by Lynne, Donya
Andrew chuckled. “Glad it’s you and not me.” He swiped her card.
“I wish it weren’t.” Karma plunked her elbow on the counter and rested her head in her hand. “The worst of it is that I made her homemade chocolate truffles as a peace offering, and she didn’t even like them. I mean, chocolate, Andrew. Chocolate. What girl doesn’t like chocolate? I give up.” She straightened, but her shoulders still slumped.
The extent of what Karma had endured today had obviously taken its toll on her both mentally and physically.
Andrew handed back her card, turned, snagged a plastic-wrapped cookie off the back shelf, and set it on the counter in front of Karma.
“What’s this?” She picked it up.
“Chocolate chip cookie. On the house. Maybe it’ll help make things better.” Andrew smiled. “It’s got chocolate in it.”
From his vantage point, Mark could see Karma’s cheeks lift, so he knew she was smiling. “Thanks, Andrew. You’re the best.” She grabbed her ticket, cookie, and beverage cup, filled it at the soda fountain, then turned to look for a place to sit.
That’s when she noticed him sitting in the corner watching her.
He sat back, lifted his hand, and offered a casual wave.
To his surprise, she came over and nearly collapsed into the chair beside him. “My day just gets better and better.”
He folded his newspaper and tucked it away. “Good to see you, too.”
She took a weary breath and set her drink and cookie on the table.
“Wanna talk about it?” He folded his hands on the table in front of him.
“Not really.”
“Then why’d you come over and join me?”
She shrugged as if trying to appear aloof. “Glutton for punishment, I guess.”
Something was way off about her. There was a distance in her eyes that made her seem as though she were wrestling with some serious mental shit. And she looked even more tired than he’d originally thought, with dark circles under eyes.
“Are you okay?” he said.
“Sure.” She shifted in her chair but kept her head down.
He reached over and gently brushed his fingers against her bruised cheek. The air fell still around them as she pulled her gaze up to his.
“Are you sure?” He was concerned for her. “I’ve never seen you so…I don’t know…you just look drained of life, Karma.” If her relationship with Brad was doing this to her, then she needed to run and run fast. The Karma he remembered was so full of life and vitality. She smiled all the time and laughed. She was witty and smart. This new Karma was none of those things. In fact, he hadn’t seen her smile once since returning to Indianapolis. She seemed stuck in perpetual oppression, a little sad all the time.
She pulled away from his hand. “I’m fine.”
“No, you’re not, you’re—”
Her eyes met his, blazing with anger. “Just stop. You lost the right to weigh in on my life the moment you left, Mark.”
Even though her words were directed at him, he got the impression that her ire was aimed elsewhere. Maybe her reaction was the result of bottled-up resentment over how their relationship ended last year. Or maybe it was something else. Something having to do with Brad and his daughter.
Whatever the cause, he held up his hands in surrender. “I’m sorry.” He dropped his hands and offered a disarming smile, not wanting to upset her any more than she already was. “But despite what you think, I never stopped caring.” Far from it. She had been all he’d thought about. “I never stopped hoping you’d be happy. That’s all I want. For you to be happy. Which makes seeing you like this that much harder.”
“Then close your eyes.”
That would make things a lot easier. It would also be easier if he didn’t care so damn much about her.
“If only I could.” He lifted his hand again and tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear then brushed his fingers against her cheek once more.
She sucked in her breath as her eyes filled with cautious anticipation, as if she wanted to pull away but couldn’t.
Unspoken words landed on the tip of his tongue but remained rooted there. I love you. I’ve always loved you and want to be with you now and forever. The power of his devotion surprised even him.
“You’re not someone I can take my eyes off of that easily, Karma.” He flattened his palm against her cheek. “You’re special. You deserve to be happy.”
For a long moment, she stared into his eyes, and the harsh bitterness of whatever had upset her seemed to dissolve. The lines around her eyes softened. The tension around her mouth evaporated, and she started to resemble the woman Mark remembered.
Then her nostrils flared, and she pushed his hand away. “How was your date last night?” she said icily.
“My date?” The shift in direction had come so swiftly he had to regroup.
“The woman you left the Stacked Pickle with?”
He slowly leaned back in his chair, never taking his gaze off her as last night came back into focus. “That wasn’t a date.”
Indignation blasted him as she recoiled. “So, you just fucked her then.”
How interesting that she was so angry about something that shouldn’t have made one bit of difference to a happily engaged woman. Like when she’d brought him his coffee without him having to ask, her jealous reaction was proof she still had feelings for him.
“I didn’t say that.”
If Mark had been the one-night-stand type, he would have ended up balls deep inside the woman he’d left the Stacked Pickle with. She’d been eager and willing, and he hadn’t had sex in a year, but after walking out with her as if he had every intention of taking her home and letting her ride him all night, he dismissed her in the parking lot without so much as a kiss and drove back to his apartment alone.
He would rather masturbate than defile his cock with another woman’s body. The only reason he’d cozied up to her in the first place was to see how Karma would react. Looked like he had his answer. She wore jealousy well.
Andrew brought out Karma’s food, which she had ordered to go, then quickly hurried away. Apparently he’d picked up the vibe that Mark and Karma were in the middle of an uncomfortable discussion.
“You expect me to believe you didn’t sleep with her?” There was just enough doubt in Karma’s voice for Mark to know she was considering he might have been telling the truth.
“I don’t expect you to believe anything. Why does it even matter?”
“It doesn’t.” She jutted out her chin and lifted her shoulders. “You…I just…I thought—”
He held up his hand, cutting her off. “Truce. You’re with Brad. You’ve moved on. I get that. I need to do the same.”
Some of her bravado faded, and a flicker of the Karma he remembered resurfaced. She was still so beautiful. Even more than he remembered. But her light had dimmed. Was that his fault for leaving her, or was it Brad’s? Did Brad suppress her energy, hold her back from being the woman Mark knew she wanted to be? Maybe it was both their faults. The thought that he might have contributed to Karma’s loss of self by leaving her sat about as well on his stomach as rotten eggs.
“Look,” he said, “I’m sorry for how I behaved toward Brad at the game last night. You’re right. I was instigating him before the game.” He might as well own up to his part in things. “My only defense is that I feel protective of you.” A lot protective. “Last night, my protective side came out. I began asking myself if Brad’s good enough for you. Is he the man you’re meant to be with the rest of your life? Does he make you laugh? Does he treat you right? Does he respect you?” He paused and took her hand. “Does he love you?”
Karma’s gaze bore into his, but she gave nothing away of her thoughts. Maybe that was because she didn’t want to admit the hard truth, or perhaps she simply didn’t know the answers.
“How did the two of you meet?” He still held her hand, and she didn’t seem to mind.
She bit he
r lip and looked out the window. “Actually, I met him during Flirt Quest.”
“Flirt Quest?” Had Mark missed something? What the hell was Flirt Quest?
Her cheeks colored. “Remember when you wanted me to start talking to men? When you assigned me to flirt with them and stuff?”
Cold dread dribbled into Mark’s heart. He remembered the night he’d assigned her to talk to men all too well…and how much he’d regretted it afterward every time he imagined her talking to another man. “Yes.”
“Brad’s the guy I met at the book store. The one I told you about.”
She had told him Brad hadn’t been her type. Well, apparently he was. “I see.”
“Yeah, well, fate has a funny way of working, doesn’t it?”
It sure did. And right now fate was laughing at him…about to choke on its own spittle, it was laughing so hard.
Because he was the reason why Karma was now engaged to a man she didn’t belong with.
* * *
Karma’s dinner was getting cold, and her angry stomach growled at being teased but not fed. She should have been shoving meatballs and warm, soft bread down her throat, but she couldn’t make herself stand up and go home.
After the day she’d had, the last person she’d thought she wanted to see was Mark, but then she’d come over and plopped her ass down at his table like there was no place else to sit, even though almost every table was empty.
“What are you doing here, anyway?” she asked.
He pulled his hand away from hers and sat back. “Having dinner.” He smiled, and the gesture was sexier than he probably intended it to be.
Ask a silly question, get a silly answer, right?
Her face heated. Traitorous blush response. Mark could still make her blush without even trying. “No, I mean—”
“I worked all afternoon,” he said, saving her. “I didn’t feel like cooking anything, and someone once told me this was the best place to eat in Clover.” One corner of his mouth curled upward.
She briefly glanced away at the reminder of their past then glanced back at him. “You worked?”
There was that sexy smirk again. “I have a new job. I need to impress my boss by getting up to speed.”
She nodded at his familiar playfulness. It reminded her of old times. He was always such a playful man, but his easy manner often covered a web of ulterior motives. If she had learned one thing from their time together, it was that Mark never did anything without a reason. The most innocent statement usually hid a complex plan to dislodge the truth.
Her memory flashed to something he’d said a few minutes ago. You’ve moved on. I get that. I need to do the same.
Whoa. I need to do the same. Present tense. Perhaps the ever-tight-lipped and carefully spoken Mark Strong had just slipped. If he still needed to move on, then that meant he hadn’t. And if he hadn’t, then what was he doing here? And why was he pretending to be so understanding of her relationship with Brad?
Maybe that was what last night had been about. Was that why he’d spent the entire evening with that woman and left with her? To make her think he had moved on when he really hadn’t? Or maybe he’d been trying to make her jealous or use reverse psychology in an effort to make her think he was no longer interested. Then again, perhaps she was reading too much into all this and he had moved on.
“Earth to Karma.” Mark waved his hand in front of her face, bringing her back to the present.
“What? Sorry.” She took a deep breath and blinked several times.
“I asked if I’m keeping you.” He gestured toward her to-go box.
“Oh. Uh…” She closed her eyes and shook off the niggling feeling that there was something important she wasn’t getting a solid grasp on. “No. You’re not keeping me. I just…um…”
“Why don’t you go ahead and eat?” He gently tapped the side of her sandwich box so that it scooted about a half inch closer to her.
The nightmare of spending a few hours with Jade, only to be ditched by her beau when Queen Diva threw a temper tantrum, slammed back into her mind, and her headache, which had been waning, surged back to full strength. “Okay. Sure.” She rubbed her fingers over her brow in an effort to massage away the ache. Maybe food would help.
“I heard you tell Andrew…” he gestured toward the counter, “that you spent the day at the zoo with Brad and his daughter.”
She forced herself not to cringe. “Yes.”
“And she’s twelve, right. I think that’s what you told me before.”
She nodded. “Yes. Twelve going on bitchy.”
Mark chuckled. “You know it’s only going to get worse.”
She frowned at him. “Gee, thanks for the optimism.”
“Just keeping it real.” He casually crossed his arms.
“Well, don’t.” She opened her sandwich box and pulled off a warm chunk of meatball sub.
“What happened? What’s her problem?”
“Besides hating my guts and wanting me to lose an eye?” She shoved the fragrant mess of bread, meat, and sauce into her mouth. “Where do I start?”
“How about the beginning?”
Regarding him, she took another bite and washed it down with cherry Coke. Should she really divulge her private life to Mark? Doing so would just give him more ammo for needling his way back into her life. Then again, the man made for an awesome sounding board, and her willpower was about checked out for the evening.
“Jade is spoiled rotten,” she said, swallowing another bite of sandwich. “Brad and his ex-wife got divorced when she was nine. Overcompensating for their guilt, both Brad and his ex now give her everything she wants. She throws a fit, they give. She cries, they give. She rants and behaves like a brat…”
“They give.” Mark bit back a smile.
“Bingo.” Karma chowed down another hunk of sandwich, her hungry stomach pushing her to keep filling it.
“And she doesn’t like chocolate truffles?”
“You did overhear my conversation with Andrew, didn’t you?”
“Every word.”
She sipped her Coke. “Yes, she hated my chocolate truffles.”
“Why? Did she say?”
“They’re grainy.” Karma gave her best Jade impression. “And they taste weird.”
Mark laughed. “Taste weird? How do truffles taste weird? That makes no sense.”
“I think it was the coffee I added. Plus, I didn’t use regular milk chocolate.” She offered a dubious snort. “The child obviously has no taste for the finer things in life, such as Ghirardelli dark chocolate.”
“Well, I’d love to try them.”
Karma swallowed another bite of her sub. “Well, they’re in the car.” She gestured toward her Honda Civic.
He frowned and glanced out the window. “Aren’t you worried they’ll melt?”
“Would it matter if they did? I mean, they’re grainy and taste weird.” She shouldn’t be so upset over the rantings of a twelve-year-old in the middle of an identity crisis, but screw that. It didn’t matter if the perpetrator was twelve or twenty. Bullying and harassment, as well as disrespect, hurt.
He shot her a don’t-take-it-personally glance.
“Don’t worry, they’re in a cooler.” She waved him off. “I did my best to make sure they stayed perfectly intact, even though I knew there was a good chance I’d be rebuffed.” She stuffed the last bite of meatball sub in her mouth.
“And yet you did the right thing, anyway.”
When had this conversation taken such a pleasant turn?
“I tried.” She lifted her drink and leaned back in her chair as she took a long swallow. “You know. I made a special point to get up early to make them. I really tried to make them perfect. Have you ever made truffles?”
“Once or twice.” He said it like once or twice meant at least two dozen times.
“So you know how long they take to make.”
“Yes.”
“This was only my second batch, but
I really tried, and I put in all that effort, and then she—”
“Karma.” Mark sat forward with a stern expression on his face. “Repeat after me. You can’t…please… everybody.”
Seriously? He wanted her to do affirmations now? Rolling her eyes, she said, “You can’t please everybody. I know.”
“Then stop trying. The only person who matters is you. As long as you’re happy, who really gives a damn? Are you happy? Are you?”
Was she? Right this minute, she was probably happier than she had been in a while, and that was only because Mark was making her smile. But all day, she’d been a disaster. As far away from happy as a person could get. And for the past month, she hadn’t had much cause to smile, either. Brad was always brushing her off. His work always took precedent when Jade didn’t. Karma seemed destined to receive the scraps and nothing more.
“I don’t know,” she said weakly. Could she really say she was happy when she felt so miserable?
He tucked his newspaper under his arm then reached down and picked up his briefcase. “Well, maybe you need to figure that out.” He stood. “Now, are you going to let me try those grainy-assed, weird-tasting truffles or not?”
The way he said it and the comically exasperated look on his face made her smile. “Fine, but don’t say I didn’t warn you.” She grabbed her cookie and her drink then joined him as he opened the door for her.
“See ya,” Andrew called from behind the counter.
“Bye, Andrew.”
She led Mark to her car, leaned inside the passenger door, and pulled the barely touched batch of truffles from the cooler. “Here you go.” She turned around and pulled the lid off the container.
Mark selected one covered with chopped almonds and popped it in his mouth. A couple seconds later, he made a face and planted his palm around his throat like he was choking.
Great. Were they really that bad?
“Ack! Awful!” Then he winked and smiled as he dug another one out of the bowl. “Just kidding.”
“You asshole.” She smacked his arm, making him laugh as he ate one of the peppermint truffles.
“They’re not perfect, but they’re delicious,” he said, licking his lips. He selected one covered with powdered sugar. “The flavor’s there, you just need to perfect the technique. You’ll get it.”
