Diane (The Town of Pearl 6)

Chapter 1

Diane Mercury hurried out to her Jeep. It was pouring rain, and tonight had turned into the worst night ever. She shouldn’t have let Kelly and Ina talk her into going into Keanter and partying. She hated drinking, she never felt comfortable with any man, and she was definitely not into the one-night-stand thing. Hell, she was a virgin and hated showing off her body. Again, she glanced down at the snug-fitting dress she wore and cowgirl boots. She wanted to look good tonight for the dance floor. This particular place, Murphy’s, was one of the hottest dance halls around. They didn’t even let you in the place unless you dressed up a certain way.

She gripped the steering wheel tighter just as she headed through Croton. Just a few more miles and she would be in Pearl and then her warm, fluffy bed. She thought about the guys who tried to kiss her tonight. The ones who wrapped their arms around her as she danced the two-step around the large oval dance floor. She just couldn’t seem to let go, or to get that creepy feeling out of her head.

I don’t know what’s wrong with me? I hate feeling like this. I hate feeling insecure about my body, my big ass, my hips, and my large breasts. I know I’m no toothpick like Kelly, nor am I what anyone would call petite, but I wish I met someone who made me feel beautiful.

Immediately Diane thought about Mark Santos and his brothers Lucas and Drake. Maybe she was reading into the fact that Mark came into the boutique once a week to buy lingerie and ask her what she liked. It bothered her to think that he was buying lingerie for other women, but it shouldn’t. He hadn’t ever asked her out, or even flirted, except for a bump to her elbow or every now and then she would catch him staring at her. Why would a man like Mark Santos, a federal agent, be interested in her? Mark was so mysterious and sexy. He disappeared for weeks at a time, and she heard through the grapevine, her friend Sage, that he did secret, dangerous jobs for the government. That in itself was sexy.

When she saw him or his brothers in town, which was rarely, she pretended that they were watching her, or maybe they were but she had wished so much that they did pay attention that she actually thought she saw them watching her.

“God, I’m such a loser.”

Mark did show up at some of the strangest times. One minute he wasn’t there and then next he appeared. It was a mystery, and also an ability of his she fantasized about. Like maybe he would just appear i

n her bedroom one night, naked of course, and ready to take action and claim her virginity?

She felt the car pulling a little to the right as the rain continued to pour down. She was making her way onto the last long road from Croton to Pearl and her mind once again went to the Santos men. She liked them. Hell, she fantasized about them and probably because she knew they would never pay attention to her. She even bought one of those expensive cuckoo clocks that Drake and Lucas hand carved. She loved their work and wondered if it was a kind of therapy for the two men.

Drake was very hard and demanding, with the scars on his arm and one by his eye. His black crew cut hair, and the way he dressed so perfectly was all military. She found his scars and his deep expressions a mystery just as much as she found Lucas’s to be. Except Lucas intimidated her the most. She was afraid of him and the sad, lost look in his eyes. He hardly ever spoke, and stayed clear of town except when there was an event.

All three men were so sexy and tall, over six feet three with muscles and a capability other men just didn’t have. The fact was, even if they did pay attention to her, she probably wouldn’t have the guts to follow her desires. She was shy, insecure, and she needed to change if she ever wanted to be as happy and loved as her sister Melissa.

Diane gripped the wheel as she heard the loud pop and the car swerved.

“Son of a bitch!” she exclaimed, hitting the breaks and pulling off on the side of the road. “A flat tire? Really?” She banged the steering wheel.

She reached for her cell. It was one o’clock in the morning. Who could she call? A series of thoughts went through her head. Should she call her brothers-in-law, Hank, Paul, and Willie? What about Wyatt or even just the sheriff’s department in Pearl to see if one of the other deputies were working and could help? But then she suddenly felt that sensation in her gut.

I can’t continue on this path of weakness and insecurity. I know how to change a tire. Well, I think I know how. Hell, I saw the commercial where the teenager just learned how to drive and her father made her change a tire in the pouring rain. I could do this.

With a new sense of independence, self-confidence, and determination, she opened the door and stepped out into the dark, rainy night, only slightly illuminated by the bright moon.

She would feel really good in the morning when she saw her sister and told her about her accomplishment.

She hurried toward the back of the Jeep and pulled open the small door. There was the jack and the thingy she needed to take the bolts off the tire first. What the heck is this thing called?

She pulled out the jack and looked at it as if it were the most foreign thing ever. “What the hell?”

She panicked a moment as the rain beat down soaking her.

Quickly she jumped back into her Jeep, wiped her face, and Google searched how to change a tire and use a jack. She also read a text from Ina who wondered if she left with the two blonds who were grabbing her ass and kissing Diane’s neck. Feeling angry at the memory, she researched the Internet for directions.