Chapter 17
Chapter
Seventeen
HELD TOGETHER BY HAIRSPRAY AND A PRAYER
Shelby
The first question I ask myself when I crack my eyes open is how bad would it be to call off work for an exhausted cooch? My second is how long is it advisable to wait before jumping Dallas again?
Maybe Dallas knows. I’m pretty sure he’s awake since his cock is twitching against my bare ass. In fact, that’s probably what woke me up.
“What time is it?” I ask, my voice little more than a croak as I test my limbs. Oh, ouch. What sex move gave me a cramp in my big toe? Every muscle is screaming at me.
“Six thirty.” His answer comes not from behind me but above, causing me to whip my head around and find him propped up on an elbow, staring down at me.
“Were you watching me sleep?”
“Turnabout is fair play after last night.”
I scrunch my nose. “I’m sure I have bedhead, and my makeup is smeared everywhere. I probably look like a raccoon.”
“Correction. You have sex hair. And you look like a sexy raccoon.”
I bury my face in my pillow, laughing at his nonsense. In no time flat, he swipes the pillow out from under me, pinning me on my back with the weight of his body. I’m trapped with no option to retreat as he looms over me.
“Mornin’, honey.” His eyes are as soft as his voice as they dance over my face. I want to wipe away the mascara smudges, but I can’t move my arms. I’m feeling way too exposed.
“What time are you getting Little G today?” I ask, hoping to draw his focus from examining my features and boring a hole into my soul with those eyes. Why is he looking at me like that?
Instead of answering, he responds, “You should take the day off and stay in bed.”
“The thought did occur to me, but I don’t think your calves or any of the other livestock in the county care that I’m sleep deprived from banging the town carpenter all night.”
He ignores my attempt at humor. “I’ll take the day off too. We’ll tell everyone we’re sick.” He leans down to drop a kiss on my lips, but I manage to wrestle one hand free and slap it over his mouth before he makes contact.
His brows snap together, and he mumbles into my palm, “Wha re ouu oin?”
“I have morning breath.”
He pulls my hand away and pins it down again with embarrassingly little effort. “I don’t care.”
“Well, I do.” Using all my strength, I roll out from under him and lunge to my feet before scrambling for a shirt and tossing it over my bare breasts. This is getting way too intimate for my own good. Time to reset those boundaries. “I gotta hop in the shower anyway. Full day ahead.”
“Shelby.” His tone is low and holds a hint of warning.
“Dallas, whatever is running through that head of yours, you don’t have to worry,” I assure him as I wiggle into my underwear.
“Like I said last night, it’s just sex. We’re two sexually compatible adults perfectly capable of separating feelings from actions.
” I lean back over the bed and boop him on the nose to reinforce my point. “Don’t worry.”
Then I haul ass to the shower because it really wouldn’t take much for him to lure me back into bed and repeat the best sex of my life a few more times.
The man works miracles between the sheets.
While we only had sex twice, I’m pretty sure he made me come a dozen times.
He was beyond thorough in his investigation into every single inch of my skin, constantly evaluating what responses his touch could elicit.
A lick to the small of my back had me arching like a mewling cat while the soft whisper of his thumb over my nipple nearly made me see stars.
Not to mention the way his teeth on my neck melted me into a puddle of sensual goo.
In summary, he’d make an excellent scientist with that kind of attention to detail.
And after I get my work done and take a much-needed nap, I’ll have to see where his head is at. Because now that we’ve gone there, there’s no reason we can’t keep a good thing going—as long as we both keep our heads while we’re at it.
“I heard Meemaw and Phyllis scheming about a dance they want to do for everyone. Just thought you’d appreciate the warning,” Norinne tells me from her spot in front of one of the bathroom sinks.
“Good lord above.” I exit the stall and join her at the sinks, where I frown at my reflection.
We’re all gathered at Knockin’ Boots for my fortieth birthday party.
The girls went all out and decorated a corner of the bar in my favorite color, complete with a matching cake and a signature cocktail they named Turquoise Titillation, for some reason.
It’s a fantastic party, despite the one thing that has me frowning.
Norinne pauses with her lipstick tube poised a few inches from her face. Her hair is a deep blue today, and it complements her coloring better than the purple did. “What’s the matter, hun? It’s your birthday. You should be smiling ear to ear, or we’re not doing our job as party hosts.”
I send her a tepid smile. “Oh, it’s nothing. The party is great, thanks. I just got my period, which is particularly annoying because I just had it two weeks ago.” I switch on the tap to wash my hands.
“Well, that’s not exactly the gift a girl wants for her birthday, is it?” She swipes a coat of fire-engine red stain on her bottom lip. “I feel you, though. Before I hit perimenopause, you could set a watch by my cycle. Twenty-eight days on the dot.” She repeats the stain on her top lip.
“You’re too young for that,” I protest. “Aren’t you only a few years older than me?” When she only shrugs and rubs her lips together, I continue talking. “I’ve always been regular, but lately it’s been all over the place.”
She pauses again and responds with a weighty, “Oh.” Well, that doesn’t sound good.
“What oh?” I stare at her in the mirror, wet hands dripping into the sink.
“Well…you’re forty.” She says it like she’s apologizing.
“So?”
Norinne stashes her lipstick in her apron pocket and turns to me, so I do the same, ignoring the water now soaking into my top.
“Let me ask you this. Have you started noticing any other changes? Like trouble sleeping? Waking up all sweaty in the middle of the night for no reason? Feeling particularly moody? Maybe more hair in the shower drain? Anything like that?”
“Kind of?” My response comes out more as a question because I’m suddenly terrified of what she’s implying.
The nightmares have always marred my sleep, but my sleep quality has gotten poorer in recent months, despite the absence of the nightmares.
And the hair! I’ve been telling myself that maybe my head was shedding like double-coated animals do for the summer.
And I have definitely been more emotional this year. Oh no.
“I hate to break it to you, Shelby, but you might be starting perimenopause.”
Sensing that denial is the best course, I protest, “But I’m barely out of my thirties!”
Norinne pulls a couple paper towels from the dispenser and hands them over. “I was forty-one when it started for me. Now I’m almost done.”
“But… but…” My head is spinning in both directions at once as I absently tear the towels to shreds. “I haven’t even had any babies!”
I can only imagine the look on my face because it immediately propels Norinne into action. She pulls me into a hug so tight I’m nearly asphyxiated and then whirls me around to the door, only to shove me through it.
“Char! Emergency special! STAT!”
“On it!” comes Charlene’s voice from somewhere as I’m frog-marched to an empty high-top table and helped onto a stool.
“Now, you listen here, Shelby Sweet.” Norinne levels me with serious eyes and pries the damp, shredded paper from my death grip.
“No need to panic. You’ve still got time.
” She pats my hand and tries on a halfhearted smile.
“That said, you and Dallas are gonna want to get moving on this, you hear? Better safe than sorry. The good news is that making babies is no hardship, especially with that one, I reckon.” She grins at me for real this time.
Charlene drops a glass of amber liquid between us, and Norinne slides it in front of me. “Now, drink up and enjoy your party. You can think about babies tomorrow.”
I do as I’m told, the liquid fire burning as it goes down and making me cough. “What was that?”
Charlene waves me off. “Oh, nothing. Just a bit of Pappy’s apple moonshine.”
Oh shit. Pappy doesn’t mess around.
“Go have fun.” Norinne takes the empty glass and shoos me off the stool. “I’ll distract Meemaw and Phyllis for you.”
Skye waves me over from the party corner, and I head in her direction, feeling distinctly less steady than I did before my run-in with Norinne.
“You okay in there?” Dallas asks through his bathroom door.
“No.”
“You drink too much, birthday girl?”
I assess my reflection before answering. “No.” I just spent the last five minutes mumbling to myself while leaning forward to inspect my hairline. “Maybe.” My part is definitely wider than it was a year ago. I’m sure of it. “Probably.”
Damn Pappy. Damn Turquoise Titillation. Forty is too old to make poor drinking choices, even if it is my birthday.
“Open up, Shelby. I’ve got a glass of water for you.”
I woman up and push away from the sink. When I open the door, Dallas stands there looking like James freaking Dean all grown up and aged to perfection in his jeans and T-shirt. He extends the glass to me, and I take it. “Thanks.”
“You feelin’ ill?”
I swallow a sip of water and set the glass on the bedside table. “No.” My ass drops to the edge of the bed. “Well, not like you mean.”
“What’s the matter then?” Dallas comes closer and sits down next to me, real concern in his eyes.
I open my mouth to say nothing, but the truth comes out instead. “I’m old.” Then, like the total baby I’m being, I flop onto my back and cover my eyes with my arm. A wave of dizziness hits me, but I stay where I am. It’ll pass.