘‘You went to the games?’’

He told himself not to be insulted that she hadn’t noticed. ‘‘Hey, softball games were a great chance to hang out with girls, so I—’’ In the middle of that big, fat excuse, he stopped himself. ‘‘No, that’s not right. I showed up at the games because I grabbed every chance I could to be near you.’’

She didn’t respond right away, just kept dipping her paddle in the water. ‘‘That’s very flattering,’’ she said at last. ‘‘But knowing how long you’ve felt that way really gives me second thoughts about us.’’

So much for honesty. Time for a little bullshit. ‘‘That was then,’’ he said. ‘‘I was just a lovesick kid with no social life. I’ve moved beyond that.’’
Now I’m a lovesick adult with no social life.

‘‘You have changed, Jeremy.’’ She paddled steadily toward the crescent beach that still held the rocked-in fire circle they’d built Tuesday night. ‘‘I suppose I have, too. It’s almost as if you found the self-confidence I lost.’’

As Jeremy struggled to frame a response to that, his anger toward Zach resurfaced. No one had the right to sabotage someone in order to build himself up. Annie had definitely lost some of her assurance, and Jeremy blamed Zach for that. The guy had plenty to answer for.

‘‘See, that’s why I feel guilty,’’ Annie said. ‘‘You make me feel better about myself, so I keep finding reasons to be with you when the kind thing would be to leave you alone.’’

‘‘That wouldn’t be kind. It would be torture.’’ He was close enough to shore that he could pick out the indentations in the sand where they’d had sex.

‘‘Torture sounds a little extreme.’’

‘‘No, it’s an understatement, especially now that we’ve . . .’’ He wasn’t going to finish that sentence, not when he wondered who else might be out here.

He’d thought about that when he’d prepared for tonight’s picnic, and he’d come more prepared than he’d been last time.

‘‘At least we got across the lake without falling in.’’ With one more stroke, Annie propelled the front of her kayak onto the sand.

‘‘Falling in had its advantages.’’ Jeremy beached his kayak next to hers.

She glanced over at him. ‘‘If we hadn’t . . .’’

‘‘But we did. And the rest, as they say, is history.’’ The lust he felt when he looked at her made him shake. Somehow he managed to get out of his kayak and pull both hers and his up on the sand without making a fool of himself.

The maneuver meant his feet got wet and hers didn’t, which was the idea. The cold water should have helped cool his jets, but all he had to do was watch her take off the kayaking skirt and he imagined her taking off the rest of her clothes, too.

‘‘Our firewood’s still here.’’ She picked up one of the branches they hadn’t burned on Tuesday night. ‘‘Should we start a fire?’’

‘‘I’m not touching that line.’’ Oh, but he wanted to touch her. He had to stay focused on his plan, though, if he hoped to have a relatively private encounter in a few minutes.

‘‘Funny.’’ She dropped the branch and pulled her purse out of her kayak. ‘‘I should take a picture of the kayaks, in case the editor wants some kind of photo spread when the story breaks.’’

Jeremy opened the back hatch of his kayak and removed the blue blanket and a canvas bag. ‘‘I suppose you’ll have a halfway decent story even if it turns out to be a prank.’’

‘‘Maybe.’’ She took her camera out and dropped her purse to the sand at her feet. ‘‘Especially if it’s a good hoax. But what I really want is an actual creature. That could make my career.’’

‘‘I’d be all for that, but I don’t think it’s going to happen.’’ He dragged the two-person tent out of the bag and began to set it up.

‘‘You brought a
tent
?’’

‘‘Uh-huh.’’ And he hadn’t put it together in ten years, either. He wrestled with the flexible poles, trying to remember how they went. He should have practiced in his apartment before bringing the damned thing out here.

‘‘You didn’t say you wanted to camp out.’’

He glanced up and found her looking at him with interest and . . . affection. Yes, definitely affection. ‘‘We’re not camping out. Not all night, anyway. This is for temporary privacy.’’ One of the poles flipped up and nearly hit him in the face.

‘‘Oh.’’ She looked slightly disappointed.

‘‘Would you have done that? Would you have camped out with me tonight?’’ He shoved the pole back into what he hoped was the right position.

‘‘Probably not. The closer we get to Saturday, the more Melody flips out. Mom appreciates having me there to keep the lid on things.’’

‘‘I’ll bet.’’ Another pole sprang apart. If he hadn’t been wearing his glasses, it would have poked him in the eye.

‘‘Can I help with that?’’ Laughter rippled through the question.

‘‘Thanks. I’ve got it.’’ Ramming the pole into the closest sleeve, he surveyed the tent. It looked lopsided, but they were burning daylight. He stood and dusted off his hands.

‘‘Aren’t you going to stake it down?’’

Jeremy eyed the pile of metal stakes. Then he gauged the position of the sun in the sky. Dusk would be upon them in about thirty minutes. He didn’t want to be responsible for Annie missing her photo op.

It wasn’t as if they planned to sleep in this tent, so he decided staking it down would be overkill. ‘‘No,’’ he said. ‘‘We’ll hold it down with our bodies, anyway.’’

She met his gaze. ‘‘Oh, we will, will we?’’ Her voice had dropped to a sexy murmur.

‘‘Yeah.’’ He reached for her and pulled her tight against him so she could feel his erection. ‘‘We will.’’ When she didn’t resist, his galloping pulse raced even faster.

‘‘Taking a lot for granted, aren’t you?’’ Winding her arms around his neck, she tilted her face up to his in an open invitation to kiss her.

He intended to accept that invitation right now. ‘‘Maybe.’’ He took off his glasses and tossed them on top of the canvas bag that used to hold the tent. ‘‘Any objections?’’

She rubbed her body against his. ‘‘I raised all my objections earlier. You shot them down.’’

‘‘I knew that debate class would come in handy.’’ The feel of her body pressed ultraclose coupled with the scent of her perfume threatened to turn him into a clothes-ripping maniac.

He kissed her with more restraint than he’d thought possible. Then he lifted his head. ‘‘We have some extra time. Come into the tent with me.’’

‘‘Are you sure there’s room?’’

‘‘Just barely.’’

She wiggled against him. ‘‘Nice.’’

He groaned and allowed himself one more heart-stopping kiss. She matched him tongue thrust for tongue thrust and gasp for gasp. This was going to be so good.

She drew back slightly and gulped for air. ‘‘About the tent.’’

‘‘What?’’ His brain whirled with the prospect of making love to her again.

Her words were punctuated with her rapid breathing. ‘‘Have you ever undressed inside one?’’

He had trouble thinking when she slid against him like that. ‘‘I . . . don’t think so.’’

‘‘Ever undressed a woman inside one?’’

He knew the answer to that. ‘‘No.’’

‘‘Then let me go in first.’’ She untangled herself from their frantic embrace. ‘‘I’ll call when I’m ready.’’ She nudged off her shoes, opened the tent flap and crawled inside.

Despite the sexual overload shorting out his neurons, he could see the wisdom in her plan. He was very ready now. He was beyond ready. If he waited for her signal and crawled into the tent with all his clothes on, he might never get them off in time.

He’d be wise to engage in some pre-tent maneuvers, starting with his shirt. As he tugged it over his head, he heard Annie rustling around inside the tent. Then her blouse sailed out through the flap onto the canvas bag he’d left in front of the tent.

In another moment, her bra followed. Forgetting all about his own undressing plan, he became mesmerized by the lace cups that had recently cradled her breasts. Heat surged through him, expanding his already throbbing penis.

Her khaki shorts joined the pile of clothes, and then came the scrap of material that had to be her white lace panties. The clothes lay there in mute testament to her nakedness, like the movie scene where a woman undresses behind a folding screen and flips each garment over the top edge so it hangs there in a seductive display.

‘‘Ready,’’ she called out.

He snapped out of his daze. Maybe he should have worried about stripping down on a public beach. Big Knob had laws about such things. But at the moment, he didn’t give a damn. He shucked the rest of his clothes, grabbed a condom from the kayak, and crawled, naked and painfully erect, into the tent.

Dorcas lowered her binoculars and turned to Ambrose. ‘‘Our Jeremy is turning into quite the wild man. He just stripped in public.’’

‘‘I’m gratified to see that you stopped watching once he did that.’’ Ambrose sounded a touch jealous.

‘‘I wasn’t expecting a show, Ambrose.’’ But once she’d realized what Jeremy intended to do, she had taken the time to notice that he was very well endowed. Just because she was married didn’t mean she was dead.

‘‘Lucky for him we’re on the job so he has the privacy to run around bare assed.’’

‘‘He’s not running around bare assed. He was only exposed for a few seconds. Now he’s in the tent with Annie.’’ She tucked her binoculars in their case and turned back toward the house. ‘‘And it’s all about bonding.’’

Ambrose hurried after her. ‘‘What was that?’’

‘‘I said it’s all about bonding.’’

‘‘Shucks. I thought for a minute there Jeremy had gone really wild and was into the velvet ropes and fur-lined handcuffs.’’

‘‘Now who’s the voyeur?’’

Ambrose cleared his throat. ‘‘I find various sexual practices fascinating, that’s all.’’

She stopped to gaze at her husband. ‘‘Are
you
interested in the velvet ropes and fur-lined handcuffs?’’

‘‘No, of course not. I mean, well, maybe. Sort of. Yeah.’’

Ambrose never failed to surprise her. She thought the whole concept was silly, but if he wanted to try it, she’d go along. ‘‘We couldn’t exactly find that sort of thing in the Knobby Nook Department Store.’’

‘‘No.’’ He gave her a sly glance. ‘‘But I could order it online.’’

‘‘Is that what you’ve been doing down at Click-or-Treat? Searching for sex toys?’’

‘‘Absolutely not. I research all kinds of things. You’d be amazed at what I come up with surfing the Internet. Simply amazed.’’

‘‘I’m sure.’’

‘‘It’s true! I got the idea of putting the fluorescent orange parking cones across the entrance to the lake road from reading someone’s blog.’’

Dorcas had to give him that one. He’d rushed to put up the cones after Jeremy and Annie had parked so no one else would come down to the lake tonight. ‘‘It was an excellent plan.’’

Ambrose put an arm around her. ‘‘Those aren’t just parking cones.’’

‘‘They look just like parking cones.’’

‘‘They started out that way, but I’ve been working on them down in the basement. They’re spell enhanced.’’

Dorcas had another unsettling thought. ‘‘Where did you get them, by the way?’’

‘‘They’re doing a little road work on I-64. Something else I learned on the Net.’’

‘‘You
stole
them?’’

Ambrose looked indignant. ‘‘Absolutely not.’’

‘‘I know they didn’t give them to you. That’s state property. How did you get them?’’

‘‘The workers were quite a ways down the road doing something with a dump truck and a grader. I didn’t want to bother them, so I took the five cones I needed and tucked money under the windshield wiper of the flatbed truck they were stacked on.’’

Dorcas sighed and shook her head. She supposed it could be worse. She just hoped Chief Bob didn’t come around asking questions.

‘‘So let me tell you what these little hummers do.’’ Ambrose warmed to his subject. ‘‘They not only block people from coming down that road; they extend a circle of protection around the perimeter of the lake.’’ He swept his hand toward the trees.

‘‘Hm.’’ Dorcas had her doubts, but if the spell worked, that would be very convenient. ‘‘Maybe we could use them Sunday morning, to keep Jenkins from coming down here with his shotgun.’’

‘‘I don’t see why not.’’ Ambrose looked extremely proud of himself. ‘‘And then there’s the whole business about outdoor sex to consider.’’

‘‘Excuse me?’’

‘‘I’ve been reluctant to have outdoor sex in the woods near the house. Too many people are attracted to the lake and the surrounding forest. It was bad enough when we had to worry about Big Knobians, but now there’s Isadora gallivanting around. This is turning into a very busy area.’’

‘‘I’m sure Isadora has better things to do than spy on us having sex.’’