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18
MACK
I shouldn’t have cometo Chase’s. I should have waited for her to come to Rudi Blue, which she inevitably would have at some point today. Because, now that I was here, I didn’t want to leave. Now that I was here, all I wanted to do was touch her, kiss her, until neither of us remembered our own names. But I couldn’t, because I needed to take this slow. Well, as slow as possible without us both losing our minds. Or maybe that was the point? To leave us both so mindless with need that it was the only thing left.
Leaving last night had been an act of restraint I hadn’t been sure I was capable of. But I did it. I wanted to sink into her and go to that place where there was nothing but the two of us, but I left. I left because, if I was being honest, I was scared. I was still scared. Of her seeing me the way others had. Deep down I knew she wouldn’t, hoped like hell she wouldn’t, but old wounds felt raw in the face of this feeling that was already growing in my chest.
Then there was the fact that I didn’t want to scareheroff. Granted, she didn’t seem like she’d run right now. No, right now she looked more likely to jump me, which made focusing on work all the more difficult. I didn’t know when, or if, that might change, though. So, we were focusing on work because if I kept kissing her there was no way we were going to make it to date five—and I had every intention of doing that.
“I want to plan the next date,” she said, still swirling the icy slurry of coffee in her cup. Was this why people drank iced coffee? Purely to shake the ice around? I tempered my smile at the fact she wanted to organize a date. Not that I could let her have number two.
“No can do, Cheese, I already have plans.” This time it was true. If I was smart I’d drag it out, wait until Monday when we both had the whole day off so I could enjoy her, and our time together. Unfortunately, I was impatient. Waiting a full week was not an option. “What are you doing Thursday?”
“Working, same as you,” she said with a shrug.
“And before that?” I tore off some cinnamon scroll and dropped it into my mouth—butter, sugar, and cinnamon exploding across my tongue.
Her eyes followed the movement, she pursed her lips. “I could be available for the right offer.”
“Is that right?”
“Mmm-hmm …” She hummed, full, red lips wrapped around her straw.
“Then I suppose I’ll have to provide the right offer.”
We were quiet for a long moment, watching one another before she said, “And will I be given adequate detail beforehand?”
“I think that can be arranged.”
She was only just holding onto her smile. “Good to know. I want to be in charge of the next one, then.”
My eyebrows shot up, excitement making my heart beat faster. “You want to lock in date three before we’ve even been on number two?”
She shrugged. “There doesn’t seem to be much point in pretending we won’t get to five, now, does there?”
“I suppose not.” I tried to sound cool, but probably failed. “You can have three but I’ve got four. And five.” I received an indignant look.
“How do I only end up being able to plan one date in this scenario?”
“Are you saying we’re just going to stop at five?” I asked, relieved my voice didn’t betray the nerves behind the question.
Her lips curled into a slow smile as she looked at me through her lashes and said, “Stop counting maybe …” If I hadn’t already been in love with her, now it was official. My heart had clearly missed thewe’re taking it slowmemo.
Not quite two hours later, I left Chase’s apartment with a wide grin plastered across my face. Once again it had been difficult, dragging myself away, but it needed to happen or I’d be there all day. I was never going to get sick of kissing that woman, I was sure of it. I couldn’t remember the last time I had just kissed anyone without the expectation of it going further. Deep, unhurried kisses that made my head spin and my stomach dip. I was drunk and high on her. It had not just been kisses though, we had also managed to get through a decent amount of work. All of Chase’s outstanding to-dos had been dealt with, or at least assigned, mostly to her because she was an unapologetic control freak. And because I wanted to keep kissing her, until the end of time, preferably, I didn’t fight it.
I started walking towards the courts to meet Hunter, my mind throwing up pictures of her straddling my lap on the couch. Two days. I had two days to plan our next date. The ideas were there but they required refinement and execution. Excitement tingled through my chest. It had never been like this, not that I was really surprised, because it had never been with Chase. She changed everything.
A familiar silhouette in a passing car had me doing a double take and nearly tripping over a dog. I pulled out my phone and Pip answered on the second ring.
“Hey little brother, what’s up?” She sounded weird, distracted.
“Nothin’. What are you up to? I thought I just saw you on Kingsland, near Chase’s apartment.”
“That would be difficult, considering I’m in the office.” A driver laying on the horn echoed down the street and through the phone. I looked in the direction of the car but it had disappeared into traffic. Was Pip lying? But what reason could she possibly have to lie about that?
“Sorry Mack, I’m about to walk into a meeting, can I call you back later?”
“I’ll be at Rudi from two-ish.”
