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  “This affects both of us, Jace. I hope you want to, but I’m not going to beg. Do you want this to continue?” Who was she kidding? She would scream and beg on bended knee if Jacey said no.

  “Yes.”

  †

  Priory settled herself behind her big desk the next morning and leaned back in her swivel chair. Last night had turned out pretty good, despite the lack of sex. They had talked and talked, about life and their hopes and dreams. In Priory’s eyes it was as essential to the relationship as the sex was. Okay, that may have been overstating it a little, but she really wanted this to work, and if a little conversation would be a plus in Jacey’s eyes, then she was all for it.

  Jacey had gone up a peg or two in her estimation when Priory found out about her plans to take time off to travel. If the woman could put up with every piece of shit Priory threw at her to achieve her goal, then she was a woman worth knowing.

  Priory was content to go over the previous night’s conversation in her head until a loud knock caught her attention. “Come!”

  The door opened and Jacey appeared. “Just to let you know, the plumber will be over next Saturday. Is that okay?”

  Priory let herself be distracted by Jacey’s presence. “Yeah. Sure,” she said absently.

  “Are you all right?” Jacey moved into her office and closed the door.

  “Of course.” Priory let a smile emerge. “All the more for you being here.”

  Jacey looked at her dubiously.

  “No, I mean it. I just feel more settled now you’re here.”

  “You’re losing it,” Jacey muttered, and Priory couldn’t help but laugh.

  “I think I am.” What else could she say? Had she finally found that someone to fill the empty hole inside her?

  “What’s on the agenda for today?”

  Priory didn’t want to talk about work, but she took the change of conversation gracefully. She opened her diary. “It seems pretty clear for today. Apart from a luncheon with new clients. Maybe we can make a dent in this pile.” She indicated the mountain of files sitting on her desk. “If we apply ourselves, we can leave at a reasonable time for dinner.”

  Jacey looked at the floor.

  “We are having dinner, aren’t we?” Even as she said it, she knew the answer. She would be going home alone.

  “I had plans to catch up on some housework.”

  “So this is an ‘I have to wash my hair tonight’ speech.” It wasn’t a question. Priory knew.

  “Afraid so. I really do have some chores. I would have done them last weekend, but….”

  “You had to help me. I get it.” Priory didn’t like it, but she wasn’t in a position to argue. “Could you come over next weekend? Please? I could use a hand tidying up the place myself.”

  Jacey didn’t immediately reply, and Priory wondered if it was a ploy on Jacey’s part not to appear too eager. Would she have done the same? Probably.

  “I think I can manage that, so long as I get home before Sunday night.”

  Priory didn’t think the deadline was important. After all, she could drop Jacey at her apartment on Monday morning. But if that was Jacey’s only condition, she could live with that. “Sure. How about I pick you up from your place around six thirty. We can grab some takeout on the way and be home by eight thirty.” Home. She still got a thrill at hearing the word. Maybe there was some hope for her yet.

  †

  It had been a long day and Priory was eager to be finally home. Not as glad as she would have been had she convinced Jacey to have dinner with her, but at least she was out of her car. She trudged up the stairs to her bedroom, looking forward to the chance to lose the high heels. The door was closed. She hadn’t remembered doing that, so she hesitated. Had her house been invaded, at least by the living kind?

  “Rhea?”

  “Yes, Priory?” Rhea slowly materialized, her form slowly coming into focus.

  “Is there something I should know about?”

  “Not that I am aware of.” But Rhea couldn’t look her in the eye. “Why?”

  “Because this door is closed and I’m pretty sure it was open when I left this morning.”

  “Maybe it was the wind.”

  The wind. Sure. She made a point of looking around for an open window. Rhea flinched at her glare and disappeared. This could not be good, especially if Dylan was involved. Cautiously, she opened the door and waited for whatever disaster to hit her. The lingerie drawer was open and panties littered the floor, but otherwise everything seemed normal.

  Priory chuckled. Would Dylan have had a conniption about the miniscule size of her underwear? There appeared to be no real damage done and scolding her would be futile. Besides, how else would they learn about the present? That left Priory thinking.

  She collected the scattered clothing and was about to put them back into the drawer when she noticed something or, to be more precise, the absence of something.

  “Dylan!”

  “I hear ya!” Dylan materialized in the corner of the room.

  “You been through my drawer?”

  “Nah, the toilet demon did it. Made a damned mess if you ask me.”

  Priory pursed her lips.

  “Don’t believe that?”

  “Not likely. Did you find what you were looking for?”

  “Well, I did discover one thing, you hussy.”

  “Hussy?”

  “Yeah, hussy. Leaving your ass to hang out of those things.” Dylan pointed at the offending underwear strewn across the floor.

  “I admit they’re not the most comfortable things. I wear them for someone else, not myself.”

  “So you hardly ever wear it, huh?”

  The zinger hit the target. She had to admit her love life had hit a brick wall of late. On further inspection, she realized it had ground to a halt around three years ago… around the time Jacey started work.

  “Seems pointless to me. If you’re down to the underwear, you don’t need to show off your ass. You’ve already hit a home run.”

  Dylan had a point. Still, old habits die hard and Priory knew she’d still wear the silk for Jacey … for someone else. Who was she kidding? Of course, she’d wear it for Jacey… only for Jacey. “It’s sexy, you know?”

  “Sure I know. It just seems silly.”

  Priory observed Rhea out of the corner of her eye and noted her wistful expression.

  “What about you, Rhea? Would you wear something like this for Casper?”

  Rhea looked shyly at the panties.

  “Sure you would, if you had the opportunity.”

  Dylan turned to Rhea. “Would you?”

  “Only for you, Lanie.”

  Priory didn’t know where to turn her gaze when Dylan graced her lover with an adoring look.

  “Okay, back to what I was going to ask. Where is it?”

  “It?” Dylan looked at her blandly.

  “You know damned well what I’m talking about. My vibrator.”

  “Your … what?”

  “You heard me. A round tube that vibrates.”

  Rhea withdrew back to the corner and stared at the floor.

  “Oh, that thing. It sprung into life and tried to escape. I closed the door. I think it’s under the bed sleeping.” Dylan tried to sound nonchalant about the whole matter.

  Priory dropped to the floor and looked under the bed. At least Dylan had told the truth about that. She reached in and pulled it out.

  “Juuusttt great!” Priory shook it, but she knew the batteries were dead. “You killed it.”

  “Holy cow! I didn’t mean to. You can put it in the attic wall next to us. We’ll look after it.”

  “No, the batteries are just dead. I’ll replace them later.”

  “Batt … ries?”

  “Yeah, it’s a power source to make the tube vibrate.”

  “And what is the point of all this?”

  Priory looked over at Rhea, and the ghost looked like she would have blushed if it were possib
le. “Really?”

  “They weren’t widely available in our time, and they certainly didn’t look like this,” Rhea responded.

  “Will someone speak English?”

  Priory’s heart pounded in her chest. She imagined this was what it would feel like to have one of those “birds and the bees” talks with her daughter. “You know when you use your hand down here…” Priory pointed out that part of her anatomy with her hand “… well, you use this instead.” She’d hoped she’d clearly explained the concept and watched as Dylan tried to digest the information.

  “O-kaaaayy.” Dylan looked from Priory to Rhea and back. “Can you explain that again?”

  “Dylan!”

  “Come on, honey. I’ll explain it later. Sorry, Priory.”

  “Go on.” She chuckled as she watched them leave her bedroom. She never realized how much fun a sex talk could be.

  Chapter Thirteen

  It had been a long, agonizing week for Priory. She hadn’t realized being good around Jacey would be so hard. The woman was a veritable sexual feast on legs and Priory had to behave herself. Friday didn’t come around quick enough. The upside of this restraint was that the height of the pile of work files on their desks was reduced by half. There was no point in sitting there wasting her time feeling frustrated. She’d save that emotion for the coming weekend.

  When she picked Jacey up at her apartment, she restrained herself by only giving Jacey a peck on the cheek. To put her hands out of the way of temptation, she took Jacey’s luggage … well, one overnight bag, but it meant any fondling would one-handed. And that wasn’t enough. She wanted to be fully engaged with both hands when tackling Jacey.

  She tried not to break the speed limit back to her home, but her impatience was winning the war on restraint. Two quick stops to pick up dinner and fill the gas tank and they were on their way home to heaven central. At least it was to Priory. She glimpsed at Jacey to see if she was just as excited, but she seemed fascinated by the passing scenery.

  Priory has a sudden pang of doubt. What if Jacey really didn’t want to jump into bed as soon as they reached home? Okay, they’d have dinner first. There was no point in a grumbling stomach right in the middle of it all. Now that would be embarrassing….

  Now that dinner had finished, Jacey knew what Priory’s next move would be. She wasn’t against what Priory had in mind, but she decided she didn’t want to be predictable.

  “How about a game of cards?” Jacey suggested.

  “Cards?”

  “Yeah, you know, small rectangles of cardboard with little hearts, numbers, and things all over them. Very pretty.”

  “I know what cards are, Jace. I’m more interested in the why right now. I had … other plans.”

  “I bet. Do you know how to play cards?”

  “Well, you know, my childhood was rather restricted, what with Mom and Dad visiting all those convents, and when would I have the time to play cards at college?”

  Dylan appeared in one corner of the kitchen, floating near the ceiling.

  “Beat the pants off her, Jacey.”

  “Oooo, are we playing strip poker? Now for that I’d learn.”

  Jacey raised an eyebrow. “And you’re so sure you’d win?” She removed the pack of cards from their box. Deftly she shuffled them, using long-forgotten skills.

  “Wow! I’m impressed! Maybe I should have let you handle the negotiations on that last acquisition.”

  Jacey studied her opponent. Priory seemed way too happy about the situation. Jacey stared intently, as if trying to look inside her boss’s head. What was she up to? When Priory looked benignly back at her, she dealt the cards.

  “So how does this work? We bet with our clothes?”

  Suddenly, Jacey realized the situation she had gotten herself into.

  “Yeah, that’d work for me,” Dylan commented.

  Jacey glared at Dylan. “Why are you still here? Haven’t you got something better to do?”

  “Hell, no. Hey, Rhee! You gotta come see this!”

  “What’s going … oh!”

  “They’re playing strip poker.”

  When Rhea didn’t answer, Jacey looked. Rhea’s expression said it all. She’d been skillfully maneuvered into taking her clothes off. If she was honest with herself, she and Priory didn’t really need to play cards for that to happen.

  Priory picked up her cards and studied them. “Okay, so what’s next? My bra?”

  Jacey just couldn’t read her. Surely, she knew how to play poker. “The idea is to have the highest possible combination to win.”

  “And where do the clothes come in?” Jacey could hear the excitement in Priory’s voice.

  “Is there a point to this?”

  “Well, getting you naked is one positive result.” Priory wiggled her eyebrows at her.

  Jacey was tempted to lean across the table and smack the silly expression off Priory’s face. It would probably only encourage her, though. “Don’t think you can beat me?” Jacey said bravely. But she didn’t feel brave. The steady gaze from across the table had her second-guessing herself, and she hadn’t even looked at her cards yet.

  Jacey put down the unused stack of cards on the table and picked up her own five cards. Not bad.

  Not good either.

  I’d quit while you’re ahead.

  You are just no fun.

  Girls, girls, she announced in her head. It ain’t over—

  Yeah, we know that saying. She’s gonna strip you naked.

  Jayde finally made a comment. Yeeaaahhhhh.

  “I was wondering where you had gotten to,” Jacey muttered aloud.

  “I was here all the time. Hello? Are you here at all?”

  “Just thinking out loud.”

  “I would have thought that was a bad move playing poker.” Priory shuffled the cards in her hand. “Should I keep my aces?”

  Jacey threw her hand on the table and removed a shoe. There was no point chasing a bad hand.

  “A shoe? That’s it?” Priory’s voice dripped with disappointment. “I would have expected at least a belt or a sweater.” She grinned evilly. “Still, we have the rest of the night.”

  On the second hand, Jacey’s prospects looked up. Across the table, Priory tucked her bottom lip between her teeth as she considered her new cards.

  “You can substitute cards if you want,” Jacey offered.

  “Really? So I can look through the pack and get the ones I want?” Priory’s fingers pinched two cards and lifted them to sit at the top of her hand.

  “No!” Jacey’s impatience was showing. Surely no one was that stupid. “You can change up to five cards, but you have to give them up first and then take them from the pile … unseen.” Had she worded that right? Knowing the woman, Priory would try to beat her on semantics.

  “So I have to sacrifice my cards without knowing what I’m getting in return?”

  “Yep.”

  “That seems stupid.”

  “It’s the risk of the game. You could get better—or worse—cards.”

  Priory continued to worry at her bottom lip. Jacey couldn’t stop her gaze wandering to those lips and vividly remembering what those lips could do.

  Concentrate.

  Get the clothes off and be done with it.

  She has you totally bamboozled. In fact, why are we playing cards at all?

  Her girls had a point, although sadly blunted. It was all foreplay and totally unnecessary. Was she doing this because she needed to beat Priory just once at something? To prove to her boss, and probably herself, that maybe she wasn’t such a second-class citizen?

  “Rhee? She’s gonna lose again.”

  “Will you shut up? I’m thinking.” Jacey studied the cards in her hand.

  “Like that’s gonna help her.”

  “Dylan, be nice. Jacey is doing the best she can.”

  Jacey’s ego deflated at Dylan’s comments. Even the dead thought she had no chance. Wasn’t anyone on her side?
>
  “The picture cards are good, right?”

  Jacey grabbed for the bottom of her sweater and pulled it up over her head. She was on this one-way suicide mission on her own.

  “Why did you insult me?”

  “Mmmm?”

  Priory’s finger drew lazy circles on Jacey’s back. Jacey wanted to be angry, but the subtle movement drained her anger away, replacing it with a gentle malaise.

  “You knew how to play cards. Why the deception? Trying to make me look like a fool?”

  Priory breathed deeply and let out her breath slowly. “No. Of course not. Whatever gave you that idea?” She rolled Jacey over to face her.

  “Oh come on. You were saying that even an idiot can beat me.”

  “You don’t really think that, do you?”

  Jacey knew that her gaze mirrored her agonized fear.

  “You listen to me, Jacey Ryder. I do not think of you that way. You are a very smart young woman. You have captured my heart and that’s not an easy task. That takes talent.”

  “Talent in the bedroom does not equate to talent in the boardroom,” Jacey muttered.

  “I should hope not,” Priory answered with a smile.

  “Then why did you do it?” Jacey whispered. Priory had not taken the game seriously and yet had still won, revealing her own abilities as woefully lacking. And that hurt.

  “At first I thought it was a come-on. Foreplay. I thought, ‘Okay, this could be fun’. Then I could see you were taking it seriously.” Priory stopped for a moment before continuing, as if considering what to say next. “I suppose I was trying to show you that sometimes ignorance can work in your favor. Your opposition doesn’t always have to know what you know.”

  “Huh?”

  Priory sat up in bed and made herself comfortable against the headboard. “Sometimes it’s better to seem ignorant than smart, especially in the boardroom. They’re always looking for an angle to get you. Make that work for you. I made you think I had high cards and you bought it.”

  “But you run the risk of it backfiring.”