Playing for Keeps by Jamie Hill

asked, "Does the line form here?"
    She smiled as Rob shooed them away . "Leave my woman alone. Get back to work."
    Maddie hummed to herself as she cleaned up. The 'my woman' remark floated around in her head, bounced off her stomach and settled as a happy feeling deep inside her. She finished cleaning the house and curled up on the bed for a nap late in the afternoon. Rob woke her with a kiss to her neck.
    " Hey, cutie." He smiled at her.
    " Hey." She yawned. "Get-r-done?"
    " Yep." He nodded, tracing a finger down her thigh. "All filled and everything."
    " They why don't you crawl in here and join me?"
    He leaned over and placed another quick kiss on her forehead. "I would love to, but I'm so tired I'm not sure I can move. I'm going to hop in the shower and hit the hay."
    " No dinner again?"
    He shook his head as he peeled off his dirty clothes. "In weather like this, I don't always eat dinner. Especially if I've had a big lunch." He went to the shower, and Maddie sat up. I always eat dinner. I'm always hungry.
    She ate some leftovers from lunch, and when she checked on him , found him sound asleep, as expected. She flipped through the three available TV channels, but found nothing interesting. Rob had a total of one movie, namely The Little Mermaid. She was lucky he even had a VCR. She chuckled when she thought about how many movies she owned on DVD. He would probably be shocked. She settled in to watch The Little Mermaid, knowing it was a love story with a happy ending, and she was totally in the mood for that.
     
    She woke him the next morning by planting kisses all over his body, paying more attention to certain spots than others. When he was spent and smiling like the Cheshire cat, she crawled up next to him and wrapped herself in his arms.
    " Oh my God." He kissed the top of her head. "I knew it was a good idea having you stay here. What a way to wake up."
    "Yeah, I thought so too." She brushed the hair out of his face. "How did you sleep?"
    " Dead to the world. Very glad to have that project behind me."
    She snuggled up to him. "With a day and a half until Sophie comes home. Plenty of time to relax and enjoy."
    "Right. All we have to do is clean up around the pool area, get that bulldozer out of there, buy birthday presents and a cake for Sophie,  find some birthday and fourth of July decorations, get a keg, scrounge up food for everybody, pick out fireworks…"
    " Well good God," she muttered. "That's at least a day's work, right there. Which leaves you about a half a day to spend with me."
    "Starting now." Rob grinned and dived under the covers.
     
    They managed to get all their party arrangements made with enough time left over to relax, too. Rob was very pleased with the way Maddie decorated the patio area, using a mix of July fourth and birthday decorations. They bought a sheet cake for the masses with a red, white and blue frosting and a small pink princess cake for the birthday girl.
    Maddie helped him choose gifts for Sophie, and she bought a book as her gift. They wrapped the presents, bought an enormous amount of food and fireworks, and were ready to go by Monday afternoon. "I told Rosa any time after four," she mentioned to Rob, who nodded.
    " That's what I told everyone else. Sophie should be back at four. They were going to celebrate her birthday there, so I'm assuming her mother won't plan to stay for the party."
    " Good."
    Rob chuckled. He looked at his watch. "It's only one-thirty. How are we going to pass the time until four?"
    She yawned. "I was thinking a nap might hit the spot."
    He caught her around the waist . "I was going after another spot. What do you say we go christen that pool the right way?"
    She laughed. "Are you freaking crazy? I felt the water a little while ago. It's not warm yet, by any stretch of the imagination."
    " Shoot." He kissed her neck, and ran his hand inside her shirt. "Well, then, we'll just have to go christen the bed again."
    She leaned back against him and sighed as he