She swallowed. ‘Pretty much.’
He nodded thoughtfully as he kept one eye on that teasing little button. No surprises there. The waitress came and took their order and he was pleased for the distraction. He ordered a T-bone. She ordered pasta.
‘OK, so no Simon.’
‘No, we can talk about him. I promise I won’t burst into tears.’
‘Really?’ Marcus had three sisters and his mother was on her fourth husband. He’d been privy to more than one bust-up in his life. In his experience women tended to cry for days.
‘Sure. You can test me if you like,’ she said, and laughed self-deprecatingly. She noticed Marcus’s gaze wander back to her chest as her breasts bounced with her laughter. She shifted slightly in the chair and felt those muscles contract again as his gaze followed her movement.
‘No tests, I promise. You said you were together a while?’
She nodded. ‘Ten years.’
Marcus had to refrain from spitting his mouthful of beer all over her. A decade! He swallowed the ale then whistled instead. He couldn’t even begin to contemplate being with someone that long.
She laughed at the rank incredulity on his face. ‘How long were you and your ex together?’
‘Three years. Married for two.’
‘Yeah, I guess it is a long time.’ She shrugged, staring into her wineglass, one hand twirling the stem, the other pushing into the knot of hair at her nape and absently massaging. ‘We’ve actually known each other since kindergarten but got really close after his mother died. My mum had not long gone either so I understood what he was going through.’
Mutual grief? Didn’t sound like the best basis for a relationship. Marcus was surprised it had lasted a year. ‘What happened with your parents?’
‘My dad died in a car accident. I was just starting grade twelve. And my mum was diagnosed with breast cancer two months later and lasted nine months. I’m sure her broken heart hastened her end.’
Marcus heard the anguish hidden behind her controlled delivery. His first instinct was to pull her into his arms and comfort her. His second was to run like hell. He took a sip of his beer, acknowledged the dangerous zone he was entering and took a mental step backwards.
He was buying her a drink and a meal and seeing her home. That was it.
But then she sighed loudly and pulled the pins securing her hair out, throwing them on the table as she raked her hands through to free the curls. He watched, fascinated, as her body moved, as her neck twisted from side to side, as her breasts jiggled with each arm and shoulder movement. And the button maintained its precarious hold.
Dear God. He couldn’t run now if he wanted to. He had a sudden vision of that hair spread on his pillow, wrapped around his hand, trailing across his body, and tried to remember why hitting on a woman who had just ended a relationship was a bad idea.
‘Sorry, this must be depressing the hell out of you,’ she said, shooting him a sad smile as she picked up her wineglass and sipped the dry white appreciatively.
He shook his head. ‘Nope.’ He pointed to her nearly empty wineglass and even though he shouldn’t ask, he did. ‘Another?’
Madeline hesitated. For a second.
Rebound sex.
‘Sure why not?’ The wine was giving her a pleasant buzz that, combined with Marcus’s obvious appreciation, was quite exciting. She deliberately adjusted her collar and noted Marcus pause as he rose, his eyes widening as his gaze followed the path of her fingers as they lingered near the holding-it-all-together button at her cleavage.
He departed to buy another round but not before Madeline had seen the bob of his Adam’s apple and the flash of desire glitter in his eyes. She smiled to herself.
So this was sexual power?
How could she get to her thirties and not know how heady it was?
Rebound sex.
God damn it. All right. All right!
Marcus approached her warily from behind, praying that he had himself together now. There was something different about her tonight that trebled her sexiness. Even from behind she stood out from the crowd. Her gorgeous crop of lush red ringlets falling to her shoulders separated her from every other woman in the pub.
‘Thanks,’ she said, as he put her wine down.
He smiled and they both tasted their drinks. She crossed her legs and brushed her foot against his bare calf. ‘Oh, sorry,’ she apologised, smiling at him over the rim of her glass.
Marcus almost choked on his beer. The contact had been too slow to be accidental. It had lingered a little too long. He gave her a searching look and she held his gaze steadily.
He’d seen that look before.
Great! He was going to be rebound sex? Not that he had anything against it per se. Hell, he’d been used on more than one occasion on the rebound and had enjoyed himself immensely. But he remembered not that long ago he had stupidly been rebound guy for his ex and it hadn’t been his wisest moment.
Maddy was emotional and he didn’t want her to confuse his intent. He would probably see her most days — it would be smart to keep things between them strictly business.
‘Tell me more about Abby,’ he said, grabbing the first thing that popped in his head and then wished he hadn’t. ‘Sorry, no, bad choice. I’m supposed to be cheering you up.’ He just needed to get her off track. Because if she came on to him, he wasn’t sure how good his powers of resistance would be.
‘It’s OK, I don’t mind talking about her.’
‘You blame yourself for her death?’
She sucked in a quick breath. How had he had seen so deeply inside her on such short acquaintance? ‘Of course,’ she said in a small voice, and shrugged. ‘I was her older sister. I was supposed to be looking after her. Just before my mother died she said
