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He frowned. “‘We are just messing around?’ As in, present tense? Are you saying it wasn’t a one-time thing? Because that sounds to me like you’re ready to move on…and it’s about damn time. William would have wanted you to be happy, you know.”
“I know.” She averted her eyes. “But I don’t need a man in my bed to be happy. My career makes me happy. And besides, I have you. What more do I need?”
He snorted. “I can’t give you what he can give you, partner.”
“I can give myself what he can give me,” she said drily.
He made a gagging sound. “Dude, I don’t need to know that stuff. You’re like my sister.”
“Sisters have sex, too,” she said with a gleeful smile. Leaning in again, she lowered her voice. “And this thing I have going is a secret, so please don’t mention it to anyone.”
He brushed his knuckles across her cheek tenderly, like he always did. “Of course not. I’d never do that to you.”
“Hello, Daisy,” an all too familiar voice said from behind her.
No. God, no.
What did I do to piss you off, Universe? Seriously.
Slowly, she turned and faced Mark. Her nemesis. Her dream come true. The only threat to her safety and well-being. He wore a dark navy suit and a blue tie. His hair was perfect, and he had that same five-o’clock shadow going that she swooned over when she met him in that bar. And he looked…jealous. Of Tim? Impossible. “Mark?”
“Last time I checked,” he drawled, his gaze locked on Tim’s possessive hold on her. “How’s it going?”
“Good,” she said quickly, clearing her throat. “I thought you had plans tonight.”
“They fell through. Mom took Ginny to the movies.” He cocked his head. “I wasn’t invited, so I tagged along with Holt and Steven for dinner.”
Funny.
He hadn’t texted her to let her know he was free.
Guess that told her everything she needed to know. She couldn’t think of a single thing to say that wouldn’t sound accusatory, so she settled for a tight smile and an “Oh.”
“Yeah. Oh.” He studied Tim again, who was in turn taking his measure. She could see it in the way his eyes moved over Mark. Judging from the way Mark tensed up, he saw it, too. After a second, he held his hand out. “Hello. I don’t think we’ve met before. I’m Mark Matthews.”
“Right.” She forced a smile even though Tim was still close enough that she could feel his breath on her cheek, and his hand burned through the thin fabric of her shirt, and she could only imagine how this looked to Mark. Although, she didn’t have to imagine it because she could see the jealousy burning in his eyes. “Tim, meet Mark. He works at the Shillings Agency. Mark, meet Tim. He’s my partner, and my roommate.”
Mark choked on nothing at all. “Your roommate?”
“And partner.” Tim didn’t remove his hand from Daisy’s back, but offered his other one. He looked way too happy to be antagonizing Mark. “Nice to meet you, Mark.”
Mark looked less than pleased, but he shook Tim’s hand. “Likewise. I’ve heard so much about you.”
That was a lie. She hadn’t really talked about him, or her life on the force, since he was so frigging touchy about it. “Tons,” she said sarcastically.
Tim shifted even closer, shooting Daisy a playful grin. He loved doing this to men who showed any hint of interest in her—delighted in scaring them off by pretending he had some sort of claim on her. He said it weeded out the weak ones, and that she should thank him for helping her out. “How did you two meet? Through Lauren and Steven? Or someone else?”
Speaking of Lauren and Steven…
Maybe they could come over and break up this awkwardness a bit.
“We met at the wedding last week,” Mark said coolly, still smiling. “We both attended. As a matter of fact, we met the night before the wedding. We both came early to get away from life here in town. We didn’t realize we were going to the same wedding until after we…talked.”
She tried to catch Lauren’s eye, but it was a big fat fail. She was too busy laughing at something Steven had said. He’s not that funny, Lauren. Clearly, no one else was going to save her because they were too busy being normal and seemed oblivious to the weird little standoff over here. So she’d have to save herself.
Luckily, she was good at that.
She had been doing it since she was ten.
