Asking For Trouble (2 page)

"There's a shop right over there," she
pointed to a small boutique a little bit down the dock. "I think
they sell shorts, and stuff."

"That sounds like a better idea, let's go,"
he said and took her hand in his. Her skin was soft and warm, and
the smell of the exotic flowers she'd put in her shiny black hair
wafted up to him and teased his senses.

She let him hold her hand as they walked
along the beach to the shop, then she looked up from her thick dark
eyelashes and said, "Okay, I hate surprises...tell me what you've
done."

Beau shook his head and grinned down at her,
"Nope, it wouldn't be a surprise if I told you."

"Why would you want to surprise me," she
asked the shook her head, "You barely know me..."

"Because I want to fix that sad
situation...I want to get to know you Jazzie," Beau told her
seriously and squeezed her hand.

She pursed her full lips and raised her dark
brows then smiled that smile that made him weak in the knees.
"Okay, Beau...I'd like to get to know you better too."

Pleasure at her words filled him, Jazzie
Ramos could have any man she wanted, she was that beautiful and
interesting...and she had just agreed to spend time with him. "I'm
glad," he told her with a smile, and led her inside the store.

Like any woman, when they walked into the
store her eyes started scanning from wall to wall and her face lit
up. He grinned, because he was a typical man, and wanted to go from
point A to point B and get the hell out of there, but he wasn't
going to rush her. The clerk came over to help them, but she told
him they were just browsing, and he said to call him if they needed
help. It was obvious to him that Jazzie was totally in her element
and didn't need a bit of help from the clerk, or from him.

She dropped his hand and walked over to a
rack of half-price board shorts, and glanced at him, then started
flipping through the rack. Finally, she pulled out a pair of hot
pink and yellow flowered shorts that looked to be his size. Beau
groaned and winced, then prayed to God she wasn't going to make him
buy
those
.

He'd do just about anything to spend time
with her, but those shorts were pretty close to his limit. Jazzie
moved to another rack and pulled out a ribbed white tank top with
some pink and black surfing company logo on the front, then grabbed
a pair of black thong sandals and walked back over to where he
stood.

"Here," she said and shoved the clothes at
him, then gave him
that
smile, and he knew his fate was
sealed. He was going to wear these wild ass shorts, because she'd
picked them out and it would make her happy. "I'm sure the clerk
will let you change in the dressing room back there, let me just
pull off the tags," she said and yanked them all off.

"You sure about these shorts, sugar?" Beau
asked her with dread in his voice.

"You'll look good enough to eat," she said
with a sexy wink, then added the famous last words, "Trust me."

He held them up hoping they were the last
pair on the rack and they wouldn't fit him, but knowing they were
going to fit just right. "But they're pink, darlin'," he whined a
little.

"What is it with men and pink? It takes a
man very secure in his masculinity to wear pink, Beau," she said
and put a hand on his chest then purred, "And I think you are
masculine enough to pull it off for sure."

She was flirting with him...
him
! Beau
grinned and resolved himself to walking down the beach in a pink
tutu if it made her smile at him like that. "Well, I guess that's
settled then, I'll be right back," he told her and leaned down to
kiss her cheek.

Jazzie took the tags, then grabbed a cheap
duffle bag to put his jeans and boots in, and went to the counter
to pay for it all. She also bought herself a beautiful blue pearl
bracelet she saw in the display case at the counter. The pearls
were set in dainty silver and she liked how it hung on her wrist.
She was still trying to get used to having money to buy whatever
the hell she wanted to buy.

Why she still felt guilty buying stuff for
herself, Jazzie didn't know, but she did. She and Jess had to be so
darned frugal for so many years, it was just a habit now, and
probably would remain so. Jazzie was a simple girl, she liked nice
stuff and splurged on clothes if they were on sale, and she liked
them, but she didn't need material things to be happy.

Jazzie was thoroughly enjoying this
mini-vacation in paradise though. This she could get used to. Beau
Bowman was another thing she could get used to. The buff and
handsome Texas Ranger, with the beautiful green eyes, had set her
on fire since she first met him when the band had landed in Bowie,
Texas for Cole and Sabrina's anniversary party.

She'd seen him a second time about a year
ago at the charity rodeo she'd gone to with Wade and Jess, but when
Wade got hurt and Beau had to investigate the guy who sabotaged
Wade's equipment, he hadn't had much time to talk to her. She was
really glad they were finally going to have a little time to get to
know each other now.

And he must like her too, because he was
actually going to wear those ugly ass board shorts she'd picked out
for him as a joke. Anything the man put on though would look
good...he could wear a paper bag and look hot...or
nothing
and look hotter, she thought and gnawed her lip. Virgins did not
have the thoughts that she was having about Beau Bowman. Her five
overprotective brothers and her dad had made sure of it.

How the hell she'd gotten to the ripe old
age of twenty-seven and remained a virgin was beyond her. She'd had
plenty of boyfriends, but while Jess had gotten an apartment in
Dallas with her asshole boyfriend and manager, Ray Turner, Jazzie
had remained living with her parents...and guard dog brothers. That
was a sure guarantee that those boyfriends weren't getting beyond
third base with her, if they wanted to remain intact.

In this day and age, that also meant her
relationships were short-lived.

When Jess dumped Ray, Jazzie had finally
moved out of her parent's house, and they'd gotten an apartment
together, but shortly after that Jess got pregnant, so they'd moved
right back in with her parents. Her best friend getting pregnant
had been a reminder to not only herself, but her parents,
and
her older brothers, as to why she should
stay
a
virgin...and they reminded her of it every chance they got.

Now, since Jess had the baby and they'd been
on the road, Jazzie hadn't had time to date. Jazzie had time now,
and with sexy Beau Bowman in the vicinity in this romantic tropical
locale, all sorts of possibilities for rectifying her old maid
state came to mind. What more could a girl ask for than to explore
her passionate side, to find out exactly what she's been missing,
with a man like him?

What more indeed
, Jazzie thought,
when Beau came out of the dressing room in the crazy shorts she'd
picked out for him. It looked like the joke was on her, because
Beau looked good enough to lick from head to toe, and her mouth
watered to do just that. Those shorts, although extremely loud,
were gonna scream '
come get me'
to every woman on the beach,
because he was confident enough to wear them.

Second guessing herself, Jazzie wondered if
she shouldn't have chosen the sedate navy blue ones instead. At
least in those, she wouldn't have to be beating the women off of
him like sand flies on the beach. The way that white tank top
stretched over his muscular chest only amped up the volume of his
sexiness. Her gaze finally made it up to his gorgeous green eyes
and they looked uncertain.

"You sure about these shorts, sugar?" he
asked her and flushed.

"I'm sure that I'm going to have to fight
off every woman on the beach once we walk out of this store," she
told him with a grin, then unzipped the duffle she'd bought and
took his clothes and boots from under his arm and stuffed them
inside.

His lips quirked up in a sexy smile and gave
her a slow once over then told her, "At least their men will have
plenty to occupy them too." Tingles raced along her nerve endings
where his eyes traveled.

Jazzie snorted and looped her arm through
his, before telling him, "I think even their men will be looking at
you, because you look so damned good. I'll try to hold them off
though."

"That's what I was worried about...the
men
looking at me in this getup," Beau told her and looked
down at himself then his face got even redder.

Dragging him by his arm, Jazzie finally got
him outside of the store, then leaned up and kissed his cheek.
Since she was so short, she had to tiptoe to reach his cheek, her
breast brushed his chest and her nipple hardened. He turned his
face and his lips glanced off of hers, sending an electric jolt
through her system. She sucked in a breath and held it. Slowly, he
put his lips over hers again and tasted her tentatively. Jazzie
moaned then the duffle bag in her hand dropped to the ground at her
feet, and her arms snaked up around his neck of their own free
will. She knew her eyes must be begging him to really kiss her,
because she wanted that so badly. His eyes latched onto her lips,
then he lowered his head and closed his mouth over hers, and his
hands moved to her butt and he pulled her more firmly against
him.

His tongue pressed at the seam of her lips,
begging entrance, and Jazzie opened her mouth, then he slid his
tongue inside and it rasped against hers. Her moan was muffled in
his mouth, as she tangled her tongue with his, inviting it to play.
A growl rumbled inside his chest, and vibrated against her breasts.
Beau lifted her and turned her toward the outside wall of the shop
and pressed his body into hers.

He deepened the heady kiss and Jazzie felt
drunk from the mind blowing sensations rocking her. She'd never had
a kiss like this before, and even though she'd never had sex, she'd
had plenty of kisses. Current sizzled along her nerve endings, and
she felt like her whole body was charged with it. Every chord he
hit with her was in the sweet spot of the scale and she was
definitely enjoying the music he was creating inside of her.

Suddenly, he pulled away from her with a
groan, and she whimpered following his lips as they moved away from
her. He eased her down the wall, then took a step back. Jazzie was
dazed, and her breathing was coming in short, sharp gasps.

"Wow..." she said and put her hand over her
lips, staring up into his eyes, which mirrored exactly what she was
feeling, drugged, surprised and extremely turned on.

Beau patted the top of his head then huffed
out a breath. "Whew, I was just checking to see if my hair was on
fire," he said with a chuckle and flushed. "I think we better head
to your surprise, or I might just stand here all night and kiss
you."

"I might agree to it," she said
breathlessly, then picked up the duffle bag, and took his arm, then
they started walking across the moonlit beach again. "So, where are
we going?"

He slid his hand down her arm to lace his
fingers through hers, and took the lead without saying a word. They
walked down a pathway through some coconut and palm trees for a
while, then he turned to the left where a Polynesian man in a small
boat waited by a dock. When they got closer to him, he smiled a
bright white smile illuminated by the tiki torches lining the dock.
He was shorter than Beau, but heavily muscled and tattooed. Beau
left her standing at the end of the dock and walked over to him and
they spoke quietly, then he walked back over and took her hand.

"Ready to go?" he looked down and asked with
a secret smile.

Her stomach growled and she laughed and put
a hand over it. "If this is gonna take very long, we'd probably
better eat before we go. I didn't have time for lunch," she told
him.

"No worries, sugar...we'll be back soon
enough," Beau told her then helped her up onto the dock and led her
to the boat. He stepped down inside first, then put his hands on
her waist and lifted her down. The boat swayed gently, then
settled, and he sat down on one of the seats and pulled her onto
his lap.

"Good to go, Manu," he told their boat man
with a smile. Manu nodded then leaned back and pulled the cord to
crank the engine. He guided the boat away from the dock into the
lagoon where moonbeams glistened romantically on the beautiful aqua
water, making it sparkle.

"Where are we going?" Jazzie asked Beau
again, this time in a dreamy tone, then leaned back on his shoulder
to look into his eyes.

"To heaven, baby," he said mysteriously,
then leaned down and gave her a gentle kiss.

When Beau kissed her she felt like she was
already there, they had some heady chemistry going on between them.
It was like every one of the cells in her body was tuned into his
with anticipation, of his touch. Absently, his hand toyed with the
knot securing her cover up, and his thumb brushed the indentation
of her waist now and again, sending tingles racing along her
skin.

Sitting this close to him, Jazzie was
hyperaware of every movement and nuance of his hard body. She put
her nose into his neck and inhaled deeply. He smelled delicious,
like a faint citrusy cologne, fresh salt breeze and delicious warm
man. It was all Jazzie could do not to stick out her tongue and see
if the smooth skin there tasted as good as it smelled.