His Best Mistake (Shillings Agency)

by Diane Alberts

  He considered her, his huge arm flexing as he reached out and rubbed her back. Leaning down, he whispered, “Liar, liar, pants on fire.”

  Daisy stiffened, leaning in even though he was so close already that their noses were practically touching. “I’m not lying.”

  Yes. You are.

  “Oh yeah?” He leaned impossibly closer, his hand resting below the back of her neck intimately. Tim was always overly touchy-feely, which made people think he had a torch burning for her, but they were wrong. He was a nice guy, and she loved him, but not like that. Besides, he had a thing for the cute brunette in CSI. “Are you sure it has nothing to do with the guy who was in your room the other night, making all that racket?”

  Well, crap. He’d heard them. How embarrassing. Could the floor open up and swallow her whole, or maybe the President could walk in to the bar and distract Tim so she could slip away? Because knowing he’d heard her and Mark was too much to bear. “Oh, God.”

  “Does this mean what I think it means?” A smile lit up his face for the first time since they started talking about her quietness. “Are you ready to move on?”

  “N-no. It was nothing. Me and…that guy…we are just messing around.”

  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.

  Daisy slid out from under Tim’s hand, standing and frowning at them both. “I need to use the restroom. Don’t worry if they seat us while I’m gone. I’ll find the table on my own.”

  As she walked away, she could feel both of their gazes on her back, and she practically ran to the ladies’ room. The second the door closed behind her, she let out a sigh of relief. It was one of those single restrooms, with a couch, a mirror, and then a separate stall. She rested her hands on the sink, staring at herself. “What are you doing?” she whispered to the empty room.

  The door opened, and she quickly turned, about to apologize for forgetting to lock the door, but then she froze, because it wasn’t a woman there to use the facilities.

  Mark came inside, closed the door, and locked it behind him, clearly not giving a damn he was in the wrong restroom as his gaze focused on her. “Mark. What are you—?”

  He closed the distance between them, curling his hand behind her nape, and he melded his mouth to hers with a kiss that screamed of possession and dominance. He backed her up against the wall, and his hands cupped her ass as he lifted her up and stepped between her legs. She moaned, knowing she should put a stop to this because they were in a bathroom, of all places, and public sex was illegal, and it was her job to uphold the law. But she was unable to find the actual words to stop him. Mostly because she didn’t want to.

  His mouth ravished hers as he slid a hand between them, rubbing her in hard, fast circles. She cried out into his mouth, pleasure consuming her immediately, because he played her like a frigging fiddle. One stroke of her strings, and she’d play any song he wanted. Her nails dug into his back, and she rested her cast on him, rocking her hips wildly.

  He ended the kiss and bit down on her neck where it met her shoulder, and she closed her eyes. He pumped his hips against her and flicked his tongue over the spot he just bit. When he quickened the strokes of his fingers, she tensed, every nerve inside her bundling into a tight ball, and she came harder than ever before. “Mark,” she breathed, collapsing against the wall. “I’m—”

  “Why did you run away last night? What did I do wrong?”

  “Nothing,” Daisy said immediately. She brushed a lock of his long hair off his forehead, swallowing hard at how good it made her feel to do something so simple. “Truth be told, I think I’m scared of you.”

  “Well, I’m scared of yo
u, too,” he growled.

  “Me?” She blinked. “Why?”

  “Because I’m fucking jealous,” he said, cupping her face with both his hands, locking eyes with her and refusing to let go. “And I don’t like it. Any of it. I don’t do jealous.”

  She licked her tingling lips, still riding on the high of the orgasm he’d sent her on, not even pretending to not know what he was talking about. “There’s nothing to be jealous of. He’s just my partner, my friend, and my roommate. He likes to pretend—”

  “He doesn’t seem to think so, or to be okay with just being that.” He pressed his mouth to hers, kissing her gently, a complete contrast to the hardness of his voice and the frantic way he’d made her come seconds before. When he pulled back, he ran his thumb over her swollen lower lip. “Look, I’ve never been the jealous type. Not even with Tina.”

  “I—”

  “But seeing him staring at you like you control the sun and the moon with your smile, and knowing he’s right, didn’t fucking feel good. I was starting to suspect that this isn’t enough for me anymore, but now I know it for a fact. It’s not enough. I need more.”

  She reflexively tightened her grip on his shirt. She was going to kill Tim for messing with Mark like this. For ruining their tenuous hold on each other, and whatever they had between them. “What exactly are you saying?”

  “I want a goddamn title attached to what we’re doing, the real one, and I want to tell people what we are to one another…or I want out. I won’t press you for an immediate answer, or try to change your mind, since I know you didn’t want this, and neither did I.” He stepped back, gently lowering her to her feet. “But if you decide you want more, too, then come to my place when you’re ready. I’ll wait as long as it takes. Take your time. Think about it. And if you never come? I’ll know what that means, too.”

  With that, he left her in the bathroom alone, still trembling.

  Could she give him what he wanted? Was he really okay with what she did, and fully willing to accept her as she was? And, more importantly, was she ready to do the same with him? Accept him? Love him? Because that’s where this would lead, if she let it. They’d fall for each other, and he’d hold her heart in his hands. Because the way he made her feel? There was no doubt in her mind she would fall for him.

  Completely, madly, wildly. The kind of love that consumes a person. Picks them up. Drops them to the ground. Destroys them.

  Loving him would be easy.

  It was losing him that would be devastating.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Mark sat in his living room, staring at his door, tapping his heel impatiently, an untouched beer hanging from his fingertips and dripping condensation on his carpet. His pulse was racing, his head was pounding, and he felt like he was about to run a marathon. In her room behind him, Ginny slept peacefully, completely unaware her father was a fucking mess. All because he was waiting to see if a girl was going to show up at his door and give him a chance…

  Or if he’d lost her by asking for more.

  He was an idiot for even thinking she might show up tonight. If she did overcome her natural tendency to run, it wouldn’t be so soon. It would take days. Weeks. Months.

  Hell, even years.

  More than likely, it would take forever, and that knock would never come.

  He wasn’t sure what had come over him earlier, but when he’d seen her partner hanging all over her, looking down into her eyes like he couldn’t breathe without her, something red hot had seared through him. And he’d had to change the way she viewed him.

  He couldn’t be her dirty little secret anymore. If they were going to fuck every night, he wanted the goddamn mornings, too, and everything that came in between. Yeah, giving himself to her like that, caring about her, was terrifying as hell.

  But he obviously already cared.

  If he didn’t, he wouldn’t have wanted to beat in her partner’s face for recognizing the fact that she was the best goddamn woman in the room. Hell, in the world. He couldn’t blame the guy for falling in love with her. Not that Mark was in love with her. He wasn’t. He was just…just…

  Just something.

  He glanced down at his phone, unlocked the screen, and checked the time. It was a quarter past twelve, and they’d all left the restaurant at eight. Clearly, she wasn’t coming. He stood, intending to dump out his beer and hit the sheets, but a soft knock stopped him in his tracks.

  Slowly, he walked toward the door, his heart pounding a hell of a lot harder than that knock had. He peered through the peephole, and sure enough, familiar red hair and green eyes stared back at him. Her cheeks were pale. She was in one of those ridiculously baggy T-shirts she always slept in. Her hair was a frizzy mess, and she didn’t have even a hint of makeup on.

  So she’d gone to bed, fully intending to not come here…

  And then changed her mind.

  He set the beer down and opened the door, a brow up as he tried to play it as casual as possible, because he didn’t want to scare her off…again. “Are you sleepwalking?”

  “I wish. That would make more sense than this.” She wrung her shirt in front of her, with her keys in her hand as well. Her bottom lip was swollen, like she’d been chewing on it, and that made sense because she did that when she was nervous. “I shouldn’t be here.”

  “If you want to leave, I can pretend you never knocked.”

  She hesitated, lifted a foot as if she might take him up on his offer, and lowered it back down, but one step closer to him. “What’s your biggest fear?”

  “Uhh…” He blinked. “Being a horrible father to Ginny.”

  “Mine’s losing someone I love.” She hesitated. “Again.”

  He nodded. “That’s a close second for me.”

  “Where do you see yourself in ten years?” she asked, nibbling on her lip.

  He laughed and rubbed his face, not sure where she was going with this, and not really in the mood to wait to find out. He’d thought her coming here meant she wanted to be with him, but instead of saying as much, she was asking him a million questions. “What are you doing, Daisy? It’s late, and I’m—”

  “If I’m going to do this, I need to know this stuff. We skipped the first date, got right in bed with each other, and then skipped to like the tenth when we realized we already kind of knew each other. You’re asking me to ignore every instinct I have to run from you—to give you a chance—and for me to do that, I need to know this stuff. I need to know it all, before I decide.”

  Well, she had a point.

  They’d definitely skipped over the usual dating stuff. The kinds of conversations most people had on first, second, even third dates…before they saw each other naked.

  “I see myself right here, with Ginny in middle school, and I’ll still be working at the Shillings Agency. Having a stable environment for Ginny is very important to me. I don’t want to jerk her around and make her lose her sense of home. You?”

  “Here, still a cop. Maybe a detective instead of an officer. Maybe I’ll own a home and not have a roommate anymore. Maybe…” She licked her lips and darted a look his way. “Maybe in love, and married, with a kid or two.”

  “And this man you see…this husband…” He shoved his hands into his jeans pockets. “Is he possibly your partner? Because I saw the way he looks at you, and I don’t want to fuck with something that’s been years in the making. If you have feelings for him…”

  She blinked. “What? God, no.”

  “Steven said everyone knows you two are going to end up getting married, and that he’s in love with you, and has been for years. That once you see it, once you know, you’ll fall in love with him, too, and live happily ever after. If there’s any chance of that happening—”

  “It’s a game he plays. He likes to pretend he’s got it hot for me, to throw other guys off, but he doesn’t actually want me. He’s my partner. My roommate. My friend.” She bit down on her lip. “But certainly not my future husband. I don�
��t love him like that.”

  “But you do love him?” he asked slowly.

  “Of course.” She held her hand out. “I put my life in his hands every day, and vice versa. Every day I’m not out there on the streets with him kills me. We have each other’s backs, and always will, and I can’t watch his when I’m stuck behind a desk.”

  He nodded once. “I felt that way about my brothers out there.”

  “It’s the same kind of love. Of loyalty.” She shrugged. “He doesn’t want more than that, and neither do I. I want…I want…”

  For a second, he thought she was actually going to admit she wanted him. The only times she had before were when he was driving her insane with desire, so it would have been nice to hear her say it on her own for once. When he and his wife had been married, they’d never been big on declarations of love, or feelings.

  So it was weird to crave it now, from Daisy.

  She studied him with speculation in her eyes. “Will there still be jealousy, even though you know there’s nothing between us?”

  He shook his head. “No. I trust you. If you say there’s nothing there, that you want to be with me and go public with this, then that’s enough.”

  “You have to be sure. There will be times where we’re out late, or even all night. And sometimes he might need me in the middle of the night. And if he does, I’ll go to him. He would do the same for me, so I owe him nothing less.”

  “That’s fine. I trust you, Daisy,” he said, taking a step closer. “Do you trust me, too?”

  “I’m trying to. Trust doesn’t come easy for me,” she said, watching his approach warily. “My father…he didn’t make it easy. I know I’m my own person, and I’ve come a long way from that scared little girl I used to be, but I didn’t have a great childhood. It’s hard for me to believe people when they say they like me, or that they want to be with me, because he…didn’t.”

  “I’m not going anywhere,” he said quietly.