Skinny Pants

by Pamfiloff, Mimi Jean

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  “This is amazing!” Macie stood with her mouth falling open as they stepped inside the Bennett Wade Enterprises skybox overlooking the catcher’s mound. “This had to cost a fortune.” And they had it all to themselves. Romantic move!

  “Nope. But I was supposed to babysit tonight, so getting out of that took a little negotiating.”

  Macie looked at Jack. “Oh shoot. I’m so sorry.”

  “Why?” Jack shrugged his big shoulders.

  “I noticed the baby glow in your eyes when you talked about your nephew at the bar the other night.” Big fat swoon moment right there.

  “Well, he is the most beautiful baby in the world, but of course, I’m pathetically baby-whipped and biased.”

  “I think it’s incredibly sweet.”

  “Do you now?” Jack’s fatal smile made an appearance.

  “A man who loves babies, is there anything sweeter?” Or sexier?

  “A man who loves puppies.”

  “Ooh.” She winced. “Tough call, but no. Now, if he loved puppies, kittens, and tiny chipmunks, he might stand a chance against the baby-lover guy.”

  Jack laughed, and it was everything she could do not to drop her drawers and pounce. But did he like her back? The box seats and limo sent romantic “I want to impress you” vibes while simultaneously coming off as “just me and my best buddy” vibes.

  God, this is so painfully confusing.

  She decided to fish. “Well, I can’t tell you how special this is, though I don’t know why you’d go through so much trouble for me.” Pole baited and…?

  Jack stared at her for a long moment, those green, green eyes flickering with adoration. “I’m glad, Macie, because you are a very special person. I don’t say that kind of thing lightly and…”

  Macie’s heart galloped. Jack was on the precipice of saying something big—you’re the best friend I’ve always wanted. Or you’re the woman I’ve been waiting for and I’m falling in love with you.

  She waited with baited pole and breath.

  He continued, “And I want you to know that I—”

  The door to the skybox burst open. “Jack!” A woman in her late twenties with long dark hair came through the door. “Ohmygod!” She rushed at him and gripped him in a bear hug. “Dammit, I’ve missed you.”

  Macie didn’t know what to think until she looked over and saw Bennett Wade—the Bennett Wade—with his dark hair and height equal to Jack’s, standing next to them, holding a beautiful baby with blue saucers for eyes. Bennett wore an expensive-looking suit like he’d just come from a meeting.

  Crap. Crap. Crap. That’s Bennett Wade! And ohmygod, what was Jack going to tell me? They’d interrupted them.

  The woman looked at Macie, who stood a few feet away, and then dove in for her second bear hug. “And you must be Macie! I’ve heard so much about you.”

  She has? Macie tried not to grunt, but what a freaking grip. “He-hello…”

  “Taylor, let her go now,” Jack grumbled. “We don’t want to break my date.”

  Date? Still in Taylor’s grip, Macie’s heart exploded into a gazillion, sparkling, fucked-up pieces. Date? He called me his date! Oh, God. I’m going to hurl.

  Taylor pulled back. “Jack? Why is your date turning green?”

  Oh! There’s that word again. Date! I’m definitely going to be happy-sick! Macie was flooded with emotion.

  “Macie? You okay?” Like a doting, sweet boyfriend, Jack walked her over to the reclining seats in front of the giant window. “Sit.” He kneeled in front of her and took her pulse from her wrist, deep concern in his eyes.

  “I’m fine. Totally fine,” she said in the highest-pitch tone she’d ever heard come from her mouth.

  “Hey all!” a deep voice echoed through the room, and everyone turned their heads toward another woman with dark hair and a man in leather pants.

  “Is that…” Macie began hyperventilating while Jack frowned.

  “Yes. Colt Young. And his new wife, Sarah, my sister’s best friend.” Jack gently tapped Macie’s cheek. “Are you all right?”

  “No. Why didn’t you tell me?” That I’m your date. I’m freaking out right now.

  “Tell you about him?” Jack asked her and flashed a glance over his shoulder. “We’re watching a game with my family and friends. Not sure what sort of warning is needed.”

  Everyone was giving her side glances. Force field, Macie. Force field. Determined not to turn this shockingly wonderful moment into a train wreck, Macie willed her composure to life.

  Macie bobbed her head slowly. “I’m really sorry. You’re right.” She lifted her chin only to be met with Jack’s stunning gaze, which threatened to undo her all over again. If only she could make him wear sunglasses because right now, the way he was looking at her made her want to cry. No man had ever looked at her with so much affection. “It’s just that I haven’t eaten, and I worked all day and went to the gym twice so I could have fun tonight.”

  “Oh, Macie,” he scolded, “you should know better. I’ll order you some food, but it’s going to take thirty minutes. What would you like?”

  “I’m fine, I promise.” She drew a breath. “But I’ll have a beer—dark if they have it—and a hotdog.” A side of tequila would be excellent too.

  Jack smiled. “Coming right up.” He raised his hand in the air, and the waiter came over to take the order.

  In all honesty, she really had let her blood sugar get too low, and that was a no-no for many reasons. It messed with her mood and energy, and there was no reason to do it.

  Remembering that she still had a partially eaten cookie, she went for her purse and grabbed her little box.

  “What’s that?” Jack asked.

  “Nurse catnip,” she said, unwrapping the broken cookie. “Want some?”

  “No.” Jack stood. “What the fuck is that!” Not a question, but an accusation.

  Macie froze, and so did the rest of the people in the skybox.

  “S-sorry?” Macie asked sheepishly.

  “That!” Jack pointed to the cookie.

  “It’s a cookie?” What the hell is happening?

  Jack’s eyes flickered with rage. He turned and gave everyone the most hateful look. “You should all be ashamed of yourselves.” He looked at Macie. “Especially you.” He left the skybox without another word.

  Taylor, his sister, rushed over. “Are you all right, Macie?”

  Macie nodded and then switched to shaking her head. “No. I don’t think I am. What just happened?”

  Taylor patted Macie’s arm. “He’s been through a lot, sweetie. Don’t take it personally.”

  But how could Macie not? Jack had just gone ballistic over a cookie and yelled at her in front of these people—two of them world-famous, male-sex-symbol celebrities. What could be more humiliating? It was like he’d gotten personally offended to see her eating something unhealthy. What the fuck?

  “Is he crazy?” she asked Taylor.

  “Not at all. He’s just trying to figure out how to move on.”

  Macie looked into Taylor’s brown eyes. “I don’t understand.”

  “The cookie is…it’s hard to explain. But I promise it’s nothing bad.”

  “If it’s nothing bad, then why did he just scream at me like that?” Fucking hell. How had this gone from the most wonderful moment of her life to the worst?

  “Because he—the cookie is…” Taylor turned her head and looked at Bennett. “Help me out here.”

  Gripping his baby in one arm, Bennett held up his free hand. “Don’t look at me. I don’t believe in any of that nonsense.”

  Taylor rolled her eyes. “That doesn’t mean you can’t articulate the situation, honey.”

  Macie’s head was spinning. It was all too much.

  “It doesn’t matter. I need to go.” Macie stood. No man got to treat her like that.

  “Do you have a way home?” Taylor asked. “Jack told me he got a car service for you guys.�
�

  “Uhhh…”

  “She can take my car.” Colt Young stepped forward, holding out a valet ticket. “I can pick it up next weekend and visit Ms. Luci.”

  Ms. Luci. Ms. Luci. “You know Ms. Luci, the woman from the ER?” Macie’s eyes went wide.

  Everyone exchanged guilty glances.

  “What?” Macie asked.

  “Wait. Are you Nurse Franklin?” Taylor asked. “The one who kept Luci from leaving the ER?”

  “Yes. What’s going on?” Macie asked with an edge to her voice.

  Taylor blew out a breath. “I sent you that cookie.”

  “Huh?” Macie looked around the room at the confounded expressions.

  Okay, these people are all on something. “I’m going home.”

  Colt Young, world-famous rock star, looked at the woman he’d come with—Sarah?—and then at Macie. “You know what. I’ll drive you. I can explain everything and stay the night at Luci’s. She’s overdue for a visit anyway.”

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  Colt Young is driving me home in his Ferrari. Macie kept stealing glances at him—the shaggy brown hair, worn leather pants, and black T-shirt made him look like a god and completely intimidating.

  So is his driving. Jesus. Can he go any faster? They’d literally crossed the Golden Gate Bridge in five seconds.

  “So where do you want me to start?” he asked. “With the craziest part? Or shall I work up to that?”

  “Errr…” This didn’t sound good. “I’m a nurse, so my skin is pretty thick. Start where you like.”

  “Good.” Colt changed out of the fast lane to pass someone.

  “Could you slow down first?”

  “I’m only going ninety, but sure.” He slowed to about eighty. “Better?”

  Not even close. “Just get on with the story.”

  Colt quickly checked his rearview mirror. “People, and I mean a lot of people, think those cookies are a magic love potion kind of thing.”

  “What the…?”

  He glanced at her. “Yeah, I know. That’s why I volunteered to tell you. I thought it would sound less crazy coming from a neutral party.”

  “Nope.”

  “Welp, Luci has been baking those cookies for forty years and has hundreds of thousands of followers. People come from all over the world to get their hands on a cookie when she makes them once a year, and they all swear they work. Seven days, and you’ll find your true love.”

  “What? That’s ridiculous.”

  He shrugged. “People have believed in crazier things—Bigfoot, the chupacabra, vampire librarians—you name it.”

  Vampire librarians?

  He continued, “And there’s no denying the power of suggestion because Luci throws a mass wedding every summer for the couples who’ve fallen in love after eating one of her cookies.”

  “Sounds like a cult.”

  “Yep. And people love it. I think they’re hungry for something positive and happy, so it doesn’t really matter if the cookies are real. And if it spreads more happiness in the world, I’m all for it.”

  Spoken like a musician, and she couldn’t exactly argue. “Wait. Didn’t you recently start playing some kind of Weird Al-type music?”

  Colt frowned. “I switched from rock to what I call lighthearted reflections on the human condition set to music. It’s really stand-up comedy with a tune.”

  Uh, yeah. Weird Al. Like she said.

  He went on, “In a way, Luci—and now Taylor, who’s taking over for Luci when she retires—is after the same thing we all are: making the world a better place.”

  “Okay. And Jack is against all this cookie folklore? He felt I betrayed him in some way?”

  “Oh no. Jack is a believer.”

  “Huh?” Why did this whole thing just keep making less sense?

  “Taylor and Bennett shared a cookie and fell in love. Sarah ate one and then met me. Or more accurately, we hooked up in a nightclub bathroom while she was a judge presiding over my arrest for assaulting a police officer.”

  Huh? “Why would you do that?”

  “Oh, it wasn’t me. I was framed by a stalker and my crazy brother, who’s in jail now, but that’s a long story.”

  Macie cringed. Yikes. “Sounds like it. So Jack believes the cookies actually work, and he got mad because…?”

  “Taylor, his sister, has been trying for over a year to get him to eat one. She wants to see him get over his broken heart. But Jack refuses. He says the cookies are a bunch of BS.”

  “But you said he’s a believer.”

  “He is, but he won’t admit it. Why else won’t he eat a damned cookie? It’s because he believes.”

  “Maybe he just really doesn’t want to eat a cookie.”

  “Everyone likes cookies,” Colt said.

  “Good point,” Macie admitted.

  “Jack doesn’t want to eat it because he’s not ready to move on. And he made it clear to Taylor that he doesn’t want her meddling in his love life.”

  “How do you know all this?”

  “Taylor and my wife, Sarah, are best friends. Plus, I go to all of the big family gatherings. I’ve seen the fights between Jack and Taylor and their brothers. They’re relentless.”

  Macie was finally beginning to understand. Real or not, the cookie had become a symbolic big bone of contention. “So it’s not that he believes a stupid cookie makes you fall in love. It’s that he wants to get through this on his own terms. I can understand that.”

  Colt shrugged. “I think he’s also terrified of falling in love again. That woman, Doris, was his best friend his whole life. Then one day, she just packed up her stuff and left—didn’t matter that it was for a woman or one of his patients. She stabbed him in the heart, and I know all about that. My brother tried to kill me, and when that didn’t work, he tried to ruin me.

  Dear God. “Are you all right?”

  “Yeah. I mean, it left a scar, but it’s just going to take time, which is no different from Jack. I’ve tried explaining it to Taylor, but she doesn’t like seeing him wallow. That’s why we were all so excited when we heard he’s been dating you.”

  Dating. There was that word again.

  Macie groaned. All this time, he’d liked her!

  Wait. And he liked Catrina?

  Okay, Colt said dating, not marrying. People were allowed to like more than one person if they weren’t in a committed relationship. The point was, he did like her, and dammit all to hell! She’d fucked it up.

  Wait. No, I didn’t. I didn’t fuck anything up. “Well, I’ve never heard of Luci before I met her in the ER, and I certainly didn’t know about the cookies. Jack owes me an apology for that—that—whatever that bullshit was. I would never go behind his back and…”

  I’m an idiot. I would go behind his back. I would lie to him. I’m a horrible, horrible person.

  “Yes?” Colt asked.

  “Nothing. I just don’t know what to do.”

  “Let Jack calm down for a few days. Then tell him you didn’t know. It will blow over. But you have to admit,” Colt added, “it is pretty damned strange that Taylor is the one who sent you the cookie and you turned out to be the one dating her brother.”

  Okay. Yeah. That was pretty weird.

  “And then there’s the whole thing about…” his voice trailed off. “Never mind.”

  “What?” Macie asked.

  “I shouldn’t tell you.”

  “No. You should because you brought it up.”

  Colt grumbled. “Every year, people from all over petition Luci to do matchmaking—usually for someone who just won’t get out of their own way.”

  “And?”

  “Jack is their special project—part of Taylor’s training—but Jack found out and put a stop to it.”

  “Oh. So that’s why he thinks we were all up to something.” And why wouldn’t he, given all of the coincidences? “He’s never going to forgive me.” Not now. He’d made it clear that he wouldn’t tolerate
lying. Only Macie hadn’t lied. Okay. Not about this. Just about Catrina. And now she’d emailed him, as Catrina, and confessed she’d lied. Poor Jack. He probably thinks the whole world is deceiving him.

  “Well, thanks for telling me all this. And for the lift home.”

  “I had an ulterior motive,” Colt said.

  “Really?”

  “Sarah wanted me to get the scoop on you so she could pass the information to Luci and Taylor.”

  “Ugh! So they are up to something.” Jack had been partially right.

  “Probably. Luci doesn’t give up easily and has her ways.”

  Macie shook her head, wondering if it was all just some big plan—Luci coming into the ER, the cookie from Taylor. No. Nobody can manufacture that many coincidences.

  “What are you going to tell your wife about me?” Macie asked.

  “The truth.”

  “Which is?”

  Colt slowed to take the off-ramp toward her apartment. It was such a faster drive without traffic. “You seem like a nice honest woman.”

  Macie’s heart sank. Nice, yes. But honest? Not so much. And now if she came clean, it would confirm Jack’s impression of her. She was a lying manipulator.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  “How’d the game go?” Kirsten asked the next morning, passing Macie in the hallway where she’d just come from helping Dr. Kat with a patient and a very large boil.

  I’d rather spend more time with that oozing foot than rehash last night. “Not good.”

  “Oh?” Kirsten’s mouth twisted to one side in sympathy.

  “His sister and brother-in-law showed up with some friends, and then Jack and I sort of got into a fight, so he stormed out of the skybox, and Colt Young had to drive me home.”

  Kirsten blinked at her. “Have you been sampling the brownies across the street?”

  A pot dispensary just opened a half block down. Rumor had it their pastries were “magical.”

  Macie rolled her eyes. “Yeah. Just what I need, to invite the munchies into my life.”

  “Then why did you just say that Colt Young drove you home?”

  “His wife is good friends with Jack’s sister, who’s married to Bennett Wade. That’s why we were in his skybox.”