Page 524 of Summer Heat
“I remember,” Lance said. “Thanks, man.”
“No problem. Curtis will love it.” Ty gave Tamara a faint smile. “All I ever hear about after a day at preschool is Cody this, Cody that. Cody knows how to read. Cody has a Batman lunch box.”
Tamara chuckled. “And Cody just told me that Curtis has Power Rangers.”
“Maybe they should trade,” Lance said, taking her hand. He waved the other at Ty pointedly. “Bye now.”
Tamara looked up at Lance in surprise. If any other man had behaved this way, she would have sworn he was jealous. But Lance? He didn’t strike her as a particularly jealous type.
Ty leaned over and said something in Lance’s ear. An odd, hard expression crossed Lance’s face
as Ty straightened. “Don’t take him too seriously,” Ty said to Tamara, and walked away before she could reply.
“I think you have a fan,” Lance said. His voice sounded tight. “I haven’t heard him say three words to a woman since his wife died.”
Tamara looked at him, lacing her fingers more closely around his, liking the strength and power in them. “You know,” she said with a smile, “you almost sound jealous.”
“You know what?” he said, leaning close, “I think I am.” His expression showed puzzlement. “That’s not usually my style.”
She didn’t know what to say to that, but it gave her a quick, hopeful rush. Standing there in the unseasonably warm night, with wild colors staining the air, Tamara simply looked at him. “You keep surprising me,” she said at last.
“Yeah?” he said. “Does that mean you aren’t going to be mean to me anymore?”
Tamara laughed. “I don’t know. Depends on how well you mind your manners.”
He lifted a wicked brow. “Ah, you wouldn’t make me behave, would you? I’m so much better bad.”
She rolled her eyes. “Full of bad clichés, you mean.”
“Maybe.” He grinned and tugged her hand. “Let’s go find us some wild rides,” he said, and wiggled that wicked brow one more time.
In spite of herself, Tamara laughed, and let him lead her away.
* * *
Lance had not had so much fun in years. Literally. He forgot work, forgot his still-lingering grief, forgot everything.
And as they rode one ride after another, Lance remembered why he’d always loved the carnival when he was a randy teenager with nothing but sex on his mind. In the small cars, spun by centrifugal force, Tamara’s body was plastered against his most of the evening. It was a delicious, faintly sinful thing to slip his arm around her and feel the soft weight of a breast against his rib cage as the Teacup smeared her against him. She screamed and clutched him, and jumped off one ride only to want to go on the next.
She looked absolutely dazzling tonight. Her dark hair gleamed and swung at her slim shoulders, and the fabric of her shirt clung nicely to her full round breasts and slim waist. The lines of strain had eased and she looked young and free and delectably sexy.
Stumbling off a third thrill ride in a row, she said, “I think we need to do something tame and let my stomach calm down.”
Lance flung an arm around her shoulders. “I’m glad you said that, sugar, because I might have had to do an unmanly thing if we rode another one.”
“You should have said something!”
“Oh, no. I can’t let some girl be wilder than me.”
“How about the Ferris wheel?” she said, pointing.
“We can do that.”
As they reached the line, however, Tyler, Louise and the boys joined them. “The kids are worn-out,” Louise said.
“Mommy,” Cody said, “can I spent the night with Grandma? Me and Curtis?”
Worry clouded Tamara’s eyes. Lance bit his lip to keep from urging her to do something she wasn’t comfortable with, but he wanted her to say yes. “Oh, I don’t know.”
