Page 11 of Loved By You

“I liked the look of you and then you opened your mouth and now I have the ick,” Ali says as she pulls her hand out of his and wipes it down her shorts before she heads towards the bar.

“Marry me,” Harry shouts after her as he chases after her.

“Oh, he's going to love her,” Jack grins. “He's used to women falling at his feet.”

“Ali takes no prisoners. Hope he can handle her,” I tell him as I look away from Ali and Harry’s exchange and look directly at him for a beat longer than I should and I feelsomething, something I haven't felt in a long time.

Brad interrupts whatever I’m feeling when he takes Gabby’s hand in his and kisses the back.“Brad,” he says with a nod.

“Gabriella,” she replies softly, her cheeks flushing. He might look like he's from an episode ofPrison Break,but underneath all those tattoos I know he’s a gentle giant.

“That's a beautiful name. Can I get you another drink?” He gestures towards her empty glass.

“Don’t be long. Tara is coming round with the dare cards in a minute,” I remind her.

She nods and they vanish into the crowd, leaving Jack and I alone.

“What are dare cards”? Jack asks, his eyes focused back on me. More specifically, my lips. I trap my bottom lip betweenmy teeth, forgetting all about the question he just asked me and instead imagining what it might be like to really embrace that single life I talked about earlier.

“Ria?” The way he says my name is so smooth and deep that I suppress a shiver.

“Yeah?” I say breathlessly.

“Dare cards?” He smirks.

I shake my head, regaining my focus. “Right. Dare cards.” I repeat. “It’s a game where we randomly pull a card out and we have to do what it says. Could be anything from taking a shot or dancing naked on the bar…”

“Well, I’m glad I’ve got a front row seat for this game.” He places his hand to my lower back, encouraging me to sit at a nearby table, sending a bolt of electricity zapping through me. I slide into the leather booth and I expect him to sit opposite but he sits next to me, so close our thighs almost touching.

The way his arm flexes and the veins pop when he rubs his hand over his five o'clock shadow has me salivating while we sit reminiscing for what feels like hours, reminding me how easy he always was to talk to.

“It's been a weird adjustment. It took some time, but leaving the corps was the right decision,” he tells me when I ask about him leaving the Marines.

“And your mom and dad? I bet they were happy you left.” I smile at the memory of his mom's chicken pot pie she would send over with Jack. Everyone knew what our mom was like, and those little gestures of kindness meant everything to me and Noah growing up.

“Yeah, my mom especially. She never wanted me to join. My dad encouraged it, said it was ‘character building’.” He does a great impression of his dad.

“I’m proud of what I did, but it’s not what I wanted anymore.”

“And now you are this big fancy club owner?”

“Yeah, something like that,” he chuckles. “I get to work with those clowns daily, so I can't complain.” Averting his eyes to the bar area, he looks over to where Harry and Brad are mingling with the group of people.

“But enough about me,” he says leaning in a little closer, steepling his index fingers and pointing at me. “How are you, Maria Jones? How's life? You’ve got two girls now, right?”

Smiling at the thought of my girls, I nod. “Well technically I am Maria Kennedy now, but yeah, Lexi is four now and Elle is nearly seven months”

His face falls and he lowers his hands to the table. “Of course, I forgot you got married. I hope your husband knows how lucky he is.”

I nervously twirl the stem of my cocktail glass,

“So how is Alex?” he says with a clipped tone. “Still traveling a lot?”

“Erm, actually we separated a couple of months ago,” I say awkwardly, avoiding his gaze.

“Oh… I'm sorry to hear that.” There is a distinct change in his tone. He doesn’t sound sorry at all.

“Really”? I knew deep down my brother and Jack didn’t approve of Alex when I introduced them to him. I should have known then it wasn’t going to work.

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