Page 43 of Already Home

He was close enough that she could inhale the scent of hisskin. The smell was pleasant enough, but he was invading her personal space,which she didn’t like.

“Do you handle any of the local sports teams?” she asked as away to distract him.

“Mostly the Longhorns. I’ve fixed up several of their players.They have a team doctor but I’m called in for the difficult cases. Teams inother cities fly me in for consults.”

He got into his story, telling her about private jets,operating rooms in different cities and what it was like to watch a game onSunday morning, knowing if someone got injured, he could get the call.

Their drinks arrived. She used the moment to inch her chairback and slide her glass away from him so he wouldn’t hold her hand as much.

From his work, Mark segued to his personal travel. Jenna foundherself thinking about Serenity and Tom and wondering what they were doing,alone in a strange city. While she didn’t want to spend time with them, she alsofelt a little guilty for ignoring them. Telling herself they would be at brunchon Sunday wasn’t enough.

This was all Beth’s fault, she told herself. If her motherhadn’t raised her to have good manners, she could cheerfully ignore her birthparents.

“Jenna?”

She looked at Mark.

“That was funny,” he said. “You’re supposed to laugh.”

“Oh, I’m sorry.” She squeezed her eyes shut, then opened them.“I’m distracted. You’re great and this is fun, but I’ve had the weirdestweek.”

“I know how that goes.” His smile was back, and interest dancedthrough his deep, blue eyes.

“This is different from work issues though. Wednesday morningtwo strangers walked into my store. They seemed nice enough—maybe a littlehippy. They announced they were my birth parents. I always knew I’d beenadopted, but I never had any contact with them before. And there they were, inmy store.”

He stared into her eyes and nodded. “That’s rough.”

“Tell me about it. I totally freaked. I’m not looking for moreparents. I love the ones I have. I just want the new ones to go home. Worse,they’re hippies. Serenity and Atomic, if you can believe it. They would havecalled me Butterfly. Who does that to an innocent kid?”

He sipped his beer and nodded.

“But they’re my blood relations, and they have two sons, whoare my brothers. So there’s this whole other part ofmy life I don’t know about. It’s confusing and kind of scary. I don’t know whatto do. My mom—my real mom—is having them over for brunch on Sunday. So I’ll seethem then. Part of me thinks that’s plenty of getting-to-know-you-time whileanother part of me feels guilty about not hanging out with my biological parentsmore. Still, it’s not like I asked them to show up.”

She sucked in a breath, then let it out slowly. “And I’ve justdone the emotional dump thing, haven’t I? Sorry.”

“It’s fine.”

He captured her hand before she could pull it away and lightlykissed her knuckles. The contact was the most erotic thing to happen to her inclose to six months, so she waited for the tingle or a whisper of heat. All thatsurfaced was the realization she was going to have to wash her hands before shewas comfortable diving into the chips and salsa.

“What’s the plan?” Mark asked, running the tip of his tongueacross the pads of her fingers.

“Plan?” Weren’t they having dinner? This was a restaurant,right? Those sheets of paper in the corner of the table really looked likemenus.

“Did you want to eat, or should we go somewhere private?”

Now she felt stupid. “Private?”

He leaned in close and pressed his mouth to her ear. “You’rebeautiful, Jenna. Soft and feminine.” His hand dropped to her knee, slippedunder her dress and started a purposeful journey up her thigh.

She jumped and scooted the chair back about a foot. “What areyou talking about?”

Mark looked more puzzled than annoyed. “Violet said you werelooking for a rebound guy and I’m good with that.”

Jenna’s mouth dropped open. She closed it only to have it fallopen again.

“I thought this was a date,” she said at last. “I don’t think Ican have sex with a stranger.”

“That’s because you’ve never tried.” He winked at her. “Ifyou’re worried it won’t be good for you, there isn’t a woman alive I can’tplease. I’m up for anything.” He grinned. “If you’ll excuse the pun.”

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