“Really busy, but profitable, and that’s what matters,” he replies, still holding me to his side.
“And how about you, Mac? What do you do for a job?” Cade asks, turning the attention back to me.
I smile. Questions like this I can answer. “I’m a nurse at Northwestern.”
“Ah, so you work with Taylor then?”
“Sure do. Different floors, but we see each other occasionally,” I reply, not realizing what I’ve said until I feel Daniel stiffen momentarily beside me.
Knowing that I’m digging myself into a hole, I decide to extricate myself from the situation.
“Will you excuse me for a moment? I’m just going to find the bathroom,” I say, trying to move away from Daniel and turn towards the house.
“Hey,” he says quietly, holding onto my hand and squeezing gently. “Are you okay?” He looks concerned.
“Definitely. I won’t be long,” I say as he lets go of my hand and I walk away from the group.
When I finally find one, I lock the door and put the lid down on the toilet. I pull out my phone and call Kate.
“Yo, bitch,” she says when she answers.
“I need to freak out, vent, you know, get some shit out of my head.”
“Go,” she says instantly.
“Okay. So we’re at Noah’s house which, by the way, is totally over the top cool. I’m talking marble floors, staircases, a huge ass swimming pool with a freaking waterfall at the side. Noah’s already caught Daniel and I making out in his entrance way, and then they were both checking out my ass which was totally understandable because I have a tight ass, but still, not the point. Anyway, so Daniel introduces me to his friends that are here, and they’re all really nice, and one of them is like eleven months pregnant by the looks of her, and she’s looking up at her hubby Dave like they’re newlyweds and it’s really cute, and Daniel almost introduced me as his girlfriend but stopped himself, then I totally put my foot in my mouth by saying that I work with Noah, but I see him occasionally which Daniel totally misunderstood because I wasn’t meaning like that, but I know he took it like that, and now I’m hiding out in the bathroom pretending to pee and talking to you on the phone, trying to work out how the hell I got here and how to get through this without putting my foot in my mouth again, or pissing Daniel off, or hurting him, or getting annoyed by Noah who, by the way, is totally different outside of the hospital apparently because he lives in a f**king suburban paradise with a freaking waterfall.”
I take a second to catch my breath since I swear I didn’t stop to breathe at all during that verbal tirade.
Kate is giggling her tits off down the phone at me.
“Don’t laugh. This is serious,” I say, trying to stifle my own laughter.
“Mac, seriously, this is funny shit. I wish I’d recorded that because as far as rants go, that was epic.”
I give up trying to hold back, and crack up laughing. “Oh my God, Kate, seriously! What am I going to do?”
When she finally composes herself, I hear a deep breath over the phone. “Mac, you need to tell Inner Mac to put her big girl panties on and suck it up. Daniel’s friends sound nice and yes, you probably did put your foot in it, but by the sounds of it you’re doing fine. Just go with it, Mac. Enjoy yourself, enjoy Delicious Daniel, and relax.”
Sighing over the phone, I feel my whole body loosen, almost like her words were the salve I needed. “God, I love you,” I tell her.
“I know. Who else would put up with you?”
“Exactly!” I reply with a giggle.
“Now enough about you and your rant. Any hot single guys there?”
“Well, there is Noah’s younger brother…”
“There’s a mini walking dildo?”
“Well not so mini, but yes, he’s hot too. Serious potential there, but not sure of his single status,” I add.
“Hook a sister up. Find out his deets, and we’ll have a full debrief in the morning. Are you staying at Daniel’s tonight?”
“Yeah, that’s the plan, so you’ll be able to have a peaceful night’s sleep. No screaming orgasms, I promise,” I say with a smile.
“Hell, Mac, if I can’t have them, I’m glad you are. I love you. See you tomorrow, babe.”
“Definitely. See ya,” I say before ending the call.
“Mac?” I hear Daniel call out from the other side of the door. “Are you okay?”
I stand up and unlock the door, opening it to find him leaning against the doorway, brows furrowed.
“I’m fine. What’s wrong?”
He steps inside and closes the door behind him before pulling me into his chest and wrapping his arms around me.
“You were having a freak out, weren’t you?” he murmurs into my hair as I snuggle in closer to him.
“Nooooooo,” I say quietly, earning a chuckle that I feel rumbling in his chest.
He slides his hands up onto my shoulders and pulls away to look down at me. “Mac, we’ve been seeing each other for six weeks now. I’m learning the signs of a Mac freak out, and right now you’re showing all of them,” he explains giving me a knowing smile. “So let’s start again. Why are you freaking out?”
“I didn’t want to embarrass you, and then I did by saying that I see Noah occasionally, and I felt you tense, and then I felt guilty because I used to sleep with him, but I don’t anymore because all I want to do is sleep with you!”
There, I said it!
He pulls me in tight again, wrapping his arms around my back.
“Gorgeous, I kinda already knew that, but I like hearing you say it again. And you didn’t embarrass me, nobody knows anything. Noah only told us about the nurse he was sleeping with to get us off his back. All I want is for you to relax and have fun. Have a drink or two...wind down and just enjoy this. Enjoy us socializing together. There’s no pressure. My friends aren’t like that. You can just be your adorable, funny, sometimes crazy, self, and they’ll love you. I swear.”
Dammit, is there anything wrong with this man?
I’m stunned by the total sincerity in his eyes when I look up at him. He’s being totally honest. He really does want me here with him, with his friends, socializing.
“Okay,” I summon up everything I want to say in that one word.
“Okay,” he repeats, moving his hands up to cup my jaw. “But before we go out, I have to do this.” He lowers his mouth to mine and slowly inches his tongue along my lips. It’s a Daniel special: mind-blowing, erotic as hell, and successfully stoking the fire he started six short weeks ago when we met and that burns hotter than ever today.