Hard Justice. Lori Foster

cut ties on him?”

      “Yes.” Or more like Marcus had cut ties—with his reaction.

      He frowned. “Hung up on him still?”

      Emphatic, she said, “Noooo.”

      “No?” he clarified.

      “Not even a little.” Marcus had bruised her pride, wounded her spirit and dashed her hopes, but she knew she’d never really loved him. “He was...convenient.” She wrinkled her nose. “That sounds terrible, doesn’t it? Very mercenary. The thing is, he works for my dad and my parents liked him. He was familiar with the family.” And all her secrets. “It seemed easy to fall into a pattern with him.” Easy, and oh, so stupid.

      “Well, for what it’s worth,” Justice said, “I don’t like him.”

      He sounded so sincere, she couldn’t help but point out the obvious. “You don’t even know him.”

      “Sure I do. See, fighters learn how to size people up real quick. You get in the cage with a guy and you have to know if he’s quiet because he’s afraid, or because he’s that confident. Does he talk smack to counter insecurities, or because he knows he can back it up? I can read body language and Marcus is a putz.”

      Fallon laughed. “Sorry to disappoint you, but he really isn’t. He’s successful and engaging and people love him.”

      “Not me.” Justice squeezed the steering wheel. “Not you.”

      Good point. “We’re the exceptions, then.”

      “Nope. Your dad wasn’t too keen on him either, let me tell you.” Justice glanced in the rearview mirror, frowned, and then took an exit. “So what happened? What’d he do?”

      She couldn’t believe his audacity. “That’s private, Justice.”

      He chewed his upper lip, rolled one shoulder, and said with complete seriousness, “I have to know these things. I mean, what if he shows up and tries to start trouble?”

      Fallon laughed. “He won’t. In all ways, Marcus is proper.”

      “Asshole wasn’t all that proper today. Proper is letting a lady go when she asks.”

      “Justice!” It took all her control not to laugh. He did have a way of saying things.

      Jaw working, Justice grumbled, “I wanted to cream him.”

      It was ridiculous, but his vehemence warmed Fallon’s heart. She touched his rigid shoulder and said, “I’d prefer that you didn’t.”

      “Okay, so help me out here—what’s his crime? If I know, then maybe, maybe, I won’t feel the need to stomp on him.”

      For the first time since the breakup, Fallon felt like talking about it. Oh, she wouldn’t give him every detail. She’d learned her lesson on sharing too much. But given Justice’s defense, and the fact he didn’t know all her secrets, he might be the perfect person to listen.

      “I’m on the edge of my seat here,” he said. “Imagining all kinds of crazy stuff.”

      Belatedly, she withdrew her hand, but her palm continued to tingle. She curled her fingers into a fist, holding on to the sensation.

      Justice’s shoulder was boulder hard and so warm that she couldn’t help but think about touching him again, wrong as she knew it would be.

      “Honestly, it wasn’t all that much.” The hazy setting sun glared through the windshield, giving her a good excuse to hide behind her own sunglasses. Now where to begin? “Marcus and I started out as just friends. I...haven’t done much dating.”

      What an understatement.

      Not wanting him to ask about that, she quickly continued. “There are some occasions where you’d really like a date. Weddings, company parties, things like that,” she explained. “I knew Marcus through the company, he was nice, others admired him...”

      “And you bought into that shit?”

      She bit back a smile. “My dad was really pleased when Marcus asked me to a company gathering.”

      “So what? Your dad didn’t have to date him.”

      That time the laugh broke free. “For some reason you’re biased.”

      “I told you, I’m a good judge of character.”

      Curiosity got the best of her. “So what do you think of me?”

      Becoming uneasy again, Justice said, “Finish your story first.”

      Fallon thought about it, then decided he was right. Better to get it over with. “We did the whole friend thing for a while until finally, maybe a month later, Marcus wanted more than that, but my parents have been really overprotective.”

      “Noticed.”

      Of course he had. Not like he could have missed that. “I didn’t have much experience with guys, and Marcus was...patient.”

      Interest sharpening, Justice growled, “You’re talking about sex?”

      She wished she could be as plainspoken as him. But his question alone made her face hot. Lifting a hand in a lame gesture, she said, “Stuff that comes before that.”

      “What stuff?”

      Fallon shifted. “You know what I’m saying.”

      He chewed his lip again. “Okay, so we’re talking foreplay, right? Making out, groping a little, testing the water so to speak.”

      “Yes, exactly.” And all that had gone well enough as long as she left on her clothes. “We seemed to suit...until it came time for the deed.”

      He snorted a laugh. “The deed?” he mimicked. With a teasing glance, he asked, “We’re still talking sex, right?”

      “Yes,” she growled, her eyes narrowed as Justice made her feel foolish.

      “Let me tell you, if Marcus screwed that up, then good riddance.”

      Yes, he’d definitely screwed it up. The same strangling humiliation swamped her. “We found we didn’t suit and that there could be no future between us. Not in any intimate way.”

      “Holy shit,” Justice breathed. “He did screw it up. Jesus, what a putz.”

      “It wasn’t like that.”

      He snorted another laugh. “If you say so. But now I just feel sorry for him.” This time Justice reached out and patted her knee. “The idiot will be regretting that the rest of his life.”

      It blew her away that Justice seemed to consider her such a prize. “Why would he regret it? Because he works for my father? I don’t think Dad would—”

      “Yeah, your dad definitely would. But what I meant was that he’d lost out with you.” Justice got back on the expressway before saying, “You know you’re a catch, right?”

      He didn’t know her well enough to make that judgment, but she enjoyed hearing it anyway. “You think so?”

      “Know so. I mean, what’s not to like, right?”

      She half turned to face him. “So tell me, what do you consider my sterling qualities?”

      He glanced in the rearview mirror again. “Would that be crossing a line? I mean, I don’t look forward to your dad unloading on me again.”

      “I won’t tell if you don’t.”

      He grinned wide enough to put dimples in his whiskery cheeks. “Alrighty, then. For one thing, you’re cute as hell. Big bedroom eyes, soft sexy mouth, and you have such a sweet little body.”

      Fallon ducked her head as guilt swamped her. “I don’t.”

      “See,