Authors: Debbi Rawlins
That started Dallas giggling all over again. Not because that idea was particularly funny but because she needed the release. Needed to laugh or she might start crying.
Tilly’s gentle criticism had gotten to her the worst. Tilly had never lied to Dallas. Ever. Tilly had always been supportive, always fair and always available with a shoulder for Dallas to lean on or cry on. In fact, she was that way with everyone in the family. And she thought Dallas had rubbed her rebellion in her parents’ face.
Had she? Certainly when she was younger, just out of college, she’d done her share of flaunting her independence. She’d ended up paying for her own graduate studies as a result. Anyway, she’d backed off since then. The construction job didn’t count. That had nothing to do with rebellion. It was good, honest work, and she needed the money.
Her conscience whispered otherwise, and she shifted positions as if the maneuver would ease her emotional discomfort.
Eric obviously misunderstood and pulled her closer. She smelled the cognac lingering on his breath, the musky masculine scent that was all his. “Okay if we go back to my place?” he whispered into her hair and then rubbed his clean-shaven chin there.
She hesitated, unsure what kind of company she’d make. And then he tilted her chin up and kissed her, and she knew she’d be a lot more miserable at home, fretting over what she was missing.
E
RIC HAD A PROBLEM
. H
E
closed his apartment door behind him and watched Dallas sink into the couch and kick off her shoes. She was in a strange mood. Even before she’d splattered the pie on the hardwood dining room floor. The memory brought an involuntary grin to his face, which he promptly stifled.
The thing was, he needed to give Horn an answer on Monday, but Eric didn’t think now was the right time. Maybe later, after she’d relaxed. After they’d made love.
Maybe he could even talk her into spending the night. Then over breakfast he’d lay it all out. God, he couldn’t even recall the last time he’d let a woman spend the night.
He tossed his keys on the kitchen counter. “How about something to drink?”
She groaned. “I think I’ve probably had enough.”
“You only had two glasses, but I have orange juice, or I can make coffee.”
Dallas shook her head and smiled. “I’m good.”
“Yes, you are,” he said with a suggestive grin, moving in beside her and sliding an arm around her. “Very good, in fact.”
She didn’t hesitate to snuggle up to him and lay her cheek against his chest. “Tell me something.”
He picked up a lock of her honey-colored hair and let the silken strands fall between his fingers. “Anything.”
“Tell me about your family.”
“Like what?”
“I know you have two brothers and you’re the middle one. But that’s all.”
The subject was bound to come up. He still didn’t like it. But he wouldn’t lie. Not that he would volunteer more than her curiosity demanded, either. “Well, I think I told you I grew up in Pittsburgh. All of my family is still there. My parents still live in the same house where I grew up.”
“Sounds like my family.”
“Nope, my family is nothing like yours.”
She flinched and moved away, and he knew she’d taken it wrong.
“My family is strictly blue-collar,” he quickly clarified. “Our dinner conversation tended to center around who the Steelers were going to cream that weekend.”
“That’s football, right?”
“See what I mean? That question alone would be considered sacrilege where I come from.”
She grinned. “What happens when the Steelers lose?”
“Two days of lamenting what a bum the quarterback is and how the coach has no business coaching in the pros. And then they start getting pumped for the next weekend’s game.”
“They? You didn’t participate?”
Smiling, he ran a hand down her thigh. “You caught me.”
She shifted closer again. “Then you went to college?”
“Only one in the family.”
“Go back to visit often?”
“Mostly just on holidays. I’ve got a bunch of nieces and nephews I like to see. And of course, my parents.”
“And your bothers?”
“Sometimes there’s tension. They think I’m uppity.”
“Are you?”
“What do you think?”
She stared down at his fly and gave her head a sorrowful shake. “You’re not uppity.”
He barked out a laugh.
“But I can take care of that,” she said, sliding her hand across his thigh.
That’s all it took, and he started getting pretty damn uppity. She undid his belt buckle, and he relaxed his head back against the cushions, his arms stretched out along the back of the couch, and he watched her.
She took her time, unzipping an inch, kissing him through the fabric, unzipping some more. She was making him crazy, just as he was sure she intended. When he lifted his ass so she could pull down his waistband, she ignored him and pushed the front of his slacks aside. She found the opening in his boxers and freed his cock. He sprung up hard and ready.
She touched her tongue to the tip, and he shuddered. She glanced up, took another lick and smiled. “Did you say something?”
“Help.”
She laughed. “Don’t you worry. A little CPR should take care of the problem.” She lowered her head, but fool that he was, he stopped her, and she blinked up in surprise.
“Stay the night.”
A small frown drew her brows together. “I don’t know.”
“We’ll get up early, have breakfast and then you can do whatever.”
A slow smile curved her lips just as she ran her tongue around the head. “You stopped me for that?”
He groaned and closed his eyes. How could he think straight when she was doing that?
She took him into her mouth, and he forgot about anything besides her warm breath and talented tongue. She went from gentle swirls to assault mode and back again, keeping him off balance, taking him to the brink and then reeling him back in.
Until he couldn’t take it anymore. He tried to get up, intent on reciprocating, but she gave it all she had, and the explosion started before he had another coherent thought.
D
ALLAS AWOKE AROUND DAWN
. Bits of dusky light seeped through the blinds. She tried to roll over to see the alarm clock, but Eric had curled around her, his chest pressed to her back, the stubble from his chin tickling her shoulder. Not even her moving around woke him. He snuggled closer, his semihard penis nudging her backside.
Smiling, she thought about waking him. She’d give him two minutes tops to get hard enough to get inside her. The boy certainly had stamina. Last night alone had proved that fact. They’d made love twice before they’d even gotten to bed and then once more sometime between one and three. She’d nodded off after that.
On the nightstand was her watch, and she slowly reached for it. She yawned and blinked at the blurry face until it cleared. Nine-thirty! It couldn’t be that late. She blinked a couple more times. Still nine-thirty. That gave her less than two hours to shower, dress and make it home before Nancy and Yvette got there.
Slowly she pushed back the covers and inched away from Eric. His arm came around her waist and he pulled her back against him.
“Morning,” he murmured into her hair and then planted a kiss on the back of her neck.
“Go back to sleep,” she whispered, knowing that wouldn’t happen. Knowing she wasn’t going to make it out of bed anytime soon. And not really caring.
“Right.” He kissed her again, her neck, each shoulder, then started down her spine.
“Eric, I have to go.”
“What time is it?”
“Nine-thirty.”
“No kidding.” He cupped her breast and teased the already tightened nipple.
She closed her eyes. “Eric…”
“Hmm.”
“You promised.”
He lightly bit the side of her neck and then rolled onto his back and sighed. “I was a fool, but you’re right. I did.”
Dallas turned over and laid a hand on his chest. His hair was sticking up on one side and his chin was dark with stubble. He looked adorable. “Of course, I could spare about twenty minutes.”
A roguish smile started at the corners of his mouth, but then he frowned, pushed a frustrated hand through his hair and said, “Tell you what, I’ll go make coffee while you take a shower.”
“Sure.” She shrugged a shoulder and turned to get up, but her disappointment must have shown because he caught her arm and pulled her close again.
“I’d like nothing better than to stay in bed with you all day, but you have things to do, and I have something I’d like to discuss with you before you leave.”
She didn’t like the serious sound of that. “Like what?”
“Nothing bad. Relax.”
“Well, let’s talk now.”
“You sure you don’t want to be ready to go.”
“Why? Am I going to want to run screaming from the apartment?”
He grinned. “You have quite an imagination.”
“It’s getting worse by the second.”
“Okay.” He sat up, letting the sheet bunch at his waist, and she kept her attention on his face, not wanting to be distracted by his yummy chest. Apparently he didn’t have the same compunction. His gaze went directly to her breasts. He noisily cleared his throat. “On second thought, I think we’d better get dressed.”
She grunted in exasperation, her curiosity about to burst. “I want to know now or I will hurt you.”
He smiled. “Sounds promising.”
“Damn it, Eric.”
“Remember Lawrence Horn?”
“Of course.”
“He came to my office on Thursday. He wants you to be his spokesperson.”
“His what?”
“That’s broad, I know. Basically he wants your face to be associated with his company and he wants me to design ads based on that.”
Dumbfounded, she fell back against the pillows.
“The money would be good. I’m thinking six figures over the life of, say, a three-year contract.”
She exhaled slowly, her thoughts one big jumble. This was her chance to get out of the construction business. And she wouldn’t have to eat crow, either. Not when the job had landed in her lap. But did she want to get back in that crazy business? She was older now and a little out of shape, less tolerant of sadistic photographers who liked to harp on every little flaw.
God, she’d be like Wendy—desperate, chasing after the next gig, pathetically ignoring the fading of youth. She took a deep calming breath and looked at Eric. “I don’t think—”
He put a refraining finger to her lips. “I know what you’re going to say. But this is different. No cattle calls. No worrying about paying the rent on time. Best of all, no competition. This is a sure thing.”
Of course, he knew what she was thinking. They’d had a similar conversation before about why she didn’t like modeling. But he didn’t know the rest. She already had a job. And it was a far cry from smiling pretty for the camera.
“Look, you’d call the shots on this. We’d work around your schedule. There’d be print ads, commercials, billboards—the usual. I haven’t done anything on it yet. Not until I talked to you.” He gave her a wry smile. “You realize you still haven’t told me what you do.”
“No?”
He gave her a long-suffering look, and then his gaze narrowed. “You’re a lawyer, too, aren’t you?”
“God, no.” She hesitated. “Three in the family are enough.” Now would be the perfect time to tell him. On the other hand, if she accepted the offer, why bother? He wouldn’t need to know. What she did for a living now would be irrelevant.
Her mother’s words came back to her and she tensed. Not that Dallas was embarrassed. It wasn’t as if she were a stripper or made porn movies, for God’s sake.
Eric touched her arm, bringing her out of her preoccupation. “What are you thinking?”
“Frankly, about how much I have to do today. And now this.” She waved a frustrated hand. “Well, I’ve got a lot of thinking to do.”
“Right.” He squeezed her arm. “Maybe we could meet for dinner? I’m sure you’ll have questions.”
“I have one now. How will my decision affect you?”
He leaned his head back and glanced at the ceiling,
one side of his mouth lifting slowly. “Horn’s an important client and he wants you.”
“And your boss has told you to make it happen.”
“Of course he wants to keep Horn happy. But this has nothing to do with us. Whatever decision you make has to be what’s best for you.”
She took a deep breath. Her decision would have more to do with their relationship than he thought. The image he created in Horn’s ad campaign would be exactly the kind of woman Eric wanted. At the thought, her defenses started to rise. Stupid, since she couldn’t blame him for something he didn’t even know was happening.
Besides, she was hardly being fair, having withheld information about herself. Hadn’t she also created a certain image? A very wrong image. The idea stung.
“I’ll have to let you know later about dinner,” she said and started to get up.
“Wait.” He tugged on her arm, coaxing her back beside him. He drew the back of his hand down her cheek. “No matter what, we won’t let whatever happens affect us, okay?”
She nodded. “Deal.”
Their lips met, and she wanted to crawl back under the covers and pretend he was right. That everything would be okay. Only somehow deep down she knew better.
W
HEN
D
ALLAS ANSWERED THE DOOR
, she was surprised to find not just Nancy and Yvette but also Jan and Sally standing in the corridor.
“Hope you don’t mind us tagging along,” Jan said, leading the others into the apartment and then heading for the kitchen with a grocery sack in each hand. She planted both bags on the counter, which pretty much eliminated room for anything else.
“I’ll grab a beanbag chair from my room.” Dallas hesitated, tamping down her annoyance as she watched Jan take out six-packs of beer and diet cola and a box of cheese crackers.
This wasn’t supposed to be a party. They’d said they wanted to talk to her. Fine. But she had other things to do this afternoon. Like mope around the apartment in indecision. Talk to Wendy and Trudie. Let them tell her what an idiot she was for not immediately signing on the dotted line before Horn changed his mind.
Her head hadn’t stopped spinning since Eric had told her about Horn’s offer. Why she had the slightest hesitation, she couldn’t explain. She didn’t even get why the idea made her so edgy. A contract would lock her in and give her income and insurance while she figured out what she wanted to do when she grew up. Most people would consider the decision a no-brainer. A normal person would have jumped at the chance.
She brought back the leather beanbag chair—a hold-over from her college-dorm days—and placed it under the small window that offered an excellent view of the dirty brick building several yards away.
“You wanna beer or a soda?” Jan asked as she handed a cola to Yvette. Nancy and Sally already had beers in their hands.
“Uh, neither, thanks.” Dallas sat on the floor near the beanbag chair. “What’s going on?”
Jan grabbed a cola and they all sat down. When the other three looked to Jan, she snorted and said, “We came up with something that the other women might go for.”
Dallas let out a slow breath. This was good. Very good. They’d come up with an idea on their own. They were looking to Jan for leadership and not Dallas. This was excellent, in fact. “What’s that?”
“We’re gonna do the petition thing. Kind of. We’re thinkin’ maybe more like a letter.” Jan shrugged, glanced at the others. “You know, real detailed, like, about the shit that’s been going on.”