Matched For Love(67)

“Yes. I’m all in.” Her heart skipped a beat at the prospect of benefiting from more of his research.

After he’d tied the satin strings behind her head, he took her hand and drew her away from the bed and across the room. Maybe it was going to be shower fun and games. That’d work just fine for her.

When they stopped walking, he stood behind her and kissed her neck, and then her earlobe, and then he whipped off the blindfold. “Ta-dah! A closet fit for a real princess.”

Lori’s jaw dropped. There were sparkling evening gowns, cocktail dresses, shelves filled with designer bags, and rows and rows of the prettiest shoes she’d ever seen. She put her hands together and squeed with joy. “How did you pull this off in under a week?”

Deek slid his arm around her shoulder. “Seems Rachel is what she termed a power shopper. And she assured me she’s tried them all on, so fit shouldn’t be an issue.”

Lori laughed. “Yeah. I bet she had a heyday doing that. And putting a huge dent in your credit card. It’s too much, Deek.”

“Nope. You promised.” He leaned down and kissed her sweetly. “The look on your face just now was priceless.”

“Well, thank you. I don’t need any of this, but I really love it.” She wasn’t going to kill her sister anymore. Instead, she’d give her a big hug. “You know, for a guy who claims not to pick up on social clues, you did a really good job with the game. I got the real estate reference and your heart. And my need to have a man who loves me a hundred percent. But Annie in the dungeon was pure genius.”

“That one was for me. You were right. She was using me for my money. Something I know you’d never do.”

“No.” She shook her head. “But I am using you for your body.” She leaned down and scooped up the blindfold from the floor. “I think maybe I’ll use this on you too.”

Deek followed her to the bedroom again, and then went back to his nightstand drawer. “I thought maybe we could use this instead.” He held up a silky gold rope. “Just like Wonder Woman’s.”

“Even better.” Lori tossed the blindfold over her shoulder and jumped into his arms. After she’d wrapped her legs around his waist, she said, “When should we tell the kids?”

“Tomorrow? After laser tag? It’d be the best birthday gift we could give Asher. He likes you.”

“Good. Because Em and I like him too. You, we’ll just have to tolerate.”

“Really?” Deek wrapped the rope around Lori’s waist. “You realize this makes you tell the truth, right? So, let’s try this again. Will you only tolerate me, Lori?”

“Yes. Tolerate how happy my heart is now, Deek. Because I love you.”

“That’s more like it.” He dumped her on the bed. “For the record, I love you too.”



Deek slowly peeked around the padded pole in the darkened room, his laser in the ready position. All the kids had left after Asher’s laser tag party, but they had the room to themselves for another few minutes. They were playing boys against the girls, and Lori and Emily were proving stiffer competition than he and Asher had estimated.

He gave a hand signal to Asher, and his son took off across an open expanse to gain better position while Deek covered him. But Emily popped out of nowhere and tagged Asher, who died a dramatic death. So now it was up to Deek to defend their male honor.

Staying low and near the perimeter, Deek circled to where Emily had been hiding. But when he got there, she was gone. He slowly lifted his head over the soft bunker wall to see if he could find the girls.

“Hasta la vista, baby!” Lori called out before he took two streams to the back. Emily and Lori had ganged up on him.

Clutching his chest, he stood and toppled over the bunker wall and onto the floor.

He opened his eyes to find the girls gloating over his decommissioned body. “That was cold, ladies.”

Asher joined them with a wide smile on his face. “That was awesome, you guys. How did you do that?”

Emily grinned. “We’ll never tell, right, Mom?”

“Nope.” Lori mimicked blowing smoke from the tip of her gun.

He sat up and said, “Well, maybe it’s time to tell you and Emily something else, Asher.” He glanced Lori’s way, and when she nodded, he continued, “Lori and I are dating. Are you guys okay with that?”

Asher and Emily fist bumped. Then Emily said, “About time. Do you know how long we’ve been trying to get you guys together?”

“What?” Deek and Lori said in unison.

Asher said, “Yeah. We signed up for the same after-school things and even volunteered you guys for the same stuff, but it was like you were both so busy, you never noticed. That’s why I moved Em’s card at the science fair next to mine, and we left you alone to talk at Papa G’s.”