“Boston’s ex. She happened to show up at Taco Bell today when we were all eating lunch.”
“Oooh.” Cam situated himself against the pillows on the couch.
“She was there with her new guy and Boston freaked about it. He put his arm around me, to—you know—make her jealous, and then I kissed him. And he kissed me back.”
“What?!” Cam’s voice ricocheted off the walls.
What few patrons there were nearby looked over. Kissing couple broke their lip lock long enough to shoot a disparaging glare at them. Cam brought his legs up on the couch in a crossed-leg position and leaned close to her. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I’ve been at work,” Mandy whispered.
“You’re supposed to text me with juice. This is huge!
You guys are going to get married now.”
Mandy rolled her eyes. “It wasn’t like that. It was an act, that’s all.”
“An act of pure, raw, physical attraction. See? I told you. You put two alpha males out in the hot sun with one female and things are going to sizzle.”
Mandy set down her drink with a plunk. “Nothing burned but my ego, Cam. That’s the problem. He told me it was nothing, the kiss.”
Cam’s wide eyes grew round with concern. His mouth fell open. “He did not.”
“He did. Here I was, playing off his cue, trying to help him show that witch he was over her and he tells me it didn’t mean anything. It was lame. I felt like an idiot.”
“That’s wrong.” Cam’s freckled skin was turning pink.
His head jerked around as he searched the store. “Where is this loser?”
Mandy slapped her hand on his arm. “Forget it. I should have known better.”
“The turd deserves to have his brains knocked around.”
“Forget it, Cam. I have to work with him, remember?
I need to be professional. That’s the problem, I didn’t keep it professional.”
“And he did when he put his arm around you?
Snake.”
“In his defense, he said he was out of sorts seeing his ex with another guy.”
“So he uses you? No guy does that, Mand. That’s low. Serpent low.”
Mandy let out a sigh. But Cam hadn’t seen the remorse on Boston’s face, either. Remorse Mandy wasn’t sure was aimed at the impromptu act or at his separation from Alexis.
“What about this other guy?” Cam asked. “P.J.?”
“A.J. He’s still around.”
“Did he see all this go down at Taco Bell?”
“Yeah, he was there. He didn’t like it. He got all…
protective.”
A grin spread on Cam’s face. “Now you’re talking. I like this guy, A.J. Sounds like a real man.”
Ooze slithered through Mandy’s bones thinking about A.J. and his rough appeal. She sipped but barely tasted her drink. “He’s a man all right.”
Cam leaned close, all eyes and ears. “What? Tell me.”
Mandy lifted a shoulder. She couldn’t stop the grin from spreading her lips wide. “I can talk to him, you know? He’s not into games and stuff. I like that.”
“Games are for goons,” Cam said with another scan around the place. “That Boston dude needs to read some romance and get it down right.”
“Not his style.”
“Obviously. I bet he’s a non-fiction fool.”
Mandy didn’t like that she felt defensive for Boston.
She should be agreeing with Cam. “Only in the self-improvement sense of the genre.”
“Self-improvement? Obviously he doesn’t comprehend what he’s reading.”
“Cam, forget it. I can take care of this mess. It’s not really even a mess, it’s just a little uncomfortable right now but it’ll pass. Don’t all things…pass?”
“Yeah, like infectious diseases.” Cam snatched up the book he’d just put down, thrusting it under Mandy’s nose. “Read this.” Mandy batted the book away. “I’m serious. There’s more how-to in romance than in anything you could find on the self help shelf: real problems solved by real people.”
“Real people named Octavio and Francesca?”
Mandy snatched the book and stared at the couple on the cover, locked in a wild embrace. “Forever, My Love?”
Cam nodded. “The second book in the triangle trilogy I told you about.”
“So they didn’t solve the problem in book one?”
Mandy chided. “Sound like great role models.”
“I’m serious. You’re in the same jam Octavio and Francesca—see, you remembered their names—are in their love story triangle.”
“I’m not going to read this to figure out what I should do about Boston, Cam. That’s not happening.”
Cam’s eyes widened at something over her shoulder and Mandy whipped around. Boston stood six feet away at a chair. When his eyes met hers, he studied her for a moment, no smile, no nod of acknowledgement.
Mandy’s heart tumbled to her stomach. Without responding, she turned around.
“Are you going to do anything?” Cam whispered.
He smiled and nodded at Boston in a false greeting, then leaned closer to Mandy. “I can go pound him for you.”
“No, don’t do that—”
“He’s coming over. Want me to stay and smash in his teeth or go get a refill?”
Mandy didn’t have time to answer, Boston was already there at her side, his scent scattering over her senses, soaking into every vulnerable nerve inside of her.
She looked up into his face and her pride drowned.
Cam rose, crossed his arms over his chest and tilted his head at Boston. “Hey.”
“Hey.” Boston extended his hand for a shake. “Cam, right?”
Taken aback, Cam fidgeted before shaking hands.
“Yeah. I’m going to go get a refill. Want anything, Mand?”
Mandy’s stomach was too knotted to put food in it.
She nodded anyway and watched Cam leave, not sure what to expect from Boston.
“Mind if I sit?” he asked.Boston sat his dark eyes intense and tight on hers. “I thought I might find you here.”
“You—you came to see me?”
“Yeah, and because this place is the only place where I can fully get my head out of my butt.”
“How nice for you.”
“Look, I just don’t want it to be awkward between us now.”
What did he expect? Mandy shifted. Frustration bubbled beneath her skin. “Why should it be awkward?”
His eyes narrowed. “I don’t know, but I don’t want it to be.”
“It’s not,” Mandy lied. “So that’s it?”
The corner of his jaw knotted. “What else is there?”
“We kissed. I don’t know about you but that usually means something.”
“I don’t want to make it something that it’s not. I wouldn’t do that to you. You deserve…” He stopped, his intense gaze seeping deeper into her core, softening what was left of her hard heart.
“What do I deserve?” When he didn’t answer but merely shook his head, Mandy’s pride took a direct slug. He let out a sigh, looked down at the pile of books between them, hers and Cam’s now in a mixed up mess.
Even though he’d told her that he didn’t have feelings for his ex, that didn’t mean he had feelings for her, and Mandy took the revelation like an arrow through her soul.
She took a deep, strengthening breath. “It’s no biggie.”
He picked up a book and a grin crept on his lips.
“Those are Cam’s.”
“Yeah?” His eyes lit. “I had a roommate that swore by romances.”
“Yeah?”
He nodded. “Said they were pretty good reading.”
“Seriously?” A light laugh fluttered from Mandy’s chest. She glanced around for Cam, wishing he was back defending his pile of fluff. “I haven’t read one since junior high school.”
Boston’s eyes latched on the romance book she held at h
er chest. “Oh, this is one of Cam’s too. He was recommending it to me.” When his expression turned to teasing, she felt better, like things between them were going to be okay, even if the two of them weren’t going to be anything more than just friends. She reminded herself that he was healing, and that she had to be okay with that. “Tell you what, I’ll read one if you read one.”
Boston shuddered and she let out a laugh. “No thanks,” he said. He stood and stuck his hands in his front pockets.
“Scared you might learn something?” Mandy raised a brow.
He laughed and the warm sound trickled down to her toes. When his laugh died and he simply stared into her eyes, she held her breath. He was so cute.
Cam came back with a drink, his brows furrowed over suspicious eyes. “So.”
“So.” Boston rocked back on his heels.
Cam handed her the drink. “There you go, gorgeous.”
Confusion, then what looked like intrigue covered Boston’s face for a moment. “I’ll let you two get back to your reading,” Boston said. “See you tomorrow, Mandy.”
“Yeah, see ya.”
After he’d left, Mandy felt a hollowing inside. She gazed blankly at the drink in her hand.
“What did he say?” Cam situated himself on the couch, readying for his next read and picked up Hot Fun in the Summertime.
Mandy let out a sigh. “He doesn’t read romances.”
chapter thirteen
This was the first day of the job that Mandy dreaded, and she didn’t like it. She didn’t want anything or anyone to get in the way of her work enjoyment. To top off her mood, the usually blue summer sky was filling with brooding clouds. On the drive to the main office, she stared out the window, nibbling on her acrylic thumb nail.
Her white tips had taken a beating. She needed to get in for another manicure soon.
Marc kept glancing over, and his suspicion made her stomach uneasy. “So, you going to tell me what that kiss was all about yesterday?”
“All I’ll say is that it wasn’t really a kiss. It was an act for that chick who showed up. That’s why I said Boston is still clean.”
“Didn’t look like no show to me.”
“Shut up, Marc.”
“Hey, if he was using you, I’ll fire his butt from the job.
And who freaking cares about the bet. That’s just—”
“We were both using each other,” Mandy snapped, sending a sharp silence into the air. “He was trying to make her jealous.”
“Man. You coulda fooled me.”
“You’re easy to fool, fool,” Mandy chided with a light shove at his arm. She wanted to end the discussion.
He pulled the car into the parking lot and Mandy saw the guys waiting, coffee cups in hand. A shiver of anticipation raced down her spine. Both A.J. and Boston were intently watching her.
Mandy scooted closer to Marc so one of the guys could sit next to her, though her insides trembled at the possibility that it would be Boston.
The truck swayed as the men climbed over the back, then the door opened and A.J. peered in, steaming cup just under his lips. His eyes twinkled in a grin.
“Morning.” He slid in next to her. The scent of his coffee mulled with the scent of him, a scent that took Mandy back to the night of their date, to when he’d surrounded her, held her and kissed her.
He shut the door and Marc backed the truck out of the parking lot.
“How are you this morning, baby doll?” A.J. sipped from his cup and for some reason the sound poured warmth right through Mandy to her toes. She couldn’t help but look at his mouth. His lips pulled back into a grin.
She lifted her gaze to his. “I’m fine, A.J. How are you?”
“Doing well, thank you.”
Marc snorted. Mandy shoved her elbow into his ribs.
“Hey!”
“What did you do last night?” Mandy asked, partly curious, partly wanting to cover up the silence. She reached over and turned on the CD player. Someone rapped from the speakers.
“I was out with a friend.” Once again his deep sip stirred something inside of her and she forced herself to stare at the long stretch of road ahead of them. A.J.’s news surprised her and, even more shocking was the pang of jealousy.
“Oh. Cool.” She wondered who the woman was, where they’d gone, what they’d done. Had he kissed her?
When he took another sip from his coffee her eyes were drawn to his mouth again, and her mind flashed pictures of him in a tight embrace with some faceless woman. His grin seemed to say that he enjoyed that she was staring at his mouth. His eyes did their own lazy scan of her lips then, and her heart fluttered.
“And how about you?” His voice was low and raspy.
“Uh, my night was good, thanks. I went to the bookstore.”
Marc let out another snort. Mandy ignored him. “I met a friend there.” Why did she feel compelled to tell him that? She held his gaze, and thought she saw his eyes narrow slightly.
He lowered his cup, holding it in both hands at his lap. “He was a lucky man then.”
Marc let out a chuckle and Mandy sent her elbow back, making sure she got him in the ribs. His laugh stopped with a cough.
“He’s also gay,” Marc tossed.
“Cam is not gay.”
“Coulda fooled me.”
“Guys just think he’s gay. Believe me, he most definitely is not gay.”
A.J.’s right brow arched. A smile of intrigue curved his lips. “You sound like a woman who knows.”
“And I do,” Mandy piped.
Marc shot her a look twisted with irony. “Are we talking about the same guy? The guy who reads romance novels because he can’t get a girl?”
“This conversation is now over.” Mandy crossed her arms over her chest. She stared straight ahead. To her right, A.J. didn’t react except to take another long sip of coffee.
They arrived at the site a few minutes later and everyone piled out. It was the first time Mandy had a chance to gauge Boston. He nodded cordially her direction as he slipped on his tool belt.
A.J. yanked his red bandana out of his back pocket and tied it around his head, his Caribbean-green gaze on Mandy. The air between her, A.J. and Boston seemed a little lighter today and Mandy was glad.
Marc and Larry headed off, leaving Boston on her right and A.J. on her left.
“Where’s your bathing suit?” A.J. asked.
Mandy glanced down at her denim shorts and red tee shirt. “Giving my skin a break today.”
Boston cleared his throat and Mandy looked at him.
Something she couldn’t read darkened his eyes, aimed at A.J. “Quit looking at her like she’s your next meal.”
A low chuckle rumbled out of A.J.’s chest. The muscles in his arms shifted as he knotted the bandana at the back of his head. “It’s none of your business what I choose to look at.” He held Boston’s gaze for a long breath that Mandy held in her chest, then he turned on his heel and with a whistle, headed into the house.
Boston stared after him, his jaw tense as stone.
“What are you getting all riled up about?” she snapped, irritated that he was defending her. She didn’t belong to him.
“He’s salivating over you.”
“Yeah? So what?” Mandy started toward the house, pleased that Boston seemed shocked. “He knows what he wants.”
“Yeah, like a lion wants a gazelle.” His shoulder brushed hers as he kept pace. “You don’t care that he sees you like that?”
Mandy stopped, sending fine dirt in cloudy billows around them. “He sees me as desirable—irresistible—I believe was his exact word.” She started into the house but felt the steely grip of Boston’s hand wrap around her arm and hold her back. Heart pounding in her chest, she stood face-to-face with him.
Emotions passed over his face she tried to read: disappointment, surprise, hurt, anger. Could he really care enough to have a kaleidoscope of feelings for her?
The scent of his laundry deterg
ent and his skin swam into her senses and plunked down next to her common sense, nearly suffocating her resolve. “Why do you care, anyway?” she asked.
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