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Though the grooms had exchanged the t-shirts under their cuts for button-down shirts, they’d still worn their jeans and boots. And now that she thought about it, she wasn’t sure anyone else had worn heels.

Maybe she had been overdressed.

Lauren shrugged. “It’s what I would normally wear to a wedding. No one told me it would be so casual. I didn’t mean to stand out.” Would Jenna or Elizabeth think she’d been trying to outshine them and get angry with her? Lauren bit her lip as she worried she might have inadvertently upset them. That was the last thing she’d intended to do. Jenna had been nice to her, and far more friendly than parents or guardians of her patients usually were. She didn’t want to alienate her. For someone trained to help people, she could be a little more aware of what was appropriate, but she’d never cared much about clothes or fashion.

“Hey,” a hand settled on her thigh, “I didn’t mean to upset you. I shouldn’t have said anything.”

“No. You’re right. I did stick out like a sore thumb. I dressed like my family would expect. Not how your family would expect. I should pay closer attention.”

She had spent most of the last fifteen years either focused on getting through school or building a practice that would support her, and while she’d been busy. Mother had warned her that society would pass her by while she was lost in her work in what Mother called this backwoods town.

Mobile wasn’t a backwoods town, but she guessed it could be considered provincial, another word Mother had used when trying to bully Lauren into going back to Chicago, or at least closer to it.

Lauren liked it here. The people were friendly and things were more laid back. Not like the carefree attitude she’d encountered the last time she’d taken a couple of days off and gone anywhere but home to visit family. She’d gone to the Keys. The attitude there was more carefree, more have a drink on the beach and forget about life. Mobile was, she didn’t know how to explain it, but she liked the area. Especially the little corner of it she’d found to build her practice.

“I’m sorry,” Cypher said. “I should have just kept my mouth shut.”

“No.” She sighed, realizing she’d screwed up, again. “It’s not you. I not always the most socially aware. I don’t go out much. I guess it shows more than I realized.”

Cypher snorted.

“If you think any of the Warriors fit in to anyone’s idea of society, you haven’t been paying attention. There was no dress code, there never is. The only way to get some of those men into something other than their t-shirts and jeans will be once they’re in a box or if some woman gets ahold of them and they trying to make her happy.” He shook his head and Lauren wondered what he was thinking. “Don’t forget to text me with your appointment time tomorrow, then again after they leave. I would hate to find out something happened to you.”

She watched him for a moment. She liked his hand on her leg and the feelings it sent through her. It had been way too long since she’d felt anything similar. She wanted more. Should she?

Why not? she told herself.

“How about a night cap?” she asked, grabbing her bag and tucking it under her arm. “I don’t have any whiskey, but I do have a little tequila, and I think about half a bottle of red wine. Or coffee if you’d prefer.”

“You sure?”

She wasn’t, but she was going to do it anyway. Eric would tell her she needed to live a little. What better way to live than a one-night stand with an inappropriate man?

“I’m sure. Come on in.” Lauren didn’t wait to see what he said or if he followed but opened the truck door and slid out until she landed on bent knees to take the impact in her heels.

At the door, she punched in the code to unlock the door and went inside, leaving it open for Cypher.

Chapter Five

Cypher sat in the truck, blinking after the therapist for about a second and a half before he got out of the truck and followed her inside. Stepping inside, he closed the door and flipped the deadbolt, hoping she used it when she was home alone. With a glance down, he noticed several pairs of shoes on a rug beside the door, including the heels she’d worn to the wedding, so he toed out of his boots and lined them up with the others.

“Where’d you go, sweetheart?”

“I’m in the kitchen, come on through,” she called back. Cypher followed the sound of her voice and found her on her tiptoes, in her stocking feet, reaching for the top shelf of an open cabinet that was still at least six inches out of her reach. If she wasn’t careful, she’d slip and fall. He didn’t want to see that. She’d shed her suit jacket somewhere and now stood in the blouse and slacks and looked more welcoming, more comfortable. Somehow, losing the jacket made her seem more approachable, not that he’d let the shield of her clothing slow him before.

“What you trying to get?” he asked, stepping up behind her.

“I was trying to get down the tequila for you.”

“I don’t need liquor, sweetheart. But I would take a glass of water or a soda.” He thought she might could too, but knew better than to suggest to a woman he didn’t know well that she might want to sober up a little. She didn’t seem drunk, but he got the impression that inviting near strangers into her home wasn’t something she did often.

“A coke? You’re sure?”

Cypher just nodded. She blinked at him then went to the fridge.

“I have Diet Coke and Diet Mountain Dew.”

“Got a thing for diet, don’t you?” He wasn’t hugely fond of diet sodas, which was part of why he usually went for energy drinks, but he could deal with them. “I’ll take a Dew.”