Erotic Influence by Missy Jane Page B

Chinese food.
    “Yeah. I’m hungry,” she said quietly.
    He readjusted his clothes before grabbing the bag from the
backseat. Soon they were busy stuffing their mouths with the lukewarm food.
    “Thank you, this is delicious,” she said.
    “You’re very welcome. Tammy told me Chinese is your
favorite.”
    “Yeah? I didn’t know you two ever talked about me. Usually
she’s too busy talking about herself.”
    He chuckled and took a sip from his water bottle. “Yeah, she
is her favorite subject.”
    They shared a laugh and finished eating. Too soon it was
time to head back to the store. He hated that she worked on the weekends but
completely understood the need. Hopefully working for Wes even a couple of
times would ease her burden. She hadn’t said anything else about it, but he
planned to set it up within the next couple of days. He couldn’t wait to see
her delectable body under a spotlight.
    “Rick?”
    “Hmm?”
    She smiled as if she knew he had been thinking about her. “I
asked if you’ll be home tonight.”
    “Oh, sorry, babe. Yeah, I should be. Do you think you can
come over?”
    They were sitting in front of the store and she had to clock
back in within minutes. She glanced out the window before facing him again.
“Yeah. I hope so. Have you talked to your friend…about the modeling?”
    “Not yet. I’ll call him when I get home to set everything
up.”
    She nodded, looking a little less nervous than when they had
talked of it before. “Okay.”
    “Is your dad picking you up from work?”
    “Yeah.”
    “I don’t suppose he’d let me do it instead?”
    Her smile disappeared and she immediately shook her head. “I
wouldn’t even ask him. Please. He’s been really grumpy lately.”
    That almost made him laugh. As far as he could tell Henry
had been grumpy the whole four months Rick had lived across the street. “Okay.
No problem. Promise to try to come over tonight?”
    She sighed in obvious relief and nodded. “Yes. I promise.”
    He leaned toward her and she met him halfway for a soft,
lingering kiss. Then she broke away and opened her door. “Gotta go. Thanks for
lunch.”
    “You’re welcome. See you later.”
    It was on the tip of his tongue to say the other three
words. As he watched her walk into the store he nearly choked on them. Was she
ready to hear that yet? He just didn’t know.
    * * * * *
    It took most of the remainder of her shift for Annie to
focus back on work. Rick was never far from her thoughts. He brought out a
sense of recklessness in her she had never felt before. He could probably talk
her into anything in that deep, confident voice of his. Sex in a car? Never in
her life had she considered it until just that afternoon. Now she could hardly
wait to see where their next encounter would be. It was exhilarating to be so
daring. Her dad would have a heart attack…right after he shot Rick.
    She went through the motions of closing out her register as
her shift ended. If only Rick could have picked her up, but she wasn’t brave
enough to broach the subject with her dad just yet. Sure, Rick was more than
willing to talk to him man-to-man. The only problem was she didn’t think her
dad would give him the time of day. For no obvious reason he had disliked Rick
the moment he first saw him drive up in his muscle car. Her dad had sat on
their porch and watched the whole time Rick and his buddies had moved
everything into the house across the street. The neighborly thing would have
been to walk over and at least introduce himself. Not only had Henry not done
that, he had forbidden his daughters from talking to Rick at all. It took less
than twenty-four hours for Tammy to break that rule.
    Annie had been a lot slower to defy their father, not just
because she knew better but also because Rick had scared her. He was so
handsome and confident, with such a commanding presence. His constant grin had
always made her wary, as if there were a private joke he didn’t want to