Score (Gina Watson) by Gina Watson Page A

land. He waved to her and she turned in his direction.
    “Hey, stranger.” She greeted him with a big smile.
    “Mind if I join you?” Cal boarded the golf cart and told her to take them down to the lake.
    Feet up and relaxed, they sat for a while looking out across the large lake that bordered both properties. It was like looking over the past and peering into their shared connections. They’d always been connected and now that he thought he was falling in love with Chloe, Cal longed to move forward in their relationship, forging new connections and making new memories. Hell, he thought he might be ready to talk marriage with her. Encroaching into his thoughts was Chloe’s soft voice, asking what was on his mind.
    He turned to her and lifted her hand. “I need to tell you something about the night we hooked up in Vegas.”
    Chloe tilted her head that way she had, the way that told him she was listening with her heart as well as her ears. “Okay, shoot.”
    “Babe, I was quite intoxicated. You were intoxicated. I can’t say I’m sorry about any of it because I’ve grown to not only want you, but need you. You’re all I think about these days. I would never knowingly hurt you. You know that, don’t you?”
    Chloe sat up straighter. “Cal, you’re scaring me. What’s this about?”
    “It’s nothing for you to worry about, but I wanted you to know there was a bet… a bet that had been made.”
    Her forehead furrowed. “What kind of bet?”
    “A bet involving you.”
    Chloe pulled her hands from Cal’s grip. “Okay, I figured that, but just how does it involve you ?”
    Cal looked out across the lake. “I inadvertently bet Cory, Dean, and Bradley that I could get you in the sack that night.”
    Chloe’s eyes narrowed and her luscious lips tightened into a thin line. “The word inadvertently is a nice touch.” She angled herself toward the water and he could no longer see her eyes. “Then I’d say you won that one quite a few times over. Tell me, how much is my body worth?”
    Cal leaned forward and searched Chloe’s face. Her eyes were filled with tears. He reached for her, but she pulled away. “Chloe, I didn’t collect.” Thank God he hadn’t.
    “How much Cal?” Her voice was getting louder.
    “Five hundred dollars, but as I said, of course I didn’t collect. I put a stop to it immediately.”
    “Is that supposed to make it all better?”
    “No.” What else could he say?
    Chloe shook her head. “I knew it was too good to be true. I knew it. My sister said I was crazy for dating you after all the shit you did to me when we were young, but I told her it was different now. I said we really cared for each other, but obviously I was wrong.”
    Chloe was on her feet and walking back toward her parents’ home. Cal leaped from the cart and ran after her. He wrapped one arm around her waist, and she immediately fought him with her fists. “Put me down, you bastard!”
    “Not a chance. I need you to hear what I have to say.” He threw her over his shoulder caveman style and walked her back to the cart, setting her gingerly on the back seat. “I can understand why you are hurt, and I was wrong to do what I did, but you were right to tell your sister that things are different now. They are different. I’m different. I think I may have actually fallen in love with you. I think I want to build a life with you. You have to admit that you feel our connection too.”
    He removed his hands from her shoulders and waited for her response. When she didn’t speak, he started to pace on the patch of grass directly in front of her. “Say something.”
    Cal ducked just in time to avoid the nine iron that came at his head. It caught the fiberglass roof of the golf cart instead. Chloe didn’t stop there. She swung several more times at the cart. Or maybe at him. She was erratic, so it was difficult to know her intent.
    She yelled, “Caleb Dean St. Martin, I’ll never let you touch me again! You think