Playing for Keeps by Jamie Hill Page A

caressed her. He reached for her braid and began unwinding it. "I want to feel your hair," he whispered into her ear. He ran his hands down to her scalp and back out through the long mass of hair. "God, you're beautiful," he murmured, and led her to the bedroom.
     
    An hour later they were sprawled out on the bed, trying to get their heart rates back to normal, when the doorbell rang. Rob looked at the clock. "It's barely two-thirty! What the fuck?" He slipped his jeans on but didn't button them. He padded out to the front door yelling, "Is your fucking watch broken? Because you're going to be really sorry when you find out what you've interrupted!"
    Maddie peeked around the corner to see who it was. She saw Rob fling the door open, and noticed his jaw drop at the same time. A young, dark-haired woman and an older man stood there. The woman said, "My fucking watch is not broken." She looked at the man. "How about yours, Edward?"
    The man wriggled his wrist. "Nope, seems just fine. But we are dying to know what we've interrupted."
    " Hello, Dad, Dionne," Rob said without much enthusiasm.
    Maddie cringed. She studied Rob's father. He looked like an older version of his son, with darker hair, graying at the temples. He was stockier than Rob, but about the same height.
    She turned her gaze to Dionne and was surprised to see she was quite beautiful. Her long dark hair curled a bit at the ends and framed her face. She had a nice figure , noticeably bigger in the bust than Maddie would ever be. Maddie sighed.
    Rob said , "You're early. I thought you understood it was a surprise for Sophie, and you'd have her back at four."
    Dionne motioned toward the driveway. "That's why we left her with your mother in the car. Your parents wanted to come for a visit, so we arrived a bit ahead of time." She tried to look past Rob into the other room, but he stood firm. "I guess we should have called."
    " You think?"
    " Button your pants, Coop." Dionne instructed him.
    He folded his arms across his chest. "Can I put on some underwear first?"
    " Oh my!" His father smirked. "We did arrive at a bad time."
    " No dad, five minutes earlier would have been a bad time. This is a merely an inconvenient time."
    Dionne put her hand on Rob 's chest. "Sophie invited us to her party, Coop. We didn't want to disappoint her. She can't stop talking about her new live-in nanny, what's her name, Maggie? We just had to meet her."
    Rob gave Dionne a look. "Go get her, but do not let her in the kitchen. I mean it. I'll get dressed."
    " Thank goodness." His father chuckled with Dionne.
    Rob stomped back to his room.
    Maddie slipped in before him so he wouldn't know she'd been listening.
    " Get dressed," he ordered, and began pulling clothes from his drawers.
    " Who is it?" she asked innocently.
    " My parents and Dionne brought Sophie back early, and they want to stay for her party. What a fucking bundle of crap this is going to be."
    Maddie made a face at him. "Would you like me to hide in the closet? Or maybe I can sneak out the window?"
    He rolled his eyes and muttered, "Just get dressed." He stomped into the bathroom to finish dressing there, and Maddie fumed. He didn't speak to her as he passed back through, and she grew even more steamed. She stood at the mirror, debating what to do, and chuckled at the look of her wild hair. It looked like bedroom hair. Hell, it is bedroom hair. She formulated an evil plot in her mind, and proceeded to clean up and choose her attire for the evening, very carefully.
    She decided on a soft white cropped top that left little to the imagination; and no room for a bra. All her jean cutoffs were tight, but the pair she donned was a bit shorter, more 'Daisy Duke', than usual. Maddie smoothed lotion over her long legs and slipped into a pair of white sandals. She applied a little too much make-up, quite heavy around the eyes, and grinned at herself. Topaz would be proud. Maddie looked as much like a streetwalker as someone so otherwise