LITMIR.BIZ

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“What do you think?”

      Caley glanced over her shoulder at him. “Yes,” she replied.

      Brett pointed to the list of winners, written on the wooden handle with a marker. “Our captains today will be Sam and Emma. By my count, we’ve got even teams with Evan’s wife, Marianne, and Ann’s husband, John, so no one has to sit out.”

      Teddy disagreed. “We have three guys and three girls and you’ve got four guys and two girls. You call that even?”

      “John just had knee surgery last year,” Brett said. “And Marianne played college soccer. I’d say it’s even.”

      The coin was flipped and the game began. Brett played quarterback for the Burton team and when he went out for a long pass to Ann, Caley stepped out in front of her and snagged an interception.

      She started off down the sideline and Jake took off after her, making up the distance between them in a few seconds. He grabbed Caley around the waist and picked her up off her feet, then fell into the snow near the goal line, taking the impact with his body.

      They’d played in this rough-and-tumble fashion when they were kids and back then it had been fun. But now, lying beneath Caley, her body stretched out on top of his, the game had taken on a sexual element.

      “This is supposed to be touch football!” she cried.

      “And I’m touching you,” Jake murmured. “Although not the way I’d like to touch you.” He rolled Caley beneath him, pinning her body to the ground with his. “We have to talk,” he said softly.

      She wriggled beneath him, trying to escape. “If you think you can convince me to throw this game,” she whispered, “just because you kissed me then—”

      “Later,” he replied as he saw Brett approach. Jake rolled off her and helped her up and then brushed the snow off her backside, before sending her across the scrimmage line to her team. “Good catch,” he shouted.

      A change of possession put Jake on offense and he took a handoff from Brett and headed down the field. He saw Caley coming toward him and he knew she was prepared to hit him hard. That’s what he liked about Caley. She never backed off from a challenge. But instead of running away, he waited, slowing his run until she caught up.

      Jake feinted to the left, then the right, but Caley surprised him by countering his moves. When Jake realized he wasn’t going to shake her, he bent over, grabbed her around the waist and carried her toward the end zone with him. But Caley knocked the ball out of his hand as he ran.

      “Fumble!” she shouted.

      Teddy was right behind them and he picked up the ball and started toward the other end zone. Jake turned and dropped Caley into the snow, then ran after Teddy, but Caley grabbed his leg and pulled him down. When he was lying on his stomach in the snow, she crawled on top of him, straddling his hips, and watched as Teddy scored.

      She bounced up and down as she cheered for her brother, the movement causing a definite reaction on his part. Cursing softly, Jake rolled over and dumped her into the snow, picking up a handful and rubbing it in her face.

      “You are such a bad sport,” Caley cried, grabbing a fistful of snow and throwing it at him. She wrestled him to his back, pinning his arms on either side of his head.

      “Kiss me,” he murmured.

      Caley frowned. “Not here. Everyone will see.”

      Jake brushed the snow out of her hair. “Where? When?”

      “Later,” Caley said. “After dinner.”

      “Meet me at the boathouse,” he said.

      Caley shook her head, then got to her feet, running back to her team. She turned around and looked back at him once, smiling, teasingly taunting him. “You’re gonna lo-ose,” she sang. “You’re gonna lo-ose.”

      She did a little dance, wiggling her backside, and Jake chuckled. God, she was sexy. As he watched her walk away, he thought about what it would be like to have an entire night alone with her. To have all the time in the world to seduce her. To slowly undress her and touch her body and make her moan with pleasure. She’d been the stuff of his adolescent fantasies. But now, the things he dreamed about doing with her—to her—weren’t things he could have even imagined back then.

      “Jake!”

      He glanced up to see Brett staring at him. “Look alive,” his brother shouted. “Keep your head in the game.”

      They played for exactly an hour and, in the end, the trophy went to the Lambert family on a last-minute touchdown pass from Evan to his wife, Marianne.

      As they walked back up to the house, Jake lagged behind, his gaze fixed on Caley. He wondered how things might have been between them if he had accepted her offer that night eleven years ago. Would they be here, in the same place, still lusting after each other? Or might they look at each other with embarrassment or regret rather than anticipation and excitement?

      Maybe things had worked out exactly as they were supposed to that summer. But what happened between them this week was still in the hands of fate. And it would either begin or end in the boathouse tonight.

      DINNER WAS A BOISTEROUS EVENT with both families sharing chili and corn bread in the Burtons’ huge family room. After dinner, Jake and Caley joined Sam and Emma in a game of Monopoly, but Caley could barely concentrate. Jake had taken to playing a game of footsie beneath the table, running his stocking foot over hers in a very seductive manner.

      Caley kept her gaze focused on the board, trying to control her wildly beating heart. There had been men in her life who had touched her in the most intimate of ways and she’d barely reacted. All Jake had to do was rub her foot and she felt like tearing his clothes off and jumping his bones.

      “Park Place,” Sam said as Emma landed on his property. “Let’s see. That will be twelve hundred dollars, please.”

      Jake chuckled as he scrutinized Sam’s stash of cash. “Looks like you almost have enough for that motorcycle you want to buy.”

      Sam shot his brother a cold look and Emma immediately frowned. “What motorcycle?”

      “Sam’s going to buy a motorcycle after you get married,” Jake said as he straightened his property cards. “Our mother wouldn’t let him, but once he’s married, she can’t say anything since you’d be in charge.” He fixed Emma with an inquisitive gaze, waiting for her response.

      Caley thought it was an odd turn in the conversation. She sent him a frown and he just smiled and began to count his money.

      “You can’t get a motorcycle,” Emma said. “They’re dangerous. I won’t let you.”

      “But, Em, it would be practical. We can’t afford two cars. And the gas would be cheap.”

      “No,” Emma said stubbornly. “I won’t allow it.”

      Sam straightened, his expression growing petulant. “What is that supposed to mean, you won’t allow it? You’re not my mother.”

      “Sam should be able to make his own decisions,” Jake murmured.

      Caley gave him a swift kick beneath the table and he winced.

      “Ow!” he cried. Sam and Emma looked at him and he forced a smile. “Cramp. To much football in the snow.” He snatched up his money and handed it to Caley. “I’m going to cash out now.”

      Caley looked back and forth between the glowering expressions on Sam’s and Emma’s faces to the smug smile on Jake’s. He’d started this argument on purpose. “So am I,” Caley said.

      “Jake is right,” Sam countered. “I’m an adult. I should be able to do what I want.”

      “Who’s going to pay for this motorcycle?” Emma said. “Not me. And if you think you’re going to use any of our wedding money,

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