Double Coverage by Mercy Celeste Read Free Book Online Page B

never regretted it for a second.
    But that was then, and this was now.
    Now the skirt that was coming between them was walking in the door. Her twisty brown hair gathered at her nape, she wore a blue dress that cupped her magnificent breasts, then fell loose and flowing to her knees and a pair of gold high-heeled sandals. Damn, she was hot. Probably the hottest woman he’d ever seen.
    Her eyes scanned the room. He knew she was looking for Trig; she found Bullet instead. Her smile was wary as she approached him with hesitation. The intelligence in her eyes was somewhat intimidating; the come-and-get-me smile she gave him set him at ease. He grinned back, letting his eyes sweep her body so she knew exactly where she stood with him.
    “Trig’s still upstairs. I’m sure he’ll be down soon. Why don’t you have a seat so we can catch up on old times.”
    *
    “How are you this evening, Bobby, uh, Rob? I’m sorry, I’m having trouble keeping all these names right in my head.” She liked the way he looked at her. She knew he was undressing her with his eyes as if trying to imagine what she wore beneath her dress. It thrilled her.
    He was beautiful, golden all over except for those eyes—strange, changeable blue eyes that could see through her. He knew how to seduce with those eyes; she felt tingly again from just the promise he conveyed in a single glance. He was quiet now, all the bluster and bravado from the afternoon beside the pool replaced with a quiet intensity she’d never encountered before.
    “All these nicknames are hard to keep up with. Just call me Bullet, sugar, everyone does. Even my mother.” He was all southern charm, his drawl slightly different from Trig’s. She missed the low caress of a sweet-talking man, she realized. And she had two of them, both laying it on so thick she had to be candy-coated by now.
    “Okay, Bullet. Are you sure you don’t mind if I sit down?” She moved to the chair he pushed out with his foot, the one right beside him.
    “What are you drinking tonight, Kailey?” He signaled a waiter over, the same one from last night. His eyes were hard now, as he glanced between them almost reprovingly. “Hey, Sam, bring the lady whatever she wants and put it on my tab. Hell, put everyone at this table on my tab. You want champagne, Kai?”
    First Trig had called her that, now Bullet. His voice seemed to caress the stolen endearment, his eyes telling her how much he relished her reaction. Shit, she couldn’t help if her damned nipples had a mind of their own lately. “Yes, thank you, that will be fine.”
    Music blared over the loudspeaker, band music, the fight song. People clapped and shouted, but it was just a test of the speakers. It was early yet, and people were just now starting to trickle in, those staying at the hotel followed by those living in town. Yet Trig had still not made an appearance.
    “Hey, Bullet, are we at your table?” Two of the unattached Rah-Rahs—what were their names?—Marissa and … Jennifer, that was it. Jennifer, the one who’d do bad things to her for messing with Bullet, sat down at the table across from her when Bullet nodded. Jennifer glared daggers at her because she was at Bullet’s right. Slowly all of the chairs filled up, leaving only the one beside her open, presumably for Trig, if he ever showed up.
    Then he did, standing in the door, his brown hair still damp from the shower, his shirt a silky blue that set off his brown eyes, while clinging to his body like a second skin. He spotted her, his smile hesitant as he looked from her to Bullet, then to the empty chair next to her. He ran his hand down her bare arm when he sat down beside her, leaning in to kiss her cheek. “Sorry I’m late.”
    “It’s all right, buddy. Seems the fireworks are yet to start.” Bullet’s voice was strained as he spoke, his eyes hard, unlike that afternoon on the beach when they’d both been laughing and playing together in the sand. Something was