"Okay, we'll walk around some more," he said, not sounding happy about it. "Then we're going somewhere to talk."
Not if Maddie could help it. She stopped at every stall, commented on every knick knack, read the back cover blurb of every secondhand book.
"Oh, look at these little jump suits," she cooed at a table full of knitted children's clothes. "Wouldn't Ronan look cute in one of these?"
"Very cute." Sam's voice rumbled behind her. He'd stopped sulking about ten minutes ago and she hoped he'd forgotten about the little talk he'd wanted to have. Nothing like an excess of shopping to numb a man’s brain.
"I'm getting one," she said.
"While you do, I'm paying a visit to the gents."
He squeezed her shoulder and his fingers lightly caressed her arm. Oh boy. That simple touch reminded her of last night, of his warm kisses, his smooth skin and his hand down her jeans.
"Are you interested in one of those jump suits, Ma'am?" said the man behind the table.
Focus, Maddie. "I'll take this blue one."
"Great choice." He took the jump suit and placed it in a brown paper bag. As they exchanged money, his fingers touched hers. Deliberately. Whoa! What the hell? She knew a pick-up touch when she felt one.
When she glanced up, he smiled at her. He was in his late thirties, a little taller than her with brown hair and eyes. He had a pleasant face, not handsome, but nice to look at nevertheless.
"Was that guy your boyfriend?" He nodded in the direction Sam had taken.
Good question. What the hell was Sam to her? Definitely not her boyfriend. Hell, he wouldn't even be interested in her after the weekend.
Ouch. Admitting that hurt. She tried to smile even though her heart was somewhere down near her toes and her stomach was churning. Although that could have been from too much ice cream.
"He's just a friend," she said.
The man smiled again, a nice open smile. "Good. In that case, would you go out with me tonight?"
Wow, he was fast. He must be tuned into Pheramour in a big way. She knew it wouldn't work on all men, even natural pheromones didn't, but at least she had some validation that it worked on more than just one. Two, if Justin counted. She was pretty sure he would normally have given her a wide berth if he saw her in public, but instead he’d come right up to her.
Yep, Pheramour was definitely working. No doubt about it. It was exactly what she and Beaker had hoped.
She could have kicked herself though. She should have been watching the reactions of other men in the market—and last night at the pizza parlor too—but she'd been so engrossed in Sam she'd almost forgotten this was an experiment, not a date. She wasn't meant to be forming life time attachments to anyone. Or having sex with them on her couch, or elsewhere, for that matter.
Maddie rubbed her stomach. Damned ice cream. Probably she should've avoided the second scoop.
"I'm busy tonight," she said to the vendor. "But thanks for asking."
He looked disappointed. Too bad. She felt sorry for him, but what could she do? He was attracted to Pheramour, not her, and she didn't want to give two men the wrong idea. It was going to be bad enough when Sam lost interest after she stopped using it, she didn't think she could face more than one disappointment. Some women would get a kick out of the power Pheramour gave them but Maddie only felt guilty for messing with their emotions.
And her emotions. Sam's attention, his feelings, weren't real. It was only a matter of time before his olfactory senses returned to normal and when they did, she was going to have to get used to the idea. She couldn’t afford to wallow and feel like, well, like she’d been dumped.
But being with him felt so good, so wonderful, that a sense of loss would be inevitable. She knew that like she knew the sky was blue. The little demon inside told her Sam's rejection would sting when she finally revealed the truth to him. She needed to prepare herself for it. Not encourage him too much, and definitely not sleep with him.
Maybe she should reject him first. That might help ease the pain. Or not.
She watched Sam as he approached. He was all tightly packed muscle on a lean frame, his walk lazy, not quite a swagger, and his shoulders wide and perfect for snuggling into. Desire coiled through her and headed south. She swallowed. Not sleeping with him was going to be torture. Perhaps fondling on the couch might be permitted...
Who was she kidding? Fondling last night had nearly led to sex. She couldn’t rely on Linda to call her whenever things got hot and heavy with Sam. She couldn’t rely on her scatterbrained sister for anything.
Sam grinned when he saw her. "Guess what I was thinking." The sparkle was back with a vengeance in his blue eyes. "Have they still got the paddle boats on the ake?"