Deadly Obsession (A Brown and de Luca Novel Book 4) by MAGGIE SHAYNE Page A

followed him out of the room.
    She knew he was raising his nephews, so this didn’t come as a surprise to her. She was just glad the kids were leaving them alone. Good. Just what she needed.
    She sniffled and wiped at her eyes, then turned to beam up at Mason full power. “Why is everyone being so mean?”
    “I think it’s got to do with your outfit.”
    “What about my outfit?” she asked, looking down at herself. “Don’t you like it?”
    “It’s inappropriate.”
    She blinked at him, then smiled a little. “Then you
do
like it?”
    “It’s unprofessional,” he said.
    Oh, he was grasping. Trying really hard to keep his attraction to her at bay. She knew he was. It was admirable, trying to be loyal to that bitch who didn’t deserve him.
    “I don’t think this is gonna work out, Gretchen. You need to go on home now. I’m sorry.
    “Because of my outfit?”
    “Yeah and, frankly, your judgment.”
    Right. He wasn’t upset that she’d worn it, he was upset that she’d worn it in front of that arrogant girlfriend of his. “I’m sorry. It won’t happen again.”
    “You’re right, it won’t. Goodbye, Gretchen.”
    He stood there holding the door open. Her temper flared up, but she tamped it down. He didn’t realize yet that she was his destiny. It was normal for a man to resist a little when he first met his soul mate. Commitment of such intensity was scary for men. He would get used to it. He was already going to be unable to get her out of his mind. She’d made sure of that. He wanted her. She felt it. And she’d done a good job of putting his girlfriend on notice. She would make him hate her before she took her out. It would be easier on him that way.
    Things were going perfectly.
    His phone started ringing just as she left. It was probably
her
, calling to give him hell. She deliberately swung her ass all the way to the car, knowing he was watching. She even dropped her keys near the car door, then bent over slowly to pick them up.
    Yeah. He was eating it up, all right. She didn’t need to look back to confirm it. Not looking back would be more effective anyway. He would be eating out of her hand in no time. He was already on fire for her. It wouldn’t be long now, and he would belong to her entirely.

6
    J eremy and Joshua helped Mason change his bandages right after breakfast. Then Jeremy drove them both to school in the Jeep, which was practically brand-new, because Mason didn’t trust him yet with the Monte Carlo, which was old, but classic.
    If something got banged up, he would prefer it to be the Jeep, but that was actually third on his list of reasons not to let Jeremy drive the Monte Carlo alone. First was that it was a hot rod, and Jere would be too tempted to drive it like one. But since he wasn’t yet experienced enough to handle that much power safely, an accident would be more likely in the Monte Carlo. He and Josh could get hurt. Second, the Jeep had air bags, antilock brakes and very high front-and side-impact ratings. Not only was it less likely to wind up in an accident, but the kids were safer in it, should something go wrong.
    He wasn’t worried about the Camaro, because he intended to spend a lot of quality time with Jeremy teaching him how to drive it safely. He also intended to take him to a nearby track and let him cut loose with it on a regular basis, so he would know how to do it right and could let off a little of that teenage steam.
    Teenage boys were going to do stupid things with their cars. Best Jeremy know how to do it right.
    He was turning into a parent. Knowing that was a relief, too, because he’d wondered if he had it in him.
    As he cleared up the kitchen, his bandages came unwrapped and dangled in his way. He was thinking that he would have to try rewrapping them himself when there was a knock on the front door.
    He looked, then frowned and looked again. Nurse Gretchen was back, a rectangular plastic container in her hands and an extremely demure uniform