AllFreeNovel
Share Us
It wasn’t an answer that necessarily reassured me. “Hmm.” I spotted a restaurant named Meat. “Oooh, I want to eat there.”
“You want to eat meat?” He sounded amused.
I realized how that might have sounded. “No,” I said, striving to retain my so-called professionalism. “I want to eat at a restaurant named Meat. Where I will then eat meat. I’m not falling for your little tricks.”
MacKay started laughing. “My tricks? You’re the one who is always dropping innuendos.”
“Not anymore, mister.” I slapped my hand on the dashboard.
He started laughing harder.
“What are you laughing about?”
“I think your limit from now on is one whiskey.”
I wasn’t going to disagree. But I was still offended he was blaming me for all the innuendos. “You flirt too,” I accused.
“I didn’t say I don’t.”
That confused me into silence.
We pulled up in front of a chain hotel on the outskirts of town. In ten minutes I was in my room, dropping my bag on the floor. MacKay had gone to his room he was sharing with Dylan. The plan was to get cleaned up and then head to dinner together.
That was the plan.
What actually happened was I fell asleep face down on my bed for two hours.
I woke up with a dry mouth and a crick in my neck.
There was a knocking at my door that had been the cause for me waking up. Glancing at my phone and seeing how I long I’d slept, I winced. I had several texts from MacKay asking me if I was okay. I hauled myself up and pulled the door open, certain it was MacKay. It was.
“Oh, thank God,” he said, running his hands through his hair. “I was about to get the hotel staff to unlock your door for me so I could make sure you’re okay.”
I was no longer tipsy, but I was groggy. I picked at my baggy T-shirt. “What? Why?” I asked, confused.
MacKay didn’t answer right away. He moved past me into my room, a brown bag in his hand. I stared after him, not sure what was happening. Then I decided I was too tired to worry about it and just closed the door and followed him.
“I was worried about you. You weren’t answering my texts. This is the second time I knocked on your door. I thought maybe you were just taking a shower the first time, but I went and got food and came back and you still weren’t answering. I thought you were really sick or something.”
He looked genuinely concerned, which made my heart give a squeeze. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to worry you. I just sat on the bed and then suddenly a couple of hours went by. I fell asleep. Some might call it passing out.”
MacKay took a deep breath, like he was releasing his tension. He held up the bag. “I got us food.” The corner of his mouth turned up. “Meat. Since you wanted to eat meat.”
I was starving and wanted to grab the bag out of his hand and start destroying whatever was in there, but I restrained myself. I was slightly embarrassed by some of my tipsy talk, but I hadn’t meant anything by that meat comment and he knew it. That was on him. I tilted my head. “See? There it is. That’s flirting. Or an attempt at it anyway. Not your best work.”
“Hey.” He laughed. “Is that the thanks I get for feeding you?”
“You haven’t fed me yet.” I held my hand out. “What’s in the bag? I mean, specifically. I know you said it’s meat.”
“It’s pulled pork and cornbread.”
My mouth watered. “Oh, my, you are flirting with me.”
“This is an improvement?”
“Very much so.” I took the bag from him and set it on the little table in the corner. The minute I opened it, I was assaulted by the sweet smell of barbecue. “This smells glorious.”
“You know what would go perfect with this? Bourbon.” MacKay grinned at me.
