License to Thrill by Lori Wilde Read Free Book Online Page B

tongueloosening effect. Charlee had no idea what possessed her but she found herself saying, “Don’t get me wrong. I love my father. I mean he
is
my father after all, but a stand-up guy he ain’t.”
    “We all have family issues.”
    Charlee laughed. “Yeah. Well, some of us have issues and then some of us have
issues.”
    “Rotten childhood?”
    “Rotten isn’t the word for it.”
    Why was she yammering like an Oprah guest? She wasn’t a poor-me-I-never-got-over-being-mistreated-by-my-parent type. And she most certainly wasn’t a whiner.
    She pressed the tip of her tongue against the roof of her mouth to keep from speaking, but then Mason reached over, flicked off the radio, and casually let his fingers trail over the back of her hand. She didn’t know if he’d touched her on purpose or not, but a hint of sympathy was all it took. How truly pathetic was she? Words erupted from her in a mindless purge of verbiage.
    “Once upon a time, my father, Elwood Sikes, was the best Elvis impersonator in Vegas.” Charlee left the Strip and downshifted as she slowed for a yield sign. “This wasn’t long after the real Elvis died and Elwood’s career blazed hot, hot, hot.”
    “Hmmm.”
    “Oh, he was a charming bastard. Had tons of women flocking after him, which was the main reason my mother didn’t marry him even though she was pregnant with me. She might have been a naive Louisiana Cajun in over her head in sin city, but she wasn’t dumb.”
    Charlee waved a hand. Had she ever told her story to anyone? She couldn’t remember. She wanted to shut up, to keep her private life private, but spewing out her anger felt so good, she just kept blabbing.
    “Anyway, my father fell for his own publicity hype. He believed the money he raked in would last forever. He bought a pink Cadillac and a fancy house with an Olympic-sized swimming pool and he wore diamond rings on every finger. The typical cliché. I’m told he bought me tons of toys but I don’t remember.”
    “It must have been a very exciting time for him,” Mason said.
    “Too exciting. He started gambling. Caught the fever and lost every penny. After that he became real friendly with the whiskey bottle and they canned him from the Elvis gig for showing up drunk. Everything was repossessed. He lost it all. The money, the house, the women. He simply couldn’t deal with the failure. He’s spent the rest of his life trying to get it back by chasing get-rich-quick schemes and getting thrown in jail on a semiregular basis.” Charlee sighed. “And I’ve spent a small mint bailing him out.”
    Mason ticked his tongue in sympathy.
    “He littered my childhood with a string of broken promises. One time he swore he’d take me to McDonald’s for my fifth birthday. My mother dressed me up in a pink satin dress and black patent leather Mary Janes. I can still remember the dress had a white sash with blue flowers. I waited and I waited and I waited, but Elwood never came.”
    “Must have been pretty difficult for you.”
    Charlee shook her head in denial. “Hell, I was used to him standing me up. But his reappearing acts were even worse. He’d show up, usually drunk, with some big-haired, big-chested bimbo who he expected me to call Mama on his arm and a wad of ill-gotten cash in his pocket.”
    “I can’t even imagine.”
    “Worst thing, after my mother died, Elwood just dumped me on Maybelline. Not that I regret being raised by my grandmother,” she added swiftly. “It’s just I’d always hoped…” she trailed off.
    A fire-engine siren shrieked nearby. Thank God for the interruption, otherwise she might have told him every sordid detail of her painful past.
    “Better pull over,” Mason advised. “I think they’re coming this way.”
    She looked in the rearview mirror at the same time the fire truck rounded the corner. Startled, she jerked to a stop at the curb and realized her hands were shaking. Not from the unexpected arrival of the emergency