Who's Taming Who? Read online

  She was already mad at the man who’d dug in the wrong place. He hadn’t even had time to change after his last business meeting so he was still wearing an expensive three-piece business suit, a tie, and his best leather shoes instead of his usual casual slacks and T-shirt. She was afraid of Frank’s reaction. She knew Frank would blame her for the mess and she was trying desperately to get it cleaned up before he ever saw it.

  To top it all off, unfortunately for Lanie there was no way she could hide the mess from Frank. He was already sinking to midcalf in the mud. Mud that shouldn’t have been there. Mud that meant someone had broken a main water pipe. His temper exploded, and hers wasn’t far behind.

  Instead of the tender, loving greeting he had planned to give Lanie, something entirely different came out when he opened his mouth.

  “What in the holy hell is going on here?” he roared. “I thought you were a professional. I thought you had the experience to check and find out where the water pipes were before you started to dig!”

  “We did check!” Lanie fired back. Her temper and nerves were frayed to the breaking point; still she tried to hold onto the last bit of temper. “I’m not an idiot! The survey I got from the city must be wrong somehow, not to mention that I had to hire someone new who I’d never used before to do the digging with the backhoe. The man I usually hire to dig the trenches had to be rushed to the hospital with a bad appendix and the operation was yesterday. The new guy was not only an idiot, but he was also a chauvinistic jerk. He ignored everything I said because I’m just a woman. I actually heard him say that to one of my regular men. I would have fired him on the spot but I wanted to get the digging done today. Then he misread the survey, as bad as it was, and dug in the wrong place. Even so, there should still have been plenty of margin for error.” She stopped herself and took a deep breath before continuing, “I’m sorry Frank. I can’t explain it, the survey must be off.”

  “Sure.” The tone held no conviction at all. Frank pulled off his suit jacket and tossed it onto his car. It landed on top of his trunk. “Well, your firm will make this good at no expense to me, I hope.” His tone brooked no argument. His vest and tie followed his jacket onto the car.

  “Of course we’ll take care of it. What else could we do?” Lanie was getting mad herself now. “We are a reliable firm. And I will prove to you that this wasn’t all my fault. You’re such a jerk!” Her eyes flashed. “What in the heck do you think you are doing?”

  Frank was unbuttoning his crisp white shirt. “What does it look like? I’m undressing. Why should I get mud on the few clothes that have survived the flood so far?”

  He used his shirt to wrap up his watch, his wallet and his imported leather belt, then he tossed the bundle onto the trunk of his car with the rest of his clothes.

  “Now, I’ll see if there’s anything that can be done to control this mess. It looks like I got here just in time.” He shot her a glance. “I only wish that saying on your T-shirt was true but it looks like you blew it, doesn’t it?”

  Lanie looked down at her T-shirt; it was a muddy wet mess but the saying printed across her chest was still readable: THE BEST MAN FOR THE JOB . . . IS A WOMAN! She pulled off her shoes and socks. Then, the survey firmly in one hand, she made her way over to him very carefully, trying to avoid the mud as much as possible. She was struggling to hold onto her last vestiges of control.

  “Before you wade too deep in that horse pucky you’re dishing out, Buster, take a long look at the official survey.” Her words were heated, her own volatile temper barely under control. “Do it now or your own words will sink you much deeper than that mud you’re standing in!”

  She hit him in the chest with the survey. In a lightning move he grabbed her arm and pulled her into the mud next to him. Suddenly, without even looking at the survey, he knew she was right. He knew it from the barely controlled rage on her face.

  “Lanie, I’m really sorry.” He reached up to stroke her gently on the cheek, not realizing that his hand had somehow become muddy. “I was just tired and hot, and I took everything out on you. Forgive me, please.”

  “Yeah, sure.” Lanie’s voice was saccharine sweet as she replied, “Yell at me, get me muddy, call me incompetent and insult my professionalism. Then all you have to do is say, ‘sorry, forgive me, I was tired,’ and I’m supposed to melt and forgive you? Well, it doesn’t quite work that way, Buddy. I’m hot and tired and frustrated, too.”

  Lanie pulled away from him with much effort. She staggered as she finally broke free of his grip. She dropped to her hands and knees in the mud. It was her breaking point. Frank instantly reached out and took hold of her elbow to help her up. She straightened up all right, struggling and flailing her hands in the mud as she sought to regain her balance. She rose with both hands full. Frank never saw it until it was too late. She pelted him in the face with a handful of mud, barely taking care to avoid his eyes. Frank had started to rein in his temper but it was still near the surface, and getting pelted with mud set it off again.

  The fight that followed was very short and not too sweet. It started with mud flying everywhere like a dirty snowball fight, and soon sank to a wrestling match in the wettest, sloppiest part of the large pool of mud. Somehow her T-shirt got torn to the point where it was hanging from her in shreds. Swearing, she pulled the tatters off revealing what had once been a sexy hot pink nylon bra. Determined to get revenge she ripped the button off of his good suit slacks.

  “You want my pants, you got ‘em! It’s your fault they’re ruined anyway.” Frank managed to stand, unzipped his zipper and stepped out of the ruined slacks, revealing a very muddy pair of bright red jockey shorts.

  “Jockeys, huh?” she taunted, standing to face him nose to nose. “I thought you’d be more of a boxer man myself. You seem all wrong for jockey shorts.”

  “What wrong with jockeys?” Neither one of them was entirely reasonable at the moment. “Or is it me you’re trying to insult?”

  “Of course it’s you I’m insulting, there’s nothing wrong with jockeys, nothing at all.” Lanie shouted a bit irrationally, “They’re just what I should have expected from someone who claims he believes me one minute and then blames me again the next.”

  Lanie tackled him and brought him back to the ground. She wouldn’t have managed it even with a great deal of effort and help from the bad footing of the mud, except for the fact that his balance was ruined by the pants which had fallen down around his knees, tripping him. Attacking furiously, she pulled the ruined pants right off him. He started to retaliate. Just as he managed to get her tight shorts halfway off, almost pulling her underpants off with them, they heard a noise behind them.

  “Well, hello there, you two.” A gruff voice came from behind them. “This is certainly entertaining but before this fight goes any farther I feel I should let you both know that you’re not alone.”

  They both turned their heads at the words. What they saw made them both groan. Frank covered Lanie with his body before he looked up. Lanie was shaking with laughter.

  “Hello, officers,” he said calmly, trying not to laugh. “You may have heard this before but this isn’t what it looks like. Would you believe we’re practicing for a mud-wrestling exhibition?”

  “No. Of course it’s not what it looks like, it never is. We had a report of possible vandalism and domestic violence,” the taller of two police officers said in a flat monotone voice.

  “It’s not vandalism, it just looks like a mess. I was landscaping and a water pipe broke, causing this mess. It’s also not domestic violence, officer, I just want to kill him, that’s all,” Lanie said with a genuine laugh. “He’s blaming me for all this mud.”

  “And who’s landscaping firm dug into an old water pipe and caused the mud?” Frank pointed out, the two police officers momentarily forgotten. “You and your firm are to blame for all this mud.”

  “I’ll need to see some identification from both of you.” The policeman didn’t seem amused. “Miss, y
ou go explain everything to the other officer while I take this man’s statement.”

  The other officer was a blond female with an athletic build and an air of understanding and sympathy, which was why she was especially good at handling domestic violence. After looking at Lanie’s identification and hearing Lanie’s tale of the fight, she glanced over at her male partner. He seemed involved in talking to Frank; in fact the two men were laughing together. Both of them avoided looking over at Lanie. The policewoman quietly moved so that her back was to the men.

  “Take my advice, Ma’am,” she said softly, “make him pay for this big time, but after you share a long, hot shower together. This ought to be good for a nice dinner, flowers and maybe even more.”

  “Officer!” Lanie protested with shock. “Shower together? Our relationship isn’t like that . . . I mean we haven’t even--. Not ever.”

  “So? What are you waiting for?” She winked. “Grab the man. You don’t find men like that every day. He’s a hunk. Trust me. I’m a trained investigator working on becoming a detective and I can detect a hunk from half a mile away, even if he isn’t half-naked.”

  All of a sudden Lanie was suspicious of this policewoman. Something alerted her instincts. “Officer, you don’t know happen to know Laura Kelsey or Kate Simmons do you?”

  “The matchmakers?” She grinned as she turned to walk back to her partner. “I never heard of either one of them before the night they introduced me to a man named Alan. That was about eight months ago.”

  “What happened?” Lanie asked, half fearing the answer.

  “Alan’s my husband now.” The officer turned her attention back to Lanie and grinned.

  “I’m doomed,” Lanie moaned.

  “And you love it, almost as much as you love him.” The female officer left Lanie to join her partner, but turned back to add, “By the way, Ma’am, you really should pull those shorts back up.”

  Just then, Frank came over to Lanie. “They’ve decided not to charge you with anything. Thanks to me.” The police officers got into a squad car and drove away.

  “Charge me?” Lanie’s voice rose. “For what?

  “For the vandalism, the assault on me, or even for the indecent exposure,” Frank said casually as he watched the squad car drive off.

  Lanie’s temper flared up again. “Indecent exposure, my butt!”

  “Precisely,” Frank reminded her with a smug grin. “You’re standing here in your undies, and they’re half off.”

  “I have my shorts on!” Lanie yelled. “Almost.” The shorts were still part way down, and they were too tight with the wet and soggy material to pull them up again without a struggle.

  She gave up, pulled off the shorts revealing slinky bikini panties, and turned her attention to him. “If I’m guilty of indecent exposure, so are you!”

  “But I’m not indecent in my jockeys, this is my own property.” Frank didn’t care if that made sense or not, he just wanted to get his two cents in.

  It was the last straw for Lanie. She made a quick grab and got hold of his jockey shorts, ripping them as she pulled them down. “What jockeys?”

  He tripped and fell, the shorts tangled down around his ankles. He reached out and grabbed her calf, pulling her down on top of him. She could feel his hard arousal beneath her.

  He grabbed her hair tightly in both hands and pulled her face down to his, whispering against her lips. “Lanie love, do you really want to fight now?”

  He raised up slightly, pressing his hardness into the juncture of her thighs and all the fight drained right out of her. Suddenly Frank didn’t seem like such a bad guy after all.

  “No.” It was a soft, quiet admission, but she grinned as she asked, “Do you realize that you’re laying out here in public, stark, staring naked? There must be someone close enough to see or hear us. After all, the cops were called.”

  “I am not stark staring naked!” he protested indignantly. “I’ll have you know I still have my shoes and socks on.”

  Her anger had faded completely as her sense of humor took over. “I stand corrected, you are the very soul of decorum.” She kissed the tip of his nose. “But let’s go inside anyway.”

  “Better yet, let’s go back to my old apartment. Remember, there’s no water in this house because you had to have it turned off again.” He kissed her back. “And we both need a shower.”

  “I really have to get home soon,” Lanie told him reluctantly. “My watch has stopped. Frank, what time is it?”

  “About 5:30,” Frank told her.

  “Oh no! I’m really late,” Lanie said with concern. “My sitter’s probably already mad.”

  “Grab your phone. I’ll drive and you can call her on the way to my place, please.” Frank was gently persistent. “Please, Lanie.”

  Lanie knew from the way he said the words “please, Lanie” that she was going to his place for much more than a shower. Her pulse raced and she began to smile, but she still hesitated for a moment, thinking.

  She met his gaze squarely as she considered, and finally she said firmly, “Yes. I’ll go to your apartment if I can get someone to watch Cassie.”

  “We’re going to have to take your company jeep though, my car is mired too deep in the mud.” He paused. “Can you do me a favor? My suitcases are in the trunk, could you please get my jogging shorts and sweat shirt out?” Frank laughed ruefully. “Before those cops come back again and arrest me for indecent exposure this time.”

  Lanie looked him over but the mud provided more coverage than he realized. Darn! She thought lecherously. She stood up, pulled her shorts on quickly, and made her way carefully through the mud and retrieved his keys. Searching through the matching suitcases in his trunk, she found a pair of jogging shorts and a tank top. Grinning, she pulled off her soggy shorts with a great deal of wiggling, and put on Frank’s clothes, pulling them right over her muddy underwear.

  “Thanks Frank,” she teased, “I was feeling a bit exposed out here in public wearing only my bra and panties.”

  “Lanie,” he growled menacingly, “those are my clothes.”

  “And I borrowed them.” She stuck her tongue out at him before turning back to the car and finding a navy blue fleece jogging suit that she held out to him. “Here, dear. Better cover up, it’s getting cold and I wouldn’t want anything important to freeze.”

  Frank looked around to make sure that no one was watching before he stood up and quickly pulled on the jogging pants and zipped up the matching jacket. Like Lanie, he pulled them on right over the mud that was sticking to his body. “Thanks.”

  “I’ll drive,” Frank said teasing her, “you know how bad a driver you are when you get distracted.”

  Surprisingly, she agreed, “If I’m not distracted now, I never will be. Let’s put your suitcases and stuff into the back of the jeep.”

  They loaded Frank’s luggage and got into her jeep, then she made the call to her sitter before Frank had even managed to get the jeep onto the street. As was expected, her sitter was already mad. She understood about the broken water pipe but she was really ticked off that Lanie hadn’t called sooner. She had even tried to reach Tina to come take care of Cassie so that she could leave. Her own kids were already home from school and her husband was expecting his dinner.

  After a short conversation, the sitter finally accepted Lanie’s apology and her offer of an extra thirty dollars above the overtime she had coming, but with the stipulation that she could go home very soon.

  Lanie glanced at Frank’s face. Even though he only heard half of the conversation, he had heard enough to be clearly disappointed. She smiled at him reassuringly and placed a second call.

  “Please be there, please be there, please be-” she whispered before the phone was picked up. “Tina, this is me, I need a favor. Can you please get over to my house and watch Cassie for me?” She listened for a while before she said, “I don’t know.” Her voice dropped and she continued, “With any luck, all night, if you can stay.”
She held the phone away from her ear as Tina let out a shriek. “Was that a yes?” She turned to Frank with a smile like a little girl on Christmas morning. “It was a yes.”

  “Thank God!” Frank’s own smile was overjoyed.

  The short drive from Frank’s new house to his old apartment seemed to take forever, even though the drive was completed as fast as safety and the traffic law allowed. Frank found himself being distracted by Lanie’s shy but eager smile. She had enough sense to avoid doing anything overtly distracting such as putting her hand on his thigh, but the looks she gave him and her restless anticipation were enough to drive him up the wall. Only sheer determination got them there safely. Frank and Lanie each grabbed some of his luggage out of the jeep, and then they made their way up to his apartment, suitcases in hand.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Once Frank and Lanie were actually inside his apartment, they each felt a small moment of hesitation, as though they both realized that the step they were about to take would dramatically change their relationship and possibly even their lives forever. This was certainly not a casual fling. No way!

  Feeling almost stunned, Lanie watched as Frank let go of her hand and walked around the large apartment. He was almost wandering, not sure of his next move. That was totally unlike him. Although he was not a player, he was usually confident with women.

  He had a way of putting his partners at ease with his natural charm, his genuine caring, and his sense of humor. Suddenly that charm and humor didn’t seem to be enough because this was too important. He looked across the room and watched Lanie as she looked around at her surroundings.