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“Twister?” She gulped.
“Best two out of three?” he challenged.
Eyeing him wearily, she tried to figure out his game. Nodding with understanding, she asked, “Let me guess. We will be playing naked, right?
“Only if you lose the round. Winner gets to remove one article of clothing from the loser. Best of three gets to remove a bounce garment.” His eyes twinkled. They were mesmerizing and she could get lost in them if she didn’t watch out.
Don’t show fear! she told herself. Nail him down on rules so you can at least have a chance to strategize. “Who calls the game?”
“You can decide. Todd, Jeffrey. It doesn’t matter.”
“What is and is not allowed?”
She earned a genuine smile with that question.
“Your butt can’t touch the floor or mat. If it does, you lose the round. We keep playing until someone can’t maintain the proper control of their body.”
Control was big with Eric. So was playing dirty.
“No pushing or tripping the other person,” she negotiated. Time to eliminate any nasty tricks he had up his sleeve.
His smile grew wider. “You only have one minute to make your move after the command is given. I knew you would give me a challenge, Corinne. You can’t begin to understand how much I have been looking forward to sparring with you.”
“Why?” Corinne opened the box and spread out the plastic mat with colored circles lined in rows.
“Because nothing phases you, and if it does, you cloak it well. Remember when the warehouse freeze broke down last month? We were in danger of losing thousands in revenue and disappointing customers who had orders in.”
“The freeze was broken. I called someone in to fix it. Simple as that.” The three owners had punched walls and cursed, none of which was very helpful. She did what had to be done. It was logical.
“I called the same company not an hour before and offered to pay them double time to come out. They told me it was impossible, yet you managed. How?”
Impressing Eric was no small feat. Part of Corinne wanted to withhold information to keep him thinking. Another, larger part, wanted to show off. He wasn’t the only member of the company who could fight dirty when necessary.
She smirked before answering. “I offered them triple time and reminded them how much they had to lose if we turned elsewhere for help. I may have suggested they wouldn’t only be risking us going elsewhere, but since we are all related to half the population in this area, it would have a domino effect.”
His laughter brought Todd and Eric back inside. They stayed on the outskirts of the room but watched everything going on intently. Eric recounted how Corinne had solved the problem. Jeffrey asked a follow-up question. “They just took your word for it?”
Eric was off his game, Corinne realized. He hadn’t even considered that issue. “Of course, they believed me. I am a very convincing person.”
“And...?” Todd prompted, his slight smirk and raised brow indicating her knew there was more to the story.
“I might have called up my Uncle T-Bow, Grandpa Thibodaux and Aunt Cecelia and explained our plight and how unreasonable the company was being about coming out to fix things.”
“You sly little fox!” Eric grinned. “Knowing your family, everyone and his brother called up the company and chewed them out."
“I am not going to apologize. It worked.” Ready to move on with whatever Eric had up his sleeve, Corinne grabbed the game spinner and shoved it in Jeffrey’s hands before turning to Eric. “Are there any other rules you need to share?”
“None that I can think of at the moment,” Eric answered evasively.
“Todd, your role in this game is to make sure this jerk doesn’t cheat. Watch him closely. I don’t trust him one bit.”
“Wise woman,” Eric said. “Shall we begin?”
CHAPTER 14
PLAYING DIRTY
Eric and Corinne had different strategies to winning the game. She looked for the most comfortable way to achieve each direction called out. Left foot on green, meant she considered where her right foot might need to be later on. Eric played mind games. He made sure each and every move he made put him in direct contact with her. Now she was contorted in such a way, her face was inches away from his ball sack. It startled her and she lost focus. Eric claimed her shirt as his first prize. Damn, she wished she had worn a bra today.
