Free Black Hills Angel (Black Hills Series) by A.C. Wilson Page B

being a pain. I would have felt terrible." Andy let him hold her to his side. She liked the closeness and the security she felt by being there.
    "Margaret is wonderful. She's really good at her job. Sometimes too good. She likes to be a bit nosy at times. That's how she found out about you actually." He squeezed her shoulder, leaning into kiss her cheek.
    "That doesn't surprise me!" Andy giggled, partly for the accurate description of Margaret and partly for the brush of his lips on her cheek.
    "She is good! The woman could find out classified information, I swear!" Matt steered them along the sidewalk.
    "Well I am glad she is on our side." Andy smiled again, loving how easy it was to talk and laugh with him. She had no idea she could be this comfortable with someone she had just met a week ago. They continued on in hopeful silence as they passed other couples headed to dinner or just out enjoying the cooling night air. It was a wonderland to her. They could be in the middle of some God-forsaken desert and it would be an oasis with Matt beside her.
    She loved the giddy bubbles that floated around inside her. There was more than a glimmer of possibility in her life and it came when everything seemed to be falling down. Maybe what she had always heard was true. Sometimes you just had to let things fall where they would. For her something amazing was rising out of the pieces of shattered dreams, useless regrets, and a million what ifs.
    Her self-perusal was interrupted more by Matt's arm tensing around her shoulders than by the voice that called out to him. Instantly her senses were on alert, but she had no idea why they would be.
    " Matt? Matt, is that you?" A pretty, very musical voice came from just behind them. Andy looked up at Matt's face. It was wiped clean of expression, but his eyes frosted over. It amazed her that such a warm blue flame for her could become a freezing cold glare for someone else inside a minute.
    "Shit." Matt cursed under his breath. Andy turned with him as he had pulled her minutely closer than she had already been. The woman who had called out to him was coming towards them. In the evening light, she was beautiful. Tall, thin and classically elegant. Andy fought the sudden dislike down. In every way she was this woman's antithesis. Andy was shorter, curvier, and well, shabby. A crack of self-doubt started to show through her earlier glow.
    "Hello, Matt, I thought that was you." The woman flirted carelessly as she batted her thickly lashed eyes and pouted her full, red lips. Someone still wears that shade of red lipstick? Apparently so.
    "Hello Monica." Matt stared at her. It wasn't friendly, but more in a dismissive tone. Clearly hoping that he was interested, Monica swept her hands down the length of her short mini skirt. The tight fabric ended somewhere mid-thigh. Andy was sure if Monica bent over even slightly, there would be nothing left to the imagination. She swallowed the growl that almost came out. She really hated these kinds of girls. They used their bodies to shamelessly lure guys to them.
    "I haven't seen you in ages. I was starting to wonder if you weren't interested anymore. Yet here you are. You did always like this walk after having dinner at The Firehouse." Monica's voice was pure sex kitten and Andy nearly choked. What am I? Chopped liver? The fact that he took dates to The Firehouse and on a walk afterward was not an issue. She had to repeat that to herself a couple of times before it stuck. Well, it was as stuck as it was going to get.
    "Oh, hello there, I don't believe we've been introduced. My name is Monica. I'm Matt's girlfriend." Girlfriend. Andy's stomach crashed to the concrete. Those doe brown eyes swept her from head to foot, finally dismissing Andy as irrelevant.
    " Ex -girlfriend, Monica. We are not together anymore." Matt growled, taking a half step into the leggy, short skirted flirt! Andy felt rooted to the spot, her mind telling her to leave now and her heart was