Unmistaken Identity

by Marie Johnston

  Chapter Ten

  “And where were you all weekend?” Flynn stepped inside Wes’s office at Canon and shut the door. “I gotta wait until Monday night to see my boy. You left me hanging.”

  Wes shuffled papers around on his desk and opened a file on his computer. Wrong one. He closed it. He couldn’t concentrate until his friend left. Flynn wasn’t going to quit until he pried out everything Wes was willing to share.

  “I was kidding, but were you with her all weekend? The comic book store owner you’re ‘fooling’?” Flynn gave the last word air quotes.

  Wes pushed back and crossed an ankle over his knee. “I am fooling her. I hung out with her and her mom.” Ignoring Flynn’s gaping mouth, he continued, “Guess what? She’s on such good terms with some of her customers that one is representing her pro bono to contest Sam’s contract.”

  “I’m going to ignore the mother part because, dude, you don’t do family—yours or anyone else’s. But the lawsuit? A fool’s errand. Why bother?”

  “To be a nuisance.”

  “And you and her are doing what this whole time?”

  Wes didn’t answer. He didn’t appreciate being put on the spot and he wasn’t going to share his sex life with Flynn.

  Flynn’s eyes narrowed and he huffed. “So you’re hooking up. Don’t like repeat performances, my ass.”

  He didn’t like repeat performances, they just led to complications. Mara was a special exception. He tapped a pen while Flynn loomed on the other side of his desk. Wes thought of an answer that wouldn’t incriminate him with Flynn.

  “I need to know why my dad was so into her.”

  Flynn gave him the duh look. “Why are you so into her? Answer that and there’s your answer. Have you drawn up any contracts with her name on them lately?”

  “Fuck, no.”

  “Really? You met her mother. Prove she doesn’t have you brainwashed. Go out there and pick up that blond hot thing that goes by the name of Hailey but doesn’t mind what you call her when you’re balls deep.”

  Wes winced at the…stunning accuracy of what being with Hailey was like. It reminded him of how little he liked Sam being screamed when he was buried in Mara.

  “I have some work to do.”

  “She’s got you, brother. Finish your work and get out here and show me that Mara Joy Budinski doesn’t have a hold on you.”

  Mara Jade Baranski, asshole.

  Flynn left and Wes scrubbed his face. Stared at his work. All of which would’ve been done over the weekend, when he usually dealt with club business. It taunted him after a long day in the office because he’d ignored messages over the weekend.

  Flynn was right. She was getting to him. He pushed back from his chair and went out to the dance floor.

  ***

  Mara blew a bubble and snapped it, the pop echoing through Arcadia. So satisfying.

  No one was around. The sweet spot of a Wednesday afternoon, when she got very few customers until people started getting off work.

  Since there was no one to impress, she sat behind the register “borrowing” a Justice League comic. Ordinarily, she didn’t sample the merchandise but with a little over three weeks left, she was cutting loose. Soon, affording comics would go back to being a luxury.

  The door tinkled as a shockingly handsome man in a designer suit and perfectly coiffed hair strolled in. He glanced around with a bemused expression.

  She closed the comic and hopped down from her stool. “What are you looking for today?”

  She’d learned a long time ago not to ask What can I do for you today? when her clientele was predominantly male.

  He zeroed in on her like a bird of prey. His gaze swept down her purple plaid flannel shirt to her black Star Wars leggings emblazoned with C-3PO on one leg and R2-D2 on the other.

  An arrogant blond brow rose.

  So it was like that.

  “I just heard about this place. Wanted a look around before it closed.” His rich voice probably left a puddle of estrogen wherever he went.

  But what was up with the hair? She wanted to tell him that the nineties had called and they wanted their frosted tips back. Said the girl with pink hair. Whatever, it worked on him.

  As he approached, he didn’t look over any of her shelves.

  She didn’t get nervous often when alone in the store, but her belly began a slow simmer. What did this guy want? Was he one of those types that forced himself on a girl because normally they found him irresistible?

  Because she could resist him. No way interested. For instance, she liked black hair and sharp blue eyes. A man with an easy grin who harbored an inner fanboy. Sam. She preferred a man like Sam.

  She cleared her throat. “Are you looking for comics, graphic novels, games for any specific gaming system?”

  He stopped and frowned. “What’s the difference between a comic and a graphic novel?”

  “There are a few things. Graphic novel storylines don’t run for as many issues as comics, so they’re longer, and the story tends to be more complicated.”

  His expression read Why should I care?

  “We also have a small collection of movies. Have you seen Deadpool?”

  His unusual gray eyes brightened and he barked out a laugh. “Yeah, I have. Do you sell that here?”

  She led him to the movie rack.

  He snatched it off the shelf and read the back. She finally relaxed around him because now he was acting like a fanboy. “I’d have to buy a Blu-ray player to watch it. I haven’t bought a DVD in years.”

  Always shocked her to hear that, but it was getting more common these days.

  “You know, I saw this in my buddy’s home theater.” His vivid gaze latched onto hers. “I don’t get to hang with him much because he’s found a new girl.”

  Said in a way that sounded like her fault. “Happens.”

  He leaned in until his smooth-smelling cologne washed over her. A sly smile stretched his lips. “I could find a girl of my own.”

  “I’m sure it’s not hard for you.”

  He drew back. Was she supposed to fall all over herself?

  “Harder than you might think,” he muttered and wandered to the register. “I think I’m going to get this.”

  She rang him up and when he handed her his card, the block letters spelled out Flynn Halstengard.

  “Do you want to go get a drink sometime?”

  As charming as he was, she had no urge to meet him anywhere. “I’m sorry, I’m seeing someone.”

  He playfully pouted. “Must be a special guy.”

  “I think so.” But she was afraid to give her heart totally to him. If she could at least see where he lived and know more about him, she’d feel better.

  “Hope he’s turning them away like you are.” Flynn smiled, the poster child for a toothpaste commercial, and gave her a wink before he left.

  Well…Mr. Flynn Halstengard had certainly set an ominous tone she needed to shrug off. A stranger wasn’t going to dictate whether she trusted her new boyfriend or not.

  Chapter Eleven

  On Friday, Flynn left his fifth voicemail since Monday night.

  Wes blew it off and glared out his office tower’s window at the strip mall. If Sam had torn that eyesore down years ago, none of this would’ve happened. Mara would’ve been forced to set up shop somewhere else and probably wouldn’t have been able to afford any of his dad’s other properties.

  She wouldn’t have latched onto Sam, and Wes wouldn’t have met her. Wouldn’t have gotten to know her. Would their paths have ever crossed?

  His office door opened and Flynn barged in.

  “Ignoring me much?”

  “I don’t want to hear it.” Wes turned and waited for Flynn’s reproach.

  “You need to. Did you even kiss anyone at the club? Rub yourself against them? When Hailey scooted that fine ass of hers into you, you jumped like a fifty-year-old virgin at a swinger’s party.”

  Hailey’s painted-on dress and bangi
ng body should’ve been Robson catnip. She was a naturally beautiful girl and wielded her makeup wand like a warrior, turning herself into the stuff of men’s fantasies. Wes had always limited sex with her because she smacked of clinginess. She also gave off I’ll fuck your best friend on your desk vibes. And while Hailey and Flynn had hooked up, neither Wes nor his buddy worried about territory issues. No man was idiot enough to try to claim Hailey.

  With Flynn’s prodding, she’d scooted up to Wes as soon as he’d stepped out of his office. Probably had been hoping to bang one of them on Wes’s desk.

  But instead of double-D tits and hips that could swirl the alphabet over his dick, he saw a girl who didn’t have her shit together. Instead of blond highlights and lowlights and whatever else women did to their hair, he missed the pink.

  And Mara’s hips were perfectly capable of alphabet sex.

  “I need to see this thing through with Mara, and I need to focus.”

  “On what? Letting her fuck with you?”

  “Enough!”

  Flynn’s mouth snapped shut.

  Ah, hell. She was driving a wedge between them.

  “What if…just let me find out what was going on between her and Sam.” Wes sunk into the couch in his office. “I’m starting to think, I don’t know, that maybe they were just friends and it wasn’t about the money. Let me find out why he wanted to spend the time with her that he used to spend with me.”

  “I see. Coulda said so, dude.”

  Wes sputtered.

  Flynn shrugged it off and strolled to the pinball machine. “I get it. I know how Sam bailed on you. You’re pissed he was getting his geek on with Mara Jana Baslinski and you’re worried it wasn’t about the booty.”

  Flynn was crack on, except for her name. Mara. Jade. Baranski. Fucker.

  “Does this thing even work?” Flynn punched the buttons. Nothing happened.

  “Probably. If it’s plugged in.” He snickered and earned the finger. “I doubt you’d even need a quarter. Sam gave everything away.” Or sold it for a dollar.

  Squatting in his pressed slacks, holding his tie in like he was at the edge of a fashion show runway, Flynn fished around for the cord until he hooked it. “Score.”

  Wes stood back with his arms folded. The guy was tenacious about the damn game.

  He didn’t help, but his buddy finally spied the outlet behind the pinball game. Flynn wrestled the machine away from the wall to plug it in.

  A muscle flexed in Wes’s jaw. His breath stalled. The game lit up like opening night at the Minnesota State Fair.

  Flynn released a triumphant whoop and assumed the pinball position.

  Wes shook his head. The words you want it? hovered on his tongue. Nah. Flynn could play it whenever he stopped in. Wes would give it away later.

  “Ha! Extra balls. Yasss.” Flynn had developed the wide-legged stance Wes had often used when he’d wasted his childhood on it. His friend punched the flippers. “So…I went to Arcadia the other day.”

  “What? Why?” Wes’s pulse kicked up. What had Flynn said? What had he done? What had they done?

  “Relax. Just checking her out. She’s cute. The pink hair, plaid shirt, and Star Wars leggings aren’t your usual type.”

  “I told you—”

  “Yeah, yeah.” He whooped and slapped the machine. “I am the pinball master.”

  Wes couldn’t bring himself to ask, but he didn’t need to. Flynn beat him to it.

  “She didn’t take the bait, man. Maybe I’m not rich enough, or her eyesight’s off and she thinks you’re really better looking.”

  Wes gave up his eagle perch over Arcadia and glared at Flynn. He sat behind his desk, but his mind was stuck on the Star Wars leggings he hadn’t seen yet and how much he legitimately looked forward to their date later that night.

  ***

  Mara slid into Wes’s car. “It’s your choice on what to do tonight. I owe you for being such a good sport at Comic Con last weekend.”

  Wes kept the car in park, a faraway glaze to his eyes. “What is there to do on a Friday night? I’m usually catching up with work.”

  “Good question. I’m usually playing my Xbox. I mean,” she gave him a sly smile, “testing new games so I can give proper sales advice. Or watching a movie.”

  “Gaming sounds fun, but I want to be active.”

  His heated stare made her want to strip down in the car.

  She grinned, a flush blooming on her cheeks. “Active is nice, but let’s try something with our clothes on for a few hours. If I need to go get changed, I will.”

  His gaze landed on her leggings, which were sprinkled with words like boom, kapow, and bang. She’d paired it with a long, fluffy white sweater. Her fancy outfit.

  “No, you’re dressed perfectly for my idea.”

  When he parked outside of a huge warehouse-style building, she read the sign and couldn’t possibly connect it with a date night. Other than it might be the best date night ever.

  An indoor trampoline park.

  He killed the engine and she knew he wasn’t joking. He turned toward her, light from the parking lot glinting off his impeccable hair and shadowing his blue eyes.

  “I have a pair of sweats in my overnight bag.” He reached into the backseat to dig them out, wearing a half smile, like his excitement was growing as much as hers.

  “I’ve always wanted to go here but I never had anyone to go with.”

  He paused briefly. “What about that good friend of yours?”

  She laughed. “Sam? He would’ve loved it, but I think by the time I met him, he wasn’t in shape anymore. From the way he talked, it would’ve been something he and his son would’ve loved back in the day. Too bad…”

  Whoa. She’d almost spoken her suspicions out loud. Sam Robson had passed, but it wasn’t her place to spread his personal business.

  Her Sam was waiting for her to finish her thought. “Too bad what?”

  She opened her mouth to speak but stalled at the bleakness in his gaze. Her heart sank. Sam had lost his father, too.

  “Nothing. I just wish he could’ve healed his relationship with his son. I guess he passed on the business know-how, but personally, he’d felt those bridges were burned.”

  “Why would he? What would make a father feel that?” Wes’s tone was neutral, but his brow was creased as if he couldn’t understand it. Neither could she.

  She shrugged, growing uncomfortable with the topic. “He said after the divorce that his ex sent the boy away for school. Then he was gone for college. After that, well, he had no one to hand the reins of the company to, so that’s all their relationship became.”

  His eye twitched. “I don’t think that’d stop a real dad from seeing his kid.”

  “Perhaps he didn’t think he was a real dad.” That was the closest she would come to airing her dear friend’s business. Maybe one day, when she trusted the man next to her completely, she could talk about how awful she’d felt for her friend and, at one time, his son.

  Sam shook his head, not understanding, but before he said anything, she waved it off.

  “I know, I didn’t agree with it, either, but he was from a different time, and honestly, those with money just think differently from us.”

  He opened his mouth to say something but closed it and passed her a small smile. “I heard they have an obstacle course in here and I think I can totally beat you.”

  “Oh, you’re on.”

  Chapter Twelve

  Mara woke up before her alarm. Another Saturday, another game day. They were winding down.

  Sam slumbered next to her. She studied his features, glad to see his lines of stress from the previous week gone.

  Geez, he was a gorgeous man. Strong jaw, straight nose, healthy glow that showed he wasn’t imprisoned in an office all day. Her gaze drifted down to his muscular shoulders and defined chest.

  She could fall hard for him. Because of how considerate he’d been the weekend before with her mother. And how h
e’d good-naturedly worn a costume, then after they’d eaten out, she’d sworn he would’ve taken her mom out dancing had she said the word.

  Then last night. She hadn’t laughed that much with a guy, or gotten so sweaty with one with her clothes on.

  Swinging her legs down, she arched her back in a stretch. Oh yeah, she was going to be stiff today. Worth every protesting muscle to have that kind of fun with Sam.

  Her mouth quirked. Sam. She’d lost a dear friend, only to find someone who could become very special to her with the same name. Was the big guy reaching down from above, still trying to find a way to help her out?

  The year of therapy after her college nightmare had been priceless. Otherwise, she’d have never let men like Sam Robson, Chris, and Ephraim into her life. She’d learned to balance her personal desperation with solid decision-making—after protecting herself first, of course. Maybe one day she’d deeply trust a man.

  A hand snaked out and wrapped around her waist to pull her back into bed.

  “Hey.” She laughed and cuddled into him. “I have to get to work.”

  “It’s Saturday,” he mumbled into her hair.

  “Game day in my world, and one of the last ones.”

  His grip loosened.

  Well, wasn’t her morning bittersweet. She only had a few more gaming Saturdays to enjoy, but it meant she had to leave a morning in bed with Sam.

  “Stay as long as you want, I know it’s early. I gotta shower.”

  She showered, but before she could shut the water off, the door opened.

  Turned out shower sex started the morning out right.

  She was still grinning as she opened up the store. Sam had even asked if he could stop by later.

  The day got started as normal: Joe and Ephraim for another round of Axis & Allies. Chris even jumped into the fray.

  The time went by quickly, but every time the door dinged, she looked up with a surge of hope.

  Maybe Sam had work. Or had a family. He rarely talked about his family. Just him and his mom and he made her sound like a hot mess.