Part 3 (2/2)
Oh, G.o.d. d.a.m.ned right he could. He was so hard, just the feel of her a.s.s pressed against him was almost more pressure than he could stand. But he was pus.h.i.+ng boundaries already. No way was he crossing that particular line.
”No condom,” he claimed in desperation. ”I don't have protection.”
”Is that all?” Audra gave him a sultry smile that blurred those ethical lines again. She reached behind her for the tiny purse she'd tossed on the driver's seat and did a quick finger rifle through it. Obviously not finding what she wanted, she upended the contents. Coming up empty, she frowned and gave a little shrug as she pulled open her wallet.
While she peered through the little pockets, Jesse eyed the disarray, looking for whatever Davey boy had given her. Lipstick, mints, a clear change purse holding a twenty and some coins. He spied her driver's license. Perfect.
”Wow, you look good,” he said, slipping the small plastic card from the seat. He mentally patted himself on the back for such a sly move. ”I thought c.r.a.ppy driver's license pictures were some kind of law.”
”Laws aren't really rules, they're more like guidelines,” Audra joked. Jesse cringed at her att.i.tude but didn't figure he had room to take her to task, since he'd obviously broken a few ethical laws of his own. The underlying tightness in her voice distracted him from the pleasure of self-flagellation.
”And you aren't big on guidelines?” he asked with a frown. Frustrated with the lack of physical evidence of her connection to Davey, he told himself to get back in cop mode. Jesse memorized her full name, address and license number.
”Sure I am. It's a lot easier to break the rules if you know the guidelines first,” she said with a wicked grin.
”Knowledge is the first step of preparation, huh?”
”Sure. And a Wicked Chick is always prepared.” She leaned back toward the driver's seat and flipped open the glove box. She quickly shuffled through the messy pile of papers and frowned. ”I have to have one in here.”
She moved from shuffling papers to tossing them on the floor. ”What the h.e.l.l? How can I not have one? It's the Wicked Chicks number one rule. The only way to play safe is bring your own protection.”
”I thought rules were more like guidelines.” As soon as the words were out, Audra pinned him with a laser glare. Jesse winced. Maybe his sisters were right. Maybe he did always find the perfectly wrong thing to say.
Either way, he felt as if he'd been saved from a long fall off a very jagged cliff. He'd just ignore the part of him that was screaming in frustration at being denied that fall. Eight, his a.s.s. He'd have shown her nine, easy. Ten, if he could use props and toys.
But that wasn't an option. At least, not right now. First he had to clear her or, if she was too involved with Dave Larson's current crimefest, bust her.
”To be honest, I'm not usually the kind of guy who gets that friendly on the first date.”
Audra just continued to look at him, frustration and something deeper reflected in her eyes.
”I'd like to get together sometime, maybe a date?” Somewhere with a better setting for interrogation. First he'd do a little research, see if he could ferret out her connections. And practice the art of the cold shower.
”A date?”
”Yeah, you know, two people, out in public, getting to know each other.”
”Sure. 'Cause guys are always interested in dating a woman they didn't get laid with, right?” she asked with a curl of her lip.
”Hey, what kind of guy do you think I am? I'm interested in you for more than s.e.x.”
”Sure,” she repeated. With a wiggle that made him want to beg, she used her foot to push wide the partially open car door and slid off his lap to stand outside the car. As Jesse painfully unfolded himself from the vehicle, she reached into her purse and pulled out a piece of paper.
”Tell you what, here's my business card. You go ahead and give me a call, we'll do that date.”
Jesse read it. Audra Walker, Simply Sensual Lingerie. Designer. ”Lingerie, huh?”
”Oh, yeah, lingerie. And I'm d.a.m.ned good. Give me that call, I'll model some for you.”
Maybe it wasn't too late to climb back in the car? He'd make do without intercourse. They could skip the whole condom issue.
She swung the car door shut and leaned against the fender. Smoothing her hands over her hips, she winked. ”Don't forget the condom, huh?”
EVEN AS A BAD GIRL, lies didn't come easy to Audra. She hadn't been able to admit another failure, so when she'd sashayed back into the club, she'd smiled and let her friends a.s.sume she'd done the deed.
Five blood-pumping dances and an order of nachos hadn't blunted her s.e.xual frustration. Finally tired of the unearned congratulations from Suzi and Bea, and the unspoken judgment of Isabel, she'd told the girls she was heading out. It would've been a clean break if not for the fact that she was Isabel's ride home.
Now, with her oldest friend in the pa.s.senger seat next to her, Audra flew down the freeway toward Auburn and the small neighborhood they'd grown up in.
Unlike Suzi and Bea, Isabel was into the whole focus-on-building-a-career thing. She'd taken over her parents' florist shop and was looking for ways to turn it from a small-town posey-pusher into one of the area's prominent florists.
Audra and Isabel had grown up next door to each other, both living over their parents' business. That Isabel had lived over the florist and Audra over a bar probably played into their personalities a bit. As a child, Isabel had been quiet, sweet and a little pudgy. Audra? She'd always been trouble.
Somehow, the two balanced each other out, though.
”Congratulations again on netting that deal with the mall,” Audra said, remembering Isabel's earlier news. ”You've been trying to snag that account for almost a year now. That's great that it finally came together.”
They shared a smile. It was obviously a night to celebrate career achievements. Then Audra remembered the by-product of her latest achievement, her failure to live up to the code of the Wicked Chicks, and her mouth drooped.
”There's nothing wrong with being ambitious, Audra,” Isabel said, obviously misreading her expression and figuring her frustration was career-focused. After all, for Isabel, most things were. ”You worked your b.u.t.t off going to school full-time and working in the boutique, too. You deserved to celebrate your success.”
”Designing vanilla fluff.”
”Oh, c'mon. Don't let that kind of defeatist thinking take hold. You have to start somewhere. How many people can claim the t.i.tle of head designer right out of school? So you're not creating quite the kind of thing you want. Put in your time, pay your dues, and you'll be there soon enough.”
Audra lifted her chin and pulled back her shoulders. Right. She'd get there. d.a.m.ned if she wouldn't.
”Did you want to read that book I was telling you about yesterday?” Isabel asked, referring to the latest motivational tome she'd discovered. Audra had to hand it to her friend: Isabel was just as confident and determined to make her business a success as the Wicked Chicks were to live life to the fullest.
”Nah, I'll let you read it and give me the rundown, as always,” Audra said with a wink.
Instead of her usual nod of agreement, Isabel frowned.
”You know,” she said hesitantly, ”you might want to read it yourself. Maybe it'd help you figure out why you agreed to debase yourself with meaningless s.e.x, just for the sake of a girls' club you've outgrown.”
”Debase?” Audra asked, ignoring the club reference, ”What's so debasing about doing a hot, s.e.xy guy?” Now, if she'd had to do that geek, well, that would've been beyond debasing. But Jesse? Her mouth still watered at the memory of his fingers, his lips. Oh, G.o.d. His tongue. She squirmed in her seat and shook her head at Isabel. ”Look, I like s.e.x. Just because you're trying out this chast.i.ty thing doesn't mean my choices are wrong.”
”But this wasn't your choice, Audra. Why do you let them push you into those dares? I thought you said you were glad you'd grown out of that type of thing.”
Audra's jaw worked. So what if she'd backslid a little? It wasn't just that Suzi and Bea were two of her closest friends. Her image, the s.e.xy persona she'd developed in her teens, defined her. It made her special. Made her more than the pitiful little castoff of dismal parents who fought over her custody. Not over who got to keep her, but over who had had to keep her. to keep her.
It gave her control. Over herself, her life, the people around her. Isabel just didn't get that. She had two parents who adored her, who thought she'd hung the moon. Sure, she'd dealt with her share of c.r.a.p growing up. But not like Audra.
Unlike the Wicked Chicks, Isabel preferred to stay in the background, to live the quiet life. In a lot of ways, it was amazing she and Audra had been able to maintain their friends.h.i.+p all these years.
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