He’d helped her with her project. Maybe there was still time to help him with his before he left for the weekend.
“When do you leave for the airport?” she asked, wiping her hands on her apron.
“I don’t,” he said, and Mackenzie’s stomach took flight. “I bumped it until Tuesday.”
“You bumped it?” she asked. “Why did you do that?”
“I wanted to,” he said. “It gives me more time to prepare for the meeting, and it gives me more time with you. This way they can come to me, which they are. They’re flying up to meet us Monday.”
“They’re coming here?” she asked, wondering how he’d pulled that off. The label put so many travel demands on Hunter he’d spent most of the beginning of his career commuting among LA, Nashville, and New York. It had gotten so bad he ended up with a car and apartment in all three cities.
“I told them I couldn’t travel to them, so they’re traveling to us. Don’t look so surprised.” He laughed. “My life is more flexible than you think. In fact, unless we’re on tour, I’m in Nashville most of the year.”
She gently turned her body to face him. “If I had known you were going to stay the weekend, I wouldn’t have snuck out.”
“If we’re being honest,” he said, scooting closer, “sure, I bumped it so we had time to hammer out the last song, but my ego bumped it because it was under the delusion that you’d need my help.”
“On the whole honesty thing”—she reached out to touch his arm—“I stole your sweatshirt because it smells like you.”
His nose nudged her neck. “Now it smells like vanilla. And you.”
“Since you don’t have a flight to catch, do you want to help me?” she asked, toying with his fingers.
“Trouble, are you asking me to frost your cupcakes?”
“What if I am?”
“Which cupcakes are we talking about?”
Warm flutters filled her belly, the rest of her body humming with desire over the possibility of what the night could bring. Mackenzie had always been a star student, and she was about to ace this assignment.
“Depends on how good you are with your hands,” she said, placing hers on his pecs.
“It’s not my hands you need to be watchful of.” Something soft brushed over her lips and down her bare neck. “It’s my mouth that gets me in trouble.”
“A little trouble can be fun.”
“When it comes to trouble, I want all of you,” he said against her skin, replacing his lips with something soft and voluminous. “Which is why I got these.”
Curious, she turned his hand over and found what felt like two movie tickets, only longer. She brought them to her nose, grimacing at the metallic smell. “What are they?”
Hunter feathered them over her lips. “Tickets to Keller Auditorium for Tuesday night.”
“That’s opening night for the Philharmonic.” She held them against her chest, to keep it from exploding. “They’re doing a tribute to John Williams and it’s been sold out for months.”
Not that she had considered going, but she’d been tempted. The chance to hear his scores played by an orchestra would have been hard to pass up.
“Yup.” He rocked back on his heels, his voice all smiles. “Tia told me your homework included venturing into the unknown.”
Mackenzie froze. “You talked to Tia?”
“More like she talked at me,” he said. “Wanted to point out that my car didn’t count as public transportation.”
“Yeah, well, public transportation is scary,” she said sternly.
“So is Tia,” he said, and Mackenzie wondered what else they’d talked about.
“She’ll be happy to know that I visited aisle five,” she said, and, yup, it sounded lame.
