Page 38 of Misadventures And Ms. Demeanor

"Your aunt is pretty crazy, but I'd think if you lived in town, but notwithher, she'd be less...intense."

"Like Goldie, you mean."

He pointed his spoon at me, then poked the watermelon. "Goldie might be a little wacky, but you'll never hear me talk bad about her. The way she helped me with my dad—well, she went above and beyond. I won't forget that."

"Like how Aunt Velma took me in."

"You sound like you were an outcast or something."

The alcohol was starting to make my blood a little sludgy, my body relaxed, everything warm. And JT, he was starting to look mighty fine. "Not an outcast really, more like a cast-off."

"Have you seen your parents since?" He watched me closely, all of his usual angst toward me gone. At least for the moment.

"No. Last I heard they were in Europe somewhere. I'm sure Aunt Velma heard from them when I was young. I never asked, so she never told."

"It's not your fault they were terrible parents. It's also not your fault Velma's wacky."

I couldn't help but laugh at that. "She doesn't need any help from me to be crazy. She was that way before I was born."

"Then give her a chance. On your terms."

I swallowed another bite of watermelon. "What about you?"

He put his hand to his chest. "Me?"

"Yeah, you. Why don't you take a chance on someone who's not perfect?"

"No one's perfect, Daphne."

"Silky Tangles is perfect, because she's not real. Everyone can fantasize about her, love her. Wish they were with her in bed. But the real Silky is probably just this woman who has issues of her own and a really good stylist. Bad boyfriends, crazy relatives. She might even get PMS like the rest of us women."

JT cringed. "No way."

"Way. If I were Silky Tangles, wouldn't I look like this if I weren't on scene? Wouldn't I eat a liquored-up watermelon? Wouldn't I want to kiss a normal guy like you?"

JT's eyebrows went up. "You want to kiss me?"

I shrugged, modest all of a sudden.

"What's this about normal?" he kidded. "There are places on me I can guaranteearen'tnormal."

I bet. Oh yeah. I bet he was way more than normal in some places.

I awoketo the sun shining in my eyes. Wincing, I put the pillow over my head and sighed. It was then I felt the arm over my waist and a body spooning me from behind. The more I felt, the more I realized that it wasskinI felt against me. Warm skin over very hard muscles. There was one other thing that was hard and it was pressing against my butt.

"Oh my God," I whispered, trying to slip out from beneath JT's arm. There wasn't much room to maneuver and I couldn't just slide off the bed. The mattress abutted the sides of the RV. As I turned to look at JT—whose naked chest had a very nice smattering of dark hair across it—his eyes weren't the ones staring back at me. Perched ridiculously on JT's hip was Tigger, watching me with his weird cat eyes.

I froze, hoping he wasn't going to hiss and dig his little cat claws into JT's hip and butt, even through the blanket. "Shoo," I whispered, flicking my fingers of one hand as I held up the corner of the sheet over me as best I could with the other.

Nothing. The cat didn't even blink.

JT stirred then, his eyes opening and awareness made them open all the way.

"Don't move," I said, my voice low.

He grinned. "No problem."

I rolled my eyes. "I don't meanthat." I pointed at Tigger.