Playing For Keeps (3 page)

As soon as the words were out of her mouth, she regretted them. It was too late to take the words back. Kayla let go of her and walked over to the cordless phone. She took it off the base and walked back over to Keirra and handed the phone to her.

Kayla smiled. “Call him and ask him on a date.”

Keirra almost recoiled, but she couldn’t go back and change what she had said. Then she smiled at the loophole that she had just remembered. “I don’t have his number.”

“Randy does.”

Keirra’s grin disappeared, and she took the phone out of her sister’s hands. It was more of a snatching motion, and she tried to calm her nerves. To be truthful she was starting to think her resistance to Eric was because he was Eric and not because he was an officer of the law. It had gotten to the point where she was forgetting that he was.

The only time she seemed to remember was when she saw him in uniform or when someone made mention of it. She was doing her best to resist Eric’s charm and good looks. Taking one last deep breath, she dialed the number to Kristen’s cell phone instead of Randy’s house phone. She was going to try to make this as easy on herself as possible. After eight hours with her seventh-and eighth-grade students, she couldn’t manage to complete any more difficult tasks than that one.

Kristen answered on the second ring. “Hello.”

“Hi, Kristen.”

She could hear the smile in her sister’s voice. “Hey, Keirra. What is going on?”

Keirra paused too long, and Kayla poked her. “I was wondering if you have Eric’s number.”

It was Kristen’s turn to pause now. “Why?”

Keirra cleared her throat before muttering. “I want to ask Eric out on a date.”

Kristen’s sharp crack of laughter traveled across the line, and Keirra pulled the phone away from her ear to save the rest of her hearing. Once the laughter died down, she placed the phone back to her ear.

“What bet have you and Kayla made this time?”

Kristen could barely get the words out without laughing. Keirra closed her eyes. She had no idea why she thought Kristen might take pity on her. That must have been asking for too much. She tried to work her way out of her sister’s humor. “What makes you think there was a bet? I could have decided to do this on my own.”

Kristen still sounded as though she were struggling to hold back her laughter. “That’s just it. You could have, but you wouldn’t.”

Keirra sighed. She wasn’t so bad, but once she stopped to think about it, she realized she was, and it was embarrassing.

“Do you have his number or not?”

Kristen fell into another round of laughter, and this time Kayla joined her. Keirra ignored both of them, knowing that Kayla’s time was coming and that she would find another way to torture Kristen.

Kayla placed the memo board that hung on the fridge in Keirra’s hands. A second later, Kristen found the number and relayed it to her.

“Thanks.”

She hung up the phone before Kristen could come up with any more snide remarks. She was sure she would pay for it later, but it would be worth it. Kayla was going to bother her enough to the point where she didn’t care. She quickly dialed Eric’s number into the phone and pressed the talk button. The phone dialed, and she became a little upset when the phone rang four times before he answered it. She didn’t pause once he did.

“Hello, Eric, this is Kristen. Would you like to come over for dinner this Friday night?”

She could feel his surprise more than she could hear it. Eric was silent for a long moment.

“Who is this again?”

She heard the smile in voice, and it infuriated her, but if he thought she was going to beg, he had another thing coming. The only thing Kayla had dared her to do was to call Eric and ask him out.

She couldn’t help it when she growled her name. Unfortunately, she growled a lot of when it came to him. He asked her what she wanted again, and she almost hung up the phone. Instead, she turned her back to Kayla, who was grinning in a sickening fashion before counting to ten silently. After she collected herself, she spoke again.

“I asked if you wanted to come over Friday night for dinner.”

She figured that if he came to the house, she would be on her own territory, and therefore, she would feel more secure.

“What time should I be over?”

“Seven is fine,” she replied through clenched teeth.

He chuckled. “Do I need to bring anything?”

“Just yourself,” she muttered.

“Thank you for inviting me. I am looking forward to it just as much as you are,” he stated with slight sarcasm. She refused to be baited.

“You are welcome. Have a good evening.”

She hung up the phone, really wishing that she could slam it down. Releasing the breath she had been holding, she walked over to the base and hung it up. She looked over at Kayla who was now dishing leftovers onto two plates.

“It went well, I assume?” Kayla asked innocently.

“As well as can be expected,” she replied through clenched teeth.

Kayla smiled. “So what are you going to cook Friday night?”

Keirra groaned and slapped her forehead. In her haste to take the easy way out she had forgotten she would have to cook.

If she didn’t cook, he would think that she was too lazy or that she didn’t know how. Even though neither assumption would be correct, she didn’t want it to appear that way. Then again, why she did care? She wasn’t trying to impress him. Frowning, she cursed herself silently. This had been a trap all the way around, and she, being the person who could never walk away from a challenge, had fallen for it. Sitting down at the table to eat her dinner, she began to devise a plan to ensure she came out on top.

“Kristen, Eric is here.”

Eric looked up as Kristen came out of the kitchen. The woman was breathtaking. She was wearing a purple floral-print tube dress and a matching pair of flip-flops. The dress matched her cocoa skin complexion perfectly. Her curly dark brown hair fell a few inches below her shoulder. And the unruly mass was pinned back on the sides with two hair clips.

Realizing it was the first time that he’d seen her with her hair down, he paused. He itched to reach out to touch it, but he resisted. He could only imagine what kind of response it would provoke from her. A smile was pasted onto her face, but he could tell it was strained confirming his suspicion that this invite wasn’t completely her idea. Being the competitive person she was, he was certain she’d lost a bet of some sort, and this was the result. Either way, he was going to capitalize on his gain.

“Hello. I am glad that you could join us.”

Kayla shook her head. She picked up her purse. “Actually, I have a date myself, so I need to get going.”

Eric concealed his grin when Keirra began to look like she was going to spit at the shocking announcement, but she didn’t say a word. Instead, he watched as she nodded and followed her sister to the door with a threat of bodily harm through clenched teeth. Kayla just laughed and walked out of the front door. He had to struggle to keep his expression neutral. His night was already going to be eventful enough as it was.

* * * *

Kayla could hardly contain herself. She walked down the driveway before climbing into her car and drove over to Randy and Kristen’s place before smiling. She had lied to Keirra once again about having a date or at least a real one. It served her sister right. When she realized Keirra had planned to use her as a safety blanket, she had quickly made her own plans. Eric and Keirra belonged together, and the sooner Keirra realized that, the better it would be.

Kayla pulled into the driveway of the home her sister shared with Randy and parked. Getting out of her car, she walked up the walkway and rang the doorbell. A second later, it swung open, and Kristen and Wade stood there. The little tyke threw himself at her, and Kayla caught him. Even though Randy and Kristen weren’t married yet, Kayla still considered Wade to be her nephew.

She greeted her sister as she walked into the house. “Glad you could join us. Wade and I were just getting ready to order pizza.”

Kayla placed a kiss on Wade’s cheek. “Sounds good.”

Kristen closed the door. “Randy should be home shortly.”

Kayla laughed. “I promise I won’t stay too late. Just long enough to make Keirra sweat a little, although I am contemplating staying for a few hours.”

Kristen shook her head. “Don’t you feel a little guilty?”

Kayla shook her head. “Not at all. I am helping her out whether she realizes or not.”

Still, she knew that there was going to be hell to pay later. Keirra was going to throw an outrageous temper tantrum when she found out what Kayla had done. Yet, it was worth it. Anyone with eyes could see that Eric was a good guy. Keirra deserved a guy that would treat her the way that she deserved and challenge her while doing it. Keirra was always torturing them about something. So it was only fair that she tortured Keirra a little. Something told her it would be worth it.

* * * *

Keirra took a deep breath as she closed the door behind Kayla and turned to face Eric. Her face hurt from the attempt to keep her smile in place. “I hope you are hungry.”

Eric grinned. “Starved.”

She led the way to the kitchen. He inhaled deeply when they entered the kitchen. “Something smells good.”

She heard the sincerity in his voice and accepted his compliment.

“Thank you.”

She led him to the table where a sirloin tip roast was waiting with a platter or rolls, a dish of green beans and macaroni and cheese next to it. “Have a seat. What would you like to drink?”

“A beer if you have it.”

She nodded, went to the refrigerator to grab a beer for him, and picked up the glass of wine that she’d been nursing while she prepared dinner. She set his drink down then took her seat across from him.

“This looks good.”

This time when she smiled it didn’t feel as forced. “Thank you.”

“How did you learn to cook so well?”

She stopped in the process of putting the sirloin steak on his plate. “How do you know that it is good?”

He grinned. “Hey, if it looks good, it is bound to taste good.”

Keirra shook her head smiling. Men could be so naive. Yes, it was true her cooking was good, but she had been to places where the food had looked good and tasted awful. When she finished serving him, she served herself.

“If you don’t mind, I would like a little more.”

She shook her head and handed him the utensils. Her eyes widened as she watched him load the food onto his plate. She looked down at her own plate when she thought back to his offer of her helping him to stay in shape in other ways. Right now, she had to admit she was tempted as he sat across from her.

She cleared her throat and tried to clear her mind of the provocative thoughts before she began to eat. The last thing she wanted was for her food to get cold, although the hot thoughts she was having would probably balance it out.

“This is really good.”

Keirra tried not to smile at the heartfelt compliment. She didn’t want to encourage him, but the corner of her mouth still tilted up. “Thanks.”

They ate in silence for a moment before he reached for his beer. “Tell me something about you that I don’t already know.”

She paused for moment and tried to think of something he didn’t know about her before responding. “I am a virgin.”

Eric began to choke, and Keirra resumed eating innocently. He finally pulled himself together.

“Excuse me?”

She knew it hadn’t been something he had expected to hear from her. She made the statement so he would be out of his element because she was definitely out of hers. Still his expression was comical.

She gave him an innocent shrug. “You said to tell you something you didn’t already know.”

He gave her a level look. “Well, that wasn’t exactly what I was referring to.”

She just shrugged. The shock factor had been what she was going for, and it seemed to have worked.

He paused, and she could tell he was choosing his words wisely. “Do you mind tell me why?”

“I haven’t found a man that I wanted to share myself with.”

* * * *

Eric remained silent. He respected her decision. A woman who valued herself enough to know what she wanted was a woman that he could admire. His mother had also always told him to respect a woman even if she didn’t respect herself. He’d had a lot of girlfriends over the years, but he could still count how many women he had been with on one hand and not use up all of his fingers. True, he had the reputation of being a playboy, but he was smart. There was too much going around for him to take the risk even with protection.

She smiled at him. “Tell me something about you that I don’t know.”

Eric grinned. “I am the youngest of four and the only boy.”

Keirra paused in the middle of the bite of food she had been about to take.

“And you are a playboy? Do your sisters know?”

He smiled wickedly. “Yes they do, and I have the permanent knot in the back of my head to prove it.”

Her eyebrows rose. “Any of them come from the women you have been involved with?”

He shook his head. “I have never given any of them any reason to.”

She scoffed. “A polite playboy?”

His chuckled. “Most are.”

“Well, I wouldn’t know since I have never been the acquaintance of one until now.”

“I will try to make it a memorable experience then.”

She resumed eating, and he did as well. Once he had his fill, he pushed his plate away. He had cleaned it. The food had been as good as it looked. The woman could cook.

“Did you save room for dessert?”

He groaned in agony as he shook his head. “No.”

She laughed. “Well, it is a good thing that I didn’t make any, but we do have some lemon-drop cookies if you do.”

He nodded but remained seated and continued to stare at her. The woman was beautiful. She was tall and curvy in every spot that she should be. Her brown eyes were intense and full of desire in his opinion. He was tempted to ask her what she was thinking, but she wouldn’t tell him if he did so he wouldn’t. He smiled when she gave him a look of irritation and impatience.