Desire Read online

  Desire

  by Jezebel Jorge

  Copyright © 2011 Jezebel Jorge

  Cover Art by Jezebel Jorge

  The photo was taken by Hayley Farmer

  The candle on the cover is called Midnight Seduction as was purchased from

  Wick'd Candles and Perfumes by Studio 3B

  http://www.studio3bonline.com

  Other books by Jezebel Jorge

  Headlocks & Hexes

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Special thanks to Pattie LaRue and Peggy Lathan for help with editing.

  This book is dedicated to my #1. A conversation with him inspired the character of Rowan and the whole Ring Dreams series came to life from there.

  Desire

  by Jezebel Jorge

  Chapter 1

  The instant that little redhead swung open the front door of her fancy Myers Park home Billy Dalton’s heart started hammering like it might just burst right through his brand new dress shirt and splatter all over the Bryson’s polished hardwood floor.

  Elizabeth Bryson had to be the prettiest girl he had ever laid eyes on. A halo of copper curls framed a freckled nose, pouty lips and electric blue eyes. And the way she blushed when he planted a kiss on the hand she offered him in greeting. He knew right then he was a goner.

  “Don’t tell Daddy, but I watched your match on TV last Saturday afternoon,” she said with the cutest giggle. “Gran called and told me I had just had to see you wrestle. I was so excited when you got the win.”

  “Me too. It’s awful nice of your daddy to take me under his wing. Do you ever go down to the Park Center to watch him wrestle on Monday nights?”

  “Oh, gosh no.” She shook her head making her curls shimmer under the glow of the chandelier that filled the ceiling of the entranceway. “He’s never let me go to any of his shows.”

  There went that excuse to see her again. This girl was way out of his league anyway. Not that it hurt to look. And what a sight her backside was in red velvet hip hugging bellbottoms.

  “Go on and have a seat,” she said, leading him into a dining room large enough to seat a football team. “I’ll run downstairs and let Daddy know you’re here.”

  “Elizabeth where ever are your manners?” A woman who looked like a Jackie O clone swept into the room with a drink in hand. “You should have taken our guest to the parlor or at the very least offered to fix him a drink.”

  “I wasn’t all that thirsty,” Billy said, trying to come to her defense.

  “I’m Paul’s wife, Lois,” she offered him a sliver of a handshake. “You must be Billy, my husband’s new protégé.”

  “Yes, ma’am, I guess that’s me.”

  She went over to the side bar and topped off her own drink from an already half empty bottle of Gin. “Are you sure I can’t get you anything?”

  He sure could have used a stiff drink to settle his nerves, but he wasn’t about to take the chance on getting buzzed in front of Paul Bryson. He admired the man way too much to do anything improper in his presence.

  “Just some iced tea will do me.”

  “Have a seat.” She pointed towards the table.

  He did just that, hoping he’d picked the spot next to Elizabeth’s usual seat. Lois took the glass from that place setting and filled it with tea before sitting down across from him.

  With Elizabeth gone, he checked out the roaring fire and the fancy Christmas tree that filled a corner of the room. There was so much china and silverware on the table there was no way he would ever make it through dinner without embarrassing himself. This fine house was about as far away as you could get from the trailer park he grew up in back on the outskirts of Port Arthur, Texas.

  It still seemed unreal that Paul had handpicked him to train as his successor. Three months ago Billy had been ready to toss out his ‘rasslin boots to take a steady job on an oil rig. Now he would be working bigger venues, cruising to shows in a brand new Cadillac De Ville, and learning from the best worker in the business. Good thing he’d gone to Betsy’s Big and Tall the day before and gotten a brand new suit. It cost almost everything he had saved up from last month’s pay, but it was worth it.

  “Billy Dalton! You was hardly nose high to the bottom turnbuckle the last time I laid eyes on you.”

  As soon as he stood to greet her Glenda DuBois grabbed him in a welcoming embrace before pushing him back an arm’s length for a good once over. “Just look at you now - all grown up and so good looking.”

  “Why, thank you Mrs. DuBois,” Billy said. “You still look like you could jump right back in the ring tonight.”

  “It’s Glenda, and other than keeping my son-in-law in line my butt kicking days are over.”

  “Well, Glenda it’s mighty nice of y’all to have me over for Christmas dinner.”

  “We look out for our own. It’s the only way to survive in this crazy business.”

  You never would have known by seeing her all dressed up in pearls and a fancy apron that she had been one of the toughest women ever to set foot in the squared circle.

  “What did you think of my grandbaby Lizzie? Isn’t she a beauty?”

  “She sure is.”

  “So,” she said, sitting down and motioning for him to join her, “Are you seeing anyone special?”

  “No, I’m still playing the field.”

  “I bet you are,” Lois said, a little too smugly from Billy’s comfort.

  Glenda didn’t pay it any mind saying, “Lizzie’s single too and fresh out of college.”

  “Mother.”

  Lois got up to pour herself another drink and Glenda leaned over to whisper, “Why don’t you ask Lizzie out on a date?”

  Like Lizzie would ever go out with the likes of him. Especially considering that to have finished college, she must be a few years older than the eighteen or nineteen he’d guessed her to be when she first answered the door.

  “Billy, good to have you.” Paul pumped Billy’s hand before taking his seat at the head of the table. “Sorry to keep everyone waiting I had to make an important call to Raleigh.’

  “Raleigh,” Lois said icily.

  “Lois, it’s Christmas and we have a guest,” Paul gave her an equally cold stare. “I was talking to Joe Murnick about switching Billy’s dates around to put him on shows with me.”

  “And that couldn’t have waited until you go to the building tonight?”

  “I’m afraid not.”

  “Lizzie, help me get dinner on the table,” Glenda said, pulling her granddaughter out of something that looked to be getting a little nasty.

  “I’m going to check to see what number you dialed as soon as we get the phone bill.”

  “You look at a bill? Paul snorted with laugher. “Wouldn’t that be a first? As long as I’m paying I’ll call whoever I damn well please.”

  “Why don’t you just go live with your homely friend? Lord knows I wouldn’t miss you.”

  Billy squirmed uncomfortably in his seat, wondering if maybe he should excuse himself to go help Glenda in the kitchen.

  “You’d sure as hell miss my wallet.” Paul stood to pour himself a drink and waved the now empty bottle at her, “Who would pay for your liquor if I wasn’t around?”

  “Both of you knock it off.” Glenda sat a bowl of mashed potatoes on the table with a defiant thud. “I will not stand for your bickering on Christmas day.”

  Glenda and Lizzie carried in the rest of the plates while Lois and Paul engaged in a silence standoff. After everyone was seated Paul knocked off a prayer as slick as one of his promos and sliced
into the glazed ham to start the feast. Glenda had cooked up quite a spread. It sure beat Billy’s regular diet of bologna sandwiches and potted meat. He wasn’t about to complain when Glenda scooped another heaping spoonful of green beans onto his plate.

  “I bet you don’t remember how much you liked them that winter you and Billy Jean stayed with us,” Glenda chuckled. “Your granny had to write and ask me how to make leather britches because she had no idea what you was asking her to fix.”

  “She started stringing up beans as soon as we picked them out of her garden.”

  They didn’t need to know her garden hadn’t been some sweeping field. Granny had used her green thumb to grow a whole lot of their food in a small patch of dirt surrounding a beat up trailer.

  “This is my first Christmas since she passed.” Billy took a moment to wipe at his mouth, fighting back the lump welling in his throat. “I’m so glad I ain’t by myself back in Texas today.”

  “We’re tickled to death to have you with us.” Glenda patted his hand. “She did a fine job of raising you after we lost your mama in that wreck. BJ would be damn proud of the way you turned out. I tell ya, I’d still love to get in the ring with her tonight and show them boys how it’s done.”

  “That’s a match I’d hate to follow. You two would tear the house down,” Paul said. “I always hated making the trip to Johnson City because I think of that wreck every time we cross Sams Gap.”

  “We came across it before the police even got there,” Glenda said. “I kicked in the back window to crawl in and get you just expecting the worst. There you were bundled up sound asleep, not a scratch on your head.”

  “Granny always said I could sleep through hell and high water.”

  “After seeing the way that car was demolished, I believe her. You were a tough little thing, didn’t shed a tear until BJ’s daddy drove up to get you. Then it was over not getting to go to the matches with me that night,” Glenda shook her head in amusement. “Three years old and he already loved being in the back with all the lady wrestlers.”

  “I knew where my bread was buttered.” Billy grinned. “I just wished I could remember more about her. All I remember is how pretty that red hair looked in the ring under the lights.”

  “Gran showed me her publicity photos. She was really pretty,” Elizabeth gave him a look that made him glad he was already sitting down.

  “Thank you. I reckon that’s what got me started on having a thing for redheads.” Boy, did he love how she blushed at that line.

  “You got good taste,” Glenda giggled. “Sugar and spice all in one sweet little package. That’s us redheads for ya.”

  Glenda’s red hair had to be coming from bottle of hair dye by now, but Billy still agreed, “I’ll say.”

  Glenda winked at him before turning to Paul. “How about letting me and Lizzie ride up to Raleigh with you boys tonight?”

  “You know I don’t want my daughter around the business.”

  “But, Daddy, I’d like to see you and Billy wrestle.” Lizzie’s pout made Billy want her to go more than he’d ever wanted anything in his whole life.

  “Then watch us on TV Saturday morning. The wrestling business is no place for a lady.”

  “Excuse me?”

  Wrong thing to say around Glenda.

  “I’ve put just as many butts in the seats as you have and don’t go trying to tell me I ain’t no lady.”

  “Don’t go twisting my words around.”

  “I think you’re a male chauvinist pig for not allowing my granddaughter to go to work with you,” Glenda snapped. “If she was a boy you would have started taking her on the road with you when she was still in diapers.”

  “Pumpkin,” Paul looked at Lizzie like she was the very center of his universe. “Would you please get Daddy some more iced tea?”

  Billy couldn’t help but once again admire her cute little bottom as she placed the pitcher back on the side bar. That crushed velvet made her tush quite an eyeful.

  “She’s off limits.” From the look Paul cut him, Billy knew he’d been busted for checking her out. “She’s not allowed to socialize with the boys.”

  “It’s a good thing my late husband wasn’t so strict,” Glenda said. “If we hadn’t allowed Lois to date wrestlers, you wouldn’t have such a pretty wife.”

  “Which husband? You’ve had four.” Paul glared at Glenda before tossing aside his napkin. “Lizzie, let’s have our dessert in the living room.”

  Just as soon as they were alone together Glenda asked. “Are you going to ask her out?”

  “I don’t think Paul would be too keen on that idea.”

  “What does he know?” Glenda snorted. “Paul might be the boss in the ring, but Lois wears the pants in that marriage. DuBois women always get their way and don’t you ever forget that.”

  That old broad was definitely something else.

  ***

  “So, what do you think of Billy?” Gran cornered Lizzie in the kitchen with the big question.

  “He’s absolutely dreamy.” Lizzie knew she was blushing and this time it didn’t really matter.

  Billy was movie star handsome. A dark haired and dimpled Rock Hudson with steel grey eyes. Too bad she was no blond and flirty Doris Day, and it wasn’t like she had any chance with a guy like that and even if she did, Daddy would scare him off. They were all afraid of him. She never got any second dates because every boy she had ever met cowered in the presence of her legendary father. At the rate she was going she was liable to die an old maid.

  “He likes you. I know he does.”

  “Then why did he keep looking at me like I had two heads?” Lizzie ran a taming hand through her never behaving mop of curls.

  “Because he’s already smitten. You heard him, he likes pretty redheads.”

  “Really?” Her mouth dropped in disbelief. “So what am I supposed to do? Even if he did ask me out daddy wouldn’t let me go.”

  “Who says he has to know?” Gran laughed devilishly. “Ask him to have lunch with you.”

  “Gran!” If only she had the nerve.

  “Here,” Gran handed her a floral note card. “It’s a holiday. There won’t be any stores open. Fix him a snack for the road. Throw in a couple of ham sandwiches, some pie and a sweet little note.”

  “What do I write?”

  “Honey, just use your imagination.”

  Chapter 2

  “I… I… ahem… excuse me.”

  Billy hadn’t expected to walk right up on Paul Bryson getting a blow job on the heel side entrance of Dorton Arena. Bad enough, he wasn’t supposed to be on that side of the building. Worse was catching his mentor with his pants down.

  Paul just flashed a sheepish grin. The girl, well she had a mouthful. Not that Billy had been checking the dude out or anything. Maybe if he had just kept quiet Paul would have never known he was walking by.

  “The blow job queen strikes again.”

  Billy turned around to find Elena, a girl he’d messed around with the last time he’d been in town. He’d been looking forward to seeing her again. That is, until he met Lizzie.

  This time he said hello and kept on walking. All he wanted to do was see what kind of snack Lizzie had packed for him in the paper sack she’d handed him on his way out the door.

  Apparently Elena wasn’t going for the silent treatment. She followed him over to one of the benches closer to another section of the fairgrounds and sat down beside of him still laughing.

  “What’s so funny?”

  “Katie spends more time outside on her knees than she does watching the matches.”

  “I had Christmas dinner with that man and his family.”

  Billy must have looked as flustered as he felt because she said, “It’s no biggie. She’s been blowing him for years, him and just about every other wrestler that’s ever been here.”

  “It’s a big deal because I have a thing for his daughter and now he’s never gonna let me see her.”

  “She
’s probably some kind of snooty bitch.”

  “No she’s not.” Billy unwrapped a loaded ham sandwich and took a big bite.

  “I bet I could make you forget all about her, or any other woman for that matter.”

  “Not tonight.”

  “Billy Dalton turning down a come on? What’s wrong with you?”

  After working his way through another thoughtful bite of sandwich, Billy said, “I just ain’t in the mood.” Hoping she would finally take the hint, he added. “Why aren’t you in there watching the matches?”

  “I had to work late and just got here. That’s where I was heading when I saw you about to walk up on Paul and Katie.”

  “Been nice if you’d given me a heads up on that.”

  “Oh, I’d be glad to get something up all right.”

  “Maybe if you catch me over at the Lodestone after the show.”

  “Suit yourself.”

  He watched her walk back around the building towards the box office, thinking that until he met Lizzie he would have been more than ready to take her up on that offer. For now he’d have to settle for a big hunk of Glenda’s homemade pumpkin pie.

  Billy finished off his last bite of that pie just as a limo pulled up to the back door of the arena. The World Champion, William Fletcher, stepped out of the car with a gorgeous redhead in tow. Even from a distance he could tell she was a real looker - long flowing hair to the curve of her ass and legs right up to her neck. William’s wife, Dinera, was a beautiful woman, but she didn’t have legs like that. With his fancy suit, a silver Halliburton suitcase, and leggy babe wrapped in a mink stole, William looked every bit the part of a world champion.

  Billy started to wad up the bag to toss in the trashcan when he felt something poke his hand. Reaching into the bag he pulled out a floral notecard with his name written in an elegant flowing script.