“The TCC?” she asked, surprised.
Mac, like his father before him, was a member of the Texas Cattleman’s Club, a members-only private organization that had only recently begun to welcome women as full members. The club was legendary in Royal, with most people going their whole lives and never seeing the inside of the place. “Why would you want to do that?”
“They serve a great steak,” he said with a careless shrug that she didn’t believe for a minute.
Whatever his reasons for suggesting they go out on a real dinner date—he was suggesting a date, wasn’t he? Oh, God, why was he asking her on a date? Because he knew he’d never have to go through with it, that’s why, she thought an instant later. He couldn’t win this bet and he knew it.
“Okay,” she said, agreeing in the same spirit he’d asked. “Deal. Dinner at the TCC if you win. Which you won’t.”
“Seem awful sure of yourself,” he mused.
“You’ll never be able to go without answering your phone,” she said, taking a bite of her sandwich.
“Never say never, darlin’.”
Five
The first half hour just about drove him out of his mind. He couldn’t count how often he actually went to reach for his phone before stopping himself just in time. Whenever his phone rang, Andi watched him, one eyebrow lifted high as she waited for him to surrender to the inevitable. But he didn’t do it. Mostly because she was so sure he would and that just annoyed the hell out of him. So he held out and poured his concentration into painting, and humming along with the country tunes on the radio.
He and Andi talked and worked together as well as they always had, and before Mac knew it, three hours had gone by. He hadn’t checked his phone once, he realized, and the world hadn’t ended. His business was still up and running and there were no signs of a coming apocalypse. Even more than that—after the first agonizing half hour, he’d actually enjoyed not grabbing for the phone whenever it beeped or vibrated.
“You did it,” Andi said, with just a hint of surprised admiration in her voice. “I didn’t think you’d make it, but you did.”
“You should have learned by now not to doubt me,” he said, taking a step back to survey the job they’d done. “Looks good, Andi.”
“It does,” she said, turning in a circle to admire the room now that it was finished. “We make a good team.”
“Always did,” he agreed, then kept talking before she could back away from that one simple truth. “So, if it’s okay with you, think I’ll use my phone now and make us a reservation at the TCC. Then I’ll use that twenty bucks you owe me to put gas in my truck.”
Her head tipped to one side. “You want to have dinner with me?”
“I guess I do.” He wanted a lot more than dinner, too. But a man had to start somewhere. He pulled his phone from his pocket and hit the speed dial. When she started to speak again, he held up one finger for quiet and watched her quietly steam. It was probably wrong how much he enjoyed doing that.
“Afternoon, James. This is Mac McCallum. I’ll be bringing a guest in for dinner tonight. Around eight. Thanks. Appreciate it.” He hung up and looked at her. “They’re holding my favorite table.”
“Of course they are.”
“Problem?” he asked.
“You always get what you want, don’t you?”
“Damn straight.”
“I shouldn’t even be surprised when people snap to attention when you speak, should I?”
“I’ve never seen you jump when I speak,” he said.
Her mouth curved. “True.”
“Always liked that about you,” he admitted. That stiffness in her spine, the determined gleam in her eyes and the defiant tilt to her chin all rolled together to make her one amazing woman. “From that first day you came in to interview for the job. You let me know from the start that you’d work your butt off, but you wouldn’t be a yes woman.”
“You didn’t need one more person kowtowing to you.”
Amusement filled him. “Kowtow?”
“It’s an appropriate word.”
His eyebrows lifted as he considered it. He supposed she had a point, in spite of that snotty tone. However everyone else treated him, Andi had always given him an honest opinion. No matter what. He had always known that she’d tell him straight and wouldn’t hold back. And he was only now seeing how much he’d come to rely on that trait over the years.
He could still see her as she had been that first day. He’d interviewed three people for the job before her, but the moment she walked into the office, all starch and precision, he’d known she would be the one. She’d had a great résumé, a firm demeanor and he liked how she had stood right up to him.
Now she wanted to leave. Was it any wonder he was trying so hard to keep her?
He studied her for a second or two, and in her eyes he saw more than his trusted assistant. More than the woman who’d made his work life run like a Swiss watch. He saw a woman he enjoyed being around. A woman who made his skin sizzle with a touch and irritated him and intrigued him all at once. Why had he never opened his eyes to the possibilities before this?
Looked as though he was just going to have to make up for lost time.
“So,” he said, cutting his own thoughts off. “Dinner tonight. I’ll pick you up at eight.”
He looked at her steadily, silently daring her to say no. Just when it seemed she might, she said, “Fine. Eight.”
Nodding, Mac started talking again before she could change her mind. “I’ll finish with this sink, then head home to clean up, take care of some things.”
She was standing close. So close he could smell her shampoo. Why had he never noticed that soft, flowery scent before? Her T-shirt was tight, clinging to her breasts and her narrow waist. Her cutoff denim shorts were cuffed high on her thighs and those pale pink toes looked too damn sexy.
His breath labored in his lungs, and every square inch of his body tightened until he felt as if a giant fist was wrapped around him, squeezing. They stared at each other for several long seconds, and then Andi broke away, shattering whatever thread had been stretched between them. Mac took a deep breath, thinking to settle himself, but all it did was make him appreciate her scent that much more.
“Um, okay then. I’ll get back to the hideous cabbage rose wallpaper and—” She half turned and he stopped her.
“Wait,” he said tightly. She tensed up. He could see it and he enjoyed knowing that she was feeling as twisted up as he was. Reaching out, he pulled flakes of wallpaper out of her hair, then held them out to her with a smile.
“Isn’t that perfect?” she muttered. Taking them, her fingers brushed against his and sent another quick snap of sensation between them. “Thanks. I’ll be sure to wash my hair before dinner.”
Well, now he was imagining her in the shower, soap suds and water running over her bare skin, hair slicked back from her flushed face to hang down her back in heavy, wet strands... Oh, man. He rubbed one hand across his mouth, hoping he wasn’t drooling.
She gave him a long look out of those storm-gray eyes that had his insides fisting. He fought down an urge to grab her, pull her close and hold on to her. Because if he held her, he’d have to kiss her. Taste the mouth that was suddenly more tempting to him than anything he’d ever seen before. But if he did that, it would change their relationship completely and, knowing her, Andi would only use that shift between them as another reason to leave her job. So he wouldn’t risk it. Not yet, anyway.
When she turned to the hall, this time he let her go.
* * *
“A date? Seriously? You’re going on a date with Mac?”
Jolene and the kids had stopped by on their way home from baseball practice and now Andi and her sister were sitting in the kitchen, keeping an eye on Jacob, Jilly and Jenna playing in the
backyard. She had less than two hours before Mac picked her up for their not-a-date.
“It’s not a date,” Andi insisted, as she had been telling herself all afternoon.
“Really?” Jolene reached out and tapped her fingernail against the window until her son looked up. She wagged her finger at him and Jacob got the message, immediately letting go of his baby sister’s doll. The little girl’s shrieks broke off instantly. Satisfied, Jolene turned back to Andi.
“If it’s not a date, what’s the word they use to describe it these days?”
“Funny,” Andi told her. She sliced a couple of apples into wedges, then added squares of cheese to a plate before carrying it all to the table and sitting down opposite her sister. “Really, I don’t know what it is. But he’s never thought about me that way, so I know it’s not a date.”
“Uh-huh.” Jolene took a sip of her tea and flicked another glance out the window to make sure no one was killing anybody. “Sounds to me like he’s thinking of you ‘that’ way now.”
“No, he’s not. Is he?” She worried her bottom lip as she considered, then rejected the whole idea. “No, he’s not.”
“Things change,” Jolene said, snatching a slice of apple and crunching into it. “Let us pause to remember that after my first date with my beloved Tom I told him I never wanted to see him again.”
“That’s because he took you fly-fishing.”
“He really was an idiot,” Jolene murmured with a smile. Rubbing one hand over her belly, she said, “But look at us now.”
“Okay, you have a point. Things have already changed.” In the past few days, there had been a kind of shift in her relationship with Mac. Always before, they’d been friendly, but she’d been determined to maintain that cool separation of boss and assistant. But here, away from the office, that barrier had dropped and they’d both reached across it.
What that meant, she had no idea.
“What’re you going to wear?” Jolene asked.
“Oh, God.” She dropped her head to the table and only groaned when her sister laughed.
* * *
Andi swiveled her head from side to side and didn’t even care that she must look like a tourist on their first visit to New York City. It was how she felt. She’d never been inside the Texas Cattleman’s Club before, so this was a real moment for her. She didn’t want to miss a thing—and not only because Jolene had demanded a full description.
The building itself was stone and wood and boasted a tall slate roof that afforded the rooms in the club with nearly-cathedral ceilings. The paneled walls were dotted with hunting trophies and pieces of the history of Royal, Texas. Old photos of stern-looking men glaring at the camera were interspersed with other Texas memorabilia. Andi took it all in as Mac led her toward the dining room.
“I feel like we should have had to use a secret password to get in here,” she said, keeping her voice low as if she were in a library.
“Ah, we use code signals. Much more stealthy.” He leaned his head toward hers. “Did you see how I tipped my hat to the right when I took it off? There you go.”
Her lips twitched. A playful Mac was a dangerous Mac. At least to her heart. “This is exciting. To finally see it all.”
Mac tucked her arm through his. “Well, the dancing girls are only here Tuesdays and Thursdays, and the harem’s closed to female guests, so you’ll have to make do with the dining room.”
She tipped her head up to give him a sardonic look. “Aren’t you the funny one?”
“Charm, Andi. It’s called charm.”
“There’s a less attractive name for it, as well,” she told him.
He laughed. “You’re quick. I like it. Always did. So what do you think of the place?”
“I feel like we should be whispering,” she confessed, lowering her voice again as she looked at the old framed letters on her left and nearly gasped when she saw one signed by Sam Houston himself.
“The place has got plenty of history,” he said, “but it’s moving with the times, too.”
She raised an eyebrow at that.
“Okay, turtle speed,” he allowed. “But we are moving. We even have a day care center here now and I thought that was going to send a couple of the older members into heart attacks.”
She chuckled, but realized he was probably right. The arguments over the day care center had kept the town talking for weeks. But oh, she remembered well how infuriated the old guard of the club had been to grudgingly accept female members.
In a way, she felt sort of sorry for the poor old dinosaurs. Their world was changing and they couldn’t stop it.
“Of course,” Mac was saying as he shifted his gaze to the ceiling, “the building suffered some damage during the tornado. But I like what they did when they repaired it. There’s a little more light in here—makes it seem less like a paneled cave when you walk through.”
“I love it.” She tipped her head back to look up at him. “I’ve always had a mental image of what the inside of this place might look like and, surprisingly enough, I was pretty close. But you’ve fulfilled a childhood dream by bringing me here. So thank you.”
“Absolutely my pleasure,” he assured her. Then he covered her hand on his arm with his own. The closeness to him was exhilarating and made her head swim. She liked it.
He looked wonderful, though she had to admit that he always looked far too good. Tonight, he wore black slacks, black boots, a white collared shirt and a black jacket. He carried his black dress Stetson in his free hand and his sharp green eyes surveyed every inch of his surroundings.
He fit in this building that was so much a combination of past and present. She could completely see Mac McCallum a hundred and fifty years ago, still having that steely gaze, carving out an empire in the Old West.
As if he felt her watching him, he turned his head, looked down into her eyes and asked, “What’s going on in your mind right now?”
“Too many things I don’t want to talk about.”
“Intriguing.”
She sighed a little. “I’m not trying to be intriguing.”
“Maybe that’s why you are,” he said, voice low, a caress of sound in the hushed atmosphere. Well, that should keep her system humming for a while, she thought as he led her into the main dining room.
Here, the tables were square, covered in white linen then draped with deep red cloths. There were candles and tall, fragile vases, each holding a single yellow rose. It made her smile.
Leaning toward him, she whispered, “The yellow rose of Texas?”
He grinned, as if pleased she’d caught it. “Nobody has traditions like Texas.”
She’d been so nervous about coming here with him, worried about what it might mean, what would happen. And now she was enjoying herself too much. It wasn’t good, she thought. She couldn’t allow her feelings for him to keep growing. If she did, walking away would be even harder than it had to be.
“Stop thinking.”
Andi blinked and shook her head as if coming up out of a trance. “What?”
“I can see you’re starting to second-guess tonight.” Mac dropped one hand to the small of her back. “Why not just let it roll on and see where it takes us instead?”
Ignoring the burst of warmth that bloomed from his touch, she sat down and kept her gaze on his as he took the seat beside her at the table for four. “You hired me for my organizational skills, for my ability to think everything through from every angle.”
“As you’re continually reminding me,” he said with a quick smile, “we’re not at work.”
If they were, Andi would know where she stood. As it was now, she felt a little off balance—a not altogether uncomfortable feeling.
“Right. Okay. Just enjoy.” She looked around the dining room. There were several other peop
le at the tables scattered across the gleaming wood floor. She recognized most of them and nodded to Joe Bennet, who excused himself to his wife and headed across the room toward them.
He and Mac shook hands, then Joe turned to Andi and asked, “How’s that new air conditioning system I installed working out for you?”
Here she had no trouble knowing exactly what to say. Giving him a wide smile, she said, “It’s wonderful, Joe. I can’t thank you enough. It’s lovely being able to sleep at night without gasping for air.”
His wide, plain face beamed with pleasure. “Happy to hear it. Now, if you have any problems at all, you let me know, all right?”
“I will.”
“You enjoy your night, you two.” He gave Mac a conspiratorial wink, then walked back to his own table.
“Oh, boy.” That man-to-man wink was a sure sign that she and Mac were about to be the hot topic of conversation tomorrow in Royal.
“Yeah,” Mac said, nodding. “I know what you mean. Joe’s a good guy, but the man gossips like an old woman. Did you know he spent a half hour telling me how the Grainger boy’s scholarship to UT came at the right time. His dad was so proud he forgot all about the boy crashing the family car.”
“Did he?” Amused, Andi listened.
“And when he’d finished with that tale, he moved right on to Sylvia Cooper and how her husband, Buck, bought her a shiny new cast-iron skillet for their twenty-fifth anniversary—and she promptly bounced it off his forehead.”
She cringed. “Oh!”
“Yeah,” he said with a wince. “Have to say, though, I think Buck had that one coming. Anyway, twenty stitches and a mild concussion later, Buck saw the light, bought two tickets to Paris and the lovebirds leave next week.”
Andi laughed, enjoying herself as Mac continued.
“Then Joe went on a rant about Pastor Stevens and how he preaches against gambling but made a bet on a horse race last Friday night and won—without telling his old friend Joe about the tip he got before the race.”
She was having fun. Andi hadn’t expected to, not really. There was too much tension between them.
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