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“Can I get you a drink?” he asked.
His profound politeness irritated me. “No, thank you.” If he went over to the bar, where my brothers and father were and he could get pulled into a conversation he’d much rather be having than this one, he’d never come back. “I brought you a cookie.” I held it up for him to see.
The corner of his mouth turned up. “Chocolate chip. Such a delicious accident. Like our Meet Cute.”
The fact that he remembered that particular phrasing warmed me from the inside out. At the wedding I had informed him that his attempt to save me from drowning when I wasn’t actually drowning was a rom-com Meet Cute. It was satisfying he remembered that and the chocolate chip cookies. But I wasn’t ready to forgive him for not calling me after saying he wasn’t going to call me. “I’m not so sure it was cute as much as it was disastrous.”
His brow furrowed. “Why would you say—
My brother was suddenly bearing down on us. I took a step away from MacKay instinctively. MacKay swore under his breath.
“Hey, you two. Is Mac telling you about the job opening he has at Four Brothers? It would be perfect for you.”
I blinked. “No, he wasn’t.”
MacKay looked like he wanted to crawl in a hole. “I was just about to mention that,” he said. “There’s a job opening at Four Brothers.”
I fought the urge to grin. There was no job opening. That was obvious. It was also clear to me that my brother was either sick of me living with his family or felt sorry for me. Or both. He’d put the screws to MacKay to find me a job.
MacKay, having a secret that involved his tongue on my very private parts, had felt he had no choice but to say yes.
“What kind of job?” I asked. Hell, yes, I was taking whatever it was, but I wasn’t opposed to making MacKay squirm a little.
“My brother Dylan has the details. All I know for sure is it's full-time, with benefits, but if you’re free next week we can arrange for you to have an interview.”
“That would be fantastic.” I wanted nothing more than to be gainfully employed full-time. The idea of slinking home to Louisiana and moving back into my teen bedroom was just too grim to contemplate.
Without giving it much thought, I threw my arms around my brother and gave him a hug. “Thank you, Cash.”
“What did I do?” But he hugged me back.
I laughed. “You know what you did. And so do I.”
Then because a massive burden had been lifted off of my shoulders and I felt free, hopeful for the first time since graduation, and downright giddy, I impulsively turned and gave MacKay a hug as well.
That was a mistake.
A huge one.
Of epic proportions.
Instantly, the second my breasts brushed against the hardness of his chest, I realized my error. He stiffened. I sucked in a breath. “Thank you, too,” I said, sounding ridiculously breathless and high-pitched. I sounded like a sugar baby thanking her daddy.
The thought made my cheeks burn and my nipples harden.
“You’re welcome,” he said, and I swear, it sounded like a growl. Agrowl. The voice of a man about to tear my clothes off. With his teeth.
Confused, I squeezed my thighs together and stepped back, sure I was about to turn and see my brother having an aneurysm.
But Cash was just standing there, smiling, looking pleased with the situation, life in general, and himself in particular.
Did no one see it? This massive, throbbing,livingsexual tension between me and MacKay? My mother hadn’t seen it. Cash obviously didn’t. But to me it felt like we were so obvious we might as well be filming porn in front of a crowd.
Which was why I just whirled around and started to head back to where Sera was unwrapping her gifts, my heart thumping painfully in my chest. Beneath my insanely tight nipples. I crossed my arms over them and swallowed massive amounts of hot saliva. My God, was I actually drooling? I surreptitiously raised a finger to my lip, just to check. Nothing. Phew.
Everything in the courtyard seemed to have tilted. I felt dizzy. My world seemed to have been picked up and shaken just from being in MacKay Lennox’s presence for the first time since he’d crawled out of my bed. And my window.
Yet everyone else was acting like nothing was out of the ordinary.
