Turquoise Dreams Read online

  Okay, fine. She needed to go rock hunting for more agate for her pendants anyway. She would see if the anthropologist wanted to come with her in the morning. She'd suggest Diego and Call come along. Dr. Angela wanted to know the local stories of the Blue Stone River and the Mourner's Mountain. Diego and Call wanted to gripe about the Ramirez Woman's Curse. Kill all those birds with one stone.

  They'd go to the Mourner's Mountain where the Blue Stone River and the Ramirez Woman's Curse tied together and spend the weekend exploring the caves.

  The nice cozy caves where people could wander off. Then she'd get Call out of her system once and for all.

  If the Calverton man who'd seduced the young Ramirez girl then left her when she was pregnant was anything like his great-grandnephew, Call, then the Calvertons deserved any curse they got.

  And if Call didn't fuck her soon, she'd land her own curse on him.

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  Chapter Three

  Call watched Nita walk across the diner from the restroom. Her stride matched the rhythm of the Eagles’ vocal blend in “Witchy Woman.” Her blue jeans twitched in a look-and-drool sway. The turquoise teardrop nugget she always wore hung in the tantalizing hollow between her breasts. Her T-shirt clung to her skin, except where it pebbled over her bra's lace.

  He hoped the other males with their eyeballs bulging out only saw the lace, not her nipples, which stood in erect welcoming knots. He just wished they'd welcome him.

  When he got engaged to Suzanne, he knew he had no business getting engaged to another woman. At least, everyone believed the pre-nup crap. Nobody would find out the real reason they split. If she hadn't given him a reason to break things off, he would have found one himself.

  But he'd been desperate.

  For the past year, he'd hardly slept. Dreams started practically when he shut his eyes. Hot dreams, horny dreams, dreams where he fucked long and hard. Dreams that woke him up aching so much he had to wring himself dry only to fall asleep and dream again and end up just as bad off as before he took care of himself.

  The years of celibacy were a mistake. He needed a woman in his bed. Only a woman's body would quench those dreams.

  But the woman whose face haunted his dreams was the one woman he couldn't have. Nita was practically his sister, for God's sake. She treated him the same way she did Diego. Always had. Always would.

  So he'd looked around and picked Suzanne. Big mistake. Despite the nightly dreams giving him full erections, he couldn't get it up with her. Ever. No matter what they tried. He couldn't blame her for taking a lover.

  But he wanted to smack himself for being too dense to realize what Suzanne wanted. The signs had been there. This morning, when he walked into her bedroom and discovered her maid of honor bouncing the mattress with her, he realized what a complete jackass he'd been. Hell, let people think the pre-nup business sucked and that's why Suzanne walked. At least they thought he was a jerk instead of knowing he was stupid.

  It wouldn't have mattered anyway. Yesterday afternoon, he'd stepped into Nita's workshop to make sure she was coming to the wedding and had to leave immediately to jack off before he came in his pants. That's when he'd known he needed to call off the wedding.

  Hell, when he'd walked into the diner earlier, he didn't even need to look around the room. Nita could have been holding up a red flag and dancing naked on the table as far as his cock was concerned. Already on the rise since he'd spotted her truck in the diner's parking lot, he'd throbbed in serious pain ever since he sat down beside her.

  Nita stopped her take-me-take-me walk at their table. Call started to slide out to let her back in the booth, but she shoved him back down.

  With an innocent smile, completely at odds with the strength in the hand clamped on his shoulder and locking him in his seat, Nita said, “Angela, I'm going rock hunting tomorrow. I thought I'd go up Mourner's Mountain. If you really want the true story of the Ramirez Woman, the best place to hear about her would be on the mountainside. Have you ever done any spelunking?"

  "Some. I'm an experienced hiker though and a moderate rock climber. Most archeological sites are in desolate places. Where there are archeological sites, there were people. I've been on enough digs, studying the cultures, that I've learned how to get there in one piece. I know enough about spelunking to carry a minimum of two hand-powered flashlights, water and some sort of trail mix. And to stay with a guide in an unknown cave."

  "That's good enough. These aren't major spelunking areas. If you can hike, you can do these. Do you want to come with me?"

  "Certainly,” Angela pushed her glasses back up her nose again. “I'd like to see the site of the fabled Blue Stone River."

  The last time Call had been on Mourner's Mountain, he'd been a teenager exploring the caves. Those caves had a lot of nooks and crannies. Maybe if he went, he'd be able to get Nita off in a cranny and play a little nookie.

  Call asked, “Are you thinking of going into the caves?"

  Both women and his brother gave him the are-you-stupid look.

  Um, yeah, he was. He didn't have any blood in his brain. All his blood pounded behind his zipper, making him ready to beg for relief.

  Nita's scent swirled around his head. She probably had on some perfume called “Spring Blossom” or something equally girly, but his cock told him it should be named Strip-me-naked-and-go-down-on-me-right-here-right-now.

  Oh, like that would happen. If Diego had any idea he was even thinking of giving Nita oral sex, he'd be dead before he could breathe on her.

  His brain also couldn't function with Nita's tits mounded right at eye level. He ate more of the squished pie so he wouldn't be tempted to trace those tea-with-cream colored curves with his tongue. He wanted to fasten his mouth on those peek-a-boo nipples and feel their tightness through her T-shirt and bra.

  Diego would cut out his tongue then remove his balls and cock with a dull spoon if he didn't get his eyes off Nita's tits. Call wanted to keep his tongue intact. And his balls. And his cock.

  Which meant he had to find some way to get Nita alone. Or at least away from Diego.

  Soon.

  "Um, I was just thinking. It's been years since I've been in the caves. I might join you ladies."

  "Ooh, Call,” Nita said sweetly. “Are you offering to come along to protect us poor defenseless females from the ghosts of Mourner's Mountain?"

  That sugary sarcasm made Call want to stick his tongue in her mouth to shut her up.

  "Naw, I figure I don't have anything else to do this weekend now that the wedding's off. I'm thinking, two females, one me. Dark caves. Interesting things along the lines of debauchery could happen.” Call said it as offhandedly as he could, hoping, praying Diego and Nita would hear only the casual joke.

  Damn, they didn't catch the joke. He ducked from their glares.

  "I'll go with them,” Diego said firmly. “You go back to Phoenix, Call."

  "We don't need protection,” Nita said to her brother. “I know the caves as well as you and Call."

  "Don't believe protection was mentioned.” Call swirled his fork in the remaining bit of pie juice on his plate. He sucked the tines and looked into Nita's face. “Debauchery, now that was mentioned."

  Joke, take it as a joke, people. He didn't mean anything serious by it.

  Yeah. Right. Sure. Ha-ha. Funny joke. His cock pulsed viciously behind his zipper.

  "You're talking to my sister, Calder."

  "She's a grown woman, Diego. She can decide if she wants to join me and Dr. Angela in a bit of debauchery."

  Dead, he was so dead. If Nita didn't kill him, Diego would. Not that it mattered. If he got any harder, he was going to explode from sheer frustration right here in the diner in front of all the locals and tourists. Wouldn't that just give the town gossips another great story to add to the Ramirez Woman's Curse?

  "We'll all go,” Nita said with the decisiveness Call had seen her mother use to handle Call's and Diego's dad when he got orne
ry about Diego's visitation.

  Diego glared at Call. “There will be no sex, especially between you and my sister."

  From the corner of his eye, Call saw the locals’ ears flap as Diego's voice got louder.

  Might as well play to the crowd.

  "Diego, she's practically my sister. Sex between us would be almost incestuous,” he hissed, feigning shock. He was a lawyer. He could act. And project a whisper that could be overheard by a hundred people. “Besides, I never mentioned sex."

  "Then what the hell is ‘debauchery,’ you smart-mouthed big city lawyer?"

  Call widened his eyes in mock innocence and shook his head.

  Nita had caught on. She had a speculative look in her eye that said she had begun to plot a way to kill him. He got the distinct impression he might die happy.

  "Debauchery,” he used his best wrapping-up-the-arguments-to-convince-the-jury voice, “means sin, depravity, wickedness, decadence. Notice it's a general term for letting the women have their wicked way with me. If Nita and Angela would consider having their wicked ways with me and those wicked ways just happen to include sex, who am I to resist? I'm just a man. Deprived of my honeymoon. My hormones are on overload."

  Nita frowned at him but went passively blank at a glance from her half-brother.

  Diego's face had grown an alarming shade of purple. The image of his Apache ancestor was suddenly stamped clearly on his face. His eyes glittered like sharpened knives.

  Call decided he'd better rein in his mouth before Diego decided to brave their dad's wrath for the sheer joy of torturing Call. His lower half wished it could go to Nita and suffer torture slowly and exquisitely.

  "Perhaps you and I,” Angela said calmly while she pried Nita's hand from its white-knuckled grip on Call's shoulder, “can do something about those overloaded hormones."

  She nudged Nita closer to Diego.

  Call relaxed a trifle. Diego would now have to go through both women to kill him.

  Angela grabbed Call's hand. “Come on, hot dog. Let's get you some relief."

  For someone with a delicate-seeming bone structure, Angela had a grip like a long haul trucker with years of experience manhandling an 18-wheeler full of cargo. Call rose to his feet at the jerk of her hand.

  Angela took in Nita and Diego's equally incredulous expressions. With the same matter-of-fact calmness she'd exhibited since Diego introduced her, she turned to them and said, “I'm sure Call has phone numbers for you two. We'll check back later and find out where and when you want to meet to go to Mourner's Mountain in the morning."

  She led Call past the staring locals and tourists.

  Call heard the cook's voice, “Okay, the next kitty is on for Call's next engagement. Bet on the date of the announcement and the date of the break-up."

  Angela smiled as the diner's door shut behind them. “I wonder who won the last kitty."

  "No telling,” Call said. “Um, thanks. I kind of shot my mouth off back there."

  "No shit, Sherlock. Perfect example of a man with no blood in his brain. Let's go. My rental car is there. Do you want to follow me in your truck or do we take just the one vehicle?"

  "Um, where are we going?” His cock started to lose interest the minute he was out of sight and scent of Nita.

  Angela was a hell of a sexy woman if a guy was into that tall, loose-limbed type. Nice pretty little tits. A round ass perfect for a man's hands to cup. Long legs that would hold onto a man and keep him tight against her. Call definitely appreciated Angela's package.

  But his dick wanted Nita. No matter how much he tried to tell it there were plenty of other sexy ladies out in the big wide world. The problem was he didn't want just any sexy woman. He wanted Nita.

  "We're going to my hotel room. Unless you want to take me back to your ranch. Personally, I don't advise that. Your ex-fiancée is probably still there, and your brother will head there. Two people I don't think either of us want to see for awhile. Now, do you want to follow me in your truck? Or do we just take one vehicle and look like we're snuggling?"

  "Look, Angela, you're a great looking woman and all, but—and don't take this the wrong way—I don't want to sleep with you."

  Angela snuggled against him like a newlywed. Between her teeth, without breaking her glowing smile, she said, “Hey, dickhead, I don't want to fuck you either, but we've got things to talk about if you want to get into Nita's panties tomorrow. Now close your mouth before you catch flies. Let's blow this place and discuss tactics for the hike tomorrow. Do you have enough blood back in your brain to drive the truck?"

  Numbly, Call nodded. Underestimated another woman. Angela looked like such an innocent, college professor brainiac with her horn-rimmed glasses and hair pulled back in a no nonsense ponytail. For all the sexy body under the jeans and man's shirt, Call would have laid money Angela had hardly ever fucked, much less used the word in conversation.

  He punched the button to unlock his pickup. Angela promptly started to climb in on the driver's side.

  "I'm driving,” Call said. Nobody drove this baby but him.

  "I assumed that. Now pat my ass while I'm getting in. We have an audience."

  "Huh?"

  "Put your hand on my ass and pat it. Let Diego and Nita think we're heading off to fuck our brains out. Let them stew overnight about what they're missing."

  "Oh.” Call shot a quick look over his shoulder and saw Nita and his brother standing in the diner doorway. He rubbed his palm against Angela's tight ass. Loud enough that he knew they could hear him, he said, “Let's go, honey buns. Lemme see what's under those jeans."

  Call peeled out of the diner's parking lot with his arm around Angela and her practically sitting on his lap like a couple of high school seniors on their way to the make-out ridge.

  * * * *

  "Come on in,” Angela said at her hotel room when Call knocked on the door from the adjoining room. She'd changed into a pair of what looked like men's boxers and a tank top. She really did have nice little tits. She even had narrow, pretty feet with long toes and bright pink nail polish on the toenails. He wouldn't have thought it. Her fingernails were short, functional nails with just a nice shine to them.

  Multiple layers in this woman. He might enjoy learning more about her personality, but his cock and nightly dreams were fixated on Nita.

  "Call, do you mind fixing a couple of drinks?"

  "Not a problem. Hungry?"

  "Not quite yet. Help yourself to the snacks on the credenza or the mini-bar if you want to eat. I've got some research notes I need to transcribe and then upload to my main data banks. Fix me a Salty Dog, would you? We can order room service after I'm done."

  Call poked through the mini-bar and started mixing drinks. “Want to go out?"

  Angela looked over her glasses at him. “You still don't have full brain capacity yet. We're supposed to be fucking our brains out. The gossips in town probably already know you have a separate room. If we go out to dinner, people will know we're friends, not fuck buddies."

  "Good point.” Call reached over her shoulder, set her Salty Dog on the desk and smiled while he looked down her top. He could just barely see the dark pink top of her nipples.

  "Enjoying the view?” Angela asked with the same serenity she'd used in the diner.

  Call refused to be embarrassed. He was a man. Her tits were on show. “Yep. Anybody ever tell you that you have pretty tits?"

  "Most men think they're too small."

  "Naw, that's a female myth. Most men don't give a damn as long as they get to play with them."

  "I'll remember that."

  Call really liked the shy smile Angela shared with the computer.

  "So, Professor Doctor Angela of whom my brother never told me your last name, how long have you been in love with my stupid, idiot brother?"

  Angela shot him a grin over her shoulder. “About three years. How long have you been in love with Nita?"

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  Chapte
r Four

  Call nearly choked on the beer he'd just swallowed. “I'm not ... Nita and I..."

  Angela sent him a pitying look, muttered something, then turned back to her laptop.

  "What did you say?"

  "Nothing important."

  "Bullshit.” Call swallowed a drink of beer. “What did you say?"

  Angela looked at him, gray eyes magnified. Call had never before thought of glasses on a woman as anything other than one more thing to take off during a heavy make out session, but Angela's made her eyes look huge and gorgeous. Those kind of eyes could make a man be happy to wake up and see them looking at him in the morning.

  Like Nita's deep brown eyes. Every day for the rest of his life.

  Call shook away the idea of the rest of his life with Nita. Wasn't going to happen.

  He scowled at his beer bottle, then glared at Angela. He could do glare. He'd glared at slimy so-called defendants and made them squirm. Angela simply looked at him and turned back to her typing.

  "I said,” she addressed the laptop screen as if Call were simply a minor annoyance of less interest than a pestering mosquito. “Your brain is still blood-deprived. Now be quiet and let me finish this. Find something testosterone-laden to watch on TV, but no more talking. We'll talk when I'm done."

  Damn it. Call couldn't think of a time when a woman ignored him.

  Hell. She might be right. His brain definitely couldn't function. He was an attorney, for God's sake. He could always come back with a sharp, cutting retort. But not this time.

  This woman made him feel stupid with a look.

  "As an anthropologist, do you have a clue why the hell women are called ‘the weaker sex?’”

  Without missing a beat in the steady click of her fingernails flying across the laptop keys, Angela said, “Because when Og the caveman brought home the mastodon steaks, Bella batted her eyes and told him how strong he was and what a wonderful provider he was for all the little Bellas and baby Ogs and how she'd never be able to feed their babies if he wasn't such a big, strong male. Then she probably fucked his brains out, thereby reinforcing the belief he was a big strong male. But, actually, she was just insuring he'd go out again and bring home more mastodon to prove again that he was a big strong male."