The One For Me (Danver #8)(16)

Denny grinned in the rearview mirror before saying, “Oh, I’m sorry; I believe you refer to her as your Angel.”

Laying his head back against the seat and closing his eyes, Mark said, “I assume she’s gone home by now.”

Mark rolled his eyes as the other man said, “I’m not one to stick my nose in your business, but you should keep that one around for a while.”

“First of all,” Mark began dryly, “when have you ever not had a comment on the women in my life? And second, nothing happened with Crystal. I helped her out and that’s it. End of story.”

Sounding far too serious, Denny said, “But you like her. I mean beyond the usual physical attraction. She spent more time with you this weekend than any female that I know of—other than your mother.”

“And you see how enjoyable that long-term relationship has been,” Mark pointed out.

Denny made a sound of disgust in his throat, being no fonder of Mark’s mother than he was. “I’m just saying that you’ve been restless lately. Possibly, it’s time for a change. There’s this whole world of dating that you’ve yet to experience. There are things you can do with women outside of the bedroom, you know.”

“How would you know?” Mark found himself asking, curious despite himself. He and Denny spent a great deal of time together and were close, but he didn’t ask many questions about the other man’s romantic life. His cousin mentioned having a date sometimes, but the concept of something that sounded so innocent had never appealed to Mark enough for him to express much interest.

“I’ve actually had several long-term relationships. You know, the whole going out to dinner, a movie, or some other form of entertainment. Anything that involves spending time with someone you care about. Heck, I don’t even typically have sex on the first date, nor do I expect it. Believe it or not, the whole let’s get out of here line doesn’t work for most of us.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” Mark smirked.

“If you’d like, I could help you with Crystal. A woman like that might not react as well to being invited over to fuck.”

Mark thought back again to the way she had practically ridden his leg this morning, while rubbing against his cock. “You may be wrong, cousin. Angel may want many things that have never been asked of her. Often in order to think outside of the box, you just need a bit of instruction. Something I excel in offering to women.”

“So you are interested in her?” Denny pounced on his statement like a dog with a bone. “I knew it. I could make a reservation for dinner tomorrow evening for you.”

“I was speaking hypothetically.” Mark denied any interest. He was content to let the rest of the ride pass in silence.

Later that night, though, he couldn’t help but remember Angel mentioning the fact that she followed his Twitter feed. Picking up his phone, he typed out a tweet that said: “Delay is the deadliest form of denial.” C. Northcote Parkinson. #Angel. Something about the quote seemed to hit the right note, and he wondered if she would see it. Then a wave of hesitation and indecision struck him. Shit, what was he even doing? He should delete the tweet and stay as far away from her as possible. In the big-picture view, she was all things virginal white, and in comparison, his soul was black and had been for years. Feeling unworthy was unfamiliar for him, and he had no idea how to handle these strange stirrings of inadequacy. He didn’t do well with idle time, and it was obvious that he’d gone too long between women. He’d rectify that tomorrow and go back to what he knew best. For some reason, though, he couldn’t make himself delete the tweet.

• • •

Crystal had barely closed the door of her apartment when she heard, “Where have you been, young lady?”

Spinning around, she saw her mother standing a few feet away with her hands on her hips. Crystal pressed a hand to her chest, trying to slow her heartbeat down. “Good Lord, Mom, you scared me to death!”

“Watch your attitude, young lady,” her mother scolded.

It was on the tip of her tongue to tell her mother that if she didn’t like it, then she should stop letting herself into her home uninvited. Frankly, though, the tirade that she would unleash would make Crystal sorry that she’d ever opened her mouth. With Dot Webber, it was best to pick your battles and hope to minimize the fallout. Making her voice as pleasant as possible, she asked, “What brings you by today?”

“I wanted to make sure you were still alive. Your sister said something about you staying the weekend with a friend. But you didn’t answer any of my calls, so I thought for sure that something bad had happened to you.”