How To Get Your Man

“One.”

He’d wear her down, she knew it. That was how she’d lost her virginity to him. “Okay. Deal.”

“And you can’t deviate from my plan to get your guy. You’ve got to do everything I say.”

“Within reason.” Something tremored through her. Excitement at the possibility of winning over Mark Ford? Reluctance to take the advice of a guy who had, himself, broken her heart? She honestly couldn’t say.

“Honey, I’m always reasonable.”

There was that tremor again.

They went to the vacant pool table by the window and Dalton racked the balls while Bonnie took out a cue and chalked the tip.

Dalton turned and watched her for a moment. “Not so hard. You’re gonna break something.”

She looked at the chalk, which was falling in crumbles to the ground. He was making her nervous, that was all. She blew the residue off the top of the cue and set the chalk down.

“Consider that your first lesson,” Dalton said devilishly.

“In—” She realized what he meant. “Oh, jeez, Dalton. Keep your mind out of the gutter.”

“And you get off your high horse.” He stepped back and gestured for her to break. “Consider that lesson two. A little gutter thinking could only help your cause.”

“There’s a difference between sex and the gutter, you know.”

His smile was sly. “It’s a fine line.”

He was kidding, and it was obnoxious, but she was struck by how sexy he still was. Suddenly she remembered what it felt like to fall for Dalton. She recalled the feeling of being with him in the back seat of his old Chevy Impala, remembered the feel of his muscular body, the taste of him, the smell of him. After eleven years the memory should have faded, but it hadn’t.

Eager to push the thoughts aside, she bent over the table and broke the balls with a loud crack. The heavy balls scattered, bouncing off the velvet walls of the table. The cue ball jumped the side and dropped heavily onto the floor.

Dalton looked at the cue ball for a moment, then calmly bent over, picked it up and set it on the table.

“Something on your mind?” he asked, straight-faced.

“I think it’s your turn.”

He laughed and dropped two striped balls into pockets before scratching. Bonnie took a cleansing breath and made one clean shot, six ball into the corner pocket.

After that, her game improved considerably and for a good half she was ahead. She was already counting the money she’d save with a month off from rent when Dalton had a long streak of good luck. He won by a single point.

“I’m thinking I’m in the mood for spaghetti and meatballs,” he said, with a languorous stretch. “With garlic bread. The real kind, not that stuff you buy at the grocery store.”

“You’re going to stink.”

“That’s right.” He smiled. “Hopefully sooner, rather than later. I’m starving.”

“I demand a rematch.”

He shook his head. “This one was too close for comfort. Think I’m gonna take a chance on losing out on all that home cooking? I’m no fool.”

Bonnie heaved a long sigh. “I hope you’re not,” she said. “Suddenly it seems my future rides on it.”

Chapter Three

“Every three minutes, guys think about sex. Take advantage of that.”

—Dalton Price

“No.”

“No?”

“No way.”

Bonnie stopped in the lobby of the building in front of Dalton and Elissa. “No way what?” she asked Dalton.

“That outfit.”

“What now?” Bonnie looked down at herself. “I bought this at Laura Ashley in London! It’s one of my favorite dresses. It cost a fortune.”

Dalton and Elissa exchanged glances.

“Mrs. Malone has one like that,” Elissa said, with a small frown. “But she’s a lot older than you.”

Dalton laughed and patted her shoulder. “Out of the mouths of babes.”

“I’m not a baby, Dad.”

“There she is!” An older woman with white hair and a shapeless flower-print dress shuffled out of the stairwell. Nelly Malone. “Ready to go, Lissy?”

Elissa nodded. Bonnie could tell she didn’t like the nickname, but, thank goodness, she was too polite to say anything.

Nelly put her arm around the girl’s shoulder and they began to walk toward the front door. “We’ll see you two later.”

“Have fun,” Bonnie said, watching them go.

“Bye, Dad. Bye Bonnie,” Elissa said.

“Bye, baby. Be smart in school today,” Dalton told her with a proud smile.

“I’m sure she’s always smart in school,” Bonnie said and Elissa giggled. When the two had gone out the front door, Bonnie turned back to Dalton. “Mrs. Malone’s dress was almost exactly like mine.”

He laughed and gave a broad shrug. “Did you notice that, too?”

Bonnie looked at her watch. She had five minutes. Five minutes to change into something suitably alluring for her lunch with Mark today.

Dalton watched her, and said, as if reading her mind, “I’ll give you a ride into the city. I have to go anyway.”