Chapter 46
CHAPTER 46
“I THINK I drank too much sake,” Mack giggled as Luke helped her back into the car after dinner.
He made sure he stood behind her as her skirt rode up. Not just for his viewing pleasure, but because he didn’t want anyone getting an eyeful but him. His own throat burned—he’d been matching her shot for shot.
“It’s only too much if you pass out.”
She laughed again, and he felt the sweet sound all the way through as he slid into the seat beside her.
“You’re right. Maybe we should go back and get another bottle.”
“That’s not a good idea, sweetheart.”
Two Macks already floated fuzzily in front of him, although that was no hardship.
The driver lingered before closing the door behind them. Luke’s regular chauffeur was on holiday, and the car service had sent a replacement. The way the man eyed up Mack’s assets didn’t escape Luke’s notice.
“We’re ready to go,” he snapped.
“Of course, sir.”
The car pulled away from the kerb, and Luke settled back in the seat. Mack didn’t. She scooted closer and wrapped her arms around him. “Thank you for helping, and thank you for taking me out tonight. I had a great time.”
She looked up at him with those big green eyes, and her lips parted just a little. Something passed between them as the resistance Luke had been clutching onto for the last few days crumbled. He glanced forward. Was the privacy screen up? Good, it was. He had a feeling they might need it tonight.
Mack’s breath caressed his cheek, and an invisible thread pulled him towards her. He was unable to contain his elation when she kissed him back.
Everything about Mack was perfect—her stunning flame-red hair, the way she cared for her friends, the little gasp she gave when he tightened his arm around her waist. But most of all, her mind. Luke loved her inner geek even more than her outer beauty.
Yes, they’d definitely be needing that privacy screen…
Luke barely remembered the trip through London’s streets, only the journey he went on with Mack as they let all those simmering feelings boil over into heated passion. By the end, he could barely remember his own name.
Then the speaker crackled, stirring him out of his lust-induced stupor, and Mack sat bolt upright.
“We’re here, sir.”
Luke hit the intercom button on the door console. “Just give us a few minutes.”
Good grief. Had he lost his mind? It seemed so, but he didn’t want to find it again.
“Are you okay?” he asked Mack.
“I think so. I mean, I’ve never…”
“Me neither.”
Thank goodness for tinted windows.
“We should get dressed. What if someone notices us? What if the driver—”
Luke pressed a finger to her lips. “He won’t.”
“My shirt’s torn.”
“I’ll give you my jacket.”
Mack tucked the remains of her blouse into her skirt while Luke fixed his shirt, stealing glances at Mack as he fumbled with the buttons. Her hair was all tousled, her mascara smeared, and most of her lipstick was on him. She’d never looked more gorgeous.
“Okay?” he asked, and this time she nodded.
Luke opened the door himself and half lifted her out. At least the chauffeur had enough sense to avert his eyes this time. Mack wobbled as Luke helped her up the path, and he wasn’t too steady either. Not just from alcohol, but because he’d just had his mind blown.
Mack stayed quiet as Luke took three attempts to get past the retina scanner. Flipping security. At times like this, there was a lot to be said for simply having a key. Eventually, they got inside, and she collapsed back on the sofa in the hallway. In a strange way, it reminded him of the night they first met.
“Want me to carry you upstairs?” he asked.
“We shouldn’t have done that,” she whispered.
Uh oh.
“We were two consenting adults, and we both wanted it. Didn’t we?”
No way had he misinterpreted that. Had he?
She sighed. “Yes, we did.”
“Then what’s the problem?”
“Emmy.”
“Emmy’s in my past.”
“But she’s not in mine. She’s one of my best friends. How do you think she’d feel if she found out what we just did?”
Anger at the injustice of it all bubbled up inside Luke. He couldn’t lose Mack, not because of a two-month mistake with a woman who’d done the dirty on him then done a runner.
“Oh, come on. If Emmy disapproved, she’d be a hypocrite.”
“A hypocrite? What are you talking about?”
“Well, she didn’t exactly hesitate before she cheated on me, did she?”
“Cheated on you? Are you kidding? Emmy doesn’t cheat.” Mack leaned back and groaned. “She’s gonna kill me.”
“Yes, she did cheat. With Nick.”
“Nick? You think Emmy cheated on you with Nick? Who on earth put that crazy idea into your head?”
“I saw them together, dancing at her charity fundraiser. He’s the fiancé she had problems with in the States, right? And then there’s her ex-husband.”
Mack half choked, half groaned. “Emmy and Nick were over a decade ago. They’re just friends, and that’s all they’ll ever be now.”
“You mean she’s not engaged to him?”
“No!”
Could he have been wrong? Mack seemed pretty convinced, but Luke knew what he’d seen. That tango Emmy and Nick danced had been filthy.
“Are you sure?” he asked one more time.
“Nick doesn’t even date seriously. Not since his fiancée got killed by some lunatic.”
Oh.
It seemed that possibly he’d done the man a disservice. Luckily he’d still been reasonably civil, or that would be yet another black mark against him in Emmy’s eyes.
“So, what now? What do we do about…” He pointed between them. “This?”
“We’ve got to forget it happened.” Mack sure had sobered up in a hurry. “Go back to how things were.”
“But…”
“No buts. We can’t have any buts.” She let out a shuddering breath. “Don’t look at me like that, because if you do, I won’t be able to keep my head. Please.”
Luke stepped backwards, further, further, until he sagged against the opposite wall. How could the best evening of his life have turned into such a disaster? He may have only known Mack for a week or two, but he’d already lost his heart to her.
How could he get her to give him a chance?
The situation only got more awkward the next morning, and the atmosphere in the house turned cold enough to ice skate on. Luke was fifteen minutes into his battle with the coffee machine when Mack walked into the kitchen, and the flipping thing was still flashing an error message at him. In Italian. According to the translation app on his phone, The filter is broken. Fix it.
Luke couldn’t even find the flipping thing.
“I’d offer you a coffee, but the machine isn’t playing ball.”
“It doesn’t matter. I’ll stop at Starbucks.”
“You’re going to the office?”
When they’d spoken about it yesterday, she’d planned to work from home all day.
“I haven’t been in for a while.”
That wasn’t a proper answer. “What time will you be back?”
“Don’t know.” She shrugged. “Late.”
“Want me to get a takeaway for dinner?”
Ruth had another day off, and Luke’s pitiful attempts at cooking wouldn’t help in his quest to win Mack over.
She sat on a stool at the breakfast bar and sighed. “Look, I’ve been thinking. It’s best if you go home. Emmy’s coming back today, and after last night…” She trailed off and stared out the window.
“Emmy’s coming here?”
“No, to the East Coast. Sloane’s booked her a flight to Dulles. But it’s probably a good time to draw a line under this…this…thing.”
“By ‘thing’ you mean the best thing ever to happen to me?”
“I guess.”
Luke took a seat beside her and cupped her cheek, turning her to face him. “Tell me you didn’t feel it too.”
“You know full well I did,” she snapped. Then she closed her eyes and her voice softened. “Sorry.”
“Don’t throw it away. Please.”
“Look, I like you. I really like you. But Emmy’s been my friend for years, and I don’t want to hurt her. Don’t you realise how much she’s been through already?”
“No, because nobody will tell me the whole story. But we can fix it. I promise, we—”
“I won’t add to her problems.”
“Mack, let’s—”
“I’m going. I can’t talk about this anymore.”
Luke’s heart seized as she strode out, leaving him short of breath. First Emmy, and now Mack.
Why did the good ones have to be so complicated?
Luke almost cancelled his morning meeting, but it was an important one so he dragged his sorry backside into the office. With Mack kicking him out, he packed up the few belongings he’d left in the guest room and took his suitcase with him in a taxi.
After months of thought, weighing up the costs and benefits, he’d chosen where to base the new American branch of HC systems, and the relocation specialist was sipping a cup of tea in reception when he arrived. Now Luke needed to convince his key staff to assist with the setup out there.
“So, what made you pick Richmond?” the man asked, making notes on a leather-bound pad.
“Virginia has a large pool of skilled employees, but the establishment costs tend to be lower than in California.”
The city had been on Luke’s shortlist since before he met Emmy, but he couldn’t deny a certain redhead had swayed his final decision.
“And what’s the timescale?”
“I want to get things moving straight away.”
After a long discussion about logistics, the man agreed to get back to him with proposals within a fortnight. Luke should have been pleased—after all, overseas expansion had been on his wish list for years—but now he started to second-guess himself.
Had he made the right choice? Would Mack be angry about him spending so much time near to where she lived? Or worse, would she think he was stalking her?
He picked at the sandwich his secretary brought him for lunch, half-inclined to call the whole thing off. Or perhaps he could expand in Europe first?
Stop being such a coward . This was a purely commercial decision, and Mack would just have to accept it.
Yeah, right. Who was he kidding?
His next discussion promised to be even more difficult.
Last time he’d spoken to Tia, she’d been even frostier than Mack, but now he needed to swallow his pride and apologise. He stopped off at home to pick up her phone and laptop then carried on to their mother’s house, praying she’d gone to the country club as usual.
Tia answered the door and scowled at him.
“Can I come in?”
“I can’t stop you, can I?”
He followed her through to the lounge, where she sat on the sofa and glared at him.
“I’m sorry I shouted at you. You should have told me where you were that night, though. What if something worse had happened?”
“Oh, please, with Emmy around?”
She had a fair point there, one he couldn’t really argue with. “Just call me next time, okay?”
Tia brightened and even cracked a small smile. “Does that mean I can go and see her again?”
“If she agrees to it. I’ll admit I misjudged her a little.”
Tia scoffed at him. “More than a little.”
“Okay, a lot. She wasn’t entirely blameless, though.”
“I know that. She knows that. She said your entire relationship was all kinds of screwed up.”
Just when he thought his self-esteem couldn’t get any lower.
“She really said that?”
“Pretty much.”
Curiosity got the better of him. “Did she say anything else?”
“Just that one day she hopes you’ll meet a sweet girl who’ll give you what you need.”
Well, he had, hadn’t he? Trouble was, the one woman who he’d clicked with on a deeper level was also the one woman he couldn’t have. What if this was his only chance at true love? He knew he’d never meet another Mack, so perfect for him in every way.
“I hope I’ll get the right girl too,” Luke said.
“Is that all you wanted? I’m going out with Arabella in a minute.”
Luke handed over Tia’s gadgets. “Do you want to move back in with me?”
“Maybe.” Tia folded her arms. “I’ll think about it.”
Great. She was still angry. Should he push her or hope she got over it on her own? Being a big brother was hard, especially when their mother was so hands-off with parenting.
In the end, Luke decided to take the safe option and leave. At least he’d tried.
“Do you want me to drop you off at Arabella’s?”
“Would you mind?”
“Driving my favourite sister around? Of course not.”
“I’m your only sister.”
“Exactly.”
Well, at least she was smiling again.
He’d thought the talk with Tia would be his most difficult of the day, but as he pulled out of Arabella’s driveway in his Porsche, he knew a tougher conversation awaited.
Mack may have told him to leave, but he couldn’t stay away. Even if she only agreed to be friends, that would be better than nothing. The thought of going the rest of his life without seeing her secret smile again left him hollow inside.
Well, he wasn’t going down without a fight.
All he had to do was convince Mack to give him a chance, and then deal with whatever Emmy decided to throw at him. He recalled her deadly aim during the snowball fight they’d had when she was in England and groaned.
Great.
He’d better practise ducking.