Page 52 of Second Round

“Who knew how lucky I was getting when you broke into myplace.”

“Stop saying that,” I protested. I tried to smack him, but he caught my wrist in his hand. Which was a complete turn-on for me. Was Sharon right about bossy guys turning my crank? I kissed him, and this time it was wet and messy. I plastered myself against him, wrapped a leg around his waist, and we made out hungrily until a faint beepingsounded.

“What is that?” Leo asked betweenkisses.

“Damn. The timer for the oven.” I broke away and went to check on the halibut. It was ready. “I guess we should eat,” I saidsadly.

Leo grinned. “I enjoy your transparency,Jackie.”

Which was a euphemism for horniness. I plated the fish, and we went to thediningroom.

“How’s the house sale going?” Leo asked as he looked out onto the deck. There was a For Sale sign outside now, so we were officially on themarket.

“Pretty good. We had two open houses this week.” The agent’s open was on Thursday, and the regular open was on Saturday. The place was immaculate, but my days seemed to be spent trailing the kids and either nagging them to tidy up or picking up after them myself. It was more stressful than I’dexpected.

“Where will you goafter?”

I shrugged. “That’s the big question. I’m notsureyet.”

We helped ourselves to side dishes. I had made a halibut with roasted pepper vinaigrette, a Mediterranean couscous salad, and a tomatophyllotart.

“Impressive. And you just whipped this up?” Leo’s voice wasteasing.

“Actually, yes. I got the halibut after I talked to you. I wouldn’t make all this formyself.”

He gave me a speculative look, like he was figuring me out. “Why not? If you like to cook and you like to eat? If I could cook like this, and so quickly too, I woulddoit.”

“What is it with you? You’re like my therapist or something. Because I do see the subtext here, the whole ‘I’m worth it’philosophy.”

Leo’s eyes crinkled in amusement. “I’ll admit, I do find you a fascinating contrast of confidence andinsecurity.”

“I’m just going to hear the word ‘fascinating’ out of that sentence.” Maybe it was lust that turned me completely neurotic around Leo. Although the spectacular sex we’d had made me less self-conscious andnervous.

Leo laughed loudly. “You are a fascinating woman. And a wonderful cook. This is the third meal of yours I’ve eaten, and they keep getting bettereverytime.”

“Thank you. I wasn’t sure about dessert though. I didn’t make any, but I have ice cream or cookies. Are you adessertman?”

He gave me that half-closed eye look again. This time it said, “You’re the dessert, baby. I’m going to rip those clothes off and eat you up.” At least that’s how I interpreted it. He could have been thinking abouthockey.

Leo reached for another helping of tart. “I don’t eat a lot ofdesserts.”

“Is that how you stay in such good shape?” I asked. Then I began blushing. Why did everything I say to him sound like a come-on? Maybe becauseitwas.

“I have a routine. For work, for fitness.” He sounded casual, but I already knew that he was veryorganized.

“You know, I was thinking that since your schedule is so busy and I’m not free a lot of nights, maybe we could meet for lunchsometime?”

“Lunch? I’m not sure about that. I usually work through lunch. I havemeetingstoo.”

I guess the old afternoon delight didn’t appeal to him. “Okay, well, we can stick with Wednesdays. And weekends when you’re free.” Was I being too available? Leo said he preferredhonesty.

“That would be nice,” he said, but he was frowning. “I have to go back to work after this.” I felt a twinge of disappointment below the waist. I had purposely timed the dinner early so that we had time to fool around before the kidsgothome.

“You work really hard.” I offered him more coffee, but he shook his head. “What are you doing so late atnight?”

“It all sounds boring. Game preparation, mainly. Some bigger planning too. The Vice are winding down their season, but Lucky and I are gearing up to take in more games—for nextseason.”

Leo’s face took on a different expression when he talked about work. He was stern and closed-off, not that he was easy to read atanytime.

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