She cringed. “Xavier?”
“Alec. We’re supposed to meet for lunch at”—he glanced at the clock on the table next to the bed and groaned—“a half hour ago. Shoot. Look, get cleaned up and meet me in the living room. I’ll make up some excuse for you being back here.”
“It’s okay.”
He paused. “What?”
“I don’t care if your brother knows we hooked up.”Wait. I don’t?
“You don’t?”
“I don’t like people in my business, which is why I don’t date the people I work with or their brothers.” She gave him a look. “But we’re not actually dating. Just having sex.”
He looked at her. “Really?”
“What do you mean?”
The doorbell rang again.
“Hold on, Alec,” Mack yelled.
“You don’t even know it’s him.”
“It’s him.”
“Hurry up!” a man yelled. “I’m freezing my balls off!”
“Yeah, it’s Alec.”
“Wait. What do you mean by ‘really’? This thing between us is just sexual.”
“It’s okay.” His expression softened, which unnerved her. The guy was hot as hell, but when he looked at her that way, as if she mattered and nothing else existed, she felt…special. Girly and vulnerable. And emotional, which Cass didn’t much like.
“What’s okay?” she asked, her voice gritty.
“These feelings.” He stroked her cheek, and she let him for all of five seconds before slapping his hand away.
“Clingy!”
He grinned. “Aw, now you’re feeling possessive. That’s great.”
“What? I am not.”
“Look, I owe you a dinner date? You owe me a brother date. Come with me to lunch with Alec. I need a buffer. He wants to talk about his wedding.”
“I’m the girl, so I have to talk wedding plans with your brother?”
“No.” Mack sighed. “I want you to be my plus-one for a change. To show my brother that for once,I’mthe one with the date and he’s the lone guy tagging along.”
“But didn’t you guys agree to go to lunch?”
“Just work with me on this, hard-ass.”
She knew exactly what he was talking about, often feeling the same way with Jed and Shannon or her parents. “Well, okay.”
He kissed her. “Plus, you owe me for all the orgasms.” He rushed to the bathroom and returned to dress in record time.
“You mean, all the orgasmsIgaveyou.”
