Never Is A Very Long Time

by Donna McDonald

  “This is not just about the house…”

  “Isn’t it? It’s certainly not about the love, Dan. We’re done with all that. We’ve been done a long time. Leave please before I have to make good on my threat to call you in for stalking me.”

  Dan stood, but leaned down close to her face. She could smell his cologne… the expensive scent was a gift she’d bought him when she’d landed the first syndicated run of her show. Now it smelled like the biggest disappointment of her life.

  “I’ll never believe we’re over. I love you, Mariah. I always have.”

  Then Dan was gone.

  She sipped her tea afterwards, staring at the now vacant seat again. Ten minutes later, she was gathering up her purse when she smelled a woodsy aftershave by her shoulder. Looking up for the source, she met Detective John Monroe’s apologetic gaze. “Good Lord. Will the torture of this day never end?”

  “Hi. Can I sit down for a few minutes?” he asked.

  “Do I really have a choice?” Mariah asked back, working not to glare.

  John nodded. “Yes. But I really think you should talk to me. Despite what it might have seemed like today, I’m trying to be your friend.”

  “Well, at least your threats sound more gentlemanly than Dan’s,” Mariah said, waving a hand to the empty chair. “I assume you just watched my ex jump out of that seat and leave. You can have five minutes, Detective.”

  John slid his body into the seat, dwarfing it until the chair completely disappeared behind and under him.

  “You’re the biggest man I’ve ever seen,” Mariah observed, her usual politeness filter gone.

  John’s instant, and very wicked, grin surprised her. “Thank you. That’s exactly what every man longs to hear from the beautiful woman he’s attracted to.”

  Mariah rolled her eyes at his compliment, but laughed at his teasing. “That’s not at all what I meant.” She almost sighed in girlish joy when John’s smile got very wide. Such a handsome man. Too bad he was just another conniving liar.

  “I know what you really meant, but it was nice to dream for a moment that one day you might actually learn just how incredibly true that statement is about me.”

  “And that’s exactly what most men think of themselves.”

  “I’m not most men.”

  “Could have fooled me,” Mariah declared. “After serving me a subpoena based on a falsified report this afternoon, my ex just casually dropped by to ask me to come back to him. The offer was contingent on me returning to my old job, of course. I figure you got that much from what you no doubt overheard while tailing me. Now I have a question. Who are you really, John Monroe?”

  John looked off. “Do you want him back?”

  Mariah nearly barked out a laugh. “Dan? No. Absolutely not. I’m still grieving the loss of my marriage, but I’m learning that’s very different from grieving the loss of Daniel Luray.”

  “Good to hear you’re getting over him,” John said.

  “What game are you playing with me, Detective?”

  John snickered. “So we’re back to that. I thought we’d gotten past formalities at least.”

  “What game are you playing… John?”

  He turned, met her gaze, and held it. “The kind where I keep falling for someone I shouldn’t, but she’s just so damn charming I can’t help myself. I’d like to run off with her, but that’s impossible at the moment. Worse, there’s no way in hell she can believe I feel this way about her. That’s what kind of game.”

  Mariah put both elbows on the table and rested her chin in her hands. She studied his eyes, letting herself sink into the sincerity in them for a few moments. His admission certainly soothed her bruised female ego, but that didn’t make him a freaking knight.

  “Two cups of plum wine were not enough to hear that confession, were they?”

  John shook his head. “I can’t tell you anything else yet either, but soon I will be able to. Can I ask you to just trust me for a bit until I get it all sorted out?”

  Mariah sighed in frustration. “Get what sorted out, John?”

  John put one arm on the table and held her gaze again. “I’m sorting out a good woman’s suddenly very complicated life.”

  Mariah sat up again and shouldered her purse. “Trust is a lot to ask of me right now.”

  “Yes. I know,” John said roughly. “But a reassuring hug is out of the question at the moment.”

  “Too bad,” Mariah said sadly. “A hug is exactly what I need.”

  “Mariah…”

  Holding up a hand to stop him from further expressing the sympathy she’d heard when he’d said her name, Mariah slid from her seat and left Detective John Monroe, or whoever he really was, just sitting there.

  She honestly didn’t think she could trust him either, and that fact made her very sad.

  Chapter Eight

  “If I’m being quiet, it’s because I’m embarrassed. I don’t even know why I’m here.”

  Mariah swiveled in her office chair as she considered the woman across the desk. “What bothers you most, Ann? The makeover or the dating?”

  When Ann Lynx laughed and wrinkled her nose in distaste, Mariah smiled at the nervous woman. “It was a serious question.”

  Ann laughed again, but more softly. “I always thought there wasn’t much I couldn’t handle in life until I realized my children were worried about me. Every time they see me now they start hinting about me dating.” Her surprised gaze roamed the office. “Even with them planting the idea in my head, using a service like The Perfect Date never crossed my mind. I figured such things were only for young people.”

  Mariah shrugged. “There are plenty of dating services that cater to mature people… though older doesn’t exactly mean what it used to mean. I have a surprising number of younger men asking to date someone more mature. Plenty will be willing to date a good-looking woman of your age.”

  Ann chuckled. “The young guys want a woman to sleep with who doesn’t want babies and marriage. My son is over thirty and just now wanting to settle down. David almost lost a good woman because of that kind of thinking. All Kendra wanted was a house and a couple babies. What is so wrong with that? The planet has to continue somehow.”

  Mariah laughed at hearing the echo of her own sentiments. “You and I are kindred souls, Ann Lynx. But my job is to keep my clients happy, not push my philosophies off on them. So if it’s mature women my younger male clients want, then quality mature women are what I will give them. But for you… I have someone special in mind for you. He’s not really looking for a relationship either, which is rare among those in my database. This client just needs an occasional date for a social function now and again. He uses my service for discretionary purposes. He’s in his early fifties and quite handsome.”

  “Why isn’t he married then?” Ann asked.

  “He’s been married several times, but says his children run every woman off,” Mariah said bluntly. “They don’t want to share their father’s money with any… contenders. He’ll tell you the same thing, so it’s not like I’m giving away any secrets here. He’s nearly as blunt as I am.”

  Ann rolled her eyes. “The day I let my children tell me who to love…” She paused then laughed. “Right… well… I guess that was a bit hypocritical of me, wasn’t it?”

  “Just a little,” Mariah agreed, showing two fingers spread apart, “but still vastly entertaining. For the right mature clients, I’m temporarily waiving my usual fee to be added to my database. All you have to do is agree to be in the match pool and we’ll get started.”

  “You make it sound so easy,” Ann said, slowly releasing an anxious breath.

  “My part is pretty easy,” Mariah teased. “You’re the one who’ll be wearing high heels and going out. I get to sit here in my office and simply feel righteous for setting the date up.”

  Ann giggled. “You joke around as much as your mother does.”

  Mariah shrugged. “But I’m always serious when I’m talki
ng business. Are you in?”

  Ann looked around once more, eyes wide. “I guess I am. Bring on the rich commitment-phobe.”

  “We call them perfect dates around here, and you’ll be surprised how nice they are. Most just have more complicated lives than the rest of us,” Mariah warned, grinning when Ann giggled again.

  Not wanting to face her mother, because that meant admitting to the nosy woman that Ann Lynx was a client now, Mariah dug the yoga bag out of her truck and went to class. She hadn’t gone since the divorce proceedings began. Energized afterwards, she pulled a slouchy pink sweater over her workout clothes and decided getting a big, made-to-order salad for dinner sounded like a good idea.

  She was sitting down to it when she noticed John come through the door. He was wearing jeans with a Henley tucked into them. The man was massive, but not overweight or anything. Just really… big. And obviously following her.

  Sighing in disgust over her pleasure to see him in something other than a suit, Mariah dug into her salad and gave herself a side order of chastisement over her foolishness.

  “You sure eat alone a lot,” John said casually.

  Mariah shrugged. “Because the only people in my life besides my nosy mother are the two detectives who keep following me around.”

  “Only one of us is following you tonight. The other is preoccupied.”

  “With what?” Mariah asked, feigning a lack of concern. Problem was she sucked at faking anything.

  “The proper question would be with whom, but that’s all I’m able to say about the matter,” John declared.

  Mariah watched as John pulled out the chair across from her and sat without invitation this time. She raised an eyebrow over the action, but didn’t comment when John squirmed under her gaze. Did he think she was just going to start welcoming his intrusion into her life?

  “The company my ex-husband keeps is none of my business. That liberation came with the divorce, backed up by several years of endless fighting. What I’m curious about is why you keep following me.”

  John pursed his lips. “Like I said yesterday, I can’t tell you.”

  Mariah rolled her eyes and then returned to eating. What else was there to do?

  “Did it ever occur to you that it might be because of the exceptional way your butt looks in those tight yoga pants you’re wearing? Your ass is calling to me to rub it.”

  Salad nearly flew from her mouth when she laughed. She swallowed with difficulty as she got hold of herself. “Somehow I doubt that’s true. God, that line wouldn’t even work on a twenty year old.”

  John shrugged. “You looking exceptionally nice in those clothes is completely true, but you’re right that it isn’t why I’m keeping tabs.”

  Mariah huffed out an exasperated breath and pushed back from her food. “Do I need to go over your head about this, Detective Monroe? I do know your supervisor personally. Dan’s acting strange, but somehow I don’t think he’s the one who put you on ex-wife surveillance duty. I also know Dan’s boss.”

  “Good. Don’t talk to your ex. Call Chief Langley—only him. Okay?”

  “You’re freaking me out, Detective.”

  “Can’t be helped, Dr. Bates.”

  “So we’re back to that?” Mariah asked tersely.

  John sighed loudly. “Unless you can quit asking questions I can’t answer long enough to let me concentrate on more important things.”

  “Like…?” Mariah prompted.

  “I told you… your exceptional ass in those yoga pants. Geez, I am a guy, you know. You look fantastic. I haven’t been so attracted to a woman since I was a kid. And one way or the other, I swear I’m going to find a way to kiss you and see if that’s as exceptional as I think it’s going to be as well.”

  “Oh. So you’re a stalker then,” Mariah declared, not missing a bite. “Wow, I haven’t had one of those since I went off the air.”

  The glare John gave her was priceless. Her laughing over his irritation only deepened it, but verbally getting the better of him did relax her enough to go back to eating. “If you’re going to sit there keeping tabs, why don’t you grab some dinner while you’re doing it?”

  He frowned at her food. “That’s not my idea of dinner.”

  “It’s healthy, but they have great subs too,” Mariah told him, unsure why she was even suggesting he eat with her.

  “Don’t run away,” he ordered, rising to walk to the counter.

  Her gaze followed his own exceptional jean-covered backside as John walked to the counter. Their mutual interest in each other’s anatomies made her face heat. Was she genuinely attracted to him?

  “You’re just horny,” she told herself, digging back into her salad with more force than necessary.

  Minutes later, John carried a small bowl of salad and a large sub to the table. He sat, looked at her anxiously, and then sighed heavily. Shaking his head, he unwrapped his sandwich.

  “I’ve never once developed an interest in anyone I was assigned to protect. I don’t know why it happened with you. It had to be that day in your office when you jumped to Elliston’s defense. Or maybe it was at that stupid fundraiser when I saw him so pleased with that woman you set him up with. Yet you were happier than either of them. I’ve obviously lost my mind. The ass comments alone could get me suspended.”

  Through his rant, one statement rang out to her. John believed he was protecting her. But from whom or from what? She’d dearly love to know.

  “Good to hear I can cause you problems. I’ll keep that in mind if I ever get that angry about you following me around.”

  John rolled his eyes and took a bite of his sandwich, not answering her taunt.

  Mariah smiled. He was such a normal guy, and yet… “Thanks for the ass comments. Frankly, it’s been a couple years since my ass was properly appreciated.”

  She burst out laughing when John choked and coughed around a bite of sandwich. Her amused reaction to his discomfort earned her yet another fierce glare and had her wondering how much she could push before he actually retaliated. The very thought of that boundary revved her sluggish engine. Whatever else came of their paths crossing, there was no doubt for her that Detective John Monroe had woke her body back up.

  Mariah went back to her food, finishing off the salad. She sighed into her bowl. “I’m sorry, John. I shouldn’t have said that to you. It was true, but bad form to share it.”

  John didn’t say anything. Instead, he put his hand on the table between them, palm up. It was the same thing Dan had done at the Chinese restaurant, but she couldn’t seem to ignore John’s hand the same way she had Dan’s.

  Not able to bring herself to actually take it, she did reach out her fingertips and draw them across his very large palm. His skin was incredibly hot to her touch. She pulled her fingers back, resting only the tips of her fingers on the tips of his. They were barely touching, but it felt so… intimate. Scarier than that though, it felt right. The rightness was out of place in their circumstances.

  Swallowing hard, Mariah pulled her fingers away, only then lifting her gaze to his. “Am I in any real danger, John?”

  John stared at her, narrowing his eyes as they roamed her face and hair. “Only from me embarrassing us both when I come across this table after you. I’m working to control my predator side right now. Give me a few minutes before you make any sudden moves.”

  Mariah giggled at the sexy threat, this time appalled at herself. Pushing her empty salad bowl aside, she leaned crossed arms on the table and stared at him.

  “Our attraction to each other has no future. You know that and I know that. You work for Dan and I can’t trust you. Plus, I’m never dating another police officer. I’ve done my civic duty, Detective. If it wasn’t unethical, I’d put myself in my own database.”

  “I don’t blame you. Some rich guy could easily give you back your rich life,” John said.

  Mariah shook her head and turned her gaze away from him. “My work was never about the money for me. Dan
always cared about that way more than I did. And he didn’t bankrupt me, he just emptied the bank temporarily. My syndication requests keep expanding. In a couple of years, it will financially be like the divorce never happened. That’s why I knew I’d be okay with The Perfect Date even if it didn’t make anything the first couple of years.”

  “No wonder he wants to come back,” John said.

  She turned back to see him still studying her. “You seem to have a poor opinion of your boss.”

  “I concluded Daniel Luray was an idiot the moment I met you.”

  “Then why are you still working for him?” Mariah asked.

  “Because I have no choice… for now.”

  They locked gazes then, but she could read nothing in his. How she could be attracted to yet another man capable of locking her out emotionally? What deficiency in her character made her this stupid?

  “Time for me to go home,” Mariah said softly. “I believe I’ll be dining at my mother’s tomorrow night. Consider it stalker’s night off.”

  “Mariah…” John began as she stood.

  “Yes?” She waited for him to say something to stop her, even though lingering to chat with a man who refused to be truthful with her was beyond ludicrous.

  “Thanks for letting me eat with you. I almost always eat alone. Elliston takes pity on me once a week and we have dinner together.”

  “Just another reason for me to like that young man,” Mariah said.

  John nodded. “He’s a pretty decent guy for a geek.”

  Chuckling, she patted his shoulder—a very firm, very wide shoulder—as she passed by him. But touching him only made her want to do it more. Now she wanted to go exploring and see if the rest of John felt that hard under her hands.

  Great. This was the very reason hands off had always been her motto. She didn’t touch lightly. Never had. Touching John Monroe? Mistake. Mistake. Mistake.

  Chapter Nine

  “What worked in your favor was that Beth Stanley wasn’t willing to name the client she allegedly performed the sexual favors for that were mentioned in great detail in her statement. Do you want to know what she said she did?”