“I bet,” he replied, giving her an equally fake smile. “So. You’re a cop.”
She lifted her chin. “I am.”
“Cool.” He gave her a once-over. “I never would have guessed.”
“Most don’t,” she shot back, her eyes flashing angrily. Her casted arm hung at her side, and she moved closer to Lauren. “So…time to go in, right?”
“Right,” Steven said, frowning and staring between the two of them. “Ready, Lauren?”
She studied Daisy carefully, then smiled at Mark. “Yep. You ready, Mark?”
“Sure thing,” he said, returning her smile.
Steven stiffened, then leaned in and whispered something in Lauren’s ear. Her eyes went wide, and she nodded. After staring at Daisy for a second, she cleared her throat.
Steven and Holt wandered off toward the back of the church, and Lydia watched everyone else with wide eyes. She looked like she understood more than she let on.
Hopefully he was wrong about that.
Lauren cleared her throat. “So. Let’s go in?”
“Yes, please,” Lydia said, locking arms with Lauren.
That left Daisy and Mark to pair off.
She looked as if she’d rather swallow a bug.
Daisy started to follow her friend.
Mark caught her hand. “Please. Let me escort you, ma’am.”
“Thank you, sir,” she said, smiling. As soon as Lauren and Lydia turned their backs, the smile faded. “Stop it.”
“Stop what?” he asked, blinking at her. “Being a gentleman?”
“Stop having eye sex with me.”
He choked on a laugh. “Eye sex?”
“Yes. Eye sex. You’re looking at me like we slept together.” She tried to pull free of his grip, but he stubbornly refused to let go, knowing she wouldn’t make a scene and yank free. “And let me make this perfectly clear. We didn’t.”
He cocked his head, purposely slowing his steps so there was more distance between them and the other women, who were whispering to each other furtively. “Funny, because I’m pretty sure we did. I was there, too. And I remember every delicious inch of your—”
“Don’t you dare say another word. If Lauren knows we were together last night, she’ll never stop pushing you at me,” she whispered angrily. He couldn’t help but be insulted by the way she said that last part, like he was some sort of disease she couldn’t risk catching. When Lauren glanced over her shoulder, Daisy smiled and waved like nothing was wrong. She was a far better actor than he was. “So, as far as I’m concerned, we didn’t sleep together. Scarlett and Chris did.”
Jesus. He’d never felt so unwanted as he did right now, with her on his arm, acting like being forced to date him would be a fate worse than death. “She hasn’t exactly been subtle in her attempts to get me to date you, either. She’s been pushing you at me since the second she found out I was a widower.”
She stiffened. “With a kid.”
“Oh.” He curled his lip up, every illusion he had about his Scarlett shattering with those three little words. Turns out, she was just like the rest of the women out there who wanted nothing to do with his kid. He’d feared as much, but it still sucked to find out he was right. He’d never wanted so badly to be wrong. “You’re one of those girls.”
She shot him a narrow eyed look. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means you’re not the only one who’s been avoiding this meeting. If I’d known who you were, I wouldn’t have been so fast to sit down next to you at that damn bar,” he growled.
“What’s wrong with me?” she asked, her eyes narrowed.
Besides the fact that he could never date her? Nothing. And that was the damn problem. He shrugged. “What’s wrong with me?”