Dana Sue chuckled. “Basically it sucks,” she confirmed.
“But isn’t it just a little bit empowering?” Dr. McDaniels asked.
Dana Sue finally risked a look in Ronnie’s direction. He thought he saw a spark of the old daredevil in her eyes and took heart.
“You know,” she said at last, “I think it is. In fact, this could turn out to be fun.”
“I’m not entirely sure I like the sound of that,” Ronnie grumbled, mostly in jest.
“Well, get used to it, pal,” Dana Sue said. “A new day is dawning.”
Annie beamed at both of them. “Cool.”
Yeah, Ronnie thought. It was pretty darn cool, and maybe just a little scary knowing that now it might be up to him not to blow the second chance Dana Sue was finally willing to give him.
Chapter Twenty
Dana Sue was feeling pretty good about her breakthrough during the family counseling session. She was finally ready to move on, convinced she could handle whatever came next. If she and Ronnie tried and things didn’t work out, well, so be it. She’d gotten over him—sort of, anyway—once before. She could do it again. And after listening to Annie’s mature remarks in the session, she was starting to believe her daughter could weather a failure, as well.
After they’d dropped Annie off at home, she suggested a walk. As she and Ronnie started walking aimlessly, she deliberately slipped her sunglasses on—to shade her eyes from Ronnie’s scrutiny, perhaps—then met his gaze. “So, what now?” she asked.
Ronnie’s crooked smile spread slowly across his face. “I don’t have a plan. Do you?”
She frowned at him. “That is so typical,” she complained. “You’ve been hinting around for weeks now about wanting me back, and when I call you on it, you don’t have any idea where we go next.”
“Sugar, you took me by surprise back there. I’ve gotten so used to you putting up walls between us and me having to use all sorts of sneaky tactics to get around them, I hadn’t considered what I’d do if you decided to flat-out knock them down.”
“I didn’t knock them down,” she countered. “I created a tiny little crack, but you need to figure out how to wriggle through it. Let me know when you have a strategy.”
She whirled around and walked away. No plan, indeed! The man was impossible. Maybe she’d just been a challenge to him, simply an instance of Ronnie wanting what he couldn’t have. Now that the game was over, he probably didn’t even want her anymore. He had his new business. He had his daughter back in his life. And he had Mary Vaughn fawning all over him. Flirting required a whole lot less commitment than a real relationship. That was probably more than enough to satisfy him.
Dana Sue had made it halfway down the block, her spine stiff and her temper stirring, when he caught up with her, spun her around and captured her mouth in a kiss that was hotter than the South Carolina sun at high noon. It wiped every thought, every trace of anger, right out of her head.
When he finally released her, she had to cling to his shoulders to remain upright. That and the need throbbing through her infuriated her all over again. She immediately lashed out at him.
“Making a public spectacle out of me is not the answer,” she said irritably.
He grinned, his own sunglasses now firmly in place so she couldn’t read the amusement no doubt glinting in his eyes. “That wasn’t a spectacle, darlin’. That was a public declaration that we’re back together.”
Dana Sue bristled. “You’re putting your brand on me like I’m some piece of Grade A beef?” she demanded indignantly.
His lips twitched. “I wouldn’t put it exactly that way.”
“No, it’s not something I’d want to admit to, either,” she said. “But that’s what it amounted to, isn’t it?”
“You know,” he said casually, “it works both ways. You kissed me back, so now all the world knows I’m yours, too.”
“Including Mary Vaughn?” Dana Sue asked, warming to that idea. If he thought she’d tolerate that budding friendship or collaboration or whatever it was, he needed to rethink that right now.
He stared at her blankly. “What does Mary Vaughn have to do with anything?”
“I’ve seen the way she is around you,” Dana Sue said. “She wants you, Ronnie. Everyone in town knows her current relationship is on the skids and she’s looking for a replacement. Seems to me like she’s picked you.”
He continued to look bemused. “Isn’t she living with that guy? I think she said he’s her boss.”
“Technically, yes,” Dana Sue conceded.
“What does that mean, ‘technically’? Either she is or she isn’t.”
“It’s sort of the way you were technically married to me when you went cruising around for someone else to sleep with,” she retorted. “Like I said, the relationship is over, even if he hasn’t moved out yet.”
“Okay, that’s it,” Ronnie said, rising predictably to the bait. “Let’s go.” He latched on to her arm and started half dragging her down the sidewalk.
She tried digging in her heels, but he was bigger and stronger and obviously more irritated. “What is wrong with you?” she asked. “Where are we going?”
“To my motel room,” he told her.
“I am not going to your motel room,” she said, horrified by the prospect of that news spreading around town by lunchtime.
“Do you really want to go back to the house and have this fight in front of Annie?”
“I don’t want to fight with you at all!”
“Well, when we’re finished fighting and want to make up, I don’t think we should be doing that around Annie, either,” he said.
The heat that shot through Dana Sue had nothing to do with anger and everything to do with anticipation. That was more exasperating than anything else. Surely in two years she ought to have built up more of an immunity to this man.
“What makes you so sure we will make up?” she asked.
“Because it’s what we
