Free ReclaimedSurrender by Riley Murphy Page B

prize and everything.”
    Rene stood and Alexis could practically hear the smile in
his voice. “I’m glad. Whoa there, big fella.”
    Alexis rolled her eyes as Killer made an appearance. He was
ten and half pounds of TNT who thought Rene was the dreamiest alpha-male
around. She leaned forward so she could catch a glimpse of the sweater-wrapped,
tan Chihuahua lying on its back while Rene bent over to scratch the belly of
the sucking-up canine.
    “Are you sure you haven’t been feeding him a ton of cookies?
Look at this gut.” Rene’s big hand looked as if it could wrap around that
animal twice.
    Cara giggled again and her mom said, “Come on, Care Bear, we
have a few more deliveries to make.”
    Cara picked up Killer and said goodbye. When she was out of
earshot Rene asked her mom, “Did Vanskipe order any this year?”
    “Nope, he just peered through the drapes when we knocked and
later that same week I spied him loading up on cookies at the grocery store.
But hey,” she motioned to the plethora of boxes on their front step and
shrugged, “does it really matter when we always have you guys here?”
    Alexis stepped back so Rene wouldn’t see her when he shut
the door. She sank against the wall and closed her eyes. Not quite sure why
this little scene and Sylvia’s comment affected her so much.
    Don’t be an idiot. You know why your heart is aching. You
want to be that couple in the neighborhood who’s always there.
    * * * * *
    By the time Rene pulled into the gym parking lot he was
calmer. The desire to do murder had lessened until an advertisement sign for
chocolate candies reminded him of the MMM… on Alex’s phone. What the hell was
she thinking? Not that he, for one moment, thought she’d inputted that moniker
herself. The most Alex did with her smartphone was answer it and text on it.
Which meant that she’d let Kavanagh do it. Clearly she didn’t know where the
line was to be drawn between a business partnership and guy friend. Michael was
not a guy friend of hers. Hell, even if he were it wouldn’t be okay. It seemed
as if Michael were getting a little too close to her on all fronts. Partnership
or no.
    Too bad Rene hadn’t picked up on this sooner. Reading Alex’s
journals had certainly helped. True, she may have used those pages for her
personal soapbox, but buried in there were the telltale signs of her confiding
in an overeager listener. An outsider readily agreeing with her every negative
thought about her husband. The things she’d detailed that Michael had said, the
sorry-ass reasoning the guy had spouted that hugged the truth so closely and
yet missed the mark by a mile, was frightening. He thought about this latest
intrusion with his Ms on her phone and it hit him. Why, it was almost as if the
guy were—?
    “Son of a bitch.” His hand came down so hard on the steering
wheel he thought he’d cracked it, but he couldn’t help his outburst. Michael
Kavanagh had all the signs of a guy looking to find an in with a woman who was
on the outs with her husband. Suddenly the asinine words and misguided advice
Alexis had been eating up for months made sense. The guy’s backward logic read
like it came right out of a player’s handbook. Not that Rene thought he was
capable of causing them serious damage, Alexis was too smart and loyal for
that, but his interference had certainly muddied the waters. Rene was sure of
it.
    The more Rene tossed this theory around the angrier he got.
Halfway into his workout he was all riled up again. He couldn’t go home like
this. He needed to be in control and levelheaded to deal with this new
complication.
    * * * * *
    Alexis had waited the rest of the day and most of the
evening for Rene to return. After doing some detective work she surmised he’d
gone to the gym because his workout bag was missing and to the youth shelter to
drop off the cookies as they were also missing. Since that’s where they donated
the huge stash they ordered every year she figured