“She said you had a meeting.”

“There was a problem in the writing lab, and Mrs. Miller wanted to talk to us about it. Thanks for watching the boys.” She made the statement begrudgingly.

Phoebe rinsed the frosting from her hands and dried them on a dish towel while Molly fussed over the twins. Dan came up behind her.

“Now that you can pass guard duty over to Miz Molly, what do you say we take a walk?”

“It’s too cold outside.”

“Shoot, that’s good Chicago weather out there.” Not giving her a chance to protest further, he grasped her wrist and pulled her from the kitchen. She couldn’t engage in a struggling match with him in front of the children, so she went along with him until they had reached the foyer and were out of earshot.

“Let me go!”

For a moment he didn’t say anything; he simply studied her with guarded eyes. “Seems like I’ve been a little slow to catch on. I just thought you were busy this past week, but you’ve been avoiding me.”

“I’ve been busy.”

“We need some privacy. Get your coat.”

“I don’t think so.”

“Fine.” He gripped her upper arm and pulled her up the stairs.

“Stop it!” she hissed. “I don’t want to do this.”

“Too bad.” He led her into the bedroom and shut the door. Only then did he let her go, bracing his hands on his hips just as he did when he was standing on the sidelines. He had the same fierce expression on his face that she’d seen when he was about to do battle.

“All right, let’s have it. Why the deep freeze?”

She had tried to postpone this encounter, had even hoped to avoid it entirely, but she should have known that wouldn’t be possible. Dan wasn’t the type of person to avoid confrontations. She bit the inside of her cheek because, once she started to cry, she’d never be able to stop, and she couldn’t bear to have him see her break down like that.

“Are you mad because I didn’t call you right after we slept together? You know what’s been going on this week. I thought you understood.” He glanced at his watch. “Matter of fact, I’m short of time right now. We’ve got a coaches’ meeting at six.”

“You’d better hurry and get your clothes off, then.” She tried to sound tough, but there was a painful rasp in her voice.

“What are you talking about?”

“Sex. Isn’t that why you’re here? To knock off a quickie before your meeting?” The words hurt her beyond bearing.

“Shit. This is going to be one of those woman things, isn’t it? You’re pissed off, and I’m going to ask you why you’re pissed off, and you’re going to say that if I can’t figure it out for myself, you’re not going to tell me. Dammit, I don’t want to play games like this with you.” She could feel his anger building.