Caramel Crush
Page 25
Still, if he had forgotten all about that night, it was most definitely for the best and it made her relax just the teensiest bit. Perhaps all of her worry had been for nothing and everything was going to be just fine over the next two weeks.
She stole a look at him, then glanced back out the window and then back at him. His hair was cut short on the sides and longer on top. It was several shades darker than his sister’s, almost brown but not quite, but not really blond either. His bangs fell over his forehead in a casual way that could have been created with a lot of product and artful arrangement but Mac suspected was more the result of a quick towel dry and a distracted manner.
Despite the fact that Mac hadn’t seen him in years, she knew the highlight reel. Emma had kept her apprised of all the main events in Gavin’s life. He had gone to veterinary school, graduated at the top of his class, and had returned home to work at old Doc Scharff’s practice. Doc was in semi-retirement and was training Gavin to take over the biz fully when he was done. Emma was so proud of her brother; she practically glowed when she talked about him.
Although she never admitted it, Mac knew that Emma had put her life on hold until she knew Gavin was settled. She always said she and Brad were saving for a house before they got married, but Mac suspected that Emma had been waiting to make sure Gavin could stand on his own two feet before she started a family of her own. Mac had a feeling Gavin didn’t realize it and would be pretty unhappy if he ever figured it out.
Maybe that’s just how big sisters were with little brothers. Mac didn’t know because she didn’t have any siblings. The only person who had ever been like a younger sibling to her was Gavin, and, oh yeah, she had slept with him. Even thinking about it made Mac feel dirty.
Emma hadn’t only shared Gavin’s accomplishments; she had also kept Mac informed on his love life even though Mac had never asked and really didn’t want to know. The last girlfriend, Jane, had never been a favorite of Emma’s. She had dubbed her Jane-the-Pain, which had been shortened to “the pain” for the duration of their relationship and had then morphed into “the beyotch” after Jane ran off with Gavin’s business manager.
Mac didn’t like knowing all of the sordid details about Gavin’s personal life, but she had never been able to stop Emma from oversharing without giving her a solid reason why. Now she was uncomfortable knowing as much as she did and not knowing what to say to him about any of it. The silence in the cramped cab of the truck was becoming excruciating, however, and she didn’t think she could take it anymore as they crossed over the Presumpscot River, heading north on Route 1.
“So, it looks like they’ll have a nice day for the wedding,” she said. She grabbed for the old New England mainstay of talking about the weather like she was reaching for a life preserver in a choppy sea.
Gavin looked at her and grinned. “She speaks, and about the weather, too. I guess you can take the girl out of Maine but you can’t take the Maine out of the girl.”
Mac felt herself blush, which was alarming as she was pretty sure she hadn’t had a case of the face hots in years. So, there was one more reason to avoid this man. No self-respecting thirty-two-year-old woman wanted to walk around looking rashy.
“Ayuh,” she said, intentionally using the old Maine expression for agreement. Gavin smiled at her, which had been her intent but it also made her face heat up again. She resisted the urge to cover her cheeks with her hands and instead asked, “Er, so what’s new with you?”
Gavin glanced from the road to her. He gave her a look with one eyebrow raised that said Seriously? before turning back to the road.
Mac blew out a breath. She was pretty sure she’d had pelvic exams that were more fun than this, and that was with the doctor saying “scooch down” repeatedly until her ass cheeks felt like they were hanging on nothing but air.
“Some things have changed since you’ve been gone,” he said.
Mac looked at him and frowned. “Like me? Are you trying to tell me I’ve gotten old?”
“No, I wouldn’t say old,” he said. “Grown up, maybe, and you aren’t the only one.”
His blue eyes were steady on hers and Mac had a sudden epiphany about where he was going with this conversation. The intense look on his face told her more than words that he most definitely remembered their one night together, every single second of it. Uh-oh!
Alarm bells began to clang in her head so loudly that she had a hard time hearing what he said. She saw his lips moving, but it was like his sound card was broken and all she could get were random words and static.
“I’m sorry, what?” she asked.
“I asked you if we’re ever going to talk about—” he began, but she interrupted.
“No!”
“I think we should—”
“Dut dut dut.”
“Mac, we need to—”
“Dut dut,” she said. She raised her hand in a stop motion. “No, we don’t.”
Gavin clenched his jaw and she could tell she was infuriating him. Too bad. If they talked about that night then it was real, but if they never talked about it, she could at least pretend that it had never happened, which was about the only way she was going to get through the next two weeks, especially with this hot guy standing in place of the man-boy she had been expecting.
He leaned over the console, clearly entering her personal space, forcing Mac back until she was pressed up against the door.
“Pretending it didn’t happen doesn’t make it so,” he said. Then he looked at her like he wanted to devour her. “Besides, don’t you want to find out if that night was as sexy as you remember? I know I do.”
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