Virgin Seductress

Riley put down the fork and picked up the television remote control, fighting the urge to hit the volume control to turn up the sound and tune her out, but that wasn’t going to be a safe option. Reluctantly he turned off the Braves baseball game he wasn’t watching anyway and waited to hear from his ex, or, as he sometimes like to call her, the Harbinger of Doom.

Chester gave a low whine, then got up from his doggy bed in the corner and slunk out of the room like the coward he was. His toenails clicked on the floor as he ran out of the den. Chloe and Chester had never been the best of friends even on a good day.

Chloe tapped her way into the den and leaned over his TV tray, gripping the edges tightly. Her dark brown hair swung along the crest of her shoulders. Her pale brown eyes blazed at him. “And just what in the ever-lovin’ hell has gotten into your head?”

Riley shrugged and pointed to the television. “Watching the game and eating dinner.”

Her eyes narrowed. “You know what I mean.”

Guess that wasn’t the answer she wanted. “Actually, no I don’t.” When in doubt, go for dumb.

Her long red fingernails tapped on the TV tray. “Why are you are turning Nell Evans into your personal sex puppet?”

Okay, now he knew what had gotten her knickers into a twist. He sat back in his chair, knowing he was in trouble and wanting to get out of face-slapping distance. Chloe had never hit him during their marriage, but there was always a first time—and he was pretty sure she was close to reaching her boiling point. “How did you find out?”

Chloe straightened up and flipped her hair back. “Nell told me everything.”

Riley cringed, his stomach roiling This was not good. “She did?”

“She even asked me to go shopping with her in New Orleans. She wants the works. A new wardrobe, a new hairstyle and a new face.”

Oh, God! How could Nell tell his ex-wife? “She really told you?”

Chloe crossed her arms and tapped her fingers on her arms. “When a girl like Nell decides to get herself a new image, there is a reason behind it besides falling into a lot of money. I weaseled an explanation out of her. One that would curl the hair of the most jaded of people.”

You mean you got out the velvet-covered rubber hoses, he thought. When she wanted info, Chloe could be merciless. “You didn’t hurt her, did you?”

She sneered at him. “That would be worse than kicking a puppy.”

Maybe so, but Chloe was going to ruin Nell. He could just picture her in makeup, fake nails and dyed hair. Not that Chloe wasn’t one of the most beautiful women in the universe, but Nell was perfect the way she was. He didn’t want another beauty queen, he wanted Nell. “Don’t help her. Please. I like her the way she is.”

“She wouldn’t take no for an answer.” She spread her arms in a dramatic gesture. “She thinks I can help her craft a whole new sophisticated image for the Big Apple. She said spare no expense. How could I turn down something like that?”

Yeah, so she can look sexy for some other guy. That didn’t sit well with him. “Damn.”

Now the hands went to her hips. “Don’t you dare hurt her. She’s not like your usual women. She doesn’t understand the rules of the game.”

Not his rules. Nell seemed to be playing by her own set of rules. Rules he was willing to play by for one taste of her sweetness. Rules he’d bend in a heartbeat. Hell, he’d run naked down Main Street coated in honey and pickle juice if she wanted him to. “Chloe, she came to me for help. How could I turn down an offer like that?”

“She is like a woman possessed.” Chloe paced the den, then stopped and stared at him.

“Tell me about it,” he agreed.

“I think she wanted to ask about the intimate details of our marriage.”

Pain shot through his head like a bullet. He pinched the bridge of his nose. What had he gotten himself into? “Don’t say anything about how things were between us.”

A sly grin appeared on her full red lips. “Trust me, your secrets are safe with me. Nobody would believe me anyway.”

He might have started out that way, but once he understood the game and learned all about peak performance, his abilities had improved tremendously. “Gee, thanks.”

“Grow up, Riley.” She sat down. “Why did you agree to this?”

Now, how did he tell his ex-wife about fantasies over another woman that had been in his head since he’d formally been introduced to his hormones? Despite all the things that had gone wrong between them, he and Chloe had never lied to each other about anything. They’d married because Chloe had gotten pregnant with Benjy. They’d had a good marriage as marriages go, but it had been built on their son, not on love for each other. “It just sort of came up.”

Chloe rubbed her eyes. “I can ask this because we have a lot of history together, and we’re better together as friends than we ever were as husband and wife. You have always secretly lusted after Nell, haven’t you?”

Chloe had the wonderful gift of being able to cut through the bullshit, no matter what. He’d always figured he’d hidden his Nell-lusting pretty well. He’d been faithful to Chloe no matter what he might have wanted to do. That was what real men did, but what did a man say in a situation like this? Denial was right there on his tongue. “Well…”

Chloe held up her hand. “You don’t have to spare my feelings. Honey, I’ve seen the way you stare at Nell sometimes. Half the time you could trip over your tongue like a lovesick boy. She’s a sweet, beautiful woman. You could do a lot worse. I don’t know how you’re going to let her go when she’s done with you.”

“She’s not really looking for forever. And neither am I. I’m not good at long-term anymore. If I was I’d still be your husband.”

Chloe suddenly looked sad as old memories filled her eyes. “I know if Benjy hadn’t died we’d still be together. I never deluded myself about our relationship. Neither did you. We made the best out of a confusing situation. When the unthinkable happened, we didn’t have enough love for each other to keep the bitterness away. Maybe if we’d had other children we could have kept going. I’m not good at living in the past, I like to keep moving forward.”

“You think your being so understanding makes me feel better? I can’t…I wish…” He floundered for words. Pain still raged through him. Pain that never seemed to leave him or lessen. He could go on with everyday life but, damn, the raw hurt never went away. “I should have been…I didn’t know how to be there for you. You were so—”

She shook her head. “I didn’t know how to be there for you either. No one is at fault. Passion is a great thing, and we had that to spare. But it wasn’t enough to keep us together. Stop letting his death eat you up. You’re still alive. He was killed by a drunk driver. We did everything right. We had him for four years. That’s more than a lot of people get.” Tears filled her eyes and she impatiently brushed them away with the back of her hand.

He knew she was right, but letting himself not feel beyond the surface seemed safer. He wasn’t like her. She had a lot in her heart. Every bit he had was taken up by his son. And when Benjy had died, he’d closed himself off to everything. “How come you’re the smart one?”

She dropped her fist on his knee. “I’m an ex-beauty queen. All that mascara stimulated my brain cells.”

“Oh yeah, I forgot.”

As she stood, she wiped a tear away from her cheek. “If you hurt Nell, I promise I’ll gut you.” Her chin went up. “And I won’t be quick about it.”

He had no doubt Chloe meant every word. He didn’t want to hurt Nell. As she’d said, damaging Nell would be worse than kicking a puppy—it would be stomping the poor thing in the head. “Nell is safe with me.”

“Be ready at nine on Saturday morning. You are going to the land of the enemy.”

A sharp, cold chill ran up his spine, and he could smell his own fear. He had never gone shopping with Chloe when they’d been married and he sure as shit wasn’t about to go now they were divorced. “What do I know about women’s clothes?” Okay, he was good at getting them off. And paying for them. That was the extent of his expertise and he planned to keep it that way.

“Trust me. You know plenty.” She hooked a thumb toward his bulging magazine rack in the corner next to Chester’s bed. “And don’t try and hoodwink me, I know you have your own subscription to the Victoria’s Secret catalog.”

I’m so busted. He hoped he looked a little bit ashamed, but he didn’t think so. “That may be so, but I’m still not going with you.”

“You damn well are coming. I’m not the one she’s hoping to impress. I’m not about to make over your sex puppet all by myself.” She smiled. “I’m not that good.”

What the hell did he know about dressing a woman. “I don’t know about that crap. Take Mario.” Mario, an old high-school friend of them both, owned a fashion boutique the next town over.

“You are a straight man. You know what other straight men like. Mario is wonderful, but given no firm direction, he’ll dress the poor thing like a drag queen. I want your help on the clothes.”

“Damn. I knew this was going to get way too complicated.”

Chloe leaned on the doorjamb and crossed her arms. “I should have figured out long ago why you liked me to dress up as a waitress, as opposed to a French maid or a candy striper.”

He was a guy, what did she expect? The heat of embarrassment crept up his face. The naughty waitress was his favorite fantasy. “I plead the fifth.”