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She let him have it again. She sprayed with a vengeance, chasing him with the stream of water as he tried to dodge and dance out of its way.
“Don’t tell me I’m crazy!” she shouted, putting her finger over the nozzle to narrow the opening and thus get more force, and distance. “I’ve had it with people blaming me for everything!” She got him in the face again. “I’m so damn sick of you, and Shelley, and David, and everyone at work, and all the stupid reporters, and BooBoo shredding my cushions! I’m fed up, do you hear?”
He abruptly switched tactics, from evade to attack. He came in low, like a linebacker, not trying to evade the blast of water she aimed at him. About half a second too late, she tried to dodge to the side. His shoulder crashed into her midriff, the impact driving her back against the Viper. Quick as a snake striking, he snatched the water hose from her grip. She lunged for the hose, and he wrestled her back into place, pinning her to the Viper with his weight.
They were both breathing hard. He was soaking wet from head to toe, water leaching out of his clothes into hers until she was almost as wet as he. She glared up at him, and he glared down at her, their noses only a few inches apart.
Water was clinging to his lashes. “You sprayed me,” he accused, as if he couldn’t believe she had done such a thing.
“You scared me,” she accused in return. “It was an accident.”
“That was when you sprayed me the first time. You did it on purpose the second time.”
She nodded.
“And you said ‘shit’ and ‘damn.’ You owe me fifty cents.”
“I’m putting in a new rule. You can’t incite me to riot, then fine me for rioting.”
“You’re welshing on me?” he asked in disbelief.
“You bet. It’s all your fault.”
“How’s that?”
“You deliberately scared me, and don’t try to deny it. That makes the first word your fault.” She gave an experimental wiggle, trying to slide out from under the pressure of his weight. Damn, he was heavy, and about as unyielding as the sheet metal behind her.
He squelched her escape attempt by settling even more heavily against her. Water from his clothes dripped down her legs.
“What about the second one?”
“You said f—” She caught herself. “My two words added together aren’t nearly as bad as your one word.”
“What, they have a points system now?”
She gave him a withering look. “The point is, I wouldn’t have said either word if (a) you hadn’t scared me and (b) you hadn’t cussed at me first.”
“If we’re assigning blame here, I wouldn’t have cussed if you hadn’t sprayed me.”
“And I wouldn’t have sprayed you if you hadn’t scared me. See, I told you it was all your fault,” she said triumphantly, tilting her chin at him.
He took a deep breath. The movement of his chest flattened her breasts even more than they already were, making her abruptly aware of her nipples. Her nipples were acutely aware of him. Uh-oh. Her eyes widened in sudden alarm.
He was looking down at her with an unreadable expression. “Let me go,” she said, more nervous than she cared to reveal.
“No.”
“No!” she repeated. “You can’t say no. It’s against the law to hold me against my will.”
“I’m not holding you against your will; I’m holding you against your car.”
“By force!”
He shrugged an admission. He didn’t seem very alarmed at the prospect of violating any laws against manhandling neighbors.
“Let me go,” she said again.
“I can’t.”
