Amber
I’d spent most of the morning packing for my trip. My boss had given me the day off from the office so I could get my things together and catch an early evening flight. Mark had promised to take me to the airport, but by the way he stormed into my apartment a few minutes ago I was thinking I should have just grabbed a cab.
When he showed up, he barged in in a huff and paced the living room as he tried to control his breathing. He reminded me of a caged lion. His shoulders lifted in quick successions as he muttered words under his breath and yanked at his hair.
“Bad day?” I crossed my arms over my chest and stood watching him from a distance.
“No. It was a fucking wonderful day,” his tone was snide as he rolled his eyes. “I want to go out and fucking celebrate it was so good.”
“Don’t be an ass to me because you’re pissed at someone else,” I snapped.
“I’m the ass?” he stalked over to me. “Why am I always the bad guy here? No matter what I do, I’m wrong.”
“Mark,” I placed my hand on his forearm, trying to calm him. “You’re scaring me.”
He blew out a deep breath, “I’m sorry. I had a shit day, and I just can’t seem to win.”
“Want to talk about it?” I pushed as I tipped my head up toward his.
“Not really,” he murmured. “I’d rather you help make it better.” He leaned in and nuzzled the side of my neck, placing light kisses all the way up to my ear. I shivered as his hands slid around and slowly moved up my back.
“I can’t,” I pushed lightly as I stepped back, breaking our contact. “I have to be at the airport in a half hour for my flight.
“Cancel it,” he murmured as he moved closer.
“I can’t,” I shook my head as I reiterated the words. “It’s work.”
“Tell your boss something came up and you can’t go,” he pouted as his hand glided up my arm, across my shoulder, and his fingers tangled in my hair.
“I love you, but no. This is important. I told you this the other night. You’re gone all the time for work. I need to do this for me,” I stepped away from him so I could get my wits about me and prevent him from completely convincing me to blow this trip off. He didn’t realize how close I was to giving in to him.
“You can’t tell me that there isn’t someone else in your office that your boss can send. You’re not the only one that can do what you do,” he rolled his eyes as he grumbled and resumed his pacing.
“I’m gonna forget you just said that. I don’t know what happened at the station today. I know you were in a good mood this morning and now you're taking out whatever happened on me. I love you, and I have to go on this trip. I’ll call you when I get in, and every night I’m there. Whenever you’re ready to talk about why you’re so pissed, you can call me. Now, we have to go or I’m gonna be late,” I stalked into the bedroom, grabbed my rolling suitcase, and rushed toward the front door. “Are you driving me, or not?” I watched as Mark’s head gave a quick bob before he took my suitcase from me, and led me down to his car.
Mark walked around the back to put my bags in the trunk as I climbed in the passenger seat. It was the first time I’d been in his car in several weeks. We’d been meeting up when we’d gone out, or just stayed in. As I slid across the soft leather seats, I smelled a hint of perfume. My hackles instantly rose at the thought of another woman in this car. “Did you give someone a ride today?” I tried to sound innocent as I buckled my seatbelt.
“No, why?” Mark shrugged as he cranked the car.
“No reason,” I sighed as I leaned back and feigned indifference.
“Don’t do that,” he growled as he pulled out into traffic and headed toward O’Hare.
“Do what?” I nibbled my lip.
“Ask me something and pretend like you don’t care. I don’t give people rides, but fellow officers do ride with me on occasion. What do you really want to know?” he glanced at me before turning on the interstate.
“It smells like a woman in here,” I mused. The blood was pumping furiously through my system. Jealousy was raging through me, and all I could picture was Mark in the back seat with some bimbo, having sex while his phone sat with unanswered calls from me.
“The only woman other than you that’s been in this car lately is my partner, Toni.” He squeezed the bridge of his nose in frustration.
“How come I’ve never met her?” I pushed. Mark had mentioned her name a time or two, but it was more in annoyance than anything. I couldn’t believe that he stayed with a partner that he couldn’t stand. I figured if he had requested it to his boss, he could have gotten someone different.
“Never saw the need. I don’t see her except at work. Why the sudden interest?” his head swung in my direction.
“Just curious,” I lifted a shoulder.
“You don’t have anything to worry about, Amber,” he sighed as he pulled up to the terminal drop off.
“I know,” I reached for my door as Mark climbed out to get my bags from the trunk. I always told him that I knew, but something in the back of my mind told me not to trust him. I’d always had trouble trusting people, especially men. I’m sure that’s why I gave Dani such a hard time about her fiancée, Mason. I stood on the curb as I waited for Mark to hand me my bags. “I’ll call you when I land to let you know that I got in ok,” I murmured as I lifted up on my toes to press a kiss to his lips. “I hope whatever happened at work gets better for you.” I forced a smile as I stepped back. I was still leery of what had him so upset, but I didn’t want to leave with us mad at each other. I had too much at stake with this conference and I needed Mark to work out whatever this was before I got back. We were getting married in a few months, and I didn’t want to start our life together arguing.
“Sounds good,” he leaned down and pressed a kiss to the top of my head.
I stepped back farther, offered a wave, and then pushed through the turnstile door to check in.
ooooooooo
“Hey,” he called, causing my head to snap up, and my eyes to lock with his. “What are you doing here?” Kyle smiled in disbelief as he took in my bags sitting beside me.
Kyle was the newest associate at my firm. We didn’t work together directly, but when we met we found out we actually knew each other. It was a sordid story, but Kyle’s cousin Chris was best friends with Mason. Kyle was two years younger than us, so I’d only met him a handful times at parties we’d attended. He didn’t hang out in our circle, but we were surprised at how many people we both knew.
“I’m heading to that conference in Cali. What are you doing here?” I laughed as he shifted the laptop back on his shoulder.
“I think I’m going with you,” he chuckled. “Rick didn’t say it was you, but he said I’d have another associate with me to bounce ideas off of.”
“Huh, he didn’t say anything to me about someone else coming,” I shrugged as I lumbered over to the check in kiosk.
“Maybe he was afraid you’d back out,” Kyle chuckled.
“And why would I do that?” I giggled as I handed over my bags to the girl behind the desk. Kyle was a flirt, but I’d never given him any reason to think I was interested. I was with Mark. I was engaged to Mark. I’d never cheat on Mark. Kyle was just a nice distraction. He was the type of guy I could be ‘me’ with. He was easy to talk to, and we never argued at work. He was like Mark used to be. I don’t know when we reached that point where it wasn’t fun anymore, but at some point, Mark and I had gone from being happy to ‘just being’. I wanted to get back to the happy place, and I’d hoped that this time apart before we got married would do just that.
“Come on, I’ll help you,” Kyle reached for my carry-on bag as we chatted, and headed towards security.