Bourbon & Branch Water (5 page)

“This is different.”

Tanya eyed her for a moment. “I can
see that. You know, Stormy, it’s okay. It was about time you let loose a
little.”

“It was a-” She was about to say “mistake”
but Jeff approached.

“They can seat us now. Are you
hungry?”

Stormy wondered if she’d be able to
eat anything at all.

* * *

Dinner went
okay,
though
Stormy’s
cheeks flushed each time she looked
at Jeff and found his gaze lingering on her face. Tanya drove the conversation
for the most part, and Jeff went along for the ride. Tanya excused herself for
a few minutes, and Jeff reached across and touched
Stormy’s
hand, his eyes a deep gray-green, exactly as she remember them looking at her
the previous weekend, full of sensual interest.

“I like your hair better loose. You
have such beautiful hair,” he said.

The way he said it, like he really
meant it, made Stormy warm. She didn’t know what to say. Would “you have nice
hair, too” be stupid?

“Stormy, you’ve hardly said
anything. Are you okay?”

Why did people keep asking her
that? Couldn’t they see that she was
not
okay? Stormy pulled her hand out of Jeff’s. “I don’t know what to say to you.
We shouldn’t even be talking.”

He looked a little sheepish when he
said, “That’s true, but what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.” He grinned and
it was so boyish and charming, Stormy was captivated. “Why don’t you come to
Las Vegas on the weekend? There’s a new jazz band at the Flamingo this week. We
could go, listen to a few tunes and go back to my place, absolutely no
discussion of the case.”

They had avoided the case and their
jobs pretty well thus far but he was obviously trying to get her in bed again.
It was so foreign an idea, having a relationship purely centered on sex. Jeff
Successful Attorney probably did it all the time. “No.”

Jeff slowly leaned back in his
chair, his eyes on her. “I don’t understand you, babe. I thought we had a good
time together. Was I wrong?”

“No,” she whispered. “It was…”
Blissful, she wanted to say as the pause drew out.
Fabulous,
delicious, the most erotic experience of her life.
“Okay.”

He grinned. “‘Okay, you’ll come to
Las Vegas?”

It was tempting to let him think
that was what she meant. But she couldn’t do it twice. It wasn’t her. Or…maybe
she was re-inventing herself, becoming more modern and sophisticated. Maybe she
needed to be a little more like Tanya. She’d been in a rut for a few years. No
one had made love to her since her last boyfriend in Montana. No one had ever fired
her senses until Jeff. She hadn’t realized that sex could be so explosive. And
it was just a weekend
,
it didn’t mean
anything
. It didn’t make her a slut. It was casual. Friends with
benefits, could she accept that all by itself?

Her very Catholic mother would be
shrieking if she knew about
Stormy’s
behavior. Cheeks
growing hot again, Stormy answered quickly, before she could change her mind. “Yeah,
I’ll come to Las Vegas but no work talk, okay?”

He crossed his heart and made the
Boy Scout symbol with his hand, “absolutely agreed. I promise we’ll have a good
time.”

Why was he so interested in her
anyway? A guy like Jeff could have any girl he wanted. Maybe he’d never slept
with a Native American before. Maybe it was the “exotic” factor at work. Of
course, that didn’t explain why he’d want to do it twice. Chances are, he was
between fashion model girlfriends right now and was simply randy. Yeah, a guy
like Jeff would be used to lots of sex, so when he wasn’t getting much, he took
the easiest path. Stormy tried not to cringe as she labeled herself “easy” with
that thought. This was a big mistake and she’d end up humiliating herself even
further. She decided to change her mind and try to get out of it, but Tanya
came back.

“What did I miss?”

Jeff grinned and Stormy tried to be
invisible.

* * *

Saturday dawned, Stormy rolled over
in bed with a groan and a swipe at her alarm clock. She had to get her morning
run in before she left for Las Vegas. Ambivalence wracked her and made her wish
it
was
Monday already. She wanted to go and have wild,
uninhibited sex with Jeff. Wanted to let her hair down and really go crazy for
once, but at the same time she knew it was going to be difficult to face
herself in the mirror afterward. She was weak for wanting Jeff to speak sexy to
her again and to have his arms wrapped around her. It was dangerous and would
put her legal case in jeopardy. She could accept it more easily if he was
interested in more than a good time, but that hadn’t been the way their
relationship had gotten started and now it was too late to turn back the clock.

She pondered it as she ran through
the streets winding through the tract homes near her mother’s house on the
reservation. On the one hand, she was an adult with an adult woman’s needs, and
that included sexual needs. It wasn’t like she was a virgin. She’d had sex
before Jeff. Now, maybe it hadn’t been
earth-shattering
like her night with him had been, but it had been acceptable at the time. She
hadn’t expected more out of life. Being with Jeff had been an eye-opening experience.
Regrettably she knew there was no going back. Every man she encountered from
here on out was going to be compared to Jeff Hand, and would likely come out on
the short end of the stick. There was the possibility, of course, that the
upcoming night with him would reveal some terrible fault that would show his
feet of clay.

At the moment, that seemed like
grasping for straws.

On the other hand she had his phone
number. She could back out; create an excuse, a family emergency, maybe, or a
head cold.
Something that would prevent her from driving to
Las Vegas.
But in reality, she wanted to go to Las Vegas to be with
Jeff. She was lying to herself if she tried to convince herself otherwise.

Hot and sweaty, she returned to her
mother’s house. She was about to head for the shower down the hall from her
room but her cell phone rang. Stormy picked it up without thinking about it.

“Hey girlfriend, I’ve been trying
to talk to you all week. If I didn’t know better, I’d think you were avoiding
me.”

“I’ve been busy.”

“Doing what?”

“Um…” She couldn’t tell Tanya that
she was ashamed to admit that she couldn’t resist Jeff’s invitation. “Well,
that case, you know…”

“Hmm, you mean the one with the
sexy opposing attorney. What was his name?”

“Jeff.”

“Right,” the word was drawn out, a
little smug. “Jeff. He sure seemed interested in you on Wednesday. You must’ve
had one
helluva
night after Drake’s wedding.”

“Tanya!”

“Hmm. So, you
wanna
go shopping this afternoon? Maybe we could head
to Vegas and check out the malls.”

“I…uh…am already going to Vegas.”

“Cool! I’ll come over and we can
take your car. Mine’s been acting weird.”

“I can’t.” Stormy didn’t know what
to say but the truth. “I’m meeting Jeff.”

There was a protracted silence. “Oh,
it’s like that, huh?”

“No, it’s not. It’s a fling. I’m
sure that after tonight we’ll only see each other over the legal case.”

“Sure. Listen, Stormy, I’ve been
around this block a few times myself. You remember not to let yourself have any
expectations beyond having some fun, okay? He’s a player, almost certainly. A
guy that good is either married or a player. I don’t get ‘married’ vibes from
him.”

“He’s not married.”

“Well, in any case, you keep that
little Stormy heart locked away. He’s not The One, you get me?”

“Right, I was thinking the same
thing.”

“Are you going to get in trouble
with your boss over this?”

“We’re in a negotiation phase on
the case,” Stormy explained, though it was as much to convince herself as
Tanya. “If it went to trial…well, I think it’ll be okay for now. I won’t be
taking an ad out in the paper to announce it, though.”

“Go and have some fun.” Tanya
giggled. “Do him once for me.”

Stormy couldn’t help but laugh.

Chapter 3

There was a security guard at the
lobby desk on the street level of Jeff’s high-rise condo building. Stormy had
to sign in and wait for Jeff to approve her visit before she was allowed to use
the elevator to get to his floor. Signing her name in the book made her feel
slightly sleazy. How many other women had signed before going to that
apartment? The security guard was friendly but totally professional. If he had an
opinion of Jeff’s personal life, he wasn’t giving anything away.

He told her what floor to get off
and what the apartment number was, which was a good thing because Stormy had
left Jeff’s place in such a rush the morning after, she had no idea which unit
was his. Besides, she had never intended to be there again.

Jeff was waiting for her in the
doorway as she walked down the hall. “Hey babe, I’ve been waiting for you. Was
traffic bad?”

Traffic was always bad on the
strip, and she decided to tell a little white lie. Stormy didn’t want him to
know that she’d sat in her car for ten minutes in his parking structure,
debating whether she was doing the right thing or not. “Traffic was at a crawl.”

“Sorry about that. I like living
here, but the traffic on Las Vegas Boulevard is a nightmare.” He stepped back
into the apartment. “Come in.”

One last small stab of conscience
shot through Stormy but she dealt with it firmly. She knew she was going to
keep the case to herself. If Jeff tried anything fishy regarding the matter,
she’d be out the door. This affair was what she wanted. She was a grown woman
and this was okay. “Thanks.”

Jeff drew her into his arms and
closed the door with his foot. Their kiss had
Stormy’s
insides all warm and tender by the time they broke from each other. “
Mmm
,” he hummed. “Missed that, I can’t believe it’s only been
a week, sure seems much longer.”

It had been a long week, especially
Thursday and Friday as she’d gone back and forth with herself over this date. “Yes.”

He kissed her again, holding her
steady with a hand in her hair. “You wore your hair loose. I’m glad.” Jeff’s
fingers slid through her locks and he smiled with appreciation.

Stormy felt her cheeks heat.

“You know what I want?” he asked as
he nuzzled her ear.

She shook her head slightly.

“I want to strip you bare and eat
you up.”

The surge of desire that swept
through her body nearly had her trembling. “I…I…”

“I know. We should wait until after
we have dinner and listen to that jazz band I promised. But sweet baby, we’re
going to be up all night, I assure you.”

That’s pretty much what Stormy
hoped for, but at the same time, she was a little disappointed. Some part of
her, some little girl romantic part, wanted it to be more than sex between
them. Rather than let herself fall into that trap, she jumped into the river. “I
don’t want to wait,” she whispered.

Slowly, he pulled her tighter against
him and kissed her forehead, her closed eyelids, her nose, cheeks and finally his
lips touched hers. The kiss was so sensuous, with his tongue wrapping around
hers,
Stormy’s
toes curled in her dressy shoes.

Jeff unzipped her dress and the
slinky knit confection slid to the floor moments later. He stepped back half a
pace and looked her up and down, a smile growing on his face at what he saw.
Stormy’s
body went hot as she stood there in her heels,
green lace thong and matching lace bra. The set had languished in the back of
one of her dresser drawers, waiting for the “perfect occasion.” If this wasn’t
it, nothing was.

“You are exquisite,” he said, his
low voice like honey in her ears.

She had a hard time looking him in
the eyes, feeling suddenly shy and exposed. “Thank you.”

Cupping her chin, he tilted her
head up until she looked at his face. “You’re embarrassed. Why? I’ve seen you
wearing a lot less.”

“You may think I’m something I’m
not, Jeff.”

“What do I think?”

“You might think I do this kind of
thing all the time.”

“Do you?”

“No!”

He grinned. “Didn’t think so, you
know what I do think?”

Stormy shook her head.

Jeff ran a hand up her arm and down
her chest to cup her breast. “I think you’re the sexiest woman I know. You are
perfect the way you are. I like the innocence of you.”

That was a kind thing to say, and
it made her feel better, but his fingers on her nipple were distracting.
As he pinched and tugged through the green lace, her insides got
all squirmy and her pussy got wet.
Soon he was manipulating both of her
nipples and Stormy couldn’t help but moan with pleasure.

His hands slid down her arms again
and he grasped her fingers. “Come on.” She knew where they were going, and
another brief wave of shyness made her blush, but her libido was a stronger
voice in her head.

Once they were in his bedroom, Jeff
stood her in the middle of the room and began taking off his clothes. He did it
slowly, and Stormy stood there and watched as each item was removed and tossed
on the bench at the footboard of the bed. His gaze never left her, though it
did travel all over her body giving her little shivers of anticipation.

He was going commando, so the last
thing off him was his black denim
jeans
.
Stormy’s
breath caught and she bit her lower lip as she
looked at him. He was gorgeous, all masculine muscle and tanned skin. Even his
lower half was tanned, and Stormy realized with a little start that Jeff must
sunbathe nude somewhere. Well, with a body like that, what was there to be shy
over?