You don’t need to take revenge. Just sit back and wait, because karma will get hold of those that hurt you and, if you are lucky, God will let you watch.
-Author Unknown
On Friday, around four o’clock, with her nerves creeping in over tonight’s dinner, Karma snuck a peek into the conference room. Mark was bent over his laptop, chin resting on his fist. The sleeve of his light-blue dress shirt stretched against his biceps, and his short, dark hair appeared slightly tousled. Karma had noticed earlier in the week that he had a habit of raking his fingers through his hair when he was on the phone or deep in thought.
“Hi, Karma!” Jolene startled her as she bounced up to the desk and slapped her hands on the counter as if she were trying to draw as much attention to herself as possible.
“Jo?” This was a surprise.
“Is he busy?” Jo’s gaze darted toward the conference room.
Ah, so there it was. The real reason for Jo’s visit.
“Um…” Karma looked toward the conference room, searching for any reason to turn Jo away. Not that Karma had any right to keep her away from Mark, but… Okay fine. She was jealous. All week, she’d had Mark to herself, and now here came Jolene. Beautiful, busty, little Miss Hot Body, in her barely there blouse and up-to-there skirt.
Jolene leaned in and whispered, “Does he have a girlfriend? I heard he doesn’t. Do you know?”
Cold dread and defeat sank like lead inside Karma’s stomach. Jo was the kind of girl men didn’t say no to. If she had her sights set on Mark, the game was already over.
“I don’t know,” she said quietly. “I…I don’t think so.”
Why fight it? Jolene was everything Karma wasn’t. Jo had never had to work for attention her entire life. She walked in a bar and men lined up to buy her drinks. She got sick, and men fought to hold back her luxurious blond hair.
Jo giggled quietly. “He’s so slammin’ hot.”
“I hadn’t noticed.”
Jo was already quick stepping away from Karma’s desk, aimed like a laser toward the conference room.
Karma’s shoulders sagged. Well, having Mark to herself had been fun while it lasted. Her stomach sank as she watched Jo stop a few paces from the doorway, fluff her hair, and then move in for the kill. Jo was the kind of girl Karma imagined Mark would normally date. She was Barbie. He was Ken, except Ken had never been that sexy. Ken only alluded at sexy. Mark was the real thing.
Jolene knocked on the door. “Excuse me, Mark?”
Mark turned, briefly caught Karma’s eye, then looked at Jolene. “Yes?”
“Hi. I’m Jolene. We haven’t met, yet.” Jolene fell into her patented come-hither pose. Breasts high, shoulders back, chin down so she could bat her lashes at him. She tilted her head so that her long, blond hair fell to the side.
“Mark.” He stood and shook her hand.
Jolene let hers linger a couple of extra seconds in his then let go.
“You’re the sales admin, right?” Mark said.
“Yes.” Jo brightened as if the fact that he knew what position she held meant he had been checking her out, too. “If you ever need anything…sales reports, sales data…anything at all, I’m your girl.”
If Jo even knew how to pull a sales report, it would be a miracle. Karma was the one who pulled those reports and manipulated the data for the sales staff, not Jolene. In truth, Jo should have been fired a long time ago. The only reason she was still around was because her boss drooled after her, and she flirted incessantly to keep him wrapped around her little finger.
Mark smiled politely. “Well, I’ve got all the help I need, but thank you.” He gestured toward Karma. “Karma takes excellent care of me.”
Karma’s face heated at the compliment, and she sat a little higher. Jolene shot her an icy look.
“Well, of course,” Jo said. “Karma’s such an eager beaver.” She laughed drily then turned back to Mark and fell into her come-hither pose again, undeterred. “But hey, a few of us are going for drinks after work. Would you like to join us?” Her tone suggested more than just drinks.
Karma held her breath. He already had plans with her, but he could easily change his mind and go with Jo.
“I’m sorry, but I already have plans,” Mark said. “Maybe another time.”
Karma breathed a sigh of relief and smiled. There was something satisfying about seeing Jolene get turned down, especially by Mark. And the fact that Mark was honoring his plans with her when he could have bailed and had drinks with Jo made Karma respect him that much more.
“Oh.” Jolene sounded despondent. This had to be the first time a man hadn’t fallen for her charms. “Okay. Another time then.”
“Perhaps. Nice to meet you, Jolene.”
Karma glanced at Mark out of the corner of her eye just as he glanced toward her. “Karma, do you have a minute?”
She hopped up with a bit more pep in her step. “Sure.” She grabbed her notebook and headed toward the conference room.
Jo turned, scowled, then slinked off, dejected.
Mark waited until Jo was gone, then said quietly, “That was interesting.”
Karma clutched her notebook against her belly and bit the inside of her bottom lip. “Jo thinks you’re the bee’s knees.”
Mark laughed. “The ‘bee’s knees’?”
“Well, I’m paraphrasing. That’s not exactly how she phrased it. I think her exact words were ‘he’s smokin’ hot.’”
“I see.”
She glanced at her shoes. “I can’t believe you told her no.”
“I already have plans with you.”
“You could have cancelled.”
Mark didn’t respond until Karma met his gaze again. Then he glanced past her as if to ensure they were still alone, leaned forward, and said, “I don’t cancel on someone unless I have good reason to. And drinks with Jolene isn’t good reason.”
“Most men would disagree with you.”
Mark frowned, looked out the door again, and shrugged with a subtle shake of his head. “She does nothing for me.”
Karma opened her mouth then flapped it shut like a fish breathing out of water. Had Mark really just said Jo did nothing for him?
“She’s an open book.” He rocked back in his chair, his gaze boring into hers. “I prefer women who aren’t so…obvious.”
Karma fidgeted and scratched the toe of her shoe on the back of her ankle. “It’s just that I’ve known Jolene a long time, and men always look twice at her.”
Mark studied her for a moment then sat forward. “Let them. But I happen to think there’s only one woman at Solar who’s worth looking at more than once.”
If her heart could have stopped without killing her, it would have. “Oh? Who?” She could barely speak, her words wisping out on a breath.
With a grin, Mark leaned back once more. “I’m looking at her.”
“Oh,” was all she could say.
“By the way,” he said, “I’ve been meaning to tell you that you look very nice today. That’s a pretty color on you.”
She wore a simple, magenta button-down blouse she had bought during an impromptu shopping trip with Daniel and Zach earlier in the week. She had paired it with black slacks and the black shoes she had worn on Monday.
“Thank you.”
Mark’s eyes narrowed. “Although…” His mouth curved into a crooked grin. “That blouse would look so much better if you unbuttoned one or two buttons.”
Karma’s pulse quickened at the thought as she lifted her hand to her collar. If she unbuttoned it, wouldn’t that show too much skin?
“Just a suggestion,” he said as if noticing her sudden discomfort. “But that blouse is made to be unbuttoned. Trust me.” He smiled then turned back to his laptop, casually dismissing her.
She returned to her desk and slowly sat down. A cauldron of sensations stirred and bubbled inside her. Excitement, daring, fear. She glanced at Mark. He was focused on the screen of his tablet, seemingly oblivious to the storm he had awakened inside her.
Why did she suddenly feel like one of Pavlov’s dogs? Mark acknowledged her blouse with positive reinforcement, and now all she wanted was to please him more. If she did, would he keep paying her compliments?
Yet, she hadn’t expected him to say something like that about her blouse. His words seemed so innocent, but the tone of his voice, as well as the way his eyes glinted, oozed a subtle sexuality she recognized as purely Mark. After their trip to Finnigan’s, as well as a few innocent conversations at the office, she had learned that nothing about him was overt. Every move, every suggestion, came disguised as an innocuous expression meant to provoke a response. For all its apparent innocence, Mark’s suggestion to unbutton her blouse may as well have been an outright challenge. It was as if he wanted to see if she had the guts to push out of her comfort zone.
For several minutes, she sat at her desk, unmoving, her mind racing. Mark was busy typing away, calm as could be, while she broke out in a sweat over something as simple as unfastening one or two tiny buttons. What the hell? Was this really such a big deal? Women wore more revealing blouses than hers—unbuttoned or not—all the time.
She looked down at her blouse. Maybe it would look better unbuttoned. She would certainly look less like a nun. But then she risked showing off her scant cleavage. Cleavage? Who was she kidding? She needed the help of a Wonderbra stuffed with Beyoncé’s ample curves to give her cleavage, which implied mounds of flesh pushed against each other. What Karma had up top could not be described as mounds of flesh. Her childhood classmates had made that abundantly and repeatedly clear.
She looked around the open space surrounding her desk. No one was watching. Why not take a chance? Grow up a little? Put the insults of her youth behind her once and for all. Memories of Jolene and her brother laughing and making fun of her flashed through her mind, and she frowned before glancing down the hall in the direction Jolene had gone a few minutes ago.
The resulting jolt of anger provided motivation.
Just do it, for God’s sake!
She rapidly unfastened the top button, then the next one.
There. Take that, Jolene.
She had gotten over feeling exposed in the red dress last Saturday night, and she would get over feeling exposed in her blouse. Nothing to it.
A few minutes later, Mark packed up his laptop and grabbed his jacket.
He approached her desk. “Karma, do you think you could recommend—” His eyes dropped to the open collar of her blouse. His brows gave an upward tick, as did the corners of his mouth, and he stepped closer to her desk as he lifted his gaze to hers and cleared his throat. “I’m hoping you could recommend a gym. Maybe one that has basketball courts?” His eyes drilled hers with obvious delight.
She took a shaky breath, certain that her blouse had fallen open to reveal her breasts, but she refused to fidget or cover herself. “The gym I use has four full basketball courts.” Her mouth suddenly went dry. It was like she had a mouthful of cotton.
“You work out?” A note of approval lilted his voice.
She nodded and maintained eye contact, quelling her nerves as she peeled her tongue from the roof of her mouth. “Yes. Yoga and Pilates three times a week.”
He offered an appreciative tilt of his head. “Nice. I try to run a couple of miles a day and do some weight lifting. Do you ever lift weights?”
She shook her head and worried the tip of her right thumb over the fingernails on her left hand. “No, not really.”
Mark adjusted his bag over his shoulder. “You should give it a try.” He lowered his voice. “Some men find it sexy.” His gaze flashed to her blouse again.
Karma caught her breath, and her skin prickled with heat.
He grinned, his eyes twinkling. “Not that you need to worry about that.”
Mark was purposely trying to unnerve her. But he could be so alluring like this, playful and flirtatious.
She bit the inside of her lip.
“Forgive me. I’m embarrassing you.” But he didn’t sound like he really wanted forgiveness. It was obvious to Karma that he knew exactly what he was doing and felt no remorse whatsoever. To him, this was a game, and he was the master. And yet…she still wanted to play.
“You’re not embarrassing me.” But the flames running down her neck said otherwise. She couldn’t even hide behind her hair, because it was pulled into her usual chignon.
He looked much too pleased with himself as he adjusted his bag once more and checked his watch. “Well, perhaps you could give me the name of your gym? I’d like to check it out.”
As she grabbed a small notepad, she stole a glance at her blouse. Whew! Still covered. She scribbled down the name then tore the slip of paper from the pad. “They offer temporary memberships, and it’s only about five minutes from here, so it’s convenient.”
“So it is.” He folded the square of paper before tucking it into his palm. “I’ll check it out next week. Who knows, Miss Mason, perhaps I’ll see you there some night after work.”
Mental note: Look good at the gym. “Maybe you will.”
Then he leaned closer and whispered, “I’ll see you in a bit.” With that, he turned and left.
Karma stared numbly down the empty hall as if she could see the pheromone trail Mark had left behind. She had a feeling things were about to get interesting in her boring little world. And maybe, if she was lucky, Mark would misbehave again tonight.