Free To Each Her Own (The Swirl Book 1) by Sylvia Sinclair Page B

she realized that in fact, he didn’t take his phone with him. He’d left it on the sofa next to her. Instincts again insisted that she look over at the screen, and she obliged. Though there was a call that said Daddy-o , a note popped up that a text had come through, and the name made her eyes expand. Maya Papaya . The contact picture was of not only Maya, but of both Ramón and Maya Turner, hugging, smiling, together.
    Ramón came back in and picked up the phone. “I’ve got it. The exact name of the company is Fosters.”
    She stared at him, and sipped her wine.
    He listened for a moment, and said, “Sure. Bye, Dad. Love you.” He told Shasta as he hung up, “My dad wants to get new homeowner’s insurance. I told him about mine but I couldn’t remember the dang name of it.”
    “I see.” She only thought about one thing.
    He put his phone on the sofa. “You’d think he wouldn’t have to worry about stuff like that all these years.”
    She said blandly, “Nothing wrong with trying to lower his rate.”
    “That’s the least of his worries.” He sat back and moved an inch closer to her. “So, the meal agreed with you?”
    “It did. It was excellent.” She made herself be nice. “You’re a really great cook.”
    “Thanks. Not bad for a bachelor, huh?” He reached for his phone again and typed.
    “True.” She gave a half-laugh.
    He continued typing. “Dad again.”
    When he stopped, she said in a low tone, “Ramón, do you mind if I ask you something? It’s kind of personal?”
    “Sure.” He put the phone on the cushion again, and turned to face her. “Shoot.”
    “How well do you know Maya?”
    “Maya? Not that well.”
    “Do you know her away from work?”
    “We’re Facebook friends. I hung out with her one night after a Bain softball game we had back when I first started. A game you missed coming to, I might add.”
    “Okay. But what do you mean hung out?” She knew she sounded possessive. It was her instincts that made her sound that way.
    “We took some cell pics together, and with other people. We went to Red Box after, and she came by here. We watched one of the Taken movies together. I don’t remember which one.”
    She spit it out. “Ramón. Have you and Maya ever . . .?”
    He spoke right up. “Oh no, nothing like that.”
    Doubt showed on her face. It felt familiar. “Not like what? Are you telling me the truth?”
    “Shasta, I wouldn’t lie to you. Maya and I did not have sex.”
    She put her wine glass on the coffee table and turned herself to face him better. “Well what did you do? I mean, did you end up doing to her what you did to me on my sofa that first night?”
    He shook his head. “No. She was seeing someone and so was I.”
    “Oh really?”
    “Yes.”
    “If that’s the case, and if it was so important that you had someone, too, then the two of you wouldn’t have been here together watching a movie.”
    He used one hand as he talked, moving it along with his words. “We kissed. We hugged. We watched a movie. And honestly, I’ll tell you, Maya spent the night in my room. I spent the night on this couch. And that Monday at work, she and I barely spoke. Later, she told me she got in trouble for not answering her phone. That was it.”
    She worked hard to get it right. “So you two spent the night here, and since then you’ve basically been ignoring each other.”
    “No. We say hello and goodbye, maybe some small talk. But that’s it.”
    “You’re sure that’s it?”
    “That’s it.”
    She used her hand as she spoke as well. “But why not more? She’s a beautiful girl.”
    “She is. But there was no chemistry. I’m not attracted to her like that. Honestly, she felt like a friend and that’s all. The kiss just happened. I thought about doing more just because, but like I said, I was seeing someone, and so was she.”
    She thought about how quickly she slept with him while he was saying that Maya did not. Her high about him downshifted.  She