What the Heart Wants (What the Heart Wants, #1)(17)
She walked slowly toward the doorway, nervous about passing so close to him, then scuttled through it quickly, ready to fight him off at any moment. Outside the weather had turned bright and sunshiny, a beautiful, uncaring morning full of promise and delight. What irony. How could the day be so lovely when, in less than half an hour, her whole life had turned upside down?
Jase held the passenger door to the pickup open with mock courtesy, and she slid gingerly onto the torn vinyl seat, remaining as close to the door as possible. Walking around to the driver’s side, he lit a defiant cigarette before he got in, and started the engine.
They rode in silence for a few minutes until he spoke.
“Everything they say about me is true.” He sucked at the cigarette and floated the white smoke out through his mouth and nostrils. “I’ve been doing Ms. Shelton since before Christmas, and I’ll do you too if you give me half a chance. You’ve had your warning. I’m bad news. Stay clear of me from now on.”
And she had stayed clear of him, which wasn’t hard since he left Bosque Bend within a week.
When Sarah asked what had happened the next day at church, she’d said Jase had thanked her for her concern, asked her to pray for him, and driven her home.
But for days after that, her nipples tingled when her breasts moved against her starched cotton bra. And in her virgin bed at night, when the whole world was dark and anything was possible, she relived that morning at Jase’s house again and again. The awkward ride home was a forgotten footnote as she reveled in the memory of his passionate kisses and the touch of his body.
What would it have been like if she hadn’t made him stop?
Chapter Five
Jase took a couple of deep breaths, then punched in Maxie’s number.
“Lolly’s safe. Laurel Harlow’s taking care of her, but I’m getting the idea Girl Child’s being difficult.”
He could hear the exasperation mixed into Maxie’s sigh of relief and knew exactly how she felt.
“You’d better come down here tomorrow morning. Call me as soon as you have a flight number and I’ll pick you up at the Waco airport.”
“What about Lolly? Do you need me to bring anything for her?” That was Maxie—always on top of things. God knows what he would have done sixteen years ago if she hadn’t already made plans to move to Dallas for a full-time job with an insurance company when the school board got him kicked out of town.
“Why don’t you bring her a change of clothes, just to be sure, and I’d appreciate you packing a suitcase for me too. I’ll probably stay here a while to scout out the local scene. It looks like Bosque Bend might have some business possibilities.”
“Will do. See you tomorrow.”
Jase replaced the mobile on the floor beside the bed and laid his head back on the pillow.
He’d check around to see what properties were available. If Walmart had a new store here, the town must be on the upswing.
Who was he kidding? He didn’t need any small-town properties. What he wanted to do was keep busy so he wouldn’t make an ass out of himself knocking at Laurel’s front door and demanding to see his daughter before she was ready for him.
Damn, he and Girl Child were at loggerheads all the time now, and he loved her so much. She was his life. Thank God that Laurel had taken her in last night.
Laurel…
Something must be wrong with ol’ Dave. Back in high school, he’d been a lazy sonuvabitch, always looking for the main chance, and in Bosque Bend, with her mother’s money and her father’s reputation, Laurel Harlow would’ve been it.
So—what was the divorce all about? Jase himself would never have let go of Laurel, and not just because of her father. He shifted uncomfortably as he remembered the curve of her breasts against the thin fabric of her shirt when she answered the door this evening, her moist red lips opening in surprise at the sight of him, the sway of her hips as she led him to the front room.
Taking in a deep breath of air and exhaling strongly, he tried to make himself relax.
Cut it out, Redlander. You don’t stand a chance.
*
Laurel woke up happy and lay in bed for a few minutes longer just to savor the new day. Jase Redlander had visited her yesterday, and he would visit her again today. That smile, his voice, those dark eyes that seemed to absorb her into their depths—dear God, had she ever gotten over her a crush on him? How did he feel about her? Was there…a possibility?
But why was she lying around? She shouldn’t let one precious moment of this precious day go to waste. Humming a kindergarten tune about sunshiny faces, she made up her bed and laid out her clothes, tan chinos and a blue-checked shirt—simple, comfortable, and practical—one of her favorite teaching outfits. Chalk smudges, stray ballpoint marks, playground dirt, you name it—this shirt had swallowed them all and washed clean.
She stared at it for a moment. As happy as she was, she wanted to put on something new, something different, something she’d never worn before, and she knew just where to find it. Kneeling on the floor, she opened the bottom drawer of her bureau, where she stored all the tees her students had given her that Dave had considered inappropriate for the wife of a banker to wear.
Yes, there it was, right on top—an orange shirt decorated with a fat, yellow happy face. She pulled it over her head, swiped on some lipstick, inserted tiny gold hoops through her earlobes, and tied her hair up in a scraggly ponytail, then checked herself out in the long cheval mirror in the corner of the room.