Lonesome Lawmen Mini Bundle

Two-5

Phoebe left her guitar for the guys to stow and jumped off the stage, moving fast to avoid another encounter with the incoming Earl. She ducked through a door marked Management Only, circling the storage room to her office. Inside, she flicked on the light, closed the door and leaned against it.

Her blood still hummed, her heart still pounded with the buzz of performing. The guys used the buzz as foreplay for s*x, but she couldn’t afford to let her motor get so revved that it took over her thinking and had her acting on her impulses. Celibacy kept things simple. It kept her safe. Until tonight, she’d never been tempted to change that.

She pushed away from the door and reached for her water bottle, but it was empty. She threw it at the trash can, circled the desk and sank onto the stool in front of a spotted mirror hanging over a small shelf. But instead of her reflection, she saw the cowboy with the high-voltage smile and might-have-been eyes.

He ought to be required to wear a bag over his head, she decided. He ought to have to register his mouth as a lethal weapon. She traced her own mouth, thinking of his. Guys shouldn’t be allowed to have mouths that yummy. It wasn’t as if he didn’t already have the advantage in the battle of the sexes with his good-guy face and tousled dark hair. Her throat went tight with longing. Not good. She gave herself a shake.

She’d have to turn her thinking down less inflammatory paths or she was gonna burn to ash and blow clean away. Think about the game, girl, only the game.

It had got her through worse things than an attack of lust.

* * * *

Peter’s computer went dark. Having spewed its poison, it subsided back into a state of indifferent neutrality. Peter wasn’t as lucky. His face ashen, he looked at Stern.

“Don’t sweat it,” Stern said. “If they had anything, they’d have used it by now. They’re gas-lighting you to try to shake your past loose.”

“They? Or she?” Peter rubbed his face. Was it possible, after all these years?

“Nadine?” Stern shrugged. “Maybe. Or could be that guy you told me Kerry Anne was dating.”

“The geek. Makes sense. He was into computers big-time even way back then.” Peter’s expression turned ugly. “I shouldn’t have let him get away.”

“s**t happens.” Stern crushed his cigarette out in an ashtray.

“Not to me,” Peter snapped. He rubbed his face again. “Can you fix this computer?” Stern had a bit of geek in him, too.

He flexed his fingers. “It’s only a screensaver, and you were going to get rid of it anyway, weren’t you?”

Peter avoided his gaze. “Of course.”