Rebel Betty Page 5

  “Never been tempted?”

  “Tempted, yes. I’m no saint. But I like women with a bit more history than a college girl.” He took another sip of the beer, watching her over the glass neck of the brown bottle. “What about you? Are the men around here blind?”

  Lara cocked her head and leaned back in her chair. The hint of a smile played around her mouth, a contained, Cheshire cat grin that reminded him of something, or someone. Her smile both frustrated and aroused him. He could picture putting down the bottle and pinning her to the cheerful yellow walls with his mouth. Or his dick. And from her deepening smile, she knew it.

  “Didn’t you just tell Helen that you weren’t interested in getting in my pants?”

  Thad shrugged, and allowed his eyes to wander down her body. Her long, long legs were clad in cut-off shorts and battered work boots. Though her t-shirt looked like it might have originated in the men’s department, it did little to disguise her curves. Fresh from the garden, sun-kissed and tousle haired, Lara was undeniably beautiful and extremely sexy. Funny how he had not noticed her beauty from the beginning, for it seemed so obvious now. “That was basically a lie.”

  The tension between them deepened, becoming a tangible presence in the air. His jeans felt uncomfortably tight, and he had to resist the urge to shift the denim that bunched at his crotch.

  The tip of Lara’s tongue snaked out, wetting her bottom lip. He watched it and felt a visceral reaction in his gut. He was a hair’s breath away from standing up and crossing the kitchen.

  “I won't deny that the idea is…” She hesitated, choosing her words with care even as her breathing deepened. “Tempting. But you heard what Helen said. I need to keep my life simple for the next few months. It's the wrong time to introduce a man into the equation right now. It wouldn't be fair to Kenzie.”

  She was right, he knew it. And yet he could not help but be drawn to Lara Foster. Even more important to him than the pulse of arousal he felt in her presence, he genuinely liked her. There was a toughness about her, and a no-bullshit attitude. She was like no one he had ever met.

  Tires crunched on gravel, and from the window he heard the unmistakable rhythms of Frank Sinatra layered with a childish voice, singing at the top of her lungs.

  “Kenzie,” Lara breathed, her expression suddenly filling with a series of emotions. Relief, perhaps, as well as frustration. He understood completely, especially the frustration. Another five minutes and he doubted they would have heard the approaching vehicle.

  “I better go and help unload the pizza,” she said, flicking him a glance. "I hope you can stay for supper."

  “I'd love to...but I might need a minute,” he said, looking at his lap.

  Lara smothered a giggle, and strode to the door. He watched her smooth, long legged stride, liking the way the denim fabric clung to her curves, outlining the shape of her…

  Not helping.

  “When is the hearing?” he asked when she was almost through the door.

  “August 1st.”

  "Mind if we revisit the issue then?"

  Although she did not turn to look at him, there was a smile in her voice. "I'd like that."

  There was time, he decided, watching as she let the screen door close between them. Although he wanted her, he could wait eight weeks. The custody of a sweet little girl hung in the balance, and more than most people, he knew what was important.

  Chapter 7

  Thad brought the trailer to the farm in the second week of June. Sleek, silver, and twenty four feet long, the vintage Airstream caught the red of the barns and the green of the grass and reflected it back a thousand times, like the panes of glass in a kaleidoscope.

  Lara guided him in, and working together, they leveled the trailer and attached the water and power lines.

  “I love it!” Lara crooned after he had disconnected the trailer. Without asking permission, she had popped open the hood of the Jeep Wagoneer and inspected the engine, nodding with approval at the restoration work. Then she did a full circuit of the truck, running her hands along the panel of imitation wood that decorated the truck's blue sides. He had to stifle a laugh she crouched down to peer underneath. “You certainly seem drawn to objects with history, Professor,” she said, her voice echoing from under the truck.

  “Thad, please. We are going to be living together, after all.”

  A shudder trembled down Lara’s shoulders as she stood. “Oh dear God, don't let anyone hear you talking like that."

  There was so much genuine fear in her voice that he resisted the urge to tease her. It had taken two weeks for his background checks to come through, followed shortly by a call from the social worker, giving him the go-ahead to stay at the farm.

  At the door, the little girl was hopping up and down, body unable to contain such excitement. “Why don't you let her loose and I will show you my humble abode?”

  Lara signaled to the housekeeper, who watched with a benignly smiling face while Big Band music swelled from the kitchen. The screen door opened. Kenzie shot out like an arrow, blonde curls flying as she raced across the yard, starling a chicken that squeaked in protest

  Skidding to a stop, she patted the polished aluminum skin of the trailer as though it were a horse.

  “Pretty,” she crooned, and laid her head against it.

  “Careful,” he cautioned. “It can get warm.” He pulled out the collapsible step and offered his arm. “My lady?” He bowed.

  Kenzie giggled, and placed her hand in his.

  “How is it that you don't have children?” Lara asked.

  His finger automatically reached for the space where a wedding ring had once carved a path in his skin. “The ex never wanted kids,” he said, and ducked as he entered the curved door of the trailer.

  Thad stood next to the dinette while Lara and Kenzie explored the inside, the sloping sides brushing the top of his head. The old Airstream was his baby, and felt more like a home than his place in Oxford. The upholstery on the couch had started out life a hideous mustard plaid that matched the avocado appliances. Now the interior was clean and open, with sturdy brown canvas cushions and lots of lighting. The back of the trailer was dominated by a large bed suitable for a man of his size. Where bunks had originally been was a computer station and storage unit for the tools of his trade.

  Kenzie jumped on the bed and began turning somersaults, her glittery shoes throwing patterns on the curving walls.

  “Slow down there, kiddo.” Lara cautioned, sitting next to her. “Isn’t it nice?” She asked, looking around with approval. “Very nice, Professor.”

  “Kenzie tired,” the little girl whispered, trying to contain a giggle. She scooted back and got under the red comforter. Her blond curls spread across the pillow. “Larry tired, too.”

  “Larry is not tired,” Lara said, biting her lip to contain a smile.

  “Larry TIRED.” Mackenzie patted the bed beside her without opening her eyes.

  Lara flicked a glance at Thad. “You mind if I try out your bed?”

  “I thought you’d never ask,” he murmured, then chuckled as she flipped him off, the gesture hidden behind her back.

  Kicking off her shoes, Lara crawled on the bed next to Kenzie. As she bent over, Thad got an intriguing glimpse of ink on her lower back: wings covered in scales, probably a dragon.

  Thad was disconcerted by the sizzle of arousal he felt at the sight of her smooth white back, bent over in the perfect position. He turned and began opening the windows, turning the old fashioned crank handles until the trailer’s temperature had dropped a few degrees and he could smell the rich aroma of the newly tilled earth outside. He opened the little refrigerator which was already cooling the drinks he’d brought along.

  Minutes slipped by as he finished readying the trailer for the next weeks of habitation.

  “I think she’s fallen asleep,” came the horrified whisper. “Kenzie!”

  Thad crossed the trailer and looked down. With her curls spread out on t
he pillow, Mackenzie looked like an angel, sweet and innocent, her face untroubled. “Yes, she’s asleep. Don't wake her up.”

  Lara gingerly sat up, easing from next to the sleeping child as though she were navigating around a ticking bomb. “What should I do?”

  He held out a hand. “You should shimmy out of there and come have a drink.”

  With a combination of crouching and duck walking, Lara was able to cross over the slumbering form of Kenzie and make it off the bed.

  “Lemonade?” He asked, opening the fridge. Remembering that she avoided drinking alcohol during the day, he had stocked the trailer with a variety of drinks, as well as enough food and snacks for several weeks without having to visit a grocery store. Lara nodded, and he pulled out two bottles. Lara sat on the couch and watched as he unpacked his laptop and set it up on the modified desk.

  Her eyes looked anywhere but at his face, suddenly awkward without the child to fill the empty space. He understood the trepidation. Something had changed in the dynamic of their relationship after that last conversation.

  “I supervised a dig in Northern Kentucky for six months while my divorce was becoming final. I lived in here and worked on modifying the interior in my spare time. It kept me from losing my mind.”

  “It turned out beautifully. You do the woodworking?”

  He nodded. “And the upholstery. My mom...” He looked down and cleared his throat. Even after all of this time, the grief was still there when he thought about his parents. “She ran an upholstery shop. My dad taught history and did carpentry on the side. So the trailer is a mix of what I learned from both of them. I think they would have liked it. They always talked about buying a trailer and taking me and my brothers on a cross country trip.”

  Lara leaned forward, the bottle held loosely between her knees. “How did they die?” Then, as though realizing that the question was very personal, she shrugged her shoulders in apology. “I’m sorry; it's just with the past year and everything that has happened to us…I am just looking for a little information. Or maybe a light at the end of the tunnel. You certainly turned out all right, so it gives me hope that she will, as well.”

  He waved aside her apology and sat next to her on the couch. The trailer was so small that their knees touched, and he was acutely aware of the way her shirt clung to her chest. “It’s all right. A drunk driver went left of center during a blizzard. It was very quick and they went together. There was some comfort in that.” At Lara’s raised eyebrow, he explained. “They adored one another. Madly. As a kid it was embarrassing, having parents unable to keep their hands off each other, but now I realize how rare that kind of mutual passion is. Having gone through a divorce only hammered home the point home a little more.”

  “What happened between you and the ex?” She asked, looking at her lemonade bottle instead of meeting his gaze.

  “We wanted different things. I wanted to settle down and start a family. Two years ago I had finally gotten tenure and it seemed like the perfect time to be putting down roots. Jesse wanted to spend a year exploring the Amazonian rain forest with her new girlfriend. We decided to part amicably. And it stayed that way, for the most part.”

  Lara's mouth fell open in astonishment. ”Your wife left you for another woman? Did you know that she was bisexual?”

  “I knew that she’d had girlfriends before, but I didn't realize how serious it was until she brought Sandra home and told me to get out.” Then, because she appeared so horrified, he decided to tell her the rest of the story. “They let me stay for one night, though. It almost made up for losing the house in the settlement.”

  Lara clapped both hands over her mouth to restrain her laughter. Her eyes, dark like the night sky, danced with merriment and he could not resist joining her, though he made sure to keep his voice down. He was enjoying this conversation too much to have it end.

  “That’s terrible,” she said, shaking her head. “It's good that you are holding up, though.”

  He smirked, his expression so full of innuendo that she began blushing, and she batted his hand playfully.

  Thad caught it, and pulled it near.

  “What are you doing?” she asked, and he could feel the urge in her to draw back so he kept the pressure of his fingers light, letting her know that she could escape if she wished.

  “I am looking at your hands,” he said, turning it over so that her palm faced upwards. He ran his finger over the callouses and scars that adorned her fascinating hands. “They are fascinating, and they tell me a lot about you.”

  “Do tell,” she challenged, and there was a hitch in her breath.

  “You are strong and you worked with your hands for many years.” He touched the knuckle on her right index finger, larger than the rest, and her wrist. “You've broken a number of bones. And you probably will have arthritis.”

  “I shattered it in a motorcycle crash, and spent six months in a cast.”

  She was watching him, and the soft, dreamy quality in her eyes had him drawing her closer. There was a pulse dancing in her neck, and the flush of embarrassment had spread, coloring her full cheeks rosy and warm and impossibly beautiful. There were reasons that he should move away, he thought, but right now none of them seemed as important as touching her and discovering if she was as sweet as she looked.

  They were inches apart when a noise from the back of the trailer had Lara jumping to her feet and racing for the bedroom.

  Thad followed, uncomfortably aware that he had been moments away from kissing her. Fool, he chided himself. Trying to seduce a woman while her child was only feet away. Smooth.

  Lara paused at the foot of the bed. A breath caught in Kenzie’s throat and she snuffled again.

  “Allergies,” Lara whispered, and then turned back toward him. Thad caught her arms gently.

  “Give her a second,” he whispered, and did not let go of her arms.

  There was blood pumping in Lara’s throat. She was a tall woman, but he was an even taller man, and from his superior height he could see everything she usually sought to conceal in baggy t-shirts. Lara Foster was beautifully made, with lovely breasts that lacked the hardened artificiality of silicone implants and a pleasing, womanly physique. He curled his fingers around her arms, liking the play of strong muscle beneath silky skin.

  "This is a really bad idea,” she whispered, not drawing away. Her breath was coming so fast that each exhalation brushed her chest against his T-shirt.

  “I know,” he agreed, then bent forward just as Lara leaned her head back, meeting him halfway for the kiss.

  First kisses always seemed awkward to him; there were the logistics to work out, the inevitable height disparity and deciding where exactly to put his hands. Usually it took a measure of intimacy, and familiarity, before kissing changed, sometimes becoming more intimate than the act of sex.

  He knew instantly that kissing Lara would be an entirely different experience. They fit together as though her body was made to be his counterpoint. His hands slid around her waist, drawing her even closer and then his mind went utterly blank except for the remarkable sensation of slim, agile lips beneath his own. There was mint in her kiss, as though she had been chewing gum, and sunshine, and something that reminded him of homemade dandelion wine. She was sweet and responsive, her lips curving into a smile beneath the pressure of his. He would have pulled back to gauge her reaction, but Lara’s fingers threaded through the hair at the back of his neck and she pulled him closer, increasing the pressure. Her mouth opened, licking as though she was searching for his taste as well. She gasped, the sound both hungry and joyful.

  Thad’s mouth opened on a groan and he lost whatever control he once possessed. The kiss became ravenous as they feasted on one another. In the tiny portion of his mind not subsumed by an overwhelming tide of lust he decided that kissing Lara was like diving off a cliff, expecting to end in a pool of limpid water and instead landing in the middle of a raging ocean. The intensity of it sucked him in, drowning his sen
ses with the lush feel of her mouth and the tight body beneath his hands.

  There was no beginning and no end to her response, only the feel of her tongue dancing with his and the sudden swell of overwhelming need. His hands slid from her arms to the curves of her hips. She nestled closer, pressing against him with her hips and breasts and every other womanly part that seemed made to accommodate him.

  He couldn’t breathe. There was not enough air in the trailer and he did not care. He slid a hand to cup Lara’s neck and pulled her closer, sliding his other hand under her butt, lifting her and pressing her against the desk. Her breasts crushed against his chest and her tongue dueled with his, wild and untamed in the confines of his mouth.

  “Larry?” Came a soft voice barely heard over the blood pumping in his ears.

  Shit, shit, shit!

  “Larry?” Her voice was clogged with warm sleep.

  Lara tore her mouth away and gasped. “Yes, baby?”

  “Whatcha doing?” The trailer shifted slightly as the little girl sat up. After an interested look at them still clinging to one another, she resumed turning somersaults on the bed, zooming back and forth.

  “Nothing, dearest,” she said, and looked up at him. “Crap!” she whispered, and smothered a giggle against the fabric of his t-shirt.

  “My sentiments exactly,” he answered, forcing himself to let go of her waist. He pressed a last kiss against her lips and turned away, heading for the door. “I am going to go jump in your creek.”

  “It’s about 50 degrees, you know,” she said, laughter bubbling in her voice. He turned to look at her, and the arousal he saw on her face almost had him returning to her side. Her eyes had turned molten with passion, and there was a blush on her cheek. Or it might have been whisker burns. He’d never seen a woman as lovely and desirable as she appeared at the moment, and he was so aroused that it was agonizing.

  “I’m counting on it.”

  “I might need to join you,” she teased, and he could feel her eyes on him as he walked past the barns, heading for the field.