Chapter 1 : Part 1

Dinner First, Me Later?
by Candy Halliday

Every Saturday night, best friends and neighbors Zada, Jen, Tish, and Alicia heat up their quaint little cul-de-sac with the infamous Housewives Fantasy Club. Everyone has a secret fantasy to share. Some have better ones to hide. Imagine! Retired baseball star Jake 'The Rake' Sims living here - in the flesh! Well, he won't find Alicia Greene an easy conquest (she does not do bad boys). So what if his chiseled pecs and grand slam physique - displayed nightly in sexy underwear commercials - once made him her 'most valuable' fantasy lover.

His wild lifestyle squelched that dream. Now Jake swears he's reformed, Alicia's not buying it, and their matchmaking neighbors are doing their best to foil the couple's 'good' intentions. They may be on to something. After one fabulous dinner, Jake takes Alicia in his arms and discovers how forbidden passion - more tempting and sweeter than dessert - can fulfill all her secret fantasies.

Chapter 1

Alicia Greene grabbed her bedside phone after the first ring and said, "I'm running late this morning, Alfie. I'll have to call you later."

"This will only take a minute, sis," her twin insisted. "I have great news."

Alicia sighed. One Alfie minute always equaled thirty Alfie minutes. And they both knew it.

"Then I'm putting you on speaker phone," Alicia told him. "You talk. I'll finish getting ready."

Alicia slipped on her blouse and buttoned it while Alfie rambled on about the new woman he'd met at Starbucks earlier that morning. She was stunning. Absolutely the most beautiful woman he'd ever seen.

"And you know I'm a sucker for beautiful women," Alfie said.

"I won't argue with that," Alicia said, and walked across the bedroom toward her closet.

He'd seen her at Starbucks several times before, but he'd never had the courage to approach her. She really was that beautiful. And she was a redhead.

"And you know I've always been a sucker for redheads," Alfie said.

"Uh-huh," Alicia agreed, and reached into the closet for her skirt.

They'd been the only two early birds at Starbucks on this particular Monday morning, so he'd finally found the courage to talk to her. He explained he'd always been an early riser. She explained she was an emergency-room nurse, and always stopped for coffee on her way to the hospital.

"And, I hate to keep repeating myself," Alfie said, "but you know I've always been a sucker for nurses."

Alicia wrinkled her nose at any mention of the medical profession; her famous neurosurgeon ex-husband the reason for her frown.

Edward Carlton had fooled her completely during the entire year they'd dated before he proposed. Not once had Edward given her, or anyone else, any reason to suspect he was marrying her only to preserve his sterling reputation. If she hadn't caught him in a compromising position with their twenty-something Latino pool boy a year after the wedding, she might still be trapped in a tragic farce of a marriage.

That thought made Alicia shudder.

But she was past the ugly divorce now. Past her deep depression that followed the divorce. Past letting Edward destroy her self-esteem. Thankfully, past Edward Carlton altogether.

Alfie said, "Her name is Gwen, and I really think she could be the one." But a needy please-let-it-be-so sigh followed his statement.

And how many times had Alfie said that before?

Too many times to count.

Alicia refrained from pointing that out, however. If she argued, the conversation would quickly escalate into a full Alfie hour. She didn't have an hour to spare this morning. Not when her neighbor, Zada Clark, was on a matchmaking mission - Alicia being Zada's unwilling victim. And especially not when she intended to tell Zada at coffee this morning to back off and forget her matchmaking idea once and for all!

"Good for you, Alfie," was all Alicia said about her twin's great news.

"Good for you?" Alfie's disappointed snort blared through the speaker. "I've just told you I think I've met the love of my life this morning, and all you have to say is 'Good for you'?"

"I told you I'm running late," Alicia reminded him as she slipped her feet into her high heels. "Mondays are always crazy at the office. I'll have to call you later."

Another snort echoed through the speaker.

"Let me guess," Alfie said curtly. "The real reason you don't have time to talk to me is because you're hurrying off to have coffee with the Housewives Fantasy Club before you go to the office."

Alicia glanced at the speaker on the phone set.

Her twin's ability to read her mind always amazed her.

And yes, before she headed off to her real estate office, she planned to have coffee with the women in her cul-de-sac who were fondly known as the Housewives Fantasy Club for a very good reason. On Saturday nights when the guys in her cul-de-sac got together to play poker, the girls got together to share their most secret desires.

And yes, sometimes those secret desires were nothing more than a new pair of Jimmy Choo shoes or new wallpaper for the bathroom. But as with all good female friends who feel completely safe with each other, after a few glasses of wine, the conversation always ended up about sex in one way or another.

The one way or another she and her friends preferred just happened to be the fantasy way.

And better friends than Tish Jones, Jen Marshall, and Zada Clark had become to her, Alicia couldn't imagine. This certainly hadn't been the case six months ago.

Copyright © 2007 by Candy Viers

About the Author

Candy Halliday is a renegade Baby Boomer who is also a part-time dental hygienist. She's been married to her Mr. Right for 17 years, has one daughter and two fabulous grandchildren.