Page 33 of Mac

“I definitely wouldn’t mind ending your birthday night together.” He steadied me, his hand low on my back. No smirk, no tease, only the truth. “Just say the word, Kate.”

With that, he walked ahead of me. I had to clear my head fast before he noticed I was standing in the middle of the hallway with my mouth hanging open in shock at his words.

I forced any wayward thoughts of sex and Mac out of my head, which was difficult to do when he was standing there in front of me as I stepped into the elevator. Once we reached the busy and very loud casino floor, we looked around. It didn’t take long before Evelyn and I decided we wanted to try our hand at a little gambling.

Mac laughed at us when he saw us head toward the nickel slot machines. “Don’t go spending all your money in one place.”

I rolled my eyes at him, yet again. “Don’t be mean. I have no idea how to play anything else.”

“Not even blackjack?”

“Nope,” I said, watching Evelyn take a seat and start to play.

“Well, let me show you.”

I glanced back at Evelyn, who gave me two thumbs up and a big smile from her spot at the machine. I shook my head, but followed after Mac, enjoying the view from the back as much as the one from the front.

Mac managed to find a five-dollar table and pulled out a chair for me. After we threw down some cash for chips, I listened to him as he explained the game to me. The table was full, so we were sitting pretty close to each other. I felt his leg brush against mine a few times. I wasn’t sure if it was intentional or not, but I leaned a little closer to him, needing to maintain our connection, and he certainly didn’t shy away from the contact. When we were this close, it was hard to ignore the strong pull I felt toward him.

His offer to end the night together kept playing like a loop in my head. As much as I wanted to, I didn’t believe that he meant it. While my trust in men was slowly on its way to being restored, the idea of rejection—especially from Mac—would be devastating. I could admit that I didn’t just have a girlish crush on him. I thought of him as someone who’d be there for me, and maybe something deeper could grow between us. But fear kept me from taking the next step. Hell, I didn’t even know if I was ready for him to make a real move on me. My last relationship had been with Jonathan, and while not romantic, it’d been an epic fail. Just thinking about Jonathan made me wince. I’d finally blocked him from my cell, for now, and tried to block him out of my mind on what should be a momentous day for me.

Mac and I played a couple of rounds before Lady Luck struck.

“Oh my god, I got a blackjack,” I yelled excitedly when I was dealt a matching Ace and Queen. Then I did something that shocked even me. I leaned over, wrapped my arms around him, and kissed his cheek.

“Sorry,” I mumbled, not usually one to initiate physical contact with anyone.

“I’m not,” he said, grinning and pulling me closer to him.

But just then, Evelyn came over, declaring she was bored with the nickel machine and begged us to go to the club upstairs. I pulled away from Mac. Even though I would have liked to have seen what he would’ve done next, Evelyn was my friend and here to celebrate my birthday. I wasn’t going to ignore her in favor of Mac. But before I could take a step to follow after Evelyn, I felt Mac’s hands grab my waist.

“Soon, Kate…” he growled, pulling me into his front.

I didn’t say anything as he released me. But I couldn’t help the slow smile that spread across my face.

Happy birthday to me indeed.