Maddy's Oasis (15 page)

“It’s crowded!” she shouted.

“Tequila sells for a quarter a shot tonight!”
Jake said. “You drink tequila?”

“Not really.”

Her eyes took in the chiseled body ascending
the stairs before her. He wore dark jeans, a worn though fitted
dark T-shirt, and boots. They reached the second floor, where half
a dozen pool tables were spaced across the floor with the wall
edged in tall, round bar tables and stools. Jake led her to the
table at the far end, where she recognized Toni, Eric, two blonds,
and a couple of others from the site.

She almost sighed at the
sight of Jake’s
ex
-
girlfriend. For a woman he was
supposed to have broken up with, she was around more than Madeleine
cared to see her.

Jake handed her back the pink drink and
accepted a pool cue from Toni, who winked at her.

“You play?” he asked as Jake stepped to the
table.

“Not very well,” she replied.

“Eric here’s a demon,” Toni said as the
smaller man in the large cowboy hat approached. Eric grinned.

“You play pool?” she asked, aware of how
little she knew of Eric’s life outside the office.

“I was my college's champion,” Eric said.
“I’m glad you came!”

She raised her drink in response and took a
sip.

“Eric's played every round so far," Toni
said, then studied her. “Go sit down-- you look beat!”

She did as he suggested and sat heavily in
one of the bar stools at the nearby table. She relaxed, ignoring
the two blonds at her right, and watched the three men play.

Eric
was
a demon at pool. He played
against both Toni and Jake with an ease and sociable manner she'd
never seen in him elsewhere. She studied his youthful features,
troubled that she had worked with him for two years without knowing
even where he was from or what college he attended. Their
fast-paced office didn't give either of them the time for personal
chats. Watching him, she realized how little she knew about the man
she'd worked so closely with.

The Eric she thought she knew would never
have worn jeans.

She stirred her drink absently, her eyes
following the beautiful, petite blond-- Lily-- as she sauntered up
to Jake with a suggestive smile. She rested a hand on Jake’s arm,
maneuvering in front of him to stand as closely as possible while
she gazed up at him with her large, doll-like blue eyes.

Madeleine rolled her eyes and looked away in
agitation. Toni’s smile widened from across the table as he caught
her eye. Eric’s gaze, too, fell on the blond, but he frowned with
unusual grimness.

“Jake, you’re up!” Toni bellowed.

Jake moved away from the blond, and Madeleine
caught the twitch of his jaw. The man was hard to read, but she had
begun to understand the exaggerated drawl and twitching jaw were
signs of annoyance. Both occurred regularly around her.

Jake missed his ball, and Eric sprang
forward, ending their match.

“I’ll buy the next round!” Eric called.

“The losers’re supposed to buy!” Jake said
with a smile.

“It’s an honor! What’re you having?”

He took their orders and moved through the
pool area to the stairs. She watched him go and looked at Jake as
the large Texan shifted toward her. He rested his cue on the table
and leaned against the wall beside her, sipping a beer. Dark eyes
moved lazily over the room. His frame radiated heat, the woodsy
scent of his aftershave tickling her nose.

Toni and Lily stepped to the table for a
match.

“I need your help, sweetie,” Lily called in
her honeyed voice, eyes on Jake.

“You can manage,” he said without looking at
her.

Madeleine almost smiled. Lily batted her long
eyelashes and gave another smile before turning away and making a
scene of bending over the table until the miniskirt nearly revealed
everything beneath. Jake ignored her, turning to face Madeleine. He
boxed her in, his left hand on the table and his large, heated body
before her. She leaned her head back to meet his gaze.

“Sorry about today,” he started.

“Too late to change things now,” she said.
“Thank you for trying.”

“Just doing my job,” he said. “Can I expect
to see you leave the site more often?”

“Probably not. Mr. Howard still wants the
building complete in far shorter time than is feasible. It’ll be
harder for me to push for funding after-- sorry. I shouldn’t have
mentioned that.”

She searched his face, waiting for him to
jump all over the financial aspect like a normal businessman
should. It was Jake’s turn to shrug.

“We’ve known there was a funding issue,” he
replied, unconcerned.

“That doesn’t bother you?” she prodded. “Back
east, you’d have cancelled the contract by now.”

“We’re not back east,” he said with an edge,
raising an eyebrow.

“You really hated it there, didn’t you?”

“Not my kinda place. Too rushed, too many
people concerned about things that don’t really matter,” he
said.

“People like me.”

“Yeah.”

“You don’t
always
act like you
despise me,” she said, resting her head against the wall behind
her. His gaze fell to her mouth.

“I’ve never despised you, Madeleine.”

“So that whole, last person on the face of
the earth …”

“I didn’t say you don’t drive me crazy.”

“You know, you-- ” she started, straightening
in her chair. Her face grew hot.

“There’s the spark. Haven’t seen it in a few
days.” Jake cut her off with a small smile. “Yes, Madeleine, you
drive me crazy. Your priorities are damn screwed up, but you’re a
solid, honest person, so I can’t truly despise you.”

“My
priorities are screwed up?” she echoed. “You know nothing
about me, Jake. Coming from a typical ego-driven man, I’d say that
means you think I pay too much attention to things other
than
you
!”

“Bingo.”

She stared at him, unwilling to read more
into his words but her heart quickening nonetheless. He continued
to gaze at her with a directness that made her uncomfortable. She
felt trapped by her own attraction to him once again. He planted
his booted foot on the bottom rung of the barstool and rested his
knee against the wooden seat between her legs, preventing her from
rising.

“Going somewhere?” he asked with deliberate
casualness.

There was a challenge in his gaze that made
her body heat and pulse double. She wanted to wiggle away from him,
get the hell away, and regain herself and control of the
situation.

“To the bathroom,” she shot back in a voice
she hoped sounded cool.

He leaned closer to her until their faces
were inches apart. She heard and felt his breath and could only
gaze at him. Dark eyes the color of melted chocolate captured her
with their intensity, and she felt heat bloom and spread through
her.

“You, Madeleine Winters, are a coward.”

His voice was low and silky, the tension
between them brittle. He dropped his foot from the stool and turned
away without moving far. She stood for a quick escape, her face and
body hot. Lightheadedness made her reach for the table to steady
herself. She drew a deep breath, surprised to find herself
breathing fast.

As she stepped away, she sought to convince
herself it was the alcohol affecting her and not the six feet of
solid male who had just told her in his own weird way that he was
interested in her. She spent fifteen minutes in the bathroom trying
to convince herself he didn't mean it, and even if he did, it
didn't matter. When she felt settled, she returned to the pool room
to find all five of them huddled around the small table. A tray of
shot glasses filled with a warm golden liquid were in the center of
the table with empty shot glasses around it.

Jake and Eric each took a shot as she walked
in. Eric choked, but Jake gave a satisfied growl as he slapped the
glass down on the table.

“C’mere, city-girl,” Toni said, gripping her
arm as she approached.

“No, I’m not-- ”

“I dare you.”

At Jake’s words, she stopped mid-sentence.
Fifteen minutes in the bathroom couldn't take away the desire
bubbling within her. It did nothing to diminish the sexy Texan’s
chiseled features, hard body, or the look of pure challenge in his
eye that made her want to prove to him she wasn't the coward he
claimed she was.

“Fine. What do I do?” she demanded.

“Drink!” Toni exclaimed, and pushed two shots
of tequila toward her.

“Cheers!” Jake raised his shot glass.

Madeleine glared at him but clinked her glass
to his and tossed back her head. Fire slid down her throat. She
forced back a gag and dropped the shot glass to the table.

“That all you got?” she retorted. Jake
smiled, his eyes taking in her face and resting on her mouth once
more.

“City-girl can drink,” Toni yelled.

“Let’s see what you can do,” Jake said.
“Three shots. First one done wins. You up?”

“Yes!”

He set three shot glasses before her and
glanced at Toni.

“Ready, set, go!”

Toni’s cry would be one of the last memories
she had of the night.

CHAPTER SEVEN

The harsh buzz of Jake's alarm clock tore
through the heavy slumber of a drunkard. Before even awaking fully
he felt the pulse of a tequila headache. He rolled and slapped the
nightstand once, twice, three times without reaching the annoying
clock.

He opened his eyes and focused on the blurry
red numbers. The morning light was too bright already. A
well-placed blow silenced the buzzing demon, and he rolled onto his
back, slinging an arm over his eyes.

Almost immediately he became aware of the
sounds of movement and rustling within his room. Curious,
irritated, he peeked from beneath his arm. He pushed himself onto
his elbows and gazed at Madeleine, who paced his room.

“Madeleine?” He forced the words through a
cotton mouth. “Am I that late for work?”

She faced him, an astonished look crossing
her face before it flamed red. Green eyes were even more beautiful
sparkling with anger. He'd never seen her hair down before, and the
halo of auburn curls surprised him. She was stunning when she
wasn't so concerned about keeping every little thing about her in
perfect control.

“Don’t play games with me, Jake!” she
snapped. “I guess now you’ll feign memory loss?”

He stared at her, baffled. She sat heavily on
the rocking chair in the corner and pulled on her socks. He looked
down at his naked form covered by a sheet and sat up with sudden
interest.

“You’re not here because I’m late,” he
said.

His eyes went to the clock, which read
seven-thirty, then to the pretty pink panties bunched next to the
clock.

“So, we slept together?” he asked.

He heard her movement stop and felt her fiery
gaze.

“God, I wish I hadn’t drunk so much,” he
groaned.

“You don’t remember at all!”

“Do you?” he challenged.

She made no answer, and he faced her again,
watching her search the room. She was pale and unsteady on her
feet.

“What have I done?” she muttered to
herself.

“Damned if I know,” he said, entertained.

“I’m not talking to you!”

“What are you doing?”

“Looking for my … my things,” she said,
growing redder.

“Like these?”

He reached over and plucked up the underwear,
dangling them in front of his face with a smile. She gave him a
long look.

“What’ll we do?” she asked in a hushed
tone.

Jake understood the question but faked
ignorance. He balled up the panties and tucked them under the
pillow behind him.

“I say you take your clothes off and we do
something we’ll both remember.”

Madeleine’s face blazed again.

“If anyone finds out, if Mr. Howard or Nigel
finds out …”

“So you slept with someone,” he said. “Why
should they give a damn?”

She snatched her purse off the floor.

“This didn’t happen, Jake,” she said, turning
to him. “We’ll just … be like nothing happened.”

“I think it was meant to
happen and
is
meant to happen again,” he said in annoyance.

“No, it can’t.”

The woman had a way of pissing him off
without trying. He rose and wrapped the sheet around his waist.

“If a man and a woman are attracted to each
other, there’s no reason not to,” he said. “Try to tell me you’re
not attracted to me, and I’ll call bullshit before you finish.”

“Would you deny being attracted to me?” she
asked.

“Not at all. I’ve wanted you for a long, long
time, and I still want you now,” he replied. “If you decide to pull
your head out of your ass anytime soon, give me a call, and we’ll
go out.”

She stared at him in surprise. Angry at her
once more, he strode past her into the bathroom and slammed the
door.

She dropped by the hotel to
pick up Duke then went straight to the site, humiliated and angry.
Her head
hurt
.
Everything was going wrong! She was doomed, even if she finished
the project on time, which would never happen. She couldn't ask for
a transfer off the project; Nigel had been clear it was her last
project as Mr. Howard’s employee. She needed to find a job before
this one was over.

Queasiness at her unsettled stomach made her
reach for a stack of crackers. What would she do if it did fail?
Yet, as dire as her situation was with her mother's financial
issues, she couldn't take her mind off what had happened the night
before.

She'd never,
ever
had a one-night
stand in her life! She'd never accepted a tequila shot challenge,
never awoken some place she could not remember arriving at, never
been as overwhelmed by a single day in her life.