Love and Romance, etc.
A Free Newsletter for romance novel lovers
By Bonnie Williams
Episode 16
Flat Tires and Painted Toenails
“Show me your boobs…eek…show me your boobs.”
“Well, aren’t you a naughty bird.” Emma laughed as she walked into the diner. A large macaw with a cerulean blue body and a golden chest greeted her. He was perched on the host’s podium, bobbing his head and pointing his big black tongue at her.
“Hot mama…eek…show me your boobs.”
“Sorry about that,” the host said as he came to show Emma to her booth. “His name’s Baby.”
“Hey baby…eeek!”
“Baby, behave yourself.” John, the host, offered Baby a peanut. “Anyway, he was abandoned by a group of college kids. I’m just babysitting him today for Doctor Wake.”
“He’s fresh,” she laughed. “But very beautiful. I imagine, the guys taught him that.”
He chuckled. “I imagine they did. Are you dining alone?”
“No, I’m waiting for a friend. She’s supposed to meet me here.” Emma looked about the diner, hoping to see Page. The diner was set like an old 1950s ice cream shop, equipped with red and white booths, Elvis posters, and a jukebox. It wasn’t playing music at the moment.
“Are you Emma?”
“Yeah, I am.”
“Page just called and said to start without her. She’s going to be a little late.”
“Here I am,” Page shouted as she came through the door. She was wearing slim-fit jeans and a sweatshirt with black smudges across the front. Her short blonde hair was pointing in all directions but down. “Sorry, I got a flat tire on my way over.”
“Hot mama…”
“Hey, Baby. How are you handsome?” Page asked as she stroked the bird’s chest. The rascal closed his eyes in utter bliss.
“You changed a tire by yourself?” Emma was in awe.
“What—you expect me to wait for some guy to help me?” Page winked at John.
He raised his brows then said, “Ladies, right this way.”
After Emma and Page were seated and ordered beverages, Page looked at Emma and gave a big I-know-what-you’ve-been-doing grin. “So, you want to know about the Kinsey brothers, huh?”
“Guilty.” Emma laughed, shaking her head.
“Well, I have noticed Blake’s been in a better mood these days. I assume that’s your doing?”
Emma shrugged and felt her face heat up, remembering the way Blake’s hands and mouth touched her last night. “He’s improved mine, that’s for sure.”
Page groaned. “He’d been a grouch for months until you came along. Vinn and my brother, John threatened to take Blake out of his misery if he didn’t shape up.” She smiled when their waitress brought their drinks.
“Why?”
“Several months ago the city voted to cut the police department’s budget, so some of the officers lost their job. Blake was one of them. But he thinks he was steamrolled by members of the council that hold a grudge.”
“Grudge?” Emma felt her stomach twist, knowing she was well acquainted with one of them.
Page shrugged. “Yeah, I guess some of them believe their position should hold certain perks. Special parking privileges, waved speeding tickets, that sort of thing.”
Emma nodded, hoping the pulse thumping in her neck didn’t show.
“But if anyone around here runs the straight-and-narrow, that’s Blake. To him, the law is the law--no gray area—and some people didn’t like it.”
Afraid to hear any more, Emma wasn’t going to push her for additional information. Besides, she’d rather hear it from Blake. “What about his brothers? What are they like?” she asked, a little too enthusiastic for sincerity. But by the grin on her face and the glimmer in her eyes, Page didn’t seem to notice.
“I don’t know Connie that well. He’s a journalist and travels most of the time. Dillion’s the artist that creates the weekly funnies for the Greenrich Daily News.” Her smile widened. “Then there’s good ol’ Vinn. He thinks he’s God’s gift to women.” Page managed to roll her eyes, but kept her smirk firmly in place. “He’s cute enough, but he lacks finesse. His version of seduction is waving his eyebrows, offering a beer, and throwing out lousy one-liners.”
Emma noticed the sparkle in her eyes brightened when she spoke of Vinn. “But you like him.”
Page nodded briefly, glimpsed at Emma, then looked down at her drink. “Vinn flirts with just about every female this side of Los Angeles. Even with me. But I won’t kid myself. I don’t know the first thing about attracting a guy. Even a guy like Vinn that I’ve know since we were kids.”
“Why not? You’re pretty enough. You’ve got great skin and have the hair color some women would kill an endangered species for. What more do you need?”
“For one thing, I’m older than he is. He probably expects older women to be…experienced. Plus, I feel too provincial, too ordinary. I just don’t believe I’ve got what it takes. Not to mention, I can’t remember the last time I went on a date.”
“Eeek…hot mama…hot…
Emma wondered if Page had any experience with sex. “So,” Emma said lowering her voice. “What do you know about this curse everybody keeps whispering about?”
Incredulous, Page said, “If you ask me, the women in this town are just obsessed with sex.” She shrugged. “I mean, what’s the big deal anyway?”
“You’re kidding, right?” Yep—Page didn’t have any experience, all right. Either that or she’d never experienced an orgasm. If she had, Emma was pretty sure she’d have a different outlook.
“Hot mama…show me your…eeek…”
“Okay big guy. Time to go.”
Emma looked just as a pretty brunette entered the diner to take Baby from his lofty perch of leering at ladies. He teetered on the woman’s arm and flapped several times creating a whirlwind of flying napkins, before gaining his balance.
She groaned inwardly when she realized that the woman was the same one she thought was Blake’s “other woman.” She was also her cat’s vet—making Emma feel like a complete idiot. “Page, do you know that woman?”
Page twisted in her seat. “Yeah, that Doctor Mary Wake. She’s the local vet.”
“Yeah but who is she—to the Kinsey brothers? I saw her with Blake yesterday.”
“Oh. She’s Connie’s ex. They were together for a long time before he left the country. Why?”
“Oh, uh…no reason.” Emma didn’t want to open that can of snakes and decided to change the subject. “So, then you don’t know what this so-called curse is or how it all started?”
“Oh, I didn’t say that. I just think sex is on everyone’s mind lately.”
“But not yours?”
Page shrugged. “I…um, I don’t have firsthand experience on that subject.” Emma noticed her neck turned red at that admission. “I don’t know much about the curse.” Page thought for a moment, tapping her index finger to her lips. “Two years ago, one of the guys was dating or maybe just sleeping with someone—I can’t remember. Anyway, when they broke it off, the woman wasn’t happy about it. Soon after, the rumor spread that any man that lived in that house was on the limp side.”
Emma frowned. She knew first hand that wasn’t true.
Page must have read her expression. “Let me ask you something, Emma. Have the two of you ever been together in his house?”
“No. I’ve never even been in the house.”
“Apparently it only affects the guys when they’re in the house. I think that’s any guy in the house. Even visitors. And I guess this rumor isn’t new. It’s been circulating since their great-grandfather lived there.”
“So when you say ‘all males’ do you mean their cat too? Because I know for a fact that’s not true—my cat is expecting kittens. I was a witness to the conception.”
“But was that in the house, or in the yard?” Page asked as she played with the grease under her nails.
“Neither,” Emma replied as she grabbed them up. “My goodness you’re in need of a good long soaking and a manicure.”
Page pulled them back. “I was raised by my dad, so I missed a lot of the fun girly stuff that you’re supposed to do.” She looked at her grubby hands again. “You know, high heels, fingernail polish, pantyhose, sexy lingerie…”
“I’ll make you a deal.” Emma grabbed a paper napkin and pulled a pen out from her purse. “Here’s my phone number. I’ll give you a make over, complete with a hair style and high heels, and you teach me how to change a tire.”
“Could you paint my toes too?”
“Of course.” Emma leaned in and whispered. “Your guy, Vinn won’t know what hit him.”
“Deal.”
A ruckus was heard outside the diner. Page and Emma turned to see a man chasing after a woman twirling a pair of men’s pants over her head. Said pants must have belonged to the man running after her—he was in his Jockeys.
“Good grief,” Page shouted staring out the window with a look of disbelief. “That bonehead is my brother!”
Emma stood up to get a better look. “Hey, cute butt.”
THE LONELY GUYS
Copyright© 2004 By Bonnie Williams
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