“That’s a perfect name,” Hunter said with a smile. “I can already see her in a cute tiara and tutu prancing down the hallway of your daddy’s office.”
“Duchess!” Caroline bounced up and down on Mackenzie’s lap. “Can I show her to Muttley?”
Muttley yawned, unimpressed with Duchess.
“Maybe later. He’s working right now.” Working on getting Mackenzie out of there.
“Dat’s Muttley,” Caroline informed the room. “I know you want to pet him, but you can’t. See, his harness is on ’cause he’s working.”
And wouldn’t you know it, Muttley was suddenly sitting obediently at Mackenzie’s feet, alert and awaiting his command.
“You don’t say,” Hunter said, all that easygoing charm suddenly gone.
“He looks all sleepy, but he’s working. Right, Miss Mack?”
“Yup.” Mackenzie stroked Muttley’s head, seeking connection and comfort.
“Miss Mack is his boss,” Caroline whispered.
“Lucky dog,” he said, and Mackenzie’s nipples went on the alert.
Yup, time to go.
Mackenzie lifted the little girl off her lap. “Why don’t you go show Duchess to your mom?”
“Mommy! Mommy!” And just like that, Caroline was off, racing down the hallway, Duchess’s little claws sliding across the hardwood floors in her wake.
The invisible buffer, the only thing allowing Mackenzie to hold it together, left with Caroline. Even worse, the approaching clicks of boots on the slate floor sent a wave of pure terror racing through her body as a masculine and earthy scent caressed her cheek and confirmed her suspicions.
She hadn’t been alone in Brody’s office—Hunter had been with her. Which meant that Brody had sandbagged her. Supper hadn’t been a sweet gesture. It had been a setup. Plain and simple.
And Hunter? He’d taken one look at her ... and walked out.
Something she wanted to do right then, except she didn’t know where to go.
The silence between them grew unbearable. Her stomach pinched from the intense anxiety pumping through her veins. Unable to keep still, she stroked Muttley.
“Is this anothercoincidence?” She threw air quotes around the word. “Or did Brody tell you I was going to be here?”
“It’s good to see you too, Trouble.” His tone said quite the opposite.
Refusing to let that affect her, she zeroed in on the sound of his voice and lifted her gaze. She knew she’d found his eyes when she heard his breathing shift. “Why are you here, Hunter?”
“To drop off a yap dog for my niece, a nice little payback for Brodynottelling me about you sooner.” The coffee table groaned under Hunter’s weight as he sat. “And because we need to talk.”
“You had your chance the other week in Brody’s office,” she said.
“Brody told you that was me?” He had the nerve to sound irritated.
“No, I recognized your cologne.” She didn’t know if he was impressed or just choosing to remain silent, so she said, “It must have taken a lot to get Brody to go against his promise and set up that meeting. Yet you didn’t say a word.” Not a single one. “Why?”
“I didn’t know what to say.”
It was strange how a simple statement had the power to cut so deep it actually ached to smile. But Mackenzie forced a grin, big and bold, because it would hurt less than his pity.
Since leaving rehab, Mackenzie had experienced her share of awkward conversations and even more awkward silences when running into people from her past. It was as if her disability had become her new identity, erasing the woman behind the illness, making her somehow a stranger to them.
What really got to her, though, were the people who would pretend nothing had changed. That this was just another bump in the road forher to overcome. As if all she needed to do was fight harder, really commit herself, and everything would go back to normal.
