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“I wouldn’t say I could take all of the credit,” I demurred.
“Oh, it’s you,” Candice insisted. “He’s happy and I would never in a million years tie that description to Mr. Williams before you came along. He’s a man in love.”
I froze. “In love? I don’t think so.”
Candice frowned. “Yes, in love. Why do you think he stays here and hasn’t insisted that I return to the company? Sutton, the man would do anything for you.”
I felt uneasy and shook my head. “We are just having fun.”
She snorted. “Yes, I have heard day in and day out the thumps on the wall from all the fun you are having.”
I blushed wildly knowing that I couldn’t deny her accusation.
Candice tapped her lip. “But it is more than that. It’s the way he looks at you or takes your hand. One almost has to look away because it seems so intimate. He worries about you incessantly, is practically obsessed with whatever you are dealing out in the bedroom. Sutton, that is a man in love.”
A part of me desperately wanted to believe her. But the people who loved me either left or screwed me over. And besides, Mark was amazing, and I was just a broken girl from Otterville Falls.
I heard the door to the bathroom open followed by a cloud of steam. Mark rounded the corner in low fitted jeans and a tight t-shirt. He didn’t stop until he had walked right up to me and kissed the top of my head.
“Are you still discussing the details or is it safe to return?”
I frowned. “We didn’t talk about it at all. Candice distracted me!”
She squealed and jumped up from the table. “Gotta run, talk to you both in a bit!”
Her door slammed shut and there was a distinctive click of the lock.
Mark laughed. “Don’t worry, I am sure you will be able to corner her at some point. The house isn’t that big. If you didn’t talk about last night, what were you going on about?”
I blushed wildly.
His brows began to rise. “Now I really need to know what you talked about.”
I stood and moved to go into my bedroom, taking a page from Candice’s book. My only trouble was that Mark stood up and followed me.
“You aren’t getting away that easily.” He shut the door to my room and gathered me back into a warm embrace. “What were you talking about with Candice?”
He smelled incredible, and for a moment, I just sucked in the manly deliciousness that made up Mark Williams. But eventually, I had to answer, “We were talking about you.”
“Me?” He tipped my chin up and I saw a sexy smirk. “Why were you talking about me?”
“It’s just you have been a little different lately, good different!”
He wrinkled his brow. “What?”
“Look, it is nothing, Candice was just trying to deflect me. She was going on about how you must really—” I couldn’t say ‘love.’ “—erm, like me, and it was nice seeing you this way.”
He was quiet for a moment and I worried that I had screwed everything up by being too honest.
“She is right, you know.” I glanced up at him and saw that his gaze was intense. “You have changed so much about how I see the world. I suppose I am different. But she was wrong about one thing.”
I felt my heart pounding in my chest.
“What was she wrong about?” Mark asked. “Do I have to spell it out for you? I don’t justlikeyou, Sutton. People like their favorite latte, or a television program. Hell, people like puppies and sunsets. That is nothing compared to how I feel about you.”
I could hardly believe the words that were coming out of his mouth. But I needed more. If he didn’t like me, then what? What was it he felt for me?
“You are killing me here,” I blurted out. “You can’t just leave off a statement like that.”