Come and Get It (7 page)

When the bubbles were just the way she
liked them, Dixie shucked her clothes and slid beneath the water.
She turned on the jets, closed her eyes, and let the heat seep into
her sleep-deprived muscles. Heaven, she decided, was probably
filled with jet-equipped tubs and endless hot water. She closed her
eyes.

The phone jangled, rousing her from
her languid state. “Dang it.” She’d nearly been asleep.
“Hello?”

A deep male chuckle greeted her,
sending a shiver down her spine. “That tone sounds familiar. Just
what are you up to Rose?”

“
Mmm, up to my neck in
bubbles, takin’ a long, leisurely bath.” She sat up and hit the
lever to drain the tub partway so she could add more hot water.
“What are you up to?”

“
Nothing quiet so
luxurious. I just got home, opened some windows to air out the
loft. So, you’re in the tub?”

“
I am. Good thing you
called. I might have fallen asleep and drowned.”

“
What’s that I hear? You
have the jets on?”

She sighed and turned off the hot
water, sinking deep again. “Mmm, yes.”

Another deep chuckle rumbled in her
ear. “Tell you what, sweetheart, put the phone on speaker and set
it down.”

“
Why? I—oh.” She did as he
asked. “Okay.”

“
Now close your eyes and
relax. Imagine I’m there with you. You’re leaning against my chest
and my cock is nestled against the small of your back. I’m so hot
for you. I reach around and cup those luscious breasts in my hands.
I want you to cup your breasts, Rose. Hold them in your hands and
pinch those pretty nipples until they’re hard. Are you doing it,
sweetheart?”

“
Mmm, yes.” Her voice
hitched. “It feels good.”

“
That’s my girl. I love
your breasts. I love sucking your nipples, licking the sensitive
underside. Do that now, Rose, very gently, caress your breasts.”
She moaned and he went on. “You know what I’d do next?”

“
What?”

“
I’d skim my hands down the
beautiful body, nice and slow, until I could lift your legs and
open them up.”

“
Ohhh.” It was barely a
whisper.

“
Now, turn sideways in the
tub, baby. Find one of those jets and adjust it so it’s pointing at
that beautiful pussy.”

Dixie adjusted her position and
fiddled with the jet until it was pounding against her.

Holy mother’s little
helper
.

Why had this never occurred to her
before?

“
How’s that feel,
baby?”

“
It feels . . .” she
hissed, then, “Oh, my Lord.”

“
That’s right. Is it
shooting right over your clit, sweetheart?”

“
No, but close, so
close.”

“
Good. Mmm, I’m right there
with you, Rose. Sitting behind you with my hands stroking your
pretty pink pussy. I slide a finger into all that heat. Can you do
that, baby?” She moaned. “That’s good. Now another one. Mmm. That’s
good, isn’t it? Pump those fingers, sweetheart. Is it good,
Rose?”

“
Yes. Yes, it’s good but
I—”

“
You need more.”

“
More,” she whispered,
completely lost in Quin’s erotic manipulations.

“
See if you can scoot a
little closer to the jet. Get your clit as close as you can, until
that water’s pounding against it like it was my tongue. That’s
what’s going to happen when I get back, Rose. I’m going to strip
you naked and lay you out on that bed. Touch you. Fuck
you.”

“
Oh, God.” Dixie’s entire
body throbbed with the need to come.

“
That’s right, baby. Fuck
yourself. Jam those little fingers into your pussy and fuck
yourself like I’d fuck you. Feel that hot water tapping your clit.
It’s so swollen, so sensitive. Get as close to the jet as you can,
baby.”

“
Oh. Oh.” Her hips jerked
and she shouted, “Shit.”

“
Again, Rose.”

She raised her hips, the powerful jets
pummeling her clit. “Gah . . . ah . . . ah, Jesus!” Her body
shuddered with every jolt from the pulsating jets. Water splashed
over the side of the tub as she came.

Dixie could hear Quin’s heavy
breathing over the speaker, then a muted shout indicating he’d
found his own release.

“
You okay, baby?” he asked
as she sank down into the tub again.

Dixie giggled. “I swear. I think my
knees are probably jelly right now.”

“
Well, you enjoy the rest
of your bath, sweetheart. I have to go . . . er . . . clean up. And
Rose? I’ll see you when I get back.”

Dixie disconnected and tossed the
phone on the floor. She ducked under the water and came up, wiping
water from her face. She flipped the lever and let the tub drain as
she used the handheld shower to rinse the bubbles from her hair and
body, then she stepped from the tub and wrapped a towel around her.
She doubted she’d get much sleep tonight. Damn Quin Halladay and
the feelings he was stirring up. He was going to turn her into a
sex maniac if she didn’t watch out. Laughing, she wrapped a towel
around her head and padded to the bedroom. She had no plans for the
night so she pulled on a nightgown and flipped on the television,
searching for a movie.

* * *

Quin stepped out of the shower and
wrapped a towel around his waist. He smiled, thinking about his
phone call with Rose. Seemed like his little Texas beauty had a bit
of an adventurous streak after all, and damned if he didn’t find
the idea intriguing. What else could he talk her into? Would she
agree to some mild bondage? His cock stirred just thinking of Rose
tied to the bed, completely open to whatever he wanted to
do.

There were any number of things he’d
like to introduce her to—sex in the powder room of a fancy
restaurant. Sex in an elevator with the stop button pulled. Toys.
He’d like to buy some toys and teach her how to use them, to watch
as she brought herself to orgasm. Would she go for anal sex? He
chuckled aloud. Probably not. But then, who knew? Maybe she’d
already tried it with her much-lauded late husband.

Thoughts of the dead husband brought a
scowl to his face. He hadn’t liked it a bit when she’d called out
the other man’s name when he was fucking her. It had felt like a
betrayal, something he should have been used to considering the
type of women he spent time with. Women who were always on the
lookout for someone better, someone richer or better connected.
Women like Chloe Halstad, the one woman he’d allowed himself to
believe in, to love. Women like his mother, who preferred young,
ripped pool guys. Hadn’t he watched dear Mom fuck her way through
the nearly endless supply of young studs. All of them with an eye
toward making it big in Hollywood, all of them looking for a
patroness to take care of them.

Quin had watched as time and again,
one by one, they cast his mother aside for the wife of some
Hollywood producer. Someone who could do more for them than his
mother could. Either she never learned or she didn’t care because
she’d cheated on his father until the day she died of a heart
attack in the arms of some young stud his father was paying to
maintain the pool.

Logically, Quin knew Rose wasn’t like
his mother, like the other women in his life. He acted as if it
didn’t bother him but it did. Then they had that fight and she’d
accused him of being a spoiled, overprivileged ass who never had to
work at anything in his life. That one stung, mostly because it was
true. He was used to money and what it could buy. It bought him a
first-rate education at one of the country’s most prestigious
universities and he never had to work a day while he went to
school. Were he to be honest with himself, the lack of a warm,
loving family had left him cynical and he hadn’t truly realized it
until he met Rose. She was a woman willing to make sacrifices for
her family.

He stretched out on his bed, arms
behind his head. She’d been close to graduating from college but
she’d given it up when her parents died so she could keep her
siblings together on the family ranch. That couldn’t have been
easy, raising all those kids, giving up her life for theirs. Being
an only child, Quin couldn’t imagine what it must have been like.
No one had sacrificed a thing for him and he’d never inconvenienced
himself in any way. He shook his head. And here he’d looked down on
Rose because she was too blue-collar to fit into his
life.

He rolled to his feet and tossed the
towel in a corner. But the truth was the truth. She wouldn’t fit
into his life. She was too curvy, too unsophisticated, too country
for the life he led. He preferred tall, svelte women who wore
designer clothes. Women who had attended the right schools and ran
in the right social circles. Women who were his social equal. It
was silly of him to let someone like Dixie Rose Bonifay get under
his skin with her country wisdom and aw shucks attitude. The long
and short of it was, he was slumming with the pretty Texas widow,
and that was all there was to it. Walking naked to the phone, he
scrolled through his contacts list and pressed the speed
dial.

“
Allison,” he purred in his
best seductive voice. “I’m back in town for a few days. Meetings
with the developers.” He sighed to let her know how tedious life
had been. “Yes, in the middle of Podunk, Texas. It’s miserable and
I’ll be stuck there for at least another two months. So, what do
you say? Drinks, dinner? I know it’s short notice but . . . great,
darling, I can’t wait to see you either. Say ten o’clock? We’ll
grab a bite and hit the clubs. I need a little nightlife. All that
country music, you know.”

He broke the connection and chuckled.
He could always count on Allison for a good time. With any luck,
he’d have her back here and in his bed no later than four o’clock.
Plenty of time to make his lunch meeting tomorrow.

* * *

Dinner at Koi and club hopping from
the Roxy to the Viper Room and Over the Rainbow added a hefty sum
to Quin’s credit card balance. Allison liked mingling with the
Hollywood elite, and while expensive nights on the town were a
common occurrence in Quin’s life, tonight he left the club scene
feeling oddly dissatisfied. Allison would invite him up to her
place, he knew, and as he drove her home he was looking for any
excuse not to join her.

He pulled into her place, waited for
the gate to open, and cleared his throat. “Thanks for coming out on
such short notice.” He drove up the long drive and stopped the car
in front of her door.

“
Aren’t you coming in?” she
asked.

He should go in. That had been his
intention when the night began, but as time passed he found he
couldn’t wait to get away from her. And he didn’t know why. Allison
Barkley was gorgeous. Five feet ten inches, long red hair, perfect
skin and model thin, she was exactly his type. But tonight, every
time he looked at her all he could think about was a tiny natural
blonde with sun-kissed skin and a thick Texas drawl.

Quin smiled and shook his head. “Not
tonight, Allison. I have an early meeting in the morning and I need
to be prepared.” He leaned over and gave her a quick kiss on the
cheek. Noticed the slight frown marring her otherwise perfect skin.
The woman made a habit of remaining expressionless to avoid lines
on her face. He couldn’t recall seeing her really smile. It wasn’t
normal. But hadn’t Rose said much the same about him?

“
Another time?”

Allison shrugged. “Sure. Whatever.”
She opened the door and stepped out, not giving him time to come
around and open her car door. Another sure sign she was pissed. He
waited until she was safely inside then drove away, heading for his
loft.

* * *

At home, Quin undressed, tossing his
clothes in a heap on the floor. The housekeeper would take care of
them. He looked at his watch. Two in the morning. Was it too late
to call Rose? Probably, but what the hell. He picked up the phone,
dialed and got her answering machine. What the hell?

Quin stared at the phone as though
there might be something wrong with it. It was four in the morning
in Texas. Where the hell was she? And what could she possibly be
doing? Was she out with some other man? He shook his head. He
couldn’t believe that. She wasn’t like the women he knew. Hell, he
was the first man she’d been with since Garrett’s death. She
wouldn’t. Would she?

He went to the kitchen and got a
bottle of water, tossed back two ibuprofen to circumvent a
hangover, went back to the bedroom, stretched out and tried to
sleep. Couldn’t. He sat up and dialed Rose’s number again, let it
ring. Once again the machine picked up. Swearing, he threw the
phone across the room, then got up to retrieve it. He checked it
carefully. If he’d broken it, Rose wouldn’t be able to return his
call.

“
Jesus, Halladay, what’s
your fucking problem? What the hell do you care where some little
Texas bimbo is on a Sunday night?”

He got up and grabbed for
his jeans. He could probably call Allison, apologize profusely, and
she’d let him in. What the hell had he been thinking, dropping her
off like that? Even though she would never be his intellectual
equal, Allison Barkley was seriously hot. And it didn’t hurt that
she was into kinky, athletic sex. The girl had more moves than
the
Kama Sutra
. He
looked down at his flaccid cock. Something was seriously wrong if
he couldn’t rise to the occasion with a single thought of Allison
Barkley.