Thwarting Cupid. Lori Crawford

she shook her head. Who was she kidding? The man had to be happily married with a passel of adorable little kids. The thought made her more sad than jealous. She wished she had her own family. At least then she wouldn't feel quite so alone and, well....expendable all the time. She'd have a place to belong.

      Her legs pumped faster along the sidewalk while the thoughts kept assaulting her from every angle. She'd expected to at least be married before losing one of her parents. She'd never imagined going through such heartache without somebody to lean on. And yet here she was. She'd not only weathered her mother's death, but her father's too without any kind of support system.

      Losing her mom had been easier because she'd had to be strong for her father. She'd never forget the way he'd almost collapsed in her arms when they'd gotten the phone call in the middle of the night that her mom had passed. And that was after they'd known the day was coming since her mom had battled ovarian cancer for the previous three years. Her mom had been the love of her dad's life for over forty years. It had been a devastating blow for them both, but him in particular.

      Watching her parents together those last few years had solidified what she wanted in a relationship if she should ever be lucky enough to date. Somehow, no one ever seemed to be interested in her. Or if they were, something would happen that would send them skipping merrily off in a whole new direction and forgetting all about her. It was really very strange. If she believed in such things she'd think she were cursed or something.

      She shook off the melancholy thoughts and sat down on a bench overlooking the ocean. If her love life weren't going well, or at all, at least things were comfortable on the home front. She'd moved from her first apartment so she no longer had to put up with a crazy landlord. Her new apartment was much bigger and in a much nicer area of the city. And to top everything off, she lived within walking distance of the ocean. That was the biggest plus of all. Of course, this move cost her more in rent every month, but she couldn't be happier with her place.

      The only thing that made her sad was that both her parents had passed before having the opportunity to visit her new digs. The thought made her sad all over again so she tried to shake it off. There was nothing she could do to change any of that. She needed to let it go.

      Instead, she focused up the beach a ways on a small group of people in what appeared to be some kind of martial arts class. She watched, fascinated, while they kicked and punched and grunted in unison. They were all dressed in comfortable workout clothes except for one guy, who wore a dark suit. Carissa couldn’t stop looking at him. He looked familiar. She just couldn’t quite place him.

      Deciding to get a better look, she strolled toward the class. She tried not to be too conspicuous, but it was hard to get a clear view of the guy because he kept buzzing around another man in the class. He nodded often and looked like he was encouraging the class member, telling him how good he was when his skills clearly sucked compared to his classmates’.

      More than once, the man got out of sync with the class and would then glare at the suit guy.

      “It’s okay, man. Shake it off. You can do this. Just hang in.”

      Fed up, the class guy stopped and planted his fists on his lean hips. “Look, Kelvin. You were fired yesterday, you’re fired today, and you’ll still be fired tomorrow.” Carissa edged closer. She tried to pretend she wasn’t eavesdropping, but being on an open beach with not much else around to distract made it difficult.

      “Robby, baby. You don’t mean that. We’ve been together for how long? Six years? You can’t just throw away your career like this…”

      ‘Robby baby’ got in Kelvin’s face. “You and my career have been mutually exclusive for a very long time now. I booked my last three pictures without you. That Hummer you’re so proud of? You didn’t do a darn thing to earn it.”

      Kelvin touched the Bluetooth on his ear. “What are you talking about? I’ve been on the phone all morning. Lining up auditions and callbacks for you. I’ve earned every scrap you ever tossed my way.”

      And just that like that, Carissa knew why she recognized him. This was the jackass who’d rear ended her that morning. Her focus zeroed in on the guy almost to the exclusion of everything else. Before rational thought returned, she stomped over to the two men.

      “You!”

      They both looked at her surprised. Kelvin held up his hands. He stepped between her and Robby. She had no doubt that the obtuse man had no idea who she was.

      “My client is very busy. No autographs.”

      His response served to make her that much more angry.

      “This is what you were doing when you slammed into the back of my car this morning? Making phone calls for a client who’d fired you?” Carissa glared at him. It took a moment, but recognition dawned on his face at last. Coward that he was, he backed up a bit. Just enough so that Robby now stood between the two of them.

      “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He cast a look around the martial arts students. None of them were even pretending to continue with their training. “This woman is crazy.”

      Carissa cocked a hip and planted a hand on it. “I’m crazy? I’m not the one mowing down other drivers and then leaving the scene. Hit and run. Does that mean anything to you?”

      Fear flashed over the man’s face. Robby frowned and looked at the guy.

      “Loser. You wonder why I want nothing to do with you.”

      “No, no. She’s making it all up. Robby, you have to believe me.”

      The man was an inch from begging. Part of Carissa wanted to feel sorry for him. The other ninety-nine percent of her being wanted to make him suffer. She pulled out her cellphone and snapped his picture. She gave him a humorless smile.

      “Perfect. I’ll see that Officer Garcia adds this to the case file. So he’s sure he’s tossing the right man in jail to rot.”

      Panic settled on the man’s face. “Give me that!” He lunged at her. Carissa dodged away.

      “What? It wasn’t enough for you to total my car? Now you want to steal my cellphone? Dream on.”

      “Give me that phone!” he demanded. He looked as serious as a heart attack when he advanced on her again. Carissa decided to cut her losses. She turned and walked away. Kelvin followed.

      “I am not playing with you.”

      Carissa picked up the pace. So did he. She broke into a run.

      “Get back here!”

      He chased after her. Carissa held tight to her phone and sprinted the best she could in the shifting sand. Despite his suit and dress shoes, he gained on her. She checked over her shoulder to see how close he was and ran dead smack into another man.

      “Oof!” Air whooshed from his lungs.

      Both Carissa and the man she’d barreled into sprawled to the ground in a tangle of limbs. She was so focused on keeping her phone safe, she just noticed in passing how solid the chest was that she used to leverage herself back to her feet. Before she knew it, Kelvin was upon them both. He grabbed her arm and yanked her up.

      “Let go of me!” she demanded. Carissa struggled to keep her phone away from Kelvin.

      “Carissa?” She froze when she heard a man say her name. “Are you all right?”

      “Yeah, I’m–Hutch?” She finally took a good look at the man she’d crashed into. He was still in the process of picking himself up off the ground. He dusted the sand from his khakis and dress shirt. Kelvin was all but forgotten while she enjoyed the view. And he was still quite a view. Broad chest, lean hips, thick brown hair that always looked just a bit long, glorious green eyes and full lips that would be just right for kissing. Okay...she was getting a little beside herself. Move on, girl. Last time they'd talked, he'd been in a pretty serious relationship. That made him off-limits.

      She