Drop Dead Gorgeous (23 page)

Why not? Run away to the islands for pure decadent pleasure. It sounded so exciting. So wickedly wonderful.

“All right
…
I have to pack.”

He shook his head. “Just your purse, jeans, bathing suit, and toothbrush. We’ll be naked most of the time. What we need, we’ll buy.” Suddenly so thrilled she could barely stand it, Sue jumped up and raced upstairs. She
packed, checked her makeup, washed up, wished fleetingly that there were just a few uncomfortable things that he wouldn’t ask her to do. But now he was asking her to run away
…

Could she be falling in love?

She hurried back downstairs. “I’m ready.”

“Great. Let’s go.”

It was the middle of the night. There wasn’t a soul or another car in sight.

He’d parked down several streets.

She looked at him, puzzled.

“Didn’t want your neighbors to talk,” he told her.

“Oh.” He quietly opened the passenger’s door for her, quietly closed it. He came around to drive.

“Oh, dear God!”

“What?”

“I forgot the cat.”

“He’ll be all right.”

“I just need to leave him extra water.”

“Give me the key. I’ll take care of the cat,” he told her.

She handed him the key, smiling.

Trustingly.

H
e walked back to the house, slipping on gloves from his pocket before turning the key in the lock.

He stepped inside, flicked on the light.

He headed for the kitchen. He set down an extra bowl of water, found cat food in a pantry, and dumped some into a bowl. He didn’t need to
bother, but he’d suddenly felt compelled to double-check the house for any sign that he’d been there. For any careless mistakes.

“Here
,
kitty, kitty!” he called softly.

A minute later the dumb puffball came padding into the kitchen.

“
Yeah, baby, here kitty, kitty, pussy, pussy, pussy!”

The cat came close; he snatched it up.

Smiled. Stroked it
…

Gritted his teeth and snapped its neck. He dropped the cat. Pussy fell dead to the floor. He knew it was stupid. A really serious mistake. But he couldn’t h
elp himself. He felt out of con
trol, yet
…
invincible. Sue would be horrified, in another deluge of tears
…

But then, that didn’t matter a hell of lot.

Sue wasn’t coming home.

L
ori awoke, amazed by the feeling of happiness that assailed her just to discover that he lay beside her in the light of day, his flesh bronze against her light blue sheets. She propped herself on an elbow, studying him, the sheen of muscle that seemed to ripple nicely as his lungs rose and fell with each breath, the smoothness of his skin, the dark hair that covered his broad chest
…

He’d been thinner way back when. Always taut and muscled—he’d been a natural athlete. But at eighteen he’d been a leaner version of himself, always with his large, e
x
pressive hands, always with those eyes that could say so much one moment and hide everything the next.

She closed her eyes, leaning back, thinking of the time before the nightmare with Mandy when he had faced a different demon, the death of his brother. Sean had always loved his family; he’d gotten into a fight once in school because a kid had called his father a loser. He wouldn’t instigate anything on his own, but attack his dad or his brothers, and he was a tiger. And Daniel, who had been the oldest, quiet, assured, determined, had gone off to serve his country, and like a good soldier, he had fought, gone missing

And then his body was found.

When Lori had heard about it, she’d had to go and see Sean, try to tell him that she understood how devastated he must feel. She couldn’t really understand, of course. She’d never lost anyone, not Andrew, not her folks, not Gramps. But she imagined then that it must be like losing an arm or a leg; it must be unbearable, the pain, thinking that he loved Daniel so much, and he’d never, ever see Daniel again, and Daniel had been so young, so beautiful, his whole future before him.

And Sean had taken it hard. She’d arrived at his house, to find him drunk. She’d seen Ricky drunk and Ted drunk, even her brother Andrew and cousin Josh. Jeff and Mandy Olin were both prone to drink too much when they could get away with it, and Brad was always trying to get her to drink so that he could get her to let him do what he wanted in the backseat of his car or out at the beach. She always
knew what he was up to—she just wasn’t playing the game.

They were seniors and either first- or second-year college students, and though they were seldom dumb enough to drink or drive, they’d all tried liquor at one time or another—some of them more than others. Michael drank at parties, Sue had a beer now and then, and Jan liked to impress them all by ordering martinis she couldn’t begin to finish just to prove that she could go out and drink without being carded.

Sean seldom touched alcohol. He was just too busy with school and sports and jobs. But he’d been touching it that night. Plenty of it.

He’d told her to go away at first, that he was in no mood for friends. But she’d insisted she stay, and suddenly he became very quiet. “Lori
…
Lori Kelly. You’re an angel, you know. Al
ways an angel. The rest of us…
well, you’re something special, you know? Hair just like a damned angel and eyes
…
eyes. Well
…
I’m not good company tonight, Lori Kelly.”

“Sean, I know how much you loved him.”

“Do you? I can’t believe it. Daniel was good, the best, so Daniel is dead. So many assholes out there, and they’re alive and walking around, and Daniel is dead. Fine, come on in, Lori Kelly.”

So she came in, and sat with him on the sofa in his living room while he dragged out photos and showed her Daniel through the ages.

Daniel, their father, Michael, himself One picture—when the kids were all babies—had a woman in it. She was very pretty. Tall, slender, pretty.

“Your mother?”

He shrugged. “I guess. She didn’t stick around. But it’s okay; we didn’t need her. Dad kept us together. Daniel taught us to make beds, get supper, wash ourselves, tend to ou
r clothing… oh, God, Daniel…
”

He sobbed. She put an arm around him. He put an arm around her. She wasn’t sure just exactly when, but they started kissing. Petting. And the kiss deepened, and her skirt inched its way up her hips and he was touching her in a way that she never let Brad touch her, but she didn’t want to stop him.

She’d been drinking with him, small sips of whiskey because she couldn’t really stand the stuff. It was enough to make things a little hazy, but in reality she knew what she was doing. She realized, even as he fumbled about in his pain, that she was in love with him. Call it an unrequited crush, whatever, she felt for Sean something that she had never felt for anyone else. And so it was all right. He was young, drunk, and awkward, yet she was still aching for something when he kissed her, touched her, rubbed her
…

She knew what was happening, she wanted it, and it still hurt like hell and was humiliating— not at all what she had expected. He hadn’t expected her to be innocent. He surely assumed that she’d fooled around with Brad—Brad
had probably told the other boys that sure, they did it all the time—and so Sean seemed angry at first, swearing that he’d never have done anything if he’d only known. Embarrassed, expecting that it should have been so much more, Lori set out to seduce him into doing it again
…

And so she got more. Then he was upset about Daniel, and about her, and she lay with him, whispering that it was all right, that everything was going to be all right. He kept apologizing.

Until he passed out. And she stood then, hurried to his bathroom, straightened herself and her clothing the best she could, and fled home. All night she burned, wondering just how awful it would have been if Michael had come home, or worse, if his father had found them
…

And still, she didn’t really feel any shame about what she had done. She loved him. Really loved him. And it was good to feel that she might have helped him through his misery. She didn’t feel pain. She hadn’t exactly discovered ecstasy, but she had discovered that she wanted to explore Mr. Sean Black— and what had happened between them—in a far more thorough way. Except that
…

She was still supposedly Brad’s steady, and Sean and Mandy were still supposed to be the hottest thing going.

Until the rock pit
…
Life changed forever after that awful day.

She inhaled and exhaled on a long sigh, then realized that although he hadn’t moved, he was awake, studying her in return.

“Like what you see?” he teased.

“I always have. You are drop dead gorgeous, you know.”

He inclined his head, smiling. “So are you.”

“Thanks. Even in the morning?”

“Especially in the morning.”

“Is that only because I’m so willing for sex?”

He laughed, shrugged thoughtfully. “It helps.”

“Hey, you—”

She attempted to smack him with a pillow. He caught hold of the pillow, stealing it away. Then he tossed off the sheets, rolled over her, twined his fingers with hers, pinning them to the bed. He kissed her, murmuring against her lips, “You’re the most beautiful woman I’ve met in all my life, and I’m really
afraid to say it, Lori Kelly…
”

“God, you are good!” she whispered.

“You ain’t seen nothing yet.”

“Show me.”

He did.

16

J
an woke up to discover that she was alone, though the side of the bed where Brad had been sleeping remained rumpled. She knew that he had risen long ago, probably because he didn’t want their daughter to realize that they were actually sleeping together in her home. Dumb. Tina was no fool, and kids were so aware
these days. She thought she’d heard Brad go out and come back in; maybe he’d been thinking things over himself.

She hugged her pillow for a minute, musing about the party, the night gone by—and Brad. Could she ever trust him again?

He was bartering with her to remarry. That was wrong to begin with. He loved women in general, always had. She couldn’t help but feel a little twinge of jealousy, seeing the way that he still watched Lori. Well, despite the things he told her now, she knew—having been Lori’s best friend back in high school—that he hadn’t managed to get into Lori’s pants. Lori was probably the only woman who had ever said no to him. Maybe that would always bother Brad.

Would she always be upset that he had a crush on Lori? Had it actually been easier when Lori was living in New York, before their old crowd had gotten all buddy-buddy again, mourning Ellie’s death?

She wasn’t sure what she felt. One thing was certain, Brad wasn’t a highly paid attorney for nothing. He could argue a point right into the ground. He didn’t give up. He was still set on her playing along with his threesome fantasy.

What was she going to do? Sometimes, the way he talke
d, she had to admit—only to her
self!—that she was intrigued. Sometimes she found it completely repugnant.

“Mom?” Tina knocked on the door hesitantly. Jan saw that
the door was ajar, and she hud
dled more deeply beneath the sheets. Tina knew
that she didn’t normally sleep in the nude.

“Hey, baby.”

Tina, blue eyes huge, face flushed and pretty, stared in at her. “Mom, Dad’s here, in the kitchen! He’s got coffee on for you—and Mom, get this, he’s making pancakes and bacon.”

“Bacon, good,” Jan said. Two tons of fat and cholesterol, and she wouldn’t be able to resist. A million calories. What was he trying to do? Fatten her up so that she couldn’t possibly appeal to other men, and she’d be forced to give in to his fantasy, or not have any sex at all.

All right, so one breakfast of bacon and pancakes wasn’t going to kill her.

“Mom, did he stay here last night?” Tina asked anxiously.

“I—I guess he must have slept on the couch after the party. You know Dad, he’s good about not driving if he’s been drinking.”

“Yeah, I guess,” Tina said. But she still hesitated in the hallway just outside the door. “Mom, that is so cool. Both you and Dad here as if we were a
normal
family.”

Smiling, Tina turned and left. Jan jumped quickly out of bed and into the shower. Dressed, she came downstairs in time to discover that her ex had prepared the perfect meal, that he was joking with Tina, cute as could be in cu
toffs and a T-
shirt, blond hair disarrayed, blue eyes lazy.

“Hey, sleepy head.”

“Hey. This looks fabulous.”

“Tina helped.”

“Did you, baby?” Jan asked.

Tina nodded happily.

“How’s your schedule?” Brad asked her.

“Schedule?”

“Work. I made some plans for the weekend.”

“Oh, really?”

“A trip down to the Keys. I called Sean’s hotel and found out that Michael had stayed in Sean’s room since it was late for him to drive back so far. And Sean was at Lori’s place.”

“What?” Tina asked.

Brad looked at his daughter. “He’s sleeping on the sofa there, baby. Scary things going on here, you know?”

“Oh.”

The look Brad gave Jan assured her that in Brad’s opinion, Sean wasn’t sleeping on any couch.

“Anyway, I gave them a call, and we thought it might be fun to drive to Key West together, stop at Michael’s place, see what’s got Tina all riled up, and then spend the night at some four-star place, live it up!”

“Oh, Mom, cool. Please, can we go?” Tina demanded.

“I did have a few appointments—”

“Mom! You have an assistant!” Tina said indignantly.

“Yes, but, baby, I sell my own properties,” Jan murmured. But Brad was staring at her.

Challengingly. He was amused. Tina was on top of the world. Her mother, father—Brendan Corcoran and Sean Black, alias Michael
Shayne—all in one weekend wrapped up pretty with a bow.

“Mom!” Tina wailed.

She shrugged. “
I’l
l call Lisa.”

"I’ll call her for you. I’ll do it right, I’ll tell her something family came up—oh, thanks, Mom!”

Tina ran off to the den to make the call. Jan stared at Brad.

“You’re getting her hopes up.”

“I’m trying to get your hopes up.”

She sipped her coffee. “Strange, I never thought that you were all that fond of Sean.”

“That’s bullshit. We were football heroes together. I never could have been such a celebrity if he hadn’t been there to catch all my passes.”

“I know you, though. You were jealous of him.”

Brad shrugged. “What could you expect? Lori was mine, but I could see the way she looked at him all the time. And I knew, no matter how hot and heavy he was with Mandy, she was just a substitute for Lori.”

“Brad, how can you know that? That was all so long ago.”

“Yeah, right, my point. I like Sean. He’s always been interesting.”

“Yeah, right. When he was a suspected murderer, we all spurned him. Now he’s rich and famous. If he moves back down here, he’ll make a great client.”

“Maybe.”

She sipped more coffee.

“Or are we going for Lori Kelly?”

“Lori Corcoran,” he reminded her. He stared at her. “Sure. Lori is a friend. Her kid is great. Level. Good head on his shoulders. He won’t be in with any of the drug crowd, and you know damned well that some of Tina’s friends are already smoking—dope and cigarettes. They’ve gotten their hands on liquor— hell, you know that we did, too.”

“Just so long as we’re not going for Lori.”

“Jan, she’s supposedly your best friend.”

“I want to keep it that way.”

“Fine.”

“Just so long as you’ve completely squashed that stupid fantasy—”

He came and stood beside her, stroking her hair, looking into her eyes. “Lori is out of the fantasy. But I’ve found the perfect person to fulfill it.”

“Oh, please…
”

“But, Jan, she’s perfect. You’ll see her once and never again. She’s a professional, clean as the snow, careful, expensive, good.”

“Oh, God, Brad—”

“Think about it.”

“You know this can’t be right if you’re bribing me—”

“I’m not bribing you. I’m trying to get my last great streak of wildness out and gone before I settle down again. What do you say? Once, I swear it. I’ll sign away my life in promises, honest.”

“Maybe,” Jan murmured as Tina came bounding back into the kitchen.

L
ori didn’t get a chance to talk to Gramps alone, but he was still disturbed, she realized, when she and Sean picked up Brendan from her parents’ house.

He was very polite to Sean, as he had always been. Her folks were nice as well. When Lori tried to ask him what was up, he told her sternly that he’d talk to her alone when she had the chance. She told him she’d pick him up on Monday morning.

She had been surprised that Sean had agreed to the weekend with the Jacksons, and she was surprised at herself for letting others know that she and Sean Black were spending intimate time together.

But they were both adults, they had both agreed, and it seemed just fine.

They could travel easily enough all together. Although Brad usually rode around in his sports car, he also owned a huge Suburban, and the six of them would fit easily enough in it, though Michael, who had remained in Coconut Grove until they were ready to drive down, offered to put Sean and Lori in his car for the first half of the ride.

It was a pleasant drive, a great day, with everything casual. Michael’s marine facility was quiet since it was a Saturday and not a tourist destination, but Marianne seemed pleased to have the company, and once again she preferred to swim with Lori, as if she had made a bosom
buddy for life. Brad was dismayed that the dolphin didn’t seem to like him, but he kept a sense of humor about the situation, maybe because Tina was so delighted to be with the dolphin again.

“Some women just prefer the company of women,” Brad said, shrugging, looking at Jan, who looked away.

They left Michael about five in the afternoon. It wasn’t bad in the Suburban, Brad driving, Tina between him and Sean, Brendan in the back on the left, Lori in the middle, Jan on the right. They reached Key West just when the sun was setting, one of the most spectacular views imaginable—
gold, crimson, magenta, mauve…
beautiful, especially from the balcony of the huge southwesterly facing suite Sean had taken to make sure that he didn’t jeopardize whatever Lori chose to tell Brendan about their relationship.

They walked on the hotel’s private beach, played in the surf and sand while the sun fell, then changed for dinner, a rustic place on the water known best to the locals where the blackened fish and conch chowder were some of the finest to be had. Later, with the kids at a movie, they strolled the streets of Old Town, discussed Hemingway and his years spent in Key West, and
had what Lori considered a won
derful and refreshingly normal night.

She was still plagued by thoughts of her grandfather’s strange behavior, and she was afraid she knew what he was going to say to her. But she pushed it all back into a corner
of her mind. It wasn’t time to deal with it yet. She wanted this simple time of pleasure and enjoyment with Sean, her son, and her friends.

Idly walking along, she found that Jan had come up beside her while the guys were behind them, discussing the triumphs and potential of the Panthers, the Marlins, and the Miami Dolphins. Jan linked arms with her. “Isn’t this
fun
? I haven’t enjoyed myself like that in years. I mean, it’s almost like we’re
normal couples, real couples…
”

“You and Brad are a real couple.”

“Strange, isn’t it? Me and Brad, you and Sean.”

Lori shrugged. “Why?”

“Well, in school it was you and Brad. Mr. and Miss Perfection, you know.”

“We were never perfect. We didn’t belong together. Our parents just thought we did. Other people thought we did.”

“You really feel that way?”

Lori looked at her friend. “Cross my heart and hope to die. Honest, Jan, you’ve known me forever! I don’t think things ever ended dramatically between Brad and me because there simply wasn’t really anything there. And then, o
f course, after Mandy’s death…
”

“Everybody just went away,” Jan said with a sigh. She chewed her lip. “Well, I believe you, but I don’t think my ex-husband was so certain you shouldn’t have been together. He still thinks you’re incredible, you know.”

“Jan, it really seems that he loves you. You
two were just as cute as could be on that lounge chair last night.”

Jan sniffed. “I think he was being a little proprietary because of the ratio.”

“The ratio?”

“Women—there were three. You, me, and Sue. Men—there were a bunch. Michael, Jeff Olin, your cousin Josh, Ricky, Ted, Andrew, and Sean. And the one thing that’s true here is, they are a beautiful crowd. Brad is pro
bably the most classically good-
looking—a
Baywatch
beachboy if I’ve seen one. Of course, he knows it. Sean is probably the sexiest, tall, those dark go
od looks and killer blue eyes…
but, hell, I’d take Andrew in a flash—even if he is your brother. Sue always thought he was the most gorgeous thing in the world—and Ricky is a knockout with his Latin eyes. Jeff Olin is just about perfect, built like an Adonis, sexy as all hell when he flashes those pearly white teeth! Brad had good reason to stick close to me last night!” Jan said, grinning. “In fact, I think Susie is after one of our good friends.”

“My brother again?” Lori said, surprised. Andrew seemed to be in the doldrums a bit, too concerned with his future to be seriously concerned with any one woman.

“I don’t know, I have no idea. She was just talking to me while helping set out plates, saying it was great that we’re all together, that some friendships become closer than others and it’s so wonderful now because she’s so scared.”

“Interesting. It will be fun to find out just whom she’s close with!” Lori said, pleased. Sue was a good person, always a good friend, quiet, honest, kind. She’d absolutely adored Andrew back in school—she might be just what he needed. But then again, maybe it wasn’t Andrew Sue was seeing at all. She’d have to ask her brother—when he wasn’t haunting her about an alarm system. “Think you and Brad will remarry?” she asked Jan. “You two just look so right for one another. I almost feel as if I’m out with Ma and Pa Kettle—in the nicest way, of course.”