Trust Me on This - Jennifer Crusie [56]
“Stroking,” Bond said, moving his hand up and down her waist.
“Stroking,” Dennie said. “And the way my heart would just pound with the surf. Stroking and pounding. You know?”
“Yes,” Bond said. “I know.” His hand crept around her rib cage to settle tentatively under her breast.
“In fact, just thinking about it makes my heart pound,” Dennie said. “Here.” She pulled his arm from around her, curled his hand into a fist, and pressed it against the swell of her left breast. “Can’t you hear it pounding? Can’t you feel it?”
“God, yes,” Bond said, his voice suddenly husky.
* * *
In the back room, Alec glared at the recorder. “What is she doing? What does she mean, can he feel it?”
“Quiet,” Harry said.
“You know, she’s very good at this,” Victoria said.
“The hell she is,” Alec said, and then winced when Victoria raised her eyebrows at him. “Sorry, Aunt Vic.”
Bond was practically breathing down her cleavage, and it was taking all Dennie’s strength to keep his fingers curled tightly in her fist. “I can feel it too,” she said, breathing deeply against him. Then she shoved his hand away and turned her back to him. “But it’ll never happen now. There’s no house. No surf. No pounding. He’ll never build it.”
“Wait.” Bond put his hand on her shoulder. “Wait. Maybe there’s something I could do—”
Dennie swung around to him again and pressed against him. “Could you? Oh, could you? I would be so grateful. So terribly, terribly grateful. This is just so important to me. I mean, having my own house and the pounding and all.” She wet her lips and cast a glance around the bar before she turned back to him, putting her hand on his knee and dropping her voice. “You see, Alec is a dear, dear, dear man, and I do love him, I do, but sometimes he’s not … well …”
“What?” Alec said in the back room.
What?” Bond said at the bar.
“Well,” Dennie said, letting her voice rise. She put up her hand between them, as if to stop him from interrupting. “Now I don’t want you to get the wrong idea, because Alec is a dear, dear man and I just love him to pieces, but he works so hard at making all that lovely money that sometimes, well, sometimes he’s just a little …” She let her hand flop over to dangle limply from her wrist. “If you know what I mean.”
* * *
“What does she mean?” Alec said, scowling.
“I know what you mean,” Bond said.
“A little uninterested,” Dennie finished.
“I’m going to kill her,” Alec said. He heard Harry snort, and he looked down. Harry was laughing.
“I like this woman,” Victoria said.
“That’s it,” Alec said, and started for the door.
“Not yet,” Harry said, and Alec stopped at the door.
“Oh, hell!” he said, audibly grinding his teeth and stomped back to the recorder.
“That’s a shame about Alec,” Bond said, leaning closer until he was plastered against Dennie. “Is there anything I could do to … help?”
“I wish there were,” Dennie said, trying to keep from falling off her stool. He was practically in her cleavage, and his weight was making her slide backward. “But since you can’t guarantee us a house …”
“Well, I might be able to do that,” Bond said, moving closer and breathing heavier.
“I’ll be damned,” Harry said.
“I don’t believe it,” Alec said. “He fell for that line?”
“I don’t suppose the line is all he fell for,” Victoria said. “That red dress is probably doing some of the talking.”
Alec glared at her. “Have we got enough yet?”
Bond’s arm was back around Dennie now, his hand creeping up to her breast. “You’re wonderful,” Dennie said to him. “I just don’t know how to thank you enough.”
“Well, I think we could find a way,” Bond said. “You know I’ve got to make a few phone calls on this, since it’s such a special deal, just for you. And we don’t want anybody else to know that you’re getting … well, something extra.” He leered at her as his hand moved over her breast, and Dennie fought back the urge to kick him. “Why don’t you just come back to my room with me and”—he ran his free hand up her waist—“and we’ll talk about it. And