Tease Me (9 page)

Jackson jumped out of the shower and grabbed two towels, one of which he thrust at her. Kind of brusque. As if they’d reached the end of a workout.

She just stood there, holding the towel, not sure what to say.

He stopped scrubbing himself and scrutinized her. “You okay?”

“Of course. I’m great. Just a little…”

“Woozy? Sure. All that steam and all…Plus, you had dental surgery yesterday.” He took the towel she clutched and pulled it around her, tucking it tight between her breasts, as though she were a package he was wrapping for UPS, all snug and sealed. “I’m sorry if I—If that was too much.”

“Don’t apologize. I told you it was what I wanted.”

“Good,” he said, sounding relieved. “Let’s get you lying down, get your blood pressure back.” He swung her into his arms.

“I’m not going to faint. I’m fine.”
Come with me to bed. I want more.
She couldn’t quite say it.

He lowered her onto her mattress, checked her towel, then backed away like he thought she might explode. “I’ll sop up the mess.”

Since when did Jackson care about a little water? No, he wanted to escape. He did not want to talk about it, do it again or plan for next time. That was that. All done, mopped up and over with. She’d promised him not to act weird. Was wanting more weird? It shouldn’t be. It should be as natural as breathing.

Except for that strange feeling of belonging. That surge of emotion and closeness. Hell, maybe she
was
getting weird.

Nothing in her new life was turning out as she’d planned.

J
ACKSON LOOKED DOWN
on the scene from his DJ booth, feeling like the king of all he surveyed. He loved it up here, where he could watch the customers reacting to the dancers, feed into the energy that ebbed and flowed, depending on how the dancer grooved to the music he chose. The
effect was subtle, but he swore his selections were tuned to each dancer’s strengths, sometimes even their moods. For Jasmine, he went sinuous and playful. Autumn was hard-driving rock, with classic Stones. Nevada needed fast, popular riffs, along with athletic salsa.

The door to his booth opened and he turned to see Duke walk in.

“Busy night,” Duke said. “Stan thinks Taylor needs some help behind the bar. I agree.”

“The ad in
New Times
brought in more customers, but Taylor’s handling it fine.” He didn’t appreciate Duke’s sleazy nephew giving staffing advice. “We hired a new waitress. She’ll pick up the slack.” There Heidi was now, heading for a table with a tray of drinks wearing her bag-lady outfit. He got a funny feeling in his belly at the sight of her. She bent and handed out two drinks.

“She the one the girls said is living in your town house?” Duke asked him, watching her, too. Jackson didn’t like the interest in Duke’s face. It had nothing to do with Moons’s personnel needs. He was a decent guy, but Duke liked variety in the sack.

“Heidi? Yeah.”

“She seeing anybody?”

His eyes shot to Duke’s.

“Just kidding.” He held up his hands. “She’s all yours.”

“She’s not mine. She’s…new. Finding her way.”

“And you’re helping her?”

He grimaced. “I watch out for her, that’s all.”

“And my nephew’s not in debt up to his thousand-dollar shades.”

“Anyway, I’ve got it under control. The customer flow, I mean.”

“You always do,” Duke said, clapping him on the shoul
der. “I’m glad I could help you out with a job.” He always acted as if he’d done Jackson a favor by hiring him, when it was the other way around. Jackson didn’t care. He missed working on cars some and the money here was minor, but life was good at Moons. He’d taken a couple blows lately, losing his parents and the station, so he had the right to coast a while. A year or two. Maybe longer.

“Nice music,” Duke said. “What’s the band?”

“A practice track from some guys I know.” He could imagine Heather singing the lyrics, almost hear how perfectly they would blend. He really should put the three of them together. Autumn and the two dancers on the smaller stages were really getting into the piece. “Check it out,” he said into the mic in his DJ voice. “When you groove like that, Autumn, you make grown men weep. Am I right, guys?”

Applause rose and wild whistles.

Autumn winked up at him. The girls loved it when he acted turned on for the crowd.

He noticed a cluster of young guys jostling each other near one of Heidi’s tables. They were showing off and could be trouble. “Do me a favor, Duke, and tone down the frat boys at the main stage.”

“You bet, boss man. You’re in charge.” Duke set off. He had given Jackson free rein with the place. Partly, that was laziness. Duke had a tendency to go for the short payoff, but he knew he had it good with Jackson in charge and that made his negatives okay by Jackson.

With Duke gone, Jackson was free to watch Heidi, who held a tray of drinks, waiting a discreet distance away for a lap dance to end.

When the dancer finished, she paused to talk to Heidi, leaning in, speaking intently, asking her advice, no doubt.
In only three nights, Heidi had not only developed decent skills, blisters and all, but also made friends. He was proud of her.

She set drinks in front of the three men at the table where the lap dance had taken place and they looked right through her, as if she were furniture or a maid. The idiots had no idea the incredible female form that lay beneath those baggy duds. They didn’t know she was hotter and more sensual than the nearly nude woman one of them had paid twenty bucks to wave her breasts in his face.

Only Jackson knew. He’d handled that round swell of tight behind, heard that husky voice cry out as if nothing this wonderful had ever happened to her before. As if she’d just discovered sex and he, Jackson McCall, was the master of it.

At the thought, he went warm all over. His blood slowed and thickened, and he wanted more. He couldn’t wait to go home with her.

Bad idea, he thought, but the urge burrowed into him, like some charming little rodent that could gnaw his struts clean through. He had to keep this under control.

It was tough. Heidi had been so different. He did his damnedest to make sure a woman crossed the finish line, but the women he’d been with, including Kelli, took sex for granted. There was no wonder in it for them. The night Gigi had hit on him, he’d sworn she was just bored.
CSI
had been a rerun.

He hadn’t been bored with Heidi. He’d been wide awake and fully alive. And humbly grateful. For his fingers, his tongue, his cock. And for every inch of her. Her husky voice shouting out her pleasure in the echo chamber of the shower.

God, that had been good. It had been hours ago and he
could still feel the weight of her bottom in his hands, her tight body wrapped around him, hear her cries in his head, the water rushing over them, like a tropical waterfall. He could still feel the relief of getting in. He’d felt…new.

She’d looked a little stunned when he wrapped her up in the towel and put her to bed so that her blood pressure could bounce back. Maybe he should have said something final—put a period to the thing—but no point in overkill. She’d joked with him about using all that water, right? Completely relaxed.

He’d been reassured when, after he’d mopped up, he found her in the kitchen fixing food, calm as could be. She made a giant spinach salad and triple-decker sandwiches as complicated as a good deli’s. After that, she baked peanut butter brownies and a ton of other stuff, not saying a word about what had happened.

So, everything was normal, he guessed. Life was good.

They’d had sex and it hadn’t ruined a thing. And it was over. Though that gave him a major ache down below. He’d love more sex with his eager, responsive roommate.

Leave it alone.
Maybe he was just coming out of his funk. And that was good. Pushing for more only meant trouble.

As if she knew he was thinking about her, Heidi looked up and gave him a little wave. He waved back, just the way she had, glad no one was around to point out how stupid he looked doing it.

B
REAK TIME
. Y
ES
.
Heidi carried her 7-Up into the dressing room and sat at the table, lifting her feet on the next chair in relief. Jasmine and Autumn were at the mirrors doing hair and makeup, and she watched them work while she drank and rested her feet.

After four nights at the bar, Heidi had begun to feel more comfortable. She’d only dozed off twice in her salon chair at Shear Ecstasy today—one reason she was glad she had few clients—so she was getting used to the late hours. Her feet barely throbbed, thanks to double-wrapped blisters. Of course, she wouldn’t turn down a foot massage, but Jackson wasn’t offering.

He’d been friendly, but not physical, since their shower sex. No lingering looks, either. Or not when she’d noticed. He was acting as if nothing had changed. She wanted more, but refused to act needy. Mind-blowing sex was probably the norm for Jackson and she didn’t want to make too big a deal out of it.

It wasn’t that big a deal, really. Jackson was the first of many lovers she expected to have. And he’d started her off right. Helped her declare her Sexual Independence Day with all the roman candles and bottle rockets she could ever desire. Except she wanted more. Lots more.

The idea, however, had to come from Jackson this time.

In the meantime, whenever she thought about sex, she cooked something. The refrigerator was now jammed with deviled eggs, peanut-butter bars, brownies, chicken salad, stuffed celery, two kinds of Jell-O and a banana cream pie. Luckily, she’d lost her own appetite, so she wouldn’t gain weight thanks to all this nervous cookery. She was a horny Julia Child.

Jackson’s eyes went big with delight when he saw the bulging shelves and offered to pay her for her cooking, too. Lord. She wanted his body, not his money, but that seemed to be hands-off.

For now.

Rox stuck her head in the break room door, a tray full of drinks on one hand. “Autumn, grab some towels for Taylor, huh?” Autumn stopped dabbing foundation on her chin, glanced up at the cupboard where the towels were, then at Rox—opening her mouth for a retort, Heidi could tell.

“I’ll get it,” Heidi said and pushed to her feet.

“You’re a doll,” Rox said, smiling. “I’ll be back after I deliver these drinks.” She hurried off.

Heidi caught Autumn’s stare in the mirror. Autumn was wondering about her. She watched people, Heidi had noticed. She’d bet trust was an issue in the woman’s life, and her blunt remarks were a defense against hurt.

Heidi put the stepladder between Autumn and Jasmine, climbed it and stretched over the makeup lights, careful not to burn herself. She opened the cupboard and felt around the paper towels, napkins and boxes of toothpicks for a bag of bar towels. If she could just…reach…behind…oops! Three rolls of paper towels tumbled out of the cupboard, two thumping Jasmine on the head and shoulders. “Hey,” she said, stepping back with the curling iron she was using, a cigarette dangling from her lip.

“Sorry.” Heidi snagged the bag of towels and carried it out to Rox, then returned, grabbing the scattered paper towel rolls to carry up the ladder and put away. “I can’t believe they store all this junk in your dressing room,” she said to the two dancers as she rose between them.

“What can you do?” Jasmine said. “Damn. My hair.” She stomped a foot and frowned in the mirror.

“We get no respect,” Autumn added, stroking blush on her cheek.

Heidi climbed down and watched Jasmine try to put her hair into a ponytail. Her nails kept snagging on the overtreated curls. “Can I help with that?” Heidi asked her.

Again both women stared at her in the mirror.

“That’s right,” Jasmine said, nodding. “Jax said you were a hairdresser. Go for it.” She held out her arms in invitation.

“You’re on duty out there, aren’t you?” Autumn seemed to be giving Heidi an out if she wanted it.

“I’ve got a few minutes of break left.” She grabbed a bar stool, centered it in front of the mirror where Jasmine stood and motioned for her to sit.

She sat. “My hair won’t take a curl worth a damn anymore.”

Heidi ran her fingers through Jasmine’s extensions, testing the texture and condition of the hair to which the false strands had been attached. “It’s dry. You might want to give it some recovery time. Your natural color is nice.” New hair, a rich chestnut pushed out of her scalp, contrasting with the brassy platinum she’d dyed the rest.

“No way. Blondes get bigger tips.”

“I do fine,” Autumn said. Her auburn hair was shiny and abundant and seemed untouched by color.

“You’re just lucky Mother Nature gave you gorgeous hair and a spectacular rack,” Jasmine said, pressing her
own breasts together and studying them like a mother ensuring her child’s face was clean. Her halter top, spacesuit silver, barely covered her nipples. “Some of us had to rework ourselves.” Satisfied with her endowments, she let them drop into place.

“I say go with what you’ve got,” Autumn said, scrubbing on mascara with hard, quick strokes.

“Your hair’s a good length for your face, Autumn,” Heidi observed.

She stopped, mascara wand midair, and turned to look at Heidi directly. “It’s a little flat at the top, don’t you think?” She scrunched her petite nose. “Not good when you’re as short as I am.”

“Root intensifier would give you more body. And I’d go with layers on top.”

“Layers?”

“May I?” When Autumn nodded, Heidi scooped up her hair, bouncing it. “Layers would make it lighter.”

“You think?” Autumn sounded eager, despite herself.

“Yeah. I’d go with…” She named a hair product and Autumn wrote it on the mirror in lip liner and thanked her for the tip.

Heidi turned back to Jasmine, then picked up the curling iron she’d been using. It was plugged into a wad of extensions at an overused outlet. “Let me give it a try, huh?”

“Be my guest,” Jasmine sighed.

Heidi clicked on the iron. The overhead lights dimmed.

“One of these days we’re going to set this place on fire,” Autumn said.

“Seems like you should have a private dressing area,” Heidi said, running a comb through Jasmine’s hair, using a technique designed to protect the extensions. “A place to collect your energy, prepare to perform in peace.”

“Exactly.” Jasmine stamped her foot. “We’re the stars, we deserve star treatment.”

“Be happy Jackson fixed up the stages,” Autumn said.

“But we’ve got mop buckets in here and cleaning supplies. The bartenders and bouncers eyeball us every shift break.”

Heidi picked up the now hot iron and began to curl Jasmine’s hair.

“They’re on break. Give them a thrill.” Autumn shrugged.

“And we could at least have real bathroom stalls.”

“That’s true,” Autumn said thoughtfully. “You know, there’s that storage room with a bunch of old furniture in the back. Why couldn’t that be the break room?”

Finished with the iron, Heidi began to gently shape Jasmine’s hair into an upsweep. “Maybe you should talk to Jackson,” she ventured, keeping her voice casual. She knew the women would not appreciate being told what to do by a near stranger.

“We should,” Autumn said. “We really should.”

“Thank God for Jax,” Jasmine sighed. “Did you see that preppy creep last night? He barely opened his mouth in a prick-like way and Jackson hustled him out of there.”

“He can be one scary dude when he flexes and frowns,” Autumn said.

“But it’s all an act. He’s a teddy bear.” Jasmine sighed.

The idea warmed Heidi and she had to say something. “It’s nice how Jackson looks out for…everyone.” She’d sounded dreamy and her face heated.

Sure enough, the two women zeroed in on her. “How’s that going…you living with him?” Autumn asked, watching Heidi closely.

“Good,” she said, steadying her voice. “We’re trading housekeeping for rent.”

“I see.” Autumn’s mouth twitched.

“You slept with him yet?” Jasmine asked. “Ouch. Watch it.”

Heidi had slipped and poked her in the cheek with the tail of the comb. “I, uh, I…well…”

“Don’t be embarrassed,” Jasmine said. “Jax is a blast in bed. We bounced around for a while. No big thing.”

Jasmine had slept with Jackson? Had mind-blowing sex with him and considered it
no big thing
. Oh, dear. Heidi had lived a sheltered life. “Just one time,” she said, trying to shrug.

“That’s typical. The give-it-to-me-one-time syndrome,” Autumn said. Again, she studied Heidi in the mirror. This time she seemed concerned for her. “Jackson’s a good guy, but he doesn’t let people in. He’s wrapped up tight.”

“And so bossy,” Jasmine added. “Get your car tuned. Don’t walk alone in the parking lot. Make sure Sabrina gets her shots. I guess it’s sweet. A pain, but sweet.”

“More smothering than bossy, Jaz. He’s everybody’s big brother…but he’s a loner. Seems contradictory, but that’s the deal.”

“Maybe he just needs the right woman,” Jasmine said.

“Loners are loners for a reason,” Autumn said, but she was saying it straight to Heidi. “I never slept with him, but I know the type.”

“Like I said,” Heidi inserted, “it was one time.”

“And it’s understandable,” Autumn said. “You’re new in town and Jackson was handy. As long as you don’t expect more.”

“What more could there be?” Heidi said. Like Jackson, Autumn seemed to think Heidi was in danger of falling in love with her first good lay.

“Once you hit college, you’ll meet lots of guys.”

“How’s that?” Heidi asked Jasmine, fluffing a last strand in front, anxious to change the subject.

“A miracle. How’d you get it to curl so well?” Jasmine turned her head a little, admiring her hair.

“Hold the heat longer on it. Tease it out very slowly.”

“Oh, yeah. We know all about holding the heat and teasing it out slow, don’t we, Autumn? The hotter the heat, the slower the tease, the bigger the tips.”

Autumn laughed.

“You get the idea,” Heidi said, pinning up the back of Jasmine’s hair.

“What are you studying, anyway?” Autumn asked her. “In college?”

“Psychology.”

“Ooh, you’re going to be a shrink?” Jasmine said. “Practice on us maybe.”

“You could use parenting lessons, that’s for sure,” Autumn said before Heidi could comment.

“Don’t start,” Jasmine snapped. “I’m not a bad mother.”

“I just think some of the things you do…like bringing Sabrina here—”

“I had a transportation conflict.”

“If you weren’t paying for horseback riding lessons, you could hire a sitter.”

“She’s always judging me,” Jasmine said to Heidi in the mirror. “Just like my mother.”

“I’m your friend, not your mother,” Autumn said.

“Then act like it.” The air went crisp with tension. Anger pulsed, eyes snapped in the mirror, breaths huffed.

“It sounds like you both care about Sabrina,” Heidi said softly. “You both want the best for her.”

The women’s gazes shot to hers, wary and waiting.

“It’s hard to watch someone we care about do things we think are unwise, right, Autumn?” She pinned a coiled curl high on Jasmine’s crown.

“Exactly,” Autumn said, sounding vindicated.

“And when you’re in a tough situation, Jasmine, it’s painful when someone you respect criticizes you.”

“Yeah.” Jasmine shot Autumn a so-there.

Autumn rolled her eyes.

“Is there something you’d like Autumn to do differently, Jasmine?” Heidi teased a lock, while Jasmine considered the idea.

“Yeah. Stop rolling your eyes,” she said.

“Then stop saying stupid things,” Autumn retorted.

“You’re so negative.”

“I’m the only one who cares enough to tell you what you’re doing wrong.”

“You and my mother, who’s always lecturing me how I don’t appreciate all her sacrifices, I squandered my talent and my beauty and my blah, blah, blah.”

“What could Autumn do that would feel positive?” Heidi gently directed their dialogue before it could descend into emotional mayhem.

“I don’t know. Watch Sabrina once in a while so I can go out.”

Autumn blinked, looking surprised. “But you said I’m too judgmental.”

“Because you were criticizing me at the grocery store.”

“Sabrina needs more vegetables. She’s getting chunky.”

“She hates vegetables.”

“You’re the mother. Make her eat them. You spoil her, Jaz—giving her every frivolous thing she wants.”

“You don’t get what it’s like with a daughter, Autumn. I want her to have everything. I want her to do better than
me, you know?” Jasmine spoke softly. “I’m scared she’ll stall out. Like I did.”

“There’s nothing wrong with what we do,” Autumn said stubbornly. “It’s an art. I’m proud of my body.”

Jasmine just looked at her in the mirror.

Jasmine’s fear and Autumn’s defiance covered shame. And Heidi wanted very much to help them both if she could without prying or offending them. “Even freely chosen, your life isn’t easy. You struggle. And you have doubts.”

“Yeah,” Jasmine said. “I have doubts.”

Autumn didn’t say anything, but she didn’t contradict her friend, which was as close to an admission as Autumn was likely to make.

“Despite what Sabrina says she wants or you think she needs, Jasmine, the intangibles mean more than what you buy her.” Heidi continued, “Love, listening, respect, spending time with her—that’s what will build her self-esteem and her confidence in her future.”

“Exactly,” Autumn said. “Just what I meant to say.”

“Trust your love for Sabrina,” Heidi added.

“Yeah…that,” Autumn chimed in.

“It must be nice to be so perfect,” Jasmine said to Autumn, her dark eyes crackling.

“Oh, it’s glorious, believe me,” Autumn said with a self-mocking smile. Her face softened into kindness. “I wish I were creative like you, Jasmine. She sews her own outfits,” she said to Heidi.

“I didn’t know that.”

“I love that new one that’s all white lace,” Autumn said.

“I could make you one in black.” She turned on the stool to face Autumn. “Want me to? Trade you for babysitting?”

“You’d do that?”

“Of course.”

“Okay, then.”

“All done,” Heidi said, handing Jasmine the hand mirror, smiling inside at what had happened. She’d fixed Jasmine’s hair and helped sort out the friends’ quarrel just as she’d done at Celia’s.