Noticing that the master bedroom was in tip top shape, Zoey continued toward the master bathroom and the sound of V sighing. Loudly.

“Are you almost done?” Zoey asked when she found V on her hands and knees near the toilet – the one thing V absolutely detested about cleaning houses. For a while, she had tried to convince Zoey that she was allergic to toilets, and some of her excuses had bordered on insane, but knowing V, Zoey had never given in.

“Does it look like I’m almost done?” V snarled. “If someone,” cough, cough, “understood how much I truly hate this part of the job,” cough, cough, “they might’ve agreed to handle the bathrooms all by herself,”

“Ummm... In case you didn’t know, I’ve already cleaned the other four. And you’re just lucky I volunteered to clean the kid’s bathroom,” Zoey snarled back, remembering all too vividly what the Wilson’s son’s bathroom had looked like before she went in there.

Unfortunately, the bathroom hadn’t been the worst of it this time. She wasn’t sure what it was the Wilson’s did to make this much of a mess in a seven day period, yet each week it seemed to get worse. With six children – Zoey had no idea how they kept up with six kids – it was a wonder the house was even still standing.

“Well, what’s one more?” V asked, still scrubbing away before flushing the toilet and standing. With a little wiggle of her hips, V managed to straighten her skirt before tossing her hair back over her shoulder.

How the woman could come to work – cleaning houses, mind you – looking impeccable day in and day out was beyond her. If she didn’t know better, Zoey would’ve thought V worked in the corporate world for all of the trouble she went through to get dressed up each day.

Not Zoey. No way. Her outfit for the day consisted of her soft, faded jeans and an oversized t-shirt that had clearly seen better days. But, neither her shirt nor her jeans had holes in them, and that was about as good as it got for her.

Staring back at her friend, Zoey realized they looked like polar opposites, what with V wearing wedge heels and a flouncy skirt. V was also tall and curvy in all the right places while Zoey was on the short side. Like day and night, Zoey smiled to herself.

After V stripped the latex gloves off, tossing them into the sink, she turned her attention to Zoey. “What’s left?”

“I think we’re done,” Zoey smiled. “As long as you’re done in here, that is,”

“Oh, I’m done,” V said feigning exasperation.

“What do you say I buy you a drink then?” Zoey asked, turning toward the kitchen to pack up the rest of their things.

“Throw in dinner, and you’ve got a date,” V stated, tossing the last of her supplies into the bucket they used to haul them back and forth from the truck.

“Can’t do dinner tonight,” Zoey grinned. “I’m meeting Kaleb,”

“Ohhhh... That’s right. I almost forgot. Your weekly date,” V pretended to be offended, but Zoey knew better. “I’m being shunned for that sexy, hot neighbor of yours,”

“It’s not a date,” Zoey realized how defensive she sounded as soon as the words were out of her mouth.

“When are you going to give in and sleep with him?”

Hefting her bucket of cleaners, Zoey managed to lock the front door and roll her eyes at her friend while pretending not to have heard the question.

It wasn’t the first time V had asked that particular question, and she knew it wouldn’t be the last, so Zoey wasn’t even going to dignify it with a response. Best friend or not, V had an uncanny ability to get on Zoey’s last nerve with her constant pestering when it came to her friendship with Kaleb Walker.

It seemed as though once a week V would go off on a tangent about how Zoey and Kaleb were dancing around one another and should just give in and admit they wanted to sleep together. For the most part, Zoey managed to ignore her. The rest of the time she just made it worse by arguing.

There was possibly a smidgeon of truth to V’s assessment of the situation, but Zoey wouldn’t admit it. Ever since Zoey’s marriage came crashing down around her, she and Kaleb had managed to rekindle the friendship they’d shared since middle school. Only this time, her best buddy managed to spark an irritating amount of lust that Zoey refused to acknowledge.

Considering there weren’t many days that passed in which they didn’t meet up for dinner or drinks, or just to hang out with a group of friends, Zoey was having a hard time ignoring this little infatuation she’d apparently developed for him.

As far as she could tell, there wasn’t an ounce of reciprocation from Kaleb’s side, so it made it a little easier to pretend he was just her friend. And she could’ve lived with that if her warped and twisted mind hadn’t gone and conjured up a plethora of images that consisted of all of the things Zoey wanted to do to the man.

She had a feeling V’s comments were to blame for that carnal slide show playing over and over again in her mind.

Ten minutes later, Zoey was pulling her truck into the gravel parking lot of Moonshiner’s – the one and only bar in their very small town. For a Thursday afternoon, it was packed, but the more the merrier, Zoey thought to herself.

It took a little persuading – or flirting, whatever you wanted to call it – to commandeer two bar stools, but they finally managed. Ordering their usual – mango margaritas – Zoey glanced around the dimly lit room, scoping out the familiar faces.

Most of the Thursday crowd was younger, getting a jump start on the weekend and choosing to battle it out at the pool tables. The dance floor was empty, but that wasn’t unusual for this time of day. It usually livened up quite a bit after dark, but they were still a few hours off from that.

Feeling a tad surly after V’s pestering from earlier, Zoey turned to her friend and threw out the one question she knew would get V riled up. “So, when are you going to focus on your own Walker man and lay off my nonexistent sex life?”

“My Walker man?” V almost sounded as though she had no idea what Zoey was talking about. Almost. “Who the hell are you talking about?”

Remembering the way V had all but jumped on Zane Walker the last time they’d all gotten together, Zoey arched an eyebrow in challenge. “Don’t deny it. I saw the way you were eye fucking Zane the last time we were here,”