Free Heaven, Texas by Susan Elizabeth Phillips Page A

thing.”
    “I didn't ask if you approved. I asked if you wanted to take a look.”
    She hesitated a moment too long. “Absolutely not.”
    He laughed, picked up the remote, and turned on the set. “Settle back on the sofa, Miss Gracie. I wouldn't miss this for the world.”
    He was already pushing the buttons that accessed the adult movie. She did her best to appear reluctant and primly crossed her hands in her lap. “Perhaps just this one time. I've always enjoyed movies about auto racing.”
    Bobby Tom laughed so hard he nearly dropped the remote. He continued to laugh as the screen filled with four naked, writhing bodies.
    She could feel her cheeks begin to flame. “Oh, my.” Bobby Tom chuckled and sat down next to her. “Let me know if you have any trouble figuring out the plot. I'm pretty sure I saw this one before.”
    There wasn't any plot; she realized that in the first few minutes. Just lots of naked bodies carousing on top of a hot red sports car.
    Bobby Tom pointed toward the screen. “See that brunette with the tool belt strapped around her waist. She's the head mechanic. The other woman's her assistant.”
    “And that guy with the real big—”
    “Yes,” Gracie said swiffly. “The one on the right.”
    “No, honey. Not that one. I'm talking about the one with the real big hands. ”
    “Anyway, he owns the car. He and his buddy have brought it in for the girls to give it a valve job.”
    “A valve job?”
    “It also has a leaky hose that needs attention.”
    ''I see.”
    “They're worried about the ball joints.”
    “And the dipstick's bent.”
    Gracie whirled around and saw that his chest was shaking. “You're making this up!”
    He gave a hoot of laughter and wiped his eyes.
    She raised her chin. “I could follow the plot very well by myself if you'd stop talking.”
    “Yes, ma'am.”
    Gracie turned back to the screen and swallowed hard as the man with the big hands dipped one of them into an open can of 10W-40 and trickled it over the head mechanic's bare breast. Her nipple puckered and beaded while droplets of oil drizzled down the side of the snowy mound. Gracie's own nipples tightened in response.
    The delicious foreplay continued, and Gracie couldn't tear her eyes from the screen, even though she was painfully aware that she wasn't alone. She licked her dry lips. Her heart pounded. She had never been so embarrassed or so aroused in her life, and she wanted to do every single thing she was seeing on the screen with the man sitting next to her.
    The actor with the big hands began to play with the woman's tool belt. His mouth followed the track of his fingers lower and lower. Moisture gathered between Gracie's breasts as his tongue settled into a cranny just to the left of her socket set.
    She pressed her thighs together and squirmed. Bobby Tom shifted his weight. She glanced at him out of the corner of her eyes and saw to her dismay that he was watching her instead of the screen. And he was no longer laughing.
    “I have some work to do,” he said abruptly. “Turn it off whenever you want.” Snatching up his laptop computer, he stalked into the bedroom.
    Gracie stared after him in bewilderment. Why had he gotten so grouchy all of a sudden? And then her gaze shot back to the screen.
    Oh, my!
     
    Bobby Tom stood in the darkened bedroom and stared blindly out the windows. In the background he could hear breathy moans coming from the television. Jesus. For the past six months he hadn't been able to summon up the slightest bit of interest in making love with any of the beautiful women who dangled themselves in front of him like game trophies, but now Gracie Snow, with her skinny body, ugly clothes, the worst hairdo he'd ever seen on a female, and a bossy manner that set his teeth on edge, had given him a hard-on.
    He rested his knuckles against the window frame. If it weren't so ludicrous, he'd laugh. That movie wasn't even close to hard-core pornography, but five minutes into it, she'd