"Yours." She drew in a breath. A breath that hitched in her chest. "I never thought…"
"Thought what, Jacy?"
Her hand fluttered as she waved off the thought. "Never mind. It isn't important. You're here with me now." She ran the tip of her finger down his bare chest and belly. "I plan to enjoy you."
The tip of his sex stretched up to meet her finger. Exhaling sharply, Risk snatched her hand and nudged her toward the closet. "Enjoy me later. Aaron will kill us both if we're late for the auction."
Dressed long before Jacy, he strolled into her living room. He couldn't help smiling. No one decorated quite like Jacy. He flicked on her black-and-white television, acquired broken from the local flea market. He'd spent hours replacing parts, getting it to work. He now tinkered with the rabbit ears until he got a decent picture. No cable, which limited his viewing to the four major networks. All were now focused on the evening news.
He scooped a handful of Valentine candy from a cranberry dish atop an antique vaudeville trunk turned coffee table. Jacy enjoyed the hearts with the crazy sayings all year round. He popped Baby, Baby and Be Mine into his mouth and let the sugar dissolve on his tongue.
Sweet as Jacy.
He then focused on the main room. Where to sit? Church pew, red antique barber chair or the leather backseats from a Mercedes Benz? He crossed her navy Oriental carpet to the barber chair. Jacy's central lighting consisted of an old-fashioned streetlight that curved over the chair to reach the middle of the living room. It shed a lot of light when on.
She'd painted again, he noticed. Which she seemed to do every three months. Exhausting to his way of thinking. But Jacy loved change. The room reminded him of a sunburst, the walls ranging from pale yellow to the brightest orange. In a cluster above the church pew, she'd arranged framed copies of Picasso's most abstract art.
Somehow, the room came together. Risk had always felt comfortable at Jacy's place, no matter how small it might be. Over the years, he'd offered to buy her something bigger. He'd even enticed her with a maid. Jacy hadn't even debated. She stood on her own two feet. Paid her own way. She'd told Risk to take his big fat baseball contract and shove it up his butt.
That was what he loved about her. She didn't want a piece of him. Well… maybe one piece. The one that satisfied her sexually.
"Why the smile?" Jacy asked as she entered the room.
"Just thinking about how much you like me."
She blinked. "I do?"
"Parts of me."
She laughed then. A sweet, hearty laugh that touched him deeply. "Pull all your parts together and let's hit the road."
He took her in as she came to him. Jacy of the Jungle. Tonight a leopard print crisscrossed her breasts, showing a lot of skin. X marked the spot near her navel where an amethyst belly stud flashed above zebra print loose-legged pants. Pink ballet slippers clad her feet. Multicolor parrot earrings hung to her shoulders. Wide gold bands captured her upper arms, Egyptian style. Tangerine tinted her hair. Amber contacts gave her a jungle cat look.
"I like," he said simply.
She bent over the barber chair, brushed a light kiss over his lips. "You taste like candy."
"Care for a heart?" When she nodded, he slipped Love You between her lips. He was crazy for this woman.
She kissed him again. Deeper this time, and with enough tongue to stir a response. Just as he was about to pull her across his lap, her grin broke against his mouth. "Remember the time I decorated your chest with those little hearts?"
Did he ever. From neck to navel, she'd licked, sucked, nibbled the sweetness from his body. A total turn on during a rainy afternoon. He'd prayed for a week of thunderstorms. He would have built an ark for a month of flooding.
Feeling his body respond to the memory, he bolted from the chair. "The auction. Move, Jacy, now."
Damn, she could entice. The sexy sway of her hips as she walked ahead of him nearly had him dragging her back to the barber chair. For more than a shave and a hair cut.
"The town has tripled in size," Jacy noted as the charity committee stood on the makeshift stage in the middle of the football field. The stadium was packed, along with the standing-room-only inner track. It would prove a wild night.
She spotted Stevie, pretty in pink, standing next to Aaron. Her suit fit perfectly, complementing Stevie's auburn hair. Aaron wore a second designer suit, jet black with a chalk stripe, more expensive than the one he'd worn that afternoon. Jacy was surprised and disappointed that her cousin would rub his success in the faces of the local residents.
The Bat Pack arrived, looking casual in their baseball jerseys and jeans. While Romeo and Chaser wore their Rogues baseball caps, Psycho had chosen one imprinted with Keep Staring and I May Do a
Trick. Jacy prayed his trick wouldn't land him in jail. The man was the embodiment of reckless and crazy. And unpredictable.
She glanced up at Risk and found him checking her out. He winked and her heart went wild. She craved this man. Sometimes with a desperation that scared her.
He'd wanted her to bid on him, to bring him home after the auction. Which she was more than willing to do. Stepping closer, she stuck her hand in the right front pocket of his jeans and felt around. Found him.
"Babe, now's not a good time," Risk whispered near her ear.
Jacy blushed. "I was looking for your checkbook."
"Back pocket." He pulled it free and handed it to her.
Moments later, Stevie Cole stepped up to the microphone, requesting that the crowd settle. The auction was about to begin. Jacy decided to wait until her morning coffee winner was announced before hiking up the bleachers, megaphone in hand, to help collect bids. The crowd had raided their cookie jars and mad money—if not their savings accounts—to win either a vacation or a major league player.
Once Stevie welcomed the crowd, an auctioneer stepped forward and brought the spectators to their feet with the first item up for bid: an all-expense-paid week at Disney World for a family of four.
The excitement spread, as uproarious as the bidding, as both locals and out-of-towners built the new recreation center dollar by dollar. When it was Jacy's time to turn on the charm and sell her coffee, people cheered and stomped so loudly, the auctioneer had to stop and catch his breath. Risk was at the heart of the bidding. He jumped each bid by five hundred dollars, forcing any contenders to dig deep into their pockets.