Drop Dead Gorgeous

  He nuzzled her throat, his whisper a little drunken. “Let’s go away.”

  “What?” she asked, surprised.

  “Let’s go away.”

  She giggled. “Great idea. Except that I’ve got a business to run.”

  “People work for you. Trust them.”

  “Go…?”

  “To the islands. Pina coladas, sun, sea, surf, we can just play on the beach all day, play in the sand…”

  “Umm…”

  “Let’s be reckless. Daring. Let’s do it.” What the hell? She had been careful in life, respectable, responsible. Where had it gotten her?

  Here. Alone. With a cat.

  “Are you serious?”

  He smiled. “Dead serious,” he told her gravely.

  Why not? Run away to the islands for pure decadent pleasure. It sounded so exciting. So wickedly wonderful.

  “All right… I have to pack.”

  He shook his head. “Just your purse, jeans, bathing suit, and toothbrush. We’ll be naked most of the time. What we need, we’ll buy.” Suddenly so thrilled she could barely stand it, Sue jumped up and raced upstairs. She packed, checked her makeup, washed up, wished fleetingly that there were just a few uncomfortable things that he wouldn’t ask her to do. But now he was asking her to run away…

  Could she be falling in love?

  She hurried back downstairs. “I’m ready.”

  “Great. Let’s go.”

  It was the middle of the night. There wasn’t a soul or another car in sight.

  He’d parked down several streets.

  She looked at him, puzzled.

  “Didn’t want your neighbors to talk,” he told her.

  “Oh.” He quietly opened the passenger’s door for her, quietly closed it. He came around to drive.

  “Oh, dear God!”

  “What?”

  “I forgot the cat.”

  “He’ll be all right.”

  “I just need to leave him extra water.”

  “Give me the key. I’ll take care of the cat,” he told her.

  She handed him the key, smiling.

  Trustingly.

  He walked back to the house, slipping on gloves from his pocket before turning the key in the lock.

  He stepped inside, flicked on the light.

  He headed for the kitchen. He set down an extra bowl of water, found cat food in a pantry, and dumped some into a bowl. He didn’t need to bother, but he’d suddenly felt compelled to double-check the house for any sign that he’d been there. For any careless mistakes.

  “Here, kitty, kitty!” he called softly.

  A minute later the dumb puffball came padding into the kitchen.

  “Yeah, baby, here kitty, kitty, pussy, pussy, pussy!”

  The cat came close; he snatched it up.

  Smiled. Stroked it…

  Gritted his teeth and snapped its neck. He dropped the cat. Pussy fell dead to the floor. He knew it was stupid. A really serious mistake. But he couldn’t help himself. He felt out of control, yet… invincible. Sue would be horrified, in another deluge of tears…

  But then, that didn’t matter a hell of lot.

  Sue wasn’t coming home.

  Lori awoke, amazed by the feeling of happiness that assailed her just to discover that he lay beside her in the light of day, his flesh bronze against her light blue sheets. She propped herself on an elbow, studying him, the sheen of muscle that seemed to ripple nicely as his lungs rose and fell with each breath, the smoothness of his skin, the dark hair that covered his broad chest…

  He’d been thinner way back when. Always taut and muscled—he’d been a natural athlete. But at eighteen he’d been a leaner version of himself, always with his large, expressive hands, always with those eyes that could say so much one moment and hide everything the next.

  She closed her eyes, leaning back, thinking of the time before the nightmare with Mandy when he had faced a different demon, the death of his brother. Sean had always loved his family; he’d gotten into a fight once in school because a kid had called his father a loser. He wouldn’t instigate anything on his own, but attack his dad or his brothers, and he was a tiger. And Daniel, who had been the oldest, quiet, assured, determined, had gone off to serve his country, and like a good soldier, he had fought, gone missing

  And then his body was found.

  When Lori had heard about it, she’d had to go and see Sean, try to tell him that she understood how devastated he must feel. She couldn’t really understand, of course. She’d never lost anyone, not Andrew, not her folks, not Gramps. But she imagined then that it must be like losing an arm or a leg; it must be unbearable, the pain, thinking that he loved Daniel so much, and he’d never, ever see Daniel again, and Daniel had been so young, so beautiful, his whole future before him.

  And Sean had taken it hard. She’d arrived at his house, to find him drunk. She’d seen Ricky drunk and Ted drunk, even her brother Andrew and cousin Josh. Jeff and Mandy Olin were both prone to drink too much when they could get away with it, and Brad was always trying to get her to drink so that he could get her to let him do what he wanted in the backseat of his car or out at the beach. She always knew what he was up to—she just wasn’t playing the game.

  They were seniors and either first- or second-year college students, and though they were seldom dumb enough to drink or drive, they’d all tried liquor at one time or another—some of them more than others. Michael drank at parties, Sue had a beer now and then, and Jan liked to impress them all by ordering martinis she couldn’t begin to finish just to prove that she could go out and drink without being carded.

  Sean seldom touched alcohol. He was just too busy with school and sports and jobs. But he’d been touching it that night. Plenty of it.

  He’d told her to go away at first, that he was in no mood for friends. But she’d insisted she stay, and suddenly he became very quiet. “Lori… Lori Kelly. You’re an angel, you know. Always an angel. The rest of us… well, you’re something special, you know? Hair just like a damned angel and eyes… eyes. Well… I’m not good company tonight, Lori Kelly.”

  “Sean, I know how much you loved him.”

  “Do you? I can’t believe it. Daniel was good, the best, so Daniel is dead. So many assholes out there, and they’re alive and walking around, and Daniel is dead. Fine, come on in, Lori Kelly.”

  So she came in, and sat with him on the sofa in his living room while he dragged out photos and showed her Daniel through the ages.

  Daniel, their father, Michael, himself One picture—when the kids were all babies—had a woman in it. She was very pretty. Tall, slender, pretty.

  “Your mother?”

  He shrugged. “I guess. She didn’t stick around. But it’s okay; we didn’t need her. Dad kept us together. Daniel taught us to make beds, get supper, wash ourselves, tend to our clothing… oh, God, Daniel…”

  He sobbed. She put an arm around him. He put an arm around her. She wasn’t sure just exactly when, but they started kissing. Petting. And the kiss deepened, and her skirt inched its way up her hips and he was touching her in a way that she never let Brad touch her, but she didn’t want to stop him.

  She’d been drinking with him, small sips of whiskey because she couldn’t really stand the stuff. It was enough to make things a little hazy, but in reality she knew what she was doing. She realized, even as he fumbled about in his pain, that she was in love with him. Call it an unrequited crush, whatever, she felt for Sean something that she had never felt for anyone else. And so it was all right. He was young, drunk, and awkward, yet she was still aching for something when he kissed her, touched her, rubbed her…

  She knew what was happening, she wanted it, and it still hurt like hell and was humiliating— not at all what she had expected. He hadn’t expected her to be innocent. He surely assumed that she’d fooled around with Brad—Brad had probably told the other boys that sure, they did it all the time—and so Sean seemed angry at first, swearing that he’d
never have done anything if he’d only known. Embarrassed, expecting that it should have been so much more, Lori set out to seduce him into doing it again…

  And so she got more. Then he was upset about Daniel, and about her, and she lay with him, whispering that it was all right, that everything was going to be all right. He kept apologizing.

  Until he passed out. And she stood then, hurried to his bathroom, straightened herself and her clothing the best she could, and fled home. All night she burned, wondering just how awful it would have been if Michael had come home, or worse, if his father had found them…

  And still, she didn’t really feel any shame about what she had done. She loved him. Really loved him. And it was good to feel that she might have helped him through his misery. She didn’t feel pain. She hadn’t exactly discovered ecstasy, but she had discovered that she wanted to explore Mr. Sean Black— and what had happened between them—in a far more thorough way. Except that…

  She was still supposedly Brad’s steady, and Sean and Mandy were still supposed to be the hottest thing going.

  Until the rock pit… Life changed forever after that awful day.

  She inhaled and exhaled on a long sigh, then realized that although he hadn’t moved, he was awake, studying her in return.

  “Like what you see?” he teased.

  “I always have. You are drop dead gorgeous, you know.”

  He inclined his head, smiling. “So are you.”

  “Thanks. Even in the morning?”

  “Especially in the morning.”

  “Is that only because I’m so willing for sex?”

  He laughed, shrugged thoughtfully. “It helps.”

  “Hey, you—”

  She attempted to smack him with a pillow. He caught hold of the pillow, stealing it away. Then he tossed off the sheets, rolled over her, twined his fingers with hers, pinning them to the bed. He kissed her, murmuring against her lips, “You’re the most beautiful woman I’ve met in all my life, and I’m really afraid to say it, Lori Kelly…”

  “God, you are good!” she whispered.

  “You ain’t seen nothing yet.”

  “Show me.”

  He did.

  16

  Jan woke up to discover that she was alone, though the side of the bed where Brad had been sleeping remained rumpled. She knew that he had risen long ago, probably because he didn’t want their daughter to realize that they were actually sleeping together in her home. Dumb. Tina was no fool, and kids were so aware these days. She thought she’d heard Brad go out and come back in; maybe he’d been thinking things over himself.

  She hugged her pillow for a minute, musing about the party, the night gone by—and Brad. Could she ever trust him again?

  He was bartering with her to remarry. That was wrong to begin with. He loved women in general, always had. She couldn’t help but feel a little twinge of jealousy, seeing the way that he still watched Lori. Well, despite the things he told her now, she knew—having been Lori’s best friend back in high school—that he hadn’t managed to get into Lori’s pants. Lori was probably the only woman who had ever said no to him. Maybe that would always bother Brad.

  Would she always be upset that he had a crush on Lori? Had it actually been easier when Lori was living in New York, before their old crowd had gotten all buddy-buddy again, mourning Ellie’s death?

  She wasn’t sure what she felt. One thing was certain, Brad wasn’t a highly paid attorney for nothing. He could argue a point right into the ground. He didn’t give up. He was still set on her playing along with his threesome fantasy.

  What was she going to do? Sometimes, the way he talked, she had to admit—only to herself!—that she was intrigued. Sometimes she found it completely repugnant.

  “Mom?” Tina knocked on the door hesitantly. Jan saw that the door was ajar, and she huddled more deeply beneath the sheets. Tina knew that she didn’t normally sleep in the nude.

  “Hey, baby.”

  Tina, blue eyes huge, face flushed and pretty, stared in at her. “Mom, Dad’s here, in the kitchen! He’s got coffee on for you—and Mom, get this, he’s making pancakes and bacon.”

  “Bacon, good,” Jan said. Two tons of fat and cholesterol, and she wouldn’t be able to resist. A million calories. What was he trying to do? Fatten her up so that she couldn’t possibly appeal to other men, and she’d be forced to give in to his fantasy, or not have any sex at all.

  All right, so one breakfast of bacon and pancakes wasn’t going to kill her.

  “Mom, did he stay here last night?” Tina asked anxiously.

  “I—I guess he must have slept on the couch after the party. You know Dad, he’s good about not driving if he’s been drinking.”

  “Yeah, I guess,” Tina said. But she still hesitated in the hallway just outside the door. “Mom, that is so cool. Both you and Dad here as if we were a normal family.”

  Smiling, Tina turned and left. Jan jumped quickly out of bed and into the shower. Dressed, she came downstairs in time to discover that her ex had prepared the perfect meal, that he was joking with Tina, cute as could be in cutoffs and a T-shirt, blond hair disarrayed, blue eyes lazy.

  “Hey, sleepy head.”

  “Hey. This looks fabulous.”

  “Tina helped.”

  “Did you, baby?” Jan asked.

  Tina nodded happily.

  “How’s your schedule?” Brad asked her.

  “Schedule?”

  “Work. I made some plans for the weekend.”

  “Oh, really?”

  “A trip down to the Keys. I called Sean’s hotel and found out that Michael had stayed in Sean’s room since it was late for him to drive back so far. And Sean was at Lori’s place.”

  “What?” Tina asked.

  Brad looked at his daughter. “He’s sleeping on the sofa there, baby. Scary things going on here, you know?”

  “Oh.”

  The look Brad gave Jan assured her that in Brad’s opinion, Sean wasn’t sleeping on any couch.

  “Anyway, I gave them a call, and we thought it might be fun to drive to Key West together, stop at Michael’s place, see what’s got Tina all riled up, and then spend the night at some four-star place, live it up!”

  “Oh, Mom, cool. Please, can we go?” Tina demanded.

  “I did have a few appointments—”

  “Mom! You have an assistant!” Tina said indignantly.

  “Yes, but, baby, I sell my own properties,” Jan murmured. But Brad was staring at her.

  Challengingly. He was amused. Tina was on top of the world. Her mother, father—Brendan Corcoran and Sean Black, alias Michael Shayne—all in one weekend wrapped up pretty with a bow.

  “Mom!” Tina wailed.

  She shrugged. “I’ll call Lisa.”

  "I’ll call her for you. I’ll do it right, I’ll tell her something family came up—oh, thanks, Mom!”

  Tina ran off to the den to make the call. Jan stared at Brad.

  “You’re getting her hopes up.”

  “I’m trying to get your hopes up.”

  She sipped her coffee. “Strange, I never thought that you were all that fond of Sean.”

  “That’s bullshit. We were football heroes together. I never could have been such a celebrity if he hadn’t been there to catch all my passes.”

  “I know you, though. You were jealous of him.”

  Brad shrugged. “What could you expect? Lori was mine, but I could see the way she looked at him all the time. And I knew, no matter how hot and heavy he was with Mandy, she was just a substitute for Lori.”

  “Brad, how can you know that? That was all so long ago.”

  “Yeah, right, my point. I like Sean. He’s always been interesting.”

  “Yeah, right. When he was a suspected murderer, we all spurned him. Now he’s rich and famous. If he moves back down here, he’ll make a great client.”

  “Maybe.”

  She sipped more coffee.

  “Or are we going for L
ori Kelly?”

  “Lori Corcoran,” he reminded her. He stared at her. “Sure. Lori is a friend. Her kid is great. Level. Good head on his shoulders. He won’t be in with any of the drug crowd, and you know damned well that some of Tina’s friends are already smoking—dope and cigarettes. They’ve gotten their hands on liquor— hell, you know that we did, too.”

  “Just so long as we’re not going for Lori.”

  “Jan, she’s supposedly your best friend.”

  “I want to keep it that way.”

  “Fine.”

  “Just so long as you’ve completely squashed that stupid fantasy—”

  He came and stood beside her, stroking her hair, looking into her eyes. “Lori is out of the fantasy. But I’ve found the perfect person to fulfill it.”

  “Oh, please…”

  “But, Jan, she’s perfect. You’ll see her once and never again. She’s a professional, clean as the snow, careful, expensive, good.”

  “Oh, God, Brad—”

  “Think about it.”

  “You know this can’t be right if you’re bribing me—”

  “I’m not bribing you. I’m trying to get my last great streak of wildness out and gone before I settle down again. What do you say? Once, I swear it. I’ll sign away my life in promises, honest.”

  “Maybe,” Jan murmured as Tina came bounding back into the kitchen.

  Lori didn’t get a chance to talk to Gramps alone, but he was still disturbed, she realized, when she and Sean picked up Brendan from her parents’ house.

  He was very polite to Sean, as he had always been. Her folks were nice as well. When Lori tried to ask him what was up, he told her sternly that he’d talk to her alone when she had the chance. She told him she’d pick him up on Monday morning.

  She had been surprised that Sean had agreed to the weekend with the Jacksons, and she was surprised at herself for letting others know that she and Sean Black were spending intimate time together.

  But they were both adults, they had both agreed, and it seemed just fine.

  They could travel easily enough all together. Although Brad usually rode around in his sports car, he also owned a huge Suburban, and the six of them would fit easily enough in it, though Michael, who had remained in Coconut Grove until they were ready to drive down, offered to put Sean and Lori in his car for the first half of the ride.