Playing for Keeps (29 page)

“God!” Achingly sweet pleasure spread through her veins like thick, warm honey, and when she tried to pull his head back he was relentless until she arched against his mouth and cried out his name. When she collapsed against him, he picked her up and while she was still reeling with heart-pounding aftershocks he eased her up onto the edge of the counter.

“Baby, wrap your legs around me.”

“Mmm,” was all she could muster as she hooked her ankles at the small of his back. “That was amazing,” she murmured with her head resting against his shoulder.

“We’ve just begun,” he said and then tilted her head up.

“Making love?”

“No . . . our life together,” he said and then captured her mouth in a searing kiss.

Madison clung to him, savoring the taste of her body on his mouth, the silky sensation of his skin rubbing against hers, and the scent of coconut mixed with musk. He had a hard body and a soft heart, small-town values and big-city dreams. He was kick-ass crazy with a Southern voice, but most of all . . . he was hers.

Madison pulled his head back hard and placed her hands on either side of his cheeks. She looked into those beautiful eyes flecked with gold and said, “Jason Craig, I love you.”

“Ah, Maddie, I love you too. I couldn’t get you out of my mind from the moment you scowled at me and said that the color of the trim I was painting looked like pigeon poop.”

She giggled and then rolled her eyes. “I am such a little shit.”

“You’re my little shit, and I wouldn’t have it any other way,” he said, drawing a chuckle from her.

“Your romantic sentiments steal my breath,” she teased, but then he truly took her breath away when he entered her with one sure stroke.

“God, you feel good.” He made love to her slow and easy at first, bringing her back to full arousal before white-hot passion took over. She clung to his wide shoulders and matched his rhythm, giving her heart and her body to him fully without holding anything back. He was so strong and yet managed to be tender at the same time, making her climax with a sweet explosion that rocked her to the very core of her being.

Madison kissed him deeply while the words of her play rang out in her head . . .
If you could choose just one thing to have in this life, love would win every single time
.

She had no doubt.

 

Later, after feasting on Papa Vito’s pizza, they headed to her bedroom to relax. “Aren’t you going to put on some sexy little nightie?” Jason asked with a bit of a pout.

“I like wearing your T-shirt. It smells like you.”

“But I’m right here,” he reminded her as he turned back the frilly comforter. He wore gray boxer briefs but shimmied out of them before slipping beneath the covers.

“I like the intimacy of your shirt.” Madison grabbed a book from the pile on her nightstand and handed him the remote.

“And I like silky little frilly things.”

She opened the book and gave him a glance. “Well, get over it,” she said with a lift of her chin, but she was fighting back a smile.

He pointed the remote at the television and turned it on. “Are you always going to be this hard to live with?”

She lifted one shoulder and concentrated on her book. “Maybe.”

“You do know that the book is turned upside down.”

“I can totally read upside down.”

“Sure you can.”

Madison looked up at the television and said, “And you do know that you turned on the Disney Channel.”

“What, don’t you like Hannah Montana?” He laughed. She tossed the book to the floor and he clicked the television off and they rolled into each other’s arms.

Jason slid a hand up her leg and under the hem of the T-shirt. “Oh, no panties.”

Madison laughed and slid her hand up his thigh and wrapped her hand around his erection. “Um, well, now, are
you
always going to be this hard to live with?”

“You’d better believe it,” he said and then pulled her on top to straddle him.

“I believe it.” Madison moved suggestively against him. “As my aunt Myra would say, a hard man is good to find.” Then she held his face in her hands and gazed at him with serious eyes. “I’ve been writing about love for a long time, but you’ve made me a true believer, Jason.” He swallowed hard and the emotion shining in his eyes touched her heart. Without speaking, she came up to her knees and then slowly sank down onto his erection. She sat there very still simply loving the feeling of him buried deep and connected intimately. “I’ve been searching and I’ve finally found my place in this world.”

“In Cricket Creek, Kentucky?”

“With you . . .”

“I’ll move to the city, you know. Whatever makes you happy, Maddie.”

She smiled and then leaned in to kiss him tenderly. “Thank you, but I have to admit that I love it here. Noah has big plans for this town, and I want to be a part of the development.”

“Speaking of Noah, are he and Olivia on good terms?”

Madison threaded her fingers together as if in prayer. “Not exactly, but he and I are working on it.” She pressed her lips together and said, “We have a plan.”

“Do I want to know about it?”

Madison angled her head. “Well, let’s just say it’s going to take a village . . .” she admitted with a small smile. “You in?”

“Do I have a choice?”

“Mmmm, no.”

“Then I guess I’m in.”

“That’s my boy,” she said and then started moving slowly against him. “I’ll give you the details, but first things first . . .”

I
t happened again. As soon as Olivia entered Grammar’s Bakery for a much-needed chocolate brownie fix, everyone stopped talking and then tried to cover it up by doing something busy. Mabel almost pulled it off by wiping down the counter, but Chrissie’s attempt to rearrange cupcakes so that white icing and chocolate were in separate rows was a dead giveaway. They had been talking about her. She could just feel it. The same thing had been happening all over town.

“You missed one.” Olivia pointed to a chocolate-topped cupcake sitting side by side with a vanilla-iced one.

“Well, look at that. You’re right.” She reached inside the shelf and fixed the situation. “I know it’s an OBC kinda thing,” Chrissie explained with a wave of her hand.

“Right,” Olivia said and almost rolled her eyes. This was coming from a girl whose locker had been a disaster. “Your French manicure looks great. Do the purple tips match your prom dress?”

“P-prom?”

Olivia frowned. “Um, yes, you know, that big dance in the gym tomorrow night?”

Chrissie gave her a nervous chuckle and put the heel of her hand to her forehead. “Oh, the prom . . .” She shrugged. “I guess my mind was on the cupcakes. You’re still chaperoning, right?”

Olivia inhaled a deep breath. “I don’t know. I might ask Madison to do it for me. Rehearsals have worn me out this week.” Yeah, her acting skills were being put to the test each night. First, she had to pretend that being with Noah and having to play his love interest onstage didn’t bother her. She still felt terrible that she had misjudged him, but she didn’t know how to makes things right. “I don’t know if I’m up to it.” She had been so excited when Noah had asked her to go, but now everything had changed.

Olivia sighed as she gazed into the nearly empty glass cases. She really needed chocolate! While Noah hadn’t been flat-out unfriendly, he had seemed preoccupied all week, and she had heard that he had flown out of town several times, making it back just in time for rehearsal. In fact, yesterday he had rushed out of the community center as if the hounds of hell were nipping at his heels, and they’d had to cancel rehearsal today when he failed to make it back to town. Not that it mattered. They knew the script backward and forward. But still . . . she wondered if it had something to do with going back to the soap opera. Did he change his mind? Not that she could blame him. He had every right to be angry with her, but she hated that Cricket Creek might suffer the loss at her hands. The thought made her stomach hurt, but she didn’t have the courage to go to him. Rejection wasn’t something she could handle right now. But she would eventually have to confront him, for the sake of Cricket Creek.

“Miss Lawson, the prom wouldn’t be the same without you,” Chrissie protested, bringing Olivia back to the present. She looked at Mabel for help. “Don’t you think so, Miss Mabel?”

Mabel nodded so hard that all of her chins shook. “Olivia, I made an extra-special sheet cake this year and little pastel petit fours that are to die for. Sugar, you know you’ll be sorry if you don’t go.”

“Oh, seriously, I don’t think I would be missed, and I know Madison would get a kick out of going with Jason.”

Chrissie shook her head and stomped her foot for good measure. “But it’s my senior year and I want you there.”

Olivia shrugged. “We’ll see. Do you have any brownies left? I’m in serious need of some chocolate in the form of one of your soft, fudgy brownies.”

“Oh, sweetie, we’re out,” Mabel informed her. “I wish I had known—I would have saved you one.”

“That’s okay. I know you’re about ready to close,” Olivia said glumly. “Maybe Myra made some over at the diner. I’ll head over there. See y’all later.” She turned to go with a small wave and a forced smile. Just as she reached the front door, Adam and his father came into the bakery. Little Adam’s baseball cap was tilted slightly to the side and he was holding his father’s hand. For some reason seeing them together made Olivia imagine Noah holding the hand of his child . . . their child.

“Hey, remember us? Dan Forman and my son, Adam?”

Adam tugged on his father’s hand and looked up at him. “Is this the lady we hit with the baseball?”

Dan nodded at Adam and then gave her a sheepish look. “Hey, tell Noah it was great of him to show up at Adam’s game. We thought you might be with him.” He raised his eyebrows in question.

Olivia felt heat creep into her cheeks. “Oh, Noah led you to believe that we were married, but he was just teasing. We’re starring in the play together, but we’re just . . . friends.” She felt Chrissie’s and Mabel’s eyes upon her but was too embarrassed to turn around.

Dan tilted his head. “Wow, you could have fooled me.” He grinned. “Well, you
did
fool me. You two make a cute couple. He was so worried about you, and you dived to save him from getting hit.”

“You did?” Mabel asked with wide eyes. “Oh, I would have loved to have seen that.”

“Oh, Miss Lawson, that’s so romantic!” Chrissie gushed, and Olivia finally turned around.

“It was merely instinct,” she explained, hoping her face wasn’t beet red. Then she turned back to Adam and Dan. “Well, it was nice to see you guys.” She patted Adam on the head. “Good luck with your baseball.”

“Thank you very much!” Adam said with a big grin. “Noah is gonna help teach me to pitch! Will you come with him to watch?”

Olivia forced another smile. “I’ll try,” she promised. Then with one last wave she hurried out the door.

Once she was outside she inhaled a shaky breath, and although she headed toward Myra’s Diner, when she arrived at the doorstep she paused and then decided to keep on walking and go home. She wasn’t in the mood for small talk. Perhaps she had a hidden stash of chocolate somewhere in her house. One could only hope.

As she headed down Oak Street, a sense of hometown pride washed over her. Although hard times had befallen Cricket Creek, lush green lawns were meticulously manicured, with an abundance of blooming flowers adding both color and the sweet scent of summer. Stately trees reached toward the sky, and you’d be hardpressed to find so much as a cigarette butt littering the sidewalk. The aroma of charcoal grills and the sounds of music and laughter filtered toward Olivia, and she smiled in spite of her sad mood. Neighbors both young and old paused and waved as she strolled by, but she merely wiggled her fingers in return and kept on walking, though it was normally in her nature to stop and chat.

But not tonight.

Tonight she wanted a piece of dark chocolate, some bourbon on the rocks, and then she just might indulge in a rare good old-fashioned cry. But when she got to her house she was surprised to see her father sitting on her front stoop. “Dad!” she called and willed her emotions to stay in check. “What brings you here?” she asked with a smile that she barely managed to keep from trembling at the corners.

“Just wanted to come over and see my lovely daughter.” Owen stood up and gave her a hug. “I would have let myself in, but the spare key beneath the rock over there was missing.”

“Oh,” Olivia said with a nod. “Sorry.” She didn’t want to tell him that she had given the key to Noah, and hoped that he didn’t guess. “I’ll have to put it back.” She had begun locking her door at Noah’s insistence.

He stooped and picked up a bag. “Brought you some brownies from the diner. Myra sent them to you,” he said and then blushed just a bit.

Olivia accepted the bag from him. “Oh, you were reading my mind!”

Owen smiled before leaning down to kiss her on the forehead. “I can still do that once in a while.”

“Thank you so much!” Olivia felt emotion clog her throat. In his quiet way her father always knew how to cheer her up. There’d been countless times when he brought her home a treat or called just when she needed it most. “I stopped at the bakery, but Mabel was out of just about everything.” She walked past him and opened the door. “Come on in.”

“Feels good in here,” Owen said as he followed her into the kitchen. “It’s gettin’ kinda sticky outside.”

Olivia nodded. “I think we might get some much-needed rain tonight, but at least it’s supposed to be nice for the prom tomorrow.” She set her purse on the kitchen table and then reached into the cabinet for a glass. “Want something to drink?”

“Whatcha got?”

Olivia pulled a bottle of Buffalo Trace bourbon out of the bottom cabinet. “Want a little nip?”