Read Online The Hinky Velvet Chair by Jennifer Stevenson - Free Book Online Page B

thoughtful. She lay on her back, watching his
face change, relaxing into the idea of normal sex with a normal guy, feeling
unbelievably grateful to him. “Thanks for picking me and not that Sovay bitch.”
    He glanced down at her body, lifting himself higher into a
one-handed push-up as he looked. Her skin heated as if he were licking her.
    She smiled.
    He sighed. “Officer, this is killing me, but I think we stop
now.” And he rolled off her.
    “What?”
    He flipped the coverlet over her bare body.
    “Hey!” she said. She sat up. “That’s not funny!”
    He knelt on the bed, pushed her back down, and slowly,
slowly snuggled against her, keeping the coverlet between them.
    “You’re right, it’s not funny.” His face was so close, she
could smell both wine and whisky on his breath. His eyes glazed over. His hand
pressed down on the coverlet over her breast, making her roll hungrily toward
him.
    Then his face changed. “Oh, brother.”
    He slid away again. She smiled while he took off his pants
and shoes.
    Then he put on a pair of pajamas.
    Her smile faded.
    He lifted the sheets and got into bed. Now there were lots
of layers between them. From arm’s length away he reached over and brushed a
lock of her hair off her forehead.
    Jewel watched with speechless resentment.
    “The thing is, officer, I like working with you. I don’t
want that to blow up in our faces because I took advantage of you when you were
drunk.”
    “I’ve screwed men on dumber excuses,” she blurted.
    “And lost your partner every time. Ain’t gonna happen. Not
tonight.” He looked at her so tenderly that lust climbed into her chest and
twisted into something else.
    To her horror, she felt her eyes prickle. “Do you want a
punch in the nose?” Unwelcome feeling was rising in her throat.
    “Might take my mind off my johnson.” She laughed, and he
said, “If it’s any comfort to you, you are hotter tonight than I have ever seen
you.”
    Her breath caught. Her throat went hard. “Con man.”
    Eye to eye with her, he said, “Jump me tomorrow and find out
if I’m lying.”
    He put his hand out and closed her eyes, and she turned over
so he wouldn’t see her face crumple.
    o0o
    Clay got up and turned the light out, then lay back down
under the covers beside her. Close one. His fingertips were wet where he’d touched her eyelids. He wondered until
daylight what he wanted.

Chapter Eight

    Jewel’s head hurt. She skulked in the alley behind Virgil’s
house, leaning her burning face against the cold brick garden wall, until Nina
drove up in the Beamer with a suitcase. Nina tried to give her a hard time
about the soot all over her bedroom, but Jewel stonewalled her, promising girl
talk later.
    Then she snuck back up to Clay’s room.
    Twenty minutes later she came downstairs, dressed, showered,
still hung over. Griffy sat at one end of the big table. All the men were
waiting on Sovay at the other end.
    When Jewel came in, all the men turned toward her.
    “Julia! Would you care for coffee?” Virgil said.
    “Can I get you some ham?” Clay said.
    “Orange juice or cranberry, Miss?” Mellish said, holding her
chair for her and leaning very close.
    “Where were you last night?” Randy demanded.
    Sovay scowled. She was lovely, even while scowling.
    “Coffee,” Jewel grunted, avoiding Randy’s sizzling-hot eye.
    The butler poured coffee into her cup.
    Griffy said, “How are you feeling this morning, Julia?”
    Jewel cut her eyes to Clay. “Uh.” He looked smug. She
remembered scolding him for unprofessional behavior. That would have been while
he was trying to unhook her bra. She swallowed coffee around a lump.
    “Yes,” Virgil said, “how are you feeling this morning?” He
smiled at her with understanding. “Any ill effects?”
    Besides the damage to
my work relationship? “I think it was the Scotch,” she said huskily. Her
skull was splitting straight down the center of her forehead.
    “Now might be a good time to