She noticed him checking out her cart and stiffened in embarrassment at the three cans of squirt cheese balanced on top.

"Wild party tonight?"

Charlotte didn't like the teasing in his voice or the way his eyebrows arched, as if he knew something she didn't

"No," she said. "I mean, yes. For the kids."

"I see."

"Well, I need to get going." She tried to disentangle her wheels from his, but they kept turning into each other. It seemed she couldn't even go grocery shopping without this man disturbing her peace of mind.

"I was hoping I'd get to see you yesterday. Did you and the kids have plans after all?" Joe nonchalantly reached down and straightened one of her wheels, then backed away, leaving the carts separated. He was always so cool and collected-he never seemed ruffled.

"No. Yes. We went to a lake we like."

Joe nodded. Then he crossed his arms and leaned forward on the handle of the shopping cart and smiled at her. "Is it possible you're having second thoughts, Charlotte?"

"What?" she huffed, turning her cart so that she could pass by him. She really needed to get home* "Of course I'm not. I just need to do my kickboxing video before the kids get home from school, so I guess I'll catch you later." She smiled at him in a way she hoped conveyed assertive flirtatiousness. "Have a nice afternoon.".

"I do a little boxing myself," he said as she passed by.

"I know. I saw. I'll-'? It dawned on Charlotte that the only reason she knew he boxed was because she'd spied on him with binoculars. She closed her eyes and prayed he wouldn't catch that little detail.

"How do you know I box?" he asked, now turning his cart and rolling right along next to her toward the checkout. "I never told you I was a boxer."

"Hmm." Charlotte started to load her groceries on the belt, knowing she was a terrible liar and always had been and wasn't going to get out of this unscathed. She tried for something close to the truth. "I heard you punching over there one night. At least I assumed it was a punching bag. It sounded like one."

"Wanna come over and hit the bags with me tonight?"

Her arm stopped its movement, a box of Kashi hung in midair over the checkout belt. Eventually she set it down. "I don't think that's a good idea, Joe."

"Oh. So you did have a change of heart."

She grabbed a box of tabbouleh mix and threw it on the belt, laughing softly. "And if I did?"

She watched Joe nod and compress his lips, as if carefully considering her question. He straightened to his full height and looked down at Charlotte with eyes that intrigued her, challenged her, and basically sexed her up. She started to breathe fast.

"Then I'd change it right back, dumplin'."

Oh, how wrong LoriSue had been-Joe Mills wasn't as hot as a Chippendales dancer. He was much, much, much hotter. And the way he was toying with her had the flames shooting higher than ever.

Charlotte hoisted up a mesh bag of organic navel oranges and studied him, noting that the playful gleam in his eyes was being replaced by a scorching stare.

She gulped.

"If you stay…" Charlotte set down a package of dry White Northern beans and tried to keep eye contact with him. "What happens if you're like those potato chips, and I can't eat just one?"

Joe's mouth twitched. He rested his elbows on the shopping cart "That's all right with me."

"What if I have to have some every day?"

"No problem."

"What if I-"

"Do you have your preferred shopper card today, ma'am?"

Charlotte whirled around to the checkout girl, and handed her the card with trembling fingers.

That sure took long enough, Jimmy thought, watching Charlotte exit through the automatic doors and push her cart into the parking lot. He wondered why the lovebirds had arranged a rendezvous at Kroger's when they lived right next door to each other. Maybe they already needed a little something to liven things up. Maybe they had one of those kinky preferences for doing it in public places.

Jimmy was admiring Charlotte's ass as she unloaded her groceries into the minivan-much like he'd done in the frozen foods section moments before-when his eye caught Joe Mills coming out the door. The guy made him sick. He hated men with earrings. He couldn't see why some women-like Charlotte and the entire office staff at Sell-More, including his own friggin' wife!-would find that appealing.

Charlotte drove off, never even glancing at Joe. Ha! At least she'd waved to him that morning in front of school. Jimmy found comfort in that.

He climbed out of his Excursion and headed over to earring man and his shiny little Mustang. Jimmy hated little cars. He'd take a big-ass SUV any day, one that could take a Mustang like it was a speed bump in the church parking lot.

"Well, good morning, Joe!" Jimmy was a good-sized man, so it annoyed him that he had to look up a few inches to meet Joe's eye. He saw a flicker of surprise in Joe's face.

"Hello. Jimmy, right? LoriSue's husband?"

Jimmy thought, Fuck you, but just smiled.

"Hey, Justin's a great kid. I got to know him the other day at the campout."

Well. Wasn't that a smooth way of letting him know he'd spent the night in Charlotte's bed? Jimmy sniggered a little and shook his head, knowing an outright challenge when he heard one. Was this just Joe's way of letting him know that LoriSue was next?

"Good to know you're enjoying yourself here in Minton-getting real comfy, it sounds like."

Joe finished placing the last of his grocery bags in the trunk of his gigolo mobile and shot him a look that any man with a background in athletics would recognize as an outright physical challenge.

"It's a nice town."

"Stay away from both of them."

Joe looked so innocent. Jimmy guessed that made him a gigolo and an actor. Those poor women never stood a chance.

"Who would that be, Jimmy? Are you talking about Justin?"

"I'm talking about Charlotte and my wife, you loser. Mess with them and you're messing with me-Jim Bettmyer. Got it?"

"Excuse me just a moment." Joe pushed his cart down the row of cars and gave it a push into the cart exchange lane. Then he walked back, got out his car keys, and said, "I'm sorry, Jim, but I need to be heading back. I think you might be jumping to some inaccurate conclusions."

"The hell I am." Jimmy took a step closer to Joe and put his index finger in the man's solar plexus. He felt Joe's body flinch-he also felt some real solid abs and he had to give the man credit where it was due, but they weren't here to discuss his workout regimen. They were here to decide who got the women.

"LoriSue is still my wife, so back off. And Charlotte and I have had a relationship for many years, and she is not available. So your little fun ends right here, right now. You feel me?"

He watched Joe's face empty of all expression, and frankly, it spooked him. It was scary to see a man turn into a stone statue right before your eyes. Then, without a word, Joe got in his car and drove off.

Jimmy shook his head. What a total psycho case. Just because somebody lived in a nice house in a nice neighborhood didn't mean shit these days. There were psychos everywhere.

He looked at his watch and cursed-he was late for his Rotary Club meeting.

Bonnie sensed that things were moving fast with Joe. She just didn't know how fast. At the campout, she'd seen the way Charlotte and Joe looked at each other. Oh, they'd been perfectly polite. And it made the attraction between them all the more obvious. It zinged around like an electrical storm. It was pulled as tight as a tension wire between them.