Wife for Hire by Christine Bell

told you, not going to happen.”
    “Roger that. But I want to go on record as saying, if it did?” The playfulness evaporated under the tension of a want so keen, it was etched on his face. “I would make it so good for you.”
    The sensual promise reverberated through her, and she clenched her thighs together to ease the ache that grew sharper with each passing hour. She snatched the paper from his hand, silently cursing herself for not taking advantage of the removable showerhead in their bathroom, and read the next question.
    “Question two, which you so conveniently skipped over. If you were stuck on a desert island for a year and you could bring three things with you, assuming there was already plenty of food and water available, what would they be?”
    “—a cooler full of beer—”
    “—my Kindle —”
    He frowned. “Your Kindle? Why, so you could ignore me all day and night? I could keep you entertained.” The teasing note was back, and she nearly slumped with relief. The onslaught of his full, sexual attention was too much to bear.
    “Or, you could keep yourself entertained and I could read my Kindle.”
    “Nice. Well, you can have your Kindle if I can have my beer. What good is a desert island if you can’t kick back in the sun and have a pint?”
    “Okay, agreed. Now that I think about it, maybe the third thing should be more practical. How about sunblock?”
    “My, you’re a smart lass.” He nodded and wrote down their answers, and she tried not to dwell on the flutter of pleasure that danced through her at his praise.
    “Last one. If your house was on fire, what is the first item you would grab above all else?” she asked.
    “My laptop,” Owen said. “I’ve everything on it, and it’d be a bitch to replace.”
    Lindy shook her head. “Seriously? That’s…a thing. A hunk of metal.”
    “What would you take?”
    “My pictures. The photos of my mom and dad with me, Mal and Nate.”
    Owen pursed his lips and nodded grudgingly. “You’re right. Scratch the laptop.” He wrote in their answer, and her heart felt a little lighter.
    A moment later, Sarabeth called, “Okay, time’s up!”
    “We’re not done yet,” Calvin Cedarhurst said.
    Jordan chimed in behind him. “Us either.”
    “It’s fine. Most couples don’t finish the first time. It’s really neat to see, at the end of the three weeks, how many of you will be able to complete your task in the allotted time. It’s a great way to measure progress. Did anyone complete all four answers?”
    Lindy raised her hand. “We did.”
    Sarabeth beamed at her. “Great start, O’Neils. You get the gold star for the day.”
    She shot Owen a look and he shrugged. It was a sad state of affairs when the only non-couple at the resort had fared better than all of their married counterparts.
    Sarabeth collected their sheets and filled them in on the next day’s activities. “Today we got to see you interact as couples. Tomorrow we’ll be doing some one-on-one work. Dress for comfort, active-wear preferably, and we’ll meet here at eight o’clock a.m. for your morning itineraries.”
    Lindy stood and gathered her purse.
    “I’ll be right back,” Owen said. His gaze was trained on Stephanopoulos sitting alone at the corner table.
    “So what did you think?” Jordan asked, sidling up to Lindy while Owen made a beeline for Nico. “I thought it was interesting. Marty and I only had one more to do. We got the answer, but didn’t have time to write it down,” she said with a satisfied smirk.
    Lindy wasn’t surprised. It was likely a much easier game when one person had all the right answers, but she gave the other woman an encouraging smile. “Great job.”
    “Thanks. Hey, did you guys want to go to the bar for drinks tonight? Marty and I were thinking we’d have a nightcap before bed.”
    “I’ll ask Owen, but I’m beat. The time change and all, it’s been a bear of a day.”
    A large, warm hand covered her low on her back