He had no idea how much of this he could taker-he'd never seen anything so hot in his life.

Then she placed her lips arouad him and her moan vibrated all the way down into his balls and that was it- one mouthful of squirt cheese was served.

"Would you please hold still for one second, Hank?"

Charlotte jammed the safety pin through the elastic strap and poked herself in the finger.

"Ow! Shi-"

"Don't cuss and don't get blood on my tutu, Mama."

"Believe me, I'm trying to avoid both." Charlotte placed the pad of her index finger on her lips and sucked away the bright red droplet. She reached for the hairbrush, then studied the strand of purple silk flowers that was supposed to adorn a bun at the back of her daughter's head. She sighed. "Okay. Let's tackle your hair, kiddo."

"Mom!" Matt's voice boomed up the stairs.

"What?"

"Can Justin come to the recital?"

"Is that all right with you, sweetie?"

"I don't care." Hank shrugged. "He comes everywhere else with us."

"Sure!" Charlotte shouted back, tugging the hairbrush through Hank's tangle of curls. She knew from experience that getting all this hair into one little bun was going to be an engineering feat. "Hand me a few more bobby pins; honey."

"Hey! Don't pull it too tight or my brains will hurt."

Charlotte smiled, then looked up long enough to see the two of them reflected in Hank's dresser mirror. "You're going to do great today."

"Everybody ready?"

The sound of Joe's voice caused Charlotte to freeze. Her heart jumped into her mouth. She heard his footsteps on the stairs and three things occurred to her simultaneously: she was still in her bathrobe, she'd forgotten to un-invite him to the recital today, and she wasn't wearing his ring.

She'd tucked it away in her jewelry box when she got home late last night, after Bonnie nearly fainted at the sight of it and she had to explain that she was merely thinking about marrying him. Someday.

"It's Joe!" Hank bolted the instant he appeared in the hallway, and all the hair Charlotte had just twirled into a tight ball burst free. As Hank hurled herself against Joe and he hoisted her up into the air and hugged her, Charlotte noticed a huge run in Hank's ballet tights and knew she didn't have a spare pair.

She chuckled to herself-she'd never been without extra tights on recital day, so it must be that falling in love had her falling down on the job.

"Don't you look gorgeous!" Joe leaned back to inspect Hank's lavender spandex costume, touching the poof of stiff white netting around her hips. He kissed Hank's cheek. "You're gonna knock 'em dead, slugger."

The look on Hank's face was a balm to Charlotte's frayed nerves. Her daughter beamed at Joe, and the way Joe beamed back, it was obvious the affection was mutual.

LoriSue stared at the phone message in shock. Her bid on the end-unit townhome at The Lakes had been rejected- rejected-when she'd offered two thousand over the asking price and knew damn well there were no competing bidders.

She smelled something extremely foul. She smelled Jimmy.

With a blunt index finger-she still hadn't gotten used to these bland, stumpy fingernails, but she had to admit they were less hassle-she held down the intercom button.

"Ruth, where the hell is Jimmy?"

"Hold on. I'll check." She heard the office administrator click at the computer keys. "He's got three hours blocked out this morning to show the executive felo over on River Rock. Want me to page him?"

Three hours for one showing? "No. Thanks."

LoriSue tapped her stubby fingernails on the desktop… Would Jimmy sabotage her bid simply out of spite? Wasn't he satisfied that she was giving him possession of the house? What in God's name was that man's problem?

She grabbed her purse and cell phone, hit the speed dial for her divorce attorney's home number, and zipped down the hallway and out the door. She was headed for the vacant house on River Rock, where she planned to have it out with Jimmy, once and for all.

LoriSue was so focused on her mission that she nearly flattened two dark-haired men in expensive suits standing on the sidewalk. She ignored it when one of them whistled at her, and the other said something offensive that she didn't fully catch, because it was in a combination of English and a foreign language.

It sounded like Spanish.

"Hope I'm not interrupting anything." Joe's eyes traveled to where Charlotte stood by the bureau, his smile widening. He put Hank down. "How long before we need to leave?"

"Twenty-two minutes," Charlotte said, motioning for Hank to come back so she could redo her hair. "Hold still for a second, would you, please?"

"Am I dressed all right?" Joe patted his slacks nervously. "I've never been to a; ballet recital before."

Charlotte had to laugh. Joe looked more than all right in a pair of gray linen slacks and a black polo shirt-he looked good enough to devour on the spot. She returned to the task at hand, pinning the flowers down over Hank's bun and applying a thick coat of hair spray. Hank coughed dramatically.

"There you go. Perfect."

The phone rang. Charlotte had to sprint by Joe to get to it and she felt his hand pat her robe-encased hip as she passed.

When she hung up a moment later; Joe was leaning a shoulder against the doorjamb of her bedroom, grinning.

"That was Bonnie-they're running late and will meet us at the auditorium."

Joe nodded and looked around the bedroom.

This was so awkward-Joe was in the room she'd shared with Kurt And she realized that there was so much unresolved between the two of them that she hardly knew where to begin. She loved him. He was too dangerous to be in her house, near her kids, in her life. Her head spun.

"So. This is where it all happens, eh?"

Charlotte laughed. "Where what happens?"

"Where all those poems get created."

"Oh." Charlotte heard Hank clunk down the steps and looked at her alarm clock. "I need to get ready."

Joe straightened. "Sure. How about I do a little light reading while you dress?"

Charlotte pulled the lapels of her bathrobe tight across her chest "You want to read them?"

"You betcha, dumplin'."

Charlotte tried to act calm, but she was beginning to sweat. "Now? "Why not?

"It's okay, Charlotte. You don't have to."

He was disappointed, clearly. Hadn't he told her he loved her sexuality; loved how hot she was? He wouldn't have the same reaction Kurt did-it was impossible. So why was she making such a big deal about this?

"All right, Joe."

Charlotte walked to the bedside table, removed the key from under the lamp, and unlocked the drawer. She handed him the book. "Please put it back if you hear one of the kids come upstairs."

Joe accepted the clothbound journal and leaned down to kiss her gently. "I will. And thank you."

LoriSue had always loved this area just outside Minton and had made more than a few profitable sales in the exclusive River Rock neighborhood. That's why it surprised her that this particular corporate relocation hadn't sold after two months oil the market. Sell-More had four months left on the contract, and with fall and winter on the way, they really needed to move it.

She pulled into the circular gravel driveway and saw two cars parked outsider-Jimmy's phallic insecurity blanket of an SUV and a little beat-up Nissan with Kentucky plates. With a sigh, LoriSue figured her husband was inside giving the grand tour of the inside of his pants and not the roomy walk-in closets.