Free Bound and Determined by Anara Bella Page A

anywhere around her. “You sure?”
    He got out of bed and padded over to her, his pajama bottoms hanging low on his hips, which brought her eyes down to his semi-erect penis. Her lower belly clenched in memory of the stupendous sex they’d had yesterday. Wishing they had time for a quickie right now.
    He kissed her on the nose. “I’m sure. Now go get dressed before I ravage you. You look damned sexy in my T-shirt.”
    He playfully slapped her bottom for emphasis and she giggled and scurried off. But not before teasing him with a saucy wiggle of her ass.
    Once back in town, she ran up to her apartment to change into a T-shirt and skirt. They’d washed and dried yesterday’s muddy outfit, but there was no way she was wearing the same thing she had on yesterday to the shop.
    Marcus was back with breakfast by the time she’d finished opening the store. Once they’d eaten, he set up his laptop on a Victorian pedestal desk that was close to the cash register counter and went to work.
    The morning passed quickly. Much more quickly than if she’d been alone, jumping every time a customer stepped into the store, and she was grateful to Marcus for that. He typed away on his laptop while she took care of her usual tasks and the customers who dropped in.
    Most people left Marcus alone to work, but Asia noticed that several of the female patrons eyed him with a lot of interest. One woman in particular was determined to catch his eye, and when the usual posturing didn’t work she stopped hedging and went right up to him, gushing about how much she loved his books.
    At first Asia wondered what was niggling at her while she watched the woman openly flirt with Marcus, until she realized she was jealous. She’d never been the jealous type before. The first time had been when she’d caught Davis cheating on her three weeks before their wedding, and even then she’d been more furious and hurt than jealous. Now she realized that Davis’s treachery had done more than just break her heart and make her question her instincts with men. It had brought out a side to her personality that she really didn’t like. One more thing she could thank the jackass for.
    And the jealousy was so unfounded. Not only did she have no claim on Marcus, but he wasn’t encouraging the woman at all. He was pleasant and charming, but that was it. She couldn’t fault his behavior at all.
    What bothered her more was the woman’s sheer persistence. Marcus was a handsome man, and quite well-known. It wasn’t too hard to imagine that he had women throwing themselves at him all the time, but to see it firsthand was something else. This woman had even gone so far as to purchase his book down the street and come back so he’d sign it for her. With the way she was throwing herself at him, Asia couldn’t help but feel that it was only so she could tell him her name. No doubt hoping he’d ask for her number too.
    Marcus handled the situation well, but he still hadn’t been able to shake the woman when Thea showed up.
    “Hey, girl. I see you have some very interesting company.”
    Asia glanced over at Marcus, who was starting to look a bit harried. “Yeah, I have a lot to tell you.”
    Keeping her voice low, Thea said, “I can see that. What’s going on?”
    “I’ll tell you later.”
    Thea frowned. “Okay, but I want details. I came by to see if you wanted some company for lunch.” She glanced pointedly toward Marcus. “But I’m guessing you have other plans.”
    “Nothing definite.”
    Asia took in Marcus’s phony smile that was looking more and more strained by the second and decided he needed saving. Besides, she was way past sick of this woman. She cut into whatever the woman was saying. “Hey Marcus. Don’t you have lunch plans?”
    He turned away from the woman and gave Asia a look of such heartfelt gratitude, she almost laughed. “Yeah, I do.” He turned back to the woman. “I’m sorry to cut this short, but I have things I have to do.