Page 71 of Just for Tonight

“Who?” I ask.

“Mackenzie. Augustine Rhodes’ granddaughter. This is the last place I’d expect to find her.” Mike is now scanning the place for Mackenzie. It doesn’t take long to determine that she’s not there.

“Where is your car?” Sierra asks.

“At the hotel,” I lie again. I remember seeing the Travelodge on our way from the townhouse. I gesture vaguely in that direction. “I decided to walk. Get a stretch.”

“That’s six blocks away,” Mike says just as they call that my order is ready.

Thank God I paid for dinner and it’s my name on the chit.

“You must be hungry,” Sierra says, eying the size of the bag.

I open the top and take out a French fry. “Starving,” I agree. “And I couldn’t decide what to get. Whatever’s left will be good for breakfast.”

Mike laughs at me and confides in Sierra. “Jake always liked leftover pizza at breakfast.”

“That’s different from leftover burgers,” she says with justifiable disdain.

Mackenzie comes out of the ladies’ room then, wiping her hands on a paper towel. She looks right past us, pulling out her keys, and is visibly startled when Mike calls her. She pauses to talk to him and Sierra, gives me a cool glance as if we’re strangers. Mike introduces me and we do the ‘hello how nice’ formalities, then she walks out the door and drives away.

Uh huh. Her own rules left her no other choice.

Maybe she’s going to wait at the end of the block.

“Nice to finally meet you,” I say to Sierra. “We’ll talk,” I say to Mike and head for the door.

“You can’t walk all that way,” Sierra says and I think I might truly dislike this kid. “Your fries will get cold.”

“It’s all right.”

“No, it isn’t. Mike!”

“We’ll give you a ride,” Mike says and all protest is void because they call that his order is up. I find myself in Mike’s truck, with Sierra between us, one bag of food on her lap and another on mine. They drop me off at the Travelodge. The only mercy is that the parking lot is so full and so dark that Mike can’t immediately determine that my loaner vehicle is not there.

I wave them off and eat a fry, then get out my phone. Before I can determine whether they even have Uber in Havelock, a burgundy SUV pulls to a halt in front of me. Mackenzie puts down the window on the passenger side.

“Want a ride?” She’s laughing at me but I don’t care.

“Yes!” I get in and she turns back toward the townhouse. “You just want your fries hot.”

“I do.”

I feed her one as she drives, and then another. “That was close,” she says.

“Fast thinking.”

“Good misdirect.”

“I think we should celebrate,” I say as she parks in the driveway at the townhouse.

“I thought you’d never ask,” she says, her smile mischievous. She leans over and I’m expecting a kiss, but instead she steals another fry out of the bag. “The best,” she says, and I’m not sure whether she’s talking about the food or something else.

I don’t actually care.

But later, when I ease inside her and it feels more perfect than anything ever should, I do care. Mackenzie smiles slowly, the smile that steals over her lips and sets my blood on fire, the one that makes her own gaze simmer and sparkle at the same time.

“Hi,” she murmurs, stealing my line along with my breath. She reaches to kiss the corner of my mouth gently, then brushes her mouth across mine to kiss the other corner. I could drown in her eyes. I could lose myself in her forever. I could make love to her every day and night of my life and never get enough.