Page 49 of Betrayed

“You’ll have to work harder at mussing me up next time.”

But as he teased her, his hands rose to help with her buttons as she tucked her shirt back into her shorts. She’d missed one in her hurry, however, and he had to undo what she’d just done.

“It’s annoying,” she whispered. “You look ready to walk a runway and I must look like... Well, like I was getting the business on my kitchen counter.”

“Not quite but nearly.”

“Arturo!”

“Hey! Is that a new car?” Jordy asked, footsteps sounding in the hall.

“You were supposed to park in back,” Mari hissed.

“I did.”

Still fumbling with her shirt, the frantic pace not helping at all, she grumbled, “Leave it to Jordy to scope out an expensive sports car from the front yard. He’s got a sixth sense.”

“Why is there a suitcase by the door? Are you going somewhere?” Beth called, as her lighter footsteps joined her brother’s heavier tread, drawing nearer.

“If it’s there, she can’t have left yet,” her son reasoned, sounding very close.

“Oh my god!”

“Mari, it will be all right.”

“Mom?” Jordy said from the doorway, sounding shocked.

“Wait,” he urged, but she spun around, her hair a tousled mess from his fingers, but much worse, her blouse was still only half done up. To him, she looked hot, but to her children, with her lips red and puffy from his kisses, he could imagine what they would think.

Standing in the doorway gawking, Arturo summed them up in a glance. Both tall and blond, they were obviously siblings. Except for their vivid blue eyes, neither looked anything like their mother. They were staring wide-eyed and red faced. The girl’s blush was clearly because of embarrassment; the boy’s ruddy cheeks for a far different reason.

The lack of a poker face was something he’d definitely inherited from his mother. The initial shock—his mom apparently a nonsexual being to him—gave way to uncertainty then anger entered his narrowed gaze and fixed directly on him.

“Who is he?” The heat of his disapproval shifted briefly to Mari then slammed back to Arturo.

“A friend,” she replied.

“More than that, I think,” Jordy challenged. “Your blouse is undone.”

Mari looked down at the same time her hands flew to her buttons. She turned her back to them and resumed doing them up. Unfortunately, she missed another one.

His hands stayed hers and he bent to whisper in her ear, “Take another deep breath and slow down. Then check them,minou. You’ll find you’ve skipped a few.”

She gasped in dismay, not heeding any of his directives except the last one as with trembling hands she started over. Arturo stepped around her, blocking their view while she got herself together.

“I am Arturo Durand. Your mother minimized our relationship somewhat. We have been seeing each other for several weeks now.”

“I didn’t even know you were dating,” her daughter cried, as upset and surprised as her brother. “It’s so soon.”

“It’s been over three years,” Mari said softly in her defense.

“Are you going somewhere?” Jordy asked.

“We were leaving for Galveston shortly,” he answered truthfully.

“Arturo!” she protested.

“You haven’t told them we’ve been seeing one another?”

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