Just My Type (36 page)
“I think it’s a great idea.”
Everyone at the table turned to look at him. Surprise was the predominate emotion.
“You think she should go to Italy?” Sam finally asked.
“I do,” he said. He did. He wanted Sara to be the type of woman who could—and would—travel to a foreign country alone. Because then he could start getting used to that woman.
“You plan to go along?” Sam asked.
“No.” She had to do this alone.
“What if she gets lost? Gets her purse stolen? Some guy makes a move?”
“She’ll have to ask for directions. Or talk to the police and call to have her credit cards suspended. Or use the self-defense skills we insisted she learn a few years ago.” Sam stared at him. Mac understood why. In the past, Mac would have protested something like this even more adamantly than Sam.
“Sara’s smart and resourceful, Sam.” She had made life in Oscar work, even when there had been intentional curve balls thrown her way. “If she wants to go to Italy, she should go.” He finally glanced at Sara. She was staring at him with more surprise than her brother.
“Are you okay?” she asked.
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“Completely fine, thanks.”
“Hit your head on anything lately? Running a fever? Finished a bottle of wine all by yourself?” He lifted his beer in toast. “Just paying attention.”
Her eyes narrowed, but she didn’t say anything more to him.
The group dropped the subject, somewhat reluctantly, and they moved from salad to chicken. Just as everyone was served, the doorbell rang. Ben got up to let Chad Pearson in.
Dr.
Chad Pearson.
Mac shifted in his chair, his almost-good mood dead instantly. Dammit.
Chad was Ben’s new intern and had been invited to the other two group dinners as well.
He annoyed the shit out of Mac.
Chad came into the dining room, laughing with Ben. He greeted everyone with his big smile, then leaned in and kissed Sara on the cheek.
Mac breathed in through his nose, consciously relaxing his hold on the sharp utensil he held.
He hadn’t seen Chad kiss Sara before but he’d suspected interest on the young doctor’s part from the start. Now it was quite obvious.
“Sorry I’m late,” Chad said as he pulled out the empty chair next to Sara. “Emergency hip fracture. I agreed to stay.”
Mac wondered why he hadn’t noticed the empty chair. He’d sat opposite of Sara on purpose. It was easier to watch her from across the table. But he’d thought nothing of the chair next to her, because everyone else had already been accounted for. Or so he’d thought.
Ben passed Chad a full plate. “We all know how that goes.” Mac glanced at Sara. She was refilling her wine glass.
Mac watched Sara nod at something Chad whispered in her ear and chewed his chicken harder than necessary. He washed it down with a long swig of beer. Something about Chad drove him nuts. Not his perfect hair, his genius IQ or that everyone at the table thought he was incredibly funny. Mac’s friends, being who they were, made sure he knew all about Chad’s family’s money, his dedication to charity work and his recent support of the Bradford Youth Center, as well as the fact that he had completed three triathlons. It wasn’t even that he was interested in Sara. It was more…ambiguous than that. He didn’t quite fit with Sara and he didn’t seem to be trying very hard.
Mac accepted another beer from Ben, finished his dinner and managed enough uh- huhs and grunts to keep anyone from asking him what was wrong. The whole time he watched Chad.
He wanted to punch him. Not surprisingly. But it was odd because he didn’t want to punch him because Chad touched Sara too much, or because he was making her laugh, or because he hung on every word she said. In fact, he didn’t do any of those things throughout the dinner.
The damned idiot.
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She was sitting right there, in a light peach-colored clingy dress—the type she’d given up for blue jeans in Oscar—and looked amazing. Which Chad had commented on. But he was keeping his hands to himself. He seemed to think what Dooley was saying was more important than looking at Sara.
Idiot.
Maybe it was because they weren’t alone. Maybe he didn’t think her family and friends would appreciate public displays of affection. He didn’t know them very well, but maybe deserved points for respect.
“Chad, you want another beer?” Mac asked. He had no idea who had been talking or what topic he’d just interrupted.
Chad looked at him. “Uh, sure.”
“Could you grab me one too?” Mac tipped his bottle back and finished off the one in his hand. He knew it was rude. He didn’t care.
“Mac, I’ll just—”
Jessica started to get up as Chad predictably broke in with, “No. Please, Jessica, let me.” He pushed back from the table. “Anyone else need anything?”
Everyone, predictably, declined.
As soon as Chad disappeared around the corner Mac got several
are you kidding me?
looks and a
“What was that?” from Ben.
He ignored them. His eyes were only on Sara.
She didn’t seem upset that her ex-husband had been rude to her new potential boyfriend. She just picked up her wine glass again.
“Sara, you should go get some more bread,” he said.
She frowned at him. “If you want bread…”
“Just go.” Something in his face or tone or body language kept her from arguing.
She stared at him for a moment then narrowed her eyes, stood stiffly and muttered, “Fine,” through gritted teeth.
Mac sat back in his chair and glanced at his watch. It was quiet around the table for twelve seconds.
Then Danika asked, “Do I want to know what’s going on?”
“He’s been sitting next to her for almost forty minutes. She looks and smells amazing. He should have a chance to show her how interested he is without the rest of us watching.” Mac knew Sam, Dooley, Kevin and Ben thought he was insane—or perpetually drunk—since his breakup with Sara. They would just chalk this up as further proof.
“Wait, you want him to make a move on Sara?” Danika asked.
The idea made Mac want to howl. And drink. And punch something. Then again, Sara was a very sexual person—as he well knew—and deserved to be with a guy who couldn’t keep his hands off of her.
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“She at least deserves to have the option. To have the option, she has to know he’s interested. To show he’s interested he needs some privacy.”
“You want her to have options?” Danika asked softly.
“She needs to find the perfect guy for her. To make a choice, you have to have options.” He grabbed the beer in front of Sam and downed what was left in three swallows.
Sara was back in less than two minutes. She set the French bread loaf on the platter in front of Mac that still had half a loaf on it.
He gaped at her.
“What?” she snapped, whipping the napkin off of her chair so she could sit.
“That was fast.”
“It’s already baked,” she said. “How long did you think it would take?” If she’d come into a room alone when he was in there? Nothing less than thirty minutes. Longer if the door had a lock.
“Fucking idiot,” Mac muttered, getting to his feet.
“Mac, wha—”
He stomped down the hall to the kitchen, ignoring the partial question from his hostess.
“What the hell are you doing?” he asked Chad, who was clearly looking for a bottle opener for the two beers in his hand.
“Um, I can’t—”
“Sara was just in here with you.”
“Yeah. She got the other loaf of bread.”
“What did you get?”
Chad looked confused. He held up the bottles. “Beer.”
“Did you cop a feel, run your hand up under that skirt,
kiss
her?” Mac demanded, coming farther into the room.
“Uh.” Chad looked more confused and a little concerned. “Of course not.”
“Of course not? What’s that mean?”
“I, um, well we’re—”
“Sara’s amazing. And you’re an idiot.”
“Excuse me?”
“The front of that dress dips low and with those straps she isn’t wearing a bra. You could have easily slid a hand in. Let her know what you’re thinking.”
Chad looked completely shocked.
“At least mess her up a little, a good long wet kiss, something—”
“Mac!”
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He turned to find Sara and Jessica in the kitchen doorway behind him. Sara’s cheeks were red which he guessed was more due to anger than embarrassment.
“Have you even heard of a Super Wedge?” he asked Chad. “At least seen a picture?”
“A—a wedge?” Chad asked, stuttering in surprise.
“How about experience with clitoral gels?”
Chad couldn’t even stutter that time.
“Okay, how about basic things about
her
. Do you know that she loves to play chess but she sucks at it?” Mac asked. “Do you know that she likes to take baths and prefers strawberry-scented bubbles? Do you know that she’s read all of the Harry Potter books twice? Do you know that—”
“
Okay
,” Sara interrupted. Her voice was a little hoarse. “That’s enough, Mac.”
“Come here.” He motioned Sara to him.
She raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms. He could almost hear the
Yeah, right
.
He grinned. He liked that. She wasn’t quite as enamored with him as she used to be. That was good.
“Fine.” He grabbed Chad by the front of his shirt. “Then
you
come here.” He pulled him forward until Chad stood in front of Sara. She straightened in surprise. Mac grabbed Chad’s hand and put it on Sara’s butt. “Every time you get a chance your hand should be there,” Mac told him. “Now kiss her.”
“Mac!” Sara protested, her cheeks pink.
Chad’s hand didn’t move. He even pulled her forward. Which was good Mac told himself firmly.
“Kiss her,” Mac said again, pretty sure his voice didn’t sound menacing. Much.
When Chad leaned in, Sara glared at Mac, then wrapped her arms around Chad’s neck and lifted her lips. Chad kissed her. Even with a little tongue. Mac’s molars took additional punishment but he didn’t tear them apart—or dismember Chad—which he counted as personal growth.
When they parted, Chad was breathing harder.
Sara wasn’t. She wasn’t even a little flushed. She looked almost disappointed. And she should have been. That was not a kiss.
“No,” Mad said, impatiently. “Like this.” He grabbed Sara’s arm and spun her up against him. He put his hand right where Chad’s had been on her butt, then tunneled the other in her hair. He pulled the strands just enough to tip her head back, then sealed his mouth over hers.
It took three seconds for her to melt against him, to raise on tiptoe and to wrap her arms around his neck. She groaned, and he slid his hand from her butt to her thigh and then pulled her leg up to his hip.
Fitted against her where he craved her most, he backed her up to the wall and pressed close.
“Mac,” she gasped, tipping her head so he could taste her neck as he slipped one of the straps of her dress from her shoulder. The bodice started to slip and Mac’s lips followed.
Suddenly cold water splashed against the side of his face. Sara gasped and he jerked his head up. He turned to find Jessica holding an empty glass. She raised an eyebrow.
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Mac looked down at Sara. “Something like that,” he murmured.
Now she was breathing heavy, flushed and ready. For him. He let her leg go, feeling it slide along the length of his thigh. He pulled her strap back into place. Jessica tossed her a towel for the water that had splashed on her as well.
“So, Chad,” Mac said, turning. “Do you think you could come up with a couple positions on a Super Wedge?”
“Mac!” Sara exclaimed.
“Because Sara has pictures of at least five,” he went on. “And if you’re going to deserve her, you’d better get a book or something.”
“Mac…” Jessica said, warning in her tone.
He focused on Chad, ignoring the women. “Do you know how to pleasure a woman like Sara?
Because it can’t be over the top. No leather or anything. But you’d better be creative with chocolate syrup and not be shy about some public stuff.”
“Oh, my God!” Suddenly Sara was in front of him, her hands flat on his chest, pushing him back.
“Shut up, Mac! You’re
not
telling other men what I like sexually! What is wrong with you?” He wrapped his fingers around her wrists and held her, truly looking into her eyes for the first time in weeks. “You deserve the best. You deserve someone who makes you laugh, who takes care of you but knows when to let you struggle a little on your own, someone who will think you’re sexy in high heels or tennis shoes, who will take five hours to show you how to cut, stain and put up wood trim even though he knows you’ll never do it yourself. And then be happy to do it for you.” She pressed her lips together and nodded. He heard Jessica sniff behind him.
“You also need someone who can be what you need and whose needs you can completely fill sexually. Don’t settle for someone who can’t love you the way you deserve and worship that amazing body, heart and soul.”
“You told me to come home,” she said softly.
Grudgingly, he said, “This is supposed to be better for you than what I can offer.” Sara felt her heart swell with love and hope. “You don’t think it is?” He didn’t look happy about it. “I thought we always gave you everything you wanted. Turns out, we give you what we think you need, do what we think you need us to do and don’t listen or pay that much attention to you really. That’s how I missed that you’d grown up. I think we all did.”
“Hey,” Jessica protested.
Sara shot her sister a look. “I’ve got this, Jess.”
“Come on, Chad,” Jessica said with a sigh. “Apparently no one in here needs either of us.” Chad looked more than happy to leave.
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