“What are you doing here?” she asked, glancing at the time on her phone and grimacing. It was nearly seven p.m., which meant she’d just squandered an hour and a half, lost in her thoughts.
“I had a suspicion you’d still be here,” he admitted.
That wasn’t much of a suspicion, because everyone knew she always worked several hours past quitting time. For one thing, she had a shit ton of work to do, and for another, she was never in a hurry to get back home to an empty house.
“So,” Tank said, holding up a bag of takeout. “I brought food. Redeeming me is probably hungry work.”
She grinned, her stomach growling as the smell of Thai food wafted through her office. “Redeeming you wouldn’t lead to hunger. It would lead to starvation,” she joked.
“Very funny, Mouse.” Tank crossed the office, reaching into the bag to pull out several containers and popping off the lids. “I wasn’t sure what you liked, so I got a variety.”
McKenna’s mouth watered as he opened containers of Pad Thai, Pad Krapao, Som Tum, green curry, mango sticky rice…
“There’s enough here for six people,” she exclaimed.
“That’s not a problem. I don’t cook, so my meal planning usually consists of a huge take-out order, followed by two to three days of leftovers.”
McKenna shook her head, then decided that probably wasn’t a bad plan. Cooking for one sucked.
“Truthfully, I’m here because I felt like celebrating.”
McKenna was confused. “Last night’s game with Boston was an honest-to-God spanking, Tank.”
He winced. “It really fucking was, but that’s not what I’m talking about,” he said. “Didn’t you listen to that podcast? I killed it.”
She had to give praise where it was due, so she nodded. “You really did. Benny and Roger stopped by afterward, and they were impressed. Although Chuck wasn’t supposed to bring up the video. You can be damn sure I’m firing off an email first thing in the morning.”
Tank shrugged, his signature cocky smirk firmly in place as he sat in the seat Benny had vacated an hour or so earlier, pulling it closer to her desk. “He didn’t ask anything I couldn’t handle.”
McKenna studied the food. While she was hungry, nerves were starting to take over. She debated whether or not she should bring up the fake dating idea now or wait until next week. The idea of stalling was appealing, but she also knew that she wouldn’t sleep a wink until she got this over with, too worried about his response.
Tank picked up a fork and the container of Pad Thai, shoveling a huge bite into his mouth before putting it down. He hadn’t brought any plates with him, so it looked like they were simply passing the food back and forth. The idea of that didn’t bother her like she thought it should. In fact, it felt intimate and…well…like they were dating.
Oh my God, Mac.
Stop.
She reached for the Pad Thai container he just put down, scooping out a big bite for herself.
“You did great,” she reiterated, once she managed to swallow the noodles. She put the container back down but didn’t pick up another because, apparently, in addition to not sleeping, eating wasn’t going to happen, either, until she told him about Benny’s plan.
Tank worked his way around the Thai buffet, stealing a bite from everything before he realized she wasn’t eating. “Do you like Thai? I didn’t think to ask.”
“I love it,” she said hastily. “It just, um… There’s something I wanted to run by you. Well, actually, it was Benny and Roger’s idea, or maybe it was mine, but they, uh… I mean we, um…”
Tank put the mango sticky rice down, as well as his fork, leaning back and taking in her face, which was no doubt bloodred. “Must be one hell of an idea. Just spit it out, Mouse. No need to hem and haw with me.”
She bit her lower lip, then drew in a deep breath. When she released it, a flurry of words flew out of her mouth. “Theythinkweshouldfakedateuntiltrainingcampstartsbackup.”
Tank tilted his head, confused. “They what?”
McKenna took another breath, wishing it would steady her. It didn’t. Regardless, she managed to speak more slowly. “They think it would help improve your image if you were in a relationship.”
Tank nodded. “Yeah. You said that the morning after the video dropped.”
“Right. Well, apparently, because we’ve been seen together quite a lot, people have remarked that, um…”
“That we’re a cute couple?”
