Waking Up (9 page)

The weight and warmth of his hand was burning into her arm like a hot brand. He was near, so near, right beside her, and she could smell the faint, fresh scent of him. “I’ll pay you back later.”

He drew her to the front door. “I said don’t worry about it. Come on, I’m driving. Oh, for heaven’s sake, Robbie, do you want to give me gas money, too? Strain your imagination a little. Pretend this is a real, honest-to-goodness date if you can.”

That made her laugh, an uncontrollable, nervous burst of giggles as he thrust her outside none too gently, turned back to give Herb an exasperated glance, and then shut the door behind him.

Shopping for Marilyn’s present was quickly and successfully concluded, and they were soon sitting in Jason’s two-seater sports car, engrossed in the complications of wrapping the box in the confines of the car. Inside, well-packed, was a delicate crystal figurine that Robbie had fallen in love with as soon as she had seen it. Jason’s head bent close to hers as he held patiently in place the overlying ribbon with a long forefinger while she tried to finish the last knot with some composure, agonizingly aware of every accidental contact with his skin, feeling stiff and awkward. She then fluffed up the canary-yellow bow.

“How does that look?” she muttered while holding the box out for contemplation.

“Lovely.”

Robbie looked at him and found his head still close, and his gray eyes looking at her instead of the package. He bent close and pressed his warm lips against her cheek and then pulled away before she had time to react. Then he briskly started the car and pulled out of the parking lot, while whistling tunelessly through his white teeth. She sat in a daze the entire way to Marilyn’s house.

It was after three when they arrived, and cars lined both sides of the shady street by Marilyn’s already full driveway. Jason had to park a little distance down the shaded street, and they walked back, Robbie carefully clutching Marilyn’s present while Jason let his right hand ride attentively at the small of her back.

Music pulsed out of the open windows of the large, two-storey house they came to, and Jason had to knock several times quite loudly before anyone answered the door. Marilyn stood on the doorstep, flushed and laughing, and motioned them both in with a cheery greeting. Robbie handed her the wrapped present and introduced Jason, who smiled faintly at the older woman’s frankly interested perusal.

“Honey, I haven’t the time right now, but later on, I want you to tell me just where you found him, and if there are any more where he came from,” laughed Marilyn with a quick affectionate pat on Robbie’s flushing cheek before whirling away. The blonde threw over her shoulder, “Everybody’s in the backyard or the pool, and John’s out cooking hamburgers! There’s food and drinks on the picnic tables outside…help yourselves!”

Jason cocked a quizzical eyebrow at her. With an unconscious toss of her head and a sniff, she led him through the house, with which she was familiar, and to the back.

The noise hit them before they stepped outside. Noise spilling from the nearby crowded kitchen, noise from the backyard, noise from the stereo speakers, and all of it was loud. It was a bit of a sensory overload to take in all at once, and Robbie paused with her hand on the back door’s knob to tell Jason aggressively, “You offered to come. I don’t want to hear a single complaint, have you got that?”

Quickly he wore a suitably meek expression though his gray eyes were dancing. “I’ll have a good time, I promise!”

Her glance, thrown over her shoulder, was obviously doubtful, but she hauled the door open anyway and could only hope that he was right.

People were everywhere, sprawled on the grass, splashing in the pool, and gathered around the two picnic tables which were pulled together, end to end, and filled to overflowing with all kinds of hot and cold foods. Robbie was a friendly person by nature, but quiet, and she found herself stepping instinctively back at the sight, overwhelmed.

Then Jason’s hand was at her back again, warm and heavy and reassuring. He drew close so that his hip brushed hers lightly, and as she looked up uncertainly, he smiled down into her eyes. She remembered then that if she didn’t know everyone at the party, Jason didn’t know anyone. With equilibrium restored, she reached around her back, tucked her hand into his in a wholly natural way, and took him over to meet John, Marilyn’s husband.

John Earhart was a big, laughing man with a barrel chest slimming to trim hips and thick, corded thighs. He was blond like his wife, and bearded, and when he saw Robbie, he abandoned his hamburgers to approach and give her a bone-cracking bear hug. She had to laugh, pleased, and then introduced him to Jason while hoping inwardly that they would like each other.

They did. John eyed Jason’s slimmer figure up and down once and held out his huge hand for a quick, hard shake. The two men exchanged a few comments while Robbie ran her gaze in awe over all the people.

Suddenly she shrieked, grabbed John’s other hand while they both looked at her in bewilderment, and then flew to the two sizzling grills to flip at the cooking meat frantically. The underside was scorched to a dark brown, and John roared in good-natured amusement. He walked over and slapped her on the back.

“Now look at what you’ve done!” he told her, and blankly she did just that, staring in puzzlement at the grills. While she was wondering what she had done wrong, John whipped off his apron and tucked it around her slim waist. “You’ve just got yourself elected for the job! I need to check to see how the beer is going, can you take over for me for a few minutes?”

She had to laugh and she agreed cheerfully enough, while Jason joined them and inspected the cooking meat with a somewhat predatory interest. John barreled off with a quick grin to them both, and for a few minutes Jason and Robbie stood talking quietly together, while she kept a close eye on the meat.

Then another waitress from the restaurant, a lively brunette named Casey with huge, overly made-up eyes and the morals of an alley cat, came sauntering up. She devoured Jason with an avid look and said, “Hi, Robbie. Who’s your friend?”

Robbie sent a quick, involuntary glance up to Jason’s face, and found his gray eyes alive with a lazy interest as he perused Casey as thoroughly as she did him. Normally Robbie liked Casey well enough, but something pricked inside her with the sharpness of a needle, and she gritted her teeth, eyes glittering, as she briefly acquainted the two with each other.

Casey threaded her arm into Jason’s with a coy, enticing smile, obvious aroused and on the prowl, and said brightly, “It doesn’t take the two of you to watch over the hamburgers. Robbie, while you’re cooking, I’ll just take Jason and introduce him around for you. You don’t mind, do you?”

“Do I have a choice?” retorted Robbie, but because she said it so laughingly, so naturally and lightly, she wasn’t taken at all seriously, and the brunette drew Jason away.

Left alone, she looked down at the half-cooked, half-raw meat sizzling hotly in the sun and scowled fiercely. She didn’t see the quick, unreadable look that Jason threw over his broad shoulder before politely following the brunette towards a knot of people. All she could see in her mind’s eye was the interested, sexual appraisal Jason had given Casey. All she could think was that this party wasn’t fun, wasn’t fun at all, and that she wanted nothing more than to go home.

Chapter Five

John carried out two huge ice chests filled with beer to replenish the depleted supply, and she watched, fascinated by the big man’s strength. He paused to talk to a few people while wiping his hand down the back of his blue shorts, and then he came back to divest her of her apron and spatula. He bestowed a hearty, cheek-tickling kiss upon her and then shoved her away, ordering, “Go and swim!”

Robbie’s footsteps, after the initial impetus from the push, lagged uncertainly as she looked around the large crowded yard for signs of Jason. She found him lounging indolently against a bordering fence with Casey in close attendance, slinking so near that her thigh brushed his while she said something in his down-bent ear. They were with a small, laughing knot of people either leaning on the fence or sitting stretched out on the short-cropped grass.

Something angry and energetic pulsed through her then. She would have done better had she come on her own. She turned away in a quick, impatient movement and eyed the swimming pool with a brilliant, hard look. It was full to bursting with all shapes and sizes of people, both large and small, but she was looking specifically at several muscular young men who were playing a riotous game of water volleyball.

She snapped out of her immobility and headed in quick, long graceful strides to the side of the pool where she kicked off her sandals after unbuckling the straps and then straightened. Fully aware of the interested glances being thrown her way, she looked up at the yellow sun and let the warmth cascade upon her face for a long moment. Then she reached with both crossed hands to her waist.

With a long, slow, sinuous movement, she raised her cherry-red tank top over her brown head. Silence fell over the masculine-filled end of the pool. She dropped the tank top to the grass by her sandals. Then she smiled and unzipped her shorts at the tailored waist to slide them down over her gently swelling hips in a smooth, provocative movement. They fell in a tangle at her slim ankles.

She might not be lusciously buxom, but she was sleek. Every line of her body was streamlined, graceful curves and long, long legs, tightly muscled and firm under supple, very dark skin. She drew back her slim arms and stretched lightly before walking to the edge of the pool.

She was very satisfied with the attention she had received from her audience, but as her back was to Jason, she wasn’t to know that he had abandoned all pretence of listening to Casey, his golden-brown head turned towards her, his light gray eyes dilated and peculiarly intent on every single move she made. His expression was tight and blank.

Robbie waited until she had a large, open space ahead of her in the pool and then drew herself together for a powerfully executed swan dive. The cool wetness of the water suddenly surrounding her body was a shock from the sweaty warmth of the high summer sun, and she shot through the water very fast with the force of her entry. Then her impetus slowed, and she was carried buoyantly to the surface again where she shook the cascading wetness from her eyes and laughed at the nearby, watching man.

It was enough to draw him close, circling almost like a predatory shark while he laughed back and asked her name. A few more men drifted over, and soon she was ensconced in the volleyball game, swimming hard and playing enthusiastically. The men deferred to her with great enjoyment, for she was naturally athletic and gifted with good hand-eye coordination from her tomboyish days, and as aggressive as any of them. A few women in the yard nearby stiffened and gazed with sharpening eyes at their escorts and the game they had been too lazy to join, unwilling to mess up their looks while so many people were present.

The opposite team was serving, and Robbie played the net with two other men while four more were positioned strategically behind them. She squinted over to where she had last seen Jason and Casey, but they weren’t leaning against the fence any longer. Then before she could look searchingly around, the black-and-white-marked ball came sailing over the net. It flew high and slowly, and appeared to be coming just over her head.

The young man behind her, a dark, good-looking fellow who was a cheerful flirt, was suddenly close to her, his long body sliding against hers in the water, his hands fastening firmly at her slim waist. He shouted and heaved her high into the air, water falling all around in a brilliant, sunlit cascade while she laughingly but not very seriously tried to hit at the ball. To her amazement, her small doubled fist connected, and the ball shot over the net to splash into the space between two of their opponents who couldn’t react fast enough. Robbie felt herself sliding back down, against his chest and unnecessarily close, but the attention was pleasant and good for her morale so she leaned against him for a moment while he slid his hands slowly to the front of her waist and held her close.

His head bent to her ear, and he seemed about to say something when a large splash of someone entering the pool engulfed them both. She spluttered and laughingly rubbed at her water-blinded eyes while her young admirer lost his slippery grip on her.

Jason surfaced just beside them then, golden skin sparkling wetly on broad, muscular shoulders. He shook his hair out of his eyes, threw a light, unsmiling glance behind her and slipped his hard arm around her waist to draw her away from the game. Nobody from the volleyball group disputed his actions.

But Robbie did. She was still resentful of his desertion earlier, and had only just begun to enjoy herself again when he had to interrupt. “I haven’t finished playing,” she snapped, with a glitter in her brown eyes that told him to beware.

He dragged her, floating on his arm like a piece of flotsam, to the edge of the pool where he let her go, only to place both hands on either side of her. He was standing, but she was out of her depth and had to hold on to one of his forearms since he wasn’t giving her enough room to tread water. Her legs kept brushing against his, which were planted firm and still, and she was immensely disquieted to find that her breath was coming short and fast.

After searching her face with some shrewdness, Jason smiled at her, white teeth flashing, and he told her cheerfully, “I just thought you might like some attention since that was why you wanted me to come.”