Her conclusion? Maybe Jay had a point. Maybe she just needed to rewrap the package a little. Get someone interested enough to take a closer look and see something more than the cocky smartass she showed the world. To see that beneath the tough outer shell was a woman.
The more she thought about it, the more she was convinced that if she wanted things to change, she had to be willing to change a little, too. She could do that, right? She was a United States Marine, goddammit. She could do anything she set her mind to.
It wouldn’t have to be anything too drastic. A few baby steps, just to see what happened. Inside, she would still be her. It wasn’t as if she was completely selling out.
“Jay?”
“Yeah, baby girl?”
“Can we call Marcus?”
Jay pulled away enough to look in her eyes for several long moments, then gave her a squeeze. “You sure?”
“Yeah,” she said with more conviction. “I’m sure.”
Chapter Twenty-One
~ Nick ~
The past week had been a busy one. Nick had stayed at the hospital with Jesse and his mom after spotting a Necromancer skulking around the ER. The guy wasn’t one of the major players, just a low-level wannabe trying to work his way up. Didn’t matter. Nick had memorized the face and bios of all of them.
As soon as the doctor released Jesse the next morning, Nick picked up the supplies Gail had ready and drove Jesse and his mom up to Sam’s cabin. It really was ‘God’s country’ up there, and probably the safest place for them until things calmed down. He got them settled in and ensured they had everything they needed before heading back to Covendale.
On his way, all he could think of was how much Mack would enjoy the area. Big, tall trees filtered the sun into dappling shafts of light. Varying shades of green stretched out as far as the eye could see. Stunning vistas appeared and re-appeared as he worked his way up and down the mountains. During their conversation at Ground Zero, Mack had mentioned several times that she liked the outdoors. Perhaps, if things continued to go well, he’d suggest a brief getaway. They could go hiking. Camp out under the open skies. Maybe share a sleeping bag...
He cooled those thoughts when his pants grew uncomfortably tight. As much as he wanted to know how far her voice would carry as he made her scream in pleasure, he wouldn’t rush things. He wanted more than just her naked body beneath, above, and beside him; he wanted to see her smile. Hear her laugh. Feel her hand in his as they discovered things together.
It was scary stuff for a guy who’d only recently decided to move forward with his life.
Which was yet another reason for him to take it slow and let things move forward at a natural pace. It would give him time to find his footing, and give them both a chance to get to know each other better and build a solid foundation.
It had been a couple days since their coffee date. Nick figured enough time had passed for him to contact her and ask her out again without seeming too eager.
Or desperate.
With luck, she’d agree to another coffee date, or maybe more. Was it too soon to ask her to dinner, maybe a movie? Nick decided that after getting some much-needed sleep, he’d grab a quick shower and shave and head over to Seize to get his Mack fix and play it by ear.
Unfortunately, things didn’t quite work out that way.
When Nick got to the precinct to give his report to the chief, he learned that Jesse’s house had been hit. Thankfully, uniformed patrols had been keeping an eye on the place and managed to apprehend those responsible: two guys, both affiliated with the Necromancers MC.
Once again putting his plans on hold, Nick spent as much time as possible trying to get information from them before they lawyered up. One of the guys was in his late-twenties, heavily tatted, pierced, and muscled. He had a rap sheet a mile long. Unsurprisingly, he had nothing to say.
The other guy was younger, barely out of high school. He acted tough, too, but he hadn’t been tempered the same way his buddy had. He hadn’t done hard time outside of a few stints in juvie. Nick concentrated his efforts on him. He didn’t get much, but what he did get was a possible lead on ‘Zeke’.
By the time he was finished, Nick was running on fumes. As much as he wanted to see Mack, he needed a few hours of sleep and some food first. Bleary-eyed, Nick fired off a quick text to Mack and crashed.
He’d only intended to sleep for a few hours, but when he woke up, it was morning. The first thing he did was check his phone to see if Mack had responded. There was a reply, but it wasn’t the one he’d hoped for: No, you can’t see me tonight, asshat. I’m busy. And you’re not my type.
Nick groaned and palmed his face. Apparently, he’d texted his old partner, Max, instead of Mack.
Sorry, not meant for you. Nick tapped out the text and hit send, then retyped the original message and sent that, confirming that this time, he sent it to the right number.
Nick’s phone rang as he was shaving. It wasn’t Mack, but Max. “Missing me, huh?”
“Like I said, not for you.”
A deep, rumbling laugh. “So you said. Got yourself a woman already, huh?”
Nick smiled, imagining Mack’s reaction to being called ‘his woman’. “I’m working on it.”
“Good for you, man. Listen, I was going to call you anyway. I got some information on that MC you were asking about. Word on the street is that the club is ramping up their activity on the east coast. They hit up these small-town chapters as suppliers to the locals, absorb them into the bigger organization behind the scenes, and hook them up to the bigger network — for a percentage, of course.”
“Any idea who’s running the expansion?”
“Nothing definite, but it’s big enough that it’s in the DEA’s crosshairs. Sounds like what you’re dealing with is right up their alley. You might want to give them a call.”
“Got a name?”
“Yeah. Special Agent Greg Bartholomew is the one taking the lead on this.” Max rattled off the number.
“Thanks, Max.”
“Anytime. And hey, good luck.”
After hanging up, Nick considered texting Max again, then decided against it. He needed to see her instead.
It seemed as if the universe was conspiring against him, though. He went into the station house first and filled the chief in on what he’d learned, then put in a call to Special Agent Bartholomew. While he was waiting for the agent to return his call, he took care of the small mountain of to-do’s that had accumulated in his short absence.
It was late afternoon before he made it over to Seize. It didn’t take him long to find Mack, but once he did, he had to blink several times. She didn’t just look good. She looked amazing.
The changes were subtle, but there nonetheless. Her ponytail was about two inches shorter and sported streaks of light and dark that hadn’t been there before. Her skin practically glowed with radiance.
Her clothes were different, too. Still workout appropriate, but sexier. Dare he hope that he might be part of the motivation behind the changes?
Mack hadn’t noticed him yet. He watched, transfixed, as she moved over toward the rack of silver and black hand weights. He wasn’t the only one. Plenty of other male (and some female) eyes were looking her way, too. An irrational surge of jealousy rose up inside him.
Chapter Twenty-Two
~ Mack ~
“What!?” she asked Kent irritably, letting her voice convey the annoyance she felt at being so openly ogled. But she was kind of pleased, too.
She lowered the weights and reached for her water. Detective Kent Emerson was one of the hottest guys in the gym. Lean, roped muscle, bronze skin, and penetrating blue eyes. His sandy blonde hair always looked as if a woman had been running her fingers through it just moments earlier — and probably had, if the rumors were true.
Mack had never been particularly drawn to him, but they got along well enough. The man was serious about his personal fitness and generally friendly. He wasn’t Nick, but he was
n’t exactly dog food, either.
“You look different, Mack.”
He studied her as if she was one of those “I Spy” picture books, looking for hidden things. She almost laughed at the serious concentration in his expression, biting her tongue to keep from telling him not to strain himself. One of the things Jay told her was that her blunt, often colorful utterances were red flags to a guy who might otherwise be interested, and that she should practice verbal restraint, at least at first.
“You did something with your hair,” he said finally.
She arched a brow, neither confirming nor denying his guess. She had, in fact, had it cut into soft layers. She had even allowed Marcus to add some subtle highlights and lowlights. And the fifty-dollar shampoo and crème rinse she’d used that morning really did make her hair look shiny and healthy and smell rather exotic.
His eyes travelled down the length of her body and back up again, his gaze not lewd, exactly, but appreciative and assessing. She was wearing the same workout clothes she always did ... sort of.
Mack bit back a smile, sensing the wheels turning in his head. Yes, her shorts and tank were the same color and general style, but instead of being genuine military-issue, this outfit came from a designer and was a size smaller than she normally wore. The snug shorts and subtly-fitted T made the most of her toned assets.
She had also spent a good part of her free time in her bathroom with an all-over depilatory crème, pumice stone, and a moisturizing bronzer. As a result, her skin was smooth, sleek, and glowing, and not because she’d just run five miles on the treadmill.
Too bad the wrong detective was noticing.
“Something you wanted to say, Kent?” she asked, hands on hips, drawing his attention from where they’d stalled briefly on her breasts back down. Hips that looked damned good, if she did say so herself.
“Uh, yeah,” he said, his Adam’s apple visibly bobbing. His voice sounded a little rougher than usual. Mack’s confidence grew.
Kent shifted his weight to his back foot, using the small towel he had wrapped around his neck to wipe some of the sweat coursing in rivulets down from his neck and into his muscle tank. Without conscious thought, Mack’s eyes followed the movement.
“Do you have a date for Friday?”
Her eyes snapped up to his. “Excuse me?”
“A date. For Friday. You know, the big shindig?”
“Oh, right,” she said, averting her eyes. Every year the town hosted a community ball. Everything was donated by local businesses, from the decorated hall to the sumptuous food. Tickets were a bit pricey at a hundred dollars each, but all proceeds were split among local charities. Mack bought a ticket, as always, but had no intention of going. Well, she might have considered it if a certain new-to-town detective was going, but she hadn’t seen Nick all week.
“You are going, right?” he pressed.
She shrugged and used a towel to blot the sweat from her neck, hoping she didn’t smell too offensive. Her deodorant soap usually did the job, but she’d gone with the moisturizing body wash and matching scented body mist this morning instead. A discreet sniff assured her she was still fit for being around others. “Wasn’t planning on it.”
“Why not? Do you have something against having a good time?” His teasing, roguish grin set her just slightly off-balance. She wasn’t used to people she didn’t know well asking her personal questions. Fitness-related stuff, sure. But this?
“Fancy parties aren’t really my thing.”
“What exactly is your thing, Mack?” he asked, his eyes twinkling.
Was he flirting with her? Men like Kent Emerson didn’t flirt with women like her. To them, she was ‘one of the guys’. Except Kent’s gaze probably didn’t surreptitiously scan the length of the other guys’ bodies like his was doing to hers at that very moment.
Holy crap. It seemed like Marcus’s make-over might have worked a little too well. Was this what it felt like to be Dee?
She couldn’t completely stop the blush from rising in her cheeks, cursing her body for allowing it to happen. If she was lucky, maybe he’d just think she was flushed from her workout.
Sassy Mack rose up and took over when Girly Mack came close to fluttering her eyes. “Wouldn’t you like to know,” she smirked instead.
“Yeah, I would,” he said, further shocking her.
Kent shifted again, looking less smug and more uncertain than he had only moments earlier. His eyes flicked away, as if he’d just admitted something he shouldn’t have. Mack followed his eyes, saw a couple of his buddies looking their way. “How about going with me on Friday?”
She blinked, keeping her expression neutral while her heart thundered inside the walls of her chest. Surely, she had misheard. “Are you asking me on a date, Kent?”
“Yeah, I guess I am.”
“Why?” she asked before she could stop herself.
“Jesus, Mack,” he laughed somewhat uncertainly, shaking his head. “I should have known you wouldn’t make this easy.” When she continued to stare at him, he gave her a crooked smile. “All right. You’re not like everyone else, okay? I’m intrigued. I want to know more about you, other than the fact that you can kick the ass of pretty much everyone in here, including me.”
Mack didn’t know what to say to that. Was he kidding? She stared up at him, waiting for the ‘Ha! Gotcha!’ or the ‘I’m just messing with you, Mack’ that, after one really long, awkward silence, didn’t come.
Kent was the first to break eye contact. “You know what? Forget it. I’m sorry I—"
“Okay,” she said quickly.
“What?”
“I said okay. I’ll go with you on Friday.”
Surprise etched his features before turning into a grin. “All right then. Pick you up at seven?”
She nodded. “Sure.”
Mack grabbed her towel and made her way to the locker room, shocked by the events of the last few minutes. What the hell had she just gotten herself into?
Chapter Twenty-Three
~ Nick ~
Nick watched the exchange from across the room. What the hell was Emerson up to? Just last week he’d been bragging to anyone who’d listen how he’d hooked up with Delilah.
Nick didn’t care about that. In fact, he thought Kent and Delilah were perfect for each other. What he did care about was the way the guy had been looking at Mack.
And about whatever he had said to make Mack go all deer-in-the-headlights like that.
She looked good today, even better than usual, and he wasn’t the only one who noticed. Guys who normally wouldn’t have given her a second glance now couldn’t seem to take their eyes off of her.
“What are you looking so smug about, Emerson?” Nick asked, walking over to where the other detective was now knuckle-bumping a few of his buddies.
“Kent just asked Mack out,” said one of the other guys with a look of awe on his face.
“And she accepted,” said another.
Nick kept his features carefully neutral, despite the fist clenching around his intestines and twisting. “I didn’t know you had a thing for Mack.”
Kent grinned back at him, too arrogantly to mean anything good.
“Kent’s going where no man has gone before,” his buddy joked. “Dude, you are the master. I can’t believe you are going to get a piece of that.”
A deadly combination of disgust, rage, and jealousy washed over Nick. He didn’t like them talking about Mack that way. Forcing his fists to unclench before anyone noticed, he said, “I take it Mack doesn’t usually date guys from the gym?”
A dark-haired guy named Zane looked surprised at his question. “You’re new here, so you wouldn’t know.”
“Wouldn’t know what?”
“Mack doesn’t date anybody, man. We all kind of figured she was, well, you know...”
“No, I don’t know,” Nick said with a tight smile. “Why don’t you explain it to me?”
“Come on, Benning. She was in the se
rvice. Runs a gym. Never see her with a guy, other than that gay dude she lives with. Do the math.”
Nick did do the math, and the numbers just weren’t adding up. “So if you are so certain she prefers women, why ask her out? I mean, Emerson is pretty, but still.”
Rather than be offended, Kent laughed and slapped his shoulder. “You’re all right, Benning.” Without answering his question, Emerson and his buddies headed for the locker room, leaving Nick with a bad feeling in his gut.
Something wasn’t right. What the hell had happened while he’d been away? Just a few nights ago, he’d been feeling really good about this thing with Mack. Now she was going to a public event with Emerson?
Instead of seeking out Mack like he’d intended, Nick left shortly afterward and went to pick up his own ticket to the charity ball.
Chapter Twenty-Four
~ Mack ~
Mack felt nervous being so far out of her element, but she tried to overcome that. She was here, amidst the beautiful people, just like Cinderella. Her dress wasn’t an exclusive designer, and her jewelry was not from Tiffany or Cartier, but they were good pieces. Things her mother said no woman should ever be without – diamonds, gold, and pearls. She had that covered, at least. She wore small but perfect pearl studs and delicate hanging diamond earrings in her doubly-pierced lobes, along with a matching fine gold chain with a pearl in the center and flanked by tiny diamonds. Jay and Marcus had spent hours picking out the perfect dress and accessories, doing her hair and make-up. Mack felt... feminine.
Surprisingly, it wasn’t horrible.
Even her date was turning out better than expected. Kent had picked her up, held the door open for her, and had been a perfect gentleman. It wasn’t easy for him, she knew. She caught his buddies snickering more than once. Mack raised her chin, determined not to embarrass him by flipping them off or beating the crap out of those losers.
Seizing Mack: A Contemporary Love Story (Covendale Book 3) Page 11
