Since opening her own store, she hadn’t had one new client. She needed to snag something soon. Her savings had already taken a big hit between the lease and equipment, and this month’s rent on her cottage down the street.
“They weren’t in that building when I leased this one,” she said before taking one of the cups her friend offered. She was glad to have Mel next door. Not only was the woman an incredible artist, she made the best damn coffee. Stefanie took a sip and sighed. Damn, she’d needed that.
“What’d I miss? Anything?” Abby Sharp entered from the back door in an out-of-breath rush.
Stefanie’s other new friend was the owner of “Sharp Cuts,” a full-service salon and barbershop set to open on the other side of Mel next week.
Abby reminded Stefanie of a warm summer breeze. Her kind eyes were sky blue, and her long hair was a beautiful toffee-blonde the sun kissed with natural highlights. Women were going to pay her good money to try to duplicate it from a bottle, and men were going to come in for cuts and a chance to talk to the beauty.
Which should be interesting, since one of the hot dudes duking it out in front of them was Abby’s former Delta Force brother. Stefanie studied the guy. He didn’t look like his sister. His hair was dark, almost black, and although she couldn’t see them from here, she knew his eyes were a dark blue, not light, like Abby’s.
“Darn.” The blonde sighed, looking out the window. “It’s Carter.”
“Yeah. Damn.” Mel sighed, too. “No offense, Abby, but your brother is definitely sharp...and ripped. And I’d love to go a few rounds with him.” She made a lip-smacking sound that roused Reggie from his nap.
He jumped off the couch and stretched.
Stefanie glanced from her cat to Abby, meeting the woman’s half-amused, half-disgusted gaze above the redhead’s head. Their friend was never shy about voicing her approval of Carter’s attributes, and yet, whenever the guy was around, Mel turned into a mouse.
More like a pumpkin. At least a mouse made noise.
“None taken,” Abby said. “Although, I’d much rather watch Dex spar with Mac. Now, he’s to sigh for. Right, Stef?”
It was just her luck. She was in the middle of swallowing coffee. Of course, it went down the wrong way. Her stupid body never behaved when it came to that man. Sputtering, she shook her head and pounded on her chest.
“Not sure if that’s a yes or a no.” Mel grinned.
Abby laughed. “I’m taking it as a yes.”
After regaining the ability to breathe, Stef inhaled, then exhaled. “I’m fine, by the way.”
“Mac thinks so, too.” Abby snickered.
“Yeah, I’ve seen the way he looks at you.” Mel waggled her brows.
Abby nodded. “Ditto. Major chemistry when you two are in a room.”
Stefanie frowned and waved a hand at them. “You two are so full of it.” Mac only ever looked at her like she was an annoying, pesky, kid. Which was fine with her, because he was too alpha. She’d tried that once. Never again. She’d given up control to her ex without realizing it and he’d always accused her of some imagined misbehavior. Never trusted her.
No way was she ever going down that road again...no matter how great the guy kissed.
“No.” Mel shrugged. “Just observant.”
She snorted. “Yeah, well, you’re wrong. Mac is too absorbed with himself and his new business to notice anything, or anyone else.” All right, that wasn’t entirely true. He did just drop everything to take his brother’s spot as a survival guide, or something, this past weekend so Logan could whisk Chloe away for her birthday. Her sister had gushed about it when Stefanie had called yesterday to wish her a Happy Birthday.
Abby’s brows lifted. “He doesn’t come across that way to me.”
“Well, he does to me,” she said. “He’s the ‘my way or the highway’ type. If it isn’t marching, or performing burpees, or following orders, he wouldn’t notice,” she said, turning from the window to set her cup on her desk. She wasn’t about to dissect how she came to that realization, or why disappointment flickered through her belly.
“How does he feel about cats?” Mel asked, seemingly out of the blue. “Would he notice say...Reggie entering his building?”
Shit.
Her heart hit her ribs as she glanced around the room and found the back door cracked open and no cat in sight...until she looked out the window to where Mel was pointing and saw his fluffy orange tail disappear into Mac’s garage.
“I’m sorry.” Abby slapped a hand on her chest. “I forgot you told me the latch didn’t always work.”
Dammit. The landlord was supposed to fix that. “It’s okay.” It wasn’t Abby’s fault. She rushed for the door. “I’m just glad we noticed him leave.” A shiver raced down her spine. What if they hadn’t noticed? She didn’t want to think about that...or if Mac’s bay door wasn’t open.
But they had...and it was...and she refused to waste time worrying. Stefanie had learned long ago when to conserve anxiety, time and energy, and this was the time to conserve them—except maybe energy. She hurried across the alley, wondering briefly if the ground had been too hot for Reggie’s paws.
Even though it was mid-March, the sun was strong enough to heat the pavement.
“Hey, Stef,” the sparring hotties stopped long enough to greet her in unison when she entered the garage.
She nodded, noting three motorcycles parked in a corner and two large mats spread out in the center. “Have you—”
“Lose something?” Mac asked, cutting her off, his tone a little too condescending to ignore.
Or was that amusement? She could never tell with him. And it still rankled. She turned to find him standing in front of a workbench in the back corner, cat in his arms—her cat—his gaze slowly raking her down, then up.
Chapter Two
Stefanie knew what Mac saw—an average-looking woman with her boring brown hair pulled back in a messy bun, no makeup, wearing a jean skirt and navy scoop-neck top over too many curves due to too many brownies.
So what? She wasn’t going to apologize to anyone for it. She liked brownies and her body. The last guy who’d complained got kicked to the curb in a flash.
Mac’s gaze met hers, his assessment finished. Who knew how she’d faired? His expression gave nothing away. Whatever. She didn’t care, but decided to treat him to the same kind of scrutiny. Starting at his shoulders, she took in the broad expanse, narrow waist, and tantalizing creases in the well-worn jeans sitting low on his lean hips.
Stefanie came to an important conclusion.
He resisted brownies...
There was no extra anything on that hard body. Except, maybe testosterone.
Still standing in the same spot, he cocked his head and raised a brow.
Her hackles joined it.
Alphas always want you to go to them...
That thought skittered through her head while a smart-ass retort tingled her lips, but she swallowed it down and concentrated on the fact her cat was fine. Happy, even, if the purring she heard from clear across the room was an indicator.
“Reggie? What am I going to do with you?” She smiled and walked toward her cat—not Mac—and reached out to pet him—her cat—not Mac.
The Garfield-wannabe watched her approach with a lazy disdain that turned into a yawn, perfectly content cradled in the jerk’s arms. It was weird how the large feline appeared a little smaller surrounded by massive biceps.
“Thanks,” she told Mac, and watched a puzzled look crease his face.
No doubt he’d expected that retort she’d swallowed.
She smiled again, pleased to have confused Mr. Know-it-all. “Sorry if he bothered you,” she said, accidentally brushing his arm while grabbing Reggie.
Their gazes collided, and the flash of heat zinging through her body was mirrored in his dark eyes.
She ignored both.
“It’s my fault,” Abby said from behind. “I forgot Stef’s back door doesn’t al
ways latch.”
His brows crashed together. “Your door doesn’t shut?”
Damn.
“It shuts.” She lowered her face to kiss Reggie’s head, so he wouldn’t see the lie she was about to spew.
“But it doesn’t always stay that way,” Mel added, taking away Stefanie’s opportunity to keep the guy out of her business.
Muttering a curse, Mac marched out of his building and across the alley before she could catch up.
“It’s okay,” she called after him. “The landlord is supposed to take care of it this week.”
She hoped.
He said nothing. Just opened and closed the door a few times. Tugged on it a few more, cursing when it gave way under a hard pull. “I’ll fix it now.”
She shook her head. “No. You don’t have to do that. Let the landlord fix it. It’s why I pay him.”
He gave her a hard glare before he marched back into his garage and returned in less than a minute with a toolbox and a frown.
“Mac? Didn’t you hear me?” she asked, trying hard to keep her temper. His buddies had stopped working out and were now staring at them with way too much interest in their gazes. Kind of like Abby and Mel. Great. “Stop, Mac. I appreciate it, but let it be. This isn’t your concern. You have your own place to worry about.”
Last thing she wanted was to be a damn burden.
It was the reason she’d left Comfort.
Continuing to ignore her, the arrogant jerk dropped to his knees, did something to the door with a screwdriver, then to the door frame.
“Mac?”
No answer. More fiddling.
What was his problem? Swallowing her own curse, she pushed past him to step into her shop and set Reggie back on the couch. Enough was enough.
Drawing in a breath, she counted backward from five to zero and walked back to the doorway. “How are you suddenly deaf?”
He shut the door.
“Seriously?”
Then he must’ve tugged, because she heard it rattling. Her anger dropped a notch, so she waited, starting her countdown again. As soon as the idiot opened the door, she was going to tell him what he could do with his silent treatment. So what if they had an audience?
When she reached two, she drew in another breath.
One. She set her chin.
Zero. The door remained shut.
Wait a minute...
She snuck a quick glance out the side window, and sure enough, the big jerk was striding back toward his garage, giving her a great view of his well-formed ass.
Oh.
Hell.
No.
Stefanie rushed outside, but stopped long enough to tug on the door to make sure it stayed closed. No sense in having a repeat escape. Satisfied that Reggie was secured, she marched past her smiling friends, around his snickering buddies, and didn’t stop until she stood right behind the jackass who was stowing his toolbox on a shelf above a workbench.
She fished her phone from the front pocket of her jean skirt, Safari’d “fog horn,” turned her volume up all the way, then held it to his head and hit play.
The sound of the horn echoed through the garage so loudly that even though Stefanie knew it was coming, she still jumped.
But not as hard as Mac. The toolbox crashed to the floor. A second later, he had her phone in one hand and her wrist in his other. “What the hell is your problem?” He glowered down at her.
“Wow...look at that? It’s a miracle. He can hear.” Her heart was thudding in her chest as she twisted around to face their friends and grin. “Did you see that? I cured him.”
Dex chuckled. “Yeah, he’s cured, all right.”
“But good.” Carter nodded.
Abby and Mel gave her two thumbs up from the doorway.
“You didn’t answer me,” Mac said, his grip tightening on her wrist. “What’s your problem?”
“Just teaching you a lesson,” she replied, trying to tug her hand free. “If you don’t like to be ignored, then you shouldn’t ignore people yourself.”
He closed his mouth, worked his jaw for a few seconds before he released her. “You’re right. Sorry. I had my reasons.”
Reasons?
She cocked her head. “What reason could you possibly have to forget the manners I know your mother ingrained in you?”
Mrs. McCall was a sweetheart, but didn’t hesitate to reprimand her sons if she saw fit.
“Shit...” Dex muttered in the background.
“She played the mother card,” Mel said with a grin in her tone. “Nice one, Stef.”
She kept her back to the others and her attention on Mac. His gaze clouded over.
Then it dawned on her. Son-of-a... “My sister asked you to keep an eye on me, didn’t she?”
He handed her phone back.
“Didn’t she?” she repeated, hoping he wasn’t about to give her the silent treatment again.
“Not exactly.”
She lifted her brows. It wasn’t Chloe? “Then who?”
Her sister was the only one who’d care about her well-being. There wasn’t anyone else.
Mac stared at her for several beats, his brow slowly creasing. “My brother.”
Logan?
She blinked. Why would he care? “Oh.” She got it. Happy wife, happy life.
He narrowed his eyes. “You’re family, and family worries about family.”
Since she was way rusty where that was concerned, she chose to believe her happy wife theory and nodded. “I’m sorry they’re putting this on you.” She cleared her phone, lowered the volume, then shoved it back in her pocket before returning her gaze to him. “I can take care of myself.”
That damn brow of his quirked again. “Like working in a shop with a back door that doesn’t stay shut or lock?”
Nope. She wasn’t biting, and ignored the irritation prickling her spine. “I told you, the landlord was supposed to fix it this week.”
“When?” He leaned closer. “Before or after you were robbed.”
“Or worse?” Carter added.
She turned to Abby’s brother, her heart rocking against her ribs, but she was unwilling to follow his meaning.
“This just got real,” Mel muttered, scratching her temple.
Abby stepped inside the garage. “Come on, guys, lighten up. Don’t you think you’re being a little melodramatic?”
Dex shook his head. “With the shit we’ve seen? Hell, no. Not even Mayberry is safe anymore.”
Abby lifted a shoulder, but didn’t reply, her brows drawn together. It was the first time Stefanie had seen something other than a happy expression on her friend’s face.
She couldn’t even imagine what the guys had witnessed and gone through in Delta Force and wasn’t about to argue. “Look, Mac,” she said, turning around to face him. “I just feel bad. I know you have your own business to worry about getting off the ground. The last thing I want is for you to add me to your list of priorities.”
“Not a problem,” he said, his gaze still boring deep.
Since she had no idea what that meant, she decided to let it go. “Thanks for fixing my door. What do I owe you?”
“Nothing,” he said, and bent to pick up the toolbox.
“See, that’s not going to cut it with me,” she said, following him to the workbench. “I don’t like red in my ledger.”
He scowled. “Families don’t keep ledgers.”
Well, hell. There he went with that family thing again. “But you and I aren’t family.”
He snickered. “Your sister. My brother. Married. About to have our niece. Any of that ring a bell?”
“Yes.” Her lips twitched. “But I’m still going to pay you.”
“No, you’re not.”
“Then what else can I do for you?” As soon as the question left her lips, her mind went to a naughty place.
Images of them naked and panting, her legs wrapped around his hips as he set her on the workbench and...
Dammit.
He stilled and his gaze darkened, as if he’d joined her on that bench.
“Did you guys come up with a logo yet?”
Stefanie heard Abby ask the question, but it took a second for her fuzzy brain to catch up.
“No,” Carter replied.
“Why don’t you let Stefanie help you as her way of saying thanks?” her smart friend suggested.
“Great idea,” she said.
Mac shook his head. “No.”
She tipped her chin. “Why not?”
Didn’t he think she could handle it?
“Yeah, why not, Mac?” Alex McCall, Mac’s uncle, stepped into the garage, appearing out of nowhere, his sharp gaze bouncing between them. “Stefanie does great work. Cole was very pleased. Why wouldn’t you want her to design your logo?”
It was nice to hear Mac’s cousin appreciated her work, but she was curious about his answer. She folded her arms across her chest and waited for his reply.
“It’s not the designing part,” he told his uncle. “It’s the paying part.”
Mr. McCall frowned. “I don’t follow.”
“She doesn’t want me to pay for it,” Mac replied.
“Ah.” His uncle nodded. “Good for you. She can’t do it for free.”
Stefanie cleared her throat and fought the urge to wave her hand to signal she was right there. “And you can’t fix my door for free, either.”
Mr. McCall raised a brow. “Door?”
Mac filled his uncle in all while his gaze remained on her.
“Well, as I see it, it’s simple,” Mr. McCall said. “You hire Stefanie to create your logo, and she does it at a discount. Problem solved. This way no one is doing anything for free.” The smiling man waited for Mac to nod before turning his attention to her. “Sound good?”
Not really. It meant she had to work with Mac. “Yes,” she said, after she remembered she needed the job. At the moment, there weren’t any big clients beating down her door.
“Good.” Mr. McCall nodded and turned his attention to Mac. “Just let Stefanie shadow you around to get a feel for your company, like she did for Cole’s friend, and she’ll create the perfect logo and help you with your brand.”
Mac (HC Heroes Series, #1) Page 2