that if I had a man like that lusting after me, I’d be naked in five seconds flat.”
“Mack is not lusting after me.” Angry, tongue-tangling kissing aside, he’d made it very clear he was not interested. Which was good. Because she wasn’t interested either.
“What time is Thea dropping the girls off?”
“Noon.”
The ding of an incoming email sounded in her pocket. Liv pulled out her phone and clicked on the email.
Her heart sank.
“What’s wrong?” Rosie asked.
“It’s from the Parkway Hotel. They canceled my interview.”
“What? Just like that?”
Liv slammed her phone down. “It’s Royce. He’s blacklisting me.”
Her voice was stronger than she felt. Liv sat down on a stool tucked beneath the island and lowered her head onto her arms. “Put me out of my misery.”
Rosie patted her back. “This will pass, honey.”
The simple words were surprisingly soothing. Liv stood and leaned her head on Rosie’s shoulder. “Thanks. I needed that.”
Rosie rubbed a weathered knuckle down Liv’s cheek. “Anytime.”
Mack was fifteen minutes late for breakfast with the guys. He’d slept like shit, so he felt like shit, and judging by the silent, shocked expressions when he sat down at their regular table, he looked like shit too.
They stared at him with coffee mugs paused halfway to their mouths. “What?” he growled, turning over his own mug.
“Are you okay?” Gavin asked.
“Fine.”
“You didn’t shave,” Del said.
Mack dragged a hand along his whiskered jaw, wincing as his fingers found the tender spot where fist had met bone. “I woke up late.”
A waitress walked by and stopped to fill his mug. He remembered his sunglasses then, took them off, and set them on the table. Everyone exclaimed and sat back with a collective oh my God.
The Russian slapped a palm on his forehead. “Are you dying?”
Mack knocked his hand away. “What the fuck? No. I told you. I didn’t sleep well.”
“That is why you are ugly today?”
“What the fuck is wrong with you?” he said.
The Russian shrugged. “I’m a hockey player.”
It actually did explain a lot. “I’m not ugly today. I’m tired.”
“You’re kind of ugly. It’s the eyes. Very red. Ugly.”
“Fuck off.”
“We’re just saying you don’t normally look this bad,” Malcolm said.
He flipped off the entire table.
Gavin shrugged. “I’m actually glad you look like shit. I want to be the pretty one for a change.”
“You’re still not the pretty one,” Mack said. “It’s Malcolm. He’s the pretty one now.”
“Knock it off,” Del said. “You’re both pretty.”
Mack picked up his menu, even though he knew it by heart, and hid his face behind it. Fuck them. They’d look like hell, too, if they’d experienced the most amazing kiss of their entire lives and then had the woman tell them it would never happen again before walking out.
“I invited someone else to join us today,” he said.
“Who?” Del asked.
As if on cue, the door opened, and in walked Hop.
Malcolm followed Mack’s point. “No shit,” he breathed.
“I wasn’t actually sure if he’d show up.”
Hop’s grizzled eyes scanned the busy dining room until he came upon their table. Mack lifted his hand in a wave. Hop scowled and limped over.
“No idea what I’m doing here,” he grumbled, dropping into an open chair.
“You remember everyone,” Mack said.
Hop gave a general nod. “Normally, we have a sort of orientation for new members, but we don’t really have time for that today,” Mack said. He slid a copy of The Protector across the table. “This is our current book.”
Hop stared at the cover without touching it. “I regret this already.”
“You’ll get the gist of it.”
The waitress appeared again then to take their orders. Mack flashed her a grin, and she ignored him. Damn. He really was ugly today.
After she left, Del leaned forward in that let’s get this shit started way of his. “Anyone do any more reading?”
“I did,” Gavin jumped in. “This book is seriously fucked up.”
“It’s your first romantic suspense,” Mack scowled, directing his annoyance over last night’s disaster at Gavin. “You can’t judge the entire book by a few chapters.”
“She hates him,” Gavin argued. “I may not have read as many romance novels as you guys, but that doesn’t seem like a great start to a relationship.”
“You have to keep reading. You can’t bash it until you’ve read more.”
“Let Gavin express his thoughts,” Del warned. “Every opinion is valid in this club.”
Gavin grinned. “Thank you, Del.”
Mack flipped him off.
Gavin returned the gesture.
Del sighed and mumbled, “I give up.”
“Anyway,” Gavin said, drawing out the way just enough to be annoying. “What I’m saying is you’re always talking about how romance novels