Maya grinned with Ann, feeling a kinship with the petite redhead. They had found happiness with their…men.God, Dex feels like my man. When the hell did that happen?
“…Riley. Get Anson off your chest,” Ann was saying.
Which was likely where the guy wanted to be—on or near Riley’s chest. Anson might not like her, but even Maya could see the way the guy lusted after Riley’s body.
Thinking about lust reminded her of Dex, and despite trying to keep her thoughts and emotions centered around her friends, she wondered what her tall goofy photographer was up to—unable to stop herself from wishing he sat next to her right now.
Friday night they had their third date at a game center that normally catered to kids. Adults gathered too, so Dex didn’t feel too out of place. There were some arcade games, bowling, an outdoor batting cage, go-karts and miniature golf—the sport Maya had chosen to “wipe the floor” with him. The night had been going well until he suggested they up their stakes from bragging rights to sexual favors. He couldn’t help it. His competitive nature insisted he up the ante, especially since he’d been beating her all night long. After losing to him a second time, Maya called him a few choice names and took a soda break.
Grumbling the whole while, she ignored him as she guzzled down some sugar water. Honestly, the woman should have been majorly buzzed after two candy bars and three sodas. But somehow she regulated her intake of sugar and caffeine. More than one cup of coffee for Dex and he was jazzed for hours.
Just as they turned in their putters, Dex noticed a sight he could have done without—Selena Thorpe surrounded by several town council members and her trust-fund friends. He knew several of them from high school. They’d been jerks back then. He couldn’t imagine they’d gotten any better.
Blonde, beautiful and loaded after having bled husband number three for as much as she could, the surgically sculpted Selena saw him and smiled. When she noticed Maya, her smile grew wider, but a lot less pleasant.
Shit.
Maya finished her drink and tossed it in the trash. She hadn’t seen Selena yet. Perhaps Dex could salvage the evening by taking her as far away as possible.
“Oh, Dex-ter. Dex?” Selena sauntered over to them while her friends watched from a distance, crowding near the batting cages.
Maya stiffened, her back still to the woman. “That voice. The voice ofevil.” She turned. “What the hell isshedoing here? Looking for a four-year-old to fleece after foregoing another prenup?”
He held his laughter. Encouraging Maya wouldn’t be good. The last time she and Selena met, Maya had busted her nose. It had been so satisfying to see Selena go down, yet he’d been scared for Maya as well. In this day and age, a simple fistfight could turn into assault and battery and lawsuits. A good thing Anson had talked the woman down from filingmorecharges. The only thing standing between Maya and jail had been Dex’s reluctance to support Selena’s account of what had transpired between them, and Anson’s silence, for which he still owed his cousin a huge favor.
Here there would be way too many witnesses to ignore.
“How are you, handsome?” Selena asked as she came abreast of them. She hadn’t been too impressed with him when they’d met two weeks ago. Then she’d heard of his financial success, and suddenly he was no longer that unpopular geek from high school.
“Hello, Selena.” He’d talk his way out of a possible altercation with manners. “You remember Maya.” He took a firm hold of Maya’s hand, refusing to let go. He’d learned his lesson.
“I’m sure her nose does,” Maya said with a smirk.
Selena’s blue eyes narrowed over her bruised nose. Too bad she was such a viper. He would have loved to shoot her portrait. “You little bitch. Don’t worry, I’ll keep my distance. Wouldn’t want to getscalped.” Selena tittered.
He felt Maya tense, knew she’d been teased about her heritage growing up and wondered if she still had to tolerate such nonsense from people—other than Selena. In this day and age, he wouldn’t think the PC-crowd could be so crass.
“Got my tomahawk in my back pocket. Best watch your step or I’ll yank off a patch of your bottle-blonde hair.” Maya’s smile would have looked at home on a shark.
He winced. “Ah, we’d better get going.”
“You sure?” Selena stepped closer to him. “I feel bad for you, keeping company with such trash. A girl like Maya, you don’t know where she’s been.” She flicked Maya a contemptuous glance. “But then, you always were a Boy Scout. Helping those less fortunate and fundraising for the chess club. I admire that.”
“Photography club, actually,” he muttered.
Selena smiled. “You’re such a good man, Dex. I’ll see you around.” She turned and strutted away, rejoining the snobs he recognized and wished he didn’t.
Maya took a step after her so Dex tightened his grip.
“Easy, killer. Let her go. We don’t need trouble.”
“From her?” Maya snorted. “Only trouble she has is keeping her legs and mouth closed. See? They’re still open.”
He deliberately turned them away from Selena and walked in the other direction. “I won the game. We’re done here.”
“Lucky shot.”
“Twice.So let’s leave. Can I interest you in—”
