he teetered on the edge of the landing. But it was long enough for Liv to realize she’d made a horrible mistake. Long enough for her to look over his shoulder and count how many steps he had to fall. Long enough for her to meet his eyes and realize this was no intruder.
“What the fuck, Liv?” Mack exclaimed.
And then down he went. Just like the cupcake, he lost his fight with gravity. He tipped backward and skidded down the ten steps to the dusty ground, his head bump-bumping against the creaky wood.
He landed headfirst on the gravel, his legs still on the stairs. He let out a groan and swore.
Guilt made her cranky. “Dammit, Mack. What the hell are you doing?”
He lifted his head. “Are you serious? What are you doing?”
“Defending myself from an intruder, like I told you I could.”
“D-defending yourself?” He could barely get the word out. Disbelief dripped from his tone. “With a shoe?”
“It was all I could find at the moment.”
Mack hoisted himself off the ground. Dust covered his jeans and his white shirt. An angry red splotch below his left eye bore the faint outline of her sandal.
She planted her hands on her hips. “Why the hell didn’t you call first?”
“Because I knew you’d say no if I asked to come over, and dammit, it’s been two fucking days! I wanted to see you.”
“So you thought it would be a good idea to just show up?”
Mack wiped his hands on his jeans. “Let me get this straight,” he glowered. “You hear a man outside your apartment, and instead of calling the goddamned police, you hurtle yourself at him without even checking to see if he has a weapon or if he’s alone?”
Shit. The cops. Liv raced back up the stairs and through the door. She grabbed her phone off the floor and hit the emergency number again.
Maybe there was still time to cancel.
Too late.
Dispatch answered just as the outdoors began to dance with red and blue lights.
“Sorry for the misunderstanding.”
Twenty minutes later, Liv apologized for the thousandth time. The four officers on the scene had separated her from Mack and had also questioned Rosie and Hop—who was actually there in the middle of the night, which was weird.
“I thought he was a bad guy.”
“A bad guy?” the cop said.
“He’s my—” She stopped and glanced at Mack, who lifted an amused eyebrow. “My friend.”
Mack snorted.
It took several more minutes for the humiliation to end and the cops to leave.
“I can’t believe you just showed up here,” Liv said, stomping back up the stairs.
“Yeah, well, I can’t believe you called the cops on me.”
“Twenty minutes ago you were mad that I didn’t call the cops! Make up your mind.”
He followed her into the apartment.
“You have no idea the many ways I’m going to hurt you,” she said.
“Promise?”
Liv yanked open the door to the freezer and grabbed the ice tray. She snatched a dish towel from the sink and banged the tray on top. A dozen cubes fell out, one sliding across the counter and onto the floor. She didn’t care. In fact, she secretly hoped he’d step on it and wipe out.
In the living room, Mack plopped onto the couch with a dramatic groan, holding his hand to his cheek. Grumbling, she wrapped the ends of the towel around the ice and stalked into the living room. He had his feet on the coffee table and his head back, eyes closed. Even from across the room she could see the raised purplish bruise on his cheekbone.
Wow. She’d nailed him good.
He rolled his head and opened an eye as she approached. She thrust the ice pack at him. “Here. I don’t know why I’m helping you, though.”
“Because you care?”
“You scared the shit out of me.”
He pressed the ice to his face. “I could use some aspirin.”
Liv stomped to the bathroom, made a lot of noise banging around in the medicine cabinet, and then came back with a bottle of Tylenol.
“No water?” he asked.
“Choke on it.”
“You’re awfully hostile for someone who just beat up an innocent man.”
“Innocent? You were sneaking around my house!”
“I wasn’t sneaking. I was trying to be quiet so I wouldn’t wake up Randy.”
“What are you doing here?”
“Two fucking days, Liv.” He tossed the towel aside and stood. “Maybe you do the wham-bam thing, but I don’t.”
Liv swallowed her guilt and shame. She’d been avoiding him, mostly to avoid her own feelings. “I told you it would be a couple of days. I was giving