When Lightning Strikes (Whiskey Creek #1)(27)
Author: Brenda Novak

“Sort of makes you appreciate all those women who’ll put out, doesn’t it?” She manufactured a yawn.

“Sort of makes me mad you won’t,” he grumbled.

She couldn’t help laughing at his surliness. Their date tonight hadn’t been bad. As a matter of fact, she’d enjoyed it. Despite some of his comments since, she was beginning to believe they might actually get along. “We could always watch the shopping network.”

“I’d rather stick a fork in my eye.”

“But it’s time I started spending your money.”

“Who says?”

“Isn’t that what wives of movie stars do?”

“You’ve made it abundantly clear that you won’t really be my wife.”

“And you’ve made it clear that I could still have some decent pocket change.”

He got up. “Fine. I don’t care. Just shop on your own time.”

She pulled the blankets higher. “Whose time is this?”

“Mine,” he said without looking back.

“According to who—you?”

“It’s part of your contract.” He went into the bathroom and shut the door.

“I didn’t sign anything that said I had to watch TV with you,” she called after him.

He poked his head out. “You don’t. You only have to share my bed and pretend to like it. So feel free to roll over and go to sleep.”

She tried. But she was too aware of every move he made.

A few minutes later, he was back in bed, surfing stations again. “How long are you going to be up?” she asked.

“It’s still early.”

“In which country? Because here it’s after one o’clock.”

“One more program.”

“Fine,” she said with a sigh. “But I’m going to sleep.”

His hair stood up as he raked a hand through it. “Does that mean I can finally watch what I want?”

“Of course,” she said, and flopped over, but she’d expected him to choose something sports-related, like before. She had no idea he’d settle on a skin flick.

Male and female moans immediately drew her attention back to the screen, where a woman with obscenely large br**sts was having sex with a man whose body parts were equally exaggerated. It was low-budget, down and dirty, but it was effective. Gail hadn’t been with a man in so long, a sight like this couldn’t fail to trigger a deluge of hormones. “What are you doing?” she gasped.

He blinked innocently at her. “Watching TV.”

“That’s  p**n ography!”

“You just said you were going to sleep. I said, ‘Does that mean I can finally watch what I want?’ and you said, ‘Of course.’”

“But that’s cheating! You’re trying to get me interested.”

He raised his hands as he shook his head. “Not my plan at all.”

Then he was after revenge. No doubt he thought it was funny to arouse her, since she was the one who’d taken physical satisfaction off the menu.

When the woman threw her head back and cried out in ecstasy, Gail felt her face flush. “I don’t want to watch this!”

“Fine. Then choose something else.” Tossing her the remote, he scooted down and closed his eyes.

Gail selected a news channel for a few minutes, then a cop show for a brief time, then an old rerun of CHiPs. She’d won that skirmish, she told herself, satisfied that she’d gained control of the remote. But as the minutes lengthened and Simon’s breathing grew regular, she couldn’t help going back to see if the show he’d chosen was still on. And then she couldn’t seem to pull away from it until it was over. By the time she turned off the TV and put the remote on the nightstand, she was far from sleep. As a matter of fact, she was so hot and bothered she wanted to slug Simon.

“Something wrong?” he asked when she couldn’t get comfortable.

He hadn’t moved in some time. She’d assumed he was asleep. “No, why?”

“I thought you didn’t want to watch Here  Comes Pussy.”

She could hear the laughter in his voice and felt a certain amount of embarrassment. “I didn’t really watch it. I was just…surfing around.”

“Sure you were.”

He’d caught her and he knew it. “It was your fault!” She threw a pillow at him, which he batted away.

“You were in charge of the remote.”

“I told myself not to go back to it, but…”

“But?” he challenged.

She stopped searching for an excuse he wouldn’t believe, anyway. “It was sort of fascinating,” she admitted. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”

This seemed to startle him. “Seriously?”

“Seriously.”

“Damn, you really are straitlaced.” He didn’t sound pleased.

“And you’re already corrupting me,” she muttered.

“Just living up to my reputation.” He covered a yawn. “Anyway, if I’d known it was that great, I would’ve watched it with you. What was so fascinating about it?”

She couldn’t find the words to explain, but having those images on TV while he was lying next to her, all but naked, had been erotic. Which went to show how poor her sex life had been so far. He hadn’t even touched her and it was still the best sexual experience of her life. “It just…was.” Since he’d played the male lead in her fantasy, she decided she’d be much better off to let it go at that.

“Good to know you have a libido,” he said.

She shot into a sitting position. “Was that some sort of test?”

“It was a joke.” He reached out and took hold of her chin so that she had to look him in the eye. “But since it was a little more effective than I expected, I’ll do right by you if you want.”

She might’ve gone for it. There was a small part of her that was urging her to take what she could get. But he was laughing at her again. She could feel the bed shake with his mirth.

“You are so bad!” she said.

Dropping his hand, he sobered instantly. “I know.”

* * *

These days, Simon slept only in snatches and giving up alcohol wasn’t making getting through the night any easier. His mouth was dry, his hands felt shaky and he was nauseous. It was nothing for which he needed a doctor; just his body’s way of trying to demand he return to his earlier habits. Maybe it was more of a psychological craving than a physical one. Regardless, he woke up only forty minutes later and couldn’t go back to sleep.