“Sure.” And if Melinda could say “ready” with more sex in her voice, that would be just freaking fantastic. “Will do.” Jade forced herself to hang up calmly. “I’m ready for him tomorrow,” she mocked in a sex kitten voice.
“Ah. Melinda.”
Jade nearly fell out of her chair and Bessie the cleaning lady cackled good and hard over that. “She does seem to have her hooks out for him, doesn’t she?”
“I . . . I didn’t notice.”
Bessie cackled again. “And I hardly noticed that lovely shade of green on you, dear.”
“I’m not jealous.”
“Of course not.” Bessie looked pointedly at the message Jade had written and crumpled. “Don’t worry. Your secret crush on the doc is safe with me.”
“Crush on the doc,” Peanut said.
Jade glared at the parrot. “What?”
“Boner.”
Jade stood up and pointed at her. “You can’t say ‘Peanut wants a cracker,’ but you can say ‘crush on the doc’ and ‘boner’ ? Are you kidding me?”
“Crush on the doc! Crush on the doc!”
Bessie laughed so hard that Jade thought she’d cough up a lung right there, but she went back to sweeping. Jade narrowed her eyes at Peanut.
“Pretty Peanut,” Peanut whispered.
Jade sighed and went to work, fantasizing about her next self-defense session and kicking Dell’s very fine ass. She was halfway there, picturing taking him to the floor and . . . and what? She had lots of options, as he’d taught her.
Kicking.
Hitting.
Jabbing.
But there was something wrong with her brain. It wouldn’t go there. Instead, she imagined dropping him to the mat and . . .
Stripping him. Stretching out over the top of him and . . .
Eating him up like a hot buttered biscuit.
Dammit. Now she was heated up herself and having a hot flash to boot. She fanned the air in front of her face, which didn’t help.
“So . . .” Lilah said at her side, making Jade jump. “What’s got you all hot and bothered?”
Bessie came through with her broom again. “Ask Peanut.”
“Crush on the doc,” Peanut said.
Jade closed her eyes.
“Fascinating,” Lilah said. “That I have to learn from a parrot? You’ve been holding out on me.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. Peanut has no idea what she’s saying.”
“Boner,” Peanut said.
Lilah grinned. “Okay,” she said to Jade. “Start at the beginning and leave nothing out. Tell me what’s up.”
“The temperature, dammit. Too many bodies in here.”
Lilah’s gaze slid across the room to where Dell and Brady had come out from the back. Dell’s gaze tracked directly to Jade.
“Uh-huh,” Lilah said.
“I know what you’re thinking,” Jade whispered. “But stop it. So there’s a little sexual tension in the room between Dell and me, it’s nothing. Nothing. In fact, picturing him as old and flabby right now. Flatulent. And see? I’m cooler already.”
“I was going to suggest turning down the thermostat.”
“Or that,” Jade muttered to Lilah’s laugh.
The next day, Jade got an e-mail attachment from Dell—a spreadsheet to-do list with only one thing on it.
Training session #2 tonight. My house, seven o’clock.
There was a code, too. The key code to his front door, she realized. She wouldn’t have to knock, she could go right in.
Which is why he’d given it to her, of course, so she wouldn’t get there and while standing on his porch waiting to be let in, change her mind.
But she couldn’t just let herself in. Could she? Besides, he’d been gone all day, up north at Melinda’s.
He wasn’t spending the night up there?
She showed up at his house exactly on time and after some hesitation, entered the code and let herself in.
Dell was in his kitchen, staring into his refrigerator, which had not magically filled itself. It’d been a hell of a long day at Melinda’s ranch, and he was dead on his feet.
Normally he spent the night up north. Usually with Melinda. She was smart, funny, and beautiful, and with two ex-husbands, she wasn’t looking for anything more than a good time. No harm, no foul.
But last month he’d had Brady fly him home the same day as well.
He’d repeated the pattern today, marking two full months of dateless Saturday nights for him.
A first.
He heard his front door open and Jade’s footsteps coming through the living room. He knew without looking that she was wearing her Nikes, which she wore only for him. For the rest of the world she wore designer heels or boots.