Free HIS By Design -Coveting Claire by Helen Karol Page B

friend, Lisa walks around the classic
car parked inside my neighbor, Rick’s, boathouse. She looks back
over her shoulder at me, Rick and his best buddy, Luke. She's
staying with me for the weekend and has her eye on Luke. I imagine
she'll be successful. He was the one who suggested we share a taxi
back from the Saturday town dance and was insistent we come in for
a drink before we head back to my little bungalow. He's visiting
from Boston for the weekend, but he and Rick are close enough that
he's comfortable making free with his friend’s hospitality.
    Lisa looks back at the car and then gives
Rick a questioning look. “68?”
    “You know your cars.” Rick is impressed, Lisa
has quadrupled in his estimation. He loves that car. It's his pride
and joy to be guarded fiercely. I’ve first-hand knowledge of that
fact.
    She walks around to the front of the car.
“You restore it yourself?”
    Rick nods.
    “Mmm, wow, classic chrome bumper. Original?”
She bends to get a better look.
    Rick nods again. He doesn’t look at me as he
flicks the light to aid her admiring inspection.
    Promising numerous minor gods my first born,
I desperately pray she won’t notice.
    “Oh, too bad about the dent.” She
notices.
    I groan inwardly. Of course, she notices,
everybody does. Why the hell doesn’t he just get it fixed?
    Because he likes to see you squirm over it,
of course, why else?
    Too many margaritas from Mexican Night at the
community center make me belligerent and too full of bravado. “It’s
not really a dent, more of a little ding.” I claim recklessly.
    He looks at me then. Expecting dark, stormy
recriminations, I'm surprised to see what suspiciously looks like a
quirk of his lips. My eyes fly up to his, but they're bland.
They're devoid of amusement and there's no hint of annoyance. He
must have had a shitload of margaritas of his own to be acting this
magnanimous.
    He flashes Lisa a smile and what might be a
hot look. My stomach sinks when it dawns on me that his mellower
mood could be attributed to more than the margaritas. Lisa, my best
friend since we were in law school together, is very, very sexy,
especially when she's putting on the moves like she is now. I
thought it was Rick’s cop buddy from Boston homicide, Luke Kincaid,
she was interested in. I fight a sick feeling that, my neighbor and
nemesis, Detective Rick Andrews of the Lake Andrews Sheriff’s
Department, might now be the lucky man on her radar.
    “How did it happen? Why not get it fixed?”
She asks him.
    I gulp, willing the lake to have an
unexpected tsunami or perhaps a dark monster a la Loch Ness to
distract them. It's all I can do not to yell at Lisa and drag her
off to my small but increasingly, inviting abode next property
over, well the only property over. My little patch by the lake and
Rick’s sprawling land and comfortable lake house are the only
inhabited properties on the south side of Lake Andrews. I'm
terrified that if I don’t get her home soon, he'll volunteer the
story.
    I hold perfectly still and then relax when
Rick decides not to go there. He shrugs.
    “That’s a story for another time. I’ve got
used to it. Fixes never work on originals. It would never be quite
the same. Keeps it more authentic, I guess. Besides, nothing should
be flawless, right?”
    Tilting his head, he melts her with that grin
and hot chocolate gaze of his. I swear I can see Lisa’s knees
buckle. I don’t like this. I tell myself it's because I don’t think
they're a good combination, but I know that’s not true.
    I am jealous.
    I'm shocked at the white-hot heat of my
jealously as it sears through me. I turn and walk down the dock
straight to the water’s edge. Rocking a little drunkenly on the end
of the wooden pathway, I lean forward and peer into the midnight
black depths of the lake. Rick stiffens, Lisa no longer has his
attention. He may be flashing sexy grins at her, but he's as
intractable as ever with me.
    “Get back from the end of the