Yours or Mine (5 page)

“Yeah, I’m one of
the good guys. Is Zach a police officer?” Blake asked.

Sydney nodded. “He’s
a detective in the homicide squad.”

Blake asked, “Is your
dad on the police force too?”

She shook her head.
“He’s a principal at the high school. He always put any boyfriend
thru intense interrogations before I could leave the house. And my
mom was a teacher and play director while I was in school.”

“In other words, the
Smith family is tight,” Libby said. “You don’t mess with them.”

“I like that.
Family’s important.” He put his hand on Sydney’s thigh.

Good for Blake, she
thought. He’d met Libby’s challenge.

Libby stood. “I
better go. Craig’s waiting in the car for me.”

“Why did he stay in
the car?” Sydney asked.

Libby giggled. “He
was afraid to come with me to see you because of what happened last
Sunday night. Remember, you were in your underwear.”

“Geez, I didn’t
expect visitors, plus you gave a quick little knock and opened the
door before I could throw a robe on.” She leaned forward. “And I
was decent.”

“Depends on what you
call decent. Craig turned beet red.” Libby paused and pulled a
small notebook out of her purse. “I almost forgot. I have a list
for the bridal shower.”

Sydney reached for the
notebook, then turned to glance at Blake. “Libby’s getting
married in July and I’m her maid of honor.” She rubbed her lower
lip and told Libby, “The deck at the house I want to buy would be
perfect for a shower.”

Libby snapped her purse
shut. “I thought your mom wanted to have it.”

“I’m sure she’d
help me at my house.” She sighed. “I like the sound of that—my
house.”

Blake frowned. “I’m
hoping it’ll be our house.”

“It can be.”
Sharing the house with Blake and Carter was looking better all the
time, but guidelines were necessary so no tension would exist. “I’m
thinking we should set some ground rules before we write a contract
for the house. Just like in sports, you can have a fair game as along
as everyone follows the rules.”

Blake grinned. “One
rule should be that we don’t use the adjoining door when we're in
our underwear.”

She laughed. “I can't
see that happening.”

“You never know. You
might need a cup of sugar or something and forget you're not
dressed.”

“Well, for one thing.
I keep a well-stocked kitchen. I always have sugar.”

“I don't.”

After they told Libby
bye, Blake put his arm around Sydney. “Were you serious about
writing rules?”

She nodded. “We
obviously like kissing each other. I think we need rules if we’re
going to have a platonic relationship.”

“I guess we aren’t
going to resume what we were doing before Libby interrupted us.”

“As enjoyable as it
was, I don’t want you to think I’m easy. And the truth is we just
met each other.”

Blake knew she was
right. When he was around Sydney, he lost all control. First, he
suggested they share a house when he just met her. Now he couldn’t
keep his hands off of her and he knew why. She was the most desirable
woman he’d met since Caroline died. No one had interested him in
the last few years. His friends had tried to get him to date after
the first year anniversary of Caroline’s death, but he’d told
them no one could take her place. Having strong emotions for Sydney
was an unexpected surprise. Using humor might be the best way to
handle this situation. He tapped her knee. “I know what the first
rule should be. Don’t parade around in your underwear.”

She laughed. “You
sure have underwear on your mind, and hey, it works both ways. You
can’t walk in front of me in yours. What do you wear? Boxers or
briefs?” Her face turned a pretty pink. “Sorry, that question
slipped out of my big mouth.”

Caroline had been shy
when they started dating. She never would’ve asked a personal
question. “I don’t mind answering. I wear boxers.”

“Okay. I’ll write
that down about the underwear. I’ll get a pad and pen for our
list.” While taking a few steps to the kitchen, she said, “This
should be interesting.”

She returned quickly
with a pink legal pad. He glanced at the bright color of her tablet.
“Is that what you use to write your columns on?” he asked.

“I jot ideas on here
sometimes, but usually I work on my laptop.” She sat beside him.
“Don’t worry I won’t use our ground rules for a column.”

“That’s reassuring.
If you wrote about our list in the paper, I might have to rethink
this home-share plan.”

She rolled her eyes.
“Liar. You’re the one who asked me to share it with you. You
aren’t going to back out now.”

He ran his fingers
through his hair. “You got me.”

She clicked the pen.
“I’m glad you mentioned underwear because it made me think of a
good rule. I think number two should be that we never enter each
other’s bedroom. So when I visit you on your side of the duplex, I
won't enter your bedroom.”

“Yeah, that’s a
good one.”

“Unless one of us is
sick, then it’s okay to enter with the purpose of giving medication
or whatever.”

“Do you get sick
often?” Suddenly he remembered Caroline’s long illness and how
hard it’d been on Carter. Of course, Sydney wasn’t Carter’s mom
or anything, but still it’d be hard to be reminded of how his mom
had suffered.

“No. I’m pretty
healthy.” She frowned. “We might have to enter each other’s
room in case of emergencies. You know if I hear a burglar, I might
have to wake you up.”

Sydney walking into his
bedroom during the night in her lingerie was appealing. “Yes,
definitely. If we should ever have a break-in, I’ll protect you.”

“When you think about
it, the duplex is perfect for us. I have my own private house but it
won't get lonely if we want to watch a TV program together or eat
together sometimes.”

Would he even be able
to sleep knowing Sydney was only seconds away? He’d never been an
impulsive kind of guy so asking her to share the house had been
unbelievable. “The house is great. And I’m glad the owners are
leaving the hot tub. I can‘t wait to come home from work and soak
in the hot tub.”

She raised her
eyebrows. “That’s right. A hot tub with mostly bare bodies could
make us feel passionate and lose control. The next rule should be
that we never get in the hot tub together.”

He shrugged. “I think
we can behave in the hot tub. How about we put no drinking while in
the hot tub for a rule instead?”

“The hot tub is a
biggie because if we are both in it, with or without alcohol, I can’t
imagine us keeping our hands off each other. We were just hot for
each other here.”

He squeezed her upper
arm. “That’s because of your sexy arms.”

She stopped writing to
look at Blake. “I never had a guy tell me my arms are sexy.”

“That’s hard to
believe. Your gorgeous arms are toned and lean.”

“Stop trying to
sidetrack me from our list by giving me compliments.” She paused.
“I’ll compromise and put no touching and no drinking in the hot
tub.”

Leaning in he gave her
a soft kiss on her cheek. “What about kissing?”

“That’s going to be
tough. I think allowing kissing on lips only should be okay. But not
in the hot tub.” Her brown eyes widened. “But we should add that
lips don’t touch other body parts.”

“What about the
cheek?”

“Kissing a cheek is
fine.”

“What about a kiss on
the forehead?”

She laughed. “Would
you stop? You’re a smart man and know I meant no kissing on my
boobs and other sensitive places. If Libby hadn’t shown up, your
lips were headed in that direction.”

Although he hadn’t
been happy to be interrupted by Libby, it’d been for the best. “We
have a good list of rules. If necessary we can always add stuff
later.”

She rubbed her lower
lip. “It seems like we’re forgetting something important. Well,
like you said, we can always revise.”

“I guess we should
see a lawyer sometime, and have a legal agreement drawn up…like a
prenup if owning the duplex together doesn't work out for one of us.”

“That's a great idea.
We should do that. I’ll write the rules down for you so we both
have a copy. We can’t very well post them where Carter sees them.”

After she handed him his piece of
paper, he read them aloud.

Ground Rules for Sharing a House with the Opposite Sex

1. Don’t use the adjoining door to visit when wearing only your
underwear.

2. Don’t enter each other’s bedroom unless there’s an
emergency.

3. No touching and no drinking while in the hot tub with each
other.

4. Kissing only allowed on lips and face. And no kissing while in
hot tub.

Silently he added a
rule to the list.
Don’t ever take advantage of Sydney.
Crap,
that was going to be a hard one for him. He already wanted her. Hell,
he’d convinced her that they would have a platonic relationship if
they shared the duplex. How could he keep his word?

* * *

“Will you and dad
disown me if I buy the duplex with Blake?” On Monday Sydney called
her mom and decided to be blunt about the whole house possibility.
The whole thing weighed heavy on her mind because she was afraid of
their reaction. They probably hadn’t thought it was a possibility,
so hadn’t said anything when she’d talked to them on Sunday. But
the more time she spent getting to know Blake, the more she realized
that it was inevitable they’d end up in the same house. She
couldn’t stop thinking about him.

“Zach said Blake
seems like a great guy. He’s also done a background check on Blake
and said that he’s squeaky clean. But…”

“But what, Mom?”

“What kind of guy
wants to buy a house with a woman he’s just met? Even though he
hasn’t done anything criminal, I wonder if he’s a bit of a bad
boy.”

“Of course he isn’t.
He’s a gentleman.” Didn’t her mom remember that Blake wanted a
platonic relationship? “Remember, we aren't living together. I'll
have my own house with a private entrance. And Carter and Blake will
have their own private part of the duplex. We want to keep this as a
business arrangement.”

“That’s
reassuring,” her mom mumbled.

Was it all a farce? Did
Blake plan on seducing her? Why go to all this trouble of buying a
house together, though, if he only wanted her for sex? But he’d
been pretty interested in writing rules for living together.
Obviously, a sexual current definitely existed between them. Would
their short list prove enough to stop their hot urges?

Her mom sighed. “It’s
your decision and your inheritance money, but your dad and I would
like to meet him first.”

“I want you to meet
Blake and his son.” She’d have to warn Blake not to kid around
and flirt in front of her parents. Well, she doubted he would be that
dumb.

“What does Blake’s
mother say about this plan of her son’s?”

“She died a year ago
from a heart attack. His dad’s in the military.” She gave the
history of Carter’s other grandparents before popping a potato chip
in her mouth. The barbecue hot kind…her favorite flavor of chips.

“Too bad Carter
doesn’t have any grandparents living close by. I hope Blake’s not
planning on using you as a babysitter.”

“I’m sure he
isn’t,” she said. “Carter stays at school until Blake can pick
him up. And he mentioned that Carter attends the Y program during the
summer.”

“It must be hard on
him to be a single father.”

After sipping her Coke,
she thought of something her mom would like to hear. “With a man in
the house, I won’t have to worry about someone breaking in and
hurting me.”

“I do like that you
won’t be living alone. And keep the security system the owners
have. Blake won’t always be at home.”

She heard the beep on
the phone signaling someone was calling her. “Mom, I have to go. I
have another call. I’ll call you soon about meeting Blake and
Carter.”

“Hi, Syd.”

Great. Her brother was
probably calling about the baseball schedule. She hadn’t typed it
yet. “Hi. I don’t have the schedule done but I’ll get to it
before the next practice.”

“I’m not calling
about that. I just wanted to tell you that if you don’t set up
housekeeping with Blake, you can come live with us. If I’d known
you were interested in house sharing, you could’ve been part owner
of our home.”

She laughed. “Oh,
yeah. That would be like living with Mom and Dad. And I'm going to be
in my
own
part of the duplex. I'm not living with Blake. We
are just buying the house together.”

“So you think Blake
will be more fun than us. I knew you wouldn’t do this just to save
money.”

“We haven’t made an
offer yet. And, of course, I’m doing it to save money. With both of
us paying the cost and the lowered price, we don’t even have to get
a loan. I’ll have money to buy furniture.”

“Blake has the hots
for you and—”

“I know. We’re
grown-ups and can handle our urges.”

“How? By taking cold
showers together.”

“Very funny, Zach.”

“I hope you know what
you’re doing because Blake’s a virile thirty-one-year-old.”
Zach cleared his throat. “I like Blake, but it doesn’t seem right
for you two to buy a house when you’ve known each other for a short
time. And don't argue that you two are living in opposite sides of
the house. There's an adjoining door, for crying out loud.”

“Before we move in
the house, we have thirty days, plus we don’t have a contract yet.”

“Lindsay did mention
that Blake goes to the PTO meetings at the boys’ school, so it’s
good he’s an involved father.” He chuckled. “Or he’s hitting
on the divorced mothers at the parent meetings. If he’s seeing
someone, then you might not have to worry about him attacking you
some night.”