Your Bed or Mine? Read online

“Okay, okay!” Rick said and frowned at her again. “Cape coming off here, master. Cape coming off.”

  He jerked the cape off and threw it on the floor.

  “Now, the shirt.”

  Rick pulled the hem of his black Zorro shirt out of the waistband of his black tight-fitting Zorro costume pants, pulled it over his head, and threw it across the room.

  “And this,” Rick said, hands at his waist now, “is exactly why no self-respecting man should ever dress up in a flipping Zorro costume trying to fulfill his wife’s fantasy.”

  “No talking,” she ordered.

  She pointed at his pants with the tip of the sword.

  “Now, the pants.”

  Rick laughed nervously. “No way,” he said, shaking his head. “Not until you put down that sword.”

  “Shall I slice them off for you?”

  Rick jumped back when Zada made the sign of Zorro—zip, zip, zip—through the air.

  “Okay, Zada, I get the picture,” Rick said, his fingers fumbling with the buttons on the pants as fast as possible. “I know this is payback for me being such an ass. And if it makes you feel any better, I know I deserve it.”

  “Keep talking,” Zada said this time.

  Rick slipped off his loafers. He pulled the pants down, and stepped out of them. After he stood up, he kicked the pants aside.

  He reached up to take off the mask.

  “Leave the mask on,” she ordered.

  Rick dropped his hands and wisely covered his privates.

  “I said keep talking,” she said. “Go back to that ‘I know I deserve it’ part.”

  It was all Zada could do to keep a straight face.

  Too bad she was holding a sword, instead of a camera.

  Rick? Wearing nothing but a black mask? His hands over his privates?

  A Kodak moment if I’ve ever seen one!

  “Well?” Zada said, practicing the Zorro sign again.

  Zip. Zip. Zip.

  Dark blue eyes peered out at her through the mask.

  But the look in his eyes left no doubt he was sincere.

  “I still haven’t figured everything out, Zada,” Rick said. “You have to admit yourself, from my point of view, none of it makes any sense. But I know just as well as I know that I’m standing here right now, buck naked and with a sharp sword pointed at my privates, that you’re telling me the truth. As crazy as it all sounds, I trust you. And I know you wouldn’t cheat on me.”

  “Where were you last night?” Zada demanded.

  “I stayed in a motel,” Rick said. “Why?”

  “And you’re sure no one told you that Alicia’s brother was responsible for the phone calls and the photograph?”

  “Alicia’s brother?” Rick look surprised. “I didn’t even know Alicia had a brother.”

  “Right answer,” Zada told him.

  She walked over to the armoire on the other side of their bedroom, opened the door, and placed the sword safely inside the cabinet. When she turned back around, Zada smiled.

  “Turn the light off,” she told Rick.

  Rick reached over and switched off the light.

  She walked up and pushed him backward onto the bed.

  Rick grabbed her hand and pulled her on top of him.

  “I really do like the mask,” Zada whispered.

  “Want me to leave it on?” Rick whispered back.

  Zada’s answer was a long, delicious I’ll-love-you-forever kiss.

  Chapter 21

  Six months later.

  Zada’s soy coffee flavor on Monday morning—exactly two weeks before Christmas—was Sugar & Spice and Everything Nice. She’d chosen that particular flavor for a special reason: that’s what little girls are made of.

  Besides, Zada doubted any coffee company—soy or not—would name a flavor Nails & Snails and Puppy Dog Tails.

  But boy or girl, it didn’t matter to Zada.

  She knew it didn’t matter to Rick, either.

  She smiled, running her hand over her flat stomach, and wondering what it was going to feel like in a few more months when she started showing.

  She smiled again, thinking how nervous Rick had been the night before—pacing back and forth in the den—both of them waiting the torturous time it took for a plus or a minus to appear in the test circle.

  They’d both been so excited, they’d jumped around the den screaming like children themselves, poor Simon barking his disapproval at their rowdiness. Another smile crossed her lips, thinking about Rick’s last words when he’d left for the center only a few hours earlier.

  He’d said with a proud grin, “Go ahead and tell the girls the good news, Mommy. You tell each other everything else. No reason to keep something this important from them.”

  She’d hugged him.

  And kissed him.

  And thanked Rick for understanding.

  They’d called their families as soon as they found out. His parents, both ecstatic over a first grandchild. Her mother, already praying for a granddaughter. Sally, promising to go through her baby clothes.

  When she thought about it, getting pregnant really couldn’t have come at a better time. Her book Quack, Quack, Recycle That! was finished. Her editor loved it. Her publicist was even working on a guest appearance for her and Simon on the Animal Planet network, during the week after Christmas when they would begin their tour of children’s hospitals.

  By the time it was close to the baby arriving, all of her commitments would be completed. Then she would do what a mother was supposed to do—focus on nothing but her newborn baby.

  Baby.

  Jen, Tish, and Alicia were going to freak!

  Zada walked to the laundry room, and pulled on her jacket. She stepped into her snow boots, and went back to the kitchen for her cup of Sugar & Spice and Everything Nice.

  It had snowed over the weekend. And with the weather they’d been having so far this winter, it looked as if a white Christmas would be a good possibility.

  Zada smiled at that thought, too.

  She headed out her front door, and started across the street. But she stopped midway, surprised to see the large moving van sitting in the middle of street, two doors down.

  Alicia had sold the house a few weeks back, but all of the details had been handled by an attorney, not the buyers themselves. Alicia had been a little worried because everything had been completely hush-hush throughout the entire sale.

  Not knowing who their new neighbors were going to be had driven Tish crazy. She’d come up with every scenario possible from victims in a witness protection program to a Chicago mobster hoping to hide his family out in the ’burbs. She and Jen would never admit it to Tish, but the fact that everything had been kept under wraps had worried them, too.

  Zada glanced at the moving van again.

  Mobster or whoever, what person in their right mind would move this close to Christmas? Especially if they had kids?

  Kids.

  Zada smiled and hurried on across the street.

  She walked up Tish’s porch and stomped the snow off her boots. Once she stepped inside, she left her wet boots by the front door, and padded down the hallway in her stocking feet.

  “Hey, have you guys seen the moving van? I guess our mystery neighbors have finally arrived.” Zada said this as she walked into Tish’s kitchen. She was talking to an empty room.

  “We’re in here,” Tish yelled out.

  Zada walked into Tish’s dining room.

  Tish, Jen, and Alicia were all standing at Tish’s dining room window, sipping from their coffee cups, staring out the window. Zada didn’t have to ask what had drawn them to the window.

  Zada walked up behind them. Everyone shifted over to make room. They all stood at the window, sipping coffee, staring.

  “Who in their right mind would move two weeks before Christmas?” Zada asked, saying exactly what she’d been thinking as she walked across the street.

  Alicia said, “I’m sure Jake Sims is asking himself
that same question right now.”

  Zada’s mouth fell open. “Get out!” she said. “You mean as in retired Chicago Cubs first baseman, Jake Sims?”

  Tish said, “I prefer to think of him as he who looks damn good in those underwear commercials, Jake Sims.”

  “You would,” Jen snorted. “How about always making the headlines for his wild parties, Jake Sims? Or, dated every bimbo starlet from coast-to-coast, Jake Sims? And especially not exactly the kind of neighbor we need in Woodberry Park, Jake Sims?”

  Alicia said, “Who, as of six weeks ago, became a single dad with custody of his twelve-year-old daughter who hasn’t lived with him since she was an infant, Jake Sims.”

  Tish said, “I don’t care what Jake Sims you want to call him, the twins are going to pee themselves when I tell them a famous Chicago Cubs baseball player is moving right across the street.”

  “The twins are going to pee themselves?” Zada laughed. “Try Joe, Charlie, and Rick are going to pee themselves.”

  Zada looked back at Alicia. “Are you sure about this, Alicia?”

  Always quick to answer Tish said, “Alicia finally got the scoop last night. Jake’s attorney handled the sale so the past owners wouldn’t jack up the price because Jake was the buyer. He called Alicia since she was both the Realtor and Jake’s new neighbor, and asked Alicia if she would let the movers in this morning.”

  “It’s a sad story, actually,” Alicia said. “You may have heard it on the news when Jake’s ex-wife was killed in a car accident out in LA. That’s where she and the daughter were living. His ex-wife was only thirty-eight years old. Tragic, for her and the daughter.”

  Daughter.

  Zada absently ran her hand over her stomach.

  Tish said, “Jake’s taking the daughter on a Disney cruise over the holidays. He obviously realizes how hard this first Christmas is going to be for his daughter without her mother. They won’t officially move in until after the New Year.”

  Tish paused, then looked over at Jen. “Tell me, Jen,” Tish said. “Does that sound to you like someone we don’t want for a neighbor?”

  Jen rolled her eyes.

  Zada was still thinking about the car accident. The poor daughter, losing her mother so young.

  Mother.

  I’m going to be someone’s mother!

  Without warning, Zada burst into tears.

  Tish handed Zada a tissue.

  Zada blew her nose.

  Alicia handed Zada a glass of water.

  Zada took a drink.

  But when Jen put a hand on her forehead to check her temperature, Zada had had enough.

  “Would the three of you stop it, already?”

  Jen looked at Tish.

  Tish looked at Alicia.

  Alicia looked back at Zada.

  “Sorry, Zada,” Alicia said, “but you scared us half to death. One minute we were standing there talking. The next minute you were sobbing your heart out.”

  “I’m sorry I scared you,” Zada said. She reached for her coffee cup and held it up. “I think my bursting into tears has something to do with the flavor of coffee I’m drinking this morning.”

  Alicia looked at Tish.

  Tish looked at Jen.

  Jen tried to take her temperature again.

  Zada laughed, and pushed Jen’s hand away.

  “Let me try this again,” Zada said. “I say I think it must be the flavor of coffee I’m drinking this morning. The three of you ask, what flavor is it?”

  “What flavor is it?” they asked in unison.

  Zada smiled. “Thank you for asking. It’s Sugar & Spice and Everything Nice.”

  Jen looked at Alicia.

  Alicia looked at Tish.

  Tish looked back at Zada.

  “And the flavor is important because?” Tish asked.

  Good, Tish is finally catching on.

  “Because that’s what little girls are made of,” Zada said happily.

  Evidently not.

  Total silence.

  No one said a word.

  “Oh, forget it,” Zada finally said, giving up. “I’m pregnant!”

  The screams were so loud, Rick could have heard them ten miles away at the training center.

  “Man,” Rick said. “I can’t believe it. Jake Sims living only two doors down.”

  “You might want to tone your level of excitement down just a notch,” Zada told him. “It’s starting to rival the plus sign appearing in the circle last night.”

  “Come here, you,” Rick said and pulled her to him. “You know better than that.”

  He kissed her.

  Zada kissed him back.

  Rick had just come home, and they were standing in the middle of the den, arms around each other. He glanced down at the coffee table. He didn’t even grimace at the clutter of magazines.

  He reached down and picked up the top magazine. When he stood back up, he had a puzzled expression on his face. “Baby names? You really think we need this?”

  Zada nodded.

  Rick still looked puzzled. “Why? You’ve already told me there’s no room for discussion. Our son will be named Richard Avery Clark, the second, and we’ll call him Chip.”

  Zada said, “Hello? There’s a possibility we might need a girl’s name.”

  “We have one,” Rick informed her.

  That was news to Zada.

  “Since when?” Zada wanted to know.

  “Since today,” Rick said. “I decided if you get to name our son, it’s only fair that I get to name our daughter. I want to call her Elizabeth Ann. Elizabeth for your middle name. And Ann for both of our mothers’ middle names.”

  Zada leaned over and kissed him. “Our mothers did make it convenient for us having the same middle name, didn’t they?”

  “But we’ll call her Lizzie,” Rick said. “I can already picture her. Dark hair, dark brown eyes, too pretty for her own good, and feisty as hell. Just like her mother.”

  “Ha-ha,” Zada said and pushed him down on the sofa.

  She sat down beside him, and snuggled against him. Simon came over, and hopped up on the sofa. He turned around twice, then settled down beside Zada. Zada reached out and rubbed his fur.

  “When are we going to break the news to Simon about the baby?” Rick asked, looking over at the dog.

  “We had a long talk about the baby this morning,” Zada said. “Didn’t we, buddy?”

  Simon’s tail thumped against the sofa in answer.

  “Sometimes you two scare me,” Rick said. “Sometimes I think you really do talk to each other.”

  “How dare you imply that we don’t,” Zada said. “We talk to each other all the time, don’t we, buddy?”

  Again, Simon thumped his tail.

  “Scary,” Rick said and shook his head.

  Zada reached across him for the remote control lying on the end table by the sofa.

  “There’s a new reality show coming on I want to see,” Zada told him.

  Rick didn’t groan, but Zada knew he wanted to.

  The big screen came to life.

  Zada burst out laughing.

  It was Jake Sims in his underwear commercial.

  “Poor Tish,” Zada said. “She’ll never survive Jake Sims living right across the street. She’s already drooling buckets full.”

  Rick looked at the screen. Then back at her. “And you? Are you drooling buckets full?”

  “Absolutely not,” Zada said. “I prefer my men blond and wearing sexy black masks.”

  “Ha-ha,” Rick said, but he leaned over and kissed her.

  Zada snuggled against Rick again, put her head on his shoulder, and looked back at the screen.

  She had to admit Jake Sims was a handsome devil.

  Black wavy hair. Piercing gray eyes. A bad-boy grin that would steal any woman’s heart.

  Maybe he did have a bit of a bad reputation. But like most bad boys, Zada suspected old Jake just hadn’t met his match yet.

  �
�Alicia!” Zada exclaimed and sat up. She looked back at Rick. “I just thought of something,” Zada said. “Jake Sims and Alicia would be perfect for each other.”

  “Now, Zada,” Rick began.

  “I’m serious,” Zada insisted. “Alicia has as much money as he does. And she’s as beautiful as he is handsome.”

  Zada reached over Rick again and grabbed the portable phone from the end table.

  Alicia couldn’t help but laugh.

  Jake Sims?

  “Absolutely not,” Alicia said into the phone.

  “Zada!” Alicia said. “Jake Sims is not my type. He’s the furthest thing possible from my type. Even if he weren’t a hopeless womanizer, a constant partygoer, and not to mention a celebrity who’s always in the spotlight, Jake Sims has a daughter.

  “Because, Zada, children never like me. Neither do dogs. Your dog hates me. And I hate to say this, but your son or daughter will probably hate me, too.

  “I’m not being ridiculous. You’re being ridiculous.

  “I’m hanging up now, Zada. No, we are not going to discuss whether Jake Sims and I are a perfect match at coffee with Jen and Tish in the morning. There’s nothing to discuss. I am not interested in Jake Sims in any way, shape, or form.

  “No. I will not turn on my television right now so I can actually see his shape and form in his underwear!

  “Good night, Zada.

  “Zada. I said good night.

  “I’m hanging up now.”

  Click!

  Zada handed the phone back to Rick.

  Rick placed it back on the end table.

  Zada didn’t say a word. She snuggled back against him and put her head back on his shoulder.

  Two seconds.

  Three seconds.

  Five full seconds.

  Rick gave in and said, “I can already hear your mind spinning, Zada.”

  “It is so,” Zada said.

  “And I couldn’t help but hear everything Alicia just said. She was practically shouting at the end of your conversation.”

  “She was so,” Zada said.

  Rick said, “Then you are going to drop it, right? No trying to play matchmaker between Alicia and Jake Sims. Right?”

  Zada got up from the sofa and walked out of the room.

  Rick pulled himself up and went after her.

  “Right, Zada?” he said from the bottom of the stairs.