This is karma. It has to be. God saw all the times I looked at Taya’s ass when Jim wasn’t paying attention and now has decided to match me to Inara Ramirez, Taya’s best friend. The woman I once flirted with in Taya’s hospital room. Then again at the vending machine in the hallway. Her head was bent, body slumped with exhaustion and worry, and where her shirt lay crooked over one shoulder, I could just make out the edge of what had to be a tattoo. And, of course, I said the dumbest thing I could’ve managed to say.
“What’s a sexy senorita like yourself doing in a place like this?”
I groan and lean forward until the steering wheel digs into my forehead. I meant the comment to come across as charming, cute even, but the look she shot me chilled the blood in my veins. There couldn’t have been a worse time for me to flirt. Not after Taya was attacked by some hitman and each of us were worried and angry, struggling to cope with the knowledge that some New York crime boss had put a hit out on her.
Flirting should have been the last thing on my mind, but the knee-jerk reaction to form a connection, a bond, something Inara could remember me by took over. It wasn’t my finest moment, but it wasn’t my worst either, so maybe there’s still hope we can make this marriage thing last for the year. Long enough for my application into OCS to be accepted.
Unable to help myself, I take a second look at the photo of Inara. She’s smiling brightly, brown eyes twinkling, and interest raises its dark head. Just like the first time I saw her at Shaken and Stirred, a restaurant down by the pier where Taya works. It had been my birthday, and though I’d already had company on my arm, I’d been momentarily distracted by the pretty little hostess who showed us to our table. At the time, she reminded me of the dolls my sisters used to play with growing up. Small and perfect, with ink-black curls traveling down the length of her back, and large, dark brown eyes that took a chunk out of my soul every time she glanced my way. The classic lines of her face and that plump mouth would have been distracting enough, but then she smiled and it had been like a one-two punch to the gut.
I shrug and toss the files onto the passenger’s seat, then crank the car, ignoring the strident groan the engine makes before it comes to life once more. So we got off to a bad start. That doesn’t make my new wife any less hot, or the two of us any less stuck together. Might as well make the most of it.
Still, I can’t help but grin, thinking about the expression on Inara’s face when she gets the news, probably any minute now. If only I could be a fly on the wall when she reads my name.