There’s a knock on Tinley’s bedroom door, and then Tara immediately opens it. What’s the point of even knocking if she’s going to just barge right in?

“C’mon lazy bum, we need to go shopping.”

Tinley rolls over in bed and looks at the clock on her nightstand: it’s not even nine yet. What the heck is her sister doing waking her up this early on a Saturday? “What are you even doing here, and what are you talking about?”

“It’s an emergency. We need to get you a new outfit for your dates tonight.”

Of course, because only Tara would be freaking out over something as inconsequential as a “fashion emergency.” Tinley pulls her comforter over her head in hopes that it’ll make her sister go away. When the cover is ripped from her face, she isn’t the least bit surprised. She should have known it wasn’t actually going to work. Her sister has always gotten her way. Even when they were kids, whatever Tara wanted, Tara got. Perks of being the first born she would have to guess.

“Yeah, about that…I’m not going.”

Tara throws her arms up and places her hands on her hips. There’s a scowl on her face as she rolls her eyes and her mom voice comes out, “Don’t be ridiculous, of course you’re going. We’ve already paid for it.”

Well, she can’t back out now. She’d feel guilty knowing they paid for the damn thing and she just skipped it—not that she asked them to do it or wants to go, but it’d still be a waste of money.

“Do you know how ridiculous you sound? The guy isn’t going to be able to see me, and what do you mean by dates? As in plural?”

“It’s not for the guys. If you have a cute outfit, you’ll feel more confident and have a better time, and what did you think you were getting yourself into? We told you it was speed dating, meaning you’ll have multiple dates.”

“As long as that’s all you mean and you didn’t sign me up for multiple nights of this crap. Why do I let you two talk me into shit like this? Okay fine, if you’re insistent on me getting new clothes, you’re paying.”

“Whatever, just get out of bed already. I’m limited on time. If I leave Livi with Clark for too long by himself, he goes a little crazy. That girl is too strong-willed, and her father doesn’t know what to do with it.”

She can’t help but laugh at that. Livi is an exact replica of Tara. Tinley never understood why women would refer to their children as their mini-mes until her sister had her daughter. And that’s precisely what Livi is. “What did he think he was getting into when he agreed to have children with you?”

“Trust me, I tell him the same thing every day.”

* * *

They’ve been walking from store to store but Tara still isn’t happy with anything they’ve come across, and Tinley won’t even get started on the fact that this whole shopping trip seems to be about her sister and not her. Every time she tries to pick something up, Tara immediately puts it right back on the rack. Honestly, the whole excursion makes zero sense. Why make such a fuss about an outfit nobody else is going to see? Maybe it’s the whole pregnancy thing—since she can’t wear these cute clothes right now, she’s picking out something for Tinley to wear now and she’ll take it later for herself. Wouldn’t be the first time Tara has “borrowed” something from Tinley’s closet without asking.

After what seems like hours of walking in and out of stores, they’ve finally stumbled into one that has clothes her sister likes, and Tinley is just ready to get this day over with. The stack is growing steadily, and she just isn’t mentally prepared for the disaster that is the fitting room. Tara grabs a tunic off the rack and looks it over. “How do you feel about sequins?”

“Whatever, just hand me what you have, and I’ll try it all on.” She reaches for the huge pile from Tara’s hands. “Happy now?”

“Yep. Now get your cute butt into that fitting room and model everything for me.”

With a huff, Tinley throws the pile of clothes over her shoulder and trudges her way over. She doesn’t see an employee in sight when the rooms come into view and hopes she doesn’t need a key to get in. She’d rather not have to drag herself all over the store with this ridiculous pile of clothing. She tries the first door in front of her, and of course, it’s locked. The doors go all the way to the floor, so there’s no way she can slide her body underneath even if she wanted to.

She starts to walk back out into the store when she spots a door slightly ajar at the end of the hallway. She shuffles past all the other rooms and pushes the door wide open. For a split second, she has that awkward panic moment—her feet glued to their spot on the floor and a look of horror on her face. She can’t look away, but what’s in front of her is absolutely terrifying.

The woman screams, which finally pulls Tinley out of her daze. She slams the door shut, the clothes tumble from her hands, and she hightails it out of there. She doesn’t even stop to tell Tara she’s leaving as she speed walks by her. The only thing on her mind is getting out of this store as fast as humanly possible without making a scene.

As soon as Tinley steps foot out of the store, someone pulls on her arm and whips her around. “What just happened? Why did you leave?”

Tinley tugs against Tara’s grip and releases herself. She continues walking, not caring where she’s going as long as it’s far away from that store and that dressing room. “I just walked in on a woman in the dressing room.”

“And?” Tara’s hand goes down to her hip and the other rests on top of her belly. Sometimes Tinley wonders if she realizes she’s doing it or if it’s just instinct, mama bear mode automatically kicking in or something weird like that. She taps her foot and when Tinley doesn’t say anything, she continues, “What’s the big deal?”

“She was completely naked. She was trying to wiggle into a bathing suit that looked like it should be worn by a toddler. There was so little fabric and the hair…oh, my gosh, the hair. It was everywhere.”

Tara rolls her eyes and lets out a huff. “What are you talking about?”

“I think she was one of those naturalists or something, you know, those people who don’t believe in shaving their body hair? Well, her entire body was covered with super thick black curly hair. Super coarse pubic type hair. Come to think of it, that could have been a man in there. I don’t know, I just saw all the hair, and it was painful.” A shudder travels through Tinley’s body as she tried to erase the mental image permanently branded on her brain. That shit is going to scar her for life.

Her voice gets louder near the end of her rant and a few people look over as they walk by. She didn’t mean to draw a crowd, but she can’t help how rough that whole situation was. She needs to bleach her eyes and stay in the shower all day long.

Tara is outright laughing, and Tinley can’t tell whether or not she’s laughing at her or with her. Either way, it’s still embarrassing. “Do you realize how many times you just said the word hair? It couldn’t have been that bad.”

“You don’t even know. I’m scarred for life. I might need therapy now. And you’re paying for it because you forced me into this shopping trip in the first place.”

“Okay drama queen, how about you save yourself the money, and we go grab a Frappuccino.”

“Yeah, because caffeine is exactly what I need right now.”

“They make those kiddie ones, vanilla bean or something like that, I think. Besides, I’m not drinking caffeine either, but I need something sweet. A large chocolate brownie or something.”

They round the corner toward the coffee shop near the food court, and Tinley stops dead in her tracks. Standing at the counter is none other than Marek Outlaw. What are the odds? It’s not like they have a lot of options for shopping in this area, just the one mall, but still, he doesn’t really seem like a shopping mall kind of guy.

“What’s going on? Why did you stop?”

Tinley’s voice is caught in her throat as she tries to get the words out. Looking at him from this perspective, she can’t deny how attractive he is. He’s wearing a pair of dark jeans that hug him in all the right places. Fuck how did she never notice how amazing his ass is? And he has on a button-up with the sleeves rolled up. Hello, arm candy. She never knew she could be attracted to a forearm before, but Marek has fantastic forearms.

She’s practically panting as she licks her lips and turns toward her sister. “The guy standing at the counter right now is Marek Outlaw.”

“Oh, the jackhole you work with?” Tara’s attention turns toward the counter where Marek is still standing, and her eyes practically bug out of her head. “Holy shit he’s good-looking—like straight out of GQ good-looking. If I weren’t madly in love with Clark, I would totally consider throwing my marriage away for a night alone with that guy. How do you get any work done with him in the same room?”

“It’s easy: he’s a giant jerk. He’s a gorgeous jerk, but a jerk nonetheless. Why don’t we go somewhere else?”

“Don’t be such a baby. I need a sugar fix, and this is the only place in the mall where you can get baked goods. It’s not like we have to say hi to him or anything.”

Tinley begrudgingly follows her sister into the shop, and they join the line. As Marek finishes his order, it doesn’t take him long to spot the two of them standing at the back of the very long line. Their eyes instantly meet, and Tinley’s heart rate picks up as he walks closer to them. The connection between them is strong, and she almost steps out of line to get closer to him. What the heck is going on with her?

He nears her, and his voice is only slightly above a whisper as he breathes out, “Tinley.”

She almost swoons right there on the spot, but her sister interrupts her thoughts. “Hi, I’m Tara, Tinley’s sister.”

He reaches his hand out and shakes hers. “Marek. Tinley and I work together.”

“Oh, so you’re the famous Marek.” Tinley whips her head to the side and watches as her sister smiles a big bold smile then she switches her focus to Marek, who has the sexiest smirk on his face.

“So, you’ve heard of me? All good things I hope?”

Tara laughs and shakes her head. “No, I was totally kidding. I just like embarrassing my little sister here any chance I can get.”

As they continue their conversation, a tall woman sidles up next to Marek and hands him a cup. She’s got jet-black hair that falls down her back and has an exotic Victoria’s Secret supermodel look to her. She smiles and sizes up both Tinley and Tara.

Awkward.

“Tinley, Tara, this is—”

She possessively wraps her arms around Marek’s middle and smiles in that wicked claiming-my-man kind of way as she says, “I’m Giselle.”

Even her voice is sexy in a sultry I’ve smoked a pack of cigarettes every day of my life way, with that low rasp Tinley would kill to have rather than the childlike voice of a twelve-year-old that she actually does have. Some women just have all the luck.

The silence becomes uncomfortably awkward as they all just stand there staring at each other. Tinley doesn’t know whether or not she should say something or just let the silence continue, but she chooses to do the latter. Her sister is unusually quiet as well, probably enjoying how uncomfortable Tinley is getting. Awkward silences always make her nervous.

“Well, it was nice seeing you both. See you at work on Monday, Tinley.” Marek pulls himself from the claws wrapped around his arm and walks out of the coffee shop. The conversation between him and Giselle seems to be very heated, which makes the whole situation even weirder.

“That was weird, right?”

“The fact that she was claiming her territory? I mean, we’re not hideous, so not really that weird at all—although I am very pregnant, so I don’t think she was too worried about me.” Tara adds that last bit with a wink.

Yeah, because the gorgeous woman standing in front of them would have anything to worry about. There’s no competition. Tinley has an extra fifty pounds she’s been trying to lose for nearly a decade, and she didn’t get lucky in the looks department. She’d describe herself as average at best. And that woman? She probably has a line of men throwing themselves at her feet. Even her name is gorgeous. Giselle.

Tinley shakes her head and says, “No, that’s not what I meant. He just seemed really uncomfortable about the whole thing. I’ve never known Marek to be uncomfortable about anything.”

“I don’t know, some people are just different outside of work than they are when they’re at work. That’s probably all it was.”

“Maybe.”

But Tinley didn’t think so. There was definitely something weird about the way Marek was acting. She just can’t figure out what that is.