Page 61 of Take My Hand

She left us with a wave and Marcus staring after her.

“It’s not going to happen, mate.”

I wouldn’t say he had a crush on Dilly, it was more like she was a challenge. I was right, though, it wasn’t going to happen. She was divorced from Dan and was seeing a guy she’d met on the internet. Plus, she was ten years older than Marcus, and while he liked an older woman, she was not interested in a younger man.

“I can dream.” He shrugged nonchalantly and leaned against the bar. “Anyway, what about you? How was the stag night? You never said.”

That would be because I didn’t want to say anything. I was worried that if I did, it might put a curse on the thing with Maya.

“It was a good night. Gary enjoyed it. Apart from the bloody t-shirts we all had to wear.”

“Did you get lucky?” Marcus leaned one elbow on the bar and waited expectantly. He knew that on nights like that, I usually did. “Meet a nice young lady?”

I almost told him no, but I was sure it was too obvious. It was idiotic to think telling someone would spoil things. I wasn’t normally superstitious.

“Yeah, I did actually. Her name is Maya.”

Marcus raised an eyebrow. “Sexy name.”

I chuckled and shook my head. “Not sure I understand what you mean, but she is pretty sexy.”

“Picture?”

I reared back with the sudden realisation that I didn’t, but I should have. It might have made the last couple of nights tossing and turning easier to deal with.

“I’ll take that look of pain as a no,” Marcus said, grinning. “Just a mental image then?”

What a mental image it was. Her golden skin, long, luxurious dark hair and her forest green eyes had kept me awake every night since I’d met her. Even banging one out each night hadn’t help.

“Yeah.” I scrubbed a hand down my face. “She smells great, too.”

“Wow, you do have it bad. You seeing her again?”

“Have already,” I informed him. “Yesterday.”

Blinking slowly, he moved so his back was leaning against the bar. “And here was me thinking you were trying to get us a better deal on lager.”

Shrugging I reached for my glass of coke and took another sip. “I wasn’t sure how it was going to go, so…” I shrugged.

“But?”

I couldn’t help but smile as I thought about our day together. “It was good.”

“And have you told Maddy about her?” Marcus might have been seemed like he didn’t care about much, but he did care about my daughter. Since he’d started working for me, he’d taken on the role as unofficial big brother to her, even if he did try and goad me about how beautiful she was.

“She knows and has said she’d like to meet her.”

“What?” He pushed his body off the bar, his arms braced as he gripped the wood behind him. “Already?”

Nodding, I felt my chest tighten, wondering if I’d done the wrong thing. “You think I’ve been too hasty?”

“I don’t know, mate. Do you? Because what you think is what matters, not my opinion.” He returned to leaning against the bar. “I’ve just never known you be like this over a woman before. Shit, you barely see anyone more than twice, never mind introduce them to Mads. This one must be special.”

It didn’t take me long to think about it. “Yeah, she is. I like her a lot.” I grimaced at the fact I was laying myself bare to Marcus. Sam was usually my go-to person with sharing, but I wanted anyone who would listen to know about Maya. “It’s a weird fucking feeling, but I like it. I like her.”

Marcus shrugged. “If it feels right, then go with it. Let’s just hope that Maddy likes her.”

My stomach tilted at the thought, but I pushed it to one side. Maddy and I tended to be on the same wavelength, and I hoped that this was one of those occasions. If I liked Maya, then I had to be confident that Maddy would, too.

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