Chapter Sixteen

Jessie woke to find Teddy gone and the shower running to give away his location. Waiting her turn, she thought about last night. They’d awakened around three a.m., not really up for vigorous sex, but craving some more. Teddy went down on her under the covers, diving in, working her with a talented tongue good for something else other than sports announcing. With Troy, this sexual act only went in one direction—his. She’d never experienced it before. That laving of her cleft—the best, so good she wished she could have wrapped her legs around his shoulders to keep him there, but he stayed plenty long enough to bring her to her peak.

Wanting to reciprocate, she’d taken him in hand. He asked for a condom to avoid soiling the sheets. She groped in his night table drawer and laid her hand down on something cold and hard. “What’s this? A gun, Teddy. Do you feel unsafe?”

He settled back against his pillow with a sigh, the moment ruined by forgetting which drawer he’d stored the condoms. “Not exactly. The Billodeauxs are sort of famous. Knox Polk, our ranger manager, but really our bodyguard, insisted all the children learn to shoot, including me. The first time we had target practice, the kick from the weapon he put in my hand pushed my chair backward three feet. ‘You need a lighter weapon,’ he said. We settled on a .22 double-action Smith and Wesson revolver for personal protection, but honestly, I usually leave it in that drawer. No children around to mess with it. I’ll have to lock it up once I become an uncle to Ella’s child.”

Another new thing to try. Jessie tried to keep the excitement out of her voice. “Do you think I could learn to shoot?”

“Sure. We both have great hand strength. You do have to cock it, but after that it chambers the next round. When we go to the ranch to pick up Ella, I’ll have Knox give you a lesson. We can plink at some targets.”

“Speaking of great hand strength, let me show you exactly how good mine is.” She made the interruption up to him in short order. Whole new worlds were opening for Jessica Minvielle. She’d gone back to sleep wondering what door would open next.

Draped in the silly black velour robe, Teddy rolled into the room. Ridiculous maybe, but the fabric felt warm, inviting, and furry beneath her fingertips last night, much like Teddy himself. As he neared the side of the bed, she turned in his direction, gripped the lapels, and gave him a lingering kiss of thanks. “You make me feel like a woman again.”

He nodded solemnly. “Yep, all the girls tell me that.”

“You want to see hand strength?” She bopped him on his bicep and doubted it hurt him one bit.

“Instead of hitting on me, why don’t you take your turn in the bathroom?”

“I think I will.” Jessie rummaged in the backpack on the rear of her chair and dropped a large T-shirt over her head.

“Shucks, I thought you’d stay naked.”

“I can always get that way again.”

She made use of the shower and commode. Carefully repairing her makeup, Jessie returned to the bedroom to find the night table holding a small tray with warm biscuits, butter, jam, cranberry juice, and coffee, served by a grinning Teddy.

“Not quite breakfast in bed, but very nice.”

“I only warmed some of Ella’s biscuits. Had mine earlier. We can get something more substantial later.”

“This will be fine.”

“What would you like to do today? We could watch some of those movies or stroll around campus and let people stare at the wheelchair convoy.”

“No, thanks on that last suggestion. A movie, lunch, then that wedge you were talking about.”

“In other words, stay in bed most of the day?”

“Exactly.”

“I can run the movies on my computer back here.” He plumped pillows to put behind her back and removed a chair in the way of the screen directly across from the bed.

Jessie tested his patience with the chick flick, then the rom-com. If Troy had been sitting between them, he would have insisted on the blow-’em-up video first and then the suspense.

“If you think you can scare me off with chick films, you forget I have five sisters and two sisters-in-law. I will neither retreat nor upchuck,” Teddy informed her.

Between shows, they ordered takeout Chinese and ate directly from the little white boxes, dribbling sauce and losing grains of rice on her T-shirt and his robe. No need to get dressed, Jessie figured. As they cracked open their brittle fortune cookies while the second movie ran, her thoughts stayed on the wedge, whatever it was. Her fortune read, Explore new adventures. She added in bed, a word game she used to play with the other cheerleaders. No matter how stuffy the phrase on the little slip of paper, putting in bed on the end always livened it up.

They ate the candied apple slices and exchanged sticky kisses.

As another couple got their fictional happy ending, and the credits rolled, Jessie announced, “I am ready for the wedge.”

“Stay right where you are.” Teddy worked his way out of bed. He opened his closet. “Now, where did I put it?” He moved a spare wheelchair collapsed against the wall. “Always have an extra. They do break down.” Shoving a tangle of athletic shoes out of the way with the end of his sticks, he at last found what he wanted in a dark corner. “The wedge.” He drew out a triangular piece of foam.

“Kind of disappointing,” Jessie teased. “I thought it would be some contraption right out of Fifty Shades.”

“I don’t do S&M. Now, take off that T-shirt and roll over on your belly.”

“You sure you don’t?” Feeling a little uneasy, she obeyed his instructions.

But this was Teddy, not Troy. Still, who would have thought a girl could open a drawer in his bedroom searching for condoms and find a revolver? Teddy Billodeaux surprised more often than anyone might have imagined. He positioned the wedge under her hips, raising them into the air, draping her legs down the other side, parting them wide. She felt compelled to say what she didn’t want. “I don’t do anal.”

“Neither do I.” Teddy readied himself, climbed on the bed and settled between her legs on his knees. He reached over and prepared her with lubrication.

“This is kind of an awkward position, Ted.”

“You’ll forget all about it once we get started.”

She did. The new angle put pressure on all her pleasure points. With nothing to do on her part, Jessie found herself lost in sensation, his hands running down her torso, tickling along the sides of her breasts, clinging to her shoulders for better purchase. She became aware of every drop of sweat from his forehead as it splashed on her back, felt each deep thrust of his hips as he moved her toward completion. The pillow beneath her head smothered her cries of excitement and soaked up a small amount of drool she’d be embarrassed to admit later. When she finished and after he followed, Teddy left her body limp and satiated. When he removed the wedge, Jessie’s sole desire was to turn her head to one side and sleep. She drifted off with Teddy massaging her back and shoulders and startled awake when he shook them gently.

“We need to clean up and get ready to go to the stadium.”

“Not going. I’ll stay right here in this bed. See you later.”

“I’ll let you sleep until I’m finished, then it’s your turn. Jess, you must try other new stuff and facing the crowd at the game is on the list.”

“Your list, not mine.”

“I face my handicap every time I go there to call a game. After a while, people simply stop noticing. Give it a try.”

“But you’ll be up in the booth, and I’ll be down on the field.”

“So much action on the field, they’ll forget all about you.” Another thing about Teddy: hard to win an argument with him.

She succumbed. He’d probably never wedge her again if she refused because she wouldn’t deserve the pleasure. “I’ll go just this once.”

Maybe Jessie knew she’d concede because she’d packed her red trainer’s polo and running shoes, but not the khakis. They’d have to settle for her in jeans like any other fan because she no longer had a reason to be down on the field, no longer had a meaningful job. Her unpaid sick leave time, all that she’d earned along with any vacation she’d had coming, expired with this game. Going on disability payments loomed ahead, dark and ugly, but at least she wouldn’t be a complete burden to her parents with some money coming in. Might as well get it over with, her last appearance on Cajun Field, because she wasn’t coming back!