Gage, Ronna - The Search is Over (Siren Publishing Classic) (12 page)

“Yeah, but I like getting laid.” Jack smiled that mischievous smile that had the women eating out of his hand. “We could drink some more and…”

“Get laid?” Jesse and Rafe finished in unison. A second ticked by before the three of them laughed out loud at the tentative plan for the evening.

“I’ll go get ready.” Jesse headed toward the patio door. “I guess we’ll meet up in an hour.”

Rafe looked at Jesse with pity. He strutted around like a stud in a herd.
Poor dumb ass, doesn’t know what a good thing he has.
Rafe realized he wouldn’t mind being in Jesse’s shoes. If he had the chance to be with Candi, there would be no way in hell he would be going with the boys.
When did my wanting to be with one woman again become priority?

* * * *

“What?”

Candi tossed the brush down onto the counter and stomped out of the bathroom.

She had taken the effort to get ready for a night out. She put on her best pair of black Rocky Mountain Jeans, a black cropped blouse, and black boots. She was ready to go out and drink a few beers and relax with friends. “What do you mean you’re going with the boys tonight?”

“Yeah, I’ve been invited by Rafe and Jack to go out with them, and I accepted.”

“You’re telling me now? One hour before we are to go out?” Candi was livid. She had actually looked forward to going out this evening. What bothered her even more was that Rafe had asked her out as well. She was under the impression that all of them were going out together. Yet she was just informed that it was to be a boy’s night out and she wasn’t invited or wanted. Rafe preferred Jesse’s company to hers.

“What’re you going to do tonight?” Jesse asked, as he looked himself over in the mirror.

The smirk on Jesse’s face caused her further aggravation. “Fuck off!” Candi stormed out of the room. She had to put some distance between them. Fueled by anger, she went to Minerva, who was also getting ready to go out with the crowd.

“It’s been called off.” Candi shook with rage. Tears came to her eyes. She was the self-designated person to burst Minerva’s bubble.

“What?” Minerva stood in the doorway, applying hairspray to her hair. She was dressed in red from her head to her toes.
Red
Rocky
Mountain
jeans, a red sleeveless shirt, and red boots. “What’s been called off?”

“The night out. Jesse just told me.” Candi calmed herself down long enough to explain what had transpired with Jesse.

“Oh yeah!” Something in Minerva snapped. She stomped through the house, opened the door, and almost jumped off the steps. She looked at Candi. “We’ll just see about that.”

Together they marched over to the neighboring trailer. It was shaking on its foundation with the rock music that blared out of speakers. Minerva turned to Candi, “Guess they started early.” She laughed and beat on the door until someone finally answered.

Jack stood in the doorway, his jaw dropping open at the sight of them. “Hi.” He leaned against the threshold of the door, looking them over as if they were some kind of treat left on the door by the Easter bunny. “What can I do for you?”

“We want to talk to Rafe.” Minerva demanded loudly over the music. The pitch in her voice must have relayed something dire to Jack, who responded with a lift of his eyebrow.

Jack turned back into the house. “Yo, Rafe!” Jack yelled into the house over his right shoulder, and without warning he gave a loud shriek of a whistle. Minerva and Candi grabbed their ears to lessen the decibels.

“What the fu...?” Rafe shouted as he stepped to the door. He stopped suddenly at the sight of Minerva and Candi standing on the porch. “Hi,” he greeted Candi. “Why are you holding your ears?”

“That music was too loud.”

“What’s going on, Rafe?” Minerva demanded getting his attention. Rafe was obviously confused. “Candi was just told that you guys are planning a boy’s night out. Is that true?”

“We were told that Candi had to study and you had to work,” Rafe defended.

Minerva and he exchange looks. “Jesse!”

“You’ve got to be kidding.” Candi’s frustration was building. The knots in her stomach loosened with the revelation.
Rafe does not prefer the boys to me
. She felt a gentling in her heart.

“I’m not a bit surprised,” Minerva said shaking her head. “That would explain his attitude toward you,” she said, looking at Candi. “It’s all beginning to make sense.”

Rafe looked at Candi “So what are you going to do?” He then quickly turned his attention to Minerva.

“Nothing’s changed. We…”—she gestured to her and Candi—“…are going out. And I can tell by the way you two look at one another that you were disappointed in the change. So, Rafe, do you wanna join us?”

“Me?” Rafe asked with a rakish smile. “You mean I have a choice to go out with the guys or go out with the girls?” He weighed his options. “Hmm, let me think.” Turning back into the house, he yelled for Jack. Instantly, he appeared. “Tell Jesse thanks, but no thanks. I’m going out with the girls.”

“Are you sure?” Jack asked.

Rafe looked at Candi. He turned to Jack. “Oh yeah, I’m sure. Ladies, I’m all yours.” Rafe was led to Minerva’s awaiting car.

Once inside, Minerva turned to her two companions, “Where to now?”

“Somewhere that’s not so loud, and private,” Rafe suggested, as he draped an arm behind Candi.

Gyrating to the tune Candi had inserted into the CD player, she aimed the car toward the highway. “I have just the place in mind.” Minerva looked out her side view mirror. “See ya later, Jesse.”

Chapter Twenty

The Establishment
was busy for someplace quiet and less public. The lively patrons were of the thirty-five and older crowd—perfect for Minerva’s kind of music. A classic country song blared from the jukebox, and Candi sang the lyrics.

Rafe strutted into the bar with Candi on his arm. He didn’t care who saw them together. Her spirits were lifted, and he’d been given the chance to make a difference. He planned on taking that sadness he saw in her eyes the other day and replacing it with something warm.

The small dance floor was crowded with men and women dancing to the slow song that blared from the jukebox.
Redneck noise.

Rafe shrugged it off and looked around the bar until he spotted a table in the back corner. “Follow me.” He took Candi’s hand and led her and Minerva to the table. He pulled a chair out for Minerva and then one out for Candi. He sat himself in the middle, looked around, and motioned for the waitress.

The blonde waitress greeted them warmly. “Hello, I’m Sylvia. I will be your waitress. What can I get for you to drink?”

Rafe ordered three beers.

“I have to go to the ladies room,” Candi informed him.

“Okay, I’ll wait here for our drinks.”

“Okay. Minerva, do you want to come with me?”

“Sure, I want to check on my makeup.”

Rafe stood up when they did. He grabbed Candi’s hand. “Hurry back.”

She smiled and nodded.

The loud honky-tonk style music ground on Rafe’s nerves. “This redneck noise is bumming me out.” He fed money into the jukebox and viewed the extensive song list for some classic rock. Finding a few familiar selections, he punched in the number codes. Walking back to the table, he saw that the waitress was waiting for him.

“Here are your drinks.” The cute, blue-eyed waitress wore a black wrap dress that was cut so low it revealed her ample breasts. The split on the side was cut up to her hips, revealing a thin thread of her panties as she set each of the beers down.

The waitress looked at Rafe in fascination.

“Can I ask you a question?”

“Sure.” Rafe looked at the young woman cautiously.

“Does the light coloring of your chest hair go all the way down to your dick?” Her red-tipped fingernail trailed the hairline to the button of his shirt.

Rafe cocked his eyebrow. He gazed into her eyes. “Why don’t you ask my old lady?”

“Your old lady?” Sylvia looked around suddenly. The crimson of her cheeks was barely hidden by the dark pink of her cosmetic blush.

“Yes, she is the blonde woman dressed in black that’s with me.”

“I didn’t realize you were taken.”

“It’s no big deal.” Rafe pulled out a wad of cash, counted out enough money to pay for the round of drinks and a generous tip.

“Is she willing to…share?”

Rafe wasn’t a stranger to come-ons. His best friends are strippers, but to have a woman want his woman was a bit too much. “No, and neither am I. But thanks for the offer.”

Sylvia shrugged her shoulders. “Anytime. I guess I’ll see you around.”

“Maybe.”

Rafe watched as the waitress left and went on to the next table. He couldn’t help but laugh out loud. It was the first time in a long time that he didn’t actively flirt back.

A man on the jukebox sang about his bad reputation being ruined by his woman’s love. Rafe could relate to the song, all because of Candi. She was ruining his bad reputation, and he liked it.

* * * *

Candi’s heart stirred with a warm feeling throughout her gut when she came out of the ladies room and saw Rafe sitting at their table. His moderately large arms were bared as he pushed the sleeves of his shirt to his biceps. Earlier she noticed his tight-fitting blue jeans that stretched tight over his hips and clung to his finely shaped ass. Candi’s mouth watered at the memory.

“Go get ’em, girl,” Minerva whispered into her ear.

Candi’s excitement leveled up as she and Rafe made eye contact.

“This may be the only chance you get,” she warned softly.

Taking a deep breath, Candi decided this was the time—
it’s now or never.

Chapter Twenty-One

The Bible says that the most beautiful angel in heaven was the devil before he was sent to the pits of hell.
Minerva smiled. “I have a good idea of where he landed. And here is where he likes to play.” She had been steadily watching him and another man play a game of pool most of the hour. He was dressed in black jeans and white shirt. His slick-backed hair added to the allure, as did his blue eyes. His wickedness teased Minerva every time he caught her watching him. Finally, winning the pool game, he set the cue on the table.

“I’ll be back.” He sauntered toward the bar and took several glimpses at Minerva.

He walked toward their table with four beers. He set the round of drinks down and then bent low to make eye contact with Minerva. “Would you like to play?” he asked with a smile. Her cocked eyebrow made him smile even more.

“What are the stakes?” she asked.

The innuendo was well taken. “Not so high you couldn’t pay,” the handsome stranger said with a decadent smile that teased of pleasures to come from his own private game.

“I’m not worried about me.” Minerva stood facing him. “I’m wondering if you can pay the price.” She sauntered past him, leaving him to wonder.

The stranger narrowed his eyes, inhaled deeply of the perfumed air as she passed. Looking at Rafe he said, “I wouldn’t doubt it.” Tipping his hat to Candi, he walked toward the pool table. “Let the games begin, darlin’.”

“Rack ’em, honey.”

* * * *

Rafe’s nervous energy calmed when the jukebox played a song he had selected earlier.
This is a lot better
. He was almost jubilant when he found the song on the jukebox. The tune was slow for the slow-dancing crowd but more to his rock-style liking.

“Would you like to dance?” Candi looked at Rafe with big, hopeful eyes.

“I don’t really dance,” he confessed.

Candi shrugged off the rejection, although, Rafe could tell she really wanted to dance.

He couldn’t keep his eyes off her.
She’s so beautiful
.

She tried again. “It’s a slow one. One where we just hold one another.”

“I can do that.” He stood up beside her. It was the perfect excuse he needed to hold her in his arms.

* * * *

Candi set her hand in his and let him ease her up from the seat. She felt sensual heat rush from his hand to hers. Her stomach flip-flopped as she and Rafe walked out to the dance floor. Her nerves jangled with the sense of touch. His touch was like a fire she didn’t want to put out.

She felt the deep plunge of her stomach as Rafe held her close. He gazed deeply into her eyes, deeper than she thought possible, as they swayed lazily to the lyrics.

The song echoed in her head with every word he whispered in her ear. His warm breath sent chills down her arms. Goose bumps covered her skin. Her nipples responded immediately, puckering to hard pebbles. His arm cuddled her and released her. She felt the tingling energy in her thighs heat the fire of desire. She could feel the dewy slick heat of wetness in her panties.

Candi and Rafe stood on the dance floor holding one another as the song ended. A second slow song started. Gently, they moved together as the music played.