His eyes locked with hers, and he leaned in closer to her, making her feel even more aware of their close proximity. His voice lowered until it held a husky quality. “Go out with me.”
“I can’t.” Her answer was too quick for his liking based on the flat look he gave her.
“Why not?” Mack leaned even closer to her, his gaze darting to her lips before lifting his eyes once more to hers. She could smell the scent of his shampoo with how near he’d come to her.
Her breath caught, and her mind went fuzzy. He was so close—too close. “You know why,” she whispered.
Slowly, Mack shook his head. “There isn’t one good reason that we shouldn’t explore this… whatever it is that’s between us.” He still spoke in that sultry voice—the one that made her question everything, the one that made her forget every excuse.
“My sister,” she finally whispered. “We can’t… because of my sister.”
He drew closer still until their noses almost touched. “You want to know what I think? I think that if your sister loves you, she’d be happy for you—happy you’ve finally found someone who cares about you.”
Through the haze and fog in her mind, Lacey clutched the small amount of clarity that came with his words. He cared for her? He couldn’t possibly. How would he even know if he did? They barely knew one another.
And yet she could tell that she cared for him. It was a small little spark of a feeling deep inside her chest that she’d long since locked up. Mack had managed to get past her defenses and figured out a way to make her care for him.
Dang him!
Mack’s hand came around the back of her neck. His thumb traced up and down the skin, sending shockwaves of pleasure through her body.
She closed her eyes in an attempt to push out the sensations he was setting off. Swallowing hard, she shook her head. “It’s not that easy.”
“Sure, it is. Family should always care about each other, even if it means they don’t get what they thought they wanted.”
Her eyes flew open, and she pulled back. Life wasn’t black and white like he suggested. Her parents certainly didn’t care about her feelings when she’d turned eighteen and wanted to take Bridger back. He’d been two, and she’d insisted she could take care of him. But they fought her tooth and nail. Then, when she’dturned twenty, they still fought her. It wasn’t until she got help at the age of twenty-one that she’d finally managed to convince the courts that she deserved to raise her son.
Lacey shook her head. “I can’t.” The words burned coming out of her mouth. As much as she wanted to give in and date this beautiful man before her, she knew she couldn’t. It went beyond the relationship she had with Angela. The relationship she had with her parents was still strenuous at best. One wrong move meant the risk of having Child Protective Services breathing down her neck.
She refused to risk what she had with Bridger.
“I can’t,” she repeated, stronger this time.
He studied her, as if his gaze could zero in on every deep, dark secret her heart possessed. Lacey fidgeted beneath his stare. Angela would be coming out of the store soon, and she’d be looking for her. If Lacey couldn’t get rid of Mack before then, she’d have to scramble for some other excuse.
Mack reached out, dragging his knuckle along her jawline. “I’m going to wait as long as it takes.”
“What? No, you’re not!” she hissed.
He smirked at her. The perfect specimen of a man actually smirked at her. “You can’t tell me what to do.”
She groaned, throwing her head back with frustration. “It’s not going to happen.” There had to be something wrong with him.
Mack shrugged, straightening to his feet. Then he rolled back his shoulders and winked at her. “I’m a patient man. When I decide I want something, I usually get it.”
Lacey should have been infuriated with his statement. She wasn’t something. She was a human being. And her desires were just as important as his. But before she could say as much, he pulled something out of the bag he carried then handed it out to her.
“Give this to Bridger, will you?”
She gaped as she fumbled with a child’s educational book about gorillas. Mack chuckled as he strode away, not giving her a chance to shove it right back at him. All thoughts of chasing him down were wiped from her thoughts when her sister’s number populated her phone screen.
“Where are you?” Angela asked as soon as Lacey answered.
“On my way.” Lacey got to her feet, staring off at the cowboy who was quickly melting her heart.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
So,it was a sister thing.
