Good Karma (51 page)

“Don’t worry about it,” she said. “Things
happen.”

“Is there any way you can come up to Chicago
next week so I can make it up to you?” Since the holiday fell on a
weekend, Solar had given the employees both Friday and Monday off,
but he knew that Karma hadn’t taken vacation like a lot of the
other employees had to take full advantage of the long weekend
while their kids were on summer break.

“I wish. But I have to work. Jolene already
took the week off, and there’s a quarterly review coming up in a
couple of weeks I need to do the presentation for, so I have to be
here.”

Mark laid his head back against the cushions.
“What are you doing right now?” He imagined her lying on her
bed.

“I just got off the phone with my dad and was
about to sit down to read.”

“And how’s Dad?” He loved how her eyes always
lit up when she talked about her father. They had a close
relationship, even if it was strained now because of him. “Are you
two getting along better?”

She laughed quietly. “He’s still not keen on
the idea of me seeing you, but he doesn’t hassle me about it
anymore. But we’re going fishing on Monday, and my parents invited
me to their house this weekend for fireworks and a cookout.”

Her plans sounded relaxing and peaceful. He
could use some of both after the day he’d had.

Mark turned off the TV and sprawled on the
couch. “Sounds nice. I’m not much of a fisherman, though.”

“I can teach you.”

“Oh? Are you good?”

“Good enough. But don’t ask me to tie any
fishing knots. I suck at them.”

“I doubt you suck at anything.”

She laughed. After a moment, she said, “So,
what are you doing?”

“I’m at a friend’s house, thinking about all
the things I haven’t taught you, yet.”

“There’s more? And here I thought we were
doing pretty well.”

He felt much better now that he was talking
to her. “We are, but yes, there’s always more. And there’s
certainly a lot more in those books you’ve read about how to please
a man that you haven’t shown me, yet.”

“Do I not please you?” she said
flirtatiously.

“You please me just fine. More than fine. I
think I’ve become quite addicted to you, actually.” It was the
truth. Karma was something special. “You’ve just teased me so much
about all this reading you’ve done that I think I need another
demonstration soon so I can examine your technique firsthand. You
know, so you can show me something new.”

She giggled and warmth untied the remaining
knots in his neck and shoulders. “I’ll see what I can do the next
time I see you then. How’s that?”

“I can’t wait.”

“I hope I don’t disappoint.”

“There’s no way you could disappoint me,
Karma.” He smiled. If not for Carol, he could easily have given
Karma his heart.

They talked idly for a while, just small
talk, nothing too deep or serious. Hearing her voice, her laughter,
the smile in her tone, Mark felt at peace for the first time since
this morning. “Well, I should let you go,” he finally said nearly
an hour later. “But thank you for cheering me up. It was a rough
day.”

“I know it was, and I’m glad I could help,”
she said. “Is there anything else I can do?”

“Come to Chicago tomorrow.” The words were
out before he knew he’d spoken them.

She laughed. “What?”

“I know you can’t.” If only she could, but it
was out of the question. “That’s just wishful thinking on my
part.”

“I guess, but don’t say such things. I might
think you’re serious.”

“I’m dead serious,” he said. “but I know you
can’t.”

“Well, it’s a nice thought.”

“Yes, it is. I’ll let you get back to
reading. Good night, Karma.”

“Good night, Mark.”

He hung up and set the phone on the coffee
table before grabbing his duffel and heading to the bathroom, where
he changed into his sweats and brushed his teeth. Then he made
himself comfortable on the couch.

Somewhere around eleven o’clock, he fell
asleep.

And dreamed about Karma.

And wedding rings.

And happiness.

Chapter 43

Once
something is a passion, the motivation is there.

-Michael Schumacher

Karma passed a sign that said the Chicago exit she
needed to take was in two miles. She had white-knuckled the
steering wheel like the reins on a bucking bronco for the past
thirty minutes. Chicago area traffic was a major suckfest. Cars
whizzed by, even passing on the shoulders, which she had never seen
done before, and her nerves were almost shot. She couldn’t believe
she was doing this. What had gotten into her?

Mark. That’s what.

If he hadn’t invited her to Chicago, she
never would have gotten the half-cocked idea of pulling up a Yahoo!
map to see how to get to his apartment building. And then she
wouldn’t have contrived the idea to surprise him, which had become
an idea to pack an overnight bag, which had led to her printing off
a series of maps and plugging his address into her car’s GPS, which
had ended with her heading north on I-65, Chicago-bound.

Somehow—miraculously without getting in a
wreck or killed—around two thirty in the afternoon, she arrived at
his apartment building in one piece. Flustered, yes. Relieved to
park her car and shut off the engine in the parking garage below
his building, absolutely.

Taking a reassuring breath that she had made
it through the wicked world of Chicago’s crowded streets, she got
out, grabbed her overnight bag from the backseat, and checked the
slip of paper she had written his address on.

Apartment number 902.

Ninth floor.

Now to find her way to the lobby.

* * *

Mark had the balcony door open to let the
breeze in while he and Rob finished straightening his apartment.
The new door had been installed that morning, along with an extra
deadbolt. He was feeling better than he had last night, but then
he’d slept eight hours. He rarely got that much sleep. Apparently,
he had needed the rest.

The phone rang.

“Hello?”

“Mr. Strong?” It was building security. “You
have a guest, a—”

“Just send them up.” It was probably another
police officer. The chief of police had alerted him that officers
might stop back by.

“Yes, sir.”

Mark disconnected and got back to work.

“Where do these go?” Rob held up a stack of
books.

Mark pointed down the hall. “In my
office.”

As Rob disappeared, Mark’s phone chimed from
the kitchen counter. He snagged it and smiled when he saw a text
from Karma.
Hey you. Are you busy?

He typed out a response.
Not really. Just
getting my apartment back in order. What are you up to?

He set the phone down and grabbed a couple of
bottles of beer from the fridge. One for him and one for Rob.

His phone chimed again.
Nothing much. Just
walking down the hall.

His brow furrowed. Walking down the hall?
What an odd thing to say. Before he could type out a response, his
phone dinged again.
Who’s that at your door?

He looked up. He hadn’t heard a knock. Wait a
minute. What was going on? He typed out a reply.
At my
door?

Yes. At your door. I could swear I heard a
knock.

What had she done? Had she sent him flowers?
A gift? Balloons? A maid to help him clean? Maybe his visitor
wasn’t CPD after all.

He set down his phone and went to the new
door, unlocked the dual deadbolts, and pulled the heavy thing
open…and found Karma, her hair pulled into a ponytail, phone in her
hand and a smile on her face, standing in the hall.

“Could you use a hand in there?” she said,
slipping her phone inside her purse.

He stepped out, his heart melting, and
wrapped one arm around her waist. “No. But I could use two.” He
pulled her inside, shut the door, and drew her into a hug. “This is
a pleasant surprise.”

Rob came back into the living room. “Hey,
who’s this?”

Mark stepped aside with his arm still around
Karma’s waist. “Rob, this is Karma. Karma, meet my best friend,
Rob.”

She stepped forward and extended her right
hand. “Hi, nice to meet you.”

Rob eyed Mark for a second then took Karma’s
hand. “My pleasure. Mark’s talked a lot about you.”

“He has?” She looked at him. Mark could only
smile back, dumbfounded that she had come to Chicago.

“Oh yeah,” Rob said. “All good, of
course.”

“I’m glad.” Her cheeks pinked, and she looked
around at the remaining mess. “It doesn’t look that bad.” She
glanced at Mark. “The way you talked last night, I expected a lot
worse.”

With Rob’s help, Mark had managed to get
almost everything back where it belonged. He only had a few more
stacks of files and books to go through.

Rob smiled knowingly at Mark. “You didn’t
tell me you called Karma last night,” he said a little too
dramatically.

Mark ignored the jab. “We’ve been cleaning
all day,” he said to Karma. “It’s a lot better than it was.”

“Can I help?”

Her just being there helped, but he didn’t
want to say that in front of Rob. “Sure.”

Rob checked his watch. “I actually have to
cut out.”

“What? You’ve got another hot date?”

“Something like that.” Rob grinned. “But it’s
been nice finally meeting you, Karma.”

“Same here,” she said.

Rob headed for the door. “Keep this guy out
of trouble while you’re here, okay?”

“I’ll try, but he can be a handful.”

“Ain’t that the truth?” Rob waved and
left.

As soon as the door closed, Mark wrapped his
arms around Karma and kissed the top of her head. “Thank you for
coming.”

She buried her face against his chest, then
pulled away and glanced around. “Where can I start?”

He pointed to his lips. “How about right
here?”

She smiled. “I think I can manage that.” She
rose up on her toes and pressed her lips to his. She smelled like
vanilla and tasted like peppermint.

And just like that, his weekend went from
elephant dung to sweet-smelling roses.
Vanilla-and-peppermint-scented roses at that.

After cleaning for another hour, Mark plopped
down on the couch. “Okay, that’s it. No more work today.”

Karma smiled then spied his gym bag and
basketball in the hall. She picked the ball up and flipped it
around in her hands. “How about you show me your moves?” She tossed
him the ball.

“What? Now?”

“Sure.” She sat next to him and took the
ball. “I used to play, remember. I think I told you that.”

“You want to play with me?” Why did that
sound so dirty?

“Baby, I want to play with you so bad.” Her
flirtatious gaze sent a lick of heat between his legs.

He took back the ball. “Are we talking about
basketball or something else?”

Her left brow arched. “Both?”

He regarded her for a moment through narrowed
eyes then nodded. “Okay, you’re on.”

A few minutes later, they were in his car
heading to the gym.

“You look good in my sweatshirt,” he said.
She hadn’t brought a jacket, and in Chicago, even in the summer,
the wind off Lake Michigan could make for chilly days and nights.
And despite it being Fourth of July weekend, today was unseasonably
cool.

“I feel good in your sweatshirt,” she
said.

They arrived at the courts and only had to
wait a couple of minutes for one to free up. After a few minutes of
warm-up shots, he passed her the ball. “Okay, show me what you’ve
got, little lady.”

“It’s been a while since I played. Don’t
expect much.” She dribbled the ball.

“Isn’t it like riding a bike? You never
forget how?”

“I think you’re thinking of something else.”
She watched the ball as if getting familiar with the feel of it in
her hands again.

“Like what?”

She smirked. “Like riding a bike.” She
stepped up and shot.

The ball bounced off the front of the rim. He
leaped for the rebound, and then went in for an easy layup.

“Two-zip.” He passed her the ball again.

“Oh, so we’re keeping score now?”

“Of course.”

She began dribbling, faked to the left, and
cut around to the right, pulling up for a short jump shot. The ball
bounced off the backboard, rolled around the rim, and then out.

“Damn!” She huffed and ran for the rebound,
but Mark beat her to it.

As he dribbled away from her, she rolled her
eyes. “You do know you have, like, an entire foot on me,
right?”

“You’re exaggerating.” He bounced the ball
back and forth, from left to right. “I can’t be more than six
inches taller than you are.”

She jumped forward and tried to steal the
ball. He took the opportunity to dribble around her and made a
break for the net. By now, they were both breathing harder, and
small beads of perspiration were already breaking out over his
forehead.

Karma unzipped his sweatshirt and crawled her
way out of the sleeves. “Yeah, six inches taller,” she said
defiantly. Her nipples peaked under her T-shirt against the cool
breeze. “But with the wingspan of a gorilla.” She tossed the
sweatshirt to the bench as if she was getting serious.

“A gorilla?” He laughed. “Did you just call
me a gorilla?”

She smacked the ball out of his hands and
cast him an over-the-shoulder glare as she walked away. “I sure
did. You gonna do something about it, big guy?”

Mark tugged at his sweatpants. Perspiration
dripped down his thighs. “Time-out.” He pulled off his sweats so
that he was only in his T-shirt and nylon shorts.

“Are you done getting undressed?” she said,
getting snarky. “Or are we gonna play some ball.”

“Oh, baby, you have no idea.” He clapped his
hands once to show he was ready.