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“Belinda.” I nod, keeping my face carefully blank while my mind whirls with panic.
I don’t want to talk to Belinda. The person I was when I slept with her was different from the person I am now. I’m not the guy who will flirt with a mother all through the school year, knowing she’ll end up in my bed when it’s all over. I’ll never do that again. I knew the moment it happened that it was the first and only time, and I should have been clearer with her over the years that followed. I should have told her I wasn’t interested, found a way to say it so she wouldn’t spread nasty rumors about me.
Trina glances between the two of us, and I know it’s rude, but I don’t introduce her. I’m hoping Belinda will just move on.
But I’m not so lucky. My ex-fling looks at Trina and arches an eyebrow. “Are you the new one, then?”
“The new one?” Trina says, frowning. She glances at me, then back at Belinda. “Excuse me? I’m not sure I know what you mean.”
“The new mom he’ll flirt with and fuck, then toss aside when he’s done.”
Trina’s eyes go wide.
“Belinda,” I growl. “Do not fucking speak to Trina that way. Do me a favor and walk away, yeah? You know what happened between us was casual, and you have no right to stand here and fling insults at me.”
Belinda snorts. “Flirting with me for nearly a year, sleeping with me, then never speaking to me again? Ignoring me at school events for years? That’s what you call casual?”
“Belinda—” I try to cut in, but she doesn’t let me speak.
“I only have one thing to say to you, lady,” Belinda says to Trina. She leans in, her words sharp as blades. “Don’t waste your time.”
With one last look at me, the woman snorts and walks away.
I meet Candice’s wide eyes through the café window and watch Fiona frown as she leans to ask Simone something. Shit.
Trina’s frozen beside me. She watches Belinda turn a corner, then slowly lifts her eyes to mine. “Who was that?”
I gulp, then let out a long breath. “That was… I wouldn’t even call her an ex. We slept together once. Once, Trina, and it was four years ago.”
Her brows lower. “Do you have a thing for single moms, or something? What did she mean, ‘the new one?’”
“What? No, I—”
“Everything okay out here?” Lottie stands in the doorway, arms crossed. The expression on her face can only be described as Mama Bear.
“Everything’s fine, Mom,” Trina says, redness rising on her cheeks. “Go back inside.”
“It doesn’t look fine.” Lottie’s brows arch as she looks me up and down, this time not as appreciatively as she did in the Grove’s parking lot. She looks ready to attack.
“Mom, please. I’ll be inside in a minute.”
“Fine.” Lottie lets the door close, but stands in the doorway staring.
Trina looks at her, then glances at the four other faces in the window, who quickly move away, pretending to look anywhere but at us. She turns back to me, takes a deep breath, and releases it slowly. “I think we need to talk, but I don’t want to do it in front of an audience.”
I take her hand and squeeze it. “That woman means nothing to me, Trina. We slept together once, and I’ll admit I avoided her instead of being straight with her. I was too afraid of pushback and conflict at work.” Trina frowns, but before she can speak, I bring her knuckles to my lips. “You mean a hell of a lot more to me than she did. She’s a blip from my past, I promise.”
She looks in my eyes for a few long moments, and whatever she sees must satisfy her, because she lets out a long breath and nods. “We all have pasts.” A weak smile. “My ex-husband is an asshole and I have two kids, so I’m not without baggage.”
Tugging her close, I bring her to the other side of my truck for a hint of privacy from our audience and lean my forehead against hers. “What we did today was worth any amount of baggage, I can promise you that.”
She rolls her eyes, but a blush sweeps over her cheeks. “You’re not really making me feel like much more than a one-night stand with that kind of line, Mac.”
“How about this,” I say in a low voice, cupping her cheek with my hand as I bring my lips to hers. I kiss her slow and deep, trying to show her all the things I can’t say with words yet. All the feelings she’s waking up inside me. All the old wounds that are starting to knit back together.
When we pull apart again, Katrina looks a bit dazed. She steps back, shakes her head, and gives me a sexy little grin. “You’re too good at kissing. It’s dangerous.” Lifting a finger, she pokes me in the chest. “But we’re not done talking. Don’t think you can distract me with sex any time I try to talk about something serious.”
“I won’t distract you with sex if you promise not to be so sexy and distracting.”
