Once clean, teeth brushed, hair sleek and in a ponytail, she relaxed in the living room reading a book. Her secret addiction—erotic romance. Cass was a sucker for a great story about love and sex because how else did a woman know if a man was worth keeping? Great conversation was all well and good, but to Cass, physical intimacy was a key component to a great relationship. She had wonderful friends for conversation and a good time. But sex—“amazing chemistry” kind of sex—had to come from the man in her life. Otherwise, why bother dating him?
She’d dated a bunch of one-hit wonders. Her last boyfriend had put her off men for a good while. How hard was it to be happy for Cass to succeed in her career? How tough to not be threatened by her job or other men? Sean had been handsome, wealthy, and hung like a horse. But such a controlling bastard.
Looking back, she couldn’t believe they’d lasted as long as they had. Maybe because he’d spent a good bit of time traveling, he hadn’t been around as much to show how poorly they meshed. But at least he was gone.
And now she, kind of, had Mack.
Her heart soared at thoughts of seeing him again, and she grinned like a fool as she read about the heroine in her book getting busy with the hero. In an elevator. In a park. Oh, in a hot tub.
Too bad I’m not into people watching me have sex. Because this book is giving me ideas.
The doorbell rang, and she saw Mack waiting outside. She buried her book under some travel guides on the coffee table and opened the door to let him inside.
He passed, and she got a whiff of his Eau de Mack once more. What a dork. “What are you wearing?” she had to know.
He smiled at her. “You later, if I’m lucky.”
“Very funny.” She’d find out one way or another. Although his suggestion of wearing her sounded ideal.
“I grabbed us omelets, bacon, and some sticky rolls from a place around the corner. It’s one of my favorites.” He put the food on the set table. She offered him coffee, which he refused, though he took her up on the orange juice. As she handed it to him, she noticed the big purple bruise on his left cheek.
“What the hell?” She turned his head and gently ran a finger over it.
He sighed. “Shannon found me yesterday and beat on me.”
“What?”
He grinned. “I’m kidding. Got into a scrap at the gym. It’s all good.”
“What happened?”
He told her over breakfast, and she grew angrier and angrier as she thought about what might have happened if those other guys had jumped him as well. A blow to the head could do real damage, not like the way TV and movies portrayed it.
“You need to press charges.”
He continued to calmly eat. “I’m not pressing charges. It was an in-house thing.”
“But, Mack, you—”
“If I involve the cops, I look like I can’t handle my business. And I handled it just fine. I won.”
“I know, but—”
“In my place, would you report a fellow cop after you’d dealt with the situation?”
“Well, no.”
“Exactly. I handled it. The guy is toast. We’ll bounce him from the station. Trust me.”
“Okay. But I don’t like it.” She couldn’t explain how angry she felt. “Want me to beat him up for you? I’ll even take off my badge when I do it.”
He smiled, then winced a little. “Ow. No, but thanks. That’s awfully sweet.”
“Offering to beat up a douchebag?”
“So loving.” He batted his eyelashes at her, which had her laughing. “I met with the guys yesterday for lunch. I think Tex is going to ask Bree to marry him.”
“Wow. Big move.”
