Page 31 of Forcing Her Hand

“Is there any reason you ask?”

“Just curious,” he said mildly. Allison stuck her tongue out at him, and of course, the second she did, his eyes flashed to her face. He grinned at her as she blushed. “You’ll pay for that later.”

That set her grinning as her blood hummed with energy. She always liked when Todd made her pay, even though it was usually frustrating in the beginning. Diana rolled her eyes. While she wasn’t jealous of Todd and Allison’s relationship, there was some part of her that envied their easy camaraderie and Todd’s take-charge attitude. Obviously, Allison’s cousin didn’t provide that for her; he was much happier with Diana being in charge in the bedroom.

“Did you hear Roger and Veronica broke up?” she asked, just to get under Todd’s skin, annoyed he wouldn’t say anything further on why he was asking about their lease.

“What? No, why?”Allison looked genuinely concerned, but Todd didn’t look perturbed at all, just stoically ate his dinner.

“What do you mean, why? She was so not good enough for him,” Diana said with a small laugh. “I’m guessing he finally figured out she’s a money-grubbing snob with no ambition other than sitting around a pool, tanning. Not exactly his type.”

“True.”

Not that she really knew what Roger’s type was, although he had been much more supportive of her job than her parents had been. She was pretty sure Veronica wouldn’t have been able to give him the kind of warm companionship he wanted out of a marriage. There was nothing warm about Veronica, although she’d obviously faked it well enough to hook him for a bit. Allison made a face. Not she wanted Roger back, of course, but Diana was absolutely right when she said Veronica wasn’t good enough for him. She cared enough to want him to be happy and was relieved to hear he was away from that poisonous bitch.

“Maybe you should call him and make sure he’s doing alright,” Diana said, although she was looking at Todd, still trying to needle him. It was bothering her he wasn’t responding the way she’d expected. Allison shot her friend a look and reached across the table to grab Todd’s hand, giving it a reassuring squeeze.

Looking up and realizing both of the women were focusing their attention on him, Todd laughed.

“She can call him if she wants to,” he said, directing his comment at Diana. “It’s called trust, Diana. I have no need to be possessive. I trust Allison. Your lack of understanding is probably why you aren’t happy with any of the men you’ve been with. Although if you’re really so interested in how Roger’s doing, you should be the one to call him, rather than playing high school games and having Allison do it for you.”

It was the harshest he’d ever been to Diana, although she often made a game of trying to get under his skin.

“Todd!” Allison said in surprise, slightly scolding, but her heart wasn’t in it. She was too busy watching her friend turn red, then pale, then red again. How much truth was in what Todd had said?

“She’s been trying to get a response like that from me for a while, Allison,” Todd said calmly. His brown eyes were warm but stern. He wasn’t angry, just saying things how he saw them. Turning his head back to Diana, who was still frozen in her seat, he continued. “You see what Allison and I have, and you want someone like me. You can’t help trying to find out if what you see between us is what you really want, and that’s why you keep trying to get me to set you down. Well, now you know.”

He got up from the dinner table, finished eating, and put his dishes in the sink. It was Diana’s turn to do them tonight. The two girls sat in silence, Diana staring at her food, and Allison alternating her anxious glances between Todd and her friend. Todd turned and smiled at her reassuringly before dropping a kiss on top of her head.

“I’ll be in the bedroom, Princess. Come on back when you’re ready.”

“Um. Diana?” Allison asked, unsure how to start. When Diana looked up, she had an expression on her face Allison had never seen before—shame and a bit of embarrassment. With a small moan, the pretty little Asian propped her elbows on the table and covered her face with her hands.

“How did he know?” she asked in a near whisper—another unusual thing.

“Which part?” Allison wasn’t entirely sure what she meant.

Certainly, some of the things Todd had said and implied came as a surprise to Allison, especially if they turned out to be true. Although she’d picked up on the fact Diana might be a little envious Allison was in a steady relationship, she hadn’t realized how envious Diana might be of the type of relationship or curious about the dynamics of being with a man who was in charge. Her friend was so in control of herself and so confidently aggressive when it came to men, it never occurred to Allison she might crave the same kind of submissive, out-of-control sex Allison enjoyed.

Diana raised her eyes to meet Allison’s, looking miserable.

“All of it. I mean, I’m really not interested in Todd, even if he wasn’t your man, but I wonder about being with a guy like him. Seeing the way you are together... it makes me want to know what it would be like. When Todd put me down, yeah, it was embarrassing, but I also knew I deserved it, and it felt kinda, I don’t know, nice to have someone not let me run right over them. I liked that he didn’t put up with my shit. Lately, I’ve been wondering if I push the guys the way I do, like being dominant with Chad, because I’m hoping they’ll turn the tables on me.”

“Guys aren’t mind readers,” Allison said. “You have to let them know what you want.”

“I guess I haven’t really found a guy I felt comfortable admitting that to or that I think would do a good job of it.”Diana’s eyes shifted away from Allison’s, and she suddenly realized there was something her friend wasn’t saying.

Her hazel eyes narrowed as she thought back to what Todd has said. Diana said he’d been right about “all” of it. Including one part Allison hadn’t considered?

“Are you interested in Roger?”

Whoo-boy, that got a reaction! Not one she was expecting, either. Her normally devil-may-care friend was suddenly shifting in her seat, unable to meet her gaze.

“He’s your ex.”

“That’s not an answer,” Allison said, scooting her chair over. Her heart swelled with compassion. Diana really was such a good friend. It was now obvious to Allison, she must be attracted to Roger and hidden it for Allison’s sake, even after they’d broken up. “I don’t mind if you are, you know. I don’t have any feelings for him beyond friendship and wanting him to be happy.”

“I don’t know,” Diana said, blowing out a gust of frustrated air. “I mean, when you two were dating, I definitely didn’t, but then at the Christmas party when he asked me to dance... I don’t know. I always thought he was a good guy, but I didn’t really look at him that way until we were dancing, and there was... something. I tried pushing him, but he shut me down. I figured it was because he was there with Veronica. Maybe I imagined it.”

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