Fool for Love: Fooling Around\Nobody's Fool\Fools Rush In (6 page)

He felt ridiculously pleased by that. Of course he probably wouldn't come back, but he liked being wanted. “It was fun, but I'm not sure it's my thing.”

“I thought you did very well.” She slipped on her shoes and her cute little ankle bracelet jiggled.

“I thought you were spectacular.”

She laughed. “I have a long way to go.”

“But you'll keep up with it?”

“I might. Ready to leave?”

He was definitely ready to leave. “Sure.” He followed her through the open classroom door and down the hall. “Friday night seems like kind of a strange time to have a class like that, though.” He was already thinking ahead to taking long weekends with Lena this summer, maybe over to San Diego.

She didn't respond until they were outside and walking toward the car. “I should probably tell you
that the class isn't normally on a Friday night. It's scheduled for Wednesday.”

Something in her voice made him glance over at her. “So why the switch?” He had a hunch he knew, although it seemed incredible.

“I, um, set it up as a special deal.”

“Just for our date?” He still couldn't quite believe it.

She nodded.

“So everyone in that room took an extra class this week so that you could bring me in on it?” In a way he was flattered that she'd go to so much trouble, but he didn't appreciate being part of an experiment, either.

“Trust me, it was no hardship. They were all curious as to how you'd react.”

He turned to face her. “Lena, are you
testing
me?”

“No! I promise I'm not testing you.”

“It sure seems that way.”

“I'll bet it does. But I'm not. I just want this date to be…different.”

He gazed at her, and realized that no matter what her motives were, she'd succeeded in getting his complete attention. “Mission accomplished,” he said softly. “So what's next?” He mentally crossed his fingers and hoped she'd suggest going back to her place.

“Goofy golf.”

L
ENA CRINGED
at Andre's expression of dismay. Of course he didn't want to play goofy golf. Only an idiot would want to cap off the evening dodging whirling windmills and navigating bumpy artificial turf. She could guess what he wanted to do instead. Something adult, like a makeout session on a soft couch.

She wanted to do the exact same thing, especially after getting hot and bothered in the dance class. A cool evening breeze caressed her damp skin, reminding her of another activity that also would bathe her in sweat. Oh, yeah, she wanted to do that…someday. But it wouldn't be happening tonight.

“Goofy golf.” Andre repeated her answer in a monotone.

“Sure!” Oh, God, this was so ridiculous. He might have been interested before, but this would kill it for sure. “When was the last time you played a round?” She unlocked the car and walked over to the driver's side.

“I think I was sixteen.” He climbed into the car.

She slid into her seat and closed the door. “I'll bet you had fun.” She tried to calculate whether Brandy and Meg's surprise appearance at the dance
class canceled her obligation to follow through with goofy golf. Probably not, damn it.

“Well, sure I had fun. I mean, how much is there to do when you're a clueless sixteen-year-old?”

Yep, he hated this idea. Lena started the car and pulled out of the parking lot. She doubted he'd been clueless at sixteen, doubted he'd ever been clueless. “Did you have a girlfriend?”

“Uh-huh. And what a disaster that was. I thought she'd broken my heart for good.”

She looked over at him, relieved to be talking about something other than this dumb golf gig. “So what happened? Did she leave you for the star quarterback?”

“Are you kidding? I
was
the star quarterback.”

She should have known. He'd been a cool guy back then, too. “So how did she break your heart?”

“She dumped me because I was a desperate virgin who wanted to have sex with the first girl I'd ever loved. I tried not to let on what I was after, but she could tell. She said I was a nasty boy.”

“And were you?”

“Guess so. Still am.”

His implication was obvious. And she was more excited than she cared to admit, wondering what this nasty boy might have in mind for her. Instead she was required to derail all his nasty impulses by forcing him to play goofy golf. “So what about you?” he asked. “Did you break some poor teenager's heart?”

If only she had, then she'd appear more worldly. But she was a terrible liar. “I didn't have a serious boyfriend in high school.”

“That's hard to believe.”

She gave him an A-plus for gallantry. “Not if you met my parents. They scared me to death with stories of girls who got pregnant and ruined their lives. They said the only form of birth control guaranteed to work was keeping your legs crossed.”

“Oh, God, you sound like my first girlfriend! She used to say that to me all the time. So I'd try to control myself and pretend that kissing her didn't drive me insane, but every Saturday night make-out session produced an obvious physical reaction and she was offended. She said if I respected her I wouldn't get that way.”

“My parents used to say that nice boys didn't have those kinds of ideas.”

“Then I've never met a nice boy, because any guy I've ever known, especially at that age, is completely focused on getting some…well, anyway.” He cleared his throat. “You know, I always wondered if Ellen got as worked up as I did during those nights we'd go parking out on some lonely road. I never got my hand close enough to her panties to find out.”

“She probably did.” Lena had no doubt. It was happening to her, just talking about make-out sessions with Andre.

His voice grew husky. “What makes you say that?”

“No fair.”

“Sure it's fair. I'll play goofy golf if that's what you want to do. But I have to tell you, that belly-dancing class had quite an effect on me. I'm in better control of myself than I was at sixteen, but I still want to know if you're messing with my mind.”

Lena was glad that they'd arrived at the entrance for the miniature golf course, because his direct question had her shaking. She parked the car and turned off the engine before facing him. “I had no idea how you'd react to any of this.”

“I believe that.” His gaze burned into hers. “So I'm telling you my reaction, straight out. I want you, Lena.”

A tremor passed through her. “This is our first date.”

His expression softened immediately. “Yeah. Yeah, you're right. I'm coming on too strong. I—”

“It's okay.” She couldn't let him take the blame. “I'm…I'm more involved than I thought I'd be at this stage.” Understatement of the year. She wanted him desperately. If they didn't leave the car soon, she'd either attack him or start chewing on the steering wheel. “But it
is
still our first date.” That was her story and she was sticking to it.

“Maybe miniature golf is a good idea.” He opened his door. “I'll even give you a handicap.”

 

A
S IT TURNED OUT
, Andre struggled to keep the score even. On the first hole he let her putt first, figuring it was the gentlemanly thing to do. He hadn't counted on lust kicking in when she leaned over to place her red ball on the rubber mat. Cleavage city.

He was still thinking about that outstanding view when he positioned his blue ball on the mat, whacked it right past the hole, over the brick border and into the bushes.

His game never recovered. He became mesmerized by the way Lena moistened her lips before she
stroked the ball into the hole—so mesmerized that he had to be reminded to take his turn. Her fingers curled around the shaft of the club created even more sensual images.

Grabbing a kiss was out of the question with chaperones to the front of them and chaperones to the rear. They followed a family with two little girls, and behind them three rowdy teenage boys kept him on the straight and narrow.

Left with little choice, he pretended to care about the game, when all he wanted was to see the marker for the eighteenth hole. Maybe he wouldn't get what he really wanted at the end of this golf game, but he'd settle for being allowed to kiss those full lips of hers. If she wanted to keep things light on the first date, he'd work with that. And he'd start making plans for the second date, and the third and the fourth.

He was so involved in the potential of future dates that he didn't notice the configuration of the sixteenth hole until after Lena hit her ball into a dimly lit cave and followed it inside. A quick glance told Andre the cup was inside the cave, too.

After turning back to check the position of the high-school jocks, he discovered that horsing around had left them a full hole behind. He might have a good sixty seconds in the cave with Lena. If he had his way, they would be a
very
good sixty seconds. Pocketing his ball, he walked into the cave.

She looked surprised. “I didn't see you putt in.”

“That's because I'm conceding this one.” He stepped closer and dropped his club to the artificial
turf. “Instead I thought we could do a little fooling around.”

“Andre, I don't think—”

“Just one kiss, Lena. One kiss to keep me going. That's all I ask.”

Her mouth, the object of his quest, turned up at the corners. “Okay.”

Green light.
He pulled her into his arms and closed the distance between his lips and hers with a groan of impatience. Briefly he wondered if deprivation had made him exaggerate the effect of her kiss. Nope. Once he made contact he was in the pleasure zone.

Time stopped. His focus narrowed to the sensation of the kiss, so erotic it made his knees weak. Her mouth promised, teased and finally opened to the thrust of his tongue. His erection bloomed, and he cupped her tight bottom, settling her against him so that she'd have no doubt of his ultimate intentions.

And she wiggled closer.

Lost to everything but the hot woman snuggling in his arms, he backed her up against the wall of the cave. His brain swirled with thoughts of cleavage and damp panties. God knows what he might have tried next if a golf ball hadn't hit his foot with a solid thump.

Muttering a soft curse, he released her. “We have company. Let's go.” He picked up the ball and tossed it back through the opening.

The response from outside the cave was immediate. “Whoa, dude, check it out! Major rebound!”

Stuffing Lena's ball in his other pocket, Andre grabbed both clubs in one hand and her arm in the other. “Let's get out of here.”

She was breathing hard. “But we haven't finished this hole.”

“Ask me if I care.”

“We need to—”

“No, we don't.”

At first it looked as if she might actually pull away from him, but at last she allowed him to lead her out of the cave. “We'll just go on to seventeen, then.”

He stared at her, unable to believe after melting his circuits she'd want to keep playing this silly game. “How about if we bag the whole program?”

“We have to finish.”

“Let's not and say we did! Lena, what difference does it make?”

“After we play the last two holes, I'll explain. I promise I will.”

He knew he was getting cranky and took a deep breath. “I'm confused,” he said more gently. “When I kiss you, you seem ready for anything, but then…then you act like we're following some blueprint.”

“I can see why you'd think that.” She angled her head toward the next hole. “Can you humor me a little longer? It's only two more and then I'll explain.”

“After this explanation,
then
can we have a little private time?”

“Well…” She looked uncertain. “I'm worried about what you'll think of me if we take it too fast.”

He reached out and touched her arm. “I'm worried about what you'll think of me, too, okay? I promise not to think poorly of you if you won't think poorly of me. Lena, we have fireworks going on here. I
don't have a first-date rule, but if you do, then maybe after we finish the game you should take me home.”

“That would be the sensible thing, huh?”

“Guess so.” His sense of humor came back. “Hey, what if you took me home, said goodbye and then drove around the block? Could we start on our second date if you came back in ten minutes?”

She laughed. “It does seem kind of ridiculous, doesn't it? If either one of us had been more assertive, we'd have started dating months ago.”

“Right. So by now, we'd be on our fifty-second date, at least.”

She smiled and held out her hand. “I can see why you're one of Thunderbird's top salesmen. Now give me my ball so we can wrap up this match.”

He handed it over. “We really have to finish?”

“We really do.”

He sighed and shook his head. “I don't get it.”

“I'll explain.”

He didn't want explanations. He wanted Lena, naked.

 

A
S
L
ENA WATCHED
Andre struggle through the last two holes of goofy golf, she knew she had to tell him about the April Fools. That might ruin everything between them, but if she didn't tell him, he'd think she was some sort of anal dweeb who stuck to her plan no matter what. Besides, with the way this date was going, she'd eventually want him to know about the April Fools. She'd want him to know everything about her.

Including the fact that you'll soon be his boss?
nagged the voice of her conscience. Yes, but she
couldn't dump everything on him at once, could she? The April Fools were the least explosive of the two pieces of information. She'd see how he reacted to that, first.

His score for the last two holes was even worse than it had been for the previous sixteen.

“Are you sure you've done this before?” she teased as they turned in their putters at the front counter.

“Yeah, but never under such challenging conditions.” He took her hand as they walked out to the car.

The snug feel of his fingers laced through hers made her think of bodies intertwined, wrapped together, fervently seeking satisfaction. “What do you mean? The weather's perfect.”

“I happen to think it's hotter than the inside of a pizza oven around here.”

In the glow of the parking-lot lights she caught the gleam in his eye. “Are you hinting that you were distracted?”

“Forget the hints. I'll just say it. You took advantage of me. Ruined my short game. If there had been a long game involved, you would have ruined that, too.”

She grinned and realized she was having a fantastic time, better than she ever would have envisioned when she'd thought about this dating challenge. “But I didn't even flirt with you!”

“Hell, no, you didn't flirt. Flirting's for sissies. You skipped that completely in favor of flashing me some cleavage every time you positioned your ball. You'll never convince me that was an accident.”

“Not exactly.” Not after the first time, when she'd heard his quick gasp and had realized she'd been the cause of it. She'd been fascinated by her own power and couldn't resist testing it again…and again. She knew it wasn't fair to tease him when they wouldn't be having sex tonight, but they would have sex sometime, as long as he didn't blow a fuse when he heard the two secrets she was keeping.

“Just as I thought. You've been intentionally driving me nuts.” Although his voice was light, there was an underlying huskiness to it. “And I'm afraid that, by the end of this date, I'm going to be certifiable.”

If only she could invite him over to her apartment and be done with it. Maybe next week she would, after the promotion had taken effect and they knew how it affected their relationship. During the golf game she'd had time to think about that. Dating her might change Andre's life in ways he wouldn't appreciate. Dana could insist on transferring him out of the office, and he might not want to make that kind of sacrifice for the privilege of having a relationship with her.