Steve felt extremely pleased with himself by the time he reached the bedroom. He became even more pleased when he spotted Kayla step out of the bathroom clad only in her robe.

"Little late for a shower, isn't it, Sweetness?" he said.

"Not when your daughter decides Mommy looks better with her hair covered in mashed potatoes." Before Steve could respond, she added, "You laugh and you're a dead man." Kayla suddenly froze, realizing what she had just said. "Oh my god, I didn't-"

"Hey, baby," Steve said. "It's okay."

She still looked mortified. "I can't believe I just said that. I can't believe it."

Steve perched on the edge of the bed. "Come here, baby." Kayla crossed over to him, stopping right in front, and he wrapped his arms around her waist. Looking up, he grinned, "It's good we can laugh about it."

Kayla looked at him and her eyes narrowed. "Okay, Steve, something happened that you haven't told me about. Out with it."

She really did know him too well. Even after all this time, she knows me. The thought actually made him giddy. "Okay, you win," he said. "I did what you wanted. I found Shane and we declared a truce."

Kayla quirked an eyebrow. She doubts me.

"I'm serious, baby," Steve said. "We did a little male bonding out on Mr. ISA's firing range."

"Shane trusted you with a gun?" The disbelief was more than evident in her voice.

Steve chuckled. "I was surprised at that too. For a moment, I thought he might shoot me."

"You gave him reason," Kayla said.

"Maybe." Steve had to concede that he had done a few things to piss Shane off. "But it doesn't matter now, Sweetness. We're cool."

"What? You just went outside and fired some guns and that male bonding made it all better?" She eyed him knowingly.

Steve looked down. "Well, there was a little more to it."

"Steve?" Kayla's voice had an edge to it.

"Okay, okay. I . . . I just kind of pretended that I didn't know my way around a gun. Things like not adjusting the sights and using the wrong grip." Steve shrugged.

Kayla shook her head. "So let me see if I've got this right. You ran into Shane on the firing range and you decided to have a little competition?" She read Steve's look, so he didn't have to answer. "And then you decided to throw the competition so Shane would win? Do I have that right?"

That was pretty much it. Steve nodded and looked back up. "Yeah, but I gotta admit that, even if I'd been trying, he would've probably smoked me. That dude's scary good with a pistol."

"But you just decided to make sure Shane got an ego boost?" Kayla continued to eye him.

Steve sighed. "Are you mad?"

Kayla looked down at him for a long moment, and then started to giggle. "Steven Earl Johnson . . . you continually amaze me."

Steve broke into a grin. "So . . . I take it that's a good thing?"

"It's a very good thing," Kayla said, her voice growing softer as she leaned down to kiss him.

Their lips met in a long, slow kiss, but Steve knew Kayla well enough to know that kiss was about the only thing that would be slow this time. Her hands were already lifting his shirt free of his pants and he raised his arms above his head to let her pull the shirt away. Meanwhile, he worked his way to the tie on her robe and deftly undid it.

"You're gonna need another shower," he whispered, as he opened her robe. She still took his breath away.

Kayla pushed him onto his back and said, in a voice little more than a growl, "I think we're both going to need one."

Steve grinned as she began working her way to the buttons of his pants. "Oh baby . . . Maybe I'll lose more often if that's my consolation prize."