Authors: Cathryn Fox
Shading the late afternoon sun from her eyes, Josie surveyed the packed fairgrounds and searched for her two best friends. When she spotted Vic and Tabby sitting just inside the food and drink tent, she pushed through the throngs of people, taking care to avoid a run-in with a crowd of over-stimulated kids, many of whom were in her kindergarten class, as they ran from one children’s activity to another.
As she approached her friends and took in their big, toothy grins, along with the new pink hues brightening their cheeks—a flush that spoke of wild, wicked nights—a small pang of jealousy rose up inside her. Josie was happy for her friends, she really was, but she couldn’t deny that after watching them both find love in the arms of two wonderful men, she felt a little envious, and a little tired of waiting for her own Mr. Right to come along.
“Be patient,” Madame M had told her a few months back, “and the man of your dreams will come along, a one-woman kind of man with the initials J.A.D.”
But honestly, a girl only had so much patience. Not to mention needs. At twenty-six years old Josie was primed for love, marriage and children—along with great sex—and was getting a little tired of waiting for J.A.D. to profess his undying love to her, whoever the hell J.A.D. was.
“Josie,” Vic called out and waved her over when she met her glance. “We saved you a seat.”
Josie slipped into the plastic chair that Tabby had pushed out from the table, and took a big sip of the ice-cold soda they had waiting for her.
Tabby grinned. “After that pie-eating contest we thought you might need this.”
“Thanks, I do,” Josie responded, taking note of the way the two were staring at her as she wiped her mouth and searched the tent for any new faces, or anyone who could possibly have the initials of the man she was supposed to marry. When her glance came up empty, she tried not to look too disappointed, but it was hard to hide anything from her perceptive friends.
Knowing they were about to press about her love life, and hoping to redirect the conversation before they had a chance, Josie pulled a face and rubbed her aching stomach as she glared at them both. “The next time you two want to sign me up for something, do you think it can involve coins or darts, instead of a pound of lard?” Since Josie had been too busy at a school meeting to sign up for any of the activities, her friends had taken the liberty of adding her name to a few of the events.
The two laughed. “We only signed you up for one more thing tonight,” Tabby added.
Josie groaned and said, “Please tell me you didn’t put my name down for the hot-dog-eating competition, too.”
Tabby gave a quick shake of her head. “No, but you need to find your way to Town Square after dark.”
Josie racked her brain, trying to figure out what activities were going on after the sun set, when the kids’ events shut down and the adult activities took over. She cast an accusing glare her friend’s way. “What have you gotten me into this time?”
“Never mind that,” Vic said, ignoring her question and asking one of her own. “What I want to know is if you’ve met the mysterious J.A.D. yet.”
Josie frowned and took another hopeful look around the tent, but all she saw was a medley of familiar faces, none of whom sported the initials J.A.D. Well, except for ninety-year-old Judd Daltry, and she was pretty sure he wasn’t her soul mate. His wife might have something to say about that.
“Nope, and I’m beginning to believe he doesn’t exist.”
Tabby toyed with her straw and pulled a face. “Maybe Madame M was wrong and you should just get on with dating.”
Just then Lila Sheppard, a young chef who was volunteering in the kitchen, stepped up to them and deposited a huge basket of French fries in the middle of their table. Lila was fairly new in town, hired as Katy’s cooking assistant for her daytime show,
Cooking with Katy
.
“Thanks, Lila,” they all said, but instead of responding, a dreamy look came over the girl’s pretty face as she gazed longingly out into the crowd.
Twisting to see what had caught her attention, Josie followed Lila’s gaze until her glance once again fell on Adam Collins. Okay, so clearly the guy was super hot, and clearly Lila wanted a piece of him. Not that she could blame her.
Lila gave a mock shiver. “Jeez, that guy sets my body ablaze with just a simple look.” She grinned and arched a playful brow. “Do you think he does house calls for that kind of fire?”
“No, and you should stay away from him.” Vic’s stern voice caught Josie off guard and had her wondering what it was about Adam Collins that riled her friend so much. Adam might be a playboy, but she also knew he was a nice guy, even though he hadn’t spoken to her since she’d returned home from college earlier that year and started teaching at the local elementary school.
“Oh, why’s that?” Lila asked.
“Because you’re a nice girl and he’s hell-bent on staying single,” Vic added.
“Who says I’m looking for anything more?” Lila shot them all a wicked grin and continued, “I mean, come on. Sometimes nice girls just have to have really good, down-and-dirty sex too, you know.”
Josie laughed and shook her head, unable to deny that. Not that she’d ever experienced really good, down-and-dirty sex before, considering she’d only slept with one guy in her entire twenty-six years. He’d been a gentle lover, considerate enough, she supposed. The fact that he’d never once brought her to orgasm in the three years they dated back in college, however, did have her thinking she might be flawed in some way.
Lack of orgasms aside, Josie also knew that the fire was missing from their relationship. Plus, he’d never once attempted to tap into or satisfy any of her secret fetishes. Not that she’d ever had the nerve to tell him what they were, or anyone else for that matter. Heck, she doubted she’d even tell J.A.D. about all the scintillating things she’d love to experience. After all, she didn’t want anyone to think she was some sort of sexual deviant. But she couldn’t help it that she found the idea of having sex outdoors with the chance of getting caught, or having her lover spank her, utterly exciting. Just considering it now had blood rushing through her veins and her body hungering for so much more. She clamped her thighs together as her mind drifted in an erotic direction.
Okay, so she might not be a one-night kind of girl, but if Mr. Right didn’t soon appear and help soothe her aching libido, she just might have to rethink her lifestyle choices, because the truth was, she’d gone without sex far too long and was in desperate need of a man’s intimate touch—whether he could bring her to orgasm or not.
After Lila turned her attention to the table beside them, Tabby and Vic leaned forward, and from the conspiratorial looks on their pretty faces, Josie braced herself for an inquisition.
Tabby lowered her voice. “So,” she said, “since there are no signs of any man with the initials J.A.D., do you think you should forget about what Madame M said and start dating the local men from Whispering Cove?”
Josie grabbed a French fry and dipped it into the ketchup. “The only problem with that idea, Tabby, is that you gals just snagged the last two decent men in town.”
With that they both smiled, then Vic said, “Okay, so who says you have to date a decent man?”
Josie jabbed her thumb into her chest. “Uh, I do.”
“Why?”
“Why?” Josie asked, dumfounded by the question. Her friends knew her well enough to know that she wasn’t about to settle for anyone less than her perfect mate. “Because I want a nice respectable guy and don’t want to end up married to an
indecent
man.”
“Who says you have to end up with him?” Tabby asked.
A mischievous look came over Vic’s face. “Indecent men do have benefits too, you know.”
“Oh really, Vic, and how, pray tell, do you know this?”
Vic pointed a finger and redirected the conversation. “This is about you, remember.”
“Okay, fine, so what are you getting at?” Josie asked, deciding to humor her friends.
“Well, while you’re waiting for Mr. Decent to come along, why not have some fun with Mr. Indecent?”
Josie’s eyes opened wide. “What exactly are you suggesting?”
“I’m suggesting that you need to get out and have an orgasm or two. Look at you. You’re all tense and stressed out about finding this guy with the initials J.A.D. While you’re waiting for him to come along, why not have some fun? Like Lila said, sometimes nice girls just have to have really good, down-and-dirty sex, too.”
Shocked at her friend’s scandalous suggestion, but unable to deny that her body was aching for the erotic touch of a man, she asked, “And exactly who do you think I should have this fun with?”
“How about with someone who is always up for a good time? Someone who isn’t going to go all serious on you and want more than you can give him?”
“Okay, I’m listening.”
Victoria pointed a finger and Josie followed the direction. “How about someone like him?”
“Adam Collins!” Josie blurted out.
“Yeah, why not?”
“Ah, didn’t you just warn Lila to stay away from him?”
“That’s because they’re all wrong for each other.”
Josie’s head jerked back. “Oh, and you think we’re right for each other.”
“I didn’t exactly say that.”
“Then what exactly are you saying?”
“That he’s the perfect guy to help you pass the time until Mr. Right comes along.”
Josie let her glance wander to Adam as he made his way across the fairgrounds. Oh yeah, he was perfect all right. From his thick hair, his sun-kissed skin, his lean, fit body and size-twelve shoe, the man had perfect written all over him. Perfect trouble, that was.
She swallowed and asked, “What makes you think Adam Collins is the perfect guy for the job?”
“Because you’re sweet, Josie. The kind of nice girl that respectable guys want to marry and bring home to their mothers.”
Josie rolled her eyes. “And where might I find these respectable guys?”
“With Adam you can have a little fun and not risk him falling for you or making things awkward while you wait for Mr. Right.”
Josie took another long pull from her straw, trying to wrap her brain around the idea of her and Adam Collins—together in bed. But when she realized it wasn’t all that difficult to imagine, she swallowed hard and said, “Vic, I don’t know how you come up with this stuff.”
Vic’s eyes widened. “So you think it’s a good idea then?”
“No, I don’t. Besides, Adam has never even given me a second glance. At least not since I’ve returned from college.”
Tabby arched a perfectly manicured brow and questioned, “Oh, so you’ve noticed him not noticing you then, have you?”
She took a moment to think about Adam, about how his rich, earthy smell reached her nostrils and brought on a shiver when she’d walked past him earlier. Thought about how athletic and sexy he looked standing there outside the sultan’s tent, hands jammed deep in his pockets and pulling his jeans low to expose tight, oblique muscles—muscles Josie would love to run her hands along, as well as her tongue.
As heat moved into her stomach, she gulped air and wondered what the hell she was doing. She shouldn’t be fantasizing about Adam. She should be concentrating on finding her Mr. Right, because everything about the hot, sexy man who undoubtedly knew his way around a woman’s body screamed wrong, with a capital W.
When she realized her friends were waiting for an answer, she blew out a breath and said, “Come on, Tabby. He’s a little impossible not to notice, don’t you think?”
Tabby sat back in her chair. “So then why don’t you go for it?”
“Because whenever he sees me coming, he goes the other way. Clearly I’m not his type. I’m a kindergarten teacher looking for everlasting love. He’s a playboy looking for lust, and the kind of girls he goes out with are brazen women, women who are only in it for the sex.”
“And that’s the only reason you’d be in it too, Josie.”
As Josie’s body quivered in sensual delight, she bit her lip as thoughts of sex with Adam pinged around inside her brain. Her skin flushed, her sex ached and everything inside her urged her to go for it, to have a little fun with the town’s playboy until her future husband came along. As a tremor raced through her blood, her pussy fluttered in anticipation and she took a moment to think about what it would take to gain his attention, to get him to finally notice her.
Dear God, she couldn’t believe she was actually thinking about it, thinking about having a scandalous affair with Adam Collins.
“So you’re going to go for it then?” Vic asked.
“No. Never. And this conversation is over,” Josie announced, slamming her palms on the table. But the truth was, now that the two had planted that outrageous idea in her head, it was all she could do to keep her salacious gaze from straying to Adam, Whispering Cove’s most eligible bachelor—a man who, according to his reputation, knew how to light a fire in a woman, and, more importantly, knew how to tamp said fire out.
Maybe he really was the guy who could get the job done.
Good Lord, what was she doing? She really, really shouldn’t be thinking about Adam like this, thinking about how perfect his hard body was, how his raw sexuality reached out to her and stimulated her body like a lover’s caress, or how that sensuous mouth of his would feel on her flesh, between her legs.
Then again, she was growing tired of waiting for J.A.D. to come along and maybe, just maybe, a little afternoon delight with a hot guy like Adam, a man who was anything but a one-woman kind of guy, was exactly what she needed to help her pass the time, soothe her raging libido and get her through the lonely, cold nights ahead.
By the time Adam settled himself into the kissing booth, the sun had set and a multitude of brightly colored lights lit up the downtown core, providing enough illumination for the townsfolk to easily stroll along the sidewalks and partake in the nighttime activities.
The children’s festivities had shut down hours ago, and the closed-off streets were now filled with adults, many of whom were hanging out at the beer tent, or getting the life scared out of them over at Hauk’s haunted bar down on the waterfront.
Since Adam was always up for a good scare, he thought he might venture on over there later, after his firefighter demonstration in Town Square. He glanced up to see the line of women forming on the street, all eager to trade a dollar for a kiss. Adam grinned, thinking the kissing booth trumped the psychic booth any day, but then a darker, more serious thought wiped the smile from his face.
As his best bud Trent, who was in charge of crowd control, went to work on getting the ladies to form a straight line before he opened the booth for business, Adam took a quick moment to consider what Madame M had told him. That he’d fall in love with a woman with the initials J.C.W., and find true happiness.
True happiness, his ass!
Clearly the woman knew nothing about his fate, or the undeniable fact that he had his father’s blood running through his veins. Adam’s father—like his father before him, and his father before him—had never been faithful a day in his life, even when he was married. Eventually he’d up and left his wife and two sons, skipping town with a young waitress from the Seafarer. Adam heard rumors that he’d stayed with her for a little over a year before he moved on to something shinier. Sadly enough, there hadn’t been a Collins man yet to break the pattern.
With the Collins curse handed down from one generation to the next, no one in the small town of Whispering Cove expected Adam or Jacob to be any different—including their own mother—and so far both he and his brother had lived up to those expectations.
As far as Adam was concerned, Madame M had simply pulled the initial J.C.W. out of thin air, because he clearly had the inability to fall in love or commit for any length of time, which in his books meant true happiness.
Despite knowing that, he wasn’t sure why that so-called psychic’s prediction had bothered him so much. Like he’d told Errol, he didn’t believe the woman had any spiritual abilities anyway. Then again, perhaps it was simply because it hit too close to home, and she was suggesting he could have the one thing he knew he couldn’t.
Honestly, he just needed to put her ridiculous prediction behind him and remind himself that she had no idea what she was talking about. Although he couldn’t deny that she did seem to know the nickname his father used to call him before he’d skipped town some fifteen years ago. But Adam had always been athletic—joining every sport going. Everyone knew that about him, and a lot of fathers called their sons “sport”, right?
“Hey, Adam.” The sound of Cheri’s voice pulled his focus, and when he glanced at her and noted the pair of dark, sultry eyes looking him over with genuine interest, it helped lighten his mood and bring his attention back around to the task at hand.
“Cheri,” he greeted, as she sat down in the chair on the other side of the small booth.
She slid her dollar across the table, and from the way she was looking at him, Adam could tell she was interested in a lot more than a simple kiss.
Puckering her lips, she purred like a kitten and said, “This is just to whet your appetite, baby.” She leaned forward, her mouth only inches from his. “Then later, when you’re done here, we can really get down to business because I have a pussy in need of a fireman’s attention.” With that she planted her perfectly painted lips on his.
Adam had kissed Cheri before, and while he thought she was a great kisser, very hot and passionate, this time he felt nothing as her soft lips pressed against his, nor did her sexy little game of firefighter rescuing the kitty excite him either. There was no doubt that she was putting her best efforts forward, but Adam just couldn’t muster up the enthusiasm to give her anything more than a small peck.
Madame M and her asinine prediction clearly rattled him more than he cared to admit.
He began to inch away, but before he could break contact, Cheri gripped his T-shirt to prevent him from moving, and tried to slip her tongue into his mouth. That’s when Trent broke things up.
“Next,” he called out, grinning at Adam as he tapped Cheri on the shoulder.
Adam sat back and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. Jesus, that woman was so bold. So brazen. So like the girls he always went for. Which begged the question, why was he suddenly so disinterested?
She gave him a wink and said, “Later, Adam,” before she disappeared.
“Something bothering you?” Trent asked as he leaned against the booth and crossed his legs at the ankles.
“Nope.”
“Cheri looked like she wanted to eat you alive and you seemed a little…distracted.”
“Everything is fine,” he assured Trent, but the dubious look on his friend’s face made it perfectly clear that he wasn’t convincing.
Before he had a chance to press, Adam said, “If we want to make our firefighter demonstration, we’d better get this show on the road.”
Shaking his head, Trent gestured for another woman to have a seat. Then before Adam knew it, the night had slipped by, and over the course of the last few hours he’d kissed so many women he’d lost track of the count.
But no matter how many pretty ladies had planted their mouths on his, and no matter how many had openly invited him back to their place, he still couldn’t get enthused. Finally, after giving his last kiss of the night, he dipped his head to see the stack of money in the box at his feet, pleased to see how much he’d raised for the community center.
He was just about to shout to Trent, who was chatting quietly with Katy, to tell him to close up so he could do a count, when another woman dropped down into the seat across from him. Adam lifted his head to see who it was, and opened his mouth to inform her that his shift was over, but when he caught sight of the beautiful girl sitting across from him, the world around him tilted on its axis and his stomach punched into his throat.
“Adam,” Josie greeted, those big blue eyes of hers staring at him as her mouth turned up in a warm, inviting smile—the same breath-robbing smile she’d given him earlier that day.
“What…what are you doing?” he finally managed to ask once he regained control of his voice.
She casually rolled one shoulder, and slid her dollar across the counter. “Like you, I’m just doing my part to raise money for the new community center.”
“Oh,” he said, and wet his lips. “I guess I just didn’t expect…”
She gave him an easy, playful grin, and everything in the way she looked at him had his body reacting with heated need. His glance raced over her face, taking in her big eyes, full, lush mouth and long blonde hair. Christ, she looked so gorgeous and sensual that it had his cock tightening to the point of pain. He shifted, uncomfortable, as his body reacted to her closeness, not to mention what that sweet jasmine scent of hers was doing to him. As his blood went from simmer to inferno, he cleared his throat and tried to relax.
“Didn’t expect what?” she asked with bright-eyed innocence, except beneath that innocence he thought he spotted something else. Something that looked like desire. White-hot desire, that was. For him.
Oh fuck!
“I don’t know.” Flustered, he raked his hair off his forehead. “Never mind.”
Her mouth curved. “Shall we get on with it then?” Josie asked, her voice playful, teasing, as she leaned forward to poise her mouth open. With the top two buttons on her dress undone, her actions gave him a perfect, unobstructed view of her cleavage. Adam tried not to stare. He really did. But he was a guy, for Christ’s sake!
And a pathetic one at that.
When she toyed with the third button on her dress, Adam nearly swallowed his tongue. With his mouth salivating worse than his brother’s Saint Bernard on a hot summer day, he briefly pinched his eyes shut and worked to get his thoughts focused. But how the hell was he supposed to keep a calm demeanor when Josie, the sweet girl who’d invaded his fantasies for as long as he could remember—a girl who suddenly seemed to be coming on strong—was waiting for him to kiss her?
Adam drew a deep, rejuvenating breath and reminded himself this was all for charity. Just thinking of the kids helped him gain a modicum of composure. Okay, he could do this. He could give her a small peck and then once the night was over he’d go find Cheri, or one of the other women who’d openly invited him home for a late-night rendezvous, and fuck her long and hard and well into the morning until he got Josie out of his system once and for all.
“Adam,” she whispered, “I’m ready.”
When their glances met, sexual energy arced between them and nearly knocked him backward. His dick jumped, his blood pumped faster, and a barrage of emotions tore through him and had his thoughts scattering in a million different directions.
He took a deep breath, but before he could get his head on straight, her warm hands touched his cheeks, igniting a fire deep inside him. That first sweet touch of her lips to his damn near shut down his brain. As tension coiled inside him, she made a small sexy noise, one that had him conjuring up erotic images of their naked bodies coming together, over and over again, and it was all he could do not to climb over that booth and drag her home with him.
Her kiss was warm, full of passion, excitement and something else, something he’d never felt before and couldn’t quite put a name to. Before he realized what he was doing, he widened her lips with his tongue and slipped inside for a deeper, more thorough exploration. At first the kiss was slow, sultry, but when he deepened it, needing in the most unfathomable ways to taste every inch of her, her mouth moved urgently under his, seeking, searching, demanding more than just his tongue.
As her mouth pressed hungrily, pressure began brewing inside him, and his body pulsed with raw need. Oh God, how he wanted. His fingers began trembling, and then, as though moving of their own accord, his hands circled her head and he fisted her hair, pulling her impossibly closer. His muscles bunched, his cock ached and a deep growl of longing caught in his throat. In the span of a second, this beautiful, sensual woman caught him off guard and completely turned his world inside out.
Then it suddenly occurred to him that his disinterest in those other women tonight had more to do with Josie than any damn prediction. The truth was, after crossing paths with her earlier that day, and after she’d tossed him that sweet yet sexy smile of hers, he’d been completely preoccupied with her, unable to get her out of his head, either one of them.
Then another thought struck.
Josie Wells!
A shiver raced up his spine, and he slowly inched away. “Josie?” he asked in a strangled voice.
Breathless, she looked at him, and the warm flush coloring her cheeks told him he wasn’t the only one rattled by that kiss. “Yeah?” she murmured.
“Uh, what’s your middle name?”
She gave him an odd look and said, “Caitlyn, why?”
J.C.W. Josie Caitlyn Wells.
Jesus Christ!
He pushed back in his chair and tried to wrap his brain around this information. “No reason,” he choked out.
Her brow furrowed. “Really? Because it seems like such an odd question.”
As his thoughts raced a million miles an hour, Trent and Katy approached. Katy shifted her attention to Josie, and the two began talking. As they turned their focus to Katy’s growing stomach, Josie climbed from her seat and the two sauntered off.
“Meet you in Town Square,” Katy called out to Trent.
“What the hell was that?” Trent asked when Katy and Josie were out of earshot.
“What the hell was what?”
“Oh, come on, Adam,” Trent said, grinning like the crazy son of a bitch he really was. “I thought I was going to have to hose you two down.”
When the festival’s chairman came up from behind, Adam grabbed the box of money and handed it to him, apologizing that he didn’t have a dollar count. Then he snatched his windbreaker off the back of his chair, tossed it over his shoulder and started making his way toward Town Square.
Knowing he was unable to keep anything from Trent, he cast him a sideways glance and said, “She really was coming on kind of strong, wasn’t she? What do you make of that?”
Trent rolled his eyes. “Geez, I wonder.”
Adam took a minute to chew on Trent’s response. Was it possible that sweet little Josie wanted him as much as he wanted her? She knew his reputation as a playboy, so why was a nice respectable girl like her, a girl who’d openly admitted to wanting love, marriage and children, suddenly paying him so much attention? What the hell had gotten into her?
They rounded the corner and spotted a crowd surrounding the fire truck parked in the center of Town Square. “So what are you going to do about it?”
“Nothing.”
“Nothing? Come on, Adam, you both clearly want each other. What’s stopping you?”
“You know what’s stopping me.” Wanting to change the subject, Adam nodded toward the truck and asked, “What exactly is it we’re supposed to be doing anyway?”
“Adam…” Trent began, refusing to let the matter drop.
But Adam just shook his head and said, “You know I can’t, Trent. Not with her. Not with Josie.”
Before Trent could respond, their captain Doug Simms called out to them and waved them over.
“Get yourselves suited up,” he said when they approached, and that’s when Adam noticed his colleagues. All three were shirtless and wearing only their pants and suspenders. Confused, Adam wasn’t quite sure what the demonstration entailed or why they were doing it after dark. Most fire-fighting displays were done for the children and there wasn’t a child in sight at this late hour.
After removing his own shirt and pulling on his pants, the captain lined them up. Adam looked into the crowd, and noted the excitement in the air. As his captain read off names, and five women came forward, one of them being Josie, he turned to Trent. “What the hell is going on?”