The Day He Kissed Her (Bad Boys of Crystal Lake 3)

Guess his day was about to get worse.

***

The three of them managed to do okay considering neither Lily nor Liam were really talking to him. They navigated their way through the crowded waters until they broke through and had an expanse of blue to themselves. Mac knew that Cain and Michael were somewhere behind them, but up ahead he spied Jake and Raine—hard not to, Gibson freaking yapped at everything.

They fell into an easy rhythm, and as the afternoon wore on, he managed to coax some conversation out of Liam, but Lily was still cool. Polite. But cool.

When they reached the turnaround, he caught a smile she shot at Liam and his chest tightened when she glanced up at him. The sun painted a halo around her golden head, and with her cheeks pink from exertion, a healthy glow to her skin, and those eyes that could see into his soul, he knew the image was one he’d remember for a long, long time.

He offered a small smile and though she didn’t return it, she didn’t look away either. By the time they reached the shore where they’d started, the air was cooling off and it was nearly six in the evening.

Jake invited them over to the stone cottage at Wyndham Place, but Lily politely declined before Mac could answer, though after checking with Becca, Liam rode back to Jake’s with Cain, Maggie, and Michael.

Lily helped him secure the canoe on top of his truck and once they were in, seat belts in place, he revved the engine and gripped the steering wheel tightly. He wasn’t sure how to fix what he’d inadvertently broken, but he knew he needed to make things right.

He knew that maybe they needed to talk about some things.

“Lily,” he began carefully. “About before…”

“Can you just take me back to my place, please?” Her voice was soft—not a hint of pissed off, but shit. That’s it? She was gonna bail on him because he’d blurted out a bunch of shit that was basically the truth?

“Sure,” he answered sharply. “Sure thing, Boston.”

Her hands were gripped tightly in her lap, and she looked out her window as they pulled away from the beach. He probably shouldn’t have squealed the tires on the blacktop or cranked the tunes to ten, but he was pissed.

He felt the stirrings of something dark and heavy in him, and he thought that maybe this was good. They needed a few days to chill and figure this out, and he needed a date with his good buddy Jack.

Christ, he couldn’t remember the last time he’d cradled that particular bottle in his hands and the thought of getting shit-faced drunk was a good alternative to the thought of being alone at his place.

Hell, maybe he’d hit the Coach House.

Maybe he’d…

“Can you slow down please, Mackenzie?”

Again with the soft voice. He glanced at her, his heart taking off when he found her eyes on him. They were dark and intense, the blue much closer to denim than the clear, blue sky they normally resembled.

That thing inside him—whatever it was—pressed even tighter. Jesus, it didn’t feel as if he could breathe.

Automatically he relaxed his foot on the gas and slowed down as they came upon the bend just before her driveway. He maneuvered it expertly and pulled up beside her car, throwing the truck into park as he finally unclenched his hands from the wheel.

He glanced up at the cottage. She needed to water her hanging baskets or they were going to die.

For a moment, heavy silence filled the cab, and then she reached for the door handle.

“Are you going to shut this thing off?” she asked and then slid from the truck, not looking at him as she started for her porch.

Mac watched her climb the steps. He watched those long, tanned legs eat up the distance in no time. He watched her reach into her back pocket and retrieve a house key.

He watched her open the front door and pause a few seconds before disappearing inside. He had no idea what was going on or what the hell they were doing. He had no idea what Lily was thinking, and he sure as hell didn’t know where his head was at.

It had been a strange afternoon, but as he cut the engine and got out of his truck, he realized that it was time to figure this out—whatever this was.

He supposed it was time to be a grown-up.

Pretty sad, considering he was thirty-five.

Chapter 23