Coming Back To You (19 page)

What did he see in that woman? Her boobs were
obviously fake, her skin tanned from a can, and her laughter
sounded like something forced through an exhaust pipe. It was more
like a cackle than a laugh. And apparently Mark was the newest
comedic sensation to hit the circuit from the way that woman
cackled nonstop.

But she was a looker.

Maybe Karma shouldn’t have been so quick to
shove Brad in Mark’s face. Seeing him with that woman was as
painful as being popped in the eye, especially when he paid the
bill, stood, placed his hand at the small of the woman’s back, and
guided her toward the exit.

“How’s your eye?” Brad asked a couple minutes
later as he removed his arm from around her shoulders.

Now that the enemy was gone, Brad could
loosen his guard.

And she’d just started to enjoy the
attention.

“Better.” She’d gotten a look at her new
shiner in the ladies room earlier. The swelling felt like it was
going down, but she had a feeling when she woke up in the morning,
that thing was gonna hurt like a bitch. Or a slap in the face,
which was what had just walked out the door. But hey, maybe the
black eye would keep Jade from being a total drag on their trip to
the zoo. Then again, Jade was more likely to ask who’d given it to
her so she could send a thank-you note.

Which reminded Karma she needed to get up
early in the morning to make a batch of truffles. She really wanted
to get along with Jade, and what better way than through a peace
offering of chocolate? After all, what girl didn’t like
chocolate?

One who is trying out for the part of the
Wicked Witch of the West.

Now, now. She needed to stop thinking that
way. Jade was just a troubled little girl. Once she realized Karma
was an okay gal with a big heart who knew how to make truffles,
everything would work out fine. Positive thinking here.

“You ready to go?” Brad asked a few minutes
later.

“Absolutely.” She shifted the ice pack on her
face and let Brad help her to her feet.

Thankfully, Mark and his ho were gone by the
time they reached the parking lot.

“What’s with that guy? Mark?” Brad asked on
the drive home.

“What do you mean?” And here she thought
they’d put the softball debacle behind them.

“The way he looks at you…I don’t like
it.”

“Which you made perfectly clear tonight.” She
gave him a contemptuous sidelong glance at a stoplight.

“Is something going on between the two of
you?”

“Brad! Absolutely not.”

“Are you sure?”

“Positive.” She ran her hand along his thigh,
hoping to distract him from his current train of thought. The way
his gaze dropped quickly to his lap then back up at the road showed
her plan was working. Her hand settled between his legs and his
chest rose heavily as he inhaled. “Are you jealous?” She smiled and
leaned across the seat so she could kiss the side of his neck.

“No,” he said a little too quickly. Then he
sighed. “Okay, maybe.”

“Don’t be. I’m with you. I’m wearing
your
ring. Nothing’s going on between me and my boss.” But
it wouldn’t take much for there to be, which made it that much more
important that she get her résumé updated this weekend and start
sending it out. She kissed his neck again and felt the bulge
beneath her hand grow. “I never knew you were the jealous
type.”

“Me, neither.” He pulled up to her apartment
building and shut off the engine. “I’ve been neglecting you lately,
haven’t I?”

It had been three weeks since they’d had
sex.

“You’ve been busy.”

He turned and kissed her. “Let me make it up
to you.”

“You wanna come up?” Her alter ego eagerly
waved a whole stack of rain checks in her mind.

Without answering, he got out and joined her
by the passenger door then followed her inside.

Once in her apartment, he eased his arms
around her waist, and for the briefest of moments, Karma almost
pushed him away and told him to leave. Suddenly, Brad’s touch felt
all wrong. Too stiff, not passionate or gentle enough.

Not Mark enough.

Instead, she let him kiss her…let him prod
her toward the bedroom.

All the while, she was cringing inside. She
couldn’t win for losing. For weeks, all she’d wanted was for Brad
to fuck her silly, and now that it looked like she was getting her
wish, it was the last thing she wanted. Sure, Brad’s definition of
fucking her silly was tame compared to hers—and Mark’s—but she
still enjoyed it. Or, rather, she used to.

Was her reluctance because of how he’d acted
at the game? Toward Mark? Or was her reluctance caused by weeks of
resentment over him choosing work over her?

Or was there something more profound at work
here. Maybe her reticence had nothing to do with Brad’s behavior at
all. Perhaps she simply no longer wanted to be in denial and
subconsciously recognized that Brad was just that. A mechanism of
denial she’d clung to far too long. That possibility scared her, so
she quickly abandoned it and forced herself back in the moment,
where Brad’s arms pulled her closer and his lips brushed over
hers.

She had wanted this for weeks. She had wanted
him to pay her some attention and take her to bed, only to be put
off time and again. But now that she was getting exactly what she
wanted—or
thought
she wanted—she no longer wanted it.

“I have an idea,” she said, pulling away.

Brad pulled off his T-shirt. “What’s
that?”

“Let’s play a game.”

His face scrunched. “A game? What kind of
game?”

She rushed into her exercise room, grabbed
the Truth or Dare game from behind the books in her bookcase, and
hurried back to her bedroom.

He took one look at the name on the box and
frowned. “Truth or Dare?” He didn’t sound too keen on the idea.

“Yes. You’ll love it. I promise.” She opened
the box and explained the rules. “You pick a card, I tell you truth
or dare, and then you read whichever one I choose. Then I do the
same to you.”

“I don’t know, Karma…”

“Oh, come on.”

He sighed. “Okay, fine.” He sat down on the
bed, and Karma swirled the cards go fish-style, facedown, on the
comforter between them.

“I’ll go first.” She picked up a card. “Truth
or dare?”

“Truth, I guess.” He didn’t sound as into the
game as she had hoped.

She read the question. “What is the most
you’ve ever masturbated in a single day?”

“What?” He blew out a frustrated breath.
“Really? I’m supposed to answer that?”

“You have to. You chose truth.”

He scratched his fingers through his hair. “I
don’t know, Karma. Maybe two or three times. I really can’t
remember.”

Lame answer. But at least he answered. That
was a good sign, right? “Okay, your turn.” She set the card
aside.

Brad tentatively pulled one from the pile.
“Truth or dare?” He exhaled heavily, face drawn. Then his eyebrows
furrowed as he read the two questions to himself.

“Truth.”

Another sigh, then, “Describe my in-bed
personality in three words.” Something that looked a bit like
insecurity flashed across his face.

He had reason to fear. The three words that
immediately came to mind were tame, boring, and creatively lacking.
She couldn’t very well spill those to him, though, or he’d go into
a sexual coma and she would be lucky if he ever made love to her
again. Instead, she took this as an opportunity to show him how the
game was supposed to be played.

Shifting to all fours, she crawled toward him
and slid her mouth up to his ear. “Hot, sexy, and exciting,” she
whispered in her most seductive voice.

When she pulled away, his face was red, and
he wore a self-conscious grin. “That was sweet.”

“Just the truth.” She picked up another card,
feeling like a cad for lying. “My turn. Truth or dare?”

“Truth.”

She really wanted him to say dare, but oh
well. “Would you rather cuddle post-sex or jump in a hot shower
together?”

Brad never did either, so his answer could
give her a clue about how she could navigate their post-sexual
activities in the future.

He shrugged and glanced away. “Shower, I
guess. But I’d really rather just sleep.”

“That’s it?” The longer they played, the more
she simply wanted to go to sleep herself. That wasn’t how this game
was intended to work. She was supposed to be getting hotter, not
bored.

“Yeah.”

“Okay. Well, your turn. Ask me again. Dare me
this time.” Maybe if she took a dare, he would, too.

He pressed his lips together then read, “Look
around the room and find something to incorporate into our sex
play.”

Karma glanced at her dresser. She didn’t have
a lot to choose from. Her fishing hat, some jewelry, a couple of
scarves. Wait a minute. She hopped up, grabbed a green scarf, and
held it out to him. “Want me to blindfold you?”

“What? No.”

Not willing to give up just yet, she waved
the scarf in front of him as if tantalizing a thief with gold. “Do
you want to blindfold me instead?” She mustered the most seductive
voice she could under the less-than-sexy circumstances.

“Karma, come on. This is silly.” He gestured
toward the cards. “I don’t want to play games to sleep with you.
This stuff doesn’t really turn you on, does it?”

Feeling a bit foolish, she lowered the scarf
and glanced at the cards. When she had played the game with Mark,
she’d been so turned on the only way to turn back off was for him
to give her at least two orgasms. But playing with Brad was about
as stimulating as cleaning her nails. “No, I guess not.”

“Come on. Let’s put these away.” He began
collecting the cards. “We’ve got a big day tomorrow, so let’s just
have normal sex and get to bed, okay?”

“Okay.”

He put the cards back inside their box, took
the scarf out of her hands, stood, finished undressing, and then
helped her out of her clothes.

Feeling not the least bit desirable, she lay
back on the bed, wrapped her arms around his shoulders, and stared
up at the ceiling as he took her missionary style. Again.

The day Mark returned, she’d told Lisa that
she didn’t need passion to be happy.

She’d been wrong.

Right now, the only thing she wanted was
passion.

Chapter 22

Saturday morning, Karma dragged herself out of bed
and into the kitchen to prepare the truffles she wanted to give to
Jade. Brad had left last night after they’d had sex, so she was on
her own this morning. Thank God. After the lackluster events of the
evening, she wasn’t sure she could face Brad right now.

She pulled out the truffle recipe, gathered
all the ingredients, and followed them to the letter. After
combining the cream and chocolate, she set the bowl aside and got
ready for her day at the zoo.

As the minutes passed, she grew more and more
tense. It felt like her body was performing a preflight check to
prepare for her day with Jade. Muscles? Tight. Jaw? Clenched.
Headache? In the queue. But if she was marrying Brad, she had to
find a way to coexist with his daughter.

She returned to the kitchen, formed the
chocolate mixture into balls, prepped the chopped almonds, powdered
sugar, and crushed peppermints while the truffles rested in the
refrigerator, and then finished by rolling the chocolate balls in
the crushed toppings.

They looked good, but when she bit into one,
the ganache was grainy, as if the chocolate hadn’t completely
melted. This was the same problem she and Brad had encountered when
they made truffles at Single Servings. What the heck was she doing
wrong?

But at least they tasted good. Everything
else was forgivable as long as they were delicious. No way could
Jade not like these delectable things.

She carefully placed the truffles in a
container and packed them in a cooler so they wouldn’t melt. A few
minutes later, Brad announced himself with a quiet knock.

Karma grabbed the cooler and joined him in
the outer hall. Jade wasn’t with him, which meant she’d stayed in
the car.

“How’s her mood?” she asked.

Brad’s expression said it all. Jade was
particularly sour today. “The usual.”

“I made truffles for her. Hopefully that will
help.”

Wishful thinking. The moment she and Brad
walked out the door, the battle was on.

“I asked you to please get in the back,
Jade.” Brad pointed for Jade to get out of the front seat and into
the back.

Huffing dramatically as if he were asking her
to do something as inane as cut grass with a pair of scissors, Jade
threw the front passenger door open, glared at Karma, and got out.
She was wearing black on black on black. Probably not the smartest
wardrobe choice since it was unseasonably warm today. But Jade was
in
that
phase. The one where she experimented with all
manner of pseudo-Gothic dress in place of more practical jeans and
a T-shirt.

“Hi, Jade.” Karma gritted her teeth and
forced a smile.

“What happened to your eye?” Jade pointed.
“Did someone beat you up?” Was that a smirk on her twelve-year-old
mouth?

“I got hit with a softball.” Karma dabbed her
fingertips on her tender cheek, just under her eye.

“Cool.” Jade sighed and rolled her jaw over
what had to be a whole pack of gum as she gave her a two-finger
wave that looked more like a hostile peace sign. “We doing a
picnic?” She addressed Brad but gestured toward the cooler.

“No. Karma made something for you and she
doesn’t want it to melt.”

Rebellious teenaged eyes narrowed on the
cooler as if Jade instinctively knew she was trying to induce a
truce. Karma could almost hear the plan backfiring already. Maybe
the truffles had been a bad idea.

As soon as they were in the car, Jade opened
the cooler, which Karma had set in the backseat.