A Baby...Maybe? & How to Hunt a Husband (13 page)

She opened the package and unrolled the condom. She turned on the water and filled it like a water balloon, then gently squeezed to see where the water ran through the holes.

If she were a devious, self-serving woman this would be the way to go. But, she thought as she threw the punctured condom in the toilet and replaced the pin, she wasn't.

She flushed, watching the swirling water take away the defective protection. She noticed that no more water came back into the toilet. Now look what she'd done. She'd wasted the single flush on an unused item of sabotage.

Cara swallowed two aspirin, then juggling the glass, condoms and flashlights, she left the bathroom and headed back to Rex.

Rex had placed their clothes over the stair rail and across dining-room chairs to dry. He had laid a blanket on the floor near the fireplace. There was also a
bottle of wine, a deck of cards, a cheese board and a battery-powered radio playing soft classical music.

She sat on the blanket and he sat across from her. “What now?” she asked.

He handed her a glass of wine and raised his. She followed. “To you,” he said.

“To you, too.”

“To your future as a rancher.”

“Ah, well… We have to talk about that.” A flash of lightning and a crack of thunder rolled over the cottage, shaking the walls. Another warning? “Later, we'll talk. Maybe we can do other things now.”

He sent her a very sexy smile. A downright evil grin. “Do you want to play gin rummy, or do you have something more exciting in mind?” he asked.

She wasn't sure what he meant until she realized that she was holding on to the condoms. Nothing like being caught with your innermost desire right there in the palm of your hand.

“Gin rummy. The condoms.” She threw them on the floor by the deck of cards. “They'll be used like poker chips.”

“Whatever you say.”

The rush of heat boiling through her veins had nothing to do with the heat from the fire. Her breath caught in her lungs and she had to take a second before she could speak. He stretched out his leg, and touched her toes with his foot.

His towel crept up on his leg. She tilted her head to get a better look at what was peeking from under the cloth. She had to look away. The silky tip of his penis played peek-a-boo and she couldn't look. Because if she did, she'd grab the towel and toss it away.

Maybe that wasn't a bad idea now that she thought about it. “Strip poker.”

“We're stripped. Or haven't you noticed?” He laughed. The sole of his foot stroked the sole of hers.
She had to concentrate on not closing her eyes, because that's what she wanted to do. Close her eyes and not see, just feel his touch.

“Take off the towels.”

His grin was wicked. “I like the way you think.”

“What I'm thinking is that we'll play strip poker backward. Every time you win, you have to put on a piece of clothing.”

“Of course I'll win.”

“I didn't mean you as in
you,
Rex. I meant it as in the collective sense. Because I will win.”

That brought on a very ungentlemanly snort.

She only smiled very sweetly. “We'll see,” she said with confidence.

“I'm keeping my towel on. You keep yours on. Let's have some form of modesty here. You never know who will drop by.”

She tried to speak, to say something witty or easternly, sophisticatedly boring, only she couldn't speak. How could one even get a coherent thought, when she'd just offered to get naked and he suggested she leave her towel on? How much more insulting could that be?

She was having nothing of that.

Cara got on her knees, close to him, as close as she could without actually touching him, and slid her hand down his chest, fingers spread wide, palm to skin, sliding her hand lower…lower, until she passed his belly button and touched the top of the terry-cloth towel. She moved her fingers to where the ends came together, on his thigh, and slipped her hand inside, massaging his thigh, feeling the muscle contract, the skin heat under her touch.

She slowly, torturously, let her fingers touch, tease the soft tip of his penis. Silk, that's what he felt like to her. Hard and soft, his erection grew along the side of her hand, even though she wasn't touching him
there. She glanced at his face. His eyes were semi-closed. His breath came in short bursts. She slipped her finger along the side of his member, and he groaned, reaching down, touching her hand, making her stop further explorations.

With her other hand, she batted his away and continued to travel the length of him, circling his girth. She took her hand away, and his eyes popped open. She placed her fingers to her mouth, and licked them, wetting them, then brought them back to his penis, sliding her wetness down the length of him. “Do you like it?”

“Yes.” The word was more a groan.

He reached for her ankle, pulling her foot toward him until her toes touched his penis. She slid closer, circling him with her toes, feeling the smoothness that seemed to be in direct contrast with how stiff he had become. “I want you, do you know that?” He slid her foot up and down the length of him.

She pulled her foot away and reached for the cards. “What about our game of poker?”

“Forget the poker. I can't see the cards anyway.”

“You lit the fire.”

“Forget it.” He reached over, taking the corner of the towel. “I want you. Now.”

“I'd be less than honest if I didn't say I wanted you, too.” She did want him. She reached over and touched his face, running her fingers down his cheeks, his chin. Slipping them into his hair. She loved the feel of him. She loved being with him. She was happy. Right now, for the first time in as long as she could remember, she was happy.

Still on her knees, she straightened herself. Taking the ends of the towel, she undid them where they were hooked together, and let the towel fall to the floor, exposing herself to him.

Rex had been erect before, but when she dropped
the towel, he almost lost control of his body, like a teenage boy having sex for the first time. That's how he felt. With Cara, everything seemed like the first time.

Her breasts were full, round and firm. Her nipples erect. She now sat cross-legged on the floor and he had a wonderful view of beautifully shaped thighs, and a peek into the glory of all that made her a woman.

She only gave him a serene smile. He would have concentrated on that smile, but he had so many other things to look at. As she moved a little toward him, her breasts swayed. He reached out, he couldn't help it, and touched her nipple. Her breathing seemed to stop. So did his. Then she arched her back, giving him access, and he took it. His mouth covered her nipple, his tongue circling the erect point, before she pulled away. He looked down at himself. “There's no hiding it, you know. You do that to me.”

She blew out air. “That's nice. It's pretty.”

“No one ever called it pretty before. Come here, baby,” he said. “Let me warm you all over.” Cara didn't need a second invitation. All she wanted was Rex. She was having some frighteningly strong feelings for him, but she'd never let him know it. She never would have been this bold if she thought she'd ever see him again. Right now though, all she wanted was him.

No. Not him. His sperm. To fertilize her egg. Her baby.

But, deep down, she had to admit to herself that wasn't the entire truth. What she wanted was him. Just him.

He brushed his lips against her breasts and he gave each enough attention to turn her into a seething mass of wanting more and wanting more now.

Finally, he worked his way down her body, kissing
each rib, lavishing kisses on her belly button, all the while his fingers caressed her woman parts, rubbing her, stroking her, making her legs feel weak. He held on to the back of her thighs and wouldn't let her fall. He put his mouth where his fingers had been and tasted her, sending her into a spiral, but stopping before she could reach her peak. He kissed her then, making her taste herself. Then gently guiding her down to him. He felt wonderful. He tasted wonderful. But she wanted more. She broke away for a condom, ripped open the foil and covered him with the condom. When he was protected, she lay on the blanket and he came to her.

Over and over that night—she lost track of how many times—they made love. Each time was more sweet than the time before. It was almost as if she knew that come morning, once whoever was picking them up arrived, it would all be over. And even if she was wrong, and it wasn't, she would be leaving in a few days.

She couldn't fall in love with him. And if she had already, she was going to have to put a stop to those feelings. A relationship between them would never work. Never. She was leaving. This was a one-night stand for him, and she would be left with her memories. She was glad she had thrown away the sabotaged condom and hadn't perforated another one. She couldn't do that to him. She had taken great care to make sure they were both protected.

She didn't want to have a baby anyway. Not this way. Not with him. Or was that with
out
him? Whatever it was, she was fine with no baby.

And she'd keep telling herself that until she believed it.

T
HE NEXT MORNING
dawned gray, but to Cara, waking up wrapped in Rex's arms, the sky was blue, the sun was shining.

She was all warm and secure spooning with him. His face nuzzling her neck, his mouth blowing warm over her cheek. One of his hands held her hip and the other cupped her breast. If it hadn't been for the horn honking outside, she would have stayed this way with him all day.

“Someone's out there,” she murmured. “Make them go away.”

Rex let go of her and stretched. “Clay. He's come to pick us up. The phone lines were back up a couple of hours ago so I called him.”

“It's too early.”

“I know.” He grabbed her again, turning her to face him, and kissed her lips, running his tongue across her mouth and over her teeth. “I don't want to go,” he said.

“I know.” She moved closer to him, as close as she could.

The honking started again, more insistently this time.

Finally they got dressed and went outside. “It's about time,” Clay said. Despite the cloudiness, he wore sunglasses.

“Nice to see you, too,” Rex told him. “This is Cara.”

“Nice to meet you.” Clay stared at her.

“Is something wrong?” she asked.

“Nope, not a thing.”

Rex opened the door to the back seat and she climbed in. He sat in the front, on the passenger side, but leaned sideways so he could see her. After they were heading back to town, Clay said, “Nice jewelry.”

That perked her up. “Thanks, I liked your billboards, too. I'm trying to convince Rex not to take them down.”

“They're really a safety hazard,” Clay said.

“Am I believing what I'm hearing?” Rex asked. “After all the grief you gave me?”

“If you think that was grief, just wait. You don't know grief.” Clay's hands tightened around the wheel. “Anyway, I'm not backing down on the fact that it was a good campaign, but you're right. No need to put something out there that's going to cause an endangerment to the public.”

“Too bad,” Cara said. “I really liked those two animals. Maybe you can store them somewhere, or put them out on the pasture where LuLu is, so when I come back to visit, I can go see the cow and bull. If not for them, I never would have met Rex.” She reached over and rubbed Rex's forearm.

Clay turned his head for only a brief moment. Over the top of his sunglasses he glared at her with such venom, she immediately sat back in the seat.

“Are you sure I didn't offend you?” she asked him.

“I don't know you well enough,” Clay said. “I do know—” he sent her a smile that should have been charming but chilled Cara instead “—that I really like your gold.”

Cara told them about the coins and how she had inherited them. Rex asked a lot of questions, Clay
scowled at her. It didn't make for a very comfortable ride home.

Finally, she stopped talking and stared out the window, watching the green pastures turn into more residential areas.

“Someone broke into your lab.” Clay, speaking almost under his breath, broke the news to Rex.

“What happened? Who did it? When? Why didn't you come to get me?”

“We'll talk about it later, after we drop Cara off.” Clay turned for a second to look at Cara. “We don't want to bore your friend with details.”

 

“W
HAT HAPPENED
with Dr. Rex?” Kate asked later that afternoon when they met for lunch at Mama Jo's.

Cara smiled with a tiny shrug and didn't answer. The day did turn out to be so sunny and bright that if the rainstorm last night hadn't heralded the most important moment of her life, she'd never have guessed it had rained.

Kate took two rolls of assorted-flavor antacids out of her purse, opened them and placed the small, powdery pills in a straight row down the middle of the table, lining them up according to color.

“I brought this.” Cara held up the bottle of liquid antacid she'd bought when she had first arrived. “I forgot you would be bringing relief, too.”

“We'll probably need both. The liquid is quicker, the pills are more discreet. We can start on the pills right here, and mainline the liquid out in the parking lot.”

The waiter brought the appetizer—nachos el carbon, filled with black beans, fajita beef and chicken, sour cream, salsa,
pico de gallo
and assorted other toppings. They didn't bother using the little appetizer plates. Cara took the nachos on her side, and Kate took the ones on hers.

They were halfway through the dish when Kate apparently ran out of patience. “I said,” she said, “what happened last night?”

Cara took a breath and made an “mmm” sound.

“Was that for the doctor or the food?”

Cara put her fork down and looked at her friend. “He was wonderful, Kate. I think I'm in lust.” She might tell Kate she was in lust, but she pretty much knew that she had fallen in love. She chewed a green antacid and chased it with a big drink of ice tea.

“I can understand that,” Kate said. “He's one good-looking hunk of male. Every woman who meets him wants a piece of him.”

Cara popped her head up. “They do?” She'd destroy them all.

“Cara, the good doctor is one hunted bachelor. Women hide out in the men's bathroom hoping to get a glimpse of him.” Kate appeared to be serious.

“I'm not surprised.” And she wasn't, but the information didn't sit well. “Does he, you know, does he act on those…women who offer him pieces?”

“I doubt it. He's a terrible tease, but I'd bet he's pretty discriminating when it comes to the woman he's fooling around with.”

“I hope so, since I'm one of those women.”

Kate dropped her fork. “Why, Cara, you little dickens.” She smiled a great big smile, showing gorgeous white teeth.

Cara had to smile back. Then she gave a little shiver. “Normally, I would never do anything like that. I just met him. But it was like, what can I say? I mean, he was there, and I was there, and our clothes were wa-a-a-ay over there—” She pointed to some space on the other side of the restaurant. Then she sighed, her thoughts drifting away to the night before.

Kate snapped her fingers in front of Cara's face. “Don't stop.”

“You see, it was raining. Was it raining here, too?”

Kate stared at her and didn't say a word.

“Silly question. Never mind. It makes no difference.” Cara rushed the words out. “The bottom line is, Rex didn't take the keys out of his truck, and when I locked the truck, we couldn't get back in.”

“Why didn't he call someone?”

“He had everything in there, the cell phone, wallet, calling cards, everything. We were stranded. In the rain. Just us. So what could we do?” she asked.

“I don't know, but I'm sure Rex could have thought of something. I heard through the grapevine that he was one imaginative doctor.”

Cara could feel her face begin to flame. “He might be, but in this instance we were more worried about hypothermia. We had to run through all that rain to the house and when we finally got there, the electricity was out. I heard the transformer blow. We were soaking wet, so we got naked and were about to play strip poker.” She lifted her head and straightened her shoulders. “What else could we do?”

“I wouldn't know,” Kate said sarcastically.

“Well, we didn't play.”

“Why am I not surprised?”

The waiter took away the appetizer and plopped the main course on the table. Cara took three more antacids, rubbing her tummy in small, circular motions as the cherry-flavored pills made their way down the path. She wasn't sure eating this much was worth all the pain that followed. Although one more bite and she had to say it did.

“And I had to make some very hard decisions.” She finally told Kate about her plan to have a baby, and how at first she thought the sperm bank was for humans. How she saw Rex and knew without a doubt that he was the one who would be her perfect donor.
“There he was, naked, and I couldn't help myself. I had to have him. This was the right thing to do.”

Kate leaned over the table a little, getting closer to Cara. “He didn't use condoms?” This seemed to scandalize her more than any other part of the scandalous story.

“He did use condoms. And I didn't get pregnant. I didn't puncture the condoms. Well, I did one, but threw it out. I couldn't be deceitful to him. I couldn't. I think I'm in love with him.”

Kate sighed. “I don't want you to get hurt.”

“I'm not going to get hurt.”

“Falling in love with the wrong man?” She raised her eyebrow with the unanswered question.

“He's not the wrong man. It just the wrong time and place.” The knowledge about broke her heart.

Later that afternoon, trying to read a book in her room at Mandelay, Cara wondered if that “not going to get hurt” statement was true. Rex hadn't called.

She wasn't going to wait around forever. Absolutely not. She was going to get dressed, go to a movie, a club, dancing, something. She wouldn't be some kind of desperate dolly waiting for her man to call. A man who might not even be
her
man. Maybe she'd been right all along, and this had only been a one-night stand for him. But the way he'd touched her, gazed at her as the night wore on, it was hard to believe he didn't want more of her.

Cara took a deep breath and did her best not to cry. Sometimes life wasn't fair. There was the time she had bought strawberries. They were big and beautiful. But they were also out of season and expensive. She bought them anyway, and put them in the refrigerator. She thought she'd save them for a special occasion, maybe when she had a special date. A week passed with no date and no special occasion. One night she turned on the TV to some old movie and when she
brought out the strawberries to eat there was mold growing all over them. That wasn't fair.

Not that she'd compare Rex to a moldy strawberry, but since he hadn't called her, he wasn't much above moldy, either. With that gross thought in mind, Cara plopped down on her bed, her empty bed, and gave herself up for a long, long cry.

 

R
EX FELT AS IF
the bottom had dropped out of his chest and his heart was floating down there somewhere near his…well, anyway, that wasn't where it ought to be.

Clay, Arthur, Tigger, Clyde, Cathy and Barbara were all standing in the lab. One of Cara's coins was on the floor next to the freezer, another was behind it. He held a third in his hand. Some time between him closing the clinic and picking her up later at Mandelay, she'd managed to break in and steal from him. She hadn't had a lot of time to do it, but she had done it. The proof was right here.

Cara? How could she do this to him? He'd thought she was the one. He wanted her, more than he had wanted any woman, and he'd had visions and dreams of a future between them. He'd never felt this way about anyone else. When he first saw her, he went hard. Every time he saw her, he went hard. Not that a sexual attraction was important in the ways of a heart, but it sure helped. She had a good heart. A wonderful heart. She was a kindergarten teacher. She was warm and loving.

She was a liar, a thief. A traitor, too. He had been played for a fool.

“What do you think we should do?” Barbara asked.

“Call the police.”

“No.” Arthur was adamant. “Not that. Don't bring them into it.”

“Why not?”

“She's such a pretty girl. I'd hate for her to go to jail.”

“She can't get away with it,” Rex said. He wasn't about to let his personal feelings intrude.

“Call her, talk to her,” Tigger suggested. “Maybe it's a mistake. Maybe she was testing out some theory. You're the one who said she had a good imagination.”

“That's right,” Cathy agreed. “Call her. Go see her.”

“I will with the sheriff.”

“Don't be such a wimp,” Barbara said. “Go see her first, find out what happened, then get the police.”

“Do you have an inventory yet on what was taken?”

“Five straws of LuLu's semen.”

“That's a lot of money.”

“Tell her to give it back and you won't press charges.”

Despite the strange hurt he had somewhere near his heart, Rex had his own ideas about how to deal with Cara. And he suspected none of his business partners would approve.

 

C
ARA HAD BEEN
in such a deep sleep that she had no idea what time it was when the phone started ringing. By the time it registered that the noise was coming from the phone and she'd reached for the receiver, the ringing stopped.

No sooner did she close her eyes when it started ringing again. This time, though, she was prepared. “Hello.”

“I want to see you tonight.” His voice was deep and seductive.

She was trying very hard not to let the information
Kate had so casually dropped about Rex and his social life affect her. “What time is it?” she asked.

“Eleven.”

“Oh.” She yawned, pretending disinterest. “I guess you've had a busy day.” She was going to ignore what Kate had said about those women who were after Rex. She wasn't going to think about who he might have been with earlier. The person who was more important to him than she was. After all, they might have had one incredible night, but to Rex, she might be just one incredible night in a long list of incredible nights. The night might have meant more to her, but that was her problem and she would have to deal with it.

“I had a wonderful time last night,” she said, just testing the waters.

His voice hardened. “I'm sure you did.”

The tone of his voice startled her. He was being a womanizing pig, an egomaniacal turkey.

“You have a very high opinion of yourself.”

“Yes, I do. At least I have a high opinion of my professional ethics. We have to talk, Cara, right now.”