“You called him a big dumb dodo?" Caroline asked later that night as the two of them sat on Jane's couch watching the gas fireplace lick the fake logs. "Why didn't you go for broke and call him a poo-poo head too?”

“Home was his favorite place too. But home for him was anywhere Jane happened to be. Never in his life had he loved someone as much as he loved her. So much that it scared him sometimes. He pulled her against him and looked out over the city. He was in love with his wife. Yeah, he knew what that said about him. That he was a goner. Leg-shackled for life. Whipped by a short woman with a big attitude. Yep, that's what it said about him, and he didn't care.”

“Luc scored forty and slapped the darts in her palm. “The light sucks in here.”“No.” She smiles and took great pleasure in announcing, “You suck.”His gaze narrowed.Weeks of anger and hurt poured out of her and she said, louder than she’d intended, “And worse – you’re a whiner.”A collective intake of breath caught their attention and she and Luc turned and looked at the guys watching a few feet away.“Lucky’s gonna kill Sharky,” Sutter predicted from the sidelines.By taut agreement they both went to their respective corners. Jane shot and scored sixty-five. Luc scored thirty-four.“Now remind me. Why do they call you Lucky?” she asked as she reached for the darts.He pulled them back out of her reach as a slow, purely licentious smile curved his mouth. A smile that told her he was remembering her on her knees kissing his tattoo. “I’m sure if you think long and hard, you’ll remember the answer to that.”“No.” She shook her head. “Some things just aren’t that memorable.”

“She took a deep breath and forgot to exhale. She wondered what it would be like if she licked him up one side and down the other."What are you thinking?"She suddenly felt kind of hot and dizzy and accidentally let Layla out."That I want to lick your tattoo," she whispered.”

“We’ll have sex all night. Half the morning too. And just when you think you can’t take anymore, we’ll go at it again.”

“The other night when I walked by and saw you in the media lounge, I fantasized about throwing you up on the table and doing you right there on top of the dessert trays.”“Sounds ... messy.”“And fun. I thought about all the interesting places I’d get to lick you clean.”She sounded as if she were holding her breath when she said, “I thought you don’t eat sugar.”He laughed. “I want to eat yours,” he said as he kissed the crook of her neck. “Does that shock you, little Jane?”

“Mom," Nathan called to her.Daisy pulled her gaze from the tent and the fleeting glimpse of Jack's bare back, the smooth planes and indent of his spine, the sliver of the white elastic just above the blue waistband of his jeans..."Hmm?""What's a faaar ant?" he asked just above a whisper."Fire." She chuckled and shook her head. "Fire ant. They have a nasty bite that burns."Nathan smiled. "Well, why didn't he just say fire?""He thinks he did.”