Sackmaster (5 page)

Chapter Three

When she met him at her door a few minutes
later, Jimmy didn’t know what he’d expected, but it wasn’t the wholesome,
almost innocent-looking beauty with raven-black hair held away from her
scrubbed, makeup-free face with a white terry headband. He hadn’t pictured her
wearing those loose-fitting shorts or the modest, dark-green cotton knit tank
top, either. The woman who’d turned him every way but loose last night looked
like a lady of whom even his mom would approve. Not that Julie wasn’t still
gorgeous and incredibly sexy, because she was.

She gave him no hint of the erotic creature
in the ad he’d fallen in lust with, but part of him was glad. That image was
etched in his brain, and it didn’t bother him a bit that strangers who looked
at her wouldn’t see her that way.

That surprised Jimmy a little. He’d pretty
much persuaded himself during his marriage that it turned him on to have other
men ogling Belinda with her tight, slutty outfits and in-your-face sexiness.
The last year with her had taught him a lot of lessons, though, and helped him
grow up a little, he supposed, as he bent and kissed Julie before taking her
hand and heading downstairs and out of the condo building.

“You look great. Too good to be hanging out
with a big lug like me.”

She laughed then stood on tiptoe and kissed
the ticklish spot where his neck met his shoulder. “I think you look pretty
good yourself.”

He was glad he’d dug a clean polo shirt and
khaki cargo shorts out, instead of the t-shirt and exercise shorts that were
his usual casual attire. “I thought we’d have breakfast at one of the places
here on River Street and then check out the sights. I’m hoping you’ll show me
around. I’ve only been in Savannah a couple of months.”

“I’d love to. This has always been one of
my favorite places. I grew up not too far from Savannah, left when I was
eighteen and moved back from Manhattan two years ago.
For a
long time I wondered if I hadn’t just been running away, trying to escape bad
memories. But now I’m glad I did.”

When she looked up at him, a soft smile on
her face, his heart practically stopped. “I’m glad, too.” He’d been comfortable
lusting after Julie, but now as he realized he wanted friendship, too,
something akin to panic gripped him.
Idiot. You and Belinda used to be
friends, too.

Quickly he changed the subject. “How about
some good old-fashioned Southern cooking?” he asked, spying the stone front and
cheery-red awning of a familiar café farther down the block.

“I’m ready. Bernie’s is one of my favorite
places for brunch. I love their country ham and biscuits.”

Picking up their pace, he led the way to
the small, quaint restaurant and settled them at one of the tables in front so
they could look out over the Savannah River.

Somehow he’d had the idea that supermodels
ate like birds, but Julie surprised him and cleaned her plate while he called
for a second order of eggs and bacon. “Tell me about yourself.” When he met her
gaze from across the table, it struck him that he wanted to know all about what
made her tick. He cautioned himself not to get in too deep, but he had a
feeling that warning was likely to go unheeded.

“As I mentioned before, I’m an old Georgia
girl. Born and raised near Macon.” Her smile wavered when she mentioned her
parents’ death in a car accident when she was seventeen, the fact she had no
close relatives left. “If they’d lived I imagine I might have dug my feet into
the Georgia clay, settled down and raised my own family within yelling distance
of home.

“But I didn’t. Guess I was running from my
grief, but as soon as I got my high school diploma I bolted for New York City.
Applied with a modeling agency, got some good jobs, got married and divorced.”

“So what brought you back?” Jimmy sipped
his coffee, tried to picture the man who’d have let a woman like Julie slip
through his hands.

As if trying to figure that out for
herself, Julie stared out the window for a long time at the cobblestone street
and the boats moving slowly along the river. She lifted her cup, drank a little
tea then looked at Jimmy and spoke. “Homing instinct, I guess. I needed a new
scene, a place where I didn’t have to face the fact I’m no longer seventeen, no
longer playing at a happy marriage…” Her words trailed off, and she tore her
gaze away.

“How long were you married?”

“Nine years. Mostly playing in the BDSM
club scene. Lloyd was the talent agent who got me my first modeling assignment.
I thought he was the perfect Master—that is, until he dumped me for my
hairdresser. My male hairdresser.” She laughed, a nervous little sound that
conveyed anything but mirth. “I think it would have hurt less if he’d tossed me
out for another woman.”

Jimmy reached over and took her hand,
rubbed his thumb gently over hers. Fuck, he didn’t know what to say. Sure, he
knew some guys who swung both ways, including a couple of his new teammates.
The two tight ends—one was married and they shared his wife and each other in
scenes at Rebels’ Roost. He’d seen guys sucking and fucking each other in club
scenes. But Jimmy liked pussy. And he sure as hell couldn’t picture any man
preferring another
woman
to Julie, much less another
man
.

The silence was beginning to hang
unpleasantly between them. “He had to be insane.” That came out louder than he
intended, drew the attention of the waiter.

“Not insane. Just scared somebody would out
him to his very proper family, and willing to live in the shadows with his
decoy—me—and escape whenever he could into the club scene where he could
indulge his darkest fantasies.” She fiddled with her cup, her fingertips
clutching at the warmth. “That is, until he couldn’t take the lying anymore.”

Jimmy was feeling closed in, too. “Let’s
get out of here.” He glanced at the bill then stood and fished a couple of
twenties from his wallet. By the time he laid them on the table and looked for
Julie, she’d already headed outside.

What was there about Jimmy that had made
her need to spill her guts? It wasn’t as though they were lifelong friends, or
even long-term fuck buddies. Fighting back the urge to cry, Julie held on to
the wrought iron rail and tried to focus on the gently rolling river below.

She felt his body heat and realized he’d
come up behind her. As though he knew she needed to get herself collected, he
didn’t say anything, just splayed his big hands over her belly and drew her
close. They stayed that way a long time, as boats came and went like time in
slow motion and tourists flowed by them on the street, barely noticed.

“Sorry for dumping all the angst on you,”
she mumbled, covering his hands with hers and leaning closer so her words would
carry on the breeze.

“No problem, baby. I’m glad you figured I’d
understand. I just have trouble imagining any man wanting another woman when he
had you, let alone a guy. But then I’m disgustingly hetero.”

Unlike her ex, Jimmy had to bend to whisper
in her ear. His size and obvious strength made her feel protected, although
he’d left no doubt in her mind that he’d enslave her sexually without a qualm.
“Are you sure?”

“Yeah. I’m sure. I can’t get hard thinking
about having sex with anybody else, male or female, when I’m this close to
you.”

“Not even in a club scene?”

He nipped her earlobe, blew gently on it.
“Nope. Not that I haven’t enjoyed threesomes every now and then, or even the
occasional orgy among friends. But I’ve never gotten into the guy-on-guy
action. For the most part, I’m into mastering just one woman at a time.”

His cock swelled and hardened against her
spine. Good thing he had on loose cargo shorts or he might just have an obvious
problem if they broke apart and started strolling down the sidewalk. “You do a
great job of that.” She hesitated then turned and brushed her lips across his
cheek. “Master.”

“Am I?”

For a Dom, he sounded a little hesitant.
“If you want to be. You’ve probably figured out from my confession session that
I’m older than you—that is, if you hadn’t already guessed by looking at me.”

He let his hands drop to his sides, stared
for a long time toward the opposite riverbank. Finally he moved beside her and
turned her to face him, holding both her hands as firmly as the strongest set
of steel handcuffs could manage. “A little, probably. But it doesn’t matter.
Age is just a number. Forget about that, and Lloyd and his hairdresser, and
show me your beautiful smile.”

How could she help obeying? Being near him
made her feel happy, protected. She felt her sadness dissipate on a gentle gust
of wind off the river when she arranged her face into a smile that felt
surprisingly genuine. “How’s this?” she asked, her gaze locked on his
expressive brown eyes.

“Much better, baby. Let’s go get us some
dessert. One of the guys on the team was saying the other day that this place
called River Street Sweets makes the best pralines on earth.”

“They do. You’ll have to keep me back, or
I’ll be likely to gobble so many of them that I’ll eat myself right out of my
livelihood.” She laughed as they made a beeline down the walkway toward the
store that oozed potential obesity.

Jimmy took her arm, herded her through the
noisy crowd of mostly college kids, with the occasional retiree couple and
young family sprinkled in. “Is it always this crowded on River Street?”

“This isn’t half bad. You ought to come
here on a weekend when fall sets in, after it starts to cool off. All the
nightspots rock, dusk to dawn.”

“Nothing like centuries ago, when some of
these places were built,” Jimmy said, his tone a little wistful as he looked at
the ornate ironwork on the balcony of a century-old building.

“No. I imagine it would have felt a lot
different, back when ships came up the river to load their cotton and rice from
these buildings. Ladies in hoopskirts carrying parasols, gentlemen in string
ties and vests, and sporting chin whiskers.”

He fingered his goatee as they took a spot
at the candy-store counter to wait their turn. “Well, I’ve got the chin
whiskers, anyhow.”

“Yes, you do.” Julie squeezed his hand. “I
like the way they tickle my…” She’d have said “pussy” but she didn’t want to
scandalize the pair of older, conservatively dressed women standing next to
them.

“You do?” He sounded surprised.

“Uh-huh. You look good, too.”

Jimmy grinned. “Glad you think so. My ex
hated the facial hair, but I didn’t grow it for her. I found out my rookie year
that my helmet strap feels better when there’s a cushion between it and my
chin.”

Before Julie could ask him about this “ex”,
the busy counter clerk came up to take their order. Soon they headed outside,
Jimmy carrying a small bag with four pralines that he set between them on a
bench overlooking the river.

When he took two of the candies out and
handed her one, she took a bite. “You mentioned an ex. Want to tell me about
what happened?”

“Same thing as happens to a lot of kids who
marry right out of college. We’d been together what seemed like forever, but
the marriage didn’t last two years.” Frowning as though he didn’t want to talk
about it, he downed a praline in one bite. “You’re right, these are damn good.”

Julie sensed there was more to it than
simply growing up and apart from one another, but she wasn’t going to pry.
“Yes, they are.” For a long time they sat, watching boats go by. The silence
soon got deafening.

Then Jimmy turned to her and took her hand.
“We got into BDSM games. Pretty soon Belinda started playing with older Doms at
the club whenever I was out of town for away games. And sometimes when I was
home. End of story.”

When he let her hand go and looked back out
at the river, Julie knew the breakup affected him more than he admitted. “It
obviously bothered you. Understandably.”

“Yeah. The reason I’m here instead of
spending time back home before training camp starts next week is because I
don’t think I could run into her without wanting to do something…”

“I’m sorry, Jimmy.”

He looked at Julie again, and she saw the
hurt look in his eyes. “Wouldn’t be so bad if her dad wasn’t the foreman at my
parents’ ranch. He lives not even a mile from the main house, so she could pop
in any time.”

“That has to be hard.”

“Not so much anymore.” He paused. “But we
started dating in seventh grade. I still can’t go home and remember the good
times we had there without getting pissed all over again. I can’t keep from
remembering, though, especially knowing she could breeze in any day, right onto
the Lazy B.”

Julie wondered why Jimmy’s parents kept the
woman’s father on but figured it wasn’t her business. “In time the hurt will go
away. The first time I went back to New York for a photo shoot, I ran into
Lloyd and Rico on the street in midtown Manhattan. They looked happy as clams
while I was still an emotional wreck. I went to my hotel room and cried for
hours. After a couple of years I was able to run into them and feel nothing at
all.” Well, not really. There was that small twinge of regret that she’d been
so blind for so long, believing Lloyd was just busy the weeks at a time when he
ignored her between gorging them on BDSM sessions at the club. But she didn’t
need to tell Jimmy that.