Page 36 of Training Rain
“Uncle Bebe…” Jess tried to affect a warning tone.
Bebe ignored him. “Oh yes he was. He could convince all the girls to run wit him. A silver tongue, the boy has. He talk anyone, not just girls, into anything. One time he convinced the young deputy that old Thibodaux was makin’ moonshine in the back of his restaurant. Had him so sure of it that the poor boy staged a big raid on the kitchens. Of course it wasn’t true. Jessé had just heard me complainin’ that Fin Thibodaux’s restaurant was taking our business away.”
Jess laughed. “It took years for that deputy to live it down and after he trashed the kitchen looking for proof, the police had to buy Mr. Thibodaux a new one. In the end, everyone was happy. Our business picked up during the renovations and they got a new kitchen.”
“And the deputy?” Rain asked.
Jess looked at his uncle and they both burst into laughter. He couldn’t remember the last time he laughed so hard. “About five years later, he was caught smuggling drugs out of the police evidence locker.”
“We never saw that boy again.”
“Did you know he was a bad cop when youconvincedhim about Mr. Thibodaux?”
“I had my suspicions,” Jess admitted.
By the time they walked out of BeBe’s Kitchen his stomach was completely full and he’d relived half his childhood. Surprisingly he felt wonderful. He took Rain’s hand and they walked up Bourbon Street the way they’d come. They turned at Saint Peter and made their way toward the park and the river. Neither one of them spoke and the silence was comfortable. He loved the idea that it had become easy between them to spend thirty minutes in each other’s company and not fill the quiet with small talk.
When he started to feel a bit less stuffed with food, they made their way back toward the rowdy Bourbon Street.
The soft, soulful strains of blues wafted into the street. It was after ten and Bourbon Street was getting crowded. Throngs of tourists flooded the streets in search of the New Orleans experience, exactly what he wanted to give to Rain. It was as if he needed her to grasp his roots, to understand him.
“What’s that?” She pointed toward a club on the other side of the street. The sign said Randy’s Cabaret.
“Gentleman’s club.” It was a euphemism, but some of the nicer strip clubs still used the title.
“I know you’re not a mind reader, but can you tell what I’m thinking?”
He pushed what little gift of telepathy he had toward Rain. Her arousal hit him as if it was a Mac truck. He looked over at the club and back at her. Suddenly the idea of spending a nice evening listening to the blues didn’t seem so exciting after all. “You want to go to a gentleman’s club?”
“Is that a nice way of saying it’s a strip club?”
“It is.” He was getting aroused just by the idea of his sweet Rain watching other women take off their clothes and give lap dances.
“Are women allowed to enter?”
“This is the Big Easy,cher. Women are not only allowed, they are encouraged to do anything they want anywhere they want.”
He saw a moment of hesitation cross her face, but her arousal still pulsated through the connection he’d established a moment before.
“Did you have your heart set on listening to music tonight?”
He tugged her hand and grabbed her around the waist, pulling her hard against him. “I want you so turned on by the time we get back to the apartment that I barely have to touch you to make you come the first time.”
That hitch in her breath again and he was painfully hard. His cock demanded access, but he would endure it and enjoy the teasing for a while longer. He watched her throat bounce up and down as she swallowed hard. “Then you wouldn’t mind going in there with me?”
“No. I don’t mind one bit.” He gripped her tighter, making sure she could feel how hot the idea made him.
Her eyes widened. “Or did you just want to go home?”
Jess chuckled at how quickly the feel of his hard cock had made her waver. God he loved that. As tempting as it was, he shook his head and led her across the street. A twenty-dollar cover charge for him got them in the door. Ladies could enter for free.
In contrast to his uncle’s lively, cheerful restaurant, Randy’s was dim and the slow, undulating music gave the entire place a sultry feel. He kept his mind open to Rain. He knew she could feel it and she didn’t seem to mind in spite of the fact that back in Yellowstone she had clearly not wanted him in her head. He eased back the connection as the stage came into view and he felt her interest pique.
She gripped his arm. “Stay.”
That confirmed she could most definitely feel the link. She wasn’t telepathic, at least not with humans. Yet she’d known that he was connected to her and she wanted him to stay. He opened his mind wide to her and allowed her to experience how turned on he was just from the idea of coming in here with her.
It was a high-end club with high-dollar people dressed to the nines on a Friday night. The two of them were in jeans, but the hostess didn’t seem to care as she led them over to a small table to the far right of the dance floor. Jess hadn’t even had to use his psi skills to arrange a better table.
