had one she ripped it open, then looked at him. She didn’t move, only stared. “Good Lord, you’re beautiful.”
“And horny.”
She met his gaze. “Oh, right.” She looked at the condom, then him. Finally she thrust it toward him.
He rolled it on. Before he could do much more than that she was back on the table snuggled on top of him, then positioning herself so that she was sliding onto him. He grasped her hips, holding her as he joined in the motion of her body.
His passion-glazed eyes stared up at her, watching the way her breasts bounced. She was beautiful, she was gorgeous, she was…
Celeste cried out, her body stiffening. She was fascinating to watch as she came. Then he didn’t think anymore. He closed his eyes and let his release engulf him in the heat of the moment.
Her body collapsed on top of his, their ragged breathing filling the small room.
“I’ve never ever felt like this before,” she whispered.
“I know. I feel the same way.”
“This could get complicated.”
“I won’t let it. I promise.”
She nodded.
And he meant what he said. He knew there was something between them. He’d sensed it the minute she’d stepped from her car and raised her face as if to worship the sun.
Chapter 24
“What do you mean you weren’t always the good guy?” Nikki asked as she lay on her side across from Cal, the fire flickering between them, casting shadows over her naked body.
It was all he could do to stop staring at her luscious body and raise his gaze to her face. Great, now he had to look her in the eye and lie to her.
Dammit, she’d pissed him off when she kept probing for answers about Cynthia. And maybe he wanted to get a little back, and if he had to lie to do it, then so be it. It wasn’t like she hadn’t been lying to him since she’d called for reservations.
He’d tell her the truth before she left, but he wanted to see how fast she’d leave after she got what she came for. And maybe he just wanted to see if their time together had meant anything to her at all.
So he took a deep breath and gave her his most serious look. “Steroids.”
That hadn’t been so difficult. Easier than he thought. He’d been afraid he would feel guilty lying, but he didn’t. On the contrary, he felt the total opposite. He inwardly smiled. Actually, this was kind of fun. How bad could he make his life?
She gasped. “You’re doing steroids?”
“Not right now. I did in the past.”
She relaxed again. “But that was in the past. She still shouldn’t have broken the engagement for something you did in the past.”
Damn, she looked good with the firelight flickering over her as the sun set behind her. But then she frowned.
“It is in the past, isn’t it?”
“Oh, yeah. I haven’t done steroids in a few years.” He gazed off into the darkness. “The alcohol was a bit of a problem, though.”
“You’re not an alcoholic, too, are you?”
“It’s not as bad as it used to be.” His sigh was audible. “I pretty much have it under control now. That is, if I don’t miss a meeting.”
She moved to a sitting position and for a moment he couldn’t think-hell, he could barely remember to breathe. Her breasts were right there in front of him, begging him to take them into his hands and massage them until she cried out for more.
“When did it all start?” she asked.
For half a second he thought she might really care, the way she was looking at him with concern. Hell, she was probably taking all this down in her head so she could write her tell-all article about his sordid past.
Ah, but wouldn’t she be surprised to know that he was still a member of the Baptist church in Frog Hollow and that he gave to charities on a regular basis. But she only wanted all the dirt, so he’d give it to her in spades.
He picked up a stick, and rubbed his thumb across the rough surface. “It started when I was fifteen. I started running with a wild bunch from school.”
She sat back, looking confused. “They have a wild crowd here? The town’s not that big.”
She had a point. The wildest thing that had ever happened here that he knew of was when Jamie Warren plowed up the front school yard on his daddy’s new tractor. He was drunker than a skunk, but no one really blamed him since he was about to ship out overseas. Course, he was only going to Germany, but the town figured overseas was overseas, so he didn’t get into much trouble.
“What happened to all the values you said your grandparents taught you?” she asked, bringing him back to the present.
Damn, he’d forgotten about telling her that. It wasn’t easy telling lies. “I really tried to stay on the straight and narrow, but the temptation was too great. I’m a sinner-what can I say?”
“Do you want to talk about it?”
Oh, now her asking him that was priceless. Of course she wanted him to talk about it. And that’s exactly what he planned to do.
“You don’t mind listening? There aren’t a lot of people who would without taking advantage of what I tell them.”
“Uh, what do you mean?”
“People love a scandal. They want to believe the worst about a person and especially someone who’s in the spotlight, like I am.” Now let her squirm a little.
“I would never use anything you told me. I mean, I write history books.”
Yeah, sure. Well, two could play her game. “I knew you wouldn’t. There’s something good and kind about you.” He took a deep breath. “When I was seventeen, I started running around with this wild bunch.”
“I thought you said you were fifteen?”
“You’re right. Sometimes I forget things. It’s because of the alcohol.” He had to keep his lies straight.
Her forehead wrinkled. “That’s okay.” She moved to her side again, head resting on her arm. “Go on, please.”
How the hell could he keep anything straight when all he wanted to do was stare at her naked body?
He cleared his throat and tried to concentrate. “We made moonshine.”
Not exactly a lie there. Hell, you could find moonshine in just about any little backwoods country town- especially in Texas. He’d drunk some once. It had taken him a good two minutes to catch his breath. He never so much as got close to homemade brew again.
“We sold it out of the back of Timmy Collins’s old Ford that had been souped up. We’d make runs late at night. The cops never caught us, but not because they didn’t try.”
Tim would kill him if he knew he was talking about him like this. Tim was the preacher at the Baptist church, and as far as Cal knew, he’d never taken a drink in his life.
“That’s how you got hooked on alcohol?”
“That, and stealing it out of liquor stores when the revenuers would find our still and blow it up.”
Her eyes narrowed. “You’re a thief, too?”
Maybe he was laying it on a little too thick. “Only once. I didn’t steal after that. It scared the hell out of me. I figured I was a lot of things but not a thief.”
Nikki seemed to relax. “When did the use of steroids start?”
“College.”
“They didn’t do random drug testing?”
