Page 44 of Fourth Heartwarmers Trilogy
“You mentioned he was coming, but I’d left by then.”
“Right. Well, he showed up.”
“And…?”
“And, he was nice to her.”
“To who?”
“Maisie.”
Mark scrutinized Mia until she shuffled uncomfortably. “Was he nice to you too?”
“Very nice. We made love twice.”
“You made love. It wasn’t having sex.”
“Not for me. The next morning, he backed off like I’d just arrived from another planet, had two heads and a third eye. Then he let it be known, our night together was a mistake.”
Stunned, Mark’s eyes widened. His strangely deep voice questioned, “You’re sure?”
Slamming her wine glass on the table beside her, and then wiping the spill off her hands, she ground out, “What do you mean, am I sure? Of course, I’m sure. A girl can hardly miss something so obvious.”
“You can. How many times have you credited someone with a crime they never committed, and then had to back down?”
“Ahhh… never?”
“Okay.” Mark looked flustered. “So… maybe not. But it could happen. Other people get their signals crossed, why can’t you? Come on, honey. You’ve been under a load of shit lately. Something like this could really mess with your head.”
“It messed with more than my head.” Mia admitted her feelings without realizing what she’d just confessed.
“You mean, you got a hankering for this dude? Really?”
Mia stared at Mark as if he was obtuse, and it took only seconds for him to catch on.
“Oh. Ohhh! You like him.” Mark stared her down. “You really like him.”
“I did last night.” Mia’s growl rang between them. “Now, I just hate his rotten guts.”
Laughing, accepting the slug to his arm that Mia threw his way, Mark, at his most infuriating, agreed, “Wight. Then I hate him too.”
Chapter Twenty-two
The next day, Angie underwent her operation, and Jack arrived in time to see Mia and Maisie sitting with a strange man’s arms around them both. Hackles that he never knew existed appeared. Jealousy flared instantly, and he stuck his hands in his pockets so they wouldn’t wrap around the good-looker’s throat.
He approached and felt better when Maisie ran to him and threw herself into his arms.
“Jack! Yow’re hewe.” The princess knew he’d welcome her. She took it for granted, and that thrilled the hell outta him. At least someone was happy to see him because Mia sure as hell didn’t appear to feel that way. Not if burrowing herself closer to the other guy was any indication.
When he stood in front of the two of them, she grudgingly made introductions.
Ahh! So, this is Mark. Too handsome for any red-blooded man to immediately take to him, nevertheless, Mark’s all-seeing eyesdug trenches into Jack’s conscience. He sensed the guy knew exactly what had happened between him and Mia, which made no sense if they had a thing going on.
First, she wasn’t the sort of woman to cheat on someone she belonged to. How he knew that for certain made no sense. But he knew it just like he knew his own name was dumbass, and that Mark’s maleness didn’t present a threat.
But his strong attachment to Mia hung there for the world to see and not to underestimate. The dude had him on a waiting list. Whether they’d be acquaintances with problems, or ultimately friends, hung in the balance.
Whatever he’d done to turn things sour, he still hadn’t figured out, but the uneasy situation surfaced as her aloof stare didn’t quite meet his.
