Read Online It Had to Be You by Susan Elizabeth Phillips - Free Book Online

groan, Dan spilled himself inside her. She slumped against him as the message came to an end.
    Beep.

 

    4
     

    D an opened the refrigerator door, pulled out a quart of milk, and unscrewed the cap. Behind him he heard Valerie coming into the kitchen of the house they had once shared. Because he knew it would irritate her, he lifted the milk container to his lips and took a swig.
    “For God’s sake, Dan, get a glass,” she said in that snotty voice he hated.
    He took another swig before he screwed the cap back on and returned the container to the refrigerator. Resting the side of his hip against the door, he studied her. She had scrubbed the makeup from her face, revealing her sharp bone structure with a nose that was a bit long but well balanced by a high, smooth forehead. Her light brown hair, free of the silver barrette, fell almost to her shoulders, and her teenybopper clothes had given way to a midnight blue peignoir set trimmed in black lace.
    “Where’d you get the cheerleading jacket?”
    “My secretary’s daughter. I told her I was going to a costume party.” She lit a cigarette, even though she knew he hated being around smoke.
    “This escapade tonight crossed the boundary into creepy. Sixteen-year-old girls haven’t turned me on since I was twelve.”
    She shrugged and exhaled. “It was different, that’s all.”
    Not so different, he thought. In one way or another, all of Valerie’s sexual fantasies tended to lead toward male domination. Pretty damn funny considering the fact that she was a Class A ball buster. Unfortunately, the only person he could share the joke with was Valerie, and he knew she wouldn’t laugh. Besides, she got all riled if he criticized any of these weird scenarios she set up, and they already had enough other things to fight about.
    Her hand crept to her rear. She rubbed it through the dark blue silk and gazed at him with resentment. “You shouldn’t have hit me so hard.”
    “Honey, I was holding back.”
    He could tell by her expression that she was trying to make up her mind whether to sink her teeth into him or not. Apparently she decided against it because she walked over to the small kitchen desk and began thumbing through the Filofax she had left there. “I don’t have to be in Washington for a few more weeks. How’s your schedule for the weekend?”
    “I’ll be at the Meadowlands. We’re playing the Jets.” He moved away from the refrigerator and took a banana from a stainless steel fruit bowl that looked like the terminal at Dulles.
    She slipped on the pair of half-glasses that were lying on the desk and set her cigarette in a chunky black glass ashtray. “What about Thursday evening before you leave?”
    “Meeting. Friday’s all right, though.”
    “The vice president’s going to be in town that night, and there’s another reception.”
    “Wednesday night if we make it after midnight.”
    “That looks like it’ll work. Except—” She slammed the book shut. “I’ll have my period.” Slipping off her glasses, she rubbed the bridge of her nose, took another drag from her cigarette, and said briskly, “We’ll work around it. We have before.”
    “We’ve been divorced for nearly a year, Val. Don’t you think it’s time we talked about putting an end to this?”
    “There’s no need to end it yet. We agreed this would be the best arrangement until one of us finds someone else.”
    “Or until we kill each other, whichever comes first.”
    She ignored his crack and showed that rare vulnerability that always got to him. “I just—I just can’t imagine how to go about it. I’m attracted to powerful men. How am I supposed to tell someone like that I won’t sleep with him until I’ve seen a complete workup of his blood chemistry?”
    He tossed the banana peel in the sink. “Sex in the nineties. It makes for strange bedfellows.”
    “No one should have to screw an ex-spouse just because that ex-spouse happens to be HIV negative.” She