"He's probably in love. It's a disease." Lisa shrugged, the news hitting her harder than she wanted to admit. She stood up, tears threatening to give her disposition away. "I'm going to wash up. I’ll help you cook."

"I would love that. Just down the hall on the left. You can't miss it." Kari's mom chuckled as Lisa walked away quickly. She barely reached the bathroom before the first soft sob slipped from her lips. She hadn't cried more than ten times in her life, the last few months being nine of them.

Sitting down on the closed toilet she reached for a towel hanging over the top of the shower and pressed her face to it as another sob left her. The smell of Marc's body wash filled her senses, a groan leaving her. She needed to get home - now. Distance would make the heart grow cold and Michael Carrington would help, no doubt. She would just throw herself into a relationship with him.

Surely Ms. Martin would understand when she jetted out of there like her ass was on fire. Life was too short to be tied to one person and wait for them to either cheat on you like Kari's ex had, or peter out and give up, much like her own father.

She walked from the bathroom, wiping at her face as the sound of Marc's voice reached her.

"Lisa's here? Oh good. I need to apologize to her."

CHAPTER NINE

"No, no need to apologize. It was my fault. You were in the right." Lisa moved into the living area.

Marc turned to face her, his eyebrow lifting.

The tight black leather jacket that rested over his white t-shirt caught her attention first. Surely he didn't. He extended a large red bag toward her.

"I got you something." He didn't seem at all like himself. It looked as if life had pulled the plug on his joy and forced him to watch it die.

"I don't need anything. I have everything I want back home." She shrugged and moved past him to sit down at the table. "Ms. Martin, do you need help with lunch?"

"Hmmm? Oh no. Just take a load off. We'll eat in about twenty minutes. What time is your flight?"

"It's at five today." Lisa shrugged, not sure what time the flight was. Trisha had yet to get back to her, but she would spend the night at the airport if it meant running hard and fast from her feelings.

"Five? I thought you were staying until tomorrow." Marc moved into her line of sight, sitting down in front of her and leaning toward her.

She pulled her legs back, shrugging casually. "Things change. People change. Lessons are taught and learning gleamed. Leaves the student with a decision to make. I'm simply making mine."

"What are you two fussing about?" Ms. Martin moved in behind Marc as the color drained from his face. He took a long breath, his eyes never leaving her.

Lisa shifted her gaze up to Kari's mom, smiling as sweetly as she could. "Nothing, just acting like brother and sister. You know, Kari's little baby brother has become like one to me too. I didn't have siblings. It's nice."

Ms. Martin pulled Marc's head up and smiled down at him, kissing his forehead once. "He is a cute little guy, isn't he?"

"Mom, really?" He pulled from her and turned back to Lisa, pinning her with a hard stare.

Sadly enough, the anger in it made her pulse jump. If it weren't for his silly need to dominate her in the elevator, the sex would have been classified as fucking hot. He knew how to bring her to heights of ecstasy that she hadn't experienced before. She was on the edge of orgasm when he let himself go, but she held back, not wanting to give him the pleasure of knowing how much power he had over her.

It was uncomfortable and suffocating.

What if he wanted to make things right between them? To move to Maine and start a life with her?

Fairy tale bull shit.

"You think of me like a little brother?"

"I do now." She smiled sardonically and turned to face the table, reaching for another scone and licking at the icing on her fingers.

"You would throw away what's happening between us simply because you're scared of it?" he leaned over and whispered harshly.

She turned her head toward him, her eyes narrowing. "You had no right to fuck me like that yesterday. You took a gift I gave you and bastardized it."

"I wanted you to know that I..."

She reached out and slapped him, hard. "Don't you dare say it. Don't. I don't need a lesson in lust versus love. I don't need to know that what I came here to find out is real and true. You don't own me and you'll not be controlling me like you did yesterday. Your point was proven. Get the fuck outta my life, Marc Martin."

"Done." He stood and walked to the kitchen, Kari's mom whistling some silly sounding tune.

Lisa swallowed the hot lump in her throat and tapped her fingers on the table before her. She would not cry. She would sooner sell her soul to the devil than let on how much his words, his actions, hurt. She came to find out if he loved her like she loved him.

And it would seem that he did... but he didn't want to just as much as she didn't.

He dropped the bag beside her and opened the front door, looking over his shoulder as she looked over hers. A sad smile brushed across his face as he nodded.

"I think the lesson I've learned is just as much if not more difficult to swallow than the one I taught you. It's all here... waiting and ready, Lisa. Funny thing is, me not wanting to give into it was a fucking joke. I tripped over myself the first night we met. Too bad you didn't." He closed the door, the sound jarring.

She pressed her forehead to her hands and let out a long sob, her heart breaking at the truth. Nothing was ever easy, but maybe it wasn't meant to be.

"I'm sorry," she mumbled toward Kari's mom as the older woman rubbed her back.

"It's okay, baby. When you both grow up a little it will all work out."

"I don't know."

"I do. The most powerful emotion given to mankind will have its way. Go home and heal and when it becomes unbearable to live without him, come back and take what's rightfully yours."

Lisa snuggled into the warm hug of Kari's mom and let her heart breathe for the first time ever.

Love wasn't for the weak, and it most certainly wasn't for her.

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