Free Message From Viola Mari by Sabrina Devonshire

reads so professionally, you know?”
    I covered my mouth to suppress a giggle.
    “Yes, it is very well written, isn’t it?” Justin looked in my direction and smiled. “It seems your week in Prague did you some good.”
    “Indeed. Sometimes all you need is a change of scenery to purge toxins that block your potential.” I wasn’t sure why I threw out something so hostile after he’d sent those lovely roses and a message that must have been difficult to write. Maybe it was because I no longer felt tall, like stone statues on buildings, but like a petite, vulnerable woman walking alone on a cobblestone street in the dead of night.
    Justin pulled off his reading glasses and gazed at the floor. He paced the room, one hand planted under his chin. “Sometimes situations really aren’t what they seem, and other people interpret them the wrong way because of past experiences.”
    “No past experience has been as ugly as a certain recent one.”
    “Okay, speaking of that subtext we were discussing last hour, I seem to be missing something,” said Steve.
    “Isn’t it obvious? Teach and Marissa have a thang going on.” Mark brushed his seemingly glued-together bangs from his eyes. “If we can convince them to kiss and make up, maybe we can get back on task.”
    A burst of laughter ensued. The two older women sent me disapproving stares.
    Justin blushed and wrung his hands. “We’re just having an intellectual dispute, that’s all.”
    “Oh, sure,” said Mark. “You never look me up and down when you discuss my manuscript. Why don’t you just give her a wet one?” Then he looked at me. “Or you could go first.”
    “Are you kidding me?” I wrinkled my nose. “If I kiss him, he’ll probably turn back into the toad that he is.” I am such a jerk. No. I’m an innately calm and sedate individual. Prozac? Never touch the stuff. When I start punching people or breaking things it’s because a man nearby is making me crazy. In this case it’s Justin. There is something about his testosterone combined with the way the muscles in his cheeks ripple when he speaks and the way his eyes seem to strip my clothing off when he looks at me that sends me over the edge.
    Justin shook his head and locked eyes with me. “I understand you’re upset about the comments I made about your work. Let’s take a break and step outside like civilized people and talk about it.”
    He’d asked me politely to be reasonable, but once I fell into the role of madwoman, there was no turning back. “Upset about your comments? Ha! I don’t think so. What I’d really like to know about is Chloe.”
    Heads jerked from my face to Justin’s and back again like they were watching a tennis match.
    “Let’s take a ten minute break.” Justin stepped toward the door. “Marissa—will you please follow me before these people get whiplash?”
    Everyone’s eyes were riveted on me. After a minute, I rose from my chair and followed him outside to a grassy area shaded by a tall sycamore tree. Heads peered around the corner of the building.
    “I really did think she’d given me all of her keys,” said Justin.
    “But since she showed up and I ran out, you thought you might as well go ahead and have one last quickie.” I thrust my hands on my hips and jutted my chin out.
    Justin’s green eyes blazed and his face flushed a sailor-take-warning sunrise red. “You’re starting to make me very angry. I don’t owe you an explanation, even though I’ve repeatedly been trying to offer one. Hell, we’ve only been on one date.”
    “So you did have sex with her.” I pouted, crossed my arms and leaned back against a tree trunk.
    “No, I did not.” Justin waved his arms in despair. “I pushed her butt out the door almost right after you left, and got my keys back, too. I even changed the locks.”
    “Did you really?” I sounded more excited than I wanted to. I uncrossed my arms and dropped them to my sides.
    “If I wanted her, why would I