Sparring Partners (10 page)

"Wise choice."

Damn, he irritated her with always having to
have the last word. Jordon Bennett was a dictatorial pain in the
butt no matter how fine he was to look at. He smelled good too.
That didn't mean she wasn't kicking him out of her house and her
head just as soon as his buddy stopped cooking.

...

She who must be obeyed
.

Jordon almost spat out his coffee at the
sight of Reed running into the room in that neon pink hat that
clashed with her red-gold curls, sparkly gold lettering spelling
out that ridiculous edict. The rest of her outfit was equally
laughable. Smiley face slippers, a lemon yellow short robe hiding
some sort of shiny shirt, and rainbow colored peace sign pajama
bottoms. Not a spot of make-up marred her fresh pixie face. Not
exactly Victoria's Secret, but then Reed was no Victoria.

Her bright yellow robe slipped open giving
Jordon a clearer view of her top. "Who the hell is Mrs.
Resnik?"

Charlie interrupted at the same time,
"Ladies don't wear hats at the table."

Reed rolled her eyes. Then she took off her
hat and tossed it onto the wicker chair behind her, right next to
his copies of
The Wall Street Journal, The Times, The Post, The
Guardian and Kiplingers
. Just because William suspended him
didn't mean he couldn't keep up with world news.

"You never listened to me when we were
married." Charlie said, smiling at Reed as he added more cream to
his tea. "Thanks for taking off that monstrosity of a hat for me
now."

"We weren't really married, Charlie.
Besides, I like you better now. You're not so witchy all the time."
Reed leaned over and squeezed the old man's hand for a second.
There was no ill will between them and Jordon got the feeling this
was a game they played often.

"A gentleman is never 'witchy' dear
girl."

"Don't make me separate the two of you."
Jesse said around mouthfuls of some cereal he poured out of a bag
instead of a box. It looked more like twigs than cereal but the kid
was shoveling it in like candy. He didn't say much but when he did
he got the attention of the table.

Reed's aunt tossed his hair. Charlie winked
at him and smiled through his Van Dyke moustache and beard. Jordon
could literally feel Reed's reaction to her adopted son. She
radiated love, warmth, acceptance and a sense of pride that her
body couldn't fully contain.

She reached under the table and squeezed
Jordon's thigh just above his knee. He didn't think she realized
what she was doing. He wanted to capture her hand with his when she
started to rub up and down, but he didn't want to scare her away,
or see the smile that she reserved for those she loved fade from
her lovely face.

Jordon wanted her to look at him like that,
he didn't look too closely at the why of it. Jordon sat back with a
startled look, realizing he was jealous of a sixteen year old kid.
He didn't even want to analyze how that happened or why he'd let
it. He tried willing the feeling away, but it refused to go.

Jesse smiled back at everyone at the table
showing the charm that would mature into something even more
magnetic as he aged. Jordon recognized it. Jesse had that
indefinable something that would set him apart in a world full of
bright businessmen and women. Jordon had it too, and he knew it
when he saw it in others.

The kid needed time to cultivate it though.
The second the smile left his face, he was flushing at the
attention and burying his face in his cereal bowl to avoid it.
Jordon remembered that awkward feeling every teenage boy feels at
some point, guessing that this kid's pain ran deeper than most. He
drew Reed's attention to give the kid a break. He also wanted an
answer to his question.

"Who is Mrs. Resnik? And why are you wearing
her shirt?"

Reed turned, scrunching up her face at him
in what she probably thought passed for a scowl. With her hair
standing up and sheet lines still noticeable on her face, it didn't
quite make it. He wanted to laugh, but he contained himself. At
least the kid could eat in peace now that Jordon diverted Reed's
attention. He didn't want everyone staring at him like he'd
suddenly sprouted horns, but that's exactly what he got.

"Are you serious?"

"Yep,
Mrs. Bennett
, sure am. Serious
as a marriage license that has your name on it."

Even Jesse came out of his cave when he
heard that one. Jordon looked around the table into each set of
eyes. It was obvious the old man and the kid had no idea Reed
married him. Finn knew, but it didn't look like she approved. Henry
just kept smiling, something Jordon planned to fix as soon as he
got Henry padded up and in the ring. Reed flushed an interesting
shade of pink, Jordon could feel the heat rolling off her and he
knew the explosion couldn't be too far behind.

Too bad, honey. Time to pay the
piper
.

She yanked at her shirt causing her robe to
fall completely down her shoulders. She wasn't wearing a bra. Reed
Mohr-Bennett was one finely formed woman. Firm, full breasts with
the perfect amount of upward curve were standing up and saluting
him, clearly visible under the thin barrier of fabric. If she
pulled any more ,she was going to fall out. He wasn't about to stop
her, she'd yanked his chain with her anger long enough. Besides,
Jordon liked her all jacked up and spitting fire. An angry elf was
a joy to behold.

He wondered if she was wearing panties under
those peace sign jammies. He didn't want to take his eyes from her
chest long enough to find out. Every time she yanked he caught a
glimpse of curved peachy skin a shade or two lighter than the rest
of her, and she wasn't showing any signs of cooling off soon.

"This is a Goo-Goo Dolls tank top. John
Resnik is a member of the band. Obviously, I am
not
Mrs.
Resnik. More's the pity. It's a joke. Jesse bought this for me
after we saw them in concert. I told him I wanted to be a woman of
leisure. A rock star's wife doesn't seem to be such a bad gig.
Instead, I got something completely different."

Now he was angry. And hurt. More than that
he had a point to make. She was married. He wasn't leaving. She
liked him well enough when she said 'I do' and sure as strawberries
are sweet, she liked him in bed. So what changed in forty-eight
hours in between?

"Take it off."

"No. I'll probably never take it off again
now that I know how you feel about it."

"Now."

Henry turned off the burner on the stove and
grabbed Finn's arm. "Let's take a walk." He said. Finn didn't argue
and they disappeared outside.

Jesse's head shot up at Jordon's demand
stalling his spoon, mid-air. Grabbing the gallon of milk he'd
brought to the table, and systematically poured over each bowl of
cereal he managed to devour, Jesse left too. Charlie got up with a
mumbled excuse about some poetry reading he needed to prepare for
and suddenly the room was silent.

"Alone at last." Jordon narrowed his eyes,
focusing in on the sequined tank. "Now take off the damned
shirt."

"Why?"

"You're
my wife
. Not some rock
stars'."

"That's fixable."

"So fix it." Jordon felt like he'd been
slapped. " Until you do, take off the shirt."

"Not on your life. I
love
this shirt.
I'm not even sure I
like
you."

"Take. It. Off."

"What are you going to do if I don't,
divorce me?"

"Not a chance."

"I can file. Wisconsin is a no fault state.
That means I don't have to say what's wrong with you when I
petition, although I'm making a list just in case. It only takes
one of us to petition you know. I don't need your consent."

Jordon smiled the smile he reserved for
hostile boardrooms, he knew it was as lethal as it was engaging. He
stood, and took a step away from her. He didn't want to be too
close.

"Go ahead, Reed. File. You won't have a
final hearing for at least four months. That's Wisconsin law too, I
checked. It's what they call the 'cooling off period'." Jordon had
all he could do not to growl at her. He kept his voice low and
measured. "Until then, lose the shirt. You can have it back in four
months. I'll even have it signed by
Mr. Resnik
for you in
the meantime."

The look she gave him said she didn't
believe him. Jordon meant every word. Henry was great at tracking
down the best tickets and back stage passes to anything, he could
certainly find Mr. Resnik and get him to sign his wife's shirt.
Jordon held out his hand.

"We can do this the easy way or you can make
me take it. Either way, the outcome's the same. It's simply a
matter of how much enjoyment you get out of the process."

Suddenly this wasn't about a tank top. Not
for Jordon. He needed her acceptance and he needed it fast.
Dictating to her probably wasn't the wisest way to get it, but when
she started talking about being married to some rock star and not
liking him, his insides started to twist into knots.

Reed stood. Generally he was good at reading
people but the emotions dancing across her face were foreign to
him. Determination and calm defiance that promised retribution
mingled with something even more elemental, causing his heart to
beat faster. He wanted to take back everything he'd just said. He
wanted to reach out and hold her and tell her he was sorry. He held
his ground instead.

Grasping the bottom of her ribbed tank she
began to lift, slowly. The glimpse of gently rounded belly and
abdomen she offered wasn't helping calm his heart. Her skin was as
pale as he remembered, but more pink in the morning light, like the
color of a flawless pink pearl. Jordon ached to run his lips over
every inch of it.

Maybe making her disrobe at the breakfast
table wasn't such a good idea, but he'd be damned if he could
figure a way to back off now.

Her upper ribs were visible but not
painfully so, she wasn't skinny. She was perfect. She paused just
shy of revealing her breasts. Jordon could see the delicate skin
where her breast arched upward, but no more. His eyes shot to hers.
The smile she gave him was slow and small, as old as time, and as
dangerous as any smile womankind gave man before her. Her blue-gray
eyes, more blue than gray this morning, narrowed slightly as her
full lips parted just enough to allow her tongue to wet them. No
armor known to man could protect him from what she was making him
feel and the look on her face said she knew it.

Jordon lost this round, and he wasn't sure
there would be another.

In one smooth motion her top was gone. She
stood tall, proud, and unashamed, daring him to make the next move.
He stood, rooted to the floor, his stupidity making him mute. She
wasn't his elf now, she was a warrior princess. Regal. Powerful.
Secure in her allure.

Her shoulders were proportionately broader
than those of any other woman he'd seen topless, and the
musculature supporting them was thick and powerful, probably from
decades of throwing punches and working with weapons. She was
dangerous, no doubt about that, but it wasn't because of her
obvious strength. His eyes flashed over her breasts, medium-sized,
perfectly curved and clearly real. He hadn't remembered the
freckles sprinkled between them, but when he closed his eyes and
thought about her, he'd gotten the color of her nipples right.
Dusky-brown with hard pink nipples begging for his tongue. He
needed to go to her, to hold her, to tell her that if they worked
together they could both benefit in more ways than she could
possibly imagine from this marriage. Being married could be the
best thing that ever happened to either one of them if she let
it.

The shirt hit him in the face before he
could deflect it.

"Keep it. I'll list it as your property in
the divorce settlement." She had her robe tied tightly around her
by the time the fabric dropped from his face.

She was walking away before he could
formulate a response. Jordon lifted the tiny tank to his face and
inhaled deeply. Soap and wild flowers. There was something else
there too that Jordon couldn't name that was Reed's alone. It
smelled heavenly.

He folded Reed's shirt, still warm from her
hot little body, and tucked it inside the shirt he was wearing. He
wanted her scent close to his skin since it didn't look like he was
going to get close enough to touch her anytime soon.

CHAPTER TEN

"You chickened out didn't you?" Henry said,
following Jordon to the back patio.

"I don't know what you're talking
about."

It was in times like these that Henry
considered the merits of smoking. Instead, he popped another of his
bite sized licorice he kept in small bags in his pants pocket into
his mouth. Not as good as a full twisted stick, but sometimes a man
had to make do.

"You chickened out. You purposely picked a
fight over a shirt instead of getting Reed to work with you so you
could stay married."

"Tank top."

"What?"

Jordon ran a hand through his hair in a
gesture Henry knew from experience signaled his agitation. "It's a
tank top, not a shirt."

"What difference does it make?"

"It's smaller and it shows more skin."

Henry coughed, making him choke on his
candy. "Are we seriously talking about the difference between
sleeves and no sleeves on women's pajamas?" Jordon didn't answer.
"You need to talk to her. William is serious about his deadlines.
He's already hounding me for a copy of the marriage
certificate."

"Let him wait. I've still got a day."

Henry looked at his watch. "More like twelve
hours. Time to start using those world class negotiating skills of
yours or you won't be needing them much longer. Although, they
might not help you now. Not if throwing her shirt at your head is
any indicator of Reed's willingness to listen."