Page 72 of Blindsided
We’re so lost in each other that we don’t hear the front door open. Don’t register the sound offootsteps in the entryway. It’s only when a man’s voice—unfamiliar to me but clearly not to Kori—cuts through our haze that we freeze.
“What the fuck is going on?”
Kori pushes me back with such force I nearly fall off the sofa. Her face, flushed with desire seconds ago, now drains of color as she stares at the doorway.
“Mark,” she whispers, scrambling to cover herself with her discarded sweater.
I turn to see a man standing there—tall, expensively dressed, with the conventionally handsome features that belong in a corporate headshot. His expression is a mixture of shock and fury as his gaze moves from Kori to me and back again.
“I tried calling,” he says, his voice tightly controlled despite the anger radiating from him. “I must have left twenty messages.”
“How did you find me?” Kori asks, her voice small but steady.
“Jen told me you were staying at Wavecrest. It wasn’t hard to get directions in the village.” His eyes narrow as they focus on me. “Who the hell is this?”
I stand, acutely aware of my shirtless state but refusing to show embarrassment. “Kane,” I say simply, not offering my hand or any further explanation.
Mark looks me up and down, taking in thetattoos, the scars, everything that marks me as different from him. His lip curls slightly. “This is what you ran to? Some Irish drifter?”
“Don’t,” Kori warns, standing now with her sweater clutched to her chest. “Don’t you dare judge me, not after what you did.”
“What I did was a mistake,” Mark says, his tone shifting to something more placating. “What you’re doing is... is...”
“Moving on?” I suggest, unable to help myself.
Mark’s eyes flash dangerously. “Stay out of this. This is between me and my wife.”
“Soon-to-be ex-wife,” Kori corrects, her voice stronger now. “I told you on the phone, Mark. It’s over. I’ve already contacted a lawyer.”
“Because of one mistake?” he demands. “You’re throwing away five years of marriage over one mistake?”
“Sleeping with my sister wasn’t ‘one mistake,’” Kori says, and I can hear the pain beneath her anger. “It was a betrayal of everything we built together. Everything I thought we were.”
Mark takes a step toward her, and I instinctively move to block his path.
Chapter 26
Kori
I watch Kane step between Mark and me, his bare back tense with protective instinct. Part of me wants to let this play out, to hide behind Kane and avoid confrontation. But this is my battle, not his.
“Kane,” I say, touching his shoulder. “It’s okay. I need to handle this.”
He glances back at me, concern evident in his eyes. “You sure?”
“I’m sure.” I pull my sweater over my head, thankful for the small dignity it provides. “Could you give us a minute? Please?”
Kane hesitates, clearly reluctant to leave me alone with Mark. “I’ll be right outside,” he says finally, grabbing his shirt from the floor. As he passes Mark, he pauses. “She asked for a minute. Not an hour.”
The warning in his voice is unmistakable. Mark’s jaw tightens, but he steps aside to let Kane pass. When the front door closes, leaving Mark and me alone, the silence feels oppressive.
“So, this is why you ran,” Mark says, gesturing to where Kane and I had been moments before. “You had someone waiting.”
I almost laugh at the absurdity. “I met Kane on the plane. After I found out about you and Lana.”
“On the plane?!” Mark’s eyebrows rise. “And you’re already—”
“Don’t,” I cut him off. “You don’t get to judge me. Not anymore.”
