Hot Buttered Yum (7 page)

Yes
. That’s exactly
what she’d done. She’d lived it. Breathed it.

“I heard a rumor
that she’s giving a concert after the parade next weekend,” Melody said.

Lucas went
still. “Really?”

He hadn’t seen
that mentioned anywhere. And he’d been looking.

Melody nodded,
her short blonde bob moving up and down at his shoulder. “Could you imagine? If
they want to draw a crowd, that’s the way to do it.”

He would have to
agree. Roni would attract way more people to the
island than he and his colleagues had.

The crowd hushed
and Roni took the mic. He
liked the slightly Southern, slightly husky sound of her voice. Just a hint to show her roots.

She welcomed the
audience back, and then Kayla gave the signal and the men and their partners
began filing onto the stage to welcoming cheers. As he entered, he kept his
gaze on Roni. Just looking at her soothed him.

Which was silly.
No woman soothed him. Women were good times. He enjoyed the occasional hookup
when he was out of town. But they weren’t
soothing
in any manner.

What they were
was fun. Plain and simple.

They weren’t
steadying, they weren’t calming, and they certainly didn’t soothe.

When the
clapping died down, he watched as Roni was handed a
sealed envelope. She turned to the men, but didn’t make eye contact with him.
That irritated him.

She seemed to look
at every other man on stage.

“I have in my
hand the names of the two contestants with the lowest scores.” She waved the
envelope in the air and boos filled the auditorium. She gave a shrug and the
sequins that were also running down the sleeves of her dress glittered under
the lights. “Sorry ladies, but we have to let two go. Otherwise we never get to
our winner.”

Nerves tightened
Lucas’s gut before he remembered a couple of the other trees he’d seen. Those
men had clearly
not
had the help of
someone with thirty-five years’ experience putting up lights.

When Roni called out the first name, he recognized it as one of
the men who’d lacked in Melody’s talent. The second name followed suit. The
guys and their partners in crime took to the front of the stage and accepted
their demotion bravely before being hustled off to the right.

Next, Roni was handed another envelope and she swept one more
glance over them. This time, her eyes tripped over his.

She looked at
him with reluctance in her eyes. As if not wanting to see
him. Or have him see her.

It was because
of that morning. Because he
had
seen her. As she’d been playing.
She knew he’d witnessed her feeling far more than fun and good times as she’d
played.

She’d felt
exposed.

And he was the
one who’d witnessed it.

Melody squeezed
his arm again and when he looked down at her, she smiled brightly. He knew
she’d enjoyed herself today. Which made him wonder if this was the first time
she’d had such fun since her husband had passed. He hoped they won for her.

Roni pulled the card
from the envelope and once again waved it in the air. The crowd started
shouting numbers of the contestants. He heard several sevens for them and gave
Melody a wink. She blew him a kiss in return.

“And today’s
winner is …”

“Seven!” someone
shouted from the audience.

Melody laughed
and leaned into him to whisper, “That’s my friend, Rebecca.”

“Lucas
Alexander,” Roni announced, “and his partner, Melody
Harper, from Savannah.”

The crowd
whooped, Melody pumped an arm in the air, and Roni
headed their way with a gift basket.

“Congratulations,”
she said, handing the basket to Melody. She turned brown eyes to his and he
knew they he had to talk. That night.

The day had ended pleasantly enough, and
now all Roni wanted to do was head home and crawl
into bed. It had been a long day.

First was everything
she’d felt when she’d stood from the piano that morning.

Mrs. Rylander had been right. She wanted it. She wanted to be
back in front of the crowd night after night, doing what she loved.

Then she’d
thought about the two-month sabbatical she’d taken after her last tour. Before
realizing she couldn’t go back to performing at all. She’d never been that low in
her life. Or alone. And she’d never wanted to feel
either again.

She’d come close
to it today.

Everything from
her past had hit her at once and she’d headed to her house to take refuge. She
hadn’t participated in the tree decorations, nor had she so much as cast a
single vote. That had not made Kayla happy, but Roni
had discovered she was still capable of having a day where it was not only hard
to raise her head off her pillow, but almost impossible to step outside and be around
other people. Kayla would just have to deal.

Roni changed out of
her heels and slipped on the flip-flops she’d brought to the convention center with
her. She hadn’t driven over, so she would walk home. It was only half a mile.

As she stepped out
onto the back deck, closing the door to the sounds of the band, she heard the
surf pounding below and drew in a deep breath of salty air. It was nearing eight
and close to high tide. She headed for the stairs. She’d prefer to walk home by
way of the beach and dig her toes in the sand. The dampness would give her a
jolt and help keep her from returning to where she’d spent most of the day’s
hours. But she didn’t want to risk ruining her dress, so she’d stick to the
sidewalks tonight.

At the very
moment her foot touched the ground at the base of the steps, she heard the door
above her open and close. The stairs wound down in a way that ended up slightly
underneath the overwide deck. A heavy footfall landed
on the top step a couple of seconds later.

She didn’t
wonder how she knew, but she had no doubt that it was Lucas who’d come out
after her. He’d been watching her all evening, though not with the same
flirtatious look he’d chased her with the night before.

Tonight had been
different.

He’d seen her
earlier when she’d ripped herself open with emotions, and he was apparently not
going to let it go without attempting to get her to talk about it. But she
didn’t want to talk.

She also didn’t
want to hide tonight.

She could use
someone holding her up for just a moment.

Lucas appeared
at the bend in the stairs in worn jeans, cowboy boots, and a white button-down
under a sports jacket. He stared down at her. Roni
stood there waiting; she hadn’t made another move toward home. Pressure built
in the back of her eyes, alerting her that if she wasn’t careful, she would
cry.

She could
remember crying at some point in her life. As a child.

But not when her
father died.

Not when she’d
walked away from Charles.

And not—

“Are you okay?”
Lucas asked.

Roni shook her head
from side to side.

Then she dropped
her shoes to the ground and reached out for him.

Roni stood for
several minutes wrapped in Lucas’s embrace, both of them quiet. The only sounds
were the muted music from indoors and the much louder rush of the ocean from
behind.

And Lucas’s
breathing.

It was a steady
in and out. Similar to the strong heartbeat she felt beneath her cheek. She was
thankful he didn’t ask questions. Also thankful he’d somehow known that she’d needed
a shoulder to lean on.

Since moving to
the island, she’d worked hard to be carefree and untroubled. Not sharing her past
issues with anyone, not even her closest friends. Because she’d
moved on from her previous life. She was making a new life at a place
she loved.

She’d never told
them the truth about what had brought about the end of her career.

She had also never
let herself break down on them.

Yet here she
was, holding tight to Lucas as if he’d been in her life forever and knew just
what she needed.

Thankfully, the
feeling of crying had passed so she didn’t have to worry about that at least,
but now that the initial swell of emotion was over, she feared Lucas would want
to know more.

She couldn’t
tell him. She didn’t talk about it.

Her loss was in
the past. Reliving it would do no good. She simply needed to move on. As she’d always
thought she had. Until she’d spent the afternoon curled in the fetal position
in her bed.

Her grip
loosened around Lucas’s waist, but she didn’t step back. He pulled slightly
away, though, and looked down into her face. It was a dark night, but lights
from upstairs shone out through the glass doors and leaked between the slats of
the deck, providing enough filtered light so they could see each other.

“Want to talk
about it?” he asked.

She shook her
head.

“Okay,” he said
gently. He didn’t push. She appreciated that. He simply tucked her back against
his chest and rested his chin on the top of her head. Then he ran his hands up
and down her back.

They stood there
with the ocean breeze blowing over them for several more minutes until Roni recognized that she’d moved into holding him simply
for the pleasure of it. It wasn’t right, but he felt so very good pressed
against her. He was strong and hard. Solid.

And his body was
warm against hers. She’d forgotten to bring a coat with her when she’d walked
over earlier, and now that the sun had dropped, it was chilly.

They separated
at the same time, as if a thought had been mutually spoken aloud, and Lucas
tucked his fingers into the front pockets of his jeans. He rocked back on his
heels. “So you were just going to sneak out?” he asked.

She forced a
smile. “I did just sneak out.”

“Only not quite
unseen.”

She lifted a
shoulder. “Quit watching me like a hawk and maybe I would have been unseen.”

He reached a
hand up and brushed a finger along the underside of her jaw. It made her toes
curl into her flip-flops. “I can’t seem to stop watching you.” He said the
words softly.

His finger was still
on her so she reached up to brush it away, but instead she ended up holding it
in her hand.

“I’m still not
going to sleep with you,” she informed him. Her tone didn’t sound too convincing,
but she ignored that. His being in the contest was bad
enough, but him knowing when she needed someone? That scared her.

She would just
have to put her hormones back into hibernation.

“I think you’re
making a mistake,” he told her.

Possibly. But
she didn’t think so. “I should go home,” she whispered.

He nodded. “Then
you need to turn loose of my finger.”

She jerked her
attention to their hands in between them, where she wasn’t so much “holding”
his finger as fondling it.

“Oh, good
grief,” she muttered. She released him and smirked when he chuckled.

Then he pulled
his sports coat off and wrapped it around her shoulders. “You’re shivering
again, but this time I think it’s from the cold.”

It was from the
cold. And from him. It was harder than she’d have thought
not to lean back into him.

“Will you answer
me one question before you go?” he asked.

She eyed him carefully.
Something told her to be very wary around him. “Possibly.”

“Wait,” he said,
holding up a hand. “Two questions. But the first is an easy one.” He continued
before she could butt in, “Will you let me take you home?”

“I told you I’m
not—”

“Just take you
home. Not go in, though you know I want to.” He motioned to the path leading
toward the sidewalk. “It’s cold. Let me drive you instead of you walking.”

“How do you know
I walked?”

He bent over and
picked up her silver heels, dangling them in one hand by the heel straps. “Because
you changed out of these.”

Hmmm. Good
observational skills.

“No,” she said. She
wasn’t letting him get anywhere near her house. “Second question?”

Eyes that she
knew were almost as dark as the night sky shone back at her. “Will you kiss me?”

Her mouth fell
open.

“A kiss doesn’t
have to lead to sex,” he pointed out.

“But you’re
hoping it will.”

“Sweetheart,
right now I just want to have a single taste of you. You wouldn’t believe how
many times I’ve dreamed about it.”

Which reminded
her of what he’d said before she’d gone on stage that morning. “You’ve seen me
play before, haven’t you? This morning you said I was brilliant onstage. Like you’d
seen me.” Her words slowed and she asked more hesitantly, “Or was that just to
calm me down?”

He studied her
silently in the dark. Finally, apparently pleased with what he saw, he gave a
small nod. “Twice. I would have attended more if you hadn’t quit.”

She glanced quickly
away, willing him not to ask her why she’d quit. A gust of cool air caught her
in the face and neck as she turned toward the ocean. She burrowed deeper into
his jacket.

“So …” he
said from behind her.

She steeled
herself for his next question. They were having such a nice moment. She wasn’t
ready for it to end.

But she also
wasn’t talking about her past.

“About that
kiss,” he finished.

She glanced back.
Stupid as it may be, she wanted to kiss him too. Though it would only make her
want more.

“Then you’ll
leave me alone?” she asked.

He didn’t
answer.

She huffed out a
sigh and faced him. “It’s not going to change anything, you know?”

“Meaning, I’ll
still be in the contest and you’ll still think it’s unprofessional?”

Pretty much. Or that
she knew Kayla would think it unprofessional.

“Kiss me,” he urged.

And he finally won.
Yes. Her breath grew shallow. Yes, she was going to kiss him.

Then she would
march herself home, pull out her favorite adult toy, and imagine it was Lucas.

Still, she
stalled. “Just once?” She watched a muscle in his jaw twitch.

“If that’s all
you want.”

Looking at the
man in front of her, she thought it might be all she could handle.

Two small steps
and she was back in front of him. She had her arms
crossed over her chest, each hand grasping a lapel, and she tilted her face up
to look at him. They were a foot apart, and he had about a foot of height on
her.
Hmmm
.

“Just a minute,”
she murmured.

She stepped
around him and moved up two steps before facing him again. Then she nodded.
This would work. She was now much closer to his eye level.

“You about ready?”
He was laughing at her.

She gave him an
evil eye. “If we’re just going to get one kiss, it should be done right, don’t
you think?”

A dangerous
gleam of white came from his mouth with his quick smile. “Oh, darlin’.” He took a step closer, butting his chest against her
crossed arms. “It’s going to be done right.”

She suspected it
would be.

Goosebumps lit
over her body. Her breath caught in her throat and she didn’t know what to do
next. She just wanted his mouth on hers.

“You going to
start it?” he asked softly.

Nerves had her
clenching her fingers tighter against the lapels. She nodded.

But she didn’t
close the distance.

A thump came
from above as if someone had bumped into the door, and she froze. The breath
she’d been holding slid out.

Lucas didn’t let
the noise bother him. He leaned forward, bent slightly at the neck, and brushed
his lips against one of her cheeks. It was a small, velvety touch. So soft she
wouldn’t have been sure what it was if she hadn’t been watching. It made her
ears ring.

He didn’t pull
back. “I’m waiting,” he whispered against her skin. His heady, masculine scent
surrounded her.

“Someone might
see us,” she whispered back. Her entire body hummed.

“Kiss me, Roni.”

Crap. The man
was going to make her lose her mind.

But she was
going to lose it in a very good way.

In a quick move,
she turned loose of the coat and lifted her arms. They went around his neck,
and he turned his lips to hers. She stared at him for one second. Looking
straight into his eyes even though it was too dark to see.

And then she
closed her eyes and closed the distance between their mouths.