Page 7 of Our Now and Forever

Snow lifted one brow. “I didn’t say I don’t like sports. I like to watch tennis. And ice skating.”

Her husband looked as if she’d set a carton of sour milk on the table. “I’m not sure ice skating qualifies as a sport.”

“It’s in the Olympics, Caleb.”

“True,” he conceded. “So we watch different sports. We agree on other things.”

The man would fight with a stump. “Like what?”

The twinkle returning to his eye, Caleb stepped closer. “There’s one area where we’re very compatible,” he said.

Snow held up a hand palm out. “Stop right there, McGraw. That’s what got us into this mess in the first place.”

“This is not a mess,” he said, pulling her hand against his chest until she could feel his heartbeat against her skin. “This is a marriage that has been on hiatus for far too long.”

As his face came down toward hers, Snow’s brain fought to retain control. If her body took over this argument, she’d find herself stripped to her striped socks and moaning on the desktop in a matter of minutes.

As desperation danced down her spine, inspiration struck.

“I’ll make you a deal,” she said, marching backward until she was out of his reach. “I’ll give you one month.”

Caleb’s lips were still puckered as he blinked her way. “What?”

Snow brushed a curl out of her face, then quickly tucked the shaking hand behind her back. “You can live here with me, in Ardent Springs, until November thirtieth. That gives you exactly one month to prove that we should stay married.”

Rising to the challenge, as she knew he would, Caleb said, “I doubt it’ll take a month, but I’ll agree to that.”

“There’s a condition,” she added, certain he would never agree to what she was about to propose.

Wearing a smile of premature victory, he said, “What’s that?”

With a deep breath, Snow blurted, “There will be no sex.”

Now she was fighting dirty.

“What kind of a condition is that?” They were good in bed. Hell, they were great in bed. Why mess with the one thing they had going for them?

“You don’t like my terms, you know where the door is.”

Caleb held silent, gauging how serious she might be. Damn if she didn’t look really serious. He needed to make up for that stupid conversation with his dad, but how could he do that if she wouldn’t let him show her how sorry he was?

“We need to talk about this,” Caleb said.

“You say we belong together. Rationally belong together.” Snow tapped a finger to one temple. “Lust is what got us into this situation, and you know it. We’re aware that there’s no problem in that area, so we’ll take that element off the table while we figure out the rest.”

“You can’t take sex off the table.”

“I just did,” she said smugly. “Ready to walk now?”

This was a test. She was trying to make him admit defeat before the battle had even begun. Fine. He’d give her this one, but there were ways of making her pay.

Sliding on his best smile, Caleb said, “I can go without if you can, darling.” He’d gone without for a year and a half. What was one more month? At least that’s what his upper brain was thinking. The lower brain had reached the limits of its patience about a week after Snow had left.

So he’d call her bluff, but if Snow thought he was going to make this easy, she was wrong. He’d seen her reaction when he’d brought up that old leather chair. She was as hot for it as he was, and that was a card he’d play as often as possible.

“Good,” she said, looking less sure of herself. “Then we have a month until this farce ends. If you’ll excuse me, I need to finish closing my store.”

“Wait a minute,” he said. This wasn’t all going to be one-sided. “I have a condition of my own.”

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