Her eyes narrowed. He had her dangling on his hook. Instead of booting his ass out, she was actually setting the game on her dining table. Inviting him to stay!
He casually asked, “Since Rummikub is on the table and sex is off, I gather I’ll get a third date to prove myself in the sex department?”
“We’re no longer limiting dates. You need to impress me, and we need time to see what works for us both.” She sounded so clinical about it, so it was delightful to see her cheeks turn rosy as she added, “I want to feel you inside me.”
Hell, yes. “With a condom I’m happy to provide.”
“Safe sex all the way.” She looked as if she meant to say something else then sat at the table. “You ready to lose?”
“Please. Bring it, woman.”
“Want to make it interesting?”
“You going to strip naked when you lose?”
“No. But we’ll leave the prize open. We won’t play for money. Instead, we’ll play for dares the other person has to do.”
He narrowed his gaze. “Nothing outside this house.”
“Exactly. Private. Just between us. Winner gets the loser to do whatever she wants.”
“Whatever he wants.”
They shook hands.
And played the game.
Best of three turned into best of five, then best of seven.
He smiled as he left the sore loser cursing behind him.
“You cheated! I can’t prove it. But I know you cheated.”
He just laughed as he left. As he made his way back to his parents’ house, he sang along with the Christmas tunes on the radio, feeling the holiday spirit to his bones.
That’s three boons you owe me, Ms. Mean. I can’t wait to collect.
CHAPTER 18
Marlie groaned, wondering how she’d lost not one but all three rounds of Rummikub to the smirking giant who’d sat way too comfortably at her dining table just a few hours ago.
She’d picked up terrible tiles the first few plays. But the later ones had been stellar. She had to admit he’d been damn good, making patterns with runs and threes and fours of a kind.
That intelligence, in addition to the way he’d rubbed her nose in her losses, made her like him even more. She was crushing on the bruiser a ton. And now she owed him three favors.
She shivered, wishing she hadn’t felt so full of cake that she couldn’t have ridden the Damon train at least once.
Spending the rest of the day doing chores, hitting the grocery store, and heading to her parents’ place to catch up on their earlier meeting with her aunt, she spent a fun afternoon into evening being part of family. Belonging.
She didn’t know how Damon had left home without missing it. She loved her parents, though her mother was often overbearing. Marlie understood that Mona loved them all, so she could often overlook her mom’s high-handedness.
Plus, it amused her to see her mother manage the men in her life with ease.
If only I could do that. She imagined herself asking Damon to pick the kids up from school, to grab a pound of butter from the store, or to fix the leaky faucet in the bathroom. Would he be as laidback and amenable as Irving Reynolds was? Would he argue, try to prove his manliness whenever she stood up for herself, as many of Marlie’s exes had?
Or… Stop it, Marlie. It’s just sex. Where the hell did the thought of kids come from?
“You okay, honey?”
