The telephone rang and Spring got up to answer it. Clay followed her into the kitchen and poured himself a soft drink while she talked to Kelsey. Spring looked up at him. "Kelsey wants to know if we're interested in a pool party-cookout tomorrow at six. A friend of ours has just decided he wants to have a party at his house tomorrow."
"Sounds like fun. Come to think of it, I've never seen you in a bathing suit." He gave her a teasing leer, his eyebrows wiggling. "Or Kelsey," he added thoughtfully, earning himself a punch on the arm. "Hey! You almost made me spill my Coke!"
"Clay likes the idea," Spring reported to her friend on the phone. "And, Kelsey, wear your navy-blue swimsuit, will you? You know, the one with the turtleneck and the patch on the right knee." When she hung up, Kelsey was still laughing.
Spring extended one hand in Clay's direction, trying to hold on to a fierce scowl. "Okay, buster, hand it over."
"Hand what over? My drink?"
"No, Kelsey's phone number. I forgot about it until now."
Clay laughed and shook his head. "Sorry, don't have it."
"She said she gave it to you." She knew her eyes were dancing with laughter, but she managed not to grin as she teased him. "Give."
"I really don't have it," he insisted humorously. "I tossed it in the wastebasket in your examining room when Andi ushered me in."
"You did?"
"Yep. I didn't know she was your best friend, but I knew I wasn't interested in any other woman's phone number. There hasn't been another woman for me since I looked up one Friday evening in March and saw a beautiful blonde standing in a doorway looking down her nose at my clothing."
Spring gave in to her smile and looped her arms around his neck. "Good. You just passed one test."
"I didn't know I was being tested." He set his soft drink down on the table, out of danger, and crossed his arms around her waist.
"Women always test men, didn't you know that?"
"How am I doing?"
"You did very well on the one about leaving your dirty socks lying around. You don't squeeze your toothpaste from the middle, you don't snore, you pick up after yourself and you don't keep other women's phone numbers—that's a big one, by the way."
Clay smiled smugly, dropping a kiss on the end of her nose. "Darn near perfect, aren't I?"
"Oh, you have a few flaws," she retorted, not wanting all that praise to go to his already swelling head.
"Such as?"
"You forget to wear your new glasses."
"I'll work on that one."
"And you get the newspaper all out of order before I read it."
"Oh. Sorry."
"You're a terrible cook."
"I suppose I could learn."
"And you've stolen my cat's affections. Missy thinks you're the greatest thing since catnip."
"And what do you think?"
"I think you're the greatest thing since catnip."
He grinned and dropped his head to kiss her, laughing when they bumped glasses. "I can tell that this is going to take practice."
Her own smile faded a bit as she fought to keep from telling him that she was willing to practice for a lifetime. He still hadn't brought up their future, and she wouldn't be the one to break their agreement, even though the subject had been weighing more heavily on her mind with each passing day. "We could take them off," she offered instead.