She looked but found nothing. “Nope.”
Mack glanced down at the mewling fluffballs. “Okay, guys. You’re coming with me.” His crew in particular had been working with Pets Fur Life, a charity that helped home stray animals, for a little over a year. The only thing Mack loved more than cars was helping innocent creatures find homes. He especially had a thing for cats, yet another difference from his family of dog lovers.
He kept the trembling kittens close to his body heat, pleased when they stopped squirming so much. He felt Cass staring at him and glanced up. “What’s wrong?” At her frown, directed at his bulging jacket, he said, “Oh, don’t worry. We help out with strays all the time. I’ll take care of these guys.”
“We?”
“My crew. Tex and the guys,” he clarified. “Station 44 has helped a lot with Pets Fur Life too. I don’t know if you ever saw it, but Brad was onSearching the Needle Weeklyfor a while, promoting adoptions. Tex has been on once too.” And they’d all done a beefcake calendar for the charity that Mack didn’t think she needed to know about.
“Huh.” Cass didn’t say much more, but he didn’t think she seemed all that bothered by the cats.
He continued to pet and care for them on the drive back to his place.
Alec said, “Let me know if you have a problem homing them.” He shook his head. “Between you and Dean, I swear. Just warning you, Cass. My brother is a sucker when it comes to animals.”
“I’m not a sucker, Alec. I’m a helpful kind of guy.” Mack grinned, knowing Alec to be an even bigger sucker when it came to fostering strays. He still had an older Lab living with him until they could find the guy a home.
“Helpful?” Alec snorted. “Yeah right.”
“Thanks for lunch, Alec,” Cass said, “and good luck with your wedding.”
“Thanks. I hope to see you again soon.” He gave Mack a significant look. He waved and waited until they had made it to the front door before leaving.
“You coming in?” Mack asked, wondering how amenable Cass would be to getting naked again.
She studied him and the kittens, now trying to hop out of his jacket. “I have some things to do at home.” She sounded a little distracted, still staring at the cats. “Still on for next Thursday, right?”
“Um, yeah. Just text me the time and address.” They hadn’t talked about their relationship, such as it was, with the exception of helping each other out with first Alec then her partner. “So, Cass, about us… I—”
“I’ll talk to you later. Bye.” She left in the blink of an eye, leaving Mack with two curious felines and the dread that he’d somehow done something very wrong.
Chapter Eleven
The following Thursday arrived before she knew it, and Cass finally stopped being a coward and texted Mack the time and directions for dinner.
He’d texted her a few times since lunch with his brother last week, even left two messages on her phone. For the life of her, she hadn’t been able to reply except for anI’ll get back to you on thatand aNot sure yet.To her defense, she’d had a doctor’s and dentist’s appointment she hadn’t been able to delay as well as a bunch of community outreach to do. Stuff she could have invited Mack to…had she not been so freaked out after last Wednesday.
It was so odd. Being with him in bed was a no-brainer. The guy had game.
Hanging with his brother? Weird, but not so bad. She liked Alec, especially that he didn’t seem to need to impress her. He was himself, and she liked how open and proud he was of his fiancé. She’d gotten her fair share of crap for being a woman in the department that she’d had to put a stop to. But it was easier than the hostility aimed at the lesbian and gay cops in the department. Fortunately, the captain had shot all that shit down. Hard.
Alec worked in a different precinct, and she could only imagine how tough it could be to work against the mainstream. Yet another point in Mack’s favor, how much he loved his brother and celebrated his differences.
It had been those blasted kittens that had thrown her for a serious loop.
She didn’t know why. She wasn’t a pet person. Not that she had anything against animals, but Cass had never been home long enough to take care of one. It should have been no big deal to see that Mack wanted to care for the cute little things. He’d said he helped out with Pets Fur Life.
But for some reason, seeing him be so sweet and gentle with the cats struck her. It turned all that lust and maybe-like she had for him into this blazing mass of emotional need. God, she’d even thought of him holding a baby for a split second.Herbaby!
It made no sense, and Cass didn’t like what confused her. So, she tabled her emotions to deal with later. And after one day passed, then another, and another, in addition to her partner’s questions about what she wanted to bring to the dinner, she realized she should probably call Mack and confirm their evening.
Except he didn’t pick up the phone. Part of her couldn’t blame him. Then she remembered how she’d told him not to get possessive. Just because they’d fucked didn’t mean she owed him anything.
Right.I’m such a liar.
An angry Mack—and she didn’t have to see him to know he had every right to be annoyed with her—texted back for Cass toget your ass over to my place and tell me why you’re ignoring me or I’m not going.
Annoyed and embarrassed because she seemed, once again, like she was scared of communicating when she’d really just been puzzled at her motivations and feelings, she left her spotless house, grocery list in her purse, and drove over to Mack’s, trying to get her story straight.
