Authors: Candy Halliday
“Why not?” Tish argued. “This boring cul-de-sac of ours could use some spicing up, if you ask me.”
“I like our boring cul-de-sac just the way it is,” Jen said, nose in the air.
“I agree,” Zada said. “Boring is definitely the way I need to keep things as long as Rick and I are sleeping under the same
roof.”
“I’d rethink that, if I were you, Zada,” Tish said. “Boring isn’t exactly what you need to be with hot and spicy Alicia living
right across the street.”
Zada didn’t answer.
But Tish’s point was well taken.
Z
ada looked at herself in the mirror. She was way overdressed for a walk across the street. But Tish was right; now was
not
the time to turn into a frumpy hausfrau.
Not with Alicia lurking in the shadows.
She adjusted the thin straps of her lime-green satin camisole, then turned around to check out how her butt looked in the
low-cut white capris she was wearing. They’d fit perfectly when she bought them, but now they felt a bit snug. Had she gained
weight?
Did
her butt look too big?
To hell with it.
I’ll never be able to handle the truth!
A few fluffs to her hair later, Zada took a deep breath and opened her bedroom door. As luck would have it, the bedroom door
at the opposite end of the hallway opened at the same time. She and Rick stood there for a moment, staring at each other.
Each of them waiting for the other one to make the first move.
Zada kept staring at Rick.
Rick kept staring at Zada.
Rick, she noticed, wasn’t overdressed. It didn’t matter, Zada decided. Rick looked better in a T-shirt and jeans than most
men looked in Armani—too damn good. So good, Zada’s mind flashed back to that image of him sprawled out naked on the bed.
To hell with that!
She started down the hall.
So did Rick.
They both reached the staircase at the same time.
“Wow,” he said, taking in her appearance.
And to hell with you!
Zada ignored his comment and made a sweeping gesture with her hand for Rick to go down the stairs first.
He didn’t.
Instead, he said, “You look incredible.”
“Don’t do this,” Zada told him.
“Don’t pay you a compliment?”
“Don’t act like everything’s back to normal because you moved back in.”
“If everything were back to normal,” Rick said with a teasing grin, “we would have come out of the same bedroom.”
Zada stamped her foot. “And don’t make comments like that one!”
“Don’t say you haven’t thought about it, Zada.”
“About what?”
“About how hard it’s going to be,” he said. “The two of us sleeping under the same roof. In separate bedrooms.”
Zada’s chin came up. “I thought that was the whole point of playing
Survivor,
” she said. “A game worthy of the settling the property dispute, didn’t you say? Winner takes all?”
“True,” he said. “I just didn’t realize my first challenge would be waiting for me when I arrived this morning.”
“Game on, Rick,” Zada reminded him happily.
His eyes instantly changed to brooding-blue mode.
“Game on,” he repeated. “But I’ll play fair and give you a choice. Do you want your first challenge now? Or do you want it
later when we get back from Tish and Joe’s?”
Zada laughed. “Later? As in after I’ve had a few glasses of wine later?” She laughed again. “You wish.”
Rick shrugged. “It’s your call.”
He took a step forward.
Then another.
Zada gulped.
“What do you think you’re doing?”
He grinned a sexy grin.
“Challenging your remark that you no longer find me irresistible.”
Zada willed herself not to back up. When she didn’t, strong arms slid around her waist. He pulled her roughly against him.
Mercy!
He was already hard—willing to prove her a liar.
She was already finding it hard not to let him.
Outwit. Outplay. Outlast.
Outwit. Outplay. Outlast.
His head inched forward.
Zada held her breath.
She kept watching his lips. His teasing, slightly parted lips. Amazing lips that had kissed every inch of her body. Lips that
were only inches away from her lips now.
Closer.
Closer.
Closer.
Zada turned her head at the last minute. His hot mouth found the hollow of her neck, instead. She managed to stifle a moan,
but a traitorous shiver of desire outran her. A tingle ransacked her entire body, yelling Rick’s name.
“See how challenging I can make this game over the next ninety days?” Rick whispered against her ear. “Are you sure you can
survive it?”
“Are you sure
you
can survive it?” Zada eked out between ragged breaths. “You’re the one who has to walk across the street with that bulge
in your pants.”
He held her close for a few more seconds.
Then he released her, and stepped back.
Zada grabbed for the banister, steadying herself.
“Congratulations,” Rick said. “Looks like we’ve both survived our first challenge.”
“I intend to survive all of them,” Zada told him.
“And I intend to see that you don’t,” he said.
Without warning, Rick grabbed her shoulders.
The kiss he delivered almost brought Zada to her knees.
“Game on,” he said when their lips broke apart.
Rick smiled again and walked down the stairs.
He and his bulge walked right out the door.
Zada walked right back to the bathroom, and splashed cold water on her just
out
-kissed face.
When Zada blew into Tish’s kitchen, Tish said, “Hi.”
Jen said, “What’s wrong with you? You look flushed.”
Zada ignored the question and headed straight for the island in the middle of the kitchen and the bottle of pinot sitting
on the bar. She poured herself a glass, downed it in one gulp, then poured another glass just as quickly.
“Still wicked pissed?” Tish asked.
Try wicked kissed!
“I don’t want to talk about it,” Zada said.
Jen didn’t try to hide a superior I-told-you-so smile.
“And don’t you dare look so pleased,” Zada warned Jen.
Jen laughed. “Surely you realized what you’d be facing when Rick moved back in, Zada.”
Zada drained the glass again.
“No,” Tish said, “Zada believed Rick would back out of the bet the second he saw the mess in the living room. Remember?”
“Zada didn’t believe that for one minute,” said Jen.
“Okay, okay,” Zada said. “I didn’t stop to think how hard it would be when Rick moved back in. He threw down the gauntlet
and I couldn’t ignore it. I should have realized he’d go right back to his old tricks. Always using sex to get the better
of me.”
“Rick propositioned you?” Jen asked.
“He might as well have,” Zada fumed. “He waylaid me on the staircase and kissed me silly. My first challenge, he called it.”
Jen shook her head. “Why you two would rather play silly games with each other, than admit you aren’t ready to give up on
your marriage, is beyond me.”
Zada sent her a suspicious look. “How do you know Rick isn’t ready to give up on our marriage? Did he say something to Charlie?”
“Oh, no you don’t,” Jen said, shaking her finger at Zada. “Charlie and I agreed we are not taking sides. Nor are we carrying
messages back and forth between you. If you want to know how Rick feels about your marriage, you’ll have to ask him yourself.”
“Great idea, Jen,” Zada said. “I’ll just run down to the basement right now and interrupt the poker game to find out how Rick
feels about our marriage.”
“I have a better idea,” Tish said. “Maybe you should call Rick’s bluff. You can make advances toward him, too, you know.”
Zada shook her head. “No way. I’d advance myself right into bed with him. I’m not willing to take that chance.”
Tish said, “But I thought you were prepared to meet Rick head on, Zada. So you both could have closure.”
“That was yesterday,” Zada admitted. “When I was talking big and still feeling confident.”
“And,” Jen threw in, “when you were positive Rick would take one look at the living room and walk right back out the door.”
“I thought you and Charlie agreed you were staying out of this,” Zada reminded Jen with a don’t-rub-it-in frown.
Tish looked at over Jen. “I wouldn’t be so smug about Charlie not taking sides, Jen. Joe wasn’t happy when he learned Zada
had help trashing the house. He couldn’t wait to tell me he and Charlie didn’t intend to let us women gang up on Rick. Joe
said he and Charlie both gave Rick a few suggestions on how to beat Zada at her own game.”
Jen frowned. “But I didn’t help you trash the house.”
Tish said, “No, but you were there. I guess that gave Charlie the excuse he needed to toss out a few suggestions to Rick.”
Jen’s lips pressed together in a thin line.
“What kind of suggestions?” Zada wanted to know.
Tish laughed. “Like Joe would have told me, even if I’d been stupid enough to ask. Jen might be naïve enough to think guys
don’t stick together like we women do, but I know better.”
Jen said, “So Charlie gave Rick a few suggestions, did he?” She reached for the wine bottle and poured herself a glass of
wine.
“Seriously, you two,” Zada said, “the last thing I want to do is cause any problems between you and your husbands.”
“You aren’t causing any problems,” Jen was quick to say. “But now that I know where Charlie stands on the issue, you can be
sure my days of staying neutral are over.”
“Thatta girl,” Tish said, grinning. She thought for a second. “I think I have an idea,” she said. “An idea that will make
Rick back off and put Joe and Charlie in their places.
And
that will add a little sizzle to the dribble we pass off as conversation every Saturday night.”
Sizzle?
Yup.
“Sizzle” pretty much described Rick’s blistering kiss.
Zada reached for the wine bottle again.
“Maybe I lied,” Charlie said. “Maybe it isn’t so good to have you back home.”
Rick laughed and spread his cards out on the game table. “Read ’em and weep, boys. Read ’em and weep.”
“That’s the third game you’ve won in a row,” Charlie grumbled.
Rick happily raked the pennies in his direction.
“But don’t let it go to your head,” Joe said, taking a few puffs from his poker-night cigar. “Charlie and I haven’t played
much poker since you’ve been gone. Give us a chance to warm up, and you’ll be the one who’s weeping.”
Rick was surprised. “Why haven’t you played since I’ve been gone?”
“We more or less lost interest,” Charlie said. “It wasn’t much fun beating Joe every game.”
Joe said, “Tell the truth, Charles. You win only when I feel sorry for you and let you win.”
“Shut up and deal,” said Charlie.
Joe shoved the cigar between his teeth, shuffled the cards, then tossed them around the table. He looked up and smiled when
Tish came down the stairs with a platter of their favorite nacho cheese appetizers.
“Thanks, hon,” Joe said when she placed the platter on the table. He frowned when she placed the baby monitor on the table
beside the appetizers.
“Ah, come on, Tish,” Joe protested. “How can I concentrate on the game if I’m glancing at the twins every few minutes?”
Tish folded her arms across her chest. “The same way I concentrate on everything I have to do around here and keep up with
the twins when you’re traveling all week.”
Rick looked up from his cards. The monitor screen showed the twins’ bedroom. They were sitting on the floor, controls in hand,
a video game on their TV screen.
“I’m getting ready to go up now and tell them lights out,” Tish said. “And I’m depending on you to make sure they stay in
bed after I tuck them in.”
“Okay, okay,” Joe grumbled.
“And keep the monitor on,” Tish ordered. “No just checking on them every now and then.”
“Whatever you say, dear,” Joe said.
Tish disappeared back up the stairs.
Joe reached over and switched off the monitor.
“See how well the magic phrase works?” he said, grinning over at Rick. “Agree with your wife. Then do exactly what you want.”
“But shouldn’t you leave the monitor on?” Rick asked.
Joe snorted. “Hell, no. The twins are eight years old, not infants. This obsession Tish has of watching them every minute
is ridiculous. She’s made me install cameras all over the damn house.”
“She made
us
install cameras all over the house,” Charlie corrected. “One in the playroom, after the twins crawled out the upstairs window
onto the roof last year. One in their bathroom a few months ago, after they stuffed a pillow in the toilet and flooded the
entire upstairs. And the most recent one was last weekend in the kitchen, after the twins decided microwaving the hamster
might be a fun thing to do.”
Joe frowned. “The twins were only trying to
cremate
the hamster,” Joe corrected, “so they could keep Wuzzy’s ashes in their room. And that’s Tish’s fault for explaining cremation
to them in the first place, and for keeping her favorite aunt Ida’s ashes in that urn on the mantel.”
Rick couldn’t help but laugh.
So did Charlie.
“God, I’m glad I have a daughter,” Charlie said.
Joe grinned. “I’ll remind you of that in a few years when one of the twins shows up to take Sonya out on a date.”
Rick really laughed that time.
Charlie didn’t.
“Enough about the twins,” Joe said. “Are we playing poker? Or are we going to sit around gossiping like the girls are doing
upstairs?”
Charlie said, “And I guess you already know who they’re gossiping about tonight.”
Joe looked at Rick.
Rick looked at Joe.
They both looked back at Charlie.
“Alicia,” Charlie said, looking at Joe. “Didn’t Tish tell you?”
“No, Tish didn’t tell me,” Joe said. “And I wish you’d stop pointing that out. Tish only tells me what Tish wants me to know.”