Page 12 of Prince Charming

Tag arched his eyebrow. “What do you mean?”

Amused now. “She’d wanna know if you had an interest in this chick.”

Tag rolled his eyes. “Don’t you start. I catch enough shit from The Butcher. I’m just looking out for her, that’s it.”

No lies detected.

“Sure, brother.” Tag wasn’t rising to the bait. “My Zara can smell a potential relationship two states over, fair warning.”

“So noted.” He took off, had a fast word with the club’s queen, and then whistled for the prospects to bike up and follow him to the gym.

Marianna was carrying an armful of towels when Tag and his prospects prowled into the building. She hesitated a step, blinked and then disappear around a corner.

He knew she wasn’t frightened of him; she didn’t act skittish.

Maybe he rubbed her the wrong way.

He was too used to women falling over their feet to talk to him. This was new, and it put burning embers in his gut to find out why.

He didn’t hunt her down. Not right then, heading to the basement instead to help with the boxing class.

It was a few hours later he got a text from Zara.

She’d stopped by the gym to talk to Marianna.

Zara:I think I have cooties. She politely refused all my invites to go for coffee!

Stubborn woman.

She was probably one of those natural loners.

Or a tea drinker.

FIVE

“A mother is always a mother even when her arms are empty.”–Marianna

These stolen moments were her entire world.

The reason she kept going and didn’t fall into a heartache so painful she wouldn’t recover.

Marianna’s behind rested on the edge of the desk, unable to relax for fear of being discovered. Teary with laughter, she listened as her three-year-old daughter talked.

She loved kindergarten and her grandma, mashed potato dumplings, and dollies of all kinds. Lily also loved picking out her own outfits, most often she was a mismatched delight.

Marianna missed seeing her daughter try to pull on pink tights with a blue skirt and a green sweater. She missed the laughter at bath time, even the tantrums.

Her heart leapt and rolled over.

It was a mother’s love that made her ache this way, deep inside her chest. It never eased. Only these rare phone calls made it disappear into the crevices of her soul for a short time.

Using the gym’s phone for personal use to Russia, left her feeling shameful. Stealing from Tag was up there with her horrible decision making.

Her guilt racked up.

What else could she do?

Only owning a burner phone, the one-time she’d charged it with forty dollars, it ate the entire thing after only a few minutes.

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