Free Made To Love Her by Z.L. Arkadie Page B

Maybe I shouldn’t try to stay away from her. I want her. I want her bad.

    L ike the drive to the bakery, I carry Daisy and Monroe in my car, and Anne, Carter, and Allie ride with Maddie. I can imagine how they’re tearing Monroe down in that car. Of course Monroe deserves it—she’s been nothing short of a bitch.
    “Can you believe them?” Monroe complains.
    “Yeah,” Daisy says with a sigh. “It seems they’ve been giving Maggie hell.”
    Monroe falls back against her seat. “Thank you. I didn’t think you got it.”
    “Oh, I got it. But you just keep yelling and insulting them, and I’ll remain the voice of reason. It’s been working.”
    Monroe lets out a loud laugh then hugs Daisy’s seat. Her face is right in the space between the driver and passenger seats. “Get the hell out of here—you mean to tell me that you’ve been playing them all along?”
    Daisy turns to face her, smirking. “Like a fiddle.”
    Monroe balls her fists and sings a happy note. “No wonder you were able to land Jack Lord. You’re fucking amazing.” She kisses Daisy on the cheek.
    I glance at Daisy just in time to see her look at me with a squeamish look.
    “Well, thank you, I guess,” Daisy says.
    “Now can you put your seat belt on?” I say, watching Monroe through the rearview mirror.
    “Oh, don’t get your boxers in a bunch.” She sits back in her seat. “Or briefs. Or do you go commando?”
    I stifle a chuckle. Despite her being a bit crass, I find Monroe to be amusing.
    “Anyway,” she says, “what going on between you and Vince’s cousin, Carter?”
    I shift uncomfortably in my seat. “I don’t know what you’re talking about?”
    “I see… Deny, deny, deny? Don’t pretend as if nothing is going on between the two of you, Tango. Neither one of you can keep your eyes off each other.”
    “There’s nothing—”
    “And let me tell you, that’s not easy to do when I’m in the room.” She pauses. “Or Daisy over there. Even PG, she’s the hottest piece in the room.”
    Daisy grunts and rolls her eyes.
    “And see, that makes it even worse because she downplays it, which makes her even hotter. But anyway, this is what I want to know, Tango.” Monroe pauses, watching my frown with an amused look on her face. “So when did you two fuck? Because I’m positive you fucked.”
    “Monroe?” Daisy scolds.
    I swallow nervously. The fact that I had sex with Carter is the last thing I want to get back to Vince. Whenever I need a sharp dose of reality, I recall the conversation between Maggie and Mavis, my former executive assistant. I’m easily able to stand in the same shoes I stood in on the morning I was banging a woman in my supply closet.
    We actually get more done when he’s not here.
    He’s such a game player.
    I think he looks at your ass and pussy like he’s a starving hyena.
    To him, women are pussies not people.
    And finally, I think his greatest ambition is to be trapped in a porno.
    They said a lot more than that, but those are the things that haunt me like the ghost of Robert’s past. I’m quite sure Vince thinks the same of me, and Vince would probably cut off my balls if he thought I was donking his cousin.
    “That’s okay, Daisy. I can answer,” I say.
    In the rearview mirror, I make eye contact with Monroe. She’s smirking, proud of herself.
    “Carter and I have never fucked,” I say in a convincing tone of voice.
    She folds her arms. “I’m calling bullshit on that.”
    I shrug. “Believe what you will.” I play out my indifference by looking straight ahead, unfazed.
    “Okay then,” Monroe says after a long moment of silence. “I’ll buy it—I guess. If you’re lying, then you’re better at it than I am.”
    I glance at her in the mirror, and she’s studying me with tapered eyes. She’s an inquisitive one, but I’ve been a master liar for a long time.
    “Good,” Daisy says with a sigh of relief. “Glad that’s over with.”
    “Me too,” I say with a