“I didn’t want to cause any trouble.”
She rolled her eyes.“It wouldn’t have been any trouble.“Do you not want the chicken?”she asked.
“Actually, I do,” Marshal said.“My wife was the one that convinced me to go vegetarian.I was being a bit of a rebel when I was at your place.”
This made her chuckle.“It’s Knox’s place.”
“I don’t think he sees it like that.I imagine he sees it as your place too.”
Ava looked over to Marshal and he threw his hands up.“I know, I know, you don’t want me talking about your relationship.”
“We don’t have a relationship.”
“Please, you guys have something.”Marshal rolled his eyes.“Sure, there’s no exact label, but you guys have it.”He let out a cute little laugh.“You’re going to try and convince me you don’t have feelings for him?”
It was on the tip of her tongue to tell him to shut up, but instead she started to serve the pasta salad.She would not talk to Marshal about her feelings with Knox.That was not happening.
This was all a big mistake.She shouldn’t even be here, and she could totally survive on her own, back at Knox’s.Although, she didn’t like the fact her cell phone hadn’t rung.Knox hadn’t called to let her know he was going to be all right.
“I do have feelings for him, and if you say anything, I will kick you in the balls until you can’t father children.”She pointed a fork toward him.“Got it?”
Marshal smiled and held his hands up.“So you’ve got feelings for him?”
She nodded.
“Would you say you’re in love with him?”
She looked up at him.
“Is this one of those moments when I need to be quiet, otherwise you’d kick me in the balls for fun?”Marshal asked.
She nodded her head.
He laughed.“See, you and I, we’re already on the same page.You’ve got the hots for hottie boy, and I bet he has the hots for you.”
“We never had this conversation.”
“You know, what if I attempted to play matchmaker?”he asked.“That could be a lot of fun.”
“No.”
“Come on.I can help.”
Ava looked at him.She was not going to say anything nasty about his current relationship and how that really didn’t work out for him.It was just cruel to bring that up.So, instead, she smiled at him.
“How can you help me?”she asked.
“Well, I’m a guy, maybe we can talk about techniques for you to get close to him?”
She couldn’t even believe she was considering this.This is what her life had come down to.And it sucked.
“I don’t think so,” Ava said.
“What do you have to lose?I’m here.I’m a friend, and do you want to act on those feelings or not?”he asked.“Come on, it will stay between us.”
She took a deep breath and flipped the chicken.They had some lovely griddle marks on one side of the cutlet.
She couldn’t believe how tempted she was.This was not like her at all.But she looked at Marshal, and that temptation was not going away.It was in full force.
