In Bed With The Devil by Susan Mallery

asked. “You mentioned you were a friend of the family, but she hasn’t mentioned you before.”
    “I knew her brother. Meri and I were friends in college. We go way back.”
    “Interesting. You never came to D.C.,” Andrew said easily. “I know all of Meredith’s friends there.”
    “Sounds like you keep a close watch on her.”
    “I care about her.”
    “Apparently not enough that you mind a six-month absence,” Jack told him. “You haven’t met all of Meri’s friends here.”
    “I already know them.”
    “You don’t know me.”
    “You’re the past.”
    Jack’s gaze was steady. “Not as much as you might think. Meri and I have a history together.”
    Meri rolled her eyes. It was as though they were a couple of dogs and she were the favorite tree they both wanted to pee on. While she was sure Jack was more than capable of winning the contest, she was surprised he would bother to play. She also hadn’t expected Andrew to get drawn in. Since when had he become competitive?
    “There’s a little too much testosterone in here for me,” she said as she stepped back. “You two boys have fun.”

    Meri made her way to Betina’s room and found her friend typing on her laptop.
    “Girl emergency,” Meri said as she closed the bedroom door and sat on the edge of the bed. “How could he be here?”
    “Andrew?”
    Meri nodded. “I had no idea. We’ve been staying in touch via e-mail and we’ve talked a little on the phone, but there was no warning. He just showed up. How could he do that?”
    “He got on a plane and flew here. It’s romantic. Does it feel romantic to you?”
    “I don’t know,” Meri admitted, still unclear how she felt. “It’s been weeks and weeks. I thought he was going to propose and I thought maybe I would say yes. Shouldn’t I be excited that he’s here? Shouldn’t I be dancing in the streets?”
    “We don’t have much in the way of streets, but maybe if you danced in the driveway, it would be enough.”
    Meri started to laugh, then sucked in a breath as she suddenly fought tears. “I’m so confused.”
    “You slept with Jack. That was bound to change things.”
    “It was supposed to make them more clear. I was supposed to be healed.”
    “Maybe the problem is you were never broken.”
    Meri nodded slowly. Maybe that was the problem. She’d always thought there was something wrong with her and that it could be traced back to Jack’s painful rejection. But what if that had just been a normal part of growing up and, because of her freakishness, she hadn’t been able to see it? What if she’d made it too big a deal?
    “You don’t think I needed closure with Jack?” Meri asked. “You don’t think getting revenge on him will move me to a higher plane?”
    Betina sighed. “I don’t think anything negative like revenge is ever healthy. You’ve felt emotionally stalled and unable to commit. Was that about what Jack did or was it simply that you needed more time to integrate who you were with who you wanted to be? Being book-smart doesn’t help you grow up any faster or better. Sometimes it just gets in the way.”
    “I figured that out a while ago,” Meri grumbled. “You’d think I could deal with it by now.” She drew in a deep breath. “I was so sure that revenge was the right way to go. I knew that if I could just make him want me, then walk away, I’d be happy forever.”
    “Maybe that’s still true.”
    Meri wasn’t sure. “Like you said—it’s not healthy to be so negative.”
    “But it is done,” Betina reminded her. “Deal with what you have now. Closure. So on to Andrew—if that’s where you want to go.”
    An interesting idea. The only problem was Meri wasn’t sure what she thought about anything anymore.
    “I need to clear my head. I’m going to run. Could you get the group started without me?”
    Betina grinned. “I love it when you leave me in charge.”

    Later that morning, Jack went looking for Meri. She wasn’t in the