Yours, Mine & Ours

By the time he pulled in his driveway, she was still smiling…and so was he. “We have a couple of hours before the kids are due home,” she said.

“Yeah. Both of us might even catch a nap or some reading time.” He climbed out at the same time she did, stretched. Cat and Slugger burst out of the pet door as if they hadn’t seen him in a decade. Cat slapped Slugger with a paw when the hound tried to reach him first. Slugger immediately howled, but he couldn’t have been hurt too badly, because he kept galloping, ears flapping in the wind.

Amanda laughed and then kept on laughing. “I’m afraid I’ll be greeted the same way when I walk in the door.”

And she turned that way…but she didn’t seem in any rush to race home. They both seemed to linger. Just standing there. He’d tried not to pay attention, but the warmth of late-afternoon sunshine brushed her shoulders, turned her hair into fire, and her eyes-he swore-were as emerald-green as the jewel.

“Well…thanks for a great afternoon,” she said, and bounced up-as if she intended to give him a friendly, neighborly hug.

He thought that fast hug was a great idea-a way to underline how easily they were going to maintain the friendship thing. Only…once she lifted up on tiptoes, she seemed to hesitate. The shine in her eyes seemed to darken. He felt the brush of those sassy high breasts, the graze of her pelvis, the scent of her skin take over his air space.

In that spare second, he couldn’t seem to breathe-except for her. Couldn’t seem to move-because basic touches ignited a maelstrom of furious wants and noisy needs. Couldn’t seem to control the hunger-to kiss her again.

He didn’t.

She didn’t.

For a good, long three seconds.

It was her fault things changed, he was pretty sure, because she was the one who swung her arms around his neck. But then…hell. He couldn’t keep his mouth off hers, and the kiss became a banquet of tasting, taking, wooing. He had to touch her. Had to. He stroked down her spine, the route not familiar, just familiar enough so that he knew the curve in her knew a palm on her fanny brought a groan…and encouraged her to lean even tighter into him.

Invitations hung in the air, unseen, invisible, but real as the sunlight. Maybe suddenly seemed the longest word in the English language, analyzed between her lips and his, between the silken brush of her hair in the breeze, between the heat he could feel rising in her skin, through her skin…into him.

She lifted her head, opened stunned-soft eyes, looked straight at him.

She swallowed. He got his breath back. She remembered to drop her hands from around his neck. He remembered to drop his hands from around her back. The flush on her cheeks-there was no changing that.

There was no changing the brick inside his jeans, either.

But suddenly she turned her head, said out of the complete blue, “We really do need a fence between our yards, to keep our pets separated.”

“Yeah, you mentioned that before.” Since she created the diversion, he was more than willing to embellish it. “Instead of a barrier kind of fence…what would you think about an electric one?”

“What a great idea. Then your dog and my dog can’t cross over. But then it won’t be an unfriendly fence. It’ll just…you know. Help.”

Exactly what he thought. Maybe their dogs didn’t need it-but he sure as hell did. He needed something that would zap him-electrocute him if necessary-when he felt the urge to touch her again.

The electrocution idea seemed to gain momentum all on its own, because when he heard the sound of a car pulling in his drive, he jumped back from Amanda as if the foot between them was electrically charged.

The man climbing down from a tan SUV was a complete stranger. He was short and plump, sweating under his golf tan. He wore the usual suburban uniform of polo shirt and shorts, and approached them with a waxy smile and a hand raised to shake. “Hello. I live in the first house at the top of the cul-de-sac. I know you’re Amanda Scott and Mike Conroy. I hope you both got a note from me when you first moved in.”

If Mike had, he didn’t remember it. Amanda did. “From the Home Owners’ Association?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“I thought it was nice of you to welcome a newcomer to the neighborhood that way,” Amanda said warmly.

“I thought we’d better have a little talk before there were problems,” Warren White said cordially.

“What problems?” Mike said warily.

“We have some rules in the neighborhood. Ordinances. Policies to keep the neighborhood to a standard we all like.”

“Exactly what rules?” Mike’s spine was instinctively stiffening. If this guy was going to try playing law games with him, he should have done his homework.

“I’m afraid you can’t put a water garden in your backyard without permission.”

“I beg your pardon?”

“And, Amanda, I’m afraid you need permission to plant trees, as well.”

“What? You mean, the little dogwood I planted yesterday-?”

Warren kindly shook his head. “I’m afraid you needed permission. I’m sorry you didn’t get it ahead of time.”

Warren promised to put a list of the rules in each of their mailboxes. There were rules about what time a person could water their grass. Rules about recycling. Rules about noise. Rules about dandelion control. Rules about the length of grass allowed. Rules about no parking on the street overnight, no RV parking, no sheds put up in the yards-without permission. “Many people want fences, but we don’t want the look of the neighborhood to deteriorate, so before putting in a fence, that’s another thing you need to have permission for-”

“When exactly are these Home Owners’ Association meetings, and where are they held?” Mike interrupted abruptly.

“Every third Thursday of the month. 7:00 p.m., after dinner. Because I’m president this year, I usually hold them in my family room. You’re both welcome to attend. But I do assure you that the covenant rules are all legally binding.”

For no apparent reason, Amanda suddenly snugged her hand in his, pressing hard, and stepped just a bit in front of him. “Thanks so much for stopping by, Mr. White. I suspect we’re both likely to attend your next meeting. Thanks for filling us in.”

When the superficial, supercilious jerk backed out of the driveway, she dropped his hand. “Okay. Now you can froth at the mouth. But try not to bellow at least until he’s out of sight.”

“Why would you think I was angry?”

“A wild guess,” she assured him. “Although seeing you exhale fire was probably the first clue.”

“Well, who elected him God? Did we suddenly land in a dictator state, or is this still America? What possible reason can there be why I can’t have a water garden? And if he thinks I’m taking it out, he’s about to find out why I made law partner when I was still in my twenties.”

“Mike.”

“What?”

“Try and remember that we’re in a foreign country. I think they call it the suburbs.”

Okay, okay, so she made him laugh in spite of himself.

And right then, Nancy and her George drove up-almost two hours earlier than planned. Teddy peeled out of the car faster than a criminal just granted parole.

Mike still wanted to finish his conversation with Amanda, but abruptly her hot-shot ex pulled in next door with Molly.

There was no more time to worry about sex or embraces or how damn much she was starting to mean to him.

From the look on his son’s face, it was going to be a ticklish evening. And from the look on Molly’s… Amanda was going to have her hands even more full.

Amanda didn’t want to leave Mike. She knew the neighborhood “representative” had rubbed him the wrong