Call Me Irresistible (Wynette, Texas #5)(98)

But he was too much the gentleman.

He arched his back and settled his mouth over her breast. The movement raised his thighs and lifted her off him. "Not so fast," he whispered against her moist nipple.

Yes, fast ! she wanted to cry out. Fast and awkward and crazy and passionate.

But he'd felt her tightness, and he was having none of it. He wouldn't let her endure even a moment's discomfort in pursuit of his own satisfaction. As he teased her nipple, he reached between their bodies and began to perform his magic tricks, arousing her until she was mindless. Another A-plus performance.

She recovered first and rolled out from under him. His eyes were closed, and she tried to find reassurance in the rapid rise and fall of his chest, his sweat-slicked skin. But despite his rumpled hair and the slight puffiness she'd inflicted on his bottom lip, she couldn't make herself believe she'd really touched him, not in any lasting way. Only the memory of that reckless public kiss told her she wasn't being a fool.

The town erupted with the news that Spence had chosen Wynette. For the next three days, people hugged each other on the street, the Roustabout poured free beers, and the barbershop blasted out old Queen anthems from an ancient boom box. Ted couldn't go anywhere without men pounding him on the back and women hurling themselves at him, not that they didn't do that anyway. The good news even eclipsed Kayla's announcement that the contest bidding had reached twelve thousand dollars.

Meg barely saw him. He was either on the phone with Spence's lawyers, who were due to fly in any day to finalize the contracts, or he was involved in Operation Avoid Sunny. She missed him dreadfully, right along with their less-than-satisfactory sex life.

She was doing her own avoidance dance with Spence. Fortunately, the local citizens had joined the effort to keep him away from her. Still, the uneasiness she'd been carrying around for days wouldn't go away.

On Sunday after work she made a detour to the swimming hole to cool off. She'd developed a deep affection for both the creek and the Pedernales River that fed it. Although she'd seen photos of the way a sudden rainstorm could transform the river into a raging corridor of destruction, the water had always been gentle with her.

Cypress and ash grew near the creek's bank, and she sometimes caught sight of a whitetail deer or an armadillo. Once a coyote came out from behind some buttonbush and looked as startled to see her as she was to see it. But today the cool waters failed to work their magic. She couldn't get past the disquieting notion that she was missing something important. It dangled in front of her, a piece of fruit she couldn't quite reach.



       
         
       
        

A cloud rolled in, and a scrub jay scolded her from the branch of a nearby hackberry tree. She shook the water from her hair and dove under again. When she came up, she wasn't alone.

Spence loomed above her on the riverbank, the clothes she'd abandoned hanging from his big hands. "You shouldn't go swimming by yourself, Miz Meg. It's not safe."

Her toes dug into the mud, and water lapped at her shoulders. He must have followed her here, but she'd been too preoccupied to notice. A stupid mistake that someone with so many enemies should never have made. The sight of him holding her clothes made her stomach knot. "No offense, Spence, but I'm not in the mood for company."

"Maybe I'm tired of waiting for you to be ready." Still holding her clothes, he sat on a big rock by the river's edge next to the towel she'd left there and studied her. He was dressed for business in navy pants and a long-sleeved blue oxford dress shirt he'd begun to sweat through. "It seems every time I start to have a serious conversation with you, you manage to slip away."

She was naked except for a sodden pair of panties, and as much as she might like to think of Spence as a buffoon, he wasn't. A cloud skittered over the sun. She clenched her fists under the water. "I'm a happy-go-lucky person. I don't like serious conversations."

"Comes a time when everybody has to get serious."

The way he slid her bra through his fingers gave her chills, and she didn't like being frightened. "Go away, Spence. You weren't invited."

"Either you come out or I'm coming in."

"I'm staying where I am. I don't like this, and I want you to leave."

"That water looks damned inviting." He set her clothes next to him on the rock. "Did I ever tell you I swam competitively in college?" He began taking off his shoes. "I even thought about training for the Olympics, but I had too much else going on."

She sank deeper into the water. "If you're seriously interested in me, Spence, you're going about this the wrong way."