Shoving his shock out of the way, he lowered his voice and slipped into full seduction mode. “Hey, gorgeous.” Skipping her face, his gaze ran down the woman’s elegant neck and nestled in the ample cleavage of a tight, sequined pink dress, right where he wished his hands could settle on two healthy mounds of incredible tits. Bruiser swallowed and tried to force a few clever words out of his mouth. None came. Not a one. This never happened to him. So much for seduction mode. Try dumb-shit mode instead.
“Hey,” she said right back in a sexy, breathy voice.
Bruiser just stared. Damn, it wasn’t like he hadn’t been around tons of hot women, but there was something about this one. She seemed so guileless, so innocent, almost like she didn’t have a fucking clue what a knockout she was. In his world, that was damn near incredible. An angel with the heart of a seductress. His type of woman.
The babe turned around and grabbed a frothy pink shawl-type thing, giving Bruiser an incredible view of a nicely rounded ass. He cleared his throat and swallowed. His fingers itched to stroke that ass then give it a firm smack.
“Okay, I’m ready, but I feel seriously overdressed for the middle of the afternoon.” She turned back around.
“You’re ready?” He blinked and tried to process this hunk of information.
She smiled, a big, bad, sassy Mac smile.
Bruiser did a double take. His jaw dropped open so far it almost came unhinged. “Mac? Is that you?”
“Hard to believe?” Her megawatt smile lit this side of the earth and gave a new reason for global warming. In fact, this particular corner of his world was experiencing a heat wave.
Bruiser nodded. “Like fucking hard to believe. Seriously, that’s you?” Even though his dick liked what it saw, part of Bruiser was weirdly disappointed.
Mac had been the only woman he knew who was not hung up on her appearance. Now she was like all the rest. He couldn’t explain how he could be so turned on and disillusioned at the same time, but he was. His cock wanted to get her naked, and his heart wanted the real, no-pretenses Mac, which was fucking dysfunctional on so many levels.
In a split second, her expression changed as if a cloud blocked out the sun. “Yes, really. It’s me. Who did you think it would be?”
“I thought you had a sister or something.”
“Nope, I’m the only female in my immediate family.” Mac picked up a little purse and took small, mincing steps toward him on some pretty-damn-sexy high heels.
He had to grin. Yup, this vision of loveliness was Mac after all. “Ever been in heels before?”
“Not if I could help it.”
“Hang on to me, baby. I’ll take you for a ride.” Bruiser held out his arm, and she grabbed hold as she attempted to walk. This was going to be a good night; he could feel it in his bones and his dick.
Okay, dumb shit, that’s no way to think about Mac. Hell, for all you know she could be gay. Most of the guys on the team speculated she was, and Bruiser never really gave it much thought one way or another. He sure as hell was giving it a lot of thought right now, hoping like hell Mac didn’t play for the home team. What the hell, he’d take Brett’s word for it.
Thinking of Brett gave him a stab of guilt. Bruiser really was a selfish bastard. Brett had a thing for Mac. A good buddy would further that relationship along, not think about himself. Besides, the last thing Mac needs is a guy like me. A nice, kind stable guy like Brett fit her like a comfortable pair of slippers, while Bruiser fit as well as those heels she wore—great for appearances but not the least bit practical in the long run.
He walked her out to his red and white 1958 Corvette, his baby. He only pulled her out of the garage for special occasions.
Mac gripped his arm tight as she stared at the car with greedy eyes. “This car is fucking incredible. You never told me you had a car like this.”
Bruiser shrugged, enjoying her pleasure in the car.
“I wanna see the engine.” Oh, yeah, pure Mac.
“Later. I’ll be fed to the steelhead in Lake Washington if you show up with grease on that dress. Your girlfriends are a formidable bunch.”
“We can’t let that happen—to the fish.”
He chuckled. “Kelsie scares the crap out of me. She can be all kinds of serious scary.”
“She scares me too.” He felt her gaze on his face. “You know about fish?”
He shrugged one shoulder. Only Brett knew that he liked to fish. “You’d be surprised what I know about.”
She didn’t look convinced as Bruiser helped her in the car. She pulled lipstick from her purse and carefully applied it, dabbing at a smear on one corner of her mouth. Bruiser stared at her full red lips and forgot to drive. His pants felt two sizes too small and his cock two sizes too big. He swerved just in time to miss a street sign.
“Been driving long?”
He let out a long breath and stared straight ahead, embarrassed as hell. “You think?”
“I think you’re behaving strangely. I don’t look that different.”
He snorted, unable to come up with any other response.
* * * * *
Mac forced her eyes straight ahead when all she wanted to do was stare at Bruiser in that tux. His broad shoulders filled it out just right. There couldn’t be another man on earth who did justice to a tux like Bruiser did. But then, Bruiser did justice to just about anything, including a well-worn pair of jeans.
He glanced at her, catching her ogling him. “Amazed by my raw sexuality?”
Mac bit back an unladylike response and distracted him
