A humorless laugh escaped her. “Ah, the question I’ve asked myself at least a dozen times in the past week.”
“And your answer?”
Mallory let out a long, slow breath. “Honestly? I just don’t know. And after eight months of dating, I think I should know. I want-need-to discover the answer. But it isn’t fair to either me or Greg if I let an accidental encounter with a past lover influence me. I need to decide based strictly on what Greg and I have-or don’t have-together. He’s the first decent man I’ve met in a long time and I don’t want to make a mistake by throwing it all away too soon.”
Kellie gave her hand a commiserating squeeze. “That’s very wise. Just keep in mind that if another man can arouse strong feelings in you, maybe your feelings for Greg aren’t as deep as you might have thought.”
“Good advice. How much do I owe you for the consult, doc?”
“I’ll send you a bill. Sure I can’t talk you into coming to the beach?”
“No thanks. I want to clear off my desk.”
They both stood, and after exchanging a quick hug, Kellie left. Mallory took a deep breath and forced everything into perspective. These crazy thoughts about Adam were nothing more than a blip on her emotional radar. A bad case of nostalgia run amok. As soon as she saw Greg again, rekindled their sex life, everything would fall back into place.
Feeling better, she spent the next hour clearing away items from her in-box, then decided to call it a day. The evening stretched out before her like an undisturbed swath of virgin beach-tranquil, peaceful and deserted. With no one to please but herself. With that in mind, she decided to indulge in Thai food, which Greg hated, and pick up a chick flick from Blockbuster. Ooooh. A hot night. Shine on, you wild and crazy diamond, her inner voice snickered.
After gathering her things, she left the office, locking the door behind her. Suffocating heat radiated up from the parking lot blacktop and she quickened her pace to her car. Once the air-conditioning cooled off the interior, she headed out of the lot toward Blockbuster. After selecting her movie, she drove on toward the Thai Palace. On the way there, she detoured down the side street where Greg lived to check on his house as she usually did when he went away for a week at a time. Even though he stopped his newspaper and mail deliveries, unsolicited flyers were often tossed onto driveways. Since such things lying around were red flags that no one was home, Mallory had made it a habit to cut down his street to make sure everything looked undisturbed.
Her eyebrows shot upward a block away from the small brick ranch when she spotted what looked like Greg’s silver Lexus parked in the driveway. Seconds later, she pulled in behind what was most definitely his car. Obviously he’d taken an earlier flight.
But why hadn’t he called her? Probably he’d caught the red-eye and was catching up on some sleep. Hmm…if that was the case, maybe he’d like a little company in his bed. No time like the present to put in that extra effort she’d been talking about and rekindling their sex life.
Armed with the manila envelope inside her oversize purse and with a smile playing around her lips, she used the key he’d given her to unlock the door. She stepped into the small ceramic-tiled foyer and closed the door behind her. The sound of soft jazz poured from the stereo. Because of the way the house was laid out, she could immediately see that Greg wasn’t in either the den or eat-in kitchen, so she headed down the carpeted hallway toward his bedroom. Not wanting to wake him-at least not until she slid between the sheets next to him-she quietly opened his bedroom door.
Well, there certainly wasn’t any need to worry about waking him up-he was clearly wide-awake. And no need to worry about rekindling his sex life-his was apparently just fine. Nor did she need to think that he might like a little company in his bed-he already had plenty. In the form of a naked buxom blonde who was riding him like he was the lead horse in the freakin’ Kentucky Derby. Beneath the blonde, Greg groaned, his hands filled to overflowing with the woman’s melon-size breasts.
Mallory’s heavy leather purse slid off her shoulder and hit the floor with a resounding splat. Her jaw, she was certain, joined her purse less than a second later.
Greg and Blondie turned toward her. Then they, too, froze. Blondie, who appeared to be about nineteen, looked surprised and annoyed at the interruption. Greg looked shocked and all the color drained from his face.
“Who the hell are you?” Blondie asked, all Cosmo-girl attitude.
Mallory had to swallow twice to locate her voice. When she found it, it was accompanied by a tidal wave of anger. “I’d ask you the same thing, but there’s no need since it’s pretty obvious.”
The blonde flipped her hair and heaved a put-upon sigh. “Listen, I know I look just like Pam Anderson, but I’m not her.”
While a bark of incredulous, humorless laughter escaped Mallory, Greg muttered a round of curses and rolled Blondie off him. Blondie didn’t take too kindly to that, however, and promptly rolled to her knees and slammed her hands onto her hips. Mallory, still shocked into immobility, dimly noted that the woman not only had an obvious boob job, but she wasn’t a natural blonde.
Way more than she needed to know. Definitely time to get the hell out of this den of horrors. After snatching up her purse, she turned, then walked swiftly down the hallway on shaking legs toward the front door.
“Mallory, wait,” came Greg’s voice, followed by more curses, then a terse “Stay here”-presumably to Blondie.
She quickened her pace and had just opened the door when he grabbed her arm. Mallory whipped around and skewered him with a look, and, if looks could cut throats, he’d have bled all over his white ceramic tiles. Her gaze flicked down, noting he was still naked. And obviously startled.
“Take your hand off me. Now. Unless you want a new career singing soprano for the Vienna Boys’ Choir.”
He instantly released her. “Mallory, listen to me. This-”
“Isn’t what it looks like?”
“No, it’s not.”
She debated smacking him upside his cheating head with her purse but quickly discarded the idea. Her purse was heavy enough to put him in traction and, tempting as that sounded, he wasn’t worth being charged with assault over. Instead she crossed her arms over her chest and adopted an exaggerated stunned expression.
“You mean this isn’t a case of me walking in while you were boffing some bimbo? Then do enlighten me. I’m all agog to hear.”
Color washed into his pale face. “I can’t stand it when you’re sarcastic.”
“My heart’s bleeding for you. Really. And if I had another six hours to waste on you, I’d be delighted to tell you all the things I can’t stand about you.”
His flush deepened. “I know this looks like I just picked up some woman, but it’s not that way. I met Mandy three months ago, and, well, we’ve fallen in love. I had every intention of telling you tomorrow that I’d met someone else.”
“Really? Before or after you bought her a Happy Meal?”
“She’s not that much younger than me, damn it. She’s twenty.”
“How perfect that her age and IQ match.”
He had the gall to look pissed at her. “I’ll have you know,” he said stiffly, “she hopes to be a lawyer someday.”
“Right. And in the meanwhile, she’ll just screw lawyers. You two are perfect for each other.” She yanked open the front door. He moved as if he meant to grab her arm again and she shot him a look that could have incinerated raw meat.
“What about my stuff that’s at your place?” Greg asked. “Can I come over tomorrow and get it?”
Mallory couldn’t help but laugh. “Jeez, you’ve really got balls.” Her gaze flicked down to his crotch. “Hmm. Maybe not. Anyway, I don’t want you, or your stuff, in my house. I’ll box everything up and send it to you.”