Page 40 of Misadventures And Ms. Demeanor

"Moonshine. It's good stuff. Goes down smooth." His mouth was at the juncture of my shoulder and neck and he bit down ever so lightly. His tongue flicked over the sensitized skin which had me crying out.

"Yeah, good stuff," I moaned, not talking about the liquor. His soft chest hairs tickled my back as he leaned over me and I arched my back into him. He slipped one hand between us, smiled against my neck. "Where's the clit ring?"

"Who are you in bed with?" I asked, then groaned. I needed to be sure he was in bed with me, not Silky.

"Daphne," he murmured against my nape. When he slipped his hand a little lower, finding me more than ready for him, he murmured, "This is something I'll never forget."

When he brought me to orgasm not once, but twice, I knew I wouldn't forget it either. If I'd known my sex life was in North Dakota, I would have visited a whole lot sooner.

11

"There is no way you're getting out there and doing that," JT told me that night. His hands were on his hips, his hair falling over his forehead and he gave me a look that screamed insanity on my part.

He looked at me differently now. He no longer had the look of a man who wanted to tase me. Instead, he appeared very well-satisfied and had a gleam of possessiveness in his dark gaze. It was something to behold, especially when directed at me. I didn't want to jump him and tackle him to the ground and beat him up. I wanted to jump him and tackle him and have my way with him.

Perhaps that part, the sex part, was insanity. I'd slept with him after only knowing him such a short time. Did that make me slutty? Maybe, but at the moment I didn't care. I was actually falling for him and that was the craziest thing of all. I was falling for the guy who’d tased me.

I liked this caveman attitude, but I couldn't do anything about it at the moment. I was surrounded not only by Esther, Goldie and Aunt Velma, but the Roller Dolls were circling the track during their hour-long practice. We stood just outside theedge of the ring, a gust of wind tossed my ponytail around every time the women circled, which was often and at very fast speeds. Music blared through the civic center's loud speakers and the lights were bright. The multipurpose facility was set up for the roller derby, the angled ring laid out about the size of a basketball court.

"Look at them pushing and shoving, and this is just practice and they're all on the same team." JT did not look pleased.

"Chauvinistic much?" I leaned in and said into his ear so only he could hear. He wouldn't say a word about a bunch of guys in a football game.

He turned his dark eyes on me. "I protect what's mine," he growled, clipping the bike helmet onto my head and giving the clasp a little tug.

Holy hell in a hand basket.

Esther and Aunt Velma were happy—no, thrilled—to see me. I thought Goldie was pleased as well, but just because she didn't want to listen to her friends whine and worry any longer. The fact that the two of them held such hopes for me was a bit unnerving. They wore red Roller Doll t-shirts and were calling out tips and pointers in a slang only roller derby experts would understand.

"I've never done this before, you know," I reminded them, adjusting my elbow pads. I shifted from side to side on my skates, not used to having four wheels. It was a big difference from a narrow skate blade. I wore my black Capri yoga pants and one of my old t-shirts. It wasn't much for workout wear, but it would do for now. I'd get a uniform for the match tonight.

"You won the national championship twice for Pete's sakes," Aunt Velma commented. "This will be a walk in the park."

JT eyed me, surprised. "Hockey championships?"

I replied by holding up two of my fingers.

Esther came over to me and patted me on the arm just above my elbow pad. "You don't look as tense as you did earlier in the trip. What happened to all that angst? You need to tase her again." The last she said to JT.

"I think he tased her all right," Goldie said under her breath, eyeing me in an all too knowing way. I avoided meeting her eyes, so I watched the women doing some kind of drill instead. Fortunately, Aunt Velma didn't pick up on that and Esther was too worried about the roller derby game than to care about my sex life.

"You're worried that I'm not tense?" I asked Esther. "Shouldn't you be worried I don't know the rules?"

Aunt Velma waved her hand through the air. "It's not rocket science out there. Besides, you watched it enough on TV with me to know what's going on."

"I haven't," JT piped up.

"Okay, here's the short version. It's not a game, it's a match. There are five players on each team. A jammer, a pivot and three blockers. The jammer is the only player who can score points. The team gets a point every time a jammer passes one of the other team's players. To score a point, the jammer has to play fair and stay on the track."

"Daphne's not going to be a jammer, then." JT knew Aunt Velma and Esther well enough to know why they needed me.

Esther shook her head, her white curls still as stiff as ever.

"There's a two-minute period, called a jam, when points can be scored," Velma continued. "When the whistle blows, everyone leaves their designated start areas and skates around the track. The jammer is at the back so they need to pass everyone on the other team to get to the front and score. It's their teammates' job to help get them there."

JT listened as he watched the women go around the track. They wore bike helmets with red covers, like the one theygave me, elbow and knee pads, and various forms of skin-tight spandex covering the rest of them. This was an eclectic group. Some were skinny little things, others built like the ladies' German swim team on steroids. Some were young, some older, dark and light. Some had pink hair, others had tattoos covering their arms. JT would find it interesting just to watch without knowing the rules. If Velma tested him on what she was telling him, he might be caught out just ogling.

I was watching the ladies for a completely different reason. I was going out there with them and needed to ensure I had what they were looking for.