He stilled and silence hung for a moment. For one terrible instant, she thought she’d made him angry. No chance. “Who’s to say I didn’t?”
She couldn’t help it; she burst out laughing. “You are awful.”
“And you like it. Admit it.”
“And you’re pushy. And presumptuous.”
“No. I’ve just got your number, babe.”
“Really.”
“I saw you, you know, that very first day you came into the parlor with Candace. All prim and proper, looking like your outfit cost more than my entire wardrobe. Also looking like you were ready to bolt for the door any minute. But you didn’t, and we were being offensive as all hell, and I saw you trying not to crack a smile. Mostly failing at it.”
She remembered too. She remembered watching him when he wasn’t watching her. He’d asked her if she needed anything, a drink or whatever, and she’d jolted like being hit with a live wire, quickly shaking her head and going back to her ebook while she waited for Candace to finish getting her first tattoo from Brian. Everyone had probably thought she was the biggest stuck-up bitch to ever walk in the place.
“I just… I was worried about her.”
“Yeah? And yourself? Did you think one of us was going to tackle you and tattoo you against your will?”
“Of course not.”
“Are you mother hen to everyone, or just Candace?”
It was too truthful an observation for her to take any offense. “I guess I can be that way with everyone, but Candace was really sheltered. I mean really. I thought she was making a huge mistake, and it was probably the first time she refused to listen to me.”
“If she was so sheltered, I can’t really get why you would try to perpetuate that.”
“It just freaked me out a little.”
“Did I freak you out a little?”
She looked him in the eye. “Yes.”
“Do I still?”
“Yes.”
“Good. Let me know if I ever stop; I’ll have to think up something new.” Just as he was leaning in to kiss her again, the waitress showed up, and he backed off, facing forward as Macy tried to catch her breath. His nearness had a way of stealing it from her.
The waitress collected their empty glasses and smirked a little as she began to turn away. “Sorry. Carry on.”
Heat rose in Macy’s cheeks. He glanced sideways and winked at her. Clearing her throat, she dared raise her hand above the table, the one still holding her panties in a naughty little pile of silk and lace. “So what about these?”
His dark gaze followed hers down to them. “Go to the ladies’ room and put them on.” The corner of his mouth kicked up. “Though I have no objection to you putting them on here.”
“I don’t think I’m that brazen yet.”
“We’ll have to work on that too, won’t we?”
Chapter Thirteen
If someone had told her at any point before tonight that she would change her panties in a restaurant bathroom just to please a man, she’d have laughed herself stupid. Granted, she didn’t get through the process without a little grin she couldn’t quite wipe off her face. As she slid them up over her thighs and into place, visions of him sliding them off in the cramped confines of his backseat flashed through her mind, heating her flesh down there almost as if it were his fingers touching her. She had to lean against the door of the stall and try to calm her ragged pulse.
After all this fuss over them, if he ended up breaking her heart, she’d have to burn the damn things.
No thoughts of that now, though. They were still just having a good time, right? No hearts had been exchanged, and it would be a long, long time before they would be, if ever.
When she returned to their table and he slid out of the booth to let her in, she noticed with a pang of disappointment that the table across from them was now occupied by a couple with two little girls. That pang bit deeper when Seth took the seat across from her this time. She missed the feel of him at her side.
“I guess the mood passed,” she remarked with a wry smile, picking a strawberry off the cheesecake that had arrived while she was away. He watched in rapt attention as she slowly bit into it.
“Oh, I wouldn’t say that.”
“Hmm, maybe if someone weren’t all talk…”
The sound he made in his throat was almost a growl. “I’m gonna show you talk when we get back to