Can't Hurry Love (Sunshine Valley #1) - Melinda Curtis Page 0,61
those feet. He recognized the slow pattern from the other night in jail.
Drew couldn’t move. He felt like Blow-Up Drew, left wherever Lola propped him, patiently awaiting her return.
Lola danced closer. Her arms wove in a pattern as mesmerizing as her feet. She had a pair of handcuffs dangling from the fingers of one hand.
Step away.
Those arms undulated near his chest.
Move.
He couldn’t. He was that blow-up doll. Her blow-up doll.
He waited obediently.
Her lips swam closer, brushed the corner of his mouth. He could feel her smile.
She’s enjoying this.
Drew’s blood pounded in his veins.
He claimed her arms, drawing them around his neck.
He claimed her shoulders and held her immobile so he could look at her—at blond hair, at blue eyes, at red lips—searching for the Lola he knew and could resist. He didn’t find her.
He claimed the wig, tossing it aside.
And then he claimed her mouth.
* * *
Lola had missed kissing.
She’d missed the warmth of a strong body filling her arms, the tug of a man who wanted her.
Her eyes drifted closed, and her hands slid from his neck, down his solid chest, around his waist, and toward his back and…
Lola jerked back an inch. She’d been in a lovely wine-induced haze, dancing to the soundtrack from Chicago, imagining she was dancing for Randy in a way she’d never been brave enough to when he was alive. And then Randy was there in the shadow of the door, wearing his tool belt.
Except it wasn’t Randy in the doorway. It was Drew!
Lola froze like a kid caught playing with her mother’s makeup. Her right hand clenched the trick handcuffs from Randy’s drawer.
Drew stared down at her, not saying a word.
“What are you doing here?” Lola whispered, afraid to back up, because she was wearing next to nothing, just a thin layer of stretchy polyester and her panties.
She should put some distance between them. Instead, her fingers wandered around the back of his belt.
“I’m wondering what I can arrest you for.” His deep voice rumbled with unmistakable longing.
Lola licked her lips. “Last I heard, lip-locking wasn’t a crime.” Her fingers encountered another set of handcuffs. His.
Drew was staring at her mouth, not speaking.
Lola was staring at his mouth, wishing…
Things she had no right to be wishing.
She had to say something. She had to break the spell between them. “Avery doesn’t wear clip-on earrings.”
“What?” Drew seemed dazed.
“Each one of those items in the box came from a different woman. The clip-on earring? It can’t be Avery’s. She has pierced ears.”
His gaze drifted to the ceiling. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”
“No.” She traced the handcuffs at the back of Drew’s belt. She liked them better than Randy’s. “I’m going to go to Shaw’s at midnight. That’s when all the late-night action happens.”
Metal clinked softly.
Lola added quickly, “I’m going to find a woman who wears clip-on earrings and—”
“And do what?” Drew’s dark eyes flashed a warning.
Lola lifted her chin. “I’m going to ask her if she’s lost an earring.” Why did Drew always talk to her as if she were one step away from a violent break in behavior? “I made a decision today. I’m leaving Sunshine just as soon as I talk to all of Randy’s lovers.” It wasn’t as much a decision as a thought. But it felt right. “I need to find a place where I belong, where I can settle down and have a family and a future.”
Drew grabbed Lola’s shoulders and backed her toward the bed. “You aren’t going to Shaw’s tonight.” He pushed her onto the blue bedspread and stared down at her.
For a moment, Lola thought he might cover her body with his and kiss her again. She licked her lips, wondering why he wasn’t. Really, the man overthought everything. Why wasn’t he making a move?
Ah, yes. There’d been a command in his statement somewhere. About Shaw’s. He was waiting for her to confirm she’d obey.
Obey?
That opened the floodgates of anger and had her scrambling to sit. “You can’t stop me.”
“I can.” Drew reached behind his back and produced a pair of handcuffs. He snapped one on her wrist and then attached the other to the brass headboard. “You’ll thank me in the morning.”
His gaze burned so hot she just knew he was going to kiss her.
Instead, Drew walked away.
“Hey!” Tethered, Lola pulled against the bed frame.
Drew stopped at the door and glanced at her over his shoulder. “If I’ve learned anything about you, Lola, it’s that you need time to cool down. I’ll be back in an