Free More Than Rum (The Maple Leaf Series Book 3) by Christine DePetrillo Page B

the next five mornings,” she said.
    “You’re going to be so
disappointed when you lose, gorgeous.” Rick sat on a tall stool by the pool
table.
    Lily chuckled as if Rick had no
chance of winning. “I’ll have bacon and eggs tomorrow, French toast the day
after that…”
    “Keep dreaming.” Rick poked
Lily with his pool cue, leaving a circle of blue chalk on her ass.
    “You’ve created a nice target
there,” Hope said.
    Lily wiped the blue spot off
and hissed like a cat at Rick.
    “Let’s go, kitty. Take your
shot.” He pointed to the pool table.
    Lily slid her pool cue along
her index finger and thumb a few times, lining up her shot again, then sank her
solid ball in the corner pocket. She blew on the tip of her cue and winked at
Rick.
    “You still have to get the
eight ball in, lady.”
    “No sweat.” Lily pretended to
do some complicated geometry to figure the best way to shoot.
    Hope laughed when Lily mumbled
something about the Pythagorean Theorem and Newton’s Laws.
    Rick finally spun his wife
around and grabbed her by the shoulders. He kissed her as if it were just the
two of them in the bar. Hope didn’t know where to look and had to remind
herself not to glance in Adam’s direction, because he’d certainly be able to
tell she wanted that kind of kiss from him.
    Maybe I’ll get one tonight.
    That was part of her master
plan. The master plan that only became the master plan about five minutes ago
when she’d invited herself to Adam’s place.
    Yikes! What am I doing?
    Something. She was doing
something. And it was about damn time.
    Hope focused back on Lily who
seemed off kilter after Rick’s kiss. “He doesn’t play fair.”
    “No,” Lily said a little
breathlessly. “No, he does not.”
    “We never established playing
fair as a rule,” Rick said. “Anything goes.”
    Puffing out a breath and
squinting as she aimed, Lily fired off her shot and the eight ball disappeared
into the pocket.
    Lily took the pool cue and put
her hands on either end of it as she did a quick tap dance of victory. “I like
my coffee piping hot, baby, and the orange juice better be fresh-squeezed.”
    Rick grabbed her pool cue in
the middle and dragged her over to him. “Double or nothing. What do you say?”
    “Nope.” Lily let go of her cue.
“I know when to quit. Five mornings of breakfast in bed will be enough.”
    “Ricky can be a sore loser,”
Hope said.
    “Don’t call me that,” Rick
growled.
    “Sore loser, sore loser, sore
loser.”
    “You know I meant Ricky.”
    “Why does that bother you so
much?” Lily asked.
    “I was Ricky up until I was
about thirteen. Then I politely asked Aunt Joy and the Annoying Twins to stop
calling me that. Aunt Joy stopped, but Hope and Sage still like to piss me off.”
    “Is Ricky not manly enough for
you?” Lily teased.
    “He’s lucky we don’t call him
Dick, right Richard ?” Hope knew she was jabbing the beast now by using
his full name. Only Aunt Joy could get away with calling him Richard, and she
only did so when she was yelling at him.
    “Do you want me to stop
speaking to you, cousin?” Rick asked through clenched teeth.
    “Now there’s a question.” Hope
pretended to consider it.
    “Wow,” Lily said. “You have a
little Sage in you tonight, Hope.”
    “You’re right. I’m channeling
my inner Sage.” She put her hands out to her sides as if meditating.
    “Let’s hope you don’t channel
too much,” Rick said. “Our family can’t handle two Sages. One is more than
enough.”
    Lily looked over Hope’s
shoulder toward the bar. “Wait a minute. Are you on a mission, dear Hope?”
    “Mission?” Hope’s voice
crackled a little. She reached for her rum and took a long drink. Not long
enough to come up with anything good to say. “Mission?”
    “You said you wanted to face
your fears about coming back here. Gave a mighty fine speech about not letting
some perv limit you and blah, blah, blah, but I see the way Mr. Military