Page 83 of Red Flag, Green Light

“Is there another person working here?”

Mars stares at me, blinks, and tears a bite off my spinach feta pretzel before answering, “Sol. He just transferred in from where Brian works in the city. Sadly, this place remains somewhat understaffed even with his brilliant addition.”

Uh-huh. “You dodged my question. This time I’ll believe you if you tell me she’s an old flame.”

Mars laughs. “Yeah, no.”

“Then…?”

“We went to school together. That’s about it. That’s about all it takes to be wiggy around me—prolonged exposure to myme-ness.”

I lift Mars’s sandwich, lean forward, and take a bite, chewingthoughtfully before asking, “How long do I have, doctor?”

His eyes warm, sparking and lighting fires in my soul. “I don’t know. You tell me,” he says, then rolls me my next hint.

Chapter Twenty-three

Memories make the best birthday gifts.

Ceres

An Easter basket. This entire romp throughout town leads me right back here, to my house, to my couch, where Mars has hidden an Easter basket for me behind one of my couch cushions with the confidence of a man who was in my bedroom when I woke up and pulling the puppet strings of my steps from the moment I opened my eyes.

Had I merely glanced into my living room this morning, I’d have seen this. Easily.

Because it is perhaps the largest Easter basket I have ever known to exist.

“Do you like her?” Mars asks while I stare into the buggy eyes of an orchid mantis stuffed animal.

The beautiful pink creature peers back at me, adorable. “This is the single most incredible thing I have ever owned.” I wiggle its two front legs and melt into a smile. As far as I can tell, it’s anatomically accurate. This is the most amazing gift I have ever received.

Sprawled on my couch, Mars watches me where I’m sitting on the floor like a child on Easter morning as I tuck my new friend under my arm and parse through the rest of my basket. Bookstore gift cards. An ornate tea pot decorated in ivy with tiny pink flowers. Chocolates and other snacks, some of which I normally get as my shopping daytreats. A jewelry box.

My heart skips a beat as I open the slim black box and finda slip-chain necklace. Heat rushes to my face, and I squeeze my stuffed animal. “Surely this isn’t…”

Mars’s smile quirks, and okay. I guess surely it is.

Flushed, I draw my finger across the heart pendant at the end of the chain. “It’s…a lock?”

My heart hits my ribs when Mars slides to his knees on the floor in front of me, reaches toward my ear, and procures a tiny key out of thin air. “May I?” he asks.

Breathless, I say, “Please.”

He inserts the key in the padlock, untwines the chain from the choker, fits the necklace on me, then clicks it solidly into place. Before I can remember how to breathe, his fist wraps around the padlock, and he pulls. As the chain constricts around my throat, Mars murmurs, “Happy, little goddess?”

I am still crushing an orchid mantis stuffed animal in my arms while the hottest man alive flirts with me. On my birthday. On the best birthdayever. Today has been exactly like a scene from one of my books. Mars is giving me my greatest desires, the ones I thought would have to stay in fiction, for the sake of my own emotional, mental, and physical wellbeing.

Mute, I nod, and he kisses my nose before loosing the chain. The heart-shaped padlock settles above the frilly neckline of my dress, heating my skin. “This…” I swallow. “…doesn’t come off without the key?”

Mars touches the tiny key to his lips. “Shouldn’t.” His gaze trails down the golden metal resting against me. “That okay with you?”

Oh yes. I am very okay with that.

He chuckles. “Well, if you hate it, I’ll take it off.”

Clutching my necklace, I protect it from him.

His brows dip, distressed. “I’m sure you’d prefer to belong to someone with better shoulders. What was I thinking? Come now, let me take it off.”

---