Naturally Naughty (12 page)

Kate clinked back, then sipped deeply. The electric company still hadn’t gotten her power on by the time she’d left the house, and the drink went down like a powerful blast of air-conditioning. Besides, she’d been all hot and bothered ever since Jack had kissed her then walked out. “Ah, perfect. I’d forgotten how hot it is here in the pits of hell in the summer.”

“I guess I’m getting used to it.”

Hearing an unexpected note of warmth in Cassie’s voice, Kate raised a brow. “The heat? Or the town?”

Cassie shrugged. “Maybe a little of both.”

“Well, I can see you don’t have a scarlet letter on your shirt, so maybe things aren’t as bad as I’d expected.”

“Believe it or not, I haven’t heard one person call me a tramp since I got here.” She winked. “At least not to my face.”

Her cousin led Kate into the house, then gave her a quick
tour, including a stop in Flo’s outrageously decorated boudoir.

Going back downstairs, they sat in the kitchen, drinking their margaritas and gabbing for an hour. Kate didn’t like the tired, dark circles under Cassie’s eyes—though, they certainly didn’t distract from her beauty. Since Cassie never brought up the trouble she was in, trouble that involved an over-amorous man who hadn’t taken her rejection too well, Kate didn’t, either. There would be time enough to talk about it, and to give Cassie her mail, which had been forwarded to Kate in Chicago while Cassie hid out. Kate wanted to put off handing over the dozen or more letters. “So the store’s really coming along okay?”

“Absolutely. I’ve got a couple of high school boys who’ve helped with the painting and repairs. The shelving units and cabinetry were already there from when the men’s shop was open. Carpet goes in Monday, and the stock you sent arrives daily.”

“Well, I’m here now to help with the inventory, at least, now that you did the hard stuff. The permit was approved, right? I still don’t know how you pulled it off.”

Cassie gave her an evil smile. “It’s called boobs. A low-cut shirt and a pair of breasts leaning on the desk of a city worker’s office can accomplish a lot. Including rubberstamping an application for a business license.”

“Boobs and brains. Cassie Tremaine Montgomery, you’re a force to be reckoned with.” Kate sipped her drink.

“It’s only fair I got the bigger boobs, since you got the bigger brain,” Cassie pointed out.

Kate sighed. “But we both got the big hips.”

Cassie gave her a Cheshire-cat smile. “Most men who look at my pictures in the catalog like curvy hips.”

Kate agreed. “I’ll bet the permit guy is a fan.”

“Even if he’s not, I didn’t lie on the business app. We
are
going to open a lovely, tasteful little ladies’ shop….”

“With King Kong Dong featured prominently in the front display window,” Kate interjected with a snorty laugh.

They clinked their glasses again.

Cassie got up to make them a couple of sandwiches for lunch. “Speaking of King Kong Dong, or dongs in general, have you met your new neighbor yet?”

Kate didn’t answer right away, drawing a curious stare from Cassie. In spite of how close they were, Kate hadn’t told Cassie about her interlude with Jack at the Rialto. So she couldn’t exactly explain what had happened the night before when she’d discovered he was really J. J. Winfield. “We’ve met.”

“And?”

Kate got up to wash lettuce for the sandwiches.

“Come on, what gives? Aren’t you going to make him your love slave, then trample all over his heart with the heels of your six-inch-high, slut-puppy boots?”

“I don’t own slut-puppy boots.”

“You sell them.”

“I sell a lot of things that I don’t own or use myself,” she said as she sipped.

“Aw, gee. Here I figured you gave a personal testimonial with every dildo, clit ring and butt plug you peddle.”

Kate laughed so hard some of her margarita spilled from the corner of her lips. “You are as bad as Armand.”

“So tell me about the Winfield prince,” Cassie said.

“I don’t know about Jack—J.J. He’s not what I expected.”

“Meaning?”

“Meaning he might be more than I can handle.”

Cassie lifted a brow. There probably wasn’t a man alive who her cousin couldn’t handle. But Kate wasn’t Cassie.

“Maybe I’d better start out a little easier. Focus on some of my other goals. Like the shop. Or Angela and Darren.”

“Hmm, yeah, I forgot about them. I saw Angela one day, walking out to her car. She and her mom live up the street.”

“Please tell me she’s fat.”

“Sorry, hon. She looks pretty good. Still looks like a total bitch, but not a Jenny Craig-bound one.”

Rats.

“What about Darren?”

“Works at a car dealership and lives downtown in an apartment over the Tea Room. Did you know he and Angela were married for a while right after high school? The rumor mill says she got knocked up on prom night. They married that summer. Then when she lost the baby, he divorced her and went into the army.”

Kate winced. “Maybe I should thank her for stealing him on prom night.” She couldn’t imagine how her life might have ended up if she’d been the pregnant teen. Probably she’d be living here, bitter and sour with a poochy belly, saggy breasts and four kids who looked like moon-faced Darren clinging to her skirts.

Kate met Cassie’s eye, knowing she was thinking along the same lines. They exchanged shaky smiles. “Here’s to what
didn’t
happen to us on prom night,” Kate said softly.

Cassie nodded. “Hear, hear.”

J
ACK LUCKED OUT
and arrived at his mother’s house after she’d left for her Saturday hair appointment. Closing himself in his father’s office—to the chagrin of Leonardo the bulldog—he spent two hours balancing bank statements, sorting out documents. He heard his sister Angela moving around, once stopping to have a long phone conversation in the next room.

He didn’t get his sister. Angela was pretty and had been
given every advantage. She’d been the apple of their parents’ eye, and had once had a genuine sweetness to her personality. Sure, she was spoiled. She’d shown signs of that, even as a toddler. But at least before, when she’d been a kid, she’d had an infectious laugh and a beautiful smile. In the fifteen years he’d been gone, she’d lost them both. Probably three failed marriages and two miscarriages could do that to a person.

Resolving to get along better with her, he forced a look of welcome to his face when she walked into the office. “Hi.”

“You busy?”

He nodded and rubbed his weary eyes. “Dad left a mess.”

Her laugh could only be described as bitter. “Yeah. As usual.” She sat on a chair next to the window. “I don’t suppose you’ve changed your mind and plan to stay here.”

He shook his head. “I’m sorry, Ang. I don’t know how you can stand it. I can’t breathe in this place.”

“Even after he died Dad still managed to drive you away.”

Jack pushed his chair back. “What are you talking about?”

“I mean, you took off fifteen years ago because of him. Because of how he pressured you to follow in his footsteps.”

“Most fathers do.”

Angela continued as if he hadn’t spoken. “And as soon as it looks like you’re going to come back, you find out about his dirty little secret and won’t stay here now, either.”

Jack shook his head. “It’s more complicated than that. How did you find out about Dad and Edie, anyway?”

She glanced out the window. “I saw them kissing once. Not long after you’d gone away to college.”

She’d been thirteen. He swallowed, hard. “What’d you do?”

“Nothing. I didn’t confront him, or tell Mother, or anybody else. I was afraid if she found out, they’d get a divorce and I’d be shuffled back and forth between them forever.”

A wave of guilt washed over him as he acknowledged he’d left her here without an ally in his hurry to escape from home. “I’m sorry, Angela. But maybe now it’s time to move on. Have you thought about getting out of here, too?”

“I’ve been dying to move out, get my own place downtown, but Mother plays the guilt card whenever I mention it.”

“I meant, maybe it’s time to get out of Pleasantville.”

“I can’t. I don’t want to leave him…I mean, leave here.”

Him? He didn’t think Angela was seeing anyone, though she’d been divorced from her third husband for over a year.

She stood abruptly. “I have to go. I have a nail appointment. Be sure to lock up when you leave, okay? Mother doesn’t trust Sophie to secure the house.” Her jaw clenched.

“After all, she’s not nearly as trustworthy as
Edie
was.”

Judging by the way she spat out the other woman’s name, Jack surmised his sister had not been able to forgive and forget.

As Angela left the room his parents’ ever-hopeful dog, Leonardo, slunk in and strolled over to the desk. At Leonardo’s longing glance at his jeans-clad leg, Jack shot him a suspicious glare. “Dog, how many years is it gonna take for you to figure out you’ve got no balls?”

Leonardo gave him a sheepish glance from his wrinkled face. Walking around in circles once or twice, he appeared to be looking for something—or someone. He finally curled up at Jack’s feet and looked up at him with sad eyes.

“Okay,” Jack said with a sigh. “I guess you miss him, too.”

A half hour later he straightened up to leave, determined to get out before his mother got back. After making sure the mutt had enough water, he locked up and headed for his father’s pickup truck, which he’d been driving during his stay.

As he drove down the street, he glanced toward old Mr. Miller’s house and saw a shapely brunette in a red tank top trying to drag a big mattress across the driveway.

He immediately stopped the truck. “Kate, are you trying to break your back? Put that down.”

She dropped the end of the mattress and frowned at him. “You distracted me. Do you know how long it took to tug that thing out of the garage?”

He trotted across the driveway to her side. “I thought your cousin was going to help you.”

“She is. She’s had a bunch of phone calls to deal with. Problems with her agent.”

“And Miss Have-To-Do-It-Now can’t wait for her?”

“I’m not helpless. I’ve gotten a bunch of other stuff by myself.” She gestured toward her SUV, which already held a couple of chairs. And, judging by the upraised legs that nearly reached the interior roof, a small kitchen table.

He couldn’t believe she’d done it all alone. “I suppose you plan to unload all this stuff without help when you get back home, too?”

She scuffed the toe of her sneaker on the driveway and mumbled, “Well, I kinda figured you’d be back sooner or later.”

“Back to help you unload it, or to make you another ice pack and take care of you again after you slip a disc?”

Wrong thing to say. They both instantly remembered how he’d taken care of her the night before. Awareness hummed between them, as always, now not below the surface, but right out in the open again.

She bit the corner of her lip. “Look,” she finally said, “I’m almost done, are you going to help me or criticize me?”

He glanced at the open hatch and the mattress. “Honey, I hate to tell you this, but you’ve got a size problem here. I don’t think something this big is going to fit in there.”

“You sound like a conceited teenage boy about to get laid for the first time.”

Not recognizing the sultry voice of the woman who’d spoken, he turned and saw a shapely blonde standing just behind them on the driveway. She had her head cocked to the side and her hand on one hip, smiling wickedly. With her eye-popping build, sunny-blond hair and outrageous words, he immediately assumed she was the cousin.

Frowning, he ignored her comment. “I hope your call was important, since your cousin nearly gave herself a hernia out here.”

The blonde’s brow shot up. She immediately turned to Kate. “Katey, I told you to wait for me. Good grief, how’d you carry all that stuff by yourself?”

Kate didn’t answer. She was too busy looking back and forth between Jack and Cassie, a confused frown scrunching her brow.

Jack grabbed the end of the mattress. “Let me throw this in the truck and take it for you, Kate. I’m going home anyway.”

“Home?” the blonde—Cassie—asked. Then understanding crossed her face. “Oh, my, you’re J. J. Winfield, aren’t you?”

He swallowed a groan. “Jack. Jack Winfield.”

The blonde didn’t reply, just looked him over, head to toe, very intently. Smiling, she extended her hand. “Hi, Jack. I’m Cassie. The truck’s a great idea. Can you take a few other things, too?”

“Sure,” he said, still wondering why Kate looked so befuddled and hadn’t said a single word since her cousin had come out of the house. “Is that all right with you, Kate?”

After she nodded, he hoisted the queen-size mattress up with both hands. He saw Cassie’s eyes widen as she stared at his arms, chest and shoulders. As he walked away, he heard her whisper, “Too much to handle, indeed. But oh, Kate, wouldn’t you have fun trying?”

They loaded up his truck with the few remaining pieces of furniture and were finished within a half hour of his arrival. Cassie disappeared into the house again, after thanking Jack once more for his help.

“Are you heading back now? Or do you want me to drive this stuff back, then wait for you to get there to unload it?”

“Let me say goodbye to Cassie and I’ll come back so we can unload it this afternoon.” She turned to go into the house, then paused. “Jack? Thanks a lot for stopping to help. I really do appreciate it.”

He shrugged. “Just being neighborly.”

She glanced up and down the block, at the manicured lawns, the gated driveways that were filled with expensive cars. “Yeah. Right. I’m sure there were bunches of other neighbors lacing up their deck shoes to come out and help when you stopped. I bet they’re still peering out their windows, waiting for the chance to lend a hand.”

He followed her stare, figuring she was probably right, but not admitting it. “It’s not all bad here.”

“I guess Cassie likes it. But I wouldn’t be able to stand the quiet sense of knowing everyone on the block is watching every move you make.” She brushed an errant, damp strand of hair off her brow. “It’d be like living in a goldfish bowl, some big fat cat always waiting to pounce on you if you leap out of the safe waters where you belong.”