ynthie said, “I can wait,” and he remembered Min saying, “You get to know the real us and then you leave us.” Cynthie smiled up at him, her heart in her eyes, and he thought, Oh, hell.

He shook his head at her. “I’m sorry. Somebody explained to me what I’ve done to you. I’m sorry. I never meant to hurt you, I never meant to hurt anybody, but I never meant to marry you, either.”

Cynthie took a deep breath and nodded. “That’s all right, I can wait—”

“There’s somebody else,” Cal said, as gently as he could. “I’m sorry, but I’m in love with somebody else.”

She flinched. “No. You love me.”

“I never said that. You know that.”

“Yes, but you do.” Her hands gripped the bottle tighter. “You don’t realize it, but you do. We’re perfect for each other.”

He closed his eyes so he wouldn’t see how desperate she was.

“It’s Min,” Cynthie said. “I know it’s Min. Look, she’s a nice woman, but she’s not me.”

“I know,” Cal said. “That’s the problem.” Cynthie’s face twisted, and he said, “I’m sorry, Cyn.”

He shut the door in her face and leaned against the door for a moment, trying not to think about how much damage he’d done to her, not even wanting to think about anybody else.

Except Min.

Fix this, he told himself and sat down to figure out a way.

At about the same time Shanna was reading Cal the riot act, Min was listening to Liza say, “This is really good,” as she speared the last marsala-soaked mushroom at Min’s dining room table. Then Liza said, “Tell me again why we’re doing this.”

“Because we always had chicken marsala on Tuesday nights,” Min said, stabbing her chicken with no enthusiasm as Elvis prowled about her ankles, impatient for leftovers. “I’m trying to cloud the association.”

“Very practical,” Liza said. “Except you’re miserable, so there’s not enough cloud in the world, babe.”

“May I have the butter, please?” Diana said, picking up another piece of bread from Emilio’s.

Bonnie pushed the butter dish her way. “Have you heard from him?” she asked Min.

“Of course not,” Min said, revving up her anger again so she wouldn’t have to think about how she’d been waiting for a phone call for two days. “He’s mad at me. Can you believe it? He’s mad at me. Did I make a bet? Noooo. But he’s—”

“Oh, please, no more of this,” Liza said. “You’ve bitched about him for two days. Face it, the man has a point.”

Min put down her fork, and Diana stopped buttering her bread.

“He does not have a point,” Min snapped. “This whole mess is because he does not have a point and now you’re turning on me? It’s not enough that Bonnie sandbagged me with that fairy tale garbage, now you—”

“It’s not garbage,” Bonnie said. “You got the fairy tale. You got the handsome prince who loved you. It worked.”

“It did not work,” Min said, slamming her hand down on the table. “He went into a snit and left. Just my luck, I get a snitty prince. Which is why he wasn’t a prince. Which is why I don’t believe that garbage. I do not believe in the fairy tale, okay?”

“I don’t think it matters,” Bonnie said, mild as ever. “The fairy tale believes in you.”

Min turned to Liza. “Tell her.”

Liza leaned her elbow on the table. “She’s right.”

Min flopped back in her chair. “Oh, for crying out loud. If this wasn’t my apartment, I’d leave.”

“Well, look at it from his point of view,” Liza said. “He didn’t make the bet. He tried not to date you, but he had to keep coming back because he was nuts about you, and you kept kissing him and then turning him down. He was patient, he charmed your parents, he was good to your friends, he found your snow globe, he taught you to cook, he got you a cat, for Christ’s sake, and then it turns out that while he was knocking himself out for you, you were playing him for a fool.”

“No, I wasn’t,” Min said, but her anger cooled considerably.

“He really is a sweetie,” Diana said, licking butter off her lip.

“Liza’s right,” Bonnie said. “You know how awful school was for all three of these boys. They’re all sensitive about being dumb. You hit Cal right on his sore spot, in front of his friends, in front of Cynthie, in front of David.”

“Ouch,” Min said faintly. She tried to summon up her old outrage over the bet, but after two days of venting, she’d been running out of steam anyway.

“I know you needed to be mad to deal with the pain,” Liza said. “I do that, too. But if you want him back, get over it. Because if there wasn’t a bet—”

“There wasn’t,” Min said miserably. “I believe him on that.”

“Then he’s given you everything and you haven’t given him a damn thing.”

“That’s pretty harsh,” Bonnie said to Liza.

“Why didn’t you just ask him about the bet?” Liza said.

“I did,” Min said.

“You said, ‘Did you make a bet with David that you could sleep with me in a month?’ ”

“No,” Min said, not meeting her eyes. “I asked him if there was anything he wasn’t telling me.”

Bonnie nodded. “And what did he say?”

Min sat back. “He kept confessing to things that weren’t the bet.”

“That must have been fun for everyone,” Liza said. “Why didn’t you flat out ask him?”

Min put her head in her hands. “I was afraid, okay? You know how all those people say, ‘If they just talked about their problems, they’d all go away’? Well, I bet none of those people talk about their problems. I mean, it sounds good, but it’s a terrible gamble.” She looked up at Liza. “I knew he made that bet. I heard him. And I...” She stopped and swallowed. “I knew I only had a month and I wanted that month with him.” She shook her head. “Not everybody faces life head-on the way that you do.”

“Well, they should,” Liza said. “You screwed up. So now you’re going to have to grovel.”

“What?” Bonnie said, while Min gaped at Liza, and Diana watched them all, fascinated.

Liza got up from the table, picked up Min’s phone, and brought it over to her. “Call him. Tell him you were wrong, he was right, and you’ll do anything to make it up to him.”

Min swallowed. “You want me to grovel?”

“Yes,” Liza said. “I’m not going to watch you lose him because of your dumb pride. Call and offer him anything he wants if he’ll take you back.”

Min looked at Bonnie, who nodded.

Min looked at the phone. If she called Cal, she’d at least get to hear his voice. How pathetic was that? “Pathetic,” she said out loud.

“Only if you let this go,” Liza said. “For once in your life, do the irrational, reckless thing. Call him.”

Min sat there, frozen in fear. Then she took a deep breath and picked up the phone.

Cal was rehearsing his “How about a late dinner tomorrow?” speech when the phone rang, but when he picked it up and heard Min’s tentative “Hi?” he forgot it all.

“Hi,” he said and sat down hard on the couch.

“Don’t say anything,” she said, her words coming out in a rush. “Let me get this out. I was wrong not to tell you I knew about the bet. I was wrong not to trust you. Everything you said at the wedding was right. It’s my fault. I want you back. I want us back. I love you and I need you—”

Relief made Cal dizzy.

“And I want to see you now,” she went on, and Cal thought, Christ, yes, and then the other shoe dropped. “Now?” he said and looked at the clock. Twenty-six hours before the bet was up. Just tell her yes, he thought, she doesn’t care about the bet anymore, she said so, and then he remembered how she’d sounded when she’d said it at the wedding.

“It’s been driving me crazy saying no to you all these weeks,” Min was babbling, “but if you’re not ready for that, that’s okay, I just want to see you. I haven’t seen you for two days, and I miss you so much. Can I come over right now? Just to talk? Or, you know, we could do other things. I can think of several. If you want more than talk. More would be good with me. Or not. Whatever.”

More would be great with me, Cal thought and shook his head to clear it.

“I’m on my knees here,” Min said, her voice straining to be chipper. “And not in a good way. Can I come over?”

“No,” Cal said. “I’ll come to you. Later.” He swallowed. “Tomorrow. Nine-thirty. Tomorrow night, nine-thirty.”

“Not now?” Min said, her voice cracking.

“No,” Cal said. “No. Nine-thirty. Tomorrow. I’ll bring dinner.”

“I can cook now,” Min said. “I can make dinner. I can make it now.”

“I’ll bring dinner tomorrow,” Cal said, thinking, Christ, I’ve been stupid.

“Fine, whatever.” Min waited for a moment and then added, “I’m kind of hungry now, though.”

“Tomorrow, nine-thirty, your place,” Cal said, gritting his teeth.

“Okay,” Min said. “All right. Tomorrow night it is.” He was about to say good-bye when she said, “Are you seeing Cynthie?”

“Christ, no,” Cal said, casting a guilty look at the door.

“Because you left with her. And David said you were. Or I wouldn’t have asked. I mean, it’s none of my business.”

“It’s your business,” Cal said. “And David is an idiot. Stop talking to him.”

“I’m trying,” Min said.

Cal felt all his tension morph into a much more convenient anger. “What does that mean, you’re trying?”

“He calls. For some reason, this whole mess has convinced him that he and I should get married.”

“He’s wrong,” Cal snapped.

“I know that,” Min said, her voice not placating anymore.

“You’ve got caller ID. Stop picking up the phone.”

“Look, I’m not completely stupid.”

“You’re not stupid at all,” Cal said, “your past month’s performance notwithstanding.” He winced. Stupid. Stupid.

“Hey, you made the bet.”

“I did not—”

“The second one. The take-me-to-dinner one. I screwed up but I’m not going to pay for it for the rest of my life. You’re culpable here, too. You made that dinner bet.”

There you go, Cal thought. Shanna was right, damn it.

“Not that I’m assuming you’re going to be around for the rest of my life,” Min said, tentative again.

“Tomorrow night,” Cal said and hung up, before either one of them said something even dumber, pretty sure he’d done the right thing. Christ, I’m in a Doris Day movie, he thought, and went to tell Shanna that he’d done what she said.

“I love you,” Min said forlornly to the dial tone.

“What happened?” Liza said. “What was all that stuff about Cynthie and David? I told you to grovel, not fight.”

Min put the phone down and picked up Elvis for comfort. “He doesn’t want to see me until tomorrow.”

“That’s strange,” Liza said. “If I’d promised Tony sex like that, he’d have been here before I hung up the phone.”

“I didn’t actually promise him sex,” Min said.

“Oh, please,” Liza and Bonnie said together, and even Diana nodded and said, “Yes, you did.”

“Could I keep some shred of dignity here?” Min said. “He just said no to sex, the bastard.”

“No, he didn’t,” Bonnie said, patting her hand. “He just said, not until tomorrow.” She frowned. “I don’t get him.”

“Tell us what he said,” Liza said.

“He said he’d come over here tomorrow at nine-thirty, and he’d bring dinner. Like I want to eat.” Min sniffed. “I hate this. This is dumb.”

“What’s so special about nine-thirty tomorrow night?” Liza said. “What’s tomorrow? It’s just Wednesday.”

“It’s Roger’s and my anniversary,” Bonnie said. “He’s ordering champagne, and then he’s going to pick me up at the bar the way he did four weeks ago, and then he’s going to propose.”

“Cute,” Min said.

“That’s it,” Liza said, straightening. “Tomorrow night it’s four weeks since David made the bet.”

“But Cal didn’t take the bet,” Min snapped. “I’m tired of this conversation. He didn’t—”

“But everybody knows about it,” Liza said. “So if you give in before the time’s up, he wins. And he loves to win. He always wins. He lives to win.”

“Not seeing your point,” Min said.

“He’s throwing the bet,” Liza said.

“Why?” Min stood up and Elvis leaped for the floor. “Why in the name of God—”

“It’s sort of gallant,” Bonnie said.

“If you ask me, it’s a control thing, too,” Liza said, disdain in her voice. “He gets to call the shots. What happened at nine-thirty?”

Min shrugged, confused. “We got to the restaurant a little before ten, so we were probably leaving the bar about then.”

Liza nodded. “He’s giving himself some leeway.” She frowned. “Although more than he needs if he’s bringing dinner. Then there’ll be foreplay. It’s going to take some time to get you—”

“He can have me when he walks in the door,” Min said.

Diana picked up her bread again. “I’ll go to the movies tomorrow night. You’re going to need this place to yourself, and I’m not going back home. Mom’s still mad I moved in here. She’s convinced I’m eating carbs.” She bit into the bread, and Min laughed in spite of herself and then began to consider the situation.

So what if Cal lost the bet? Ten bucks. He could afford it. “No,” she said. “I’m not going to be the bet he lost, that’s not how I want us to start. He’s going to win that bet tomorrow night, and he’s going to be very happy doing it.”

“Why tomorrow?” Liza said.

“Because I’m going to need a really hot nightgown,” Min said. “And a lot more courage than I have right now. And a plan.”

“Explain,” Liza said, and Min leaned in and they began to talk.

“What the hell is going on?” David said the next evening when he called Cynthie. “I thought you said that fight at the wedding would end it.”

“We lost,” Cynthie said, her voice sounding tired. “He loves her so much, he’s forgiven her.”

“I just talked to Min,” David said, reliving the experience in vivid detail. “She told me she’s going to make sure he wins, so I should get my checkbook out. She sounded mad at me.”

“David, it’s done,” Cynthie said. “The only thing we can do is wait and hope infatuation wears itself out and they come to their senses.”

“Six months to three years? I’m not waiting on Calvin Morrisey.” David thought of Cal with loathing. He had Min so snowed she believed he’d actually throw that bet. He’d probably set it up so she’d insist on his winning. He’d probably... David sat back. “Wait a minute. What if Min found out he was playing her? What if he tricked her into sleeping with him so he could win the bet?”

“He’s not,” Cynthie said, tiredly. “It’s done, David.”

“No, it’s not,” David said. “Not if the bet’s for midnight. What if her family and friends found out he made that bet?”

“It’s done, David,” Cynthie said.

“I’m not done,” David said. “I’m going to win.”

At eight, Cal had a bottle of wine and a box of Krispy Kremes ready to take to Min’s apartment, and an hour and a half of rabid sexual frustration to kill when the phone rang.

“Cal,” Diana said when he answered. “You have to get over here. Min’s in trouble.”

“What—” Cal said, and then all he heard was a dial tone. “Okay,” he said, and headed over to Min’s apartment, deeply suspicious.

When he knocked on the door, Diana opened it. “Thank God you’re here,” she said, and hauled him inside. Then she slipped out the door and left, slamming it behind her.

“What is this?” Cal turned around and saw Min, dressed in a short black trench coat, her back against the door, that glint in her eyes. “Oh, funny,” he said, trying to sound mad. “Did you ever hear the story about the actuary who cried ‘Wolf’?”

“Yes,” Min said. “The wolf ate her.” She grinned at him, and his pulse kicked up. “I have news for you, Charm Boy. You are not going to throw this bet.”

“Oh, yes, I am,” Cal said, retreating around her couch while Elvis watched with contempt. “If we sleep together now, there will come a day when we’re arguing about the electric bill, and you’ll say, ‘You only dated me for the bet.’ I’m not paying for this for the rest of my life when all I have to do is wait an hour and a half.” He looked at the clock on the mantel. “Eighty minutes.”

“The rest of your life, huh?” Min said.

“Yes, Minerva, the rest of my life. You think I’d go through the hell this month has been just for the sex?”

Min blinked. “Well, yes.”

Cal thought about it. “Okay, you have a point.”

“Did I mention I’m not wearing underwear?” Min slid around the couch and he backed around to the other side.

“You do this to torture me, don’t you?” Cal said.

“No, I’m doing it to get you into bed,” Min said. “The torture is just a perk.”

“Min,” Cal said.

“No,” Min said. “I don’t want to spend the rest of my life as the bet you lost. Plus I’m tired of hearing about how I’m not a risk-taker. So I’m taking a risk on you.” She pulled a ten-dollar bill out of her trench coat pocket. “I’ve got ten bucks says I’m going to have you naked and inside me before nine-thirty.”

Cal went dizzy for a moment and when he’d shaken his head to clear it, she’d slapped the ten on the table by the couch.

“There it is, sport,” Min said. “You going to be a wimp, or are you going to play?”

She was smiling at him, heat and love in her eyes, and he started to laugh. “Min, it’s eighty minutes, not a month. You really think I can’t hold out that long?”

“Yep,” Min said, her hands on her hips.

He got out his wallet, took out a ten, walked over to the table, and slapped it on top of her ten. “You’re on,” he said, keeping the table between them. “Let’s see what you’ve got, Minnie.”

She unbuckled her trench coat, dropped the belt onto the couch, and took off the coat. She was wearing a strapless black lace nightgown, and as far as Cal could see, there was nothing holding it up. “I know it would have been better if I’d been naked,” she said, rocking on her heels so that everything bounced. “I’m just not that confident yet.”

“Actually,” Cal said, staring at her, “now I’m going to think about ripping that off you for the next eighty minutes, so this may be the way to go.” He looked at the top of the nightgown where the lace cut into her flesh. “It doesn’t look that hard to get off.”

Min put her finger inside the top of the lace and snapped it. “Elastic. One good tug and—”

“Not for eighty minutes.” He looked at the clock. “Seventy-seven minutes. But I want to make it clear that when the time’s up, you’re mine.”

“Oh, yeah,” Min said, nodding.

“Well, then,” Cal said. “Read any good books lately?”

“No,” Min said, beginning to move around the table. “I can’t read because all I can think about is you.”

Cal moved away from her, toward the other end of the couch. “That must be boring.”

“No, you’re always doing the most amazing things to me,” Min said, moving closer.

Cal moved around to the front of the couch. “You know, I’m not that good in bed.”

Min reversed direction and surprised him, grabbing his shirt. “That’s all right. I’m fantastic.”

She pushed him onto the couch and straddled him, her soft weight pinning him down, and Cal thought, I should do something about this, but even as he thought it, his hands were on her, feeling her heat through the scratch of the lace. “I’ve been told my mouth is a miracle,” she whispered, leaning into him, and he closed his eyes as her breasts pushed softly against his chest.

She kissed him, and her mouth was hot and sweet, and he tightened his hands on her and pulled her close. “Christ, I’ve missed you,” he said against her mouth.

“I missed you, too,” she said, not playing anymore. “I don’t ever want to be without you again.”

“You never will,” Cal said. “I’m not walking away from you again. Ever.”

“Thank you.” Min sat back and took a deep breath and Cal watched, heat rising. “Listen, there’s something I have to tell you.”

His hands cupped her rear end and pulled her tighter. She really wasn’t wearing underwear. “Talk slow.” He bent his head to kiss her neck and bit it softly instead.

Min shivered. “Remember, I said, ‘Don’t break my heart’? Well, I changed my mind. You can break it.”

“Hey,” Cal said, his hands tightening on her. “I’m not—”

“It doesn’t matter, I’ll love you anyway,” Min said, “I loved you when I thought you’d made that bet, I loved you when I thought you were playing me, I loved you while I was screaming at you in the street, I loved you when you left the wedding with Cynthie, you rat bastard—”

“I took her home and left,” Cal said, alarmed. “I swear to God, I—”

“It doesn’t matter,” Min said. “That’s what I’m trying to tell you, it doesn’t matter what you do or say. I’m going to love you till the end of time.”

Cal looked at her, stunned.

“I know,” Min said. “It’s really un-PC. I just thought you should know that you can’t screw this up.”

“I can’t?” Cal said, wanting to believe her.

“No,” Min said. “Which doesn’t mean I’m not going to yell if you make me mad again. I will shout and slam doors. I just won’t be on the other side of the door when I slam it. You’ve got me for life.”

He lost his breath and put his forehead against her shoulder. “God, I love you.”

Min sighed. “That’s good because there’s something else I have to tell you.”

Cal nodded, still dazed.

Min swallowed. “The thing is, I’m going to spread. Hips, thighs—”

“Not till nine-thirty,” Cal said, trying not to picture her.

“—waist,” Min said, and then stopped. “What? Nine-thirty? Not till my forties, probably, I think I can fight it off that long, but then—”

“What?” Cal said.

“I’m going to get fat,” Min said, and he blinked. “Er. I’m going to get fatter.” She frowned at him. “What did you think I meant?”

“For future reference,” he said, starting to laugh. “If you’re sitting half naked on my lap and you tell me you’re going to spread—”

“No,” Min said and tried to push him away, and he toppled her so she landed, lush and hot beneath him. “I would never say that,” she said, looking up at him as her arms slid around his neck. “That would be crude.”

“I liked it,” Cal said and kissed her.

“What I’m trying to tell you,” Min said when she came up for air, “is that I’m going to grow up to be one of those chubby old ladies. It’s in my genes. Like self-rising flour. I’m going to pouf.”

“That’s going to work out well for me,” Cal said. “Because I’m going to grow up to be one of those horny old men who chases chubby old ladies around the couch.”

“I’m serious” Min said, but she was smiling, her soft lips open for him.

“So am I,” Cal said. “You think I care what you weigh? Hell, woman, you’ve called me a beast, a wolf, the devil, and a vile seducer. Plus your best friend has beaten me up three times—”

“You hit me in the eye,” Min said.

“—and you yelled at me in public, and I’m still here. If you think you getting softer is going to get rid of me—”

“Men are visual,” Min said.

“Yeah.” Cal slid his finger under the elastic edge of her nightgown. “That’s why I like this thing you’re not wearing. But I still want a chance to rip your sweats off you, too.” He stopped smiling, trying to give her what she’d given him. “It’s just you, Minnie. That’s all I want. I just want to spend the rest of my life with you.”

“Oh.” Min reached up for him, and he remembered the bet and sat up, hating to let her go.

“Starting at nine-thirty.” He looked at the clock. “Which is in seventy minutes. What do you want to do for seventy minutes, Minnie? Got a Scrabble board?”

“I’ll use dirty words,” Min said.

“Yeah, like ‘spread,’ ” Cal said, and laughed.

Min looked at the ceiling. “See, this is one of those things that doesn’t matter, I love you anyway.”

“I love that part,” Cal said. “So what’s new with you?”

“That would be saying ‘Yes, you can have me any way you want me’ to you.” She sat up and pulled him to her again, and he shifted on the couch to make room for her and felt something dig into his hip. Min kissed his neck, and he shivered as he reached behind him and pulled out her coat belt, buckle first. Then she bit him, and he said, “Ouch,” and she leaned back and smiled at him.

“You’re going to win the bet with David and lose the bet to me, hotshot,” she said. “Think of it as breaking even.”

He looked at her and thought, She’s right, and then looked at the belt in his hand. “Just for the record, no matter what I do, you’ll love me?”

“Yes,” she said.

“Good.” He tipped her back onto the couch and stretched her wrists over her head. “I like being in control, Minnie.”

“I know.” Min smiled up at him. “I can work with that.”

He kissed her again, and while she was distracted, he wrapped the belt around her wrists.

“Hey,” she said, breaking the kiss, but he’d already wrapped the ends of the belt around the arm of the couch.

She stretched up to see her wrists as he tied the knot. “This is a little kinky, Calvin.”

“Not really,” Cal said, getting up. “You know, I had a dozen doughnuts to bring over here, and then you cried wolf, and now we don’t have them. But I forgive you because that’s the kind of relationship we have.” He moved to the kitchen alcove. “So what do you want to talk about for...” He stretched to see the clock. “... sixty-seven minutes?”

“Cal,” Min said.

There was a familiar green and white sack on the kitchen counter. “Krispy Kremes,” he said. “Great minds think alike.” He brought the sack back into the living room. “You know, Minnie, you tortured me for a month, looking so good I lost my mind every time I saw you. I wanted you so much I was insane from it.” He looked down at her, tied to the couch. “Still am, evidently.”

“Okay, I’m sorry about that,” Min said, tugging on the belt.

“So now it’s your turn.” He sat down across from her. “Now I’m going to torture you.”

Min stopped tugging. “This could be good. What are you going to do?”

He took a Krispy Kreme out of the bag.

“I’m going to eat this in front of you,” Cal said, and bit into the doughnut.

David went down to the street to the pay phone on the corner because damn near everybody had caller ID these days. He dialed Min’s parents’ number, and when the phone stopped ringing, he said, “You should know this,” only to be overrun by their answering machine. Well, that was all right, they never stayed out longer than nine anyway. Plenty of time. When he heard the beep, he said, “You should know this. Calvin Morrisey is seducing your daughter to win a bet. They’re at her apartment right now.” Then he hung up and considered what he had just done. As far as he could see, it was flawless.

Feeling pretty good about himself, he began to look through the directory wired to the pay phone for the Morriseys’ number.

Min scowled at Cal, but all the bastard did was grin back, looking desirable as all hell while he finished his second doughnut. Slowly.

“And you wonder why I wouldn’t sleep with you,” Min said. “It was because I sensed the sadist in you.” She shifted to get more comfortable and watched his jaw tense. Hello, she thought, and shifted again.

“I haven’t seen Elvis for a while,” he said, watching her. “He must have gone out the window again. What are the statistics on outdoor cats?”

“You know,” Min said, trying a new strategy. “This is scaring me. There’s a strange man in my apartment, and I’m tied to my couch. I’m terrified.” She tried to put some fear into her voice, but it was hard since it was soaked with lust.

“Funny, you just look pissed off.” Cal picked up the remote. “TV?”

Min gritted her teeth. “Men get arrested for this.”

“Only if they get caught. I usually check CNN about this time.” Cal looked down at her. “Of course, I usually don’t have something better to look at. You have a great body.”

“Oh, please,” Min said. “I know you want to get laid but—”

“Guys buy magazines to look at breasts like yours,” Cal said, “and here I am with a pair tied to a couch.” He tossed the remote back on the coffee table. “CNN has lost its appeal.”

“If I ever get off this couch,” Min said through her teeth, “you’re never seeing these breasts again. Now untie me.”

“You didn’t think that through,” Cal said. “Try again.”

“Calvin—”

“Do you have any idea,” he said conversationally, “how hard it is for me to keep my hands off you?”

“So untie me and let’s go,” Min said, starting to feel cheerful again.

“Forty-five minutes,” Cal said. “What do you want to talk about?”

Okay, Min told herself. You’re not thinking. You have the upper hand here, aside from being tied to the couch. He wants you. He can have you. He just needs jump-started. “I’ve wanted you, too,” she said, relaxing back against the pillows.

“Right,” Cal said, picking up another doughnut. “That’s why you kept walking away.”

“That was the bet,” Min said. “Remember that picnic in the park? I wanted to knock you down and rip off your shirt and bite into you.”

Cal stopped with the doughnut halfway to his mouth.

“I used to close my eyes and imagine you naked against me, all the things you’d do to me.” He drew back a little and she said, “Especially my breasts. I have really sensitive breasts, did I mention that? I could almost come just imagining your mouth on my—”

“You don’t play fair,” Cal said.

“I don’t?” Min said, trying to rise up. “I’m tied to the couch. How is that fair?”

“It’s not,” Cal said. “One of the many reasons I like it.”

She exhaled in frustration, and he watched her, and then he got up and moved around the table to sit beside her. He scooped some chocolate icing off the doughnut with his finger. “Do you know how many fantasies I’ve had about your body?” He drew his finger around the slope of her breast, smearing the chocolate under the lace, and Min sucked in her breath. “This wasn’t one of them,” he said, marking her other breast the same way. “But it should have been.”

“Sticky,” Min said, complete sentences escaping her for the moment.

“Not a problem,” Cal said, bending over her. “It’s coming right off.”

“Pervert,” Min said, closing her eyes as she felt his tongue on her.

“Yep,” he said, moving the lace lower. “But you like it.”

“Ha,” Min said.

Cal straightened enough to look into her eyes. “Want me to stop?” he said, and Min felt his hand under her breast, felt his thumb move across the heat there to the edge of the lace.

“I want everything you’ve got,” Min said and watched his eyes darken as his hand tightened on her. “Untie me.”

“Nope,” Cal said.

Min arched against him and he pushed her back, his breath coming faster, and bent down to her again, and this time he pulled down the lace, and when she felt his mouth on her, she arched as every nerve she had flared in relief.

He pulled back as she jerked, and looked down at her, breathing hard, and just as she realized he was staring at her naked breast, he stripped the rest of the nightgown down so she was naked to the waist. “Hey,” she said and moved instinctively to cover herself and remembered she was tied.

“God, you’re beautiful,” he said, still staring at her breasts.

Min tugged at the belt, torn between embarrassment and lust, and then he slid his hands up to cup her breasts, and lust won. She closed her eyes and felt the heat of his mouth on her again, felt herself tighten and shudder, and pressed against him, praying he wouldn’t stop.

The Morriseys weren’t in the book, so David called Cynthie. “I need the number for Cal’s parents.”

“Why?” Cynthie said flatly.

“It doesn’t matter why,” David said. “What matters is that Cal would be furious if he found out that you told me how to start that fight on Sunday. Give me the number or I tell him.”

There was a long silence, and then Cynthie put down the phone. When she came back, she gave him the number.

“Thank you,” David said, and hung up and dialed the number. When the ringing stopped, he said, “You should know this,” only to be overridden by the Morriseys’ answering machine. “This is ridiculous,” he said, but when the beep sounded, he said, “You should know this. Your son is seducing a woman right now to win a bet. Her name is Min Dobbs and she is litigious and vindictive.” Then he gave her apartment address and hung up.

“Not bad,” he told himself and picked up the phone again, feeling pretty good about himself in general.

Because he was going to win.

Fifteen minutes later, Cal picked up the rest of the third doughnut, and Min tried to remember her name.

“What are you doing?” she said.

“Pacing myself,” Cal said, sounding ragged. He bit into the doughnut. “I figure,” he said after he’d swallowed, “that as long as I have this in my mouth, I won’t put you there.” He looked at the clock. “We’ve got half an hour. I don’t think you bought enough doughnuts.”

“Could you at least pull my nightgown up?” Min said, feeling a blush start as the heat receded.

“Nope.” Cal finished the doughnut. “I’m thinking you should always go topless.”

“That’ll perk things up at work,” Min said, and then remembered that there was nothing perky about her. “I meant—”

“Not in public, dummy,” Cal said. “Just at home. We’ll put it in the wedding vows. You can promise to love, honor, cherish, and be naked from the waist up every night.”

“Married?” Min said, trying to sit up.

“Well, of course, married,” Cal said, watching her with interest. “You think I’d tie up somebody I wasn’t serious about?”

“You haven’t asked,” Min said, yanking on the belt.

“Will you marry me?” Cal said, still watching her breasts.

“No,” Min said, torn between love and murder.

“Right,” Cal said. “Because years from now when Harry asks how I proposed, you don’t want to say, ‘Well, he tied me to the couch and ripped off my nightgown and ate doughnuts off my breasts and then he asked me.’” He bit into the doughnut again.

“All I want is to make love so we can put this dumb bet behind us and start a real relationship, although maybe not after this.” She yanked on the belt again. “This could set us back some.”

“Nope,” Cal said, insufferably calm. “We agreed that nothing could hurt this relationship now. It’s a little bent, but I like that about us.”

“You’re a little bent,” Min said. “I am completely normal. Now untie me and fuck my brains out.”

Cal caught his breath for a minute, and Min thought, Take me, and then he bit into the doughnut again, and she exhaled through her teeth in frustration.

“Maybe I’m filling the wrong mouth,” he said, and tore off a piece of the doughnut. “Open up.”

“Look, I don’t—” Min said, and Cal slipped the pastry into her mouth, and the sugar flooded everywhere. “Oh,” she said and let the chocolate melt into her senses.

“My goal in life is to put that look on your face without chocolate,” Cal said.

Min swallowed. “You do. You’re just never looking at me when it’s on there.”

“Really.” Cal cupped her breast and began to stroke her with his thumb, and Min felt herself tighten under him again, but this time, when she opened her eyes, he was staring at her, watching her, and she blushed, from embarrassment and from heat and from wanting him. “Damn, you’re right,” he said and bent to kiss her, and Min forgot to be embarrassed and rose to taste him as he caressed her, sighing against his mouth.

“Untie me,” she whispered, and he looked over her head.

“Nope, we still have half an hour to kill.” He slid his hand down her calf. “I think I’ll start with the toes this time. It’s never been toes for me before, so this will be new.”

“You’re going to suck my toes for half an hour?” Min said in disbelief.

“I’m going to start at your toes,” Cal said. “And work up.”

“Up?” Min said.

“And in about fifteen minutes, you’re going lose the rest of this nightgown.”

“With the lights on?” Min said, outraged, and he laughed and bent to her toes.

David dialed Diana’s cell phone on the theory that after what had happened to her on Sunday, Diana would be ripe to maim any man in her path, especially one hurting her sister. When the ringing stopped, he said, “You should know this,” only to be overridden by Diana’s voice mail. “Don’t any of you people stay home on Wednesdays?” he snapped, but when the beep sounded, he said, “You should know this. Calvin Morrisey is seducing your sister right now to win a bet.” Then he hung up and thought about the last call he had to make. The scary one.

It’s anonymous, he told himself. She’ll never know.

He went back up to his apartment to have a drink first anyway.

At quarter after nine, having been touched everywhere she could imagine and a couple of places she hadn’t thought of, Min felt Cal untie her.

She sat up and slugged him on the arm. “Don’t ever do that again.”

“Ouch?” Cal said, and she pushed him back and climbed onto his lap and kissed him hard, wrapping herself around him as tightly as she could.

When she came up for air, she slapped him on the shoulder again. “I mean it, never again,” she said, and then went for his mouth again, hungry for it. A minute later she broke the kiss, breathing heavily, slugged him again, and said, “Never ever again.”

“Really?” he said, as breathless as she was, and she looked back at the arm of the couch, the belt still tangled around it, and shivered.

“Well, not in the living room,” she said. “And not for so long, and not with all these lights—”

He dumped her back on the couch, pressing her against the pillows. “When we do it again,” he told her, his hands hot on her, “it’ll be where I want, when I want, with spotlights if I want.”

“I don’t think so,” she said and he kissed her again and she thought, Oh, hell, whatever you want, and kissed him back.

“Whatever I want,” he whispered in her ear.

“Okay,” she whispered back. “But can I have you now?”

“Almost,” Cal said into her neck. “Fifteen—”

“You know what my favorite fantasy is?” she whispered in his ear, and he groaned. “It’s you, sliding hard inside me.” His hand tightened on her, and she said, “I love that part of sex, the first part, the way it feels, and it’s going to be the best with you because everything else with you has been the best I’ve ever had, the way I feel when you touch me, the way you kiss me, that’s why I know the way you—”

He kissed her hard, pushing her back on the pillows, taking her voice and her breath away, and when he stopped, he said, “Shut up, we’ve got fifteen minutes yet,” and began to lick his way down her body.

“Uh,” Min said, as he set every nerve she had alight again. “What are you going to do for fifteen minutes?” and he bit into her thigh as he moved her legs apart with his hand.

“Oh, God” Min said, as he licked inside her. “I’m going to lose ten dollars.”

Liza’s cell phone rang in the kitchen at Emilio’s, and Tony got it out of her purse and handed it to her, never dropping the fork he had buried in his spaghetti.

“You sure we’re not seeing each other?” Liza said as she took the phone. “Because you sure show up here a lot.”

“I eat here,” Tony said, twirling more spaghetti on his fork. “I predate you.”

“Right,” Liza said, clicked her phone on. “Hello?”

“Liza?” a man’s voice said. “You should know this. Cal Morrisey is tricking Min into winning that bet.”

“What?” Liza said. “Who is this?”

“The bet’s over at midnight,” the voice said, sounding smugly familiar. “And he wants to win.”

“David?” Liza said.

The phone clicked off and Liza was left with a dial tone.

“David?” Tony said, looking up from his spaghetti.

“Hey, Emilio?” Liza yelled over the kitchen noise. “I’m taking a break.”

“Oh, no,” Tony said.

“Eat your pasta,” Liza said, moving toward the door.

“Oh, hell,” Tony said and dropped his fork to follow her.