Coming Back To You (21 page)

“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 her 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.”