Wicked Pleasures Page 10

  Tabitha toyed with the remote, turning down the sound as she settled on a soap opera. The great-looking guy and beyond beautiful girl on the screen loomed surreal and inaccessible to Renae.

  “You know, I’ve always told you that men are more trouble than they’re worth,” Tabitha said.

  Renae laughed. “My mood has nothing to do with Dr. Will.”

  “Sure it doesn’t.”

  “Speaking of people being more trouble than they’re worth, where’s Nina?”

  Tabitha jabbed her thumb in the direction of the hall. “In the bedroom.”

  “Oh. I thought maybe she wasn’t here.”

  Her friend looked at her curiously. “You don’t like her much, do you?”

  Renae thought about how she might fill Tabby in on her missing notes and her messed-up cell phone and the items of clothing that she’d noticed had disappeared, but in the end she bit down hard on her bottom lip. Truth was, she hadn’t liked Nina since first meeting her, and while the notes were a little hard to explain away, the rest of it was circumstantial so she feared she’d merely sound catty if she mentioned it.

  She put her arm around Tabitha’s shoulders. “What matters is that you like her.”

  “Mmm. And that I do.”

  They settled into the couch together, Renae’s arm around Tabitha, their physical closeness mirroring their emotional connection.

  “You know, she only has the best things to say about you,” Tabitha said.

  Renae nearly choked on her soft drink. “Excuse me?”

  Tabby nodded. “She’s always talking about how nice you are, how pretty, and how lucky I am to have you as a friend.”

  “Are you sure we’re talking about the same person?”

  “Yes.”

  “Funny, because whenever I’m in the same room with her the air conditioner isn’t necessary.”

  Tabitha laughed. “It’s just your imagination.”

  “No, it’s not. It’s plain fact. That girl doesn’t like me, doesn’t like our friendship, and I suspect if I said I was moving out she wouldn’t hesitate to help me pack.”

  “You’re being paranoid.”

  Was she? Renae was positive she wasn’t.

  “Why would she say such nice things about you to me, then?”

  “Because she knows how you feel about me, more than likely. I mean if she were to slam me verbally, what would you do?”

  Tabitha thought for a minute. “I don’t know. A month ago I would probably have asked her to leave.”

  Renae searched her face. “And now?”

  Her friend remained silent for longer than Renae was comfortable with. She’d sensed a change in the atmosphere for a while now. Watched as Tabitha grew more involved with Nina, their relationship deepening until Renae had begun feeling like a third, very unwanted wheel.

  Now she had the proof that she was.

  “What do you think of this one?”

  Renae and Tabitha turned to where Nina had entered the room wearing a pink and white striped dress, looking more like Suzie Homemaker than Nina the Lesbian.

  “Oh, hi, Renae. I didn’t hear you come in.”

  “Hi, yourself.” Renae shivered and pretended an interest in finishing off the contents of her can, sensing Tabitha’s gaze on her.

  “You didn’t answer my question,” Nina said in a whiny voice that turned Renae’s shiver into a shudder. “Is this better than the last one?”

  Tabitha tapped her finger against her lips as she considered her lover. She requested she turn around so she could see the back. “I think I like the first one better.”

  Nina blew out a long breath. “I like this one.”

  “So wear that one then.”

  “You are absolutely no help at all.” She swung on her heels and headed back toward the bedroom where she lightly slammed the door.

  “Hot date tonight?” Renae asked.

  “Mmm. A couple of friends of ours are getting married. You remember Marty and Jo.”

  That would be Martha and Joann. “Sure, I do. Give them my congratulations, won’t you?”

  They heard slamming drawers and closet doors come from the other room as Renae settled back into the cushions and enjoyed her friend’s company for as long as she had it.

  “Talk about people being more trouble than they’re worth,” she said quietly.

  She wasn’t sure what Tabitha’s response would be, but was grateful when she started laughing so hard Renae couldn’t help but join in.

  THAT SUNDAY NIGHT Will paced outside the doors of the Toledo Express Airport, wanting to be anywhere but there waiting for Janet to disembark from her plane. He spotted a couple of smokers standing near an ashtray and wished he’d taken up the habit, if only to have something to do with his hands right then.

  Hell. Sheer hell. That was his life of late. And unfortunately he didn’t see that changing anytime soon. Not when the girl he was dating, who had no idea Renae existed much less that he’d been sleeping with her, would be standing in front of him any moment.

  Did he look different? Did his infidelity show on his face?

  You can’t be unfaithful if you’re not having sex with her.

  Renae’s words came back to haunt him. Oh, yeah, that would sound good, wouldn’t it? “Janet, honey, it didn’t count.”

  “Will!”

  He swiveled around at the same time Janet dropped her bags and threw herself into his arms.

  Oh God in heaven, he was going to burn for this one.

  He fought more to keep his balance than to return the enthusiastic hug. Had he ever been greeted so warmly by someone before? Even his mother made do with a dry peck to the cheek and a pat on the shoulder.

  “God, you don’t know how good it is to see you,” she said.

  He wished he could say the same but the truth was he’d been dreading this moment for so long that, now that it was here, he wanted to run flat-out in the opposite direction.

  She finally loosened her grasp and stood back to smile up at him.

  Pretty. She was still very pretty. Her soft brown hair was pulled back into an efficient ponytail, her makeup was simple and her polo shirt and cargo shorts looked very California.

  “You look good enough to eat,” she said.

  Will started, trying not to recall that he’d thought the same words a mere five days ago—and that he hadn’t thought them about Janet but about Renae.

  “How was your trip?” he asked, bending to pick up her bags.

  “Thanks. It was fine. Long, but fine. Not a free seat on the plane which is always uncomfortable, but it’s all right now that it’s over.”

  Will felt like his smile was so brittle his teeth might shatter. “I’m parked over here.”

  He led the way and she followed by his side.

  Her laugh caught him up short. “Where’s the fire?”

  Will realized that he was walking fast enough to qualify for a marathon. He forced himself to slow his step.

  “Boy, you must really be glad to see me.”

  Janet tucked her hand into his arm and he nearly jumped out of his skin.

  She looked at him curiously.

  “Sorry,” he said. “I haven’t been getting much sleep lately.”

  She took her hand away. “And I think I know why.”

  12

  WILL NEARLY SWALLOWED his tongue whole at Janet’s quiet statement.

  “What?” he practically croaked.

  She looked down at the pavement in front of them. “I said I think I know why you haven’t been sleeping much lately. Daddy told me.”

  Will blinked at her, unable to connect the dots. Her father knew about him and Renae?

  “He asked me not to say anything, but I couldn’t help it.” She smiled up at him. “Congratulations on being considered for a promotion.”

  Will’s relief was so complete that he nearly dropped into a puddle right then and there.

  “Oh, yes, that,” he said, remembering exactly how much he ha
d on the line here. And not liking it one bit. A rock and a hard place had nothing on what he felt caught between that minute.

  He realized she was waiting for a response and said quickly, “It really is quite exciting, isn’t it? My finally being considered for that promotion, I mean.”

  She laughed. “What did you think I meant?”

  He shrugged as they finally reached his SUV in the short-term parking section of the airport. One step at a time. That’s how he would take this. One step at a time.

  And thankfully this step allowed him the freedom of not looking at her. Instead he popped the back door of the SUV and hauled her suitcases inside. “I hadn’t the faintest idea what you were talking about.”

  Will closed the back door and opened the passenger’s side. As he helped her up, he felt mercury line his stomach. Her bringing up his bid for promotion was just as disturbing as her accusing him of being a cad while she was away, now, wasn’t it? After all, he suspected that his dating her was the sole reason he was being considered for the position at all. Her mentioning it served to remind him of that fact like a brick to his head.

  He paused before getting in the driver’s side of the car, trying to gather his wits about him. He’d half hoped that the instant he’d seen Janet, everything would have clicked into place. That he’d have remembered why he’d been so interested in her. Why he’d gone five long months without sex when he would never have gone one week without before.

  Instead he felt like even a bigger mess than he’d been before.

  He climbed into the car and started it, offering up a half-assed smile in her direction.

  “So, how was the convention?” he asked, desperately trying to divert the conversation away from him and onto her.

  “It was great. So many new techniques and pharmaceutical breakthroughs. I feel like my head is going to burst with all the new information….”

  And there she went.

  Will instantly relaxed into the buttery-soft leather seat, listening as Janet told him about the latest in cancer research and the other residents and doctors she’d met, and how she looked forward to going to the next convention. And somewhere around her saying something about being amazed by how much had happened since she’d finished med school, he allowed his mind to wander.

  How had he not noticed before how much she chattered? Maybe because before it hadn’t bothered him. It didn’t bother him now, either, he hastened to point out. So he wasn’t tuned in to every word she was saying. Surely that was the case with every relationship. You couldn’t be “on” every minute of every day. It was unreasonable even to think it.

  She’s only been back for ten minutes, a small voice in his head said.

  Oh, shut up, he told it.

  “Did you say something?”

  Will blinked several times then looked at Janet. “No, no. Not a word.” He tried his best grin. “Please continue. It makes me wish I had gone with you.”

  Oh, boy, did he ever wish he’d gone to the convention with her. If he had, he wouldn’t be marinating in the duck soup he currently sat in the middle of.

  She tapped the soft-sided briefcase on the floor next to her feet. “Don’t worry. I took plenty of notes for you.”

  Had he just winced?

  Yes, he had.

  Of course he had. Because the more Janet talked, the lower he felt. She’d taken notes for him. How thoughtful.

  How anal.

  His brows shot up on his forehead.

  He was getting the very definite impression that there was a war of sorts being played out on the battlefield of his subconscious. But why and from which direction the shots were being fired, he couldn’t be sure. And until he found out, he had the sinking sensation he was going to be a mere bystander.

  He merged with traffic in the right-hand lane of Airport Highway, hating that the airport was so far from the city. A half hour drive sitting in the hot seat before he could drop Janet off.

  A half hour of sheer hell.

  He grew aware of Janet’s silence next to him and looked over to find her staring out the window. It almost looked as if she were thinking the same thing he was. Which was ridiculous, really. He was merely projecting his emotions onto her.

  He cleared his throat. “So, how is L.A., anyway? I’ve never been, myself.”

  She glanced at him. “Actually I didn’t get much of a sense of the city. There was a tour bus that took us to Anaheim one day, but I met this wonderful resident from Minnesota and she and I talked throughout the entire trip. I can’t even remember the color of the bus.”

  She’d gone to L.A. and hadn’t seen any of the city. No Rodeo Drive, no Grauman’s Chinese Theatre. How dedicated.

  How boring.

  Will tightened his grip on the steering wheel.

  “It seemed nice enough. Smoggy. Different. In fact, while I…”

  Off she went again. Which, Will firmly told himself, was a far sight better than her silence moments ago. So long as she was talking, everything was all right. He wasn’t looking at her too closely. And, more important, she wasn’t looking at him too closely.

  Finally, in the middle of Janet’s description of the hotel she’d stayed in and the convention layout, he pulled up in front of her apartment complex in Sylvania, on the western edge of Toledo. He gazed at the new buildings as if they were the Promised Land.

  “Well, here we are,” he proclaimed unnecessarily.

  Janet looked around her. “Oh! I didn’t even register that we were here already.”

  Will, on the other hand, had mentally been there for the past thirty minutes.

  He shut off the engine and climbed out, meeting Janet at the back of the SUV.

  He jumped when Janet tucked her hand into his arm as they walked to her building. “You know, I’ve had a lot of time to think while I’ve been away,” she said.

  “Oh?” Will was busy counting the steps left to the door. Thirty, twenty-nine…

  “Mmm-hmm.”

  The tone of her voice snapped his head around even as he quickened his steps.

  “I was thinking—”

  Will swung the building door open so fast he nearly hit her head-on with it.

  “Oh!”

  “Sorry,” he mumbled. “Are you all right?”

  She’d put a hand to her chest then checked out the status of her ponytail…complete with pink ribbon.

  Damn him and his childhood obsession with girls in ribbons. Especially shiny pink ones.

  “Here, why don’t you give me your keys?” he said as they ascended the steps to her second-floor apartment.

  She handed him her keys, complete with pompom key chain in blue and gold. The reminder that she’d been a football cheerleader jolted him a bit.

  “There you go,” he said, swinging open her apartment door—thankfully it opened in so there was no risk of bodily harm—and putting her suitcases down inside the door without actually entering. “Home safe and sound.”

  She hadn’t said anything and Will realized that he hadn’t really looked at her since midway through their drive from the airport.

  He looked at her now and was fairly convinced he’d just swallowed his tongue.

  “You know, you haven’t kissed me yet,” she said in a low voice he had once viewed as sultry.

  She hooked her finger inside the flap and between the middle buttons of his oxford shirt.

  Oh, boy.

  “Sure, I did,” he croaked.

  Hadn’t he?

  She shook her head. “Which brings me back to what I thought about when I was in L.A.”

  Oh, God. She had that look on her face. Not one he’d seen her wear before, but the expression he’d seen on countless women’s faces—had seen on Renae’s face more times than he could count—right before they were going to make an indecent proposal.

  “All this…waiting until my wedding night stuff…” She edged closer to him, but rather than making him hot, it made him want to edge farther away from her. “Well, I�
�ve decided it’s old-fashioned.”

  Will swallowed hard, incapable of making a response. Not because he was turned on beyond belief, but because he was occupied with measuring the maneuver it would take him to make it to the stairs.

  “I want you, Will,” Janet whispered, kissing his chin and smiling up into his eyes. “I want you now. Tonight.”

  “Sex?” Will blurted.

  She gave a quiet giggle. “Yes, sex.”

  Oh, boy, oh, boy, oh boy…

  Janet dislodged her finger from between his buttons and curved her hands around his waist until she had her fingers flat against his rear end. He gave a startled sound of disbelief.

  Was this the same woman who for five months had waited for him to make the first move? Who had said no to him so many times that he’d begun to think he’d just have to marry her to get her out of her panties?

  A little over a week ago he’d said goodbye to a docile lamb. Now he was facing a she-cat intent on getting what she wanted.

  Janet rubbed herself suggestively against his front.

  Strangely enough, Big Ben didn’t budge.

  “Make love to me, Will,” Janet breathed, moving even closer to kiss him.

  The moment before her mouth would make contact with his, he caught her shoulders and jerked her away. She gasped, nearly losing her balance and falling backward into her apartment. She probably would have had he not had a vise grip on her shoulders. Not to keep her from falling, but to keep her away.

  “Actually I’ve been doing…some thinking of my own while you’ve been away,” he said, his words coming quickly, a trickle of sweat working its way down his forehead. “And I don’t happen to think waiting for one’s wedding night is old-fashioned at all.” He tried for a grin but was afraid he’d ended up with a grimace. “In fact, I was just telling Colin that your impressive self-control and need for tradition are what initially attracted me to you.”

  Even as he spoke, he stepped backward, his reach growing longer as he continued to hold her at bay.

  “And it’s what continues to attract me to you….”

  Just two more steps but he couldn’t make them without letting her go first.