Page 37 of Black Heart

“Nothing. I just know that your date isn’t going to take you out tonight, not when he finds out that you belong to me,” Tristan drawled.

“Belong to you?” Marty repeated back, sure that she’d misheard him. “I don’t belong to you,” she said even as she couldn’t help but wonder why it felt like a lie. She couldn’t explain it, but she’d always felt whole when he was near her and she had no idea why.

“What we did was a mistake. It will never ever happen again and I can promise you that I won’t be coming to your house tonight.”

Tristan ignored her as he grabbed his briefcase and headed for the door only to pause in front of her. For a moment, she thought that he was going to kiss her, which she was almost forty percent sure that she’d be able to resist. Instead, and much to her surprise, he leaned down and pressed a chaste kiss against her neck.

“I’ll be counting the minutes,” Tristan said with the sexiest grin that she’d ever seen as he left, leaving her…confused.

No matter what Marty said, she wanted to go home with him and live out every fantasy that she’d had over the past fourteen years, but she refused to let the arrogant bastard win. It didn’t help that she really didn’t want to go on this date to begin with, but she’d let her friends talk her into it.

It was only dinner, Marty reminded herself, already knowing that nothing would ever come from it. She’d never been attracted to any of the men she’d dated and had no real interest in dating anyone. She’d had a few “boyfriends” over the years, but they’d never been anything more than friends that she’d hung out with a few times. She’d never wanted any of them the way that she wanted Tristan.

Deciding to get this over with, Marty pulled out her handheld compact and fixed her makeup. When she was finished, she sat down and debated the best way to cancel this date only to realize that it was too late. Resigning herself the awkward night ahead, she decided to get some work done while she waited and before she knew it, there was a knock on the door.

“Come in,” Marty said as she shut down her computer.

“Hi, I hope I’m not too early,” Roger said with a warm smile as he walked in.

“No, I just finished,” Marty said, returning his smile as she grabbed her purse and stood up.

He was cute in a boy next-door kind of way while Tristan was incredibly hot in that boy bad kind of way. Roger was tall, but not as tall as Tristan. He-

Was looking at her funny.

“What’s wrong?” Marty asked, unable to help but frown when he shook his head in disgust.

“Unbelievable,” Roger muttered as he rubbed his hands roughly down his face.

“What’s going on?” she asked, watching as he dropped his hands with a heavy sigh.

“Just a bit of advice, don’t screw around with another guy the same night that you have a date.”

They could tell those things?

Was she wearing a sign or something? Marty couldn’t help but wonder as he gestured to her neck. “Looks like whoever it was wanted to make sure that everyone knew that you were spoken for.” He put his hands up in surrender and stepped back. “My loss,” he said, sighing heavily. “Have a good night.” With that, he left her standing there as dread slowly crept up her spine.

Swallowing hard, Marty grabbed her compact, held it up so that she could see her neck and-

“Oh, that sneaky son of a bitch.”

* * *

“Why are ye grinning like an idiot?”Shayne asked, never looking away from the television where a low-budget seventies porn was playing.

Because Marty was coming over, Tristan thought with a satisfied sigh as he finished drying off his chest and tossed the towel aside.

“No reason,” Tristan said as he made his way downstairs and headed towards the kitchen.

Shayne took him by surprise and turned off his porn, which he only did under dire emergencies or because Tristan’s mother was visiting. He followed Tristan into the kitchen, saying nothing as Tristan looked through the drawer full of takeout menus.

“Are we ordering out tonight?” Shayne asked, leaning back against the wall as he watched him.

“Marty’s coming over,” Tristan said as he focused on a pizza menu.

“Ye have a date with Marty?” Shayne asked, sounding genuinely surprised.

“Not a date so much as her coming over here to kill me,” Tristan admitted.

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