Playing for Keeps (4 page)

He
smiled at her. "Yes they are. And I'll never look at them the same way again."

She looked down at the way she sprawled out in the chair, with one foot tucked under her and the other kicked up on the footrest. He had a clear shot of her panty-less crotch.
"Oh sheesh, I'm sorry." She lowered her feet.

Rob reached out to her.
"Put your feet back the way they were. Get comfortable. I was enjoying the view." He rubbed her knee, and she settled back in the way she was.

He peeked between her legs, motioned for her to move one just a bit,
then gave her the "OK" sign.

M
addie rolled her eyes and ate. "This is good! I was already thinking you're the perfect man. Now to find out you can cook, too. Better watch out. Some woman's going to snatch you up."

"
Snatch me up, you say?" He looked between her legs again. "Um, yeah. I could go for that."

"
You are bad." She tossed a sprig of broccoli at him. It bounced off his shoulder and landed on the porch. "Oops, sorry." She crinkled her nose.

"
Not a problem." He wiped his shoulder with a napkin and called loudly, "Bo! Come on, Bo!"

The dog bounded up the porch
steps. He scarfed down the broccoli and nosed around for something else. Rob took a piece of chicken and tossed it in the air. Bo grabbed it and swallowed in one gulp. "Stick around, boy." He nodded toward Maddie "This one might be messier than Sophie."

Bo took the hint, and lay down next to Maddie
's chair.

She dragged her hand through his soft fur.
"He's a beauty."

"
Yep, a beauty," Rob agreed, never taking his eyes off Maddie. Finally, he set his bowl on the table and said, "Okay, you grilled me over lunch, so I get to grill you over dinner. Tell me the story of how a Connecticut Yankee wound up in Meridan, Oklahoma."

Maddie
scrunched up her face and shook her head. She placed her bowl on the table and wiggled her knee back and forth. "It's really boring. I can think of way more interesting things to do, can't you?"

"
I definitely can. I'm making a list in my head, in fact. But we still have twenty-some hours ahead of us, and I think that'll be enough time for most of my list."

Maddie remembered his phone call
. "Are you sure there isn't somewhere you'd rather be tonight? I don't want to keep you from anything."

He shook his head.
"There's nowhere I'd rather be tonight than in your arms. I hope you're going to stay."

She nodded.
"There's nowhere I'd rather be, either."

"
Excellent." He leaned back and smiled. "So start talking. You promised to tell me anything I wanted to know."

She raised her hands and dropped them again.
"Okay, whatever. Yes, I was born and raised a stuffy and repressed young woman in Hartford, Connecticut. The first chance I got to experience anything was in college, and I guess you could say I went a little nuts. I tried to do it all."

"
Where did you go to college?"

She shook her head.
"Back east. Doesn't matter."

"
I want to know," he insisted. "You promised."

"
Okay, Harvard."

Rob
's eyes grew wide and he leaned forward. "You went to Harvard?"

She
shrugged. "I told you, it was no big deal. I didn't graduate. I only stayed two years."

"
What was your major?"

She
smiled slyly. "Pre-law."

He laughed and stomped his foot on the porch.
"Oh my God! No wonder Kansas University sounded like small potatoes to you."

She
chuckled and shook her head, one last time. "Really, it was no big deal. I spent more time learning things from my roommate than I did from the professors. She offered courses in Watermelon Shooters and Sloe Gin Fizzes."

"
Oh my God," Rob repeated. "So this roommate was a girl?"

"
Yep." Maddie nodded. "Zoey. She taught me lots of things. Lots and lots of things."

"
Tell me three."

"
What?"

"
Tell me three things Zoey taught you in college. And make them good things, not like how to braid your hair."

"
Actually, Zoey did teach me how to do the French braid. It's a nice style, don't you think?"

He shook his head.
"We're not talking about your hair right now. We'll save that little fetish of mine for later. Three things."

Maddie looked him over and decided to tell him some stuff.
Test the waters again, so to speak.
"Okay. First, she taught me how to roll a joint."

"
Useful. I'd ask you to demonstrate, but I gave up pot when Sophie was born. Go on."

"
Second, she taught me how to, shall we say, pleasure a man with my mouth."

He choked on that one and took a sip of her tea
because his was empty. "Even more useful. We may have to test that one out. Do I want to know how she taught you that little trick? Please tell me it was with a carrot."

"
We started with a carrot, and I graduated to her boyfriend, who did not mind being used as a test dummy for even one moment."

Rob
's face tightened. "That makes me kind of sad."

She shrugged.
"I told you, there was a lot of pot and booze involved. I probably don't remember most of it."

He hesitated.
"Can I ask you, were you ever tested—"

She j
umped in before he could finish. "Absolutely. Many times. I'm clean as a whistle. I would never do that to you, or to Sophie."
Cute that he's worried about sexually transmitted diseases after we had sex.

"
Thank you. I'm clean too, just so you know. I believe you have one more thing to tell me."

"
I don't know. That last one creeped you out."

"
A little. I care about you. I want to protect you. And the thought of you stoned in some gang-banger-orgy makes me sick. And angry."

"
They're probably some of Wall Street's best and brightest right now. We all grow up, baby. Besides, there were never any orgies. There was one brief foray into lesbianism."

He
grinned. "Do I hear a number three coming on?"

"
Yeah, okay. We had some pretty good lesbian sex. Zoey knew how to pleasure a woman."

"
Oh, really?" He moved from his chair and on to hers. Wrapping himself around her, he whispered in her ear, "Any pointers you want to give me?"

"
You don't need any pointers, other than the lovely one you already have. Let me put it this way. I was a lousy lesbian. I have needs only a man can fulfill."

Running
his hands over her, he teased, "Are you sure? Anything you want to tell me will be taken under serious advisement."

"Good grief
, no! You're the perfect man, babe."

He
squeezed her face in his hands. "You are the most amazing woman I've ever met. Totally honest, upfront, no holds barred. I love that about you."

She
shrugged. "If I can't be honest with you, what are we doing here?"

"
I know one thing we're doing here." He gazed into her eyes. "We're getting ready to make love again."

Maddie
grinned. "Want me to show you a couple of things Zoey taught me?" She slid off the chair and knelt in front of him.

"Why not?"
He leaned back, and raised his hips so she could slide his jeans off.  "But keep your eyes open, so you'll know it's me."

* * * *

Maddie stretched out in Rob's big, claw-footed bathtub, her back to his chest.

He washed her hair and any other body parts he could reach.
"Remind me to thank Zoey, the next time we see her."

Maddie laughed.
"Where do you suppose we'll see her? Last I heard, she was backpacking through Europe with Milo, otherwise known as 'Mr. Hairy Ass'. Affectionately, of course."

He shrugged.
"We might run into her at some social function. Who knows? But then again, I hope we don't. I'm not ready to share you, and Zoey might try to turn you back to the dark side."

Ma
ddie snickered. "We've covered that ground, remember? I'm a lousy lesbian."

"A fact for which I'll be eternally grateful."

She leaned against him and sighed as his hands formed soapy circles on her stomach. "As long as my past doesn't bother you."

He kissed her cheek.
"It made you who you are today. I get a kick hearing about it. And, man, I love this hair." He pulled a strand of her long, wet hair through his lips and sucked on it.

"
I hope you used plenty of conditioner. Otherwise, you'll have a hard time brushing it out tomorrow."

"
I used enough. I look forward to brushing it out. It may even give me a hard-on."

She snuggled against him and smiled.
"It needs to be brushed several times a day, you know."

He sighed contentedly.
"I believe I'm up to the task."

Maddie wiggled her toes on the edge of the tub
. "Gee, if we only had another day together, I might have you talked into giving me a pedicure."

Rob chuckled.
"I'd do it. I painted Sophie's nails once. Everyone said she looked like a clown."

"
Maybe I'll pass, thanks," Maddie reconsidered. "I still wish we had another day together."

"
I do, too." He kissed her earlobe. "I don't want to go to sleep tonight. I want to savor every minute with you."

"
Me, too." She nestled into him and closed her eyes.

* * * *

Somewhere around three a.m., they lay wrapped around each other after making love. Rob brushed a piece of hair from Maddie's face. "You know, we got so caught up with Zoey that I never did find out how you made it to Oklahoma from Harvard."

She buried her face in the soft hair on his chest
. "It's not my favorite part of the story."

"
It gets worse?"

"
Not like you mean. But yeah, it's worse."

He took a deep breath and exhaled.
"Okay, I'm ready. Let's hear it."

Maddie twisted one finger around a patch of his chest hair, twirling it.
"I walked away from a two hundred thousand dollar education. My parents wanted me to be a lawyer. They were paying for it. But it wasn't me. Deep down, I knew it would never be me. I couldn't stand up to them, at first, and when I finally could, I did it in the wrong way."

"
What did you do?" he asked softly.

"
Just what I said. I walked away. The semester ended, I put Zoey and Milo on a plane to Madrid, and I wandered around Cambridge aimlessly. My bags were packed, but I couldn't go back to Hartford. I had a couple of drinks at some dive, smoked a joint with a hooker named Topaz. I think she was a woman. Damn good make-up job if not. I actually bought her a hamburger so she'd stay with me longer. When we left, we passed this place, Jake's Tattoo Emporium. Classy, eh? Well, this Chevy full of Mexican guys hollered at me and Topaz, so I figured I had two choices. Make a quick but disgusting twenty bucks—you realize I'm joking here—or get a tattoo. Topaz ducked into the Chevy, I ducked into Jake's, and I got a heart tattooed on my shoulder. Thank God it was lame pot, or I might have come away with an eagle, or a skull and crossbones, or some such thing."

Maddie didn
't realize tears had started to fall, but noticed when they pooled on Rob's chest. He did nothing but hold her tightly and let her talk.

"
I ended up at the bus station, and the only place I could think of to go was Zoey's hometown, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. She made it sound so great. I always gave her shit about it, of course, a fucking Okie from Muskogee. But there I was, riding a bus for seventy-some-odd hours and ending up in a bus station that looked surprisingly similar to where I started, except it was in Oklahoma. I had some money. Obviously my parents were the ones with the money, but I had a credit card that I managed to max out before my old man cancelled it. I rented a room, scouted out the town and neighboring locations, and got a copy of the help-wanted ads. Fortunately, or unfortunately, however you wish to look at it, Frances was looking to hire a kid wrangler. My reputation was still pretty golden at that point, so I got the job. I called the folks, they had a vague notion of where I was from the credit card company, and told them I was moving to Oklahoma to work at a childcare center. After the maid brought the smelling salts to my mother, and my father went hoarse from yelling at me, I told them thank you, see you, screw you, and hung up. That was five years ago."