Page 12 of Revealing Mark

I hesitated, knowing being in his company for any amount of time would be dangerous, but I had no choice. It was too far to get a taxi and I hadn’t brought my car. My stubborn streak surfaced and I contemplated checking with my parents or Sophie if they were still here, but I knew it would look weird if I refused to take a lift from Mark.

He watched me patiently as I battled internally. Finally, I sighed when I gave in and got into the passenger seat. The door closed and I busied myself with putting my seatbelt on but my hands fumbled nervously.Get it together.I hated that the entire car smelled just like him so I tried to concentrate on anything but the man who seated himself beside me.

The car purred as he started it up and I held my purse on my lap, unable to feel comfortable in his company. My heart was beating erratically and I chewed my lip while I looked straight ahead, refusing to look in his direction.

“Your parents really enjoyed this weekend,” he said, making an attempt at a conversation a few minutes after we started the long journey back to the city.

“They did.” I kept my answer short and without much encouragement. I didn’t have much choice about taking the ride from him, but I was intent on giving him the cold shoulder.

He had an ulterior motive and I wasn’t going to play along with whatever he was trying to do. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see him glance in my direction but I continued to watch as his car ate up the miles to our destination.

“You’re not very talkative today, are you?” he said, posing the next question.

“I don’t take well to being manipulated.” I was too irritatedto play nice and I wasn’t going to pretend I was oblivious to what he was doing.

I snuck a look in his direction. His mouth tightened.

“That’s not what I was doing,” he stated.

I crossed my arms and turned to glare at him. “Yes, it is.”

He sighed. “I’m just concerned.”

I rolled my eyes, feeling more irritated. “Like I told you before, there’s nothing to be concerned about.” It was difficult to hold on to my temper when he was being so frustrating.

When he looked at me again briefly it was difficult to stop how my stomach tumbled at the directness of his gaze.

“My gut tells me otherwise.”

“Well, I can’t help that it’s wrong,” I said, brushing off his concern.

“It’s never wrong.” The surety in his voice was astounding.

It was like I was arguing with a brick wall. I was wasting my time so I shifted in my seat, making a point of putting my back to him so I could stare out the window.

Why couldn’t he just leave it alone? I would get back and get my keys from Jack. There would be no drama and things could go back to normal. No one in my family needed to find out any more than I had already told them. If only Mark would stop digging, but if I didn’t appease him in some way he would continue to dig until he discovered something.

Halfway through the journey, I decided to make an attempt to ease his concern. It was the only way to get him to stop.

“Haven’t you ever been through a breakup?” I asked softly.

I didn’t know if he dated or not, but I had never seen him with a girlfriend, and it would only have raised questions if I had asked my brother about it. There would be only one reason I would want to know that type of information. It had left me with my own imagination about his private life and, trust me, it was so private I had no idea what he got up to between assignments.

“No.”

I felt an unexpected relief at his answer. I always wondered why he was the way he was. I bet it had something to do with his upbringing.

“Then you have no idea what I’m going through.” I twisted my hands. The agitated movement did not escape his attention. “Honestly, there’s nothing more to it.”

“You were never that into him and it wasn’t going to work out.”

My mouth fell open as I stared at him. How did he know that? Had my brother mentioned his opinion of Jack?

“Did my brother say something to you about Jack?” I asked, trying to figure out how he had come to that conclusion.

“No. I have eyes.”

I faltered, never expecting he had noticed, but then again it was part of his job to notice things most people didn’t.