“I gave him your excuses for missing dinner on Wednesday.”

“What were those?”

“You’d be with me and I’d be f**king your brains out.”

My vagina went into spasm and my knees went week.

“How’d he take that?” I asked, trying to pretend I wasn’t about to collapse.

“He wasn’t pleased.”

“Erm, can you explain what you meant earlier by ‘declaration of war’?”

“Only if we do it inside, we’re exposed up here.”

I grabbed the phone, the timer and my sarong and walked into the bedroom. I threw everything on the bed and tied the sarong around my hips. Lee closed the door behind him and pulled off his shades.

He walked up to me, tossed his sunglasses on the bed and untied the sarong from around my hips.

“I just tied that,” I told him, grabbing for it.

He ignored me and threw it on the bed, out of my reach and put his hands on my hips, drawing me to him.

“I thought you were gonna tell me about this war thing,” I reminded him.

“Simple. He wants something. That something belongs to me. He begins his campaign to get what he wants and I begin mine to keep it.”

I was trying not to be pissed off but it was hard.

“I don’t belong to you.”

“I know that and you know that but men like Coxy don’t know that. He acquires things, even humans, especially women. His men don’t work for him because they respect and trust him, they do it because he pays them a lot.”

Okay, that made sense.

My h*ps were against his h*ps and his hands were going up my back, pulling the rest of my body into contact with his.

I ignored it.

“Have you dissuaded him from this war?”

“Not likely.”

“What happens now?”

“I deal with it. You hear from him, see him, you tell me.”

I could do that, that sounded easy.

Lee’s hands made it to my shoulders and my entire torso was pressed against his.

“What time is it?” I asked.

Lee’s head came down and his lips were on my neck.

“Quarter to two,” he said against my skin.

“Ohmigod!” I shouted and tried to pull away but Lee’s arms tightened and brought me back. “I have to take a shower, we have to get to Dad’s. I’m supposed to be making the hamburger patties.”

“Your father can make the hamburgers. We’re gonna be late.”

I stared at him in horror. “Late? We can’t be late! Dad loves you, Lee, but he’s not exactly jumping for joy that we’re together. We can’t be late the first time we go home for a barbeque!”

Lee’s face changed and his eyes became warm.

“Are we together?”

Oh crap.

I started thinking fast.

“We’re not, not together.”

“I’m not entirely certain what to do with that.”

I explained, “We’re not exactly together and were not, not together. We’re in together-limbo. We’re test-driving together to see if we want to buy it.”

“We go to your Dad’s late, I could convince you to buy it.”

I was pretty certain he was right so, in self-defense, I put my hands against his chest and pushed.

He didn’t budge.

I changed tactics.

“How are you so sure you want to buy it?”

“I’m sure.”

“How are you sure?”

“Trust me, I’m sure.”

“How?”

“I have an idea, why don’t we shower together?” he suggested.

“That isn’t telling me how.”

“No, but it would be showing you.”

“So ‘how’ is a showing thing, not a telling thing?”

“’How’ is show and tell, I just feel in the mood to show.”

Grr.

On to Plan C.

“When you show me the how, do you want me to have my mind on hamburger patties?”

He smiled his killer smile.

“Your mind wouldn’t be on hamburger patties.”

I was pretty certain he was right about that too.

This took me to Plan D.

“Lee, give me a break. It’s my Dad and I promised him I’d be there early to help.”

He watched me for a second then he relented, sort of.

“Okay, but you have to give me something to go on.”

I was starting to get panicked and a little desperate.

“Something, what something?”

Lee’s arms dropped away.

“You pick.”

I was running late. Dad was going to be hacked off. Terry Wilcox had thrown down the gauntlet to Lee over me. There was still the whole Rosie Fiasco going on, someone had the diamonds and yet everyone was still looking for them. And lastly, Lee and I were in together-limbo and until we had three sane seconds, that was where we were going to stay. I didn’t have a lot of time to do anything creative.

So I kissed him.

Or, at least, I started out kissing him, my mouth open under his, my arms around his neck, my tongue sliding against his.

When it ended, he was definitely kissing me. One arm around my back, the other hand twisted in my hair, his tongue sliding against mine.

“Christ, you’re good at that,” he said when he lifted his head.

I blinked.

“I am?”

His eyes were hot on me when I looked into them.

“Yeah, you are and I like it that you have to ask.”

At his answer, I pressed deeper into him but his hands were at my waist, pushing me away.

“If you don’t get in the shower now, the family will do without macaroni salad and brownies.”

I pushed against his hands. “Maybe we can be a little late.”

His hands tensed but he kept me away.

“I’m not talkin’ late, I’m talkin’ no show.”

I stared at him.

“Indy, get in the shower.”

I got in the shower.

* * * * *

I was sitting in my Dad’s backyard with Kitty Sue.

It was my backyard too, since I grew up there but I’d been away from home long enough for Dad to have reclaimed it. That was, he had enough time with me out of the house and not worrying him every second of the day that he was able to make the yard look nice, rather than just something he mowed every two weeks in the summer.