“They’re gone and won’t be back for a long time.”
“What if they have motion cameras?” Bruiser suggested.
Both Mac and her father turned as one to stare at the back of the house. Sure enough, there was a camera mounted above the back door and another over the patio area.
“Crap,” Mac spoke under her breath. “Let’s get out of here and hope we’re out of camera range.”
“Not until I’ve had a chance to do some digging.”
Bruiser grabbed Craig’s arm. “Not tonight, old man.” He pulled Craig along, not taking no for an answer.
Mac grabbed his other arm, and they literally dragged him to the gate, only to find it padlocked. “Double crap,” Mac cursed.
“I’ll get us out of here. Let me get a ladder.” Back over the fence Bruiser went. A few minutes later, they stood on the lawn in Mac’s side yard, breathing heavily, just as a police cruiser, lights flashing, pulled into the neighbors’ driveway followed by Sonja’s car.
“Busted.” Mac groaned. She turned to Bruiser. “Wait in the house. They can’t see you out here. It’ll be all over the papers. This is our problem, not yours.”
Bruiser hesitated.
“Don’t be a hero, Bruiser. Go inside,” Craig insisted, looking more than a little sheepish.
Bruiser glanced again at the patrol car now sitting in the driveway. The officer was talking to Sonja and her husband; then he turned to Mac’s house.
“Get inside. Please.”
“Okay, but if you need me, I’m here.”
Mac had no idea why he was here. He’d saved her ass and possibly her father’s by getting them out of the backyard before the police came, but he’d shown up here for a reason.
She hoped she was that reason.
* * * * *
With one exception, Bruiser had never been a guy to back down from a fight or run from a problem. He faced his problems head on, but Mac’s father needed to face up to reality. Bruiser just hoped Craig didn’t drag Mac down with him. Still, he felt like a coward as he watched the entire thing play out in Mac’s driveway through the slats in her blinds.
After a short conversation with Mac and her father while Sonja and Ben looked on, the officer cuffed Craig, put him in the back of the patrol car, and drove off. Sonja and Ben cast a last threatening glare at Mac and returned to their house.
Bruiser met her at the front door and wrapped her in his arms. She melted into his body, clinging to him. He held her tight, burrowing his fingers in her hair, intoxicated by her fresh scent and the feel of her sexy body against his.
“You okay?” He spoke into her hair.
Mac pulled back, and Bruiser loosened his hold. She looked up at him, her gaze oddly resigned. He’d expected to see tears. Instead he saw defeat. “They arrested him for violating the no-contact order and trespassing. It was inevitable. I’m surprised it didn’t happen sooner.”
“He needs help. He’s out of control.”
“Tell that to him.” Mac’s voice took on a monotone he’d never heard from her. Weariness lined her face and she had dark circles under her eyes. Her makeup had long ago worn off. Even like this, she was still the most beautiful girl in the world, and he wanted to make her smile again.
“Do you need bail money?”
“I can’t ask you for that.” She fisted her hands in his shirt and gazed up at him. He liked how she clung to him, as if he gave her comfort.
“Sure you can. We’re friends, aren’t we?”
“I guess.” She frowned, as if he’d disappointed her, and nodded. “I’ll take a loan. I don’t have many other options. And God knows Dad doesn’t have any money.”
“You got it.” Bruiser slanted a grin at her, hoping his signature smile would loosen her up a little. She was wound tighter than his sister on a bad hair day.
“I’m surprised to see you here.”
“I couldn’t stay away.” He nuzzled her, burying his face in her hair and inhaling her scent.
Mac pushed away from him, and he let her go, even though his arms felt empty without her. She moved into the kitchen, effectively putting the counter between them—her own personal barrier. Bruiser understood barriers, and the emotional barriers Mac put up were proving a challenge to tear down, while Bruiser’s were about as stable as a rotten picket fence.
Bruiser slid onto a barstool in front of the kitchen counter and took the beer she offered him. He lifted it to his mouth, hesitated, and set the bottle down. “I guess I shouldn’t be drinking this if we’re going to the police station. How about a rain check?”
“After we get Dad home and tucked in for the night in his own bed?”
“Yeah.”
Her smile lit up his life, warmed his heart, and made his day. After the team’s loss earlier, he needed to come home and see that smile.
Home?
God, how he’d missed that brilliant, sassy smile of hers in the night that he’d been away. How he’d missed her. He tried to recall if he’d ever missed a woman as much as Mac, or obsessed over a woman as much as Mac, or when he’d been tied up in such knots over a woman as much as Mac. Not even his ex-wife did it to him like Mac did.
That realization hit him in the gut like a sucker punch from a prizefighter.
Maybe his marriage proposal had more to do with him than with Elliot. He fought for balance; Mac made him so dizzy he didn’t know which end of the field to run toward.
“What the hell was your dad doing?” He leaned forward, chin resting in his hands.
“Trying to find evidence.” Mac sighed and poured them both a cup of strong Tully’s.
Bruiser laughed. “What’s he expecting to find?”
Mac glanced in the direction of Sonja’s house and swallowed. “My brother.”
Bruiser processed that comment. “Why?”
She met his gaze. “Dad thinks he’s in the
