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She sniffed. “Well if they will steal a man, they are capable of killing one.”
He looked at me and I shrugged ruefully. Something told me we wouldn’t be getting back to that morning sex after all.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Sutton
Mark was acting strange, and not the super grumpy-pants strange that I was coming to be familiar with. No, this was a playful, happy, dare I say even lighthearted version that I was quickly coming to lose my heart to.
Who was I kidding? There wasn’t a side to the man that I hadn’t fallen madly, deeply, and desperately in love with. I was in serious trouble.
As soon as I was able to bundle Martha up to go back to the station with Knox, I rounded on Mark. That gorgeous smirk and dancing eyes were more panty-melting than I wanted to admit.
“What has gotten into you?” I insisted, trying to keep a stern face.
Mark stalked over to me and gathered me into his arms. He placed a hot open mouth kiss on my neck, and I sort of lost track of what I had been asking him.
“Eww, still here,” Candice grumbled from the table where she sat messing with her uneaten pancakes.
I reluctantly pushed at Mark’s chest, so he released me.
“So, what happened last night? Was it a smash and dash?” I wriggled my eyebrows at Candice and laughed at the color that flew into her cheeks.
“That is offensive!” She pretended to be offended but she was grinning as much as I was.
“There are worse things, like hit and run, or my personal favorite: jizz and jet.”
Mark barked out a laugh. “I think it’s time I hit the shower so you two girls can talk.”
I winked at him as he passed by to go into the bedroom and grab his things. Not two seconds later, he was on his way back through the kitchen, smacking my ass on his way into my tiny bathroom.
I must have been grinning like an idiot because Candice commented on it.
“I don’t know that if someone had foretold that I would be in Otterville Falls with the two of you I would have ever believed it. It is amazing how much you both have changed over the last few months.”
I sat down in the chair opposite her and grabbed my mug of coffee. It was tepid, but I wasn’t about to make another pot.
“What do you mean, ‘changed’?” I asked.
She cocked her head to the side. “When I first met you, I knew that you would be amazing. You have this fire in your gut and a strong sense of who you are. But you also tended to be very reserved with Mr. Williams.”
I giggled. “You know, you can call him Mark.”
Candice made a face. “Never, it would be beyond weird.”
“So, I loosened up around him. How has he changed from the man you knew?”
Candice leaned forward, eyes wide. “Sutton, the CEO of Sutton Enterprises is living in a trailer park in Otterville Falls. How hasn’t he changed? I knew for a fact that he never even frequented dining establishments that boasted less than five stars.”
I thought of Abberly’s. “Yeah, I didn’t think he was overly impressed with our town when he first came.”
She nodded. “And now look at him! He’s…”
Candice broke off whatever she was going to say when we heard a distinct baritone voice belting out something in the shower.
“What in the living hell have you done to him?”
We collapsed in a fit of giggles.