Paying For The Past: Racy Reunions, #1

CHAPTER 1

N ever again, Jennifer Riley vowed as she stepped into the black-paneled wooden coffin outside the entrance to the Hilton Hotel in downtown Tyler, Texas. Traffic whizzed by on Main Street, some cars slowing at the sight of a woman climbing into a coffin.

Jennifer tugged at her filmy black chiffon dress, trying to cover as much of her exposed cleavage as possible. No matter how busy Julia gets or how much she pleads, I refuse to do this again. I didn't come back to Tyler to dress up as an over-the-hill sex queen.

Paul, her sister's employee, stood quietly by, holding the lid open. Ready?

Jennifer took a deep breath, dreading the darkness that would engulf her. Yes, make it quick. I hate lying inside this creepy box.

Jennifer watched the coffin lid come down, shutting out the noise and headlights from the traffic.

You all right? Paul asked.

Hurry! Her breath sounded harsh in the darkness. She felt the pallbearers lift the coffin onto the cart and roll it along the sidewalk into the hotel.

After tonight, Julia, her twin sister, would have to find someone else to jump out of coffins and sing seductively when she needed help with her business. No ifs, ands, or buts!

As the new Development Director at County General Hospital, Jennifer would be way too busy to fill in at her sister's fledgling singing telegram company. Not to mention that popping out of coffins could be damaging to her career.

The cart jostled along the hallway of the hotel until she heard wolf whistles and loud, boisterous, voices cheering, and she knew they'd arrived at the party.

Paul rapped on the coffin lid. Are you ready?

Jennifer cleared her throat and searched for the button that would pop open the door. Whatever happened to women jumping out of cakes? What nut case thought coffins were funny?

The coffin lifted. She gripped the sides, trying to find her balance as the pallbearers slid the casket off the cart until the box stood upright. She landed with a jarring thunk on the floor. Why couldn't you get good pallbearers these days?

Paul tapped on the side of the coffin to let her know it was show time.

In honor of your birthday, your friends and family have given you a gift from the other side. The other side of the hill, that is, Paul announced as the noise from the crowd swelled.

Music started to play, and Jennifer hit the button on the inside of the wooden box. The lid sprang open and she slinked out, her chiffon dress clinging like a second skin that left little to the imagination.

Happy Birthday, she sang in her alto voice, her eyes blinded by the lights. She blinked rapidly, hoping her eyesight would adjust to the brightness of the room. When her vision finally cleared, she found herself staring into the face of the one man she'd hoped never to see again.

There before her, wearing a stunned expression on his face and a Marvin the Martian child's birthday hat on his head, sat Brent Moulton.

Well, I'll be damned, said the captain of her old high school football team, the person voted most handsome and most likely to succeed.

Jennifer's voice cracked as she gazed into the emerald eyes of the boy who'd once been the object of her teenage dreams. A lock of dark hair lay across his high forehead. His full lips smiled as she stumbled over the words to the song she'd sung countless times.

I should never have agreed to do this tonight!

Dancing for a man who, almost fifteen years ago, hadn't known the difference between her and Julia was anything but special, but the show had to go on.

She slinked around him, her heart beating in her throat as she ran her hands along the hard, contoured muscles of his shoulders. Brent must have existed on nothing but Wheaties, because his physique resembled a professional football player's rather than that of a high school kid.

Of course, he would never remember her. She had portrayed Julia that night so long ago when they'd pulled a switch on him. Nevertheless, deep down inside, the foolish young girl Jennifer had been back then had convinced herself that he’d known which twin he was with. Yes, they looked alike, but when someone really knew the two of them, their differences were obvious.

With a coo that she hoped resembled Christina Aguilera’s crooning, she ran her fingers down his cheek as she began the last chorus of the song, the place in the act where she was supposed to lean forward and placed a chaste kiss on his cheek. She gazed at his lips, full and inviting, and remembered the feel of them against her own that moonlit night when he believed he was kissing Julia's lips.

She chickened out.

As the song ended, Brent reached up and unexpectedly pulled her onto his lap, wrapping her in his muscular arms. A full-blown explosion of magnetism rushed at Jennifer like a Eurail locomotive as she gazed into his laughing emerald eyes, catching her completely off guard.

Fifteen years had passed since that night, and still he'd tag teamed her libido and brought back all those annoying yearnings she thought she’d buried long ago.

Sprawled across Brent's lap, her bottom rested against his legs, and her head lay against his muscular arm. The memory of his kiss had her heart beating a sharp rhythm against her chest. Hopefully he'd forgotten his date with Julia the night before they left for college.

He ran his hand down her arm, leaving a trail of goose bumps beneath the black chiffon sleeve of her dress. Hi, he said as his gaze swept down the length of her, his voice deeper, sexier than she remembered.

Hi, she managed as a shiver ran down her spine and her lungs tightened beneath the unyielding black dress.

It’s been a long time. The corner of his lips turned up in a cocky grin. Shouldn't I get some kind of official birthday kiss?

Determined to control the situation, she placed her hands on his jaw and brought his face close to her lips. She placed a quick, chaste kiss on his cheek. Happy birthday!

Immediately she tried to jump off his lap, but his arms tightened around her. Oh no!

He flashed the smile that had won him Most Handsome, and she swallowed, nervous in his arms.

That's not exactly what I had in mind, he said, loosening his grip but still holding onto her. I want a kiss that will make me wish we were eighteen and parked out at Lookout Point again. He leaned in and whispered in her ear. You remember the kind we shared in high school…

Oh God! She was in so much trouble. How could she forget the night he'd permanently imprinted his kiss on her? For the last fifteen years, she'd been searching for an antidote.

The music from the portable player pounded out a tune while the pallbearers who escorted her stood ready to take control of the situation at her signal. But Jennifer stared into green eyes that seemed to reach inside her and heat her insides into molten liquid, leaving her limbs limp as wet noodles. Foolishly, she'd agreed to help Julia tonight. Foolishly, fifteen years ago she'd traded places with her sister and gone out with Brent.

No, she wasn't proud of what she'd done, but she'd never expected her fantasy to come true that night. She had deceived herself into believing that Brent knew who she was, only to realize later that he never comprehended the switch.

Now she feared the feel of his lips on hers would bring disaster, but she couldn't resist the temptation to explore them one more time and end her fifteen years of wondering and searching for what she'd felt that night. Surely this time the fantasy would end and she would be free from his spell.

She wanted to run, but instead her mouth met his halfway. As she breathed in Brent’s scent, his lips covered hers. She dissolved inside, his big hands holding her in his arms while her pheromones did a naked, sexual dance.

The jolt of his lips stroking hers roused her sleeping body from its sexual deprivation and sent her hormones skyrocketing to levels that left her dangerously vulnerable. Just like she was seventeen again.

She sank into his body, needing to feel closer as her mind replayed the memory of that night at Lookout Point on Lake Palestine. The frenzied touches of two awkward kids experiencing desire for the first time, learning about sex.

Cheers broke through the drugging sensation of his lips, and she pushed her hands between her chest and his, breaking them apart. Her breathing sounded ragged to her own ears, and she could feel the heat radiating from her face.

People surrounded them, yet she'd lost herself in the cocoon of his embrace, her mind engrossed in the remembrance of their first kiss.

He smiled, the gesture crooked and endearing. That was better than I remembered from high school, Julia.

The flames of sexual heat that held her in its grip were doused. She'd become so enraptured by his kiss that she'd let herself get caught up in his embrace, forgetting their history, breaking her promise to herself. After that night she’d sworn to never again impersonate her sister. Only Brent still didn't know that he'd dated Jennifer, not Julia.

She extricated herself from his arms and slid off his lap, feeling the need to escape.

Hey, where are you going? he asked, his eyes widening in surprise. The party is young yet. Stay and have a few drinks with me. We could catch up. Talk about old times.

Jennifer glanced around the room filled with beer-guzzling men who ogled her like a Playboy centerfold. She shuddered. Not her scene.

I don't think so. She grabbed the CD player, wanting to put as much distance between her and Brent Moulton as she possibly could. Lord, she was a coward. Have a great Birthday, Brent.

She turned to leave, but knew she'd regret her cowardly actions later. She wasn’t the same wimpy high school kid any longer. Determined not to let the past eclipse her return to Tyler or live in her sister's shadow a moment longer, she wheeled around to face Brent.

She gathered her courage and blurted out her identity. By the way, I'm Jennifer. I’ll be sure to tell Julia you're back in town.

His mouth fell open and she knew she'd surprised him. But would he remember? Would he make the connection between their kiss tonight and the one they had shared so many years ago?

Why should he? He thought he’d been with Julia.

She moved toward the door, motioning for Paul and the rest of the crew to follow. Apparently, that night held no special memories for him.

Hurrying through the door, she turned her face toward the darkness, her cheeks flaming with embarrassment. Oh God, she still felt mortified when she remembered how she'd given him her virginity in the back seat of his father’s ’67 Mustang and then he’d called her Julia! Never again had she impersonated her sister.

Jennifer opened the door to her parents' brownstone home and hurried in. Julia, are you here?

Her sister stepped out of the kitchen with a Fudgesicle in her hand. Hi! How did it go?

Jennifer stared into a replica of her own oval face with blonde wisps of hair curling around high cheekbones. She watched her sister innocently lick the chocolate ice cream. At five feet six, a hundred and twenty pounds soaking wet, Julia could afford to eat a Fudgesicle.

Well, let's see, I've never liked this act. I hate wearing this skimpy dress, and I hate getting into that awful coffin. But most of all I hate it when my sister doesn't tell me who the client is, and I discover it's someone we both know.

Julia stopped licking the melting ice cream bar and stared in surprise at her outburst. Her cornflower blue eyes widened. What are you talking about? Who was the client?

Oh come on, you had to know. Does the name Brent Moulton sound familiar? The guy you once dated? The idiot who couldn't tell us apart if we were standing right next to one another? She took a deep breath and watched Julia shrug her shoulders. You really didn't know?

I didn't! Julia exclaimed. Jeff Nogle called and made the arrangements for tonight. He said to show up at the Hilton Hotel and gave me the room number.

Jennifer sagged with relief. She should have known better than to assume that her sister would knowingly set her up with the one man she had dreaded seeing again.

Thank you. My first week back in town and I was afraid you’d set me up.

Julia grinned. I wouldn’t do that to you. I just appreciated your help tonight.

Jennifer watched her sister resume licking her Fudgesicle, recognizing from her expression that Julia spoke the truth. So why aren't you out at your gig tonight? How come I had to dress up like a dead freak in a Halloween Barbie costume and not you?

Julia smiled and finished her Fudgesicle. I went to a kid's birthday party where the children took great delight in playing Pin the Tail on the Donkey. Only I happened to be that donkey, and I have the pin pricks to prove it.

Jennifer laughed, the tension draining from her body, relieved that Julia had not intentionally set her up. She pulled out a kitchen chair and plopped down, the chiffon draping from her wrists. How do you do this day after day?

Its fun, and I make fairly decent money. But sometimes I need help. She threw the stick in the trash and turned to gaze at Jennifer.

Well, tonight I retired.

Julia ignored her comment. Brent Moulton was there. What did he look like after all these years?

The same, like he'd just stepped off the cover of Pretty Boy magazine. A gorgeous hunk who needs LASIK apparently. But other than his eyesight, not a thing wrong with the man, even after almost fifteen years.

He wears glasses now?

No, Jennifer groaned. He still can't tell us apart. Guilt overwhelmed her that she'd never told Julia what had really happened the night they switched places. It would be too humiliating to admit she'd let her passion go too far, and that after an hour of pleasure he'd called her by her sister’s name.

God, she'd been a foolish seventeen-year-old who knew nothing about life, even less about men, and was clueless when it came to sex.

It's been years, Jenn. How could he? Julia defended him. Then her brows wrinkled in thought. Did he say if he was married?

God, I hope not, Jennifer couldn't help but think. Married men were nothing but trouble. He wasn't wearing a ring, but we didn't exactly catch up on the years since we graduated.

Well, that makes three eligible singles from our class at Tyler High School. The rest are all married, Julia said, her voice sounding wistful. If only I could quiet the biological alarm clock telling me it's time to find Prince Charming. All I seem to find are toads.

Jennifer nodded in understanding. I know. After I broke my engagement with Lightening Lancelot, my hit ’em and run fiancé, I've become resigned to remaining single.

That was two years ago. You can't still feel that way.

Why not? Especially after nights like tonight, when I see the worst of the male species. A room full of men tanked up on beer and lust ogling a woman jumping out of a coffin. Then after Brent kissed me, he called me Julia. Yes, I know it’s been years, but how would you feel if someone called you Jennifer after he put his tongue down your throat?

Jennifer knew there was more to her irritated response to Brent's kisses, but she wasn't about to tell Julia everything.

He kissed you? Julia asked, raising her brows in question.

Yeah. And let's just say my tonsils vibrated all the way to my toes until I realized he had no clue who he was lip-locked with.

Julia giggled. Give the guy a break. We do look alike.

Only until you get to know us. So I guess what this means is that Brent Moulton never really knew either one of us well enough to see the differences.

Julia smiled. Personally, I think Brent wanted only one thing from me when we had those few dates that summer. As captain of the football team, he wanted a quick lay with the head cheerleader. After all, there was that rumor that the football captain always got the head cheerleader at the end of a winning season.

How immature, Jennifer said, her nerves jolting her out of the chair, unable to look her sister in the eye. Guilt at her adolescent promiscuity left her