Troy chuckles, and Samantha hastily explains to him, “It’s always been like this between my sister and Marion. They respect each other, they just…”
Lexi and I cut off her attempt to give us more credit with simultaneous snorts.
“Do you have to be so freaking nice all the time?”
Lexi snaps, “You could take lessons.”
“So could you!”
Troy rubs my back. “The only lessons Marion needs are from me and Jack.”
The sisters go speechless.
What a day!
I throw Troy a look that says I’m-so-going-to-blow-you-later. “Just tell me where you want me to push this cart, boys.”
Jack slides his fingers up, fisting my hair, and pulling me into a kiss so sexy that Lexi gasps, “Oh. My. God!”
Jack breaks free to growl at me, “Let’s get you some cake.”
We strut off, and soon overhear Lexi mutter, “So she can eat it, too?”
I’ve heard her fake whispers before. This one was genuine, but I have to say something anyway.
Because I’m me.
“You’re a clever one, Alexis! Keep that up. I find it pays off.”
And we’re gone.
Chapter Twenty-One
MARION
When we’re down another aisle and out of earshot I tell them, “She loathes being called Alexis! It’s her birth name.”
Jack raises an eyebrow — his form of saying I’m being lame in even thinking about her anymore. He played along for me and only for me.
Troy can’t help but be the voice of reason. “You just had to stick it to her one more time, didn’t you? That make you feel good?”
“It’s not about feeling good, Troy. It’s about winning.”
Troy snatches a loaf of bread from a passing shelf and tosses it into the cart. “Not sure anyone wins there.”
“Oh you are so wrong. I won, alright. I’ve got you.” Glancing to Jack I smile, “And you. Thanks for that kiss.”
He informs Troy, “It’s always about winning.”
Troy argues, throwing organic popcorn into the cart, “This isn’t business.”
“Everything is business.”
“What about love? Marriage?”
Jack chuckles, “You mean where you sign a contract to say you’re never going to leave?”
Troy mutters, “Oh. Right.”
Triumph glitters from Jack’s smokey irises as he slides a stack of six albacore tuna cans from a neatly organized shelf and hands them to me. “Double back for marinara sauce, Troy. I’m going to make pasta tonight.”
Troy’s face begs the question as to why Jack doesn’t just go get it himself, but he keeps his mouth shut. After all, our home is paid for by the man. And he’s doing the cooking. The least Troy can do is grab some sauce.
But it was the way Jack said it that gnawed at him.
As soon as we’re semi-alone — we are in a crowded grocery store, after all — Jack pulls me up against his hard body and searches my eyes. “I like your competitive streak, Marion. It matches my own.” He kisses me more intimately than the show he gave them, and I melt into it, savoring the heat from his chest, the feel of his arms holding me tight, and how sensual his tongue is.
Troy’s voice rounds the corner, “I didn’t know what kind to get so I…”
Jack doesn’t hurry to release me, his eyes holding mine for a beat before we separate. Using the pad of my thumb, I correct my lipstick, and we look at Troy, expecting him to finish his sentence.
But it seems the fetch-me-sauce-while-I-get-to-kiss-her combo irked him.
With the air tighter than I would like, I push the cart around the bend, shelves of nuts and dried fruits to our right. While my men pause to check their phones, I pick up a tub of dried figs.
As much as I enjoy causing a stir elsewhere in life, it makes me uncomfortable that my two favorite people are at odds.
Biting my lip I ask, “You want anything?”
Thumbs scroll away as they don’t look up, shaking their heads to answer me.
Hmm.
I toss the figs into our cart pretty loudly, snapping their heads up.
“Hi,” I smile. “Let’s get out of here.”
I start pushing the cart, passing them with an extra swing in my hips to catch their attention. For effect I swing my hair once, too.
Troy surprises me by deftly swinging me around, pulling me close and kissing me rougher than his normal style. It’s super hot, so I slide my arms around his neck, fingers diving into long, thick hair as my lips tell him I love him, too, and please don’t be jealous.
Jack’s got a knowing smirk as we separate. He chuckles, “Well played.”
Troy grins and off we go.
Glancing back I see Sam and Lexi, having come up behind us, frozen with their jaws on the tile floor.
Chapter Twenty-Two
MARION
In line at registers each named after local streets, Jack has his hand on the small of my back while I’m talking with Troy, our bodies slightly touching as he asks, “If you could go anywhere where would it be?”
“Hmm, what a provocative question.”
Our bodies separate to move forward in line, but Jack’s hand never leaves me. As soon as the cart’s wheels come to a stop, Troy resumes the intimate distance, his fingers rising to touch my cheek as he says, “We need a vacation and Jack said he can work from anywhere.” Answering the question in my eyes he smiles, “We already discussed it, yeah.”
Excitement launches into my belly. A vacation! Away from Atlanta! Anywhere I want to go? There’s a whole world I’ve never seen. The possibilities are endless. “Can I think about it so I can find someplace amazing?”
Jack’s thick fingers caress me through the dress as he offers, “There’s a place in Mykonos you’ll love.”
“Greece?” I clarify, glancing back to his handsome face. “I heard Santorini was the place to be.”
Troy says, “They’re both beautiful.”
“You’ve been there, too?” My eyebrows raise.
“I have.”
“Together?”
He laughs, and nods hello to the checker now that we’re at the front of the line. “How’s it going?” Turning back to me, he explains, “No, I went backpacking right out of high school.”
“Do you have pictures?”
“Of course. Want to see ‘em?”
“Yes.”
As Jack and Troy explain why Greece would be a perfect destination, checker tallying our groceries, we’re all happy as can be so none of us is expecting to hear a nearby woman hiss, “Slut.”
My back stiffens.
Jack and Troy look over first. I’m too frozen to move. Jack’s hand drops from my back like he might punch someone. But it’s a woman, definitely of society and definitely not fight-able by two men. This stops him from taking immediate action, of course, their synapsis momentarily frazzled.
Just like mine.
My hard shell isn’t in place!
She caught me when I was all soft and gushy from happiness and somehow — a thing that has never happened to me before — I’m blushing, heart racing with shame!