Free Midnight Sun (Sinclair Sisters) by Kat Martin Page B

she was crazy about him. Besides, everybody knew he was rich.
    “You ready?” Call asked. She’d had to trade shifts with Betty Tisdale to get Saturday night off, and work a late shift for Betty next week, but if things turned out the way she planned, it would be worth it.
    “Just let me get my coat.” Sally went into the bedroom of her small, wood-frame house on Queen Street and grabbed her coat out of the closet, stopped in front of the mirror long enough to fluff out her curly black hair and make sure she didn’t have lipstick on her teeth, then headed back down the hall.
    Call was looking good tonight, freshly shaved, his dark brown hair still damp from the shower. God, he was handsome, and those eyes … One look and she practically came. In the summer once, she had seen him with his shirt off. He had a beautiful body, suntanned and lean, his chest wide and muscular, his back hard and sculpted. He had big hands and she knew what that meant.
    Maybe tonight she’d find out if it was true.
    Sally smiled as he led her out to the Jeep, and Call smiled back, but he seemed a little distracted.
    He was that way all evening, she discovered, first through dinner in the Bonanza Room at the Eldorado Hotel, then on the drive back to her house. She wished she could scoot over next to him, but the seat belt wouldn’t stretch that far and she didn’t think he’d like it if she took it off, considering a car crash had killed his wife and kid.
    “Are you sure you’re all right?” she finally asked. “You been kinda quiet all evening.”
    “I’ve been thinking.”
    “What about?”
    He flicked her a glance from behind the wheel. “Taking you to bed.”
    Her breath snagged and her body began to heat up. Little twinges started throbbing between her legs. She reached across and rested her hand on his thigh, gave it a gentle squeeze. “I’ve been thinking about it, too, Call.”
    He turned the corner, pulled the Jeep up in front of her house, and turned off the ignition. He caught her hand and eased it off his leg as he turned toward her on the seat.
    “I’ve been thinking … as much as I’d like to sleep with you … I don’t … I’m afraid I’m just not ready.”
    The heat she’d been feeling deflated like a punctured hot air balloon. “We could go nice and slow. Take it real easy. You know what they say—it’s just like riding a bicycle. Once you learn, you never forget.”
    He looked at her with those piercing blue eyes, leaned across the seat, and very lightly kissed her. She loved the way his lips felt, sort of hard-soft, the bottom one full and sexy. She kissed him back and thought for sure he’d weaken.
    Instead, he pulled away.
    “I’ll give you a call in a couple of days.”
    “Sure.” She tried to keep the disappointment out of her voice. “No problem.” She popped open the door and started to get out, but Call was there before her feet touched the ground.
    “I’m sorry, Sally, I really am.”
    “Don’t be.” Pride straightened her shoulders. “You’re not the only man in Dawson, Call, you know what I mean?”
    He nodded. “Yeah, I know what you mean.”
    She said good night to him at the door and slipped back into the house. It was quiet inside, the rooms still smelling of the cabbage she’d cooked for supper. Jimmy was out with his friends and wouldn’t be home till late.
    It was early yet. It pissed her off that Call had turned her on, then left without doing anything about it. She glanced at the phone on the wall next to the stove in the kitchen.
    Maybe Farley was home. He wasn’t much to look at, not like Call, but he was always up for a good time. She thought of his eagerness in bed and grinned at the pun. Maybe she’d give him a jingle.
    Sally reached for the phone.
     
    As the Jeep rolled through the darkness, Call slammed his hand down on the wheel. Sonofabitch! What the hell was the matter with him? He had promised himself tonight he would satisfy the sexual desire that had