She murmured, “Yeah, I bet it was.”
Chapter Twenty-One
Cass didn’t like the way Mack kept looking at her as they sat in his home, playing with the kittens and nibbling on pizza. She’d overheard him make some lame excuse to his friends before leaving the soccer game. It had surprised her that he intended to spend quality time with Cass over his bros.
She didn’t know how she felt about that. Good because he chose her, but bad because he didn’t seem to be true to himself. He’d told her before that his friends were like family and that he spent a lot of his free time with them.
Lately, he seemed to spend all his free time with her.
“Okay, spill it. What’s your problem?” she asked in a huff, nervous and not sure why.
“You tell me.” He sat back, his arms over his chest, and sunk into his sofa as Impala rappelled down his jean-clad leg, paw over paw, claws out.
“You’re on your period?” she asked and snickered. “You’re upset we won?”
“You didn’t win, we tied.” He glared at her, and weirdo that she was, she found him incredibly sexy. “I’m angry with you. And I’m not kidding.”
“What did I do?” She ignored the guilt she’d been feeling since letting him steal that first ball. “If you wanted to hang with your friends, you could have.”
“Try again. And do me the courtesy of being honest.”
She stared at him and huffed. “Oh, come on. It was one play.”
“Try several. What the hell? I don’t want you playing down so we can win. We would have kicked your asses again,” he emphasized, “if that ref could keep his eyes off your breasts and on the game!”
She knew Shannon’s cousin had a thing for her, but Cass didn’t need any help to beat an opponent. “How is it my fault he’s got a crush? It’s not like I flashed him or anything.”
“Why did you deliberately let me steal the ball? It wasn’t obvious, which made it worse! If you were clowning, I’d get it. But you played like a fourth-grader out there.”
That hurt. “Hey, not cool.”
“No, it’s not.”
“I thought we were going to eat and have sex and goof around before I head to work. This isn’t fun.”
“I thought we promised to be honest with each other.” His voice grew quiet. “You owe me that much.”
Cass felt like an idiot. Never in her life would she have imagined acting like she had in high school. Or the way she had with Sean, pretending to be less to make her partner feel good about himself.
But being with Mack had put her world right again. She didn’t want him to feel bad for losing. They’d just made up, declaring themselves to each other. She wanted him happy with her. With the Cass he liked cuddling with, smiling with, and loving until she could barely walk.
“It’s no big deal. So I let you get the ball once or twice? Soccer is a team sport.”
“That’s bullshit.”
She started, shocked that he seemed so serious and angry. “It was just a game.”
“No, it’s you.”
“Me?”
“Cass, one of things I like so much about you is your honesty. When we met for pool, you tried to beat me. And I tried to beat you. Same with darts. I tried to beat you. I lost, fair and square. Today was a joke.”
“It was just a game,” she said again, irked and embarrassed to be called out for trying to be nice. “Give it a rest.”
“Really? How would you feel if I showed up to a race and let you win? Would you like that?”
“I’d hate that, but that’ll never happen. I’m faster than you.”
