Shockwave (Calendar Men: Mr. May) (6 page)

“For taking advantage, treating you like shit—being a jerk. Should I go on?”

She sighed. “Can we start over?”

“Yeah. My name is Tanner North. I’ve never dated a redhead, but I think I might change my ways since I met this really hot one. I love Italian food, watching the stars, and reading romance to ladies in the nursing home, and if you haven’t had anything to eat yet, I’d like to take you out for a pizza.”

“I haven’t, and I am starving. Can you give me a minute to change into something else first?” She blushed a deep red and looked away. Could she be reliving the supply closet and the heavy petting? The front of his pants grew tight. She glanced down and, for the millionth time, turned a lovely shade of scarlet. Yeah, he sported wood, and he didn’t care if she knew how badly he wanted her.

“Take as long as you want.” He smiled and headed for the door, stopping to glance back. She gave him a weak smile and fiddled with her shirt. What would hearing what she had to say hurt? A gut feeling told him what she wanted was more important than he’d first believed. “We’ll talk over dinner about the photo shoot you mentioned. Not saying I’m onboard, but I’ll hear you out. Sound okay?”

She nodded. He shut the door and leaned against the wall, again, to wait.

***

Lannie wore a green sweater and a pair of blue jeans; faded, loved, they molded to her curves, accentuating her voluptuous figure. She didn’t look like a slob, but she also didn’t look like she wanted to seduce him. Yeah, she had her agenda, and he could only guess what.

She wouldn’t look at him while they waited for their pizza and, anytime he managed to catch her eye, she turned a shade of burgundy and began to play with the wrapper from her straw. Twisting, rolling, folding, everything but turning the paper into an origami crane.

“Something bothering you?” He grabbed her hand.

“I...no.” She pulled away. “You said you would hear me out?”

“Yes.”

“I’m trying to get a job, one I need, and the man doing the hiring has more or less told me if I can’t get you for this calendar shoot, I won’t get the position.” She looked up. “I had no idea you’d be here. I drove straight from the interview to see my grandmother. That’s the truth and I know what it looks like. If you did agree, the calendar they’re putting together would be for a good cause, to raise money for wounded veterans.”

“So, I wouldn’t have to pose naked, would I?”

“Oh, no.” She flushed pink again, the color reaching the tips of her ears. “Not at all, but I’m sure they’d like you to show a little chest.” Her face got even darker, and she looked down, breaking eye contact.

He grasped her hand again, and when she tried to pull away, he wouldn’t let her. “Tell me what’s got you frazzled here.”

“I’d rather not say.”

He fought the smile tugging on his lips. “About our time in the closet?”

She sucked in a breath. “No. Yes. Maybe.”

“Did the ladies say something...?”

“No!” She grabbed her ice water and began to chug it like she’d been in the desert for a month.

He eyed her. Yeah, they’d said something. Which brought him full circle back to the mysterious bag she’d claimed held an arts and crafts project. First chance he had, he’d pull what she’d stashed out of the closet and see what Lannie Sawyer had to hide. “Easy on that stuff. I don’t want you buzzing when I take you back to my room.”

She choked and coughed, slamming the glass down nearly empty.

“The old ladies are your hot button. I’ve never seen anyone abuse water like whiskey in order to avoid answering a question.”

“What? I’m not avoiding anything.”

“I call bullshit. Tell me what they said—after I left.” He leaned back and crossed his arms over his chest. He’d known them for six year, well most of them. Lannie’s grandmother was a new acquaintance, but every bit like-minded when it came to her granddaughter’s happiness,  and it said a lot if the ladies were trying to set them up.

They’d tried before in the past with several of their granddaughters, and he’d always passed. They were experts at applying pressure and blindsiding their granddaughters who had no idea he existed until they sprung the trap was their specialty. If they thought there might be a remote possibility of getting them together, which the closet incident would make them certain of, they’d go for the throat. He had an idea the direction of the conversation, but he wanted to hear what they had to say from Lannie—see what they’d given her to put him under her spell. They weren’t in short supply of ideas, not after all the racy novels he’d read them.

She squirmed, shifting in her seat, opened her mouth and the waitress came over with their pizza, setting the pan between them.
Ding, ding. Saved by the bell
. Tanner gave her his most wicked smile. “Later.”

“I’m starving.” She grabbed a slice of the pie, folding it in half and taking a bite while she pretended she hadn’t heard him. Oh, but she had. Her hands shook and damn if the woman didn’t look spooked. Before the sun rose and the cock crowed, he’d find out what had her ready to flee as if he jumped at her and said
boo
.

As a cerebral person, he loved solving mysteries, and Lannie Sawyer was a puzzle he would enjoy dissecting. Yeah, he knew he should be running for the hills, considering all the trouble she’d caused him in the past, but now that he’d kissed those plump lips, he didn’t want to run.

On second thought, maybe he ought to loosen her up first. Any more tense and she’d snap. One thing might work. It had been a long time since he’d gone out dancing, and spinning Lannie around the floor held a great deal of appeal. “There’s a country bar down the road. You ever dance—the two step.”

“No.”

“Then tonight is your lucky night. I happen to know how.”

Lannie scuffed her boot on the hard oak, taking note of the sawdust on the floor. She’d have to watch her step or risk landing on her ass. She’d never been all that coordinated and, as she watched the couples move around the room, her anxiety rose.

He’d heard her out, but he hadn’t given her an answer yet, and she’d no reason not to humor him, even if country music wasn’t her thing. Tanner dropped a twenty at the door for their cover and came up behind her. He turned her around and walked her backward, toward the open area in front of the stage. Grabbing one of her hands, he guided her palm to his waist. The other, he held. “Ready?” He gave her a shit-eating grin.

“I don’t know how to....”

“Follow my lead. Do everything I do, backward. Right back, left back, right slow, pause, left slow. Then we’ll do the steps again.”

The band started up, with a twangy guitar, and Tanner stepped forward with his left and on her foot. “You have to move. Try again. Here we go, on the count of three. One. Two. Three.” He stepped forward and she stepped back. They repeated on the other side. “Right, left, right, pause, left, bring them together. Quick, quick, slow, pause, slow, together.” Within seconds, they were moving around the floor. After about ten minutes, Tanner spun her and screwed up any control she’d maintained.

Lannie tripped, but he caught her with a hand behind her back and made her klutziness look like a dip. When he pulled her up, the world rushed forward, and she laughed. “Yee haw. How do you know how to do this?”

“I’m from Wyoming, grew up there. Ready?”

She shook her head.

“You got this. Start again. Right, left, right slow, pause, left slow, together, and now I spin you.”

“No!” She blurted out too late. He whipped her under his arm, brought her back so they were chest-to-chest, and much closer than they’d danced before.

He paused for a second to wink and started the process all over again. “Now we’re going to pick the pace up a bit.”

“Oh, crap.”

She stepped on his foot.

Tanner leaned in and whispered in her ear. “Close your eyes, listen to the beat, and move in the direction I take you.”

She did as instructed and he whirled her around, moving them across the floor. With her eyes closed, it proved easier to follow him and focus on the beat. When they came to an abrupt stop, with the music still playing, Lannie’s lids snapped open. He’d navigated her to a dark corner off the side of the stage and stared down at her with a great deal of intensity.

“Want something to drink?” She licked her lips. “We can grab a beer.”

Tanner shook his head.

“Are you tired?”
Thump, thump, thump
, her pulse pounded.

“Not at all.”

“Then why are we standing...?”

“You are so beautiful.” His mouth covered hers in a kiss, sending her into a bigger spin than all the dancing they’d done. Her toes curled back to her heels and a ball of heat blossomed in her stomach. The world reeled. Good Lord, she was a goner if he kept doing things like that.

He reached into her hair and tugged free the stick she’d wound her unruly locks on, and dropped it. Her hair fell around her shoulders and down to the middle of her back. Tanner grabbed a fistful and tugged her head back to expose her throat. Diving in, he kissed her neck, nipping his way down to a sensitive spot behind her ear. She soaked her panties. One second more and she’d find a closet and push him inside to finish what they’d started earlier. She’d never been with a man so direct—or bold, but she should have known what to expect after the last time they clashed.

He broke the kiss and pressed his forehead to hers. “I want more. I want you naked and underneath me, but before we go there—and we will, I want to let you know I’m going to do the shoot. Call your guy.”

Her heart pounded, beating so hard she forgot to breathe. She’d get the job and have solid credits to get her back on the journalistic map, and put enough experience on her resume to secure a serious job in New York City. He’d saved her noni from a bad situation and become her biggest hero. “Are you serious?”

“Yes, I want to fuck you six ways to Tuesday.”

She smacked his arm. “Not that—the shoot. You’re going to do it? You’re not agreeing to go along to get into my pants?”

“Said I would, and no, I’d already decided I’d get into your pants before I said yes.”

She raised a brow and opened her mouth to tell him not to be so certain, but didn’t get a chance.

An old man pulled out a fiddle and stepped up to the microphone. He rested his instrument on his shoulder, tucking the body into the crook of his neck, before lifting the bow and tearing up the stage with music born in the Great Smoky Mountains; sounds she imagined would have livened up the room one hundred years before as much as the melody did now.

“Now this is the shit.” Tanner grinned. “Dance with me.”

“To this? I can’t....”

“You keep saying you can’t, but I’ve yet to see you can’t.” Tanner grabbed her hand and pulled her out on the floor. “Everyone can swing—jitterbug.”

In and out, around and around, Lannie whirled and spun until breathless. Her belly hurt from laughing, her damp hair stuck to the back of her neck, and her feet ached without mercy, but she’d never had more fun on a date. That he didn’t drag her off to bed after he told her he wanted her, said a lot. He savored the moment, no matter what the moment. In a matter of hours, Tanner North had stolen her heart.

***

Tanner held her tight as they stumbled into her room at two in the morning, laughing as though they were drunk, even though they’d shared one beer between them the entire night. He leaned in and kissed her neck, savoring the way she shivered under his mouth.

The second she turned the deadbolt, she grabbed the heel of her boot, while hopping on the other foot and yanked it off, repeating the process. She stood and up and smiled. “So....”

Tanner was on her. “Now where were we earlier? Yeah.” He backed her against the door. “Right about here.” He popped the button on her jeans and unzipped them. Leaning in, he caught her lower lip between his teeth and tugged. “They say a woman’s pussy is the same color as her lips. You must look like a fucking goddess down there,” he murmured against the corner of her mouth. “I love your sassy mouth.”

“You are a bad boy, Tanner North. I don’t care what my grandmother says.”

“So you
were
talking about me.” He pushed his hands inside the waistband, running his palms along her hips, shucking the fabric off her hips and down her ass, letting the denim drop to her ankles, following up with a squeeze to her left cheek.

“Maybe.” She pulled her feet out one at a time, kicking her jeans away. “Maybe not.”

“I think I’ll need to interrogate to find out what.” He let his gaze travel from the tips of her toes back up to her face. “I’d say this is right about where we left off.”

When he claimed her mouth, she closed her eyes. Tanner grabbed her hair again, holding her to him, devouring her with the hunger of a man starved. She peeked from under thick lashes, holding his gaze. It had been a long time, if ever, since he’d been with a woman as hot.

Not letting go for a good long while—if ever. He hooked the crotch of her panties, tugged them off her mound, and slid a finger along her crease until her found her clit. Lannie bucked against him, so he pinched the swollen nub between his index and thumb, with some force, but not enough to inflict pain. She gasped and did the unexpected, coming hard enough to drip onto his hand. “Holy shit, honey. You always get off that quick?”

“Only with you.”

Hell, the woman could become a sexual addiction in short order. “Let’s go for two.” He caught her earlobe in his teeth and slipped two fingers into her pussy, twisting and curling them up when he found what he sought.
G
equaled go, and Lannie’s diminishing orgasm exploded to life, sending more cream running onto his hand.

“Fuck me.” She slammed her head back into the door. “I want a hard, nasty screw against the wall. Now.”

“You got a condom?” He pumped his fingers in and out, milking the spasms for all they were worth.

“Um.” Lannie groaned and rocked, riding his fingers. “I’m on the pill and clean—never had sex without a rubber.” She panted as he slipped a third digit in. “Please tell me you’re all set.”