Jennifer Crusie - Manhunting

Then he bent over to make a shot, and his jeans stretched tight across his rear end. Nice rear end. She remembered how warm he’d been on top of her. If he were anybody but Jake…

“Don’t lean over the counter like that. You’re giving Rollie Beamis a heart attack,” Nancy said.

“I love it.” Kate turned around. “I know it’s unliberated of me, but I love being a hot blonde in a low-cut top. I especially love it because I’m thirty-five. I figured sexual magnetism had passed me by, and now here it comes when I least expected it.”

“I don’t see why it’s unliberated,” Nancy said.

“I think the idea is to use your mind for power, not your body.”

“Why? Men use their bodies to intimidate people every day.”

“I don’t think it’s the same thing.”

“Honey, use what the good Lord gave you, and since he did give you plenty, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t give others the pleasure of the scenery. Besides, the profits are up considerably since you started bending over the tables.”

“Well, hell, let’s shorten our skirts, then.” Kate grinned at her.

“Is that part of this plan?” Nancy said, pulling Kate’s notes out from under the bar.

“No,” Kate said. “This plan is boring and practical. For instance, did you ever think about buying your liquor in bulk with Will up at the hotel?”

“No,” Nancy said. “Why should I?”

“Major savings,” Kate said. “Look…” She pulled her notes around and showed Nancy her figures.

“Where’d you get these numbers?” Nancy asked.

“From Will.” Kate jerked her thumb toward the back of the bar where Will was sitting. “He’s enthusiastic about the idea. And he said there’s no problem with storing your overstock up there.”

“You talked about this with him?”

“Shouldn’t I have?” Kate looked uneasy. “He had the numbers. It’s just a suggestion.”

“No,” Nancy said. “No, it’s great. I’m just not used to having somebody else doing things about my bar.”

“I didn’t do anything,” Kate said. “I just asked him.”

“Kate, it’s all right. In fact, it’s great,” Nancy smiled at her. “In fact, it’s more than great, it’s wonderful. It’s just that I’ve done everything by myself for so long, I was surprised.”

“Well, you’re going to do this by yourself, too,” Kate said, turning to the back of the bar. “Let me get Will, and you can work this out.”

“No, wait.” Nancy caught her arm. “Show me the rest of the stuff you’ve cooked up first.”

They bent over the plans again.

Half an hour later, Nancy leaned on the bar and said, “This is amazing.”

“Well, if you like that, look at this,” Kate said, and pulled out her master plan. “If you doubled the size of the bar, put in a stage and dance area, and added another twenty tables, you could handle the hotel overflow crowd. Your profits should-”

“Wait a minute,” Nancy said, laughing. “Where would I get that kind of money? And how could I manage that big a place?”

Kate sighed. “I had a feeling you’d say that. I have this tendency to look at the bottom line and see profits first.” She smiled. “I may have caught Will’s employ-the-universe disease, too. This would create a few more jobs around here, give local bands some exposure, and bring more people down into town to see the shops. I just never stopped to think that it would also make life a lot more complex for you.”

“Let me see that plan again,” Nancy said.

Kate handed it over and shook her head. “You’re right. You couldn’t do it alone.” She hesitated. “Do you suppose maybe Ben might help you manage the bar?”

“Only over my dead body,” Nancy said absentmindedly while she studied Kate’s notes. “One of the reasons we’ve been married for twenty years is that he has his life and I have mine. Twenty-four hours of togetherness would break us up in no time. And besides, I like running this place by myself. I don’t need anybody else in here confusing me.”

“Oh,” Kate said. “Well, it was just a thought. I’ll go get Will and you can talk over the liquor problem.”

“You know, if I had the money for this…” Nancy began, but Kate was already gone.

At ten-thirty, Nancy called last drinks, and Kate dropped her tray on the bar.

“My feet are killing me,” she said.

“Well, if you hadn’t spent the morning hiking…” Nancy began.

“Is there anything that escapes this town?” Kate asked.

“Nope,” Nancy said. “Who’s on the schedule for tomorrow?”

“No one.” Kate shook her head. “I’ve maimed enough hotel guests. I’m retiring. Besides, watching you and Ben has spoiled me. I’m holding out for love, and I don’t think that comes with my plan.” She leaned her back against the bar. “Although I’ve got to admit, I love being a local sex symbol. I can flirt with everybody and not get in trouble.”

“Don’t push your luck too far,” Nancy said, grinning at her. “Men are only human.”

“Oh, I’m careful who I flirt with.” Kate smiled confidently. “I know who’s safe.”

Nancy shook her head.

“You floozies work here, or are you just holding up the bar?”

Kate turned and found Jake with his arms crossed, leaning on the bar behind her. “I don’t mean to interrupt, but we’ve been signaling for beer for quite a while back there.”

A lock of dark hair had fallen over his eyes, and his grin was warm and familiar, rakish under his mustache. He was so cute. Her buddy. She crossed her arms and leaned on the bar to mimic him, leaning over until her nose was an inch from his and their hats touched. “Maybe you just weren’t sending the right signals, sugar,” she drawled.

Jake looked at her, startled.

Then Kate saw his eyes darken and noticed the sudden heat that was there. She flushed and he smiled.

“I’ll tell you what,” he said, his voice low and husky. “You tell me the right signals, and I’ll send them.”

She went hot and then cold and then hot again, and his smile widened.

“Two beers, Nancy,” he said without taking his eyes off Kate. “And hurry it up. I’ve been waiting a long time.”

When he’d gone, Nancy said, “Do you want me to pour some ice water over your head?” When Kate didn’t say anything, she added, “I warned you to be careful.”

“What happened there?” Kate tried to breathe. “I feel like I just got hit by a truck.”

“And about time, too. The past couple of days here, most people in the bar have been wishing the two of you would just sleep with each other and get it over with. The sexual tension is kind of getting to all of us.”

“What sexual tension?” Kate asked. “We’re friends.”

“The sexual tension that just plastered you all over the bar,” Nancy said.

Kate carefully didn’t look back at Jake for fear her knees would go. God, she’d been stupid. “Am I the last to know?”

“Pretty much, although Jake ran you a close second. He’s been so careful about women for so many years, and then you sneak up and poleax him from behind. I can’t tell you how we’ve enjoyed it.”

“We who?”

“Ben and I, for starters.” Nancy leaned on the bar and laughed. “I’ll never forget when he came in and told us all about you the first day he met you, laughing his butt off about you and a couple of guys at the luau. He said you were a cute kid. We had this picture of a sort of tomboy type, maybe twenty, not too together. Then here comes this cool blonde into the bar.” Nancy laughed again at the memory. “Ben took one look at you that night and said, ”This boy is in trouble, and he doesn’t even know it. “And sure enough, here we are. And of course, we’ve all thought for quite a while that it was about time Jake got serious about somebody, so we’ve just kept our fingers crossed. Everybody knew the two of you were going to end up together.”

“How?” Kate asked dazedly. “Why?”

“It’s a small town,” Nancy said. “We’ve been watching each other fall in and out of love forever. Beats TV.”

“I’m not in love with Jake.” Kate took a deep breath. “And he’s not in love with me.”

“Hold that thought, honey.” Nancy grinned at her. “It’s not going to do you a bit of good, but it will steady you for a while.”

Kate concentrated on not looking back at Jake. “I think I’m in trouble here.”

“Why don’t you go back in the storeroom and hunt me up another jar of olives,” Nancy said kindly. “Take your time. Breathe deep. Put your head between your legs.”

“Olives,” Kate said. “Gotcha.”

Jake went back to the table and began to play, but his eyes were full of Kate. She was the kind of woman who would get him into trouble. She was vulnerable and bright and funny and desirable-God, was she desirable-and he’d end up following her back to the city and before he knew it, the hat would be gone and he’d be shaving the mustache off.

Then he thought of Kate again, smiling at him. It might be worth it.

He tried to look at the pool table, but his eyes were still full of Kate. All his memories came back-Kate laughing at him in the boat, Kate in lace and satin after taking off her blouse, Kate stretched out across the pool table under him, Kate walking out of the lake.

He miscued, and the ball bounced off the table.

“That’s going to cost you, buddy,” Ben crowed and began to run the table.

Kate coming out of the lake. He closed his eyes and imagined her as she was then, imagined her under him as she’d been when they’d played pool; imagined her melting under him.

“Come on, ace. It’s your turn.”

Jake chalked his cue absentmindedly. Kate stretched out in the boat, her legs tangled with his. Kate stretched out on her bed, holding her arms up to him. Kate at the bar, her lips parted and her eyes half closed, telling him to send the right signals. Kate coming out of the lake.

He miscued again.

Ben stared at him. “Are you throwing this game?”

“What?” Jake asked from a long way away.

“Never mind,” Ben said, and started his run.

Kate leaned against the shelves in the storeroom and tried to examine the situation logically. It was clearly impractical. Impossible. Jake was just a buddy. A good buddy. No, a great buddy. She remembered how much fun she’d had with Jake in the boat, how she’d felt with Jake’s eyes on her as she walked out of the lake, Jake’s leg carelessly touching hers in the boat, Jake’s hand on her arm, on her back. Jake… She breathed faster, thinking about him.

She heard a yell from outside in the bar. Somebody had just won a game of pool.

Jake was clearly impossible, clearly, intoxicatingly impossible.

She was in big trouble.

At that moment Jake came into the storeroom and closed the door behind him. He watched her as she turned to look at him, her eyes full of heat.

“Ben just beat me at pool.” He stood in front of her with his hands on his hips.

“Good grief,” Kate said. “What did you do? Fall on your cue?”

“I got distracted.”

Jake leaned against the shelves, a hand on each side of her, and looked into her eyes. She suddenly had trouble swallowing.

“We seem to have been a little slow here, darlin’,” he said, and bent down to kiss her softly. Time stopped, and Kate felt his lips distinctly on hers, not as a blurred impact, but as Jake’s lips touching hers. This is Jake, she thought. Jake. Oh my God.

His mustache tickled a little, and he tasted faintly of beer and something else that was hot and sweet and intrinsically Jake. She opened her mouth to taste him again, touching his lips with her tongue and leaning into his kiss, and he pulled her into him, bending her back under him as he kissed her harder. She felt the world spin around her and kissed him back mindlessly, pressing against him, clutching his shoulders until he broke the kiss and moved her head under his chin. She could feel the pulse at the base of his neck pounding, feel herself breathing fast against his chest.

“This isn’t quite what I had planned,” he said.

“I know,” she said wildly. “Me either. Who cares? Kiss me again.”

Jake cradled her face with his hands and kissed her softly once, twice, running his tongue over her lips, down her neck, kissing the hollow at the base of her throat. She trembled with wanting him, moving her hands over the muscles in his back, feeling them hard and tense under her touch.

“This is making me crazy,” she said. “We have to stop.”

“Right,” he said, moving his hands away. “Right.”

As he brought his hands down, he accidentally brushed against her breast and she moaned. He froze, and then moved his hands under her tank top, cupping her breasts, rubbing his thumbs hard across her nipples through the lace of her bra. She clenched her teeth and shuddered, pressing against his hands, gasping at his touch, running her tongue along his collarbone, his neck. He kissed her, his tongue thrusting in her mouth, his hands hard on her breasts, and she pressed her hips against his, crying out with need.