Mae West
Intro#2
Now, some excerpts from Quivering Thighs:
PG-13
Kendra had to seal her lips in a tight line to keep from telling her
boss to go to hell. She didn't need the money. All she wanted was a fresh
start. A chance to reinvent herself and build a whole new life. She had
begun by moving to Hawaii and renting a little beach house about thirty
steps from the ocean. She paid in cash a year in advance in order to avoid
a paper trail and references. Not a bad start at all. But lying on the
beach all day bored her.
"So what made you want to become a tattoo artist?" her gorgeous
guinea pig asked.
"Drawing is my only talent." Besides pick-pocketing and lap
dancing but I need to keep a low profile.
"You probably have others. But is drawing something you feel passionate
about?"
"Passionate?" She hesitated before answering. The word brought
up other ideas that had been floating through her head as she inked her
way across this handsome stranger's broad back all afternoon. "Yeah.
I guess it is. It sure beats doing nothing or something I'd hate."
And it makes me look like a regular middle-class working stiff, not a
woman whose incredible wealth comes from some mysterious source.
"I can certainly understand that."
"How about you? Do you feel passionate about working on cars?"
"I guess so. I like it when everything comes together. The finished
assignment…or product, I mean."
"Gotcha." She wiped the excess ink and blood from the span of
male goodness lying on her bench. It was a shame the tattoo was finished.
She leaned as far back as she could and gazed at it, taking in the graceful
curves and sharp angles of his chosen design. Every line looked smooth
and completely filled, and he hadn't even flinched. "I feel the same
way."
Her boss came up beside her and hovered. When she looked up at him, he
smiled and nodded toward Jake Marino's enhanced back as if telling her
she had done a good job.
"Would it kill you to pay me a compliment out loud, Don?"
He smirked. "I have to step out for a minute, Lauren. It looks like
you're almost finished but I'll be next door if you need me. Don't screw
up while I'm gone, all right?"
Kendra rolled her eyes, but said, "Fine." Again, she had a fleeting
thought about the double meaning of "screwing" and imagined
herself underneath Jake Marino. Her one-track mind practically shouted
that it had been too long since she'd had a lusty tumble.
As soon as the door closed, Jake glanced at her over his shoulder and
raised his eyebrows. "Want to have a little fun? Now that we're alone?"
Her eyes widened but she tried not to show her excitement prematurely.
* * * * *
PG-13
She glanced at him with a shy smile. Something he wouldn't have expected
from her. "I'm really sorry about the tattoo." She plopped an
envelope on the table and quickly went for sugar and a spoon.
When she joined him, she didn't attempt to initiate any conversation.
Just added cream to her coffee, blew on it and waited while the cream
and coffee swirls mixed.
"So what are you going to do now?" he asked.
She shrugged. "Drink coffee and talk to you, I guess."
"You know what I mean? For work."
"Don't worry about me. I'll be fine. I have some money saved."
She gestured to the envelope. "That's for you."
Opening the envelope, he discovered several hundred-dollar bills. "I'm
not going to take this. I already told you that."
"You should. I screwed up and now you'll have to get it fixed which
will cost you twice. Besides, I don't need it."
"I doubt that."
She sipped her coffee silently while he tried to make sense of her. If
she didn't need the money, why was she living like this? Maybe she was
one of those back to basics types, someone who actually prefers a streamlined
lifestyle. Somehow he didn't think the use of fancy European coffee equipment
and Kenyan Java qualified as basic.
"What are you staring at?"
Jake hadn't realized he was staring, but he must have been. "You.
You fascinate me."
She laughed. "That's the first time I've heard a pick-up line in
my own kitchen."
"It wasn't… Well, maybe subconsciously, but I mean-"
"Never mind. I was only joking."
He took a breath, blew on the coffee, then sipped the rich-tasting, hot
beverage. The aroma only enhanced the taste. Trying not to get caught
as he glanced at her, he memorized her face. Her eyes shone light green
and amber, complementing her hair, which may have been brown before, but
now was so sun-lightened it appeared almost gold. Her nose was straight
and slightly turned up, which showed off her prominent upper lip. It was
hard not to think about how those lips would feel on him, but he had to
shift his attention to something else since he could already feel his
cock growing hard.
"Look, I know I was partly at fault. I pushed you to do something
spontaneously, and you wanted to map it out. Plus I really griped to your
boss first thing this morning."
Oddly enough, she smiled. "What did you say to him?"
"You don't want to know. I used a lot of expletives when telling
him how embarrassed I was in front of the guys."
"Oh, no. You took the bandage off at Bump and Grind Auto Body?"
Suddenly her horrified expression turned into a grin-an infectious grin.
He wished she hadn't slapped her hand over it.
Jake couldn't help smiling either. "You just love saying that name,
don't you?"
"I really do. Of course, if you don't take the money, I'll have to
come by and pay you seven hundred and fifty dollars for a lap dance."
Jakes eyebrows rose automatically because of the picture his mind created,
but what could he say to that without sounding like a sexist pig? Not
a dang thing.
* * * * *
PG-13 rated.
Kendra shuffled to the front door prepared to bite off the head of whatever
neighbor, religious fanatic or idiot asking for directions was pounding
on her door. She jerked open the door wearing sweatpants and an exercise
bra, hair askew and eyes half closed.
"I'm sorry, did I wake you up?"
Coming out of her nap-induced trance, her eyes focused and widened. "Oh,
Jake. Yeah, kind of. I couldn't imagine who was here and thought one of
the neighbors was probably complaining about Brando again."
Brando jogged back and forth on his run happily. She should have known
it was someone she knew since she'd have heard him growl at an approaching
stranger.
"No. He seems well behaved and happy at the moment. He didn't make
a sound when I came up to the door, either."
Kendra peered around the doorjamb and observed her dog's composure. "That's
good, huh?" Then she crooned, "Brando, you're a good boy. Yes
you are. Good boy."
"Think he finally recognizes me as a friend?"
She chuckled. "He'd better." Oops. Nothing like being obvious,
Kendra. "I mean, I said it plenty of times last night and yelled
the command at him when you two met." Remembering her butt ride around
the tree, she smiled since her backside didn't hurt for long. In fact,
she downright enjoyed the butt-riding Jake gave her last night.
Jake stuffed his hands in his pockets and glanced at her clothing. "I
was just about to see if you'd like to go out for dinner, but it looks
like you aren't raring to go anywhere."
One side of her mouth raised in a sassy half-smile. "Something kept
me awake half the night. I think it was some kind of jackhammer. I was
catching a nap-just in case more drilling went on again tonight."
"Sounds like the sly smile is meant to tell that me I was the jackhammer
in question and you might like the idea of more drilling. Sorry to hear
about the lack of sleep, but not really." He grinned.
QUIVERING THIGHS - Now Available from Ellora's Cave
