Page 42 of Legacy of Danger
Damn, he had weigh-in for the fight that night. "No. I have plans."
The corners of her mouth dropped, and so did his stomach. "Saturday?"
"Plans again."
She uncrossed her arms and stuffed her hands in the coat pockets. "Pretty tight social calendar, there."
"Mariah, no. It's not like—"
She held up a hand. "Hey. I get it. My bad for misunderstanding the situation. I should have known."
"What?"
Pressing her mouth into a line, she said, "How many women do you string along at any given time?"
"The hell?"
"It's okay." She shifted from foot to foot. "I totally understand. It was a mistake for us to go out in the first place, what with me treating your family."
"No, I—"
"You don't have to sugarcoat anything, Vaughn."
Boy, did his name sound good coming from her mouth. What he'd give to hear her say it again. Preferably in a whisper. While they were both naked.
For the love of all that was holy, stop thinking about that stuff. Concentrate on the fully clothed woman in front of you and try not to make things worse.
"I'm not sugarcoating anything. This happens to be a bad week."
"So, let me get this straight. You just asked me out, knowing that you were fully booked?"
Well, sort of, yes. But she could lay off him already. Christ, she didn't have to push all of his buttons at once.
The muscles in his legs bunched like he wanted to tackle something. Or someone. He locked his spine into a rigid line. And damn him if an image of Garrison's wife waving those incriminating pictures didn't pop into his head. Yes, this... whatever it was... was a bad idea. Best offense was a good defense, as they said.
"You seem somewhat sensitive about being stood up."
"I think we have to have a date actually planned for someone to stand up the other person," she spluttered.
Semantics. "What about how you bolted out of our brunch yesterday?"
She raised a hand. "Whoa. The stand-up occurs before a date even begins. What I had was a hospital emergency."
"You think that gives you a special pass?"
The jut of her chin spelled trouble. "You bet it does. And if that's too much for you to deal with, then we should probably keep our interactions strictly business."
A wise man would tap out. "Business?" No one would ever accuse Vaughn of being wise. He went into a wider stance, more in control, more comfortable in a sparring situation. "You're not a little controlling, are you?"
"Gosh, no. How can I be, with my crazy life and unpredictable work hours?"
"Uh. That's kind of a good point."
"So, anyway. Sounds like I need to be going. You have a booked schedule." She fished the keys out of her pocket. "And I am not going to be played."
"What do you mean?" he asked.
"Well, because..."
