Games We Play (23 page)

Well, he didn’t have to worry about her, she wanted to tell him; no way would she ever approach him for money. Her fear of being considered a gold digger was strong, so she could never get serious with him. She was only interested in the short term, her new mantra, an attempt to avoid falling for the soft-sided underbelly of Barnabus-the-man.

She waved to some of her aunt’s neighbors as they moved past, walking, jogging, strolling, surprised at the speed with which she’d made friends here. She was standing next to the porch’s railing when he stepped out an hour later. She looked up, not sure what to expect. She watched him walk over to stand beside her, placing his hands on the porch rail alongside hers.

“I’m sorry,” he said.

“For?” she asked, surprised by his apology.

“For accusing you again.”

“Apology accepted. Not everyone is after you or your money, you know. You really need to find a way to put whatever happened behind you,” she said. He didn’t say anything in response to that. “You and Myra enjoy your show?” she asked, changing the subject, hoping to put them back on better footing.

“I did,” he said.

“I do have one more question for you, one that I really do need you to answer. It’s something I should have asked you earlier. You ready for it?” she asked, her chin up, all confrontation, as she gazed into his eyes.

“I am,” he said, smiling to himself. All pluck was the professor.

“You will take care of Myra, and you won’t allow her to grow old destitute? You
will
take care of her?”

“Absolutely,” he said, moving his hands to her waist, pulling her toward him.

“See, that wasn’t so bad,” she said, smiling at him, her gaze clear of its earlier irritation.

He placed his mouth on hers and moved one hand behind her head, using it to hold her softly to him. She opened her mouth to him, and their tongues played together for few seconds.

“What was that for?” she asked when he released her.

“Second chances, I guess, and another apology. I always seem to be making them with you. I’ve been watching you, and I think I just might like you,” he said, then kissed her again.

“For more than sex you mean?” she asked. He smiled and chuckled against her lips.

“Maybe, but sex would be a great start. Seriously, you should consider it. We are missing out on so much,” he said, and they both laughed.

“Well, I’ve been watching you, and I just
might
like you too, but only a little bit. You’re too easily riled and way too touchy,” she said, smiling at how that sounded.

“I
am
easily riled,” he said, and they both gave in to their laughter for a minute.

He smiled, kissed her again, and moved away from her, heading down the porch steps and to his truck. He waved before he pulled away, his thoughts back on the porch with her.

Tonight she’d wanted to make sure her aunt was taken care of. That’s what her questioning had been about. She was not after his money, and why did he continue to find that so difficult to believe? He had no answer to that question except maybe the hurt that had come from knowing someone who was close to him, someone who he’d thought loved him, had really just seen him as a meal ticket, a wallet. He was glad he could at least put her mind at ease about Myra. He believed Kendall’s interest in her aunt was sincere. Of course, he would take care of the woman who was like a mother to him.

The rest of her questions about his business were off-limits to her or anyone other than Myra. Only Myra was privy to the knowledge of what he did with his money, and he intended to keep it that way. He’d learned to keep his business dealings private. What he did or didn’t do with his money wasn’t up for public consumption, and that wasn’t changing.

Thursday evening

Cooper’s arms were full, four grocery bags full. He’d picked up a few thing on the way home and was currently making his way to his front door. He tripped on an odd brick in the path, one he usually remembered to sidestep. He fortunately caught himself before he fell, but not before he lost his bags and their contents. He had Kendall on the brain. He’d started to view this mental takeover of his body as his new mental illness.

He stood up, laughing at himself, then at his tomatoes and grapes as they rolled round in the middle of his drive.

“Are you okay?” he heard someone say, and he turned so quick at the sound, he almost tripped again.

“Celeste,” he said.

“I saw you trip, and I wanted to make sure you were alright. You lost your bags. I can help,” she said, and bent down and started to pick up the fruit that had escaped from one of them.

“You don’t need to do that. I’ve got it,” he said, picking up his groceries alongside her.

“I don’t mind,” she said.

“I do. Really, I’ve got this,” he said, maybe a little more harshly than he would have liked. Things always came out harsher than he intended with her. But hell, she had to stop showing up from out of nowhere like she been watching…waiting.
What the hell?
he thought, looking at her. He’d hurt her feelings again, he could tell from the expression on her face.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean for it to sound so…”

“Mean,” she said.

“I’m sorry. What I meant to say was that I’m fine,” he said.

“Okay, then,” she said, and he could tell she was still hurt—or hell, she could just be pretending to be hurt. Celeste used to be quite the actress. He waited until she turned to leave, then watched her cross the street to make sure she was gone before he picked up his bags and headed inside.

Friday

“Do you see where any of my balls went?” Luis asked.

Cooper was sitting next to him on a golf cart next to the fairway on hole seventeen. Cooper knew where his ball had landed. It was Luis’s balls that always required a search-and-rescue team.

“Not that I can see,” he said, looking around. “How many balls did you hit anyway?” Cooper asked, laughing at his friend’s usual predicament.

“I’ll just play the one in the sand trap,” he said, ignoring Coop’s question. Neither of them moved from their seats.

“Celeste?”

“Working mostly. She’s turned into a hard worker, and who knew she had it in herself to work so hard. She didn’t used to. She’s also creeping me out a bit, though, showing up out of the blue, buying me things. It’s weird,” Cooper said.

“You could talk to her. Tell her to stop.”

“Maybe, or I could continue to ignore her and hope she’ll stop on her own,” he said.

“That might work, but I doubt it. How’s it going with Kendall?” Luis asked.

“Any day now, she wants me so bad,” Cooper said, smiling.

“That’s good at least. I knew you could do it if you put your mind to it,” Luis said, pleased.

“Yeah, but now she thinks I’m some good guy. She thinks she has me all figured out, that Myra’s causes are mine, that I’m financing her efforts to make the town a better place. I help Myra because it’s important to Myra,” he said.

“And what’s important to Myra is important to Cooper,” Luis said in his singsong voice. “There’s more to it…to you, than that, and you know it, but you never want to talk about it.”

“And I’m not about to start,” he said.

Luis was silent.

“So the professor wants me because she thinks I’m something that I’m not.”

“Why do you care? You are going to get your second chance. Be happy. Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth,” Luis said, chuckling. “Take the money and run, right?”

“A man of many expressions today, I see,” Cooper said, eyeing his buddy. “You think so?”

“I do,” Luis said.

Cooper was quiet. Luis stepped out of the cart, grabbed his wedge, and headed over to the sand trap. Cooper followed suit, reached for his nine iron, then moved to the middle of the fairway. Of course his ball was in the middle of the fairway.

Kendall stood at the ladies’ tee on hole seventeen, waiting for Barnabus and Luis to vacate the fairway. It was getting dark, and she’d hoped to finish the last few holes, but that was before she’d run into Cooper and Luis, and whereas Cooper might be a scratch player, Luis was nowhere near it. She’d watched them tee off and had stood around for at least ten minutes while they sat in their golf cart, talking like two little schoolgirls. They hadn’t glanced behind them once to see if they were holding up anyone’s play. Now they were finally moving their butts over to the fairway to continue their game.

She continued to watch as Luis tried to extricate himself from that sand trap, taking three shots before landing safely to the left of the fairway, and then two more shots before he landed near the edge of the green.
Aye-yai-yai
, she thought. This was a par four, for Christ’s sake.

Of course she could always ask to play through, but she was reluctant to call attention to herself; if she got too close, Barnabus just might pick up on her need. Two weeks of his hard press had overloaded her senses. She had it so bad.

She chuckled at the many beers she’d sniffed, turned away, then sent back, giving one excuse after another for what was wrong with them. He’d played along, and she’d enjoyed the effort he’d put forth. Add that to last night, when he’d apologized and kissed her so softly, so thoughtfully, and, well, he only had to ask again, and she was all in. And really, why waste the summer; he was here and so was she, and they were so good together.

They were done finally. Barnabus and Luis were headed to their cart, and drove over to the green. She should wait, but she was quite tired of waiting, and she wanted to remind them that they were not alone. She placed her ball on the tee and swung.

“Fore,” she yelled. Cooper must have heard the zing of it passing. His head snapped back. She laughed ’cause he had kind of ducked, like it had startled him.
You are sick
, she thought. They weren’t in any danger.

She walked back to her cart and drove down to the fairway where her ball had landed, pulling up next to Cooper and Luis, who were waiting at the cart, apparently for her.

“Professor,” Cooper said, walking toward her. “You could have yelled fore a little sooner. You might have hurt someone,” he said, standing alongside her cart, looking down at her, wearing his best cop-stopping-a-speeding-person impersonation.

“Are you hurt?” she asked, sitting back in her cart, enjoying, as always, the pleasure of just looking at him.

“If you’re looking to hurt me, I’m free this evening. I’d be happy to show you all the ways I like to be hurt,” he said, and she chuckled before she caught herself.

“You so want to,” he said, smiling down into her eyes.

“You know what? I do,” she said, and she could tell that he was surprised by her admission.

“But…”

She shrugged.

“Hi, Kendall,” Luis said, a smile on his face when he reached her cart.

“Hey, Luis,” she said.

“Cooper said you were a good golfer,” Luis said.

“I can hold my own,” she said.

“You want to join us?”

“No, I wouldn’t want to interfere,” she said.

“You wouldn’t be,” Cooper said, smiling.

“You don’t want to be embarrassed in front of your friend if I beat you again,” she said, looking at Cooper, a shit-eating grin covering her face.

Cooper laughed. “Right, Professor.”

“What, I didn’t beat you before?” she asked.

“You did, but I had to give away the farm for you to do it,” he said.

“Oh, so that’s how you’re choosing to remember it?”

“You want to beat me again?”

“That an interesting question,” she returned.

“I’d play you again,” he said.

“Why would I want to do that? I’ve already beaten you once. What can you offer that I haven’t already had,” she said.

“I’m going to go look for some of my lost balls, so I’ll leave you two alone to hash this out,” Luis said, walking away, not that either of them were paying him any attention.

Cooper chuckled. She was so cute and really very entertaining, and he was glad that he had chosen to make the effort to seduce her.

“The stakes would have to be higher this time,” he said.

“Really?” she said, rolling her eyes. “And what might those stakes be this time?” she asked. “What you’ve wanted since the beginning, since the first and second time—me, sans clothing again?”

“For the summer…And I can see why you’re a professor over at the university. You’re supersmart and quick. And yes, that’s what’s at stake, but you want it too, remember—you just said so,” he said, eyes staring intently into hers.

“Fine, but we play the entire course this time, not just three holes.”

“Suit yourself.”

“You spot me two strokes,” she said.

“Hell no.”

“One?”

“Nope,” he said.

“And here I thought you had it going on, Mr. Scratch Player,” she said, looking away, like she didn’t have a care in the world. “Was that all talk?”

He laughed but remained silent, staring at her.

“Barnabus, Barnabus, Barnabus,” she said, like she wasn’t sure what to do.

“It’s not a matter of wanting the prize, it’s giving myself a chance to compete, to win the prize. Two asides, that’s all I’m willing to give,” he said.

She sighed loudly, like it was such a hard decision to make.

“When?” he asked, pushing her along.

“Saturday morning, a week from tomorrow. Early, tee time at seven. I use the women’s tees and you hit from the championship tees,” she said.

“You’ll hit from the men’s tees,” he countered.

“Nope, I’ll hit from the women’s tees,” she said, standing up, closing the space between them, which wasn’t much since he stood just beside her cart.

“Fine. Like I said, though, if I win, it’s for the summer, all summer—whenever I want, wherever I want. And you’ll drink my beer. So you’d better be sure,” he said, all lowered lids and sexiness.

She looked away. It was quiet between them for a moment. Her brow furrowed, as if she were seriously pondering his proposal.

“Hey, don’t strain yourself, Professor,” he said, running his hand over her forehead, smoothing out the creases in her brow. “Don’t fret. You’re not in over your head. Close,” he said, holding up his fingers, a small space between his thumb and index finger, chuckling at the expression she gave at his words. “I won’t hurt you. I’ll let you rest in between. I promise. You
can
do this,” he whispered, his mouth near hers, biting back his laughter.