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club and the address, then owner and participant next to that.
Participant?
Don t you want to forget that I engaged in the whole lifestyle?
I thought it best to play along. Yeah, I guess so. What are you going to tell me you
do instead?
We can keep lying to a minimum if we just say I m a businessman and Fredrico
can give you the address and phone number of my other office.
Shouldn t I know what kind of business you re in? After all, I ran away to Vegas
with you. We must have talked. That probably would have come up. Hey, I wanted to
sound convincing and I was curious about what he d say.
Dorian shrugged. Say I m in finance. I like making money.
So you re a stockbroker or something?
He shook his head. No& After a thoughtful moment, he said, Call me an
investor. I make money from other people s ideas.
That sounds plausible but where did you get the capital to invest?
I inherited it. That much is true.
I pointed to the notebook. That all sounds good. Write it down.
He frowned at me as if to say, don t tell me what to do, woman, but eventually he
shook his head and did it anyway. I needed to remember that this would be an
adjustment for both of us at least until my memory was erased then I could go
back to being my usual, no-nonsense self and he couldn t say much about it without
revealing his past. Heh heh.
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Love Cuffs
So, he said, how do you think we should have met?
I began to sing, I met him at the candy stoooooore& Dorian started to laugh, then
coughed to cover it.
What? Some of the cops got together and formed a fifties band. They were pretty
good too.
I m betting you weren t in it, though.
Are you saying I can t sing?
He put his arm around me and whispered, Let me put it this way. Your mouth has
other talents.
Wow, I didn t realize I was so tone-deaf. No wonder animals howl when I sing. I
thought they were singing along. But I couldn t get mad. At least the insult came with a
terrific compliment.
How about the candy aisle in a grocery store? he asked. Where do you shop?
Little Giant Mart.
He cocked his head. Is this just you being silly or do you really shop at a store
called Little Giant Mart ?
I stuck my hand on my hip and faked annoyance. I m not the only clever person in
the world, you know.
Oh, clever. That s what we re calling it these days?
I reached for the pillow, ready to bop him with it but remembered how he wanted
me to act and just huffed instead.
Fine, sometimes I go to the local farmers market.
They don t have candy, do they?
No but they have natural honey. I buy that once in a while.
How old is your latest jar of honey?
I tipped my head and tried to remember. Well, the expiration date probably went
by two or three years ago.
He rolled his eyes. That won t work. You ll wonder where the honey is when you
get home.
Hey, that happens sometimes. You know how you d swear on your life that you
bought toothpaste but when you get home& no toothpaste? Maybe people get
temporarily hypnotized in the grocery store. Shopping is boring enough to put anyone
in a stupor.
He gave me the pause . You know what I m talking about? When the person
you re conversing with just looks at you but doesn t respond and you know they re not
going to react ever. You could sit there until the next morning, waiting for a response
and they d still be staring at you like you had two heads.
Finally, he broke the silence. What candy have you bought recently, or for that
matter, any consumable you buy every week?
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Ashlyn Chase & Dalton Diaz
Was there anything I bought every week? I didn t want to say I met him in the toilet
paper aisle. That wouldn t be sexy. Look, how about if we just bumped into each other
at the coffee shop? Maybe you spilled your extra grande, decaf, mocha latte on me?
Got anything in your laundry basket with a coffee stain?
I threw my hands in the air. Okay, then you come up with something!
Fine. We met at Little Giant Mart in front of the candy display. I asked if you could
recommend a candy as sweet as you.
And I inwardly groaned over your terrible line but you were cute, so I said, Yeah
those hot cinnamon things .
And I said, I love spice . That would do it. He wrote all of that down too. If I
didn t laugh during this fake mental reenactment, Fredrico would.
Okay, so what did we do after the grocery store? I asked.
I asked you out for coffee.
I would have said, no. Engaged& remember?
Do you?
What kind of dumb question was that? Of course, I remembered. What kind of girl
do you think I am?
One who had second thoughts? Maybe one who had to explore why she
responded so viscerally to a total stranger even though she was supposed to be in love?
Maybe one who suddenly realized that she didn t have to settle for someone she wasn t
in love with? Maybe one who believes in love at first sight now that it s happened to
both of us?
Is that last part true? I mean, for you?
He grinned. Yes it is.
I-I& I had no comeback. Yeah, okay. That ll do.
As we hammered out all the details of our so-called normal whirlwind relationship,
everything made sense. Even the part about the whirlwind.
Hope?
Yeah?
Will you marry me? For real?
I gasped. My eyes watered. For once in my life I was rendered utterly speechless.
My thoughts whirled. If I didn t return to New Jersey with a wedding ring on my
finger, my mother would badger me for the rest of my life or until I caved and
married Roger in a small private ceremony. That would be my intended punishment for
inconveniencing everyone the first time at least in her mind. And just in case the
memory of Dorian s club came back to me at some point, a wife didn t have to testify
against her husband in a court of law. So marriage was convenient for both of us. But
would it be happening if it wasn t necessary?
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Love Cuffs
I couldn t imagine any man willing to go through with a marriage just to keep his
club, protect his customers and stay out of jail. Well, okay. I admit that s pretty strong
motivation but Fredrico could erase my mind of everything, Dorian included. I couldn t
handle that.
I could wander around Las Vegas with amnesia until, somehow, my mother found
me oh, yes, she d find me all right, with her radar set to unmarried daughter .
Yes, I loved him like crazy and yes, I d marry him in a heartbeat but there was
something I needed to know first. Dorian, can I ask you something?
He stopped scribbling in the notebook and set it down. Facing me, he held my
hand, probably sensing the import in my voice. Of course, love. What is it?
Would you be marrying me if I didn t have a badge and a very determined Jewish
mother?
Abruptly, he straightened. What do you mean?
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