Chapter 10

Maria

The last thing I want is for you to get hurt.

It's the words that keep popping up in her head, even a week later. As she sits in the break room at The Brew, she stirs her coffee without much thought other than Mark's last words.

What he said to her, about knowing he could fall for her, scared the shit out of her. It still scares her. No one falls for her. She's not the type that someone would just fall for after the second date. She's dated a lot of guys in her past, and it took those relationships a blink of an eye to fall for one another. And each one ended disastrously and feeling like she wasn't worthy. She doesn't want that to happen with Mark, so the fact that it seems to be moving fast terrifies her to no end.

Someone walks into the break room and she doesn't look up until that someone slides into the chair across from her.

"Darius!" she nearly shouts. He's wearing a stupid grin on his face. "I haven't seen you all freaking week. Where the hell have you been?"

He shrugs, his smile turning crooked. "I met someone."

"Of course you did," she says drily. "What's his name?"

"Homer."

She nearly laughs out loud. "Homer? Did his mother hate him at first sight?"

He frowns. "You're extra cheerful. Don't bash on the guy. You haven't even met him."

"Is he at least attractive?" She knows that this guy is. Darius is gorgeous and he knows it. He only dates men that match his beauty.

"Oh, most definitely." In detail, he goes on the explain what Homer looks like. When he tries to go into detail about their sex life, she puts up a hand.

"I don't need to know."

"But you know everything about my life. Why stop now?"

She looks down at her coffee. With a loud sigh, she goes back to stirring. "I'm just not in the mood," she says quietly.

Hearing about his sex life and how exciting his life is right now is just too much for her. She's depressed and she knows it. But she doesn't know what to do about the Mark situation. Again, she feels like a mouse tucked under a tiger's paw, helpless and frightened.

"What's going on with you?" he asks in the same tone. "I know I haven't been around, but there's clearly something going on besides you being a little mad at me. I mean, I don't blame you for being mad at me, but I thought you and your fake boyfriend were hitting it off."

"We were."

"Were? Past tense?" he reaches and takes the stirring straw from her hand. "What happened?"

"I don't want to burden you with it," she admits, peeking at him from under her lashes and then flicking her gaze away to the wall.

"You're never a burden to me, Maria. Now spit it out so I can help."

Releasing a breath she didn't know she was holding she finally looks back at her friend. "He confessed something to me that I'm confused about."

He blinks at her, waiting for her to continue. Waving a hand in the air, he asks, "And that was what?"

She drops her head into the crook of her right arm. "That he could fall for me."

There are a few heartbeats where he says nothing. "And that's a bad thing?"

"Well, yes. No." She groans into her sleeve. "I don't know."

The chair squeaks as he leans back into it. "I am so confused."

"You and me both."

"Let's start with your feelings, shall we?"

"Stupid feelings."

He chuckles. "Sit up. Tell me what about that has you feeling so down in the dumps."

Obeying him, she sits up. "You know my past. You know the horrible, disastrous relationships and how they all began so great."

"And you don't want that to happen here?"

"Exactly!" She throws an arm in the air. "You get it!"

He gives her a sympathetic expression. "Sort of, but you're letting your past dictate your happiness."

She wrinkles her nose at him. "I take offense to that."

With a one-shoulder-shrug, he says, "Take it up with your feelings. Do you at least feel the same way about him?"

"Yes," she admits right away. That much is clear. That's what frightens her. "But again, it feels like before, when I'd fall in love right away and everything would go up in smoke and the guy would turn out to be a jerk in the end."

He leans forward. "Let me ask you this: Is he like the same guys you've dated before?"

She thinks it over for a moment before she says, "No. He's far too kind and generous."

His palm slaps the table. "Then you literally have no problems here, just your stupid brain telling you there should be one."

Silence stretches between them while she nibbles on her bottom lip. Is it really so simple? Is she really overcomplicating this? "What do I do?"

He waves a hand in the air. "Oh, that's easy. Just tell the guy you have feelings for him too. That's all he was trying to tell you, Maria. He has feelings for you. It's the start of something great. You'll see."

"I don't want to tell him in a text."

He shrugs again. "Then meet him somewhere."

"Now?" she asks a little too loudly because, by the look in his eyes, he means right this second. "I'm at work!"

He holds out his hand, palm up. "Give me your apron."

"Why?"

"Because I'm taking over your shift so that you can go talk to your lover boy."

She curses under her breath. "I can't let you do that."

"Why?" He frowns. "I have nothing else to do. Homer is at work and there's literally nothing on the TV during the day."

He's being serious. Literally serious. He holds out a hand for her apron, and before she knows it, she's untying it. "Are you sure about this?"

"Yes. Now go."

Standing from her chair, she pulls out her phone and texts Mark as she leaves The Brew.