FOUR PLAY (4 page)

But where did that fit in Charli's life at this point? She'd had some of the greatest, spontaneous sex with the cowboy in the black hat and his buddies. How could she compare Connor to them without having dipped in his well of sexual talents?

At least, she could mark Connor off the list of suspects. His insistence on being a gentleman ruled him out. Her Original Sin wouldn't give a damn about waiting to get to know her. He'd jump right on and start rutting like a bull on a heifer.

Sexually knotted like a toy wound too tight, Charli couldn't settle in one place. She had to get ready for work, but she didn't want to change or do her hair. She straightened her bathroom, did the laundry and scrubbed toilets to burn excess energy.

Twenty minutes before she was due at the Ugly Stick Saloon, she changed shirts, slipping into a bright red, skin-tight, low-cut blouse that exposed more of her breasts than it covered. Still wearing the cut-offs from earlier, she slipped into a pair of fuck-me red stilettos, knowing she'd regret it after standing in them for four hours, but she needed the added oomph to get her through the night. Her ego was flagging and she needed a little boost. That, and she hadn't gotten word one from her cowboy in the black hat.

Would there be another night of Dirty Tricks?

Ready to leave her house, Charli paused with her hand on the door knob. Did she want another night of dirty tricks? An image of Connor lying on the blanket, smiling in the sunshine flashed across her mind. He wanted it all—house with the picket fence, a wife and kids and lying naked under the stars.

She stomped her stilettoed foot. Then why the hell hadn't he made a move?

At the Ugly Stick Saloon, Charli's mood grew worse. Grumpy, out of sorts and twitchy, she spilled beer, told off a customer and broke an expensive bottle of whiskey before her boss pulled her aside.

Audrey dragged her back to the store room and blocked her escape. "What's wrong with you?"

Charli closed her eyes and rolled her shoulders, but her muscles remained tight. "I don't know. I'm tense."

"I thought you had a date with Connor today. Is that what this is all about?"

"Yes, no. Ah hell, I don't know." She sat on a box of Johnny Walker Red and pulled off her red stilettos.

"Was he a jerk? Did he make a pass at you? Do you want me to take him out? Because I can, you know." Audrey raised her fists and punched at the air.

"No, he wasn't a jerk and he didn't make a pass at me."

Audrey's arms dropped to her sides. "Then why so glum?"

"That's just it, he didn't make a pass." Disappointment pulled at her body. "It was all sweet and no sex."

Her boss's brows rose. "And this is a problem because?"

Charli propped her chin on her fists. "I don't know what I want anymore."

"Let me get this straight—Connor was a gentleman?"

With a wry grin, Charli nodded. "Perfect. That's the problem. I've had this great sex with the Original Sin for the past three nights and along comes Connor, acting all gentlemanly and I have nothing to compare with."

"Oh, honey, your priorities are all messed up." Audrey pulled up a box and sat beside her, draping an arm around her shoulders. "Do you really think all the sexual exploits with mystery cowboy are going to last?"

Charli shrugged. "I guess I hoped so."
A girl can hope
.

"They won't. It's like lust—once it wears off, there has to be something else to keep the two of you together."

"I'm not good at commitment." Charli buried her face in her hands. "I make lousy choices. That's why I swore off long-term relationships."

"Did you really? Or were you waiting for a man worth committing to?" Audrey tipped Charli's up face. "Is Connor that man?"

"I barely know him." She lifted a nonchalant shoulder.

"Does he make you laugh?"

Charli chuckled. "At myself. You should have seen me trying to get up on that horse."

"You? On a horse?" Wide-eyed, Audrey shook her head. "I'd have paid to see that. Question is, does Connor make your heart flip over every time you see him?"

"Yes," Her heart fluttered, even now. "But so does Original Sin."

Audrey frowned. "Okay, consider this...do you know his freakin' name?"

Charli sighed. "Of course, it's Connor Mason. But I
don't
know if we're compatible in the sex department. So far it's only been kissing and foreplay, like we're in high school."

"Give him time to up the ante. Connor just might be the guy for you."

"Yeah, but he's all about commitment, houses, white picket fences and kids." With a deep sigh, Charli leaned against her boss. "I might not be the right woman for him."

"Shush." Audrey patted her arm. "You're perfect and you'd make a great wife and mother."

"I'm not so sure." Charli's eyes widened. "And what do I do with my mystery cowboy in the black hat?"

"You make a clean break. Stop it now."

"I can't do that!" Charli hopped to her bare feet and paced across the floor of the small storeroom. "What if Connor and I aren't right for each other? I'd be giving up a bird in the bush for one maybe in the hand."

Audrey rolled her eyes. "Please, enough with the metaphors. Do you love the mystery cowboy?"

"Maybe, I don't know." Charli pushed her hair back out of her face. "I love what he does to me, the sex-capades he's orchestrated all for my enjoyment."

"Do you love
him
?"

Charli's shoulders sagged. "I don't know him."

"Do you know Connor Mason?"

"I'm getting to know him."

"And do you like what you know so far?" Audrey stood behind Charli and rested her hands on her shoulders. "Is he keeper material?"

That image of Connor standing at her door in the sunlight, grinning, flashed through her mind. His open, honest face so joyful and caring. Blood thrummed in her veins. "Yes."

"Then there you have it. You have to break it off with mystery dude."

"Do I?" Charli didn't want to. She turned and held out her hands. "Can I have one more night of crazy sex before I do that?"

"No. If you want to give this thing with Connor a fighting chance, you have to cut out the others from your life. Connor's a one-woman man."

"He wouldn't understand." Charli nodded. "I'll think about it. There's no guarantee Original Sin will want to do anything tonight anyway."

"And if he calls, what are you going to do?"

"
Think
about it." Charli faced her boss, her shoulders squared, her chin rising. "I've committed to no one. I still have choices."

"You might be limiting them if you make the wrong choice."

"Thanks, Audrey, you aren't making this easier." Charli stepped into her stilettos, cringing at how they cut into her feet. "I'd better get back to work before your customers start leaving."

"Think hard, sweetie. I think Connor could be the one."

"I promise to think on it." Charli went back to work, a little calmer, but no less clear in her mind what she wanted, or what she would do if the mystery cowboy wanted to meet with her after work. Hell, with all the stress, she was almost too tired anyway.

As the clock dragged toward two in the morning, Charli had given up on seeing Connor walk through the doors, his smile warming her insides. Not only that, but she hadn't received a message, text or call from Original Sin. So as far as she knew, there wouldn't be a night of raunchy sex to take the edge off her foreplay with Connor.

Thoroughly dejected, Charli chased the last customers from the bar, stacked chairs, swept and mopped and finally crawled into her 'stang. As she shifted into Drive, she noted a small, folded, brown paper lunch bag caught between her windshield and her wiper. Charli slammed her truck into Park, opened her door and reached around to snag the bag, her heart thumping.

Her hands shook as she unfolded the bag to read the message written in bold black marker on the outside.

"One was fun, Two was great, Three unbelievable, for Four...don't be late. Meet us at the old Jail House Museum. Everything you'll need is in this paper bag."

Charli turned the bag upside down and shook it. A sheer black thong and shiny black pasties fell into her lap. She laughed out loud, her fingers trembling as she scooped up the pasties and panties. "You've got to be joking."

Her cell phone pinged, indicating a text message.

Rummaging in her purse for the device, she jerked it free and read. "No joke. Don't be late."

As a shiver of apprehension slid down her spine, Charli glanced around. Was the mystery cowboy reading her mind, or did he have her car bugged? Either way, the panties and pasties burned in her hand and she struggled with decisions.

On the one hand, she hadn't committed to even seeing Connor again. She'd told him she'd
think about it.
Then there was this invitation to naughtiness, so tempting, so titillating she creamed just thinking of how she'd look in nothing but a thong and pasties. Oh, did he mean
four
as in four sex partners or the fourth dirty trick?

With the panties and pasties laid in her lap, she shifted her car into drive and eased out onto the highway moving toward the little town of Temptation. She crept along the highway, hoping that the closer she came to the jail house, the clearer her mind would be on what to do.

Connor or pasties. Foreplay or sex with her Original Sin.

Still sensitized with desire from her earlier picnic with Connor, Charli almost felt guilty contemplating sex with another man entirely.

"Why? I'm single, free and horny." What more did she need to make a decision? Her foot dropped the accelerator to the floor and shot past a cop doing fifteen miles per hour over the speed limit.

Lights flared in her rearview mirror and a siren wailed.

Her core so heavy with lust, Charli fought hard against the urge to outrun the law. She didn't want to be late to the jail house. The very thought of being pulled over by a cop because she's speeding to the jail house made Charli laugh out loud.

It was in mid giggle the cop arrived at her window. "Ma'am, please step out of the car."

Charli swallowed hard on another fit of giggles, "Only if you frisk me." She bent double laughing, her eyes filling with tears.

"Ma'am, please, step out of your vehicle." To his credit, the cop kept a very straight face.

Suspecting he was one of Mystery Cowboy's buddies, Charli tugged the scoop of her neckline lower, exposing enough boob to make a teenager come. She leaned low as she wiggled her ass across the seat.

The cop's eyes widened and he glanced down at his clip board quickly.

When she straightened, the thong panties dropped to the ground along with the two pasties.

The cop bent to retrieve the panties and lifted them. "Ma'am. you dropped—"

Charli could tell when he realized what he had in his hands. He practically dropped them again.

Before he did, Charli snatched the scrap of silk and lace from his fingers. "Oops. My bad." She bent to retrieve the pasties too. "Can't forget those either." She held up a pastie to her tit. "Although I'm not sure they'll fit."

The cop gulped hard and adjusted his belt. "Ma'am, have you been drinking?"

"Poured plenty, drank not a drop." Charli stuffed the thong and pasties into her back pocket. She hooked her thumbs in the loops of her cutoffs and pressed down, the waistband sliding low, revealing the top of her panty line and a few of the curly hairs over her pussy. If this was all part of the gig, she could play the game.

"I have to ask you to take the sobriety test."

"I haven't been drinking, but if you want me to walk the line, I will." She positioned her go-to-hell red stilettos on the white line and performed a perfect imitation of a tight-rope walker. When she spun on her toes to return, her fancy shoes caught on a piece of gravel and she pitched to the side, just barely catching herself before wiping out on the pavement. "Oops. Damned shoes."

"Please miss, I'll have to ask you to come with me." He held out his handcuffs .

"But I'm not drunk. I don't drink when I'm working." She stared at the cuffs, her brows rising, right along with her heart rate. "Oooooh. I get it. You want to handcuff me."

"Yes, ma'am. If you'll hold out your wrists, this won't hurt a bit."

"But I like it to hurt. You should know that." She flipped her hair. "He should have told you."

The cop stared hard at her, his brows dipping. "Ma'am?"

"And you can stop with the ma'am. I know who sent you."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

Charli looked behind him toward the cruiser with the lights flashing brightly. "Where is he? I thought we were supposed to meet at the jail house."

"You can make that call from the station."

"Huh?" She stilled. "Station? What happened to the jail house?"

"We'll see after you take a breathalyzer test."

"A breathalyzer? Boy, you guys really are trying to make it authentic." She grinned. "Lead the way. Have thong and pasties, will cooperate." With a perky sashay of her hips, she marched in front of the cop and slid into the back seat. "Aren't you going to blindfold me this time?"