Then He Kissed Me (16 page)

“But if you hadn’t been born, who would be my partner for couples Bunco?”

He stilled. “Couples Bunco?”

“Two weeks from tonight. The first Friday in May. Dress is cocktail casual, or so I’ve been told. It’ll be my first time going and I find myself in need of a date, although, we wouldn’t have to consider it a date.” She paused long enough to catch her breath. “So, what do you say? Are you game?”

“Absolutely.”

She fought back her grin. “That’s exactly what I hoped you’d say.”

C
ocktail casual sounded simpler
in theory than in actual practice. She could go retro, of course. But Lauren opted for something more modern. A white long sleeved lace mini dress with a fringed hem and strappy silver sandals. Looking at it now, she wondered if she’d made the wrong choice. Not because the dress was too short, although at mid-thigh, it was shorter than anything she usually wore. Nor was it too revealing. Beneath the see-through lacey organza was a white polyester shift that covered everything up just nicely. But there was something about the dress that made her feel not…herself.

Herself didn’t go out on dates. Herself also didn’t spend two hours primping in front of the mirror. And Herself certainly didn’t think about what it would feel like if Nate Miller were to kiss her again (all right, so that last part was a big fat lie).

Momma’s eyes nearly bugged out when she saw the dress. She and Daddy had dropped by the house on their way out to dinner. Momma, of course, was thrilled to hear that Lauren was going out with Nate, even though Lauren warned her it wasn’t a date. “That’s what you’re wearing to your Bunco party?” Momma asked.

“Why? Is it too much?” 

“Only if you want to give the poor man a heart attack,” Momma said, then laughed. “No, darling, it’s just…I’ve never seen you look so grown up before.”

Grown up was
code
for sexy. Lauren could see it in Momma’s eyes.

Daddy, who’d been quiet up to now, just smiled. “You look lovely, Sweet Tea.”

Ever since the incident with his hand a few months ago, he hadn’t been as animated as usual. Once, when she and Henry had gone over for Sunday dinner, Daddy had forgotten Henry’s name. It was a tense moment, but Momma had quickly glossed over it, and later, he’d seemed more like his old self and everyone had breathed a sigh of relief.

She’d been meaning to ask him if he knew anything about her building and Nora and Vince’s plans to sell. Now seemed as good a time as any.

“Nora’s selling land?” Daddy shook his head. “Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but Earl left her more than plenty of money. Of course, that husband of hers is one greedy SOB so I wouldn’t doubt he’s behind it.”

Daddy never spoke ill of anyone. But it was no secret he’d never liked Nora’s current husband, Vince Palermo. According to Daddy, Vince and Nora had Earl’s power of attorney.

He frowned, like he’d just thought of something. “Who told you all this, Sweet Tea?”

“Orla Butterfield, from Waterbury Real Estate. She’s the agent in charge of my lease.”

“I think she’s wrong. I don’t think Nora can sell that land.” He watched her carefully. “If the building does get sold, what are you going to do?”

She wasn’t ready to tell her parents about her new idea yet, so she shrugged like it was no big deal.

Before Daddy could say anything else, Momma interjected. “Oh, poo! Who cares about all that right now?” She smiled at Lauren. “I told you Nate Miller was interested in you. Didn’t I say he’d call? And I didn’t even have to get Lanie involved!”

“Momma, Nate and I are just friends,” Lauren said. “I’m the one who asked him to this party. Not the other way around, so please, don’t make a big deal of it.”

“Maybe you’re just friends now, but wait till he sees you in that dress,” she predicted gleefully.

“Then maybe I should change.”

“Don’t you dare!” She kissed Lauren on the cheek and made her promise to call in the morning with all the “details.” Daddy just shook his head and followed Momma out the door. Lauren was glad to see them getting out for a change. Daddy had been cooped up in the house for far too long.

She texted Henry, who was spending the weekend with Tom, to remind him to finish his history project, then touched up her lipstick. The doorbell rang. She scooped up her clutch and answered the door.

Nate’s version of cocktail casual was spot on. He wore navy slacks with a crisp peach oxford shirt open at the neck and a matching navy blazer. Who was dressing him? Certainly not Jessica. Not anymore. Maybe Lanie had a flair for fashion. Or maybe after three years together he’d absorbed Jessica’s “fashion know how.”

“You must be a fast learner,” she blurted.

“I’m not sure what that means, but as a matter of fact, yes, I am.” Then he smiled, making those killer dimples pop out. His gaze slowly took her in from head to toe. “Wow. Just…
wow.
You look terrific.”

“Thanks.” She felt his eyes on her all the way to the car, making her self-conscious. No matter how much she protested, she couldn’t keep lying to herself. She had picked out this dress for
him
. She’d gotten a mani and a pedi and conditioned and polished every inch of herself until she shined. She wanted to look her best because there was absolutely no doubt about it. Momma was right.

Tonight was a date.

*~*~*

U
p till tonight, if
you’d ask Nate what he knew about Bunco, he would have probably shrugged and said it was a bunch of women who got together to drink wine and do a little gossiping. He would have only been partially right. Bunco, much to his surprise, was a lot like guys’ poker night. He’d been to a few of those back during his residency. Generally, it involved drinking, cigar smoking, raunchy jokes, and a healthy dose of some good natured competitive betting.

Couples Bunco was exactly the same. Except the cigar smoking and the raunchy jokes were done in the privacy of the outdoor patio, away from the women. Nate imagined the women had their own similar version going on in another part of the house.

They’d been playing for over an hour now, and were officially on break. Which meant it was time to get a fresh drink, eat some food, and mingle. Nate was in the backyard patio with a few of the husbands, drinking a longneck and listening to Moose Masterson, tonight’s host, tell what was apparently a well-known story about his wife, Shea. A couple of years ago while hosting their regular Thursday night Bunco game, she’d accidentally spiked the margaritas with some grain alcohol Moose kept stashed in the garage, resulting in the women getting uproariously drunk. The incident had been accidentally taped, then played for the whole town to see during a Bunco Black Tie fundraiser for the town’s new rec center. It had made the headline
Bunco Babes Gone Wild
in the town’s paper, The Whispering Bay Gazette.

Moose, a big guy who perfectly matched his name, puffed on a cigar and laughed. “You can believe Shea never came near my moonshine again!”

The rest of the men, obviously familiar with the story, laughed as well, including Nate. He hadn’t had many opportunities to meet people or to socialize since coming back to town and his few high school friends were all living in different parts of the country now. This party was a situation where everyone obviously knew everyone well. Old friends. Old stories to laugh at. Ordinarily, he might have felt like an outsider. But they’d all gone out of their way to make him feel comfortable. Tonight had been pleasant. In more ways than one.

He glanced through the open French doors and caught a glimpse of Lauren, standing in the kitchen, a glass of wine in one hand. She was talking to a group of women and she looked unbelievably hot in that white dress. It wasn’t that it was too short or that it showed any cleavage. She was covered up in all the places that men usually liked exposed.

But
damn
. That dress clung to her like a second skin. It curved her ass like nobody’s business and he found himself reduced to that eighteen-year-old kid who’d followed her down the hall just to see her walk from behind. He tossed back the rest of his beer. He was in trouble, all right. He wasn’t sure how much longer he could take of this “friends” thing of hers.

“Not drinking tonight, Steve?” Zeke Grant asked. Zeke was Whispering Bay’s chief of police. His wife, Mimi, was Lauren’s closest friend.

“Kitty can’t drink, so I figured I wouldn’t either,” said Steve Pappas. He was a nice guy. Quiet, but not easily overlooked. He raised his bottle of water in salute to his wife. Kitty was the pregnant one. Almost thirty-seven weeks according to what Lauren had told him. The Bunco group had thrown her a baby shower just last week. It was Kitty who Lauren had designed the original maternity dress for. She was wearing another of Lauren’s designs tonight and the other women had all oohed and aahed over the dress. Lauren had beamed at their praise and Nate had been proud of her. He hoped like hell this new business of hers took off.

“If you’re not drinking, does that mean you’re the designated driving couple?” Moose asked Steve.

“That’s us,” Steve said.

“So,” Zeke said to Nate, “You’re dating Lauren?”

The men all turned to look at him.

“I wouldn’t say we’re dating. We’re more like friends,” he said.

“Uh-huh,” Moose said.

“That’s how it always starts out,” Steve said. “First they just want to be friends. Then before you know it, you’re a couple.”

“But only when she tells you you’re a couple,” Zeke emphasized. “Got it?”

“Got it.”

They grinned and took turns slapping him on the back like he’d just gone through some sort of initiation, and then the talk turned to baseball, and after a few minutes, someone rang the cowbell, also known as the Bunco Bell. They used the bell to signal when to change tables or to announce that a break was over.

Nate slid a couple of loaded nachos onto a plate, found his designated table and took a seat across from Lauren. Her blue eyes were flushed with happiness. “Having a good time?” she asked him.

“Having a great time,” he said. Their gazes held for a few seconds, then the bell rang again signaling the beginning of the game.

It had only taken Nate a couple of games to catch on. They played in two teams of two at each table. There were six tables tonight—for a total of twenty-four players—the twelve Bunco Babes plus their significant others. Each table was numbered from one to six, with table one as the “head” table. Whenever a team won at table one, the game was over for everyone in the room. The winning team stayed at their table, and the losing team rotated to the next table down.

Currently, they were rolling for fours. Nate picked up the three dice and tossed them, but no fours. Frida Hampton, the owner of The Bistro by the Beach and her husband, Ed, were their competition this round. Ed went on a streak, easily outscoring Lauren and Nate. Within a few minutes, someone at the head table yelled, “Bunco!” causing the entire room to shout with glee or to boo, depending on how well they’d done that game.

It was Kitty Pappas who’d rolled the Bunco. She pumped her fist in the air. “Who’s going to be tonight’s big winner?
Me
! That’s who!”

Steve shook his head and grinned. “And that’s my wife
without
liquor,” he said, causing everyone to laugh.

The bell rang and the losing couple switched tables to begin another game. “How are we doing?” Lauren asked, glancing at their scorecard.

“Okay, I guess,” Nate said. This time they were rolling for fives, and once again, Kitty and Steve Pappas won at the head table, only this time Kitty not only shouted out her victory, she began doing a little dance around the room. “Bathroom break!” she cried and the rest of the women laughed as Kitty made a dash down the hallway.

“Didn’t we just take a break?” Ed Hampton asked.

“Yes, but you’re not pregnant,” Frida said, lightly slapping her husband on the arm with their scorecard.

“So, we change tables again, huh?” Nate asked Lauren. They’d lost the last four games in a row.

“Yep. I think you’re bringing me bad luck here, Miller. Maybe I should ditch you for someone else.” She’d never called him by his last name before. It sounded like she was flirting with him.

He quickly went over the signs in his head. He’d gotten the signals correctly that night on the beach when he’d kissed her. But ever since then she’d insisted on this friends routine. Her actions, however, belied her words. He’d taken note of the way of her skin flushed and her eyes widened whenever he got too close. The lingering looks when she thought he wasn’t watching. And the sweet way she’d melted against him that night he had taken a chance and slipped his arm around her during the movie. He wanted her so badly it hurt. Physically, he could hold out. He didn’t have to have sex with her tonight. Or even next week or next month. But he had to know that eventually it was going to happen. Or he’d go crazy.

He went to get a bottled water from the kitchen when he noticed Kitty Pappas standing in the hallway. Her arm was braced against the wall and her face was pale.

“Are you all right?” Nate asked her.

“Oh!” Kitty immediately straightened up like she’d been caught doing something she shouldn’t. “It’s these Braxton-Hicks contractions! I probably just need to drink more water.”

“How long have you been having them?” he asked.

“Well, I always have them. At least lately,” she said. “And the backache and the swelling.” She laughed. “But I’m sure you know about that.”

Nate had done a general obstetrical rotation during his family practice residency, but he was no OB-GYN. Still, he knew enough to tell that she looked uncomfortable. “Why don’t you go lie down for a few minutes? I’m sure no one would mind if we took another break from playing.”