The Hottest Ticket in Town (4 page)

6

L
ACI
DROVE
INTO
W
OODSVILLE
, sunglasses on, trying as much as possible to blend in, but really, that was a tall order, particularly while wearing the glittery sparkler of a costume that practically screamed,
Hey, look at me!
While that worked well for being onstage, it definitely made her stand out—in a bad way—in a small town where cotton blends were the norm. The last thing she needed was someone to recognize her and Trent to find out prematurely where she was. She knew she had to return at some point—she had a tour to finish—but she wasn't ready to face that world again. Not yet. First things first, she needed to find some different clothes.

Laci walked into the first clothing store she found, a small consignment/thrift store. She cringed at the odd stares coming her way and hustled to the racks to find some simple jean shorts and T-shirts to get her through the next few days. As luck would have it, she actually found quite a few cute outfits and scooped them up before the stares turned into questions she wanted to avoid.

Standing at the checkout, she asked the clerk, “May I use your dressing room to change?”

“Sure, honey,” the woman answered, giving Laci a speculative and openly curious look. “That's some outfit you have there.”

Laci risked a brief smile. “Costume party,” she answered with what she hoped was a believable lie, but she didn't waste time on details and simply disappeared into the changing room with her new-to-her clothing.

The fact was, being a celebrity wasn't quite what she'd thought it was going to be like. All those people wanting a piece of her every night was more than a little unsettling. All she'd ever wanted to do was sing. Now, people wanted more than just her voice, they wanted her damn clothing, too! Once, a woman had practically ripped a piece of her costume off her body, screeching with victory as she'd sprinted away from Security with her prize. Laci had been stunned that someone would want a piece of her sweaty costume and then a little freaked out because what was the woman going to do with it? But Simone had been pissed as hell because she'd spent hours sewing that costume.

At the thought of Simone, Laci almost picked up her cell and gave her a ring, but she couldn't bring herself to do even that—not that she didn't want to worry Simone, but she couldn't take the chance that Trent might be lurking nearby.
Trent's not a bad guy
, her daddy's voice chided her from inside her mind.
He's made you a star and this is a fine howdy-do you've handed him for all his hard work
.
I raised you better than that, didn't I?

Laci pursed her lips.
True, Daddy, but Trent's driving me into the ground. I need this
.
Just a few days, I promise.

Her next stop was the small, locally owned furniture store, Bleudell's. She walked into the store and went straight to the appliances. Cora wouldn't want something too fancy, but maybe something just slightly better than what she had. Maybe even the same model, only newer, she thought, eyeing the refrigerators.

“Can I help you find something?” The friendly voice at her back caused her to turn with a shy smile, a little afraid of being recognized, particularly by someone who might've known her when she was a kid spending her summers in Woodsville. “That there is a good model, but the best value is in the stainless-steel one.”

“It's for a friend and she's a little stuck in her ways, so I want to get something that's close to what she's got,” she explained to the woman wearing a polite, retaily smile. “I mean, I'd love to buy her the state-of-the-art appliance if she'd let me, but I don't want to buy something she's going to end up eyeing sidewise, you know?”

“Do I know your friend? Maybe I can help.”

She opened her mouth but thought better of it, saying, “No, I don't think so. She keeps to herself. What's the price on this model?”

“That'll set you back about eight hundred dollars,” the saleswoman answered. “I can guarantee that's the best price you're gonna find in the surrounding area.”

Laci gave the woman a short smile, murmuring, “I'll take it. Can you have it ready by the end of the day?”

“We can deliver it if you like, honey. Where's it going?”

She shook her head, not wanting people gossiping when they found out it was for the Bradford ranch. “I'll have someone pick it up. Can you show me the stoves?”

“That's some friend you have. I wish I had a friend like you who bought me new appliances. Is this by any chance a special fella you're buying for?”

Laci barked a laugh. “Goodness, no, just a friend. About those stoves?” she asked, gently directing the saleswoman with a smile. The woman took the hint and accompanied her to the stoves, where Laci promptly found one that was strikingly similar to Cora's but newer and pulled her credit card. One swipe later, she had a receipt for purchase and a scheduled time for pickup later that evening.

An hour later, Laci had managed to buy everything on her list, including enough groceries for the next few days. It'd been a long time since she'd cooked a homemade meal and she was itching to see if she could still remember the basics. There was a certain level of happiness at the idea of cooking for Kane, even if she knew it was dangerous to indulge in such a fantasy.

Kane had certainly matured into a fine man, not that there'd been any doubt in Laci's mind that he would. Kane was one of those genetically gifted individuals who'd never gone through an awkward phase in his life. From the moment she'd laid eyes on him that hot summer, her fifteen-year-old heart had started thumping like a jackrabbit's foot and she'd about lost her ability to speak the English language. Yeah, he was that hot. Of course, she'd been a bit difficult back then, angry at the world for problems that had nothing to do with the people around her but everything to do with the fact that she felt abandoned and alone.

By the time she returned to the ranch, she came armed with a take-and-bake pizza that she fully intended to use as a little sugar on top of her request to Kane about picking up the appliances. Cora had always said with a wink that the way to a man's heart was through his stomach and Kane seemed to fall in line with that advice because she'd never known the man to turn down a hot meal.

Humming a little experimental tune she'd been playing around with, she walked into the house, carrying the pizza and beer, and then returned to the rental car to get the rest of her bags. By the time Kane returned from outside, covered in sweat and dirt, the pizza was just about ready and the beer was chilled.

“What's going on in here?” he asked, sniffing the air as he wiped the sweat from his brow with his forearm, pinning her with a look that stripped her bare.
Oh, heaven help me...
He smelled like hardworking man with a side of sweaty, break-the-bedsprings sex, and Laci's knees weakened as her mouth dried.

“Smells good,” he said, going to the sink and rinsing his face real quick. “You make pizza or something?”

“Or something,” she said, scooting away on the pretense of cracking a beer to hand to him, but honestly, she didn't trust herself being within grabbing distance. Her head wasn't screwed on straight if she was suddenly panting after Kane Dalton after what he'd done to her heart all those years ago. She began to hand him the beer, but then, on a whim, stopped and took a lingering sip before handing it to him. His gaze darkened, but a faint smile lifted his lips and she shivered against the wickedness that flashed in his eyes.
Dangerous game, girl.
Laci cleared her throat and shrugged because it was truly no big deal. “It's nothing fancy, just take-and-bake, but I thought you might be hungry after all those chores.”

“You thought right,” Kane said, tipping the beer back with an appreciative swig, and Laci wasn't above sneaking another look at those bulging biceps. “Ah, a cold beer on a hot day...that's almost better than sex.”

“Then you're not having the right kind of sex,” she countered with a mildly teasing grin. Were they flirting? It felt like flirting, which was probably a bad idea.

“Maybe you're right,” he said, his gaze unreadable, but his body language was having a full-on conversation with her ovaries. “Pepperoni?”

“With sausage,” she answered, her breath catching when he walked toward her. Was he going to kiss her? He had that look on his face as if he was going to bend her over and take her right there on the kitchen counter—and if she were being truthful, she wouldn't lift a finger to stop him. But just as he crowded her personal space and she angled her lips to his, his chuckle broke the spell as he deposited his empty bottle in the trash bin behind her under the sink.
Drat. Way to get your hopes up, Laci
.
You're just standing in the way of the trash can.

“Why, Laci McCall...is that disappointment I see?” he murmured, still crowding her.
Hell yes, that's disappointment
, but she sure wasn't going to admit that and gave his chest a firm push with a scowl. He backed away with a deeper chuckle of amusement, his hands up in a mock gesture of surrender. “All right, all right...no need to get prickly. I was just asking.”

“Go wash up—you smell worse than a pig rolling around in a mud pit,” she told him, which was a complete lie, but she didn't want him thinking he had her figured out and twisted around his finger. If anyone was going to get twisted, it was Kane. She'd be sure of that. “Don't spend all day in there, either. I'm starved,” she added on as he walked away.

“Yes, ma'am,” Kane said with an exaggerated drawl that sent arousal coursing through her body. Once he was out of the room, she let out her breath in a whoosh as she sagged against the sink for a minute to catch her bearings. She'd plainly underestimated the raw, animal attraction still pulsing between her and Kane, even after all these years. Maybe it was stupid to share the same space together, even for a few days. It'd taken her a long time to get over Kane, although if her reaction to him was any indication, maybe she never had.

7

K
ANE
STEPPED
INTO
the shower, his thoughts humming at a fine clip. His muscles ached, his head throbbed, but none of that seemed to matter. He wasn't thinking straight—that much was evident by the fact that he wanted nothing more than to lift that cute country skirt and slide his cock so deep into that soft, willing flesh that his hands shook at being denied. Sure, he'd played it cool with Laci, but it'd taken everything in him not to give in to those lips, presented so sweetly for the taking.

Hell, as bad ideas went, messing around with Laci ranked up there with the idea of a four-cylinder truck trying to pull a fifth wheel, but that didn't stop him from picturing Laci's pretty mouth doing pretty dirty things to his cock as he slid the soap over his body. Like a good soldier, his cock rose for duty and he wasn't above palming it with a soft groan.
Laci, Laci, Laci...what the hell are you doing to me?
He shouldn't want her—he'd left for a reason—but knowing that soda was bad didn't stop millions of people from reaching for a bottle of sugary poison. That's what Laci was—sweet, sugary poison.

And damn, if he didn't want a big ol' gulp.

But he was an adult. He could govern himself. Just because he wanted her so badly he couldn't see straight didn't mean he had to give in to that internal pressure. He could be friendly and keep his thoughts in the PG department. Well, he could try anyway.
Keep it together, she's only here for a few days and then it's back to business as usual
, he told himself as he finished.

He toweled off and dressed in clean jeans before heading back to the kitchen, where he found Laci dishing up two slices of pizza and pulling a fresh beer from the fridge. She sure was pretty as a picture, he noted as he slid into the seat at the old dining room table. She'd swept her blond hair up in a messy ponytail so that a few tendrils escaped and curled in the summer heat and he licked his lips, not because the pizza was making his stomach growl but because he desperately wanted to taste the salt on her skin as he ran his mouth along the column of that beautiful neck. Did she still taste like rainbows and whispered promises the way she had at seventeen?
What? Now you're a damn poet? Eat your pizza before you do something stupid.

Obeying the curt order in his head, he stuffed his mouth with a bite and grunted his approval, choosing to keep his gaze off Laci and on his plate, but as luck would have it, Laci was feeling chatty.

“So tell me what you've been up to all this time,” she asked, making conversation as she bit into her own pizza, wiping her mouth with the corner of her hand like a true country girl, more interested in her food than social niceties.

He bit back a laugh at how stupidly sexy he found that. Was everything she did sexy? Pretty much. He took another bite and answered around hot cheese, “Me and Rian own a business together in SoCal.”

Her brow went up in interest. “Yeah? What kind of business?”

Kane hesitated, not sure if he wanted to share personal details about his life, but then his mouth was moving before he could stop it. “We own a company called Elite Protection Services. We provide protection details for high-profile clients.”

“High-profile? You mean, like celebrities?”

“Yeah, a few. Some politicians, too.”

“And what are you protecting them from?”

Kane swigged his beer before answering, “Weirdos.”

Laci nodded, murmuring wryly, “I could probably use a service like yours. Sometimes the fans get a little...touchy-feely.”

He stopped, eyeing her. “What do you mean?”

She shrugged. “It's probably nothing but overzealous superfans, but sometimes...they scare me. One woman nearly ripped my dress off. Freaked me out.”

“Did you prosecute?”

“No, she was running off with a piece of my costume before Security could catch up to her. Somewhere out there is a woman with a handful of my sequined dress.” Her mouth lifted in a small, rueful smile. “My costume designer, Simone, nearly had a meltdown when she saw the damage. People don't realize all the work that goes into hand-sewing those costumes.”

He chewed a moment, then asked, “You mean that sparkly thing you were wearing earlier? Looked painted on. Hard to imagine it coming off at all.”

“It's tight,” she agreed. “But it has to be. When I'm onstage the lights are so damn hot that I about sweat off five pounds each set. If the costume isn't tight, it'll come right off and that's not a show I'm willing to put on, if you know what I mean.”

He forced a chuckle as his jeans tightened. Yeah, his cock wanted a front-row seat to that particular show. He did his best to shift his nuts without seeming obvious as he suggested the easiest solution to his mind. “Why don't you just buy something off the rack and be done with it? Seems a lot less labor-intensive.”

“I would, but Trent says that if you want to be a star, you have to act like a star.”

“Trent sounds like an idiot. Who is he?”

Laci cut him a short look. “He's not an idiot, he's my manager and he's pretty damn smart. He's gotten me booked for a sold-out tour, making me a nice payday.”

“This the same guy who's responsible for pushing you so hard that you collapsed in Memphis?” Her startled expression told him volumes. Now he'd just outed himself. He shrugged and lifted his beer bottle to his lips. “I heard something about it on the news. Can't seem to switch the channels without news about some celebrity wiping their nose or falling over in a faint—you included.”

Laci fell silent. Either she didn't know what to say or she knew better than to argue a point she couldn't win because he was right, but it gave him no satisfaction to know that some guy was pushing her so hard that her health was second priority to the almighty dollar. He leaned forward, pinning her with his gaze. “Listen, Laci, I don't know the guy—maybe he's a peach and he's getting a bad rap—but my instincts tell me that I've seen his type before and he doesn't care two shits about his clients, only that they make him money. You can do better than that. You need people who care about you, who will protect you from guys like that.”

“Well, you don't know what he's done for me,” she countered, but with a lot less conviction than before. “He's a smart businessman and a good guy,” she insisted with a little more force, as if trying to convince herself.

What was he doing? He needed to keep things superficial. He wasn't her babysitter or her protector. He shook his head, chuckling. “Whatever you have to tell yourself, sugar. It's none of my business.” He rose and collected his plate. “Thanks for the pizza. Went down real good. The beer was a nice touch.”

“I have a favor to ask,” Laci announced, joining him at the sink to wash the plates.

“Yeah? Such as?”

“I bought Cora a few new things for the kitchen. Can you go to Bleudell's and pick them up tonight? They close at seven.”

His gaze narrowed. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, I bought some things I felt she needed...nothing big but a new fridge and stove.”

“What makes you think Cora wants those things?”

She bristled at his tone. “She'll love it because it's a gift from me, and look around, Kane, someone needs to lend a helping hand around here. Everything is falling apart.”

“The Bradfords are prideful people. They aren't gonna like you throwing charity their way.”

“It's not charity,” she retorted with a scowl. “How can you even suggest that I would feel that way about the Bradfords?”

“Don't get your feathers ruffled, I'm just saying that Cora and Warren are particular. The reason I'm here is because Warren didn't want strangers poking around his ranch. And he certainly isn't going to like the idea of someone coming in and just dumping new appliances on them without their consent.”

Laci opened her mouth to protest but then thought better of it. She chewed her bottom lip, distressed. “I just wanted to do something nice for them, considering everything they've been going through,” she said.

He couldn't stay mad because he understood her motivation. Hell, he'd been cursing at the old farm equipment and had been half tempted to get a John Deere rep on the phone and start having some new equipment ordered, but he knew Warren would have a fit if he came home to find his beloved, rusty shit gone. “Your heart's in the right place,” he told her gruffly. “I just don't know if it's going to go over the way you think it will.”

“I made sure they were almost exactly the same, just newer,” she said, and he was impressed she'd thought of that.

“Well, maybe it'll be all right,” he said, giving in. Her relieved smile did weird things to his chest. In fact, he suddenly felt all warm and squishy. Either he was having a heart attack or he was going all gooey over the fact that Laci had graced him with one of those killer smiles that'd always done a number on him in the past. Frankly, he'd rather take the heart attack.

“So you'll go to Bleudell's for me?” she asked hopefully, and he nodded, resigned to doing whatever she wanted because she seemed to have strange powers over his ever-loving mind. She shocked him when she leaned in and brushed a tiny kiss across his cheek, grinning like an angel with an agenda that he didn't trust but couldn't quite resist.

“You shouldn't start fires,” he warned her in a low tone even as he devoured her with his gaze. Her tiny top gave the barest peek of her navel and it was that tease that made him nearly drop to his knees and bury his face between her thighs. “You might get burned.”

“I'm not afraid of a little heat,” Laci countered coyly, going from innocent angel to brazen seductress within a glance. “Are you?”

With you? Yes
. His arm snaked out to hook her around the waist, drawing her tightly against him. “You sure about that?”

“It was just a kiss,” Laci murmured, her gaze fastening on his lips as she slid her tongue along her bottom lip.

“Kisses lead to other things,” he reminded her, quickly losing the fight to turn her loose and squelch whatever was happening between them right now. “Don't you remember?”

Her breath caught and he smiled with knowing. Yeah, she remembered just fine. Good. He wanted her to remember. It wasn't fair to be the only one getting burned by the scorching memories between them. “The hayloft,” she murmured, her mouth turning up in a sweet, shy smile. “And summer rain...”

Wet and slippery with enough heat between them to evaporate the fat raindrops falling from the sky—yeah, sex in the rain had been hot.

“And the pump house,” he reminded her, rewarded with a flash of intense arousal as the memory slammed into him. “The first time I tasted you.”

Laci blushed but she nodded, her breath becoming shallow. “I think of that when I—” She stopped herself from continuing.

He wanted to hear her say it. “When you what?” he prompted, his skin on fire as his brain practically
screamed bad-idea-bad-idea-bad-idea
.

“When I touch myself.” Her gaze met his, bold and yet shy, and he knew he'd lost the battle of good sense.

“Ohhhh, sweetheart, you shouldn't have told me that,” he said with a strained chuckle because now it was on like Donkey Kong and there was no pulling that quarter back from the machine. Their fate was signed, sealed and delivered. Time to pay the postage due.

“And why is that?”

“Because now—” he scooped Laci into his arms, intent on one thing—putting his brand all over that soft, yielding skin of the one woman he'd never been able to forget “—by morning...you ain't gonna be able to walk—and that's a promise.”

* * *

O
H
G
OD
,
THIS
was actually happening. Not a dream, not a fantasy but actually Kane carrying her to the bedroom to strip her naked and make her change her religion. She ought to make him stop. She had less sense than a goose if she let Kane follow through with his promise but damn, if she wasn't shaking with anticipation, just as anxious as he was to feel skin on skin—screw the consequences.

Hadn't that been her motto since bailing from the hospital? She hadn't been thinking straight since her collapse, so why start now? Particularly when she couldn't stand the thought of not feeling Kane inside her, so, yeah, asking Kane to put her down wasn't going to happen. It'd been eleven years since she'd last seen Kane and an equal number of years since she'd felt him inside her... She wasn't turning back. Not even if it meant she was making the biggest mistake of her life.