My Heart's Passion by Elizabeth Lapthorne (good books for 7th graders txt) 📗

her head, considering. She wasn’t used to being totally alone. She enjoyed her freedom and having time to herself, but after a whole day of lazing around reading and thinking and going on much shorter hikes, she might enjoy the company.

It wasn’t as if Samuel was going to seduce her, she wouldn’t let him.

Anyway, it might be interesting to tease the beast and then send him away with a raging hard-on. “You swear you’ll leave when I tell you to? No cajoling like this, no sad puppy dog eyes and pleas.”

Samuel laughed. “I don’t beg. Ever.”

Chloe nodded. “Me either. You have a deal then. Come on over and we’ll try out this game of Dominic’s. I take it it’s an ‘adult game’?”

Samuel took Chloe’s outstretched hand and shook on it.

“They’re the only kind Dominic knows to my knowledge.”

“Well, at least this shouldn’t prove boring.”

Walking Samuel over to the door, she let him kiss her cheek again in farewell. She stood and watched him walk back into the brush. The sunlight shone down brightly, but not too hot. When he was out of view, Chloe stalled a minute longer. Shaking her head and muttering to herself, she reentered the cabin, keeping the door open for the warm breeze.

Curling up on the couch she opened her first book. Determined, she skimmed the previous page and caught up on the hero and heroine’s current predicament.

Ensnared, she began to read.

Chapter Six

Chloe opened the door that evening in the same jeans and bright sweater she had been in when he had left earlier that day. Samuel smiled, a bottle of red in one arm, a small box in his other hand.

“You don’t waste any time, do you?”

Samuel looked behind him, and the just-set sun. The sky still held traces of pink, red, and orange from the spectacular sunset.

“Sun’s set, hasn’t it?”

Grinning, he held the bottle of red out to her.

“You eaten yet?”

Rolling her eyes, Chloe grabbed the bottle from him and stepped back to let him enter the cabin.

“Let me guess, you’re one of those men who constantly eat? I did warn you I wouldn’t cook anything other than breakfast. You should have eaten before you came over.”

Chloe turned her cheek for Samuel’s kiss as he entered the cabin. She frowned when she realized she now expected the chaste greeting. Slowly, she closed the door and turned to face Samuel.

She had better be careful, she warned herself, next thing she’d know she would start taking other liberties for granted. Samuel seemed to be growing on her when she wasn’t paying attention.

Shaking herself, she remembered she was the person in charge here, not Samuel. He had promised not to step over the line she drew, and she trusted him to honor that promise.

As she raised her eyes to meet his, she saw him pleading silently. She doubted the man could read her mind—so he obviously was begging for food, not sex. Then again, knowing Samuel as she did, she bet he wouldn’t turn down either if she offered.

She sighed. “I suppose I might have some cheese to go with this red. Let me check.” Feeding the man currently seemed like the lesser of two evils.

Instantly the pleading look vanished, and Samuel shone a bright smile on her. “I knew you wouldn’t let me starve. I brought the game. Here, I’ll grab the glasses, you get the cheese and a cutter.”

Chloe sighed, trying to hide her laughter, and headed into the kitchen. Digging into the fridge she found some cheese, way in the back. Silently heaping grateful blessing on Mary for the find, she found a sharp knife and a cutting board. As she headed back into the living room, Samuel had set the box on the coffee table and found two wineglasses.

Chloe eyed them, worried. “Weren’t those wedding gifts? Can’t we use something else? I’m much too likely to break them and that would really upset me.”

“Nah. These are old drinking glasses of Dom’s. It’s what he used to use to impress the ladies he brought back here. I left the really good stuff back in the cabinet. Mary would likely try to skin me if we broke one of her precious crystal goblets.”

Chloe nodded and sat down. Taking the smallish box from the table she opened it and looked through the cards as Samuel poured them both a glass of wine.

The cards seemed to be color-coded into three sections. Cards with a blue border each had the title Beginner: Getting to know each other, green borders held the title: Medium: for a little more intimacy, and red borders read Advanced: for those who dare.

Flicking through them, not reading them in any depth, Chloe understood enough to gather that some of the cards held dares and others simply had questions written on them. Putting the box of cards back, she looked at the cover.

A dating, getting-to-know-you game for all levels, the cover declared.

“So remind me again, why are we playing this game of Dominic’s?”

Samuel handed her the glass of wine and sat back in his own chair. Clearing his throat, he looked almost sheepish for a moment. “Uh, it’s not precisely Dominic’s.”

Chloe just sat back and waited for the rest of the explanation.

“You see, it was Dominic’s game, but he sort of gifted me with it after he married Mary.”

Chloe felt her stomach twist. “You mean he played this game with Mary? If this is something they did I’m not sure I really want to follow after them. The mental images won’t be pretty.”

Samuel started to blush, both worrying and amazing Chloe. “Uh…no…you don’t fully understand. Dominic…used…this game before he met your cousin.”

Blinking, Chloe finally fitted the pieces together. “Oh. I understand. It’s one of those pick-up games? Where forced intimacy and a sharing of confidences brings a couple together. Eventually one thing leads to another and the couple end up in bed screwing madly. How close am I?”

Samuel cleared his throat. “Uh, fairly close, I believe.”

Chloe nodded. “I’ll remind you of your promise to leave