Playing with Dynamite

“You always knew enough for me,” he pointed out in a dark velvet voice. “And what you didn’t know, I sure as hell liked teaching you.”

Lisa’s heart seemed to pause, then flutter wildly. She’d kept the conversation centered on her search for a husband as a means of protection because she felt more than bare beneath Brick’s gaze. She felt naked.

Every time his eyes lingered, she felt as if he’d touched her. Could he tell she was having a hard time breathing normally? Could he sense the way her nipples tingled? Did he know about the insidious moist warmth that built within her because her body simply couldn’t forget what he’d been to her? He was looking at her as if she were the only woman in the world, and despite all her resolutions her mouth was cotton-dry from his intoxicating effect on her.

Lisa swallowed hard. “You don’t understand. Senada’s had a lot more experience—”

“I know,” he said dryly.

“No.” She sighed. “Let me put it this way. Senada was the kind of girl who had five offers to go to her high school prom.”

“And?” Brick was waiting for the rest of the story. Something told him it would be important.

“And I got no offers,” Lisa admitted reluctantly. “I was in the National Honor Society, I took piano lessons, went to church like a good girl. I was great with books, but when it came to guys, I was…”

“Shy,” Brick supplied for her, feeling a twist of compassion. He recalled a few girls from his own high school days that had seemed awkward and shy with the boys. They’d often been the last ones picked for dates because their uneasiness had transferred itself to the boys.

She gave a small dip of her head. “That would be putting it very generously.”

“You’re not in high school anymore, Lisa.”

“I know,” she said softly. “I’m all grown up with a woman’s body and mind—and a woman’s needs.” She gave a rueful smile. “But I’ve still got the heart of a child, and Senada tells me I’ve got plenty to offer the right man. I just need to find him.”

Brick felt as if she’d just sliced him in two. He narrowed his eyes at the sharp pain. There was too much he hadn’t told Lisa. In his quest to remain uncommitted, he’d managed to be blind as a bat about her vulnerabilities. She was a gentle woman, beautiful both inside and out, and if he’d had his act together, maybe she wouldn’t be wondering if she would find the right man. If he’d had his head on straight, she’d be in his arms and he wouldn’t feel like someone had ripped out his guts.

Brick took the first step in a new direction. He tugged off her glasses, hooked his thumb under her chin and looked directly in her eyes. “You are so beautiful,” he said, hearing the roughness in his own voice, “there aren’t words enough to tell you. No matter what happens, don’t ever forget that.” He squeezed her chin slightly when she would have looked away. “Ever.”

A long moment passed, with the sound of kids doing cannonballs off the diving board in the background. In some corner of his mind, he heard a mother scolding her child. At the moment none of it meant squat to Brick if Lisa didn’t believe him.

She bit her lip, and her eyelids fluttered down. “I don’t think I could forget it.” Then as if she couldn’t bear the intensity emanating from him anymore, she lifted her chin away and quickly slid out of the other side of the lounge chair. “I think I need to cool off.”

Brick nodded and stood. His mind full and his heart heavy, he watched her ease into the water. The ironic realization sank deep into his gut that he had spent his professional life tearing down things, destroying them. He was an expert at it. Hell, he couldn’t enter a building without looking for the weak spots and figuring out how to bring it down.

He watched Lisa, and the sting of longing inside him grew. If he really wanted Lisa, then for the first time in his life he was going to have to put something back together and make it stronger than before.

“So, was the latest one any good?” Senada asked as she propped herself on Lisa’s desk and crossed her legs.

Lisa quickly moved her papers out of the way of her flamboyant partner. Senada Calhoun, who had inherited her long black hair, year-round tan, and large brown eyes from her Puerto Rican mother, had also inherited her Texan father’s ability to flirt. Thus she attracted men with the same ease that most normal humans brushed their teeth. Answering to the nickname Sin, Senada laughed and had a good time, but she didn’t take any of the lust-struck men seriously.

She had, however, begun to take a very personal interest in Lisa’s quest to find a husband. Lisa grimaced at the memory of her latest date. “He was interesting,” she said evasively.

Senada arched one dark eyebrow. “Interesting is a polite way of saying he was a loser.”

Lisa straightened the papers. “I wouldn’t really say he was a loser, but I don’t think we would be a good match. He was attractive, but he might like women a little too much. A year ago he joined this new alternative lifestyle group where a man’s spiritual value is measured by how many wives he has.”

“You’re too kind. The sleaze was already married,” Senada concluded without surprise.

“No. He’s hoping to marry six different women within the next year, though.” Lisa shook her head, remembering the dismay she’d felt when he’d told her the benefits of multiple marriage partners. “I’m working at being flexible, but I draw the line at polygamy.”

“What about the one on Thursday night?”

“He was nice. Five inches shorter than I am.” Lisa looked away from the amusement flickering in Senada’s eyes. “I realize appearances really shouldn’t matter, but…”

Senada giggled. “You don’t have to make excuses to me, la chica. Have you heard from Rock lately?”

Lisa smothered a laugh. “Brick. His name is Brick.” Since she’d broken up with Brick, Senada continually confused his name. Lisa was beginning to think it was deliberate.

Senada shrugged. “Brick. Rock. They’re both the same—hardheaded.”

“He stopped by to see me on Sunday.” Lisa caught the chiding expression on Senada’s face and rushed to explain. “He said he wants to be friends.” She still wasn’t sure how she felt about that.

“Uh-huh,” Senada said, her voice dripping disbelief. “You agreed, and all the while your little heart was going pitter-patter because you still—”

“I do not,” Lisa interrupted, desperate not to hear the rest of that statement spoken aloud. “And my heart is supposed to be beating all the time. I’d be dead if it didn’t.”

Senada sighed. “You really seem to like that not-quite-civilized, ruler-of-his-own-destiny type.” She narrowed her eyes and paused, then her lips tilted in a slow smile. “I think I may have the perfect man for you.”

The perfect man was out of town for the next few weeks, so Lisa accepted a few other recommendations Senada made. Between the spring wedding receptions, rehearsal dinners, graduation parties and dates with a purpose, though, Lisa felt burned out enough to accept an invitation from Brick to attend a fair in Beulah County.

She told herself it was to prove that they were indeed friends. The “lover” part of their relationship was passed, finished, completely done, never to be repeated. If she felt a twinge of regret at the thought, she ignored it. She also told herself she wasn’t the least bit curious about Brick’s family.

At the fair, however, she stared at the sight of all those Pendletons as they crowded outside Brick’s car.

Four tall men of varying ages with dark hair and Brick’s violet eyes stood with three women, two of whom appeared to be pregnant. When Lisa noticed the differences between Brick and his brothers, she saw that Brick was the tallest, his hair was slightly lighter and he exhibited a subtle masculine power that translated to pure sex appeal.

The pull was so strong that even with all these people around she had to force her attention away from him. It took a moment, but Lisa recognized the feminine version of the Pendletons as the young, slim woman who was not pregnant.

Brick instinctively put his hand at Lisa’s back as he made the introductions. “This is Lisa Ransom. She’s—” What? The woman who’d wrecked his mental health. The woman who’d left him because he couldn’t make a commitment. The woman who was planning to marry anyone but him as soon as possible. He began to sweat.

“I’m a friend,” Lisa said, giving Brick a meaningful smile. “I’m glad to meet you.”

He clenched his jaw briefly, then smiled and gestured with his hand. “Daniel and his wife, Sara.”

Lisa shook hands as he continued. “Garth and Erin, Jarod, Troy and Carly.”

A little boy wiggled between Garth and Erin. “Hey, I’m a Pendleton now too!”

“That’s right,” Brick said with a chuckle. “This is Luke, Garth and Erin’s son.”

“Lucky them.” Lisa took one look at the bright-eyed boy with a cowlick on the crown of his head and smudges on his chin, and she fell in love. “And it looks like more Pendletons are on the way, so I guess congratulations are in order. When are you due?”

“September for us,” said Erin, patting her stomach.

“Ours is due in November,” Daniel said, taking Sara’s hand.

Lisa sensed the love that flowed between them and felt a twinge of envy. She brushed it aside, though, and focused on getting a fix on the different personalities of Brick’s family. Daniel was extremely solicitous of his wife, Sara, but she supposed the same could be said of Garth and Erin. Jarod seemed to observe in silence, while Troy was loud.

“Are we overwhelming you?” Carly asked.

“Not really. When Brick told me how many brothers he had, I imagined six ‘Bricks.’”

“Heaven help us all,” Carly said, rolling her eyes.

Lisa laughed. “Now I see that one’s taller, one’s quiet, one cracks jokes.”

“Well, if you forget any names, don’t feel bad. Just ask me and I’ll be glad to give you a prompt. The twins, Ethan and Nathan, live out of state, so you’ll be spared remembering their names this time.”

“You own the riverboat, don’t you?”

Carly nodded. “My husband, Russ, and I do.”

“Oh, I didn’t realize you were married.”

Carly hesitated and lowered her voice. “Brick hasn’t told you very much about us, has he?”

Lisa felt another twinge of pain, despite a hundred silent reminders that she shouldn’t because her romantic relationship with Brick was over. “He, uh, mentioned you a month or so ago and…”

“Yeah, well, he mentioned you to us the last several times he visited.”

That stopped Lisa in her tracks. She glanced at Brick and found him gazing at her while his brother Troy was talking. For an instant, his eyes seemed to meld with hers. She felt a shudder inside her, like the first rumblings of an earthquake. His gaze was so determined. She shuddered again.

The corners of his mouth lifted in a slow, knowing smile that made her heart pound against her rib cage. Lisa absently pressed her hand against her chest to make her heart behave.

“If you decide to stay overnight, you’re welcome at my house,” Carly offered.

Lisa ripped her gaze from Brick’s. “Oh no. That won’t be necessary. I’m not—”

“And if you have any questions about Brick,” Carly said with a mischievous grin, “I’ve known him for twenty-plus years.”

Lisa was severely tempted. A dozen unanswered questions came to mind. She told herself it was normal. After all, she’d been involved with Brick for months, and there was so much she had wanted to know about him.

Before. Not now.

She stifled the urge to ask, and instead mustered a smile. “Thanks, but I think I’ll pass this time.”

Brick overheard Lisa’s response and didn’t know whether to be disappointed or relieved. He fought the overwhelming instinct to stuff Lisa in his car and drive back to Chattanooga. It was tough to explain why, even to himself, but he thought it had something to do with wanting to keep her to himself.

Selfish as hell, he acknowledged, but it didn’t change the way he felt. He didn’t want anyone messing with his relationship with her. He snorted. Why should he worry about them making matters worse when he’d already made a mess of it himself?

Brick dismissed the disturbing thoughts and snagged Lisa’s wrist. “C’mon. Let’s go throw a pie for charity. My old junior high school principal is the target, and I owe him.”

Lisa stumbled after him. “Owe him for what?”

“He stuck me in detention for my whole seventh grade year.”

“And you didn’t deserve it at all?”

Brick stopped and grinned sheepishly. “Maybe a little.”

“How little?”

“It was just a few harmless pranks…involving a frog and the English teacher, a food fight in the cafeteria and…” He hesitated and his smile faded slightly. “And the homework I didn’t do.”

“I can imagine the frog and the food fight, but my father would have killed me if I hadn’t done my homework.”

Brick looked away, squinting his eyes under the glare of the sun. “Yeah, well, my dad wasn’t paying much attention, my mother had died and my stepmother was a witch.”

The breeze picked up a strand of his sun-lightened hair, and Lisa felt a clutch in her chest. “Sounds rough,” she murmured.

He shrugged his wide shoulders. “You don’t want to hear about that, so—”

“But I do,” she said impulsively, then bit her tongue. “I mean, I enjoy hearing about your childhood. You haven’t really talked about it much before.”

He rubbed his thumb back and forth over her knuckles in a mesmerizing motion. “It wasn’t all happy, Lisa, and the time you and I had together was happy and good. Being with you was too special. I didn’t want to drag it down.”

She felt that same clutch again and swallowed hard. “Now that we’re friends,” she said in an effort to remind both herself and him, “maybe you won’t feel like you’re dragging anything down.”

He lifted an eyebrow and glanced meaningfully at her lips. “We’ll see.”

He tugged her toward the pie booth, and Lisa surreptitiously wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. It felt as if he’d put his mouth there, against hers.

“You wanna go first?” he asked as he paid the attendant a few bucks.

“I don’t know.” Lisa looked doubtfully at the principal’s friendly face behind the cutout cardboard. “I was never good at throwing things, or catching them for that matter,” she said under her breath.

“Then let me help you.” Brick gave Lisa a pie and positioned himself directly behind her. He wrapped one hand around her waist and meshed the front of his body with the back of hers. His chest rubbed against her back, the heat of his belly nearly scorching her skin, and his masculinity was deliciously pressed against her buttocks.

Lisa nearly dropped the pie.

“Whoa!” Brick caught it and reinforced her grip on it with his hand.

He stood so close that his familiar scent and the thud of his heart seemed to invade her body. He had a musky scent that she associated with sex and satisfaction. It was the closest she’d come to this kind of intimacy in weeks, and Lord help her, her breasts were tightening beneath the knit shirt she wore.

“I’m not sure—” She tried for a normal tone.

“C’mon. Just throw it a little high.”

Lisa closed her eyes and tossed it.

“Not close enough,” he muttered. “Let’s do it one more time.”

She remembered when he’d said those same words to her right after making love. “Oh, no.” She moaned.

“You can do it.” He placed another pie in her hand. Her surroundings began to feel surreal. The principal taunted Brick, but it was Brick’s voice and body that became her focal point.

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