Flynn turned onto the street where Pizza Malloy was located. Victoria sat beside him, chattering about work. She hadn’t stopped talking the entire drive. Something about misogyny keeping her from getting a promotion.
He’d tuned out about two minutes into the drive. That probably made him an asshole.
Actually, no, what made him an asshole was dating one woman while being unable to get another out of his head.
Memories of how badly he’d wanted to kiss Carina yesterday plagued him. Images of her sitting on her bedroom floor almost naked, her creamy breasts plumping out of her sexy black bra.
His hands tightened around the wheel. Stop. Get through tonight, do what you have to do, then tackle what comes next.
Whatever the hell that might be.
“Don’t you think, babe?”
Flynn pulled into a parking spot right outside the pizza shop. “Yep.”
Yeah, he was an asshole. Whatever he and Victoria were doing, it had run its course, and it was time to end it. Past time.
He climbed out, not surprised when she didn’t move a muscle. As per usual, she was waiting for him to open the door for her. That didn’t use to annoy him…
The second she was out, she linked her arm through his, and they walked toward the door.
“I heard there’s this fabulous new French restaurant up north,” she said. “Maybe we could try that next time.”
Flynn said nothing, knowing perfectly well there wouldn’t be a next time. Because tonight, he was ending things. He’d intended to break up with her at lunch—again—but unlike yesterday, his mother hadn’t been having a great day. He should have canceled this dinner, but he’d been too distracted, what with his mother and thoughts of Carina and this new security assignment.
He held the door open for her, and before even stepping foot inside, he saw familiar faces at the counter—Tyler and Logan, as well as Logan’s partner, Grace.
His friends smiled, but when their gazes hit Victoria, the smiles dimmed. It was subtle—so subtle that he doubted Victoria noticed. But he did. No one was a fan of the woman, not even her patients. Probably why she didn’t get that promotion.
Flynn stopped in front of them. “Hey.”
“Hey,” Grace said in her usual soft voice. “You guys getting takeout too?”
“We’re eating here,” Victoria said, her fingers tugging lightly on his arm, encouraging him toward the tables. In the couple of months they’d been dating, she’d made it no secret that she wasn’t interested in getting to know his friends.
“Did you visit your mom?” Logan asked.
He nodded. “Yeah, she had a rough one. Thanks for covering me while I was out of the office. Everything okay with the Simmons case?”
“Yep. Callum and Aidan are out there now.”
One less thing to worry about. “Thanks.”
“You end up taking that nurse back?” Tyler asked, a hint of a smile on his lips.
Asshole.
Victoria turned to look at him. “You didn’t mention your mother has a new nurse.”
Because he’d barely said two words this evening. “Mrs. Anderson had a family emergency in Florida.”
Victoria frowned. “I thought her family lived here in Cradle Mountain?”
“Just her aunt and uncle.”
“Is the replacement nice?” Grace asked.
“I don’t really know her.” Damn, why was his voice so gruff?
Tyler got that look on his face, like he was going to say something that could cause shit between him and Victoria, so Flynn stepped away. “We’ll see you tomorrow.”
Why make tonight worse for the woman?
The waitress showed them to a table in the corner. He sat with his back to the wall so he had a view of the entire shop. He liked to watch his surroundings. Not that it was as important as it used to be. With his advanced hearing, he knew the second someone approached from behind.
“So…is she the same age as Mrs. Anderson?”
He glanced across the table. “Who?”
He knew who. But damn, he didn’t want to answer that. Victoria was clearly fishing for information.
“Your mom’s new nurse.”
He lifted his menu, scanning it even though he knew everything on the page. “No. She’s younger. Maybe mid to late twenties.”
Twenty-nine. He knew her age. Her birthday. It had all been on her background check and was now ingrained in his head.
At Victoria’s silence, he shot a glance up to see her lips had thinned. She was looking at her own menu, but he was almost certain she wasn’t really reading.
Suddenly, she lowered it. “Wait—was that her yesterday? The woman who interrupted us in your office?”
The waitress returned to the table. “Can I get you guys something to drink?”
“Guinness, thanks.” He had a feeling he’d be ordering a second soon enough.
“Chardonnay, please.”
The waitress was about to walk away when Flynn stopped her. “Can we order our food as well?” The sooner they ordered, the sooner they ate, and the sooner this could be done.
“Sure.”
“Oh.” Victoria’s mouth opened and closed a couple times before she refocused on the menu.
“I’ll have the smokehouse pizza and some Parmesan fries.” He handed his menu to the woman.
“You got it.” She wrote the order on her pad of paper before turning to Victoria.
“I’ll get the shrimp linguine. Can you make sure the cook removes all the shell from the shrimp though? I can’t stand having to shell any of it myself. Oh, and make sure he doesn’t overcook the pasta.”
Jesus.
“Uh…okay.” The waitress took her menu. Flynn was sure the woman rolled her eyes the second she turned away.
When it was just them again, Victoria looked at him. “You’ve had that happen, right? When they leave some shell on, and you need to scrape it off.”
If he had, it wouldn’t have bothered him. “Sure.”
“I had the best shrimp linguine during my time in San Feliciano in Italy. Honestly, it was to die for.”
As she continued to talk about the pasta, his gaze caught Tyler’s. It was just him now, still standing by the entrance. His brow was raised, silently asking Flynn how it was going.
At the touch of Victoria’s hand on his, he looked back across the table. “So, I was thinking. We should get away for a weekend. Just you and me. Something quiet and romantic. I so need a break from work. What do you think?”
He scrubbed a hand over his face. He’d wanted to wait until after they’d eaten, but every second that passed made it harder. She deserved more than his partial attention.
“Vic—”
“Think about it, okay?” She squeezed his hand. “I’m just going to run to the ladies’ room before our food comes.” Before he could get another word in, she was on her feet and across the room.
Flynn shook his head, looking over at his friend again.
But he wasn’t alone anymore.
Flynn’s gut clenched at the sight of Carina. She wore tight black jeans that hugged her thighs and ass like a second skin.
Heat flared in his chest. Heat that had no business flaring.
When she threw back her head and laughed at something Tyler said, Flynn didn’t think. He just acted, rising to his feet and crossing the room in under a second, for no other reason than he was completely insane. It definitely wasn’t because he was jealous of his friend.
When Carina saw him, he heard her breath catch, along with a slight elevation in her heart rate.
She wet her lips with her tongue. “Hi.”
Goddamn, why did her voice have to be sexy as well? “Hey.”
“We were just talking about how she got that bruise on her face,” Tyler said. “I thought maybe your big clumsy ass pushed her over.”
Carina chuckled. “Don’t worry. I told him the entire embarrassing story.”
He didn’t find the story embarrassing. In fact, he had a very different take on it.
He studied the bruise, his hand twitching to reach out and graze the skin around it like he had yesterday. “How’s it feeling today?”
She lifted a shoulder. “As long as I don’t look in the mirror, I barely remember it’s there.”
Two pizzas were set on the counter, and Tyler grabbed them. When he turned back, that same grin was on his face. “Well, I’m off. Have fun, kids.”
He socked Flynn on the shoulder before leaving.
When it was just the two of them, Flynn looked back at the bruise on her face. It was blue and purple. He hated that. “You’ve been staying away from those boxes?”
She chuckled again, and the sound hit him right in the gut. “I haven’t been standing on them, if that’s what you mean. You’ll be happy to know that I unpacked the rest of my clothes today, so no more dangerous behavior.”
“Good.” The word had barely left his mouth when he heard Victoria’s heels clicking against the floor. Then she was there, standing beside him, touching his elbow.
“Hi,” Victoria said, her voice sounding strained.
Carina’s smile slipped, only for a second. Then it was back, but this time too bright. “Hi, we kind of met yesterday. I’m Carina.”
“Patricia’s new nurse.”
“Yes.”
Those fingers on his arm tightened. “It’s nice to officially meet you, Carina.” She looked at Flynn. “I think our drinks are at the table.”
His gaze didn’t leave Carina. “I’ll see you tomorrow morning.”
She dipped her head. He held her gaze for another beat before moving back across the room. Once he was seated again, it took everything in him to not stare at her, still standing by the door.
Their food arrived right as Carina’s did. She’d just opened the door when she stopped, giving a small glance at him over her shoulder. When their gazes clashed, her cheeks pinkened a second before she stepped out.
“Flynn! You’re so distracted tonight.”
He looked back at Victoria, running a hand through his hair. Such an asshole.
“Victoria, we need to break up.”
Fuck!
He hadn’t meant to say it like that. Not so abruptly. But to be honest, the words were so overdue, he wasn’t able to hold them in any longer.
Her brows rose. “What? You’re breaking up with me?”
The way she said “me” made it sound like no one had ever broken up with her before. “Yes. Whatever we’ve had going on has run its course.”
“Whatever we’ve had going on…”
Shit, had he worded that wrong?
“We’ve been dating, Flynn. Dinners. Texting. Sex. That’s dating.”
He cringed. “Sorry, Vic, I—”
“I don’t want you to be sorry. I want to know why.” Suddenly, she straightened, a frown marring her forehead. “Wait. It’s her, isn’t it?”
“No.”
One of her perfectly manicured brows rose. “I saw the way you looked at her. Like you were undressing her with your eyes.”
God, if he could just disappear on the spot, that would be nice. “I wasn’t—”
“Save it.” She stood from the table, tugging her bag over her shoulder. “I’ll do us both a favor and leave. For your sake, I hope this isn’t a decision you come to regret.”
Girlfriend. The woman with the perfect hair and makeup and the expensive designer dress was his girlfriend. Of course she was. Carina had suspected the second she’d seen her in his office yesterday.
She lowered into her car before setting the pizza on the passenger seat.
That meant it was in her head, right? The way his fingers had lingered on her cheek yesterday. The heat in his eyes when he looked at her.
The moment she’d thought he was about to kiss her.
Yep. Definitely in her head. Because if a man had a girlfriend who looked like that woman, there was no way he’d be itching to kiss or touch plain-Jane Carina.
Her stomach gave a sad little squeeze, but she quickly shook it off.
Why do you care? The man doesn’t even trust you enough to do your job without supervision.
Nothing was going to happen. Nothing could happen.
A couple of minutes later, she pulled into her driveway. She was still loving the fact that everything was so close in Cradle Mountain. She was a street away from Patricia’s house, so could walk to work on the days she didn’t feel like driving. And she could probably walk to the town center too, if she wanted. Key word—if she wanted.
She’d just stepped out of the car when she stilled. What was that? Laughing? And was it coming from the side of her house?
Quickly, she grabbed the pizza. She’d only just made it to her porch when she heard more quiet laughter. She set the pizza on her porch chair and jogged to the side of the house.
Then she saw them—the two teenage boys from next door, running toward their backyard.
Before she could follow, her gaze caught on her side windows. Her mouth dropped open.
What the…
Eggs? They smashed eggs against her windows?
Where the heck were their parents, and why hadn’t they stopped them?
Well, she wasn’t just going to accept this. She should have gone over there the second that letter arrived.
Carina marched to the neighbor’s house and hit the wooden door hard with her fist. When a moment passed and no one answered, she knocked even harder. “Hello? Is anyone home?”
Well, she knew someone was home—the boys. Where were all the adults?
The door suddenly opened, and a woman stood there, cigarette in hand. She wore a leather jacket, and tattoos snaked down from under the arm, onto her hand.
Her brows rose. “What?”
For a moment, she was put off by the terse greeting but recovered quickly. “Hi. I’m Carina, your new next-door neighbor. Are the boys who live here your sons?”
“Yes.”
She took a deep breath, only just keeping her anger in check. “I’m not sure if you’re aware, but they egged my house tonight. And I’m pretty sure they’re also responsible for a letter I received in the mail about not being welcome in this town.”
The woman’s brows rose higher. “Why are you telling me?”
Was she serious? “Because I was hoping you could talk to them. Explain why those actions are wrong?” Maybe, I don’t know, ask them to apologize and not do it again?
She laughed. “I’m guessing you don’t have kids, let alone twin teenage boys. They do what they want. You got a problem with them, deal with it yourself.”
The gasp had just slipped from Carina’s lips when the door slammed shut in her face.
