Cass didn’t know what had come over her at the bar, but she’d had just about enough of Mack Revere and his alluring grins, hot blue-eyed stares, andveryfit body. She couldn’t blame her actions on alcohol. She didn’t drink to excess, never willing to let go of herself in public to the extent she’d do something stupid.
Like kiss a forbidden, firefighting playboy.
As she pulled into her driveway and parked, she took out a napkin from her pocket and stared at the writing on it. She’d watched Mack tuck it into her jacket right before she’d left.
He’d left his number and a short message.Let me know where to drop off your $20. Unless you prefer a wire transfer.
Such a smartass. She felt herself smiling and flushed, recalling how he’d felt against her, how he’d tasted when she’d kissed him.
Cass groaned and leaned her head on the wheel. What had she been thinking to kiss Mack Revere? Unfortunately, he’d been as charming as she’d suspected he might be. Had she not pulled herself away from him earlier, she might have done a lot more with him in thehallway of a public bar.
“I’m such an idiot,” she lamented as she dragged herself inside her small but charming home.
After locking up, she readied for bed and set the napkin on the kitchen counter. She needed space from thoughts of a man who’d made her react despite herself.
She should throw the napkin away. She didn’t need twenty dollars that badly. Because, honestly, Mack Revere had trouble written all over him. Heck, they weren’t even alike except for the fact they both played to win. She was serious. He joked around a lot. She was a cop. He fought fires for a living. She… Cass snuck a peek at the note again, not surprised he had bold, clearly legible handwriting. She’d bet his home was orderly, neat. They probably had that going for them. And Mack might like to have fun, but she’d seen him at work, where he had treated patients and been kind yet professional. Smart, flirty, but at heart, most likely decent.
Perhaps she should call him to tell him not to pay up. Let him know to forget about it.
No. She didn’t need to hear his voice. But she could text him to let him off the hook. Yes, she’d do that.
They’d had fun, and now it was over. She’d end things that had no place beginning. Yet somehow she found herself texting him her address in addition to letting him know he could drop off her winnings tomorrow morning around nine if he wanted.
Seeing his thumbs-up emoji in response, she stared in horror at what she’d just done. Now, not only did Mack have her phone number, he had her address as well.
She set her phone aside and refused to look at it again before she did something even worse, like invite him to send some selfies she could drool over in bed.
Flushed and feeling stupid, Cass blamed her father for getting her so obsessed with dating. Then she blamed Jed for pushing her to go out with Mack—and Tex, not a date—in the first place. And because she wasn’t being rational, she decided to blame Great-Aunt Martha too, for leaving her a house with an address she’d given Mack.
Feeling like a big dope, Cass settled into bed and tried not to think about Mack possibly swinging by in the morning.
But as the minutes passed and she remained wide awake, she started arguing with herself about why seeing Mack would necessarily be a bad thing and ignored the danger signal lighting up her brain.
Cass had always had a strong will. She and Mack obviously shared an attraction. She hadn’t missed that bar in his pants when they’d been kissing. And she sure as heck liked him. He’d even tasted good. No bad breath, no forceful handling of her. Mack had been at first tentative, letting her lead, then naturally taking over the embrace. And, wow, could he kiss.
How bad would it really be if they hooked up? She was a grown woman with a grown woman’s needs. Mack didn’t work with her, and so what if he ever told Xavier they’d had sex? She and Xavier weren’t partners. She’d be damned if she’d act the nun so her peers wouldn’t think her a slut. Screw that. Women could have sex whenever they wanted with whomever they wanted. It sure didn’t hurt the guys’ reputations when they took home women they barely knew after a night on the town.
She continued to come up with valid reasons why she and Mack should have sex, from relieving stress to defying patriarchal stereotypes keeping women virginal pure. Until she finally tired herself out and fell asleep.
***
The next morning, Cass was in the middle of dusting when a knock came at the door. When nine o’clock had come and gone, she’d figured Mack wouldn’t show up and swallowed any disappointment she might have felt. But she couldn’t deny the butterflies in her stomach as she moved toward the front door and saw Mack’s face through the upper door lite.
He smiled at her through the windows, and she gave him a half smile back, not sure she liked how happy she felt that he’d shown. Then he waved a twenty-dollar bill at her, and she had to laugh as she opened the door.
“Paid in full,” he said as he handed her the bill.
“I see that.” She looked at it carefully while subtly studying him from the corner of her eye. He wore jeans and an open coat showing a button-up flannel shirt he hadn’t tucked in. A shadow of beard showed he hadn’t shaved. His hair looked neat but a little mussed, as if he’d run his fingers through it. The unkempt Mack Revere, unfortunately, looked even more appealing than regular, cocky Mack Revere.
“What?” He narrowed his gaze on her.
“Just checking to make sure the twenty isn’t counterfeit.”
He huffed. “Please. I can afford to lose twenty bucks. I’m not poor.” He smirked. “I’m not a cop.”
“Hilarious.” Out on the porch, she noted a small paper bag and coffee cups sitting on the table to the side of her front door. “What’s that?”
“A bribe to get me in the front door.”
