Microsoft Word - T108JustDesserts.doc (8 page)

how much she loved her friends, the way she looked when

she lied and when she’d had too much tequila, and he

wanted to know more.

Glancing down at the piece of computer paper, he

carefully dialed the number she had written and ignored his

pounding pulse.

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Trilogy No. 108: Just Desserts

“Ha! A seven-letter word on a triple word score! Seventy-

one points.” Grace tapped the table in front of Donna none

too gently. “Write that down.”

“I got it, relax.” Donna added in Grace’s score and tried

not to feel like a loser, which she was, by being over one

hundred points behind her. Donna was usually the Scrabble

champion. She played the game enough, she should be good

at it. But tonight, her mind was not on the game.

Donna could try to blame it on the fact it was almost

eleven at night and she and Grace had polished off nearly a

bottle of wine. But that was their normal Scrabble routine, so

that could not be it. She knew the real reason she had been

coming up with far from brilliant moves the whole game,

three-letter words like “cat”…and that reason was another

three-letter word, Sam.

She should have stayed with him so when he woke up

she could take care of his injury. What if he needed help

getting changed into something comfortable to sleep in for

bed? The thought of Sam in bed made her cheeks feel hot.

“Ah hmm…are you going to put down a word any time

soon? Don’t make me get out the timer.” Grace raised a

threatening brow.

Donna glanced at the letters in her tray and then back at

the board. This late in the game, the board was crowded and

finding a space to put anything difficult. “It’s a tough

board,” she commented to Grace to buy herself time to make

a move.

“Yeah, yeah. You always think it’s a tough board. Just

go so I can lay down the last two tiles and put you out of

your misery.”

Donna sighed and added an “s” to an existing word.

“There,
cats
. Six points.”

Grace twisted her face into a vicious scowl. “Bitch.”

Donna smiled. Her word and her score may have sucked,

but judging by Grace’s reaction, Donna had foiled her plans

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Cat Johnson

for her next move and that was good enough, even if she was

losing. They tended to play offensive Scrabble where

screwing the other person meant far more than the final

score. But really, was there any other way to play?

Donna enjoyed watching Grace frown at the board,

looking for an alternate move and was about to suggest that

she might have to get out the timer when the ring of her cell

phone interrupted her unsportsmanlike mirth.

“Who’s calling this late? Everyone we know is here.”

Not exactly true, but close enough. Their friend Belinda

was traveling in Europe with her new love. Being the middle

of the night over there, it was doubtful the caller would be

her. Donna considered who else it might be and then her

eyes opened wide. “Jade? Maybe she’s freaking out over

today’s shooting. Like post-traumatic stress syndrome or

something.”

“Or something new happened with Daniel. Answer it,”

Grace practically ordered.

In the midst of feeling around in her purse for the phone,

Donna cried, “I’m trying!” She finally turned the bag upside

down on the floor and searched through the chaos until she

found the ringing, flashing object. She frowned down at the

unfamiliar number on the caller ID and then flipped open the

phone to answer it. “Hello?”

“Um, Donna? It’s Sam Smith.”

The shock and yes, excitement, must have shown on her

face because Grace looked ready to crawl out of her skin as

she silently yet forcefully mouthed to Donna, “Who is that?”

Donna felt instantly selfish and didn’t want Grace to

know it was Sam, but there would be no concentrating on

this call until she let Grace in on who it was. “Hi, Sam. How

does your arm feel?”

Grace’s eyes widened, apparently impressed with the

identity of the caller.

“Eh, it hurts like a bitch…uh, a lot. Makes it a bit hard to

get around, but I’ll live.”

“Did you find your painkillers? I left them on the table

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Trilogy No. 108: Just Desserts

right inside the door.” She liked the feeling of reminding this

man where she’d left his pills, kind of like they were a

couple.

“I did, thanks. Um, you know, I feel kinda bad about

falling asleep on you after you were sweet enough to drive

me home and all. I thought maybe you could come over and

join me for a bite so I could make it up to you. I was

thinking about ordering in a pizza, nothing fancy, but…”

Donna listened as Sam’s deep sexy voice sent chills

through her over the phone. It was nearly eleven o’clock and

she had to work in the morning. The last thing she should be

doing was going over there. “Sure, I’d love to come over. I’ll

be there in a few minutes.”

“Great, I’ll place the order. Anything special on it?”

Extra Sam would be nice. “Nope, whatever you want is

good.” She usually ordered fresh mushrooms and if they had

it, spinach but she somehow had a feeling Sam wasn’t into

the vegetarian stuff. She would probably arrive to find a

double pepperoni pizza swimming in grease but she didn’t

really care. She wasn’t going for the pizza.

“Great. That’s really great. I’ll see you soon then. Bye.”

She hung up as she smiled at Sam’s nervously repeating

himself. Then she glanced up at Grace.

“Well?” her friend demanded impatiently.

Donna started to retrieve the mess from the floor and

shove the stuff back into her bag. “He wants me to come

over.”

“Now?” Grace asked in disbelief.

“Yes.” Donna tried to keep the smile from her face.

Grace was adamantly shaking her head and hoisting

herself out of the chair.

“Why are you shaking your head at me? I’m a single

adult and I’m going.”

“Of course you are going, but not until you fix yourself

up first. Are you crazy? A man calls you to come over this

late and there is only one reason for it that I know of and you

are not going looking like that! Go into my bathroom and put

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Cat Johnson

some hairspray in your hair and put on some lipstick and

blush, you look like death. I’ll go find my black velvet top in

the closet. You can wear that. No man wants to see a girl in a

sweatshirt. And you can borrow The Amulet, too, for good

luck.”

Donna raised a brow. The Amulet, Grace’s lucky dating

necklace, this was serious. The enormity of the situation

began to take shape.

“Maybe you should bring a bottle of wine,” Grace

suggested. “You know, to set the mood.”

Donna, already in ‘the mood’, frowned. “He’s taking

pain killers. I don’t want to kill him.”

“Yeah, guess not. Do you have a condom with you?”

Grace asked matter-of-factly.

That question stopped Donna in her tracks. “No! Why

would I need a condom to come over and play Scrabble with

you?”

Grace shook her head. “A single girl should always be

prepared. You never know.” She went to a drawer just inside

her bedroom door and pulled out a strip of foil packages.

“You better take a few. He looked like quite a man.”

Donna started to protest that she probably wouldn’t even

need one, then reconsidered. She was going to a man’s

apartment—one she was very attracted to—practically in the

middle of the night. Shoving the entire strip Grace handed

her into her purse Donna mumbled a ‘thanks’ while her heart

sped at the thought she might very well be using them this

very night.

Perhaps being a lesbian might be easier, but it would not

be half as much fun.

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Trilogy No. 108: Just Desserts

“Well, Casanova, you are in luck. My brother-in-law the

pharmacist says the prescription painkillers you are taking

should not adversely affect your sexual performance. Of

course, it will still be only as good as usual. I can’t help you

there.” Gary sounded extremely smug over the phone.

“What’s wrong, Gary? Jealous?” Sam didn’t like the

ribbing, and he did not dare even imagine that conversation

between Gary and his brother-in-law, but he did like the

answer. If it got that far with Donna, which he surely hoped

it would, his only issue would be his bum arm. There was

enough caffeine now coursing through his body that falling

asleep again would definitely not be a problem. He would be

‘up’ all night.

Sam chuckled at his own little pun as Gary answered his

previous question, “Hell yeah, I’m jealous! Have fun, you

lucky bastard.”

“Oh, believe me, I will. Talk to you tomorrow…
late

tomorrow.”

“Gotcha.” He could hear Gary laughing as he hung up.

Pizza ordered, annoying friend disposed of, sexual

performance fears dispelled...now all he needed was the girl.

Hearing a tentative knock on the door, Sam smiled as his list

became complete.

Using his one good arm, Sam unlocked and opened the

door to reveal the vision of his dream girl.

“Hi.” She smiled brightly up at him until her gaze

dropped to the bandage clearly visible. He had managed to

put on a sleeveless tank top, but that was all. Donning a real

shirt had been beyond him at the time since the painkillers

had worn off.

Sam watched Donna’s face soften, along with her voice.

“Does it still hurt? Can I help you do anything?”

In actuality, the pills had kicked in a while ago. It did

still ache, but the outright pain was gone. No need for her to

know that, though, and there was plenty he could think of for

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Cat Johnson

her to do. Sam raised his good hand to the bandage and

watched her eyes follow his movement. “It hurts a bit. I’ll be

fine, though.”

Her eyes rose to his and he saw something in them that

nearly stopped his heart, raw blatant lust. That was right

before she took a step forward, then another and raised both

hands to his face. He watched in amazement as she leaned

forward and closed the last few inches between them and her

soft lips touched his. It was as if lightening shot through his

entire body when their mouths met.

Donna kissed him until he stumbled back from the force

of it. The back of his legs hit the couch and he fell

backwards with her in his lap. Then the lightening was

shooting through his gunshot wound. He ignored the pain,

instead opting to tangle his good hand in her hair, angle her

head slightly and slide his eager tongue into her warm, wet

mouth.

She moaned and opened her mouth wider, taking his

tongue deeper into her. He definitely wanted to be deeper.

He echoed her sentiment wholeheartedly with an answering

groan of his own when her body pressed closer against the

ever-hardening erection within the jeans he still wore.

Gary’s pharmacist brother-in-law had been right, Sam

was definitely back in the saddle in the love department. He

swore he could hear bells from the sensation her now-

gyrating body caused in his more than ready cock. Then the

doorbell chimed and he did hear bells.

“Shit. That’s the pizza.”

“Ignore it. I don’t want any pizza.” She smiled down at

him and wiggled a bit more, rubbing herself against the seam

of his jeans situated perfectly to cause the most agonizing

pleasure.

As hungry as he thought he had been when he placed the

order, he didn’t want any pizza either right then, but the

delivery guy was not going to leave until he opened the door.

Besides, it was the best pizza in town and he didn’t want to

be blackballed from ordering from there again. “I’ll just be a

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Trilogy No. 108: Just Desserts

sec, angel. Promise.”

Ignoring the raging hard-on in his pants, Sam flung open

the door, threw some money at the kid, giving him far too

generous of a tip, and had the door closed and locked again,

the pizza stowed safely on the cocktail table, in record time.

He practically sprinted back to the sofa when he noted

Donna had visibly cooled. She sat biting her lip and looking

uncertain.

Damn, he was barely gone a minute. What had

happened? How could a woman go from hot to cold in so