Two pigtailed sprouts of joy raced ahead of her as he got out of the car. “Uncle Mack!”
Mack grabbed a girl in each arm and tossed them over his shoulders. They squealed and shrieked, and when he finally set them down, he found Liv staring with an affectionate smile. Whether it was for him or the girls, he wasn’t sure. He just wanted to see it again.
“Thank you for doing this,” she said, striding closer. She looked conflicted. “I thought about telling Alexis that I couldn’t help, but she’s been really weird lately because of the Royce thing, and—”
“Liv.” He slid his hand around the back of her neck and squeezed gently. “I got this.”
Three things happened at once.
She looked at his lips.
He looked in her eyes.
And an unspoken understanding passed between them.
They were going to talk about that kiss later.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Five hours later, Alexis walked into the café just as Liv was locking the front door.
“How’d it go?” Alexis asked, slightly out of breath. She lugged a plastic cat carrier in her left hand.
Liv untied her apron. “Fine. How’s Beefcake?”
“They stitched him up and gave him some antibiotics. He’s going to be okay.” Alexis set the carrier on the floor and shrugged out of her raincoat. “Thank you so much for doing this.”
“Of course. Anytime.” Liv inwardly winced. The conversation was stilted, uncomfortable. Alexis must have sensed it too, because they spoke at the same time.
“Can you stay for a little while?”
“Are we okay?”
They both stopped and laughed. “You go first,” Liv said.
“I was wondering if you could stay for a little while.”
Liv nodded. “For a few minutes. I left Ava and Amelia with Mack, so—”
Alexis’s mouth dropped open. “You left them with Braden Mack?”
“He’s surprisingly good with children. The girls love him.”
“Oh.” The way she said it was a lot like the way Thea had said I know.
“Don’t read anything into it,” Liv laughed. “He’s just helping me out. That’s it.”
“If you say so.” Alexis smiled. “What were you going to say before?”
“When—oh. Right. I just . . .” Liv bit her lip. “I just want to make sure you and I are good. We haven’t really talked since the last time I was here, and we left things weird.”
Alexis let out a relieved breath. “That was my fault. I overreacted.”
“So did I.”
Alexis picked up the cat carrier and nodded for Liv to follow her into the back. “Were you busy tonight?”
“Not too bad. Steady but manageable.”
Alexis set Beefcake on the floor again. “Any progress on the job front?”
“None.”
“Not even with the Parkway? I called the head chef myself.”
“And they responded. I had an interview set up for next week—”
“That’s great!”
“—but they canceled it for no reason.”
Alexis deflated. “You think Royce had something to do with it?”
Liv shrugged. “It’s the only thing that makes sense. He threatened to ruin me, and he’s doing it.” She sat down on a stool along the wall with a frustrated sigh. “I don’t know what to do. Jessica refuses to leave. Mack even offered her a job. Any job. She won’t take it.”
Alexis put a bowl of water in front of Beefcake. “Maybe you should just stop.”
“I can’t. There has to be a way to stop him. We’re trying to get a list of women who worked there before me and might have left under weird circumstances.”
Alexis’s hands paused. “Why?”
“So I can go talk to them. See if they know anything or if they want to come forward.” Liv bit her lip as the warring voices in her head battled over whether she should shut up or plow forward. Plow forward won. “Do you—do you know anyone?”
Alexis stood slowly. Shook her head.
“I just need names, Alexis. That’s it.”
“I’m sorry, but I can’t.”
God, were they really back to this? “Why? I don’t understand—”
“If someone hasn’t come forward by now, I’m sure they have a valid reason.”
“Do you know someone?”
Alexis winced. “I can’t give you her name.”
Liv shot to her feet. “You do know someone!”
Alexis’s face turned stony. “You need to leave well enough alone, Liv. Didn’t you learn anything from what happened with your sister’s marriage?”
Liv felt the burn of her words like a giant splash of hot oil against her cheek. Wow. Liv hadn’t known Alexis had it in her to go for the jugular like that. It was always the sweet and quiet ones that could surprise you the most.
Alexis sighed and apologized. “I’m sorry. That was unkind of me.”
“No, you’re right. I didn’t help matters when Thea and Gavin were split up. I convinced Thea that Gavin couldn’t be trusted because I don’t believe any man can be, and it nearly ruined their chances to get back together. That was a mistake I will have to live with.”
Alexis walked over and hugged her. “I still shouldn’t have said it.”
Liv squeezed her friend and backed away. “I should go.”
Alexis gripped her hands. “Please don’t go away mad.”
“I’m not.” Liv looked at her feet and opted for honest. “I’m disappointed and confused. I’m trying to stop a predator. I don’t know why you would try to stop me from doing that.”
“Because some fights can’t be won.”
Disappointment burned hot and angry down her throat as Liv walked out to her car. Alexis’s words bounced around her brain the entire drive back to the farm. Some fights can’t be won. Liv refused to believe that.
A half hour later, her headlights illuminated the back of Mack’s car when she pulled into the driveway, and disappointment faded into anticipation. The window facing the driveway glowed in alternating shades of blue and white as if the only light inside her apartment was from the TV. Liv climbed the stairs, found the door unlocked, and pushed it open softly. She didn’t want to wake the girls. It took a moment for her eyes to adjust, but what she saw when she walked in sent her heart into overdrive.
Mack was on the couch, the girls curled up on either side of him, their feet in his lap. His head rested against the back of the couch, one arm stretched wide across the back of the cushions and the other resting on his chest, his fingers splayed wide. He was sound asleep.
Her apartment was clean too. The dirty coffee mug and oatmeal dishes that she’d left in the sink were gone. The girls’ toys had been picked up and lined against the table that held the TV. He’d even straightened up the pile of shoes by the front door. They stood in a perfect line on the mud tray.
Liv shut the door as quietly as she could, but the creak of the hinges brought a sharp breath behind her. She turned around. Mack lifted his head with a sleepy smile and raised the hand from his chest in a silent greeting. She crept closer to the couch, and he sat up straighter with a careful glance at each slumbering twin. With a wide yawn, he stretched his arms high over his head, and that was the thing that did her in. The yawn and stretch. Manly and vulnerable at the same time.
“How were they?” she whispered.
“Total devils.” He smiled when he said it, so she knew he was lying. “They were great. They ran around, got dirty, all the good stuff.”
“Thank you so much for doing this.”
“Stop thanking me.” He stood and stretched again, and this time his T-shirt lifted just enough to give her a glimpse of taut skin beneath a dusting of dark hair. “You hungry?”
“What?�
�� She tore her eyes from his abs.
“Rosie brought food over. Want me to heat it up for you?”
“I can do it.”
“I got it. Let’s carry the girls in, and then I’ll feed you.”
They each picked up a sleeping twin, and Mack followed her down the short hallway to her bedroom. Liv avoided making eye contact with him as they laid the girls down and pulled the comforter over them. It was way too easy to imagine the two of them in there instead, and for all her sexed-up emotions right now, she wasn’t ready for that yet.
“I’m, um, I’m going to change my clothes.”
He nodded. “Food will be waiting.”
He shut the door partway when he left, and Liv fanned herself. Mack in her bedroom was not something her senses were prepared for yet. She changed into a pair of sleep shorts and a T-shirt.
“Wow, I could get used to this,” she said when she went back out.
He looked up from the kitchen counter. “What? Coming home to a warm meal or to an exquisite male specimen like this?”
“You had to make it weird, didn’t you?” Her annoyance was fake, though. She was grateful for the teasing and the sarcasm. It was as if he’d known she needed some lightness to rise above the heavy sexual tension blanketing the room.
Mack set a plate of tuna-noodle casserole—Liv’s favorite—and a glass of water in front of her. Then he claimed the chair next to her.
“So,” he said, way too casually, “since you’re obviously too much of a coward to talk about that kiss—”
“Um, excuse me?”
He leaned forward. “Maybe we should just talk about how you almost kissed me when I got here.”
Heat raced up her neck. Busted. “Um, you mean when you almost kissed me.”
“Darlin’, I know when I’m about to be kissed, and that was some serious kiss foreplay.”
“That’s not even a thing.”
He licked his bottom lip. “Oh, it’s a thing. And you were doing it.”
Liv crossed her arms, but her breasts were suddenly super tingly, so she tried to set her hands on her hips, but that was awkward because she was sitting down.
“You comfortable yet?” Mack teased.
She plunked her elbows on the table.
He nodded. “I happen to be an expert on these things.”
Liv snorted. “I’m sure you think so.”
“Aren’t you even the least bit curious how I knew what you were thinking?”
“No.” Yes.
“You probably think it’s because you looked at my mouth like you wanted to drink from it.”
“Wow, you really have read too many romance novels.”
“It wasn’t even the fact that your tongue darted out and licked the corner of your mouth.”
Liv rolled her eyes and took a bite.
“Nope. You looked at my pulse.”
Liv cocked an eyebrow.
“You stared right . . . here.” Mack reached across the short space between them and pressed the pad of his thumb to the hot pulse point in her throat. “It was your biggest tell.”
His thumb caressed her skin.
Her breath got stuck.
Then her food got stuck.
She started to cough. Liv glared and took a drink of her water. “I did not look there,” she choked.
He leaned back, all smug and satisfied. “You’re going to argue with the master?”
“Yes, because you’re forgetting one very important detail.” Liv inched forward until their noses nearly touched. “I don’t even like you.”
“I think we’re beyond that, don’t you?” His voice was a caress on her skin.
Liv ate several more bites before giving up. Her body was hungry for one thing only, and it had nothing to do with Rosie’s casserole.
“All done?” He reached for her plate.
“You don’t have to wait on me.”
“I know, but I want you to see me washing a dish.”
She snorted out a laugh despite her best efforts to hold it in. “Why?”
“So you can see how sexy I am.”
She tilted her head. “I admit, a man washing dishes is definitely one of my fantasies.”
“Fantasies? As in plural?”
“I’m a normal woman. Of course it’s plural.”
“I wouldn’t mind hearing about some of those.”
“I don’t want to scandalize you.”
He turned around and dried his hands. The lazy gesture conjured dirty thoughts. “Please, by all means, scandalize me,” he drawled.
Liv stood and took his hand. “You’d better come with me.” She tugged him to the couch and gently pressed her palm to his chest. She gave him a soft push. “Sit.”
Mack’s eyebrows shot high on his forehead, but he obeyed.
“Scoot all the way back,” she commanded.
“So far, I’m in total agreement with whatever you’re doing.”
Liv crawled onto the cushion next to him, tucked her feet up, and then lifted his left arm and ducked under it. It fell heavy across her shoulders as she snuggled into the crook of his shoulder and pressed her cheek to the spot just above his heart. She couldn’t hold back the mmmmm that emerged from her throat.
“What are you doing?” he asked, voice husky.
“Snuggling.”
“Snuggling?” He chuckled as his hand slid down her back. He stopped just above the waistband of her sleep shorts.
“Mmm-hmm.”
“Snuggling is your fantasy.”
“Yep.”
His fingers shifted to find the bare patch of skin between her shirt and her shorts. Liv held her breath at the contact of skin on skin. Beneath her ear, his heart beat faster.
“Are you scandalized yet?” Her voice sounded like she’d just tried to gargle with straight cocoa powder.
“Completely.” So did his. “Maybe you should tell me what else happens in this fantasy of yours.”
“We talk.”
“Dirty talk?”
“Boring talk. How our days went, movies we want to see, weird things customers ordered at the restaurant, stupid things that happened at the bar.”
“I could fill up an entire day with that.”
She laughed. His chin rested on the top of her head. “Why is this your fantasy?”
“I don’t know.”
“Must be a reason.”
“I just like the idea of having someone to lean on sometimes.”
She hadn’t really meant to admit that, but something about the warmth of his skin and the thud of his heart had lulled her into an unguarded moment that she would surely regret later. “The night I got fired, I wished I had someone to lean on.”
Beneath her ear, his heart raced. “What did you do instead?”
“Watched TV and cried.”
His breath caught. “I would have held you.”
“I didn’t like you then, remember?”
He responded with a brush of his thumb against her waist. “What about now?”
“I’m getting there.”
She felt him swallow. Hard. “What else happens in this fantasy?”
“You rub my back.”
His muscles shifted, and anticipation danced along her nerves. His hand slid beneath the fabric of her shirt and began a lazy path up her spine. “Like this?”
“Yes.” She closed her eyes and curled her fingers into his shirt. He was hard beneath her touch. She was weak beneath his.
“Tell me more,” he murmured, voice strained beneath the rise and fall of his own labored breathing. There was no mistaking the tug of heavy desire in every exhalation.
“Maybe rub my neck.”
“Now you’re just milking it.”
She laughed, but then she w
ent motionless as his hand slid up farther under her shirt. His fingers began to work magic against the tight cords of her neck. She tilted her head to give him greater access. “Are you trying to get lucky?”
“I already feel lucky.”
Her breath lodged in her chest. When she opened her eyes and looked up, she found the affection she’d heard in his voice also in his eyes, gazing down at her through dark pupils. Whatever they were doing—whatever was suddenly happening—it was monumental. Intimate. Hot. And so dangerous.
“Just so you know,” he rasped. “I’m thinking about it again.”
“About what?”
“Kissing you.”
She swallowed hard. “But you’re not sure?”
“I’m nervous,” he said.
She could barely hear over the roar of her own blood. “Why?”
“Because I want to do it right.”
“I imagine you have enough experience to make that a nonissue.”
“It’s not the experience that matters. It’s the emotions. Mine are kind of jumbled right now.”
Her chest pinched. “Wow. Sometimes I think I’ve got you all figured out, and then you go and say super-sweet things like that.”
“Don’t tell anyone. It’ll blow my image.”
“Maybe you could just actually get around to kissing me?”
He dipped his head toward hers and hovered there, mouth over mouth, breath to breath. She realized with a jolt that he wasn’t kidding. He was nervous. Or maybe this was that kiss foreplay he’d mentioned. He caught her bottom lip between both of his and tugged gently and then did the same to her top lip. They stayed like that, feeling each other, adjusting to each other, to the sudden change in their relationship.
Just when she wondered whether that was going to be it, he made a growly noise and crushed his mouth to hers. His hand palmed the back of her head, his touch hot against her scalp.
If their first kiss outside the bar had been an urgent beat, a frantic dance, this one was a swaying ballad. A sweet waltz. A slow-motion union of body and mind that she never wanted to end. Insecurities would have their day, but not right now. Because right now her senses were alive with this. The fire between them. It sizzled and sparked and scorched.
Undercover Bromance Page 17