Lacey slowly lifted her eyes from her meal. Thank goodness Mack had the foresight not to take her to the restaurant where she worked. That was a point in his favor. She’d had the occasional date take her to The Steer House on the off chance they could get a discount. Mack had engaged in the typical small talk. And normally, broaching the subject of Bridger was never a possibility. She never brought him up.
Unfortunately, he’d found out at that party.
She swallowed. “Yes. A kid.”
He grinned at her as he leaned back and shifted so he could rest his arm atop the back of his chair. “I’d expected that I’d get an earful about him by now. We’re…” Mack glanced at his watch. “An hour in, and you haven’t said a word. I didn’t imagine him, did I?”
Lacey placed her fork down and wiped her mouth with her napkin, contemplating how to best explain without sounding rude. “I told you about my one date rule.”
“Yes,” he drawled. “As much as I’d like to go along with it, I’m sorry to say I decline.”
She stilled, her words leaving her. “What?”
This time he leaned forward. “I simply haven’t gotten enough of you, Lacey.”
She flushed. There was no helping it. “Well, that’s too bad.”
Mack’s chuckle was low and warm. It curled around her, infusing her with something not entirely unpleasant. “Oh, you’re going to go out with me again.”
“No, I won’t. This date isn’t even over yet.”
“Exactly my point. It’s getting late, and you have a kid to get home to that you don’t like talking about. If I had to guess, it’s because you’re a little overprotective.” He pinched his finger and thumb together all the while grinning at her with that infuriating smirk.
Lacey’s instincts to snap at him ebbed. He couldn’t force her to do anything. Crossing her arms, she smiled right back. “I don’t talk about my son, because he doesn’t matter to you. He never will—because this—” She gestured between the two of them. “While not a bad first date by any means, it will not continue on to a second.”
“Yeah, so you say,” he quipped. “But let me ask you something.”
She lifted a brow.
“Why?”
“Why what?”
He leaned forward, bringing his chair closer to the edge of the table and lowering his voice almost conspiratorially. “Why have that rule?”
Lacey opened her mouth then closed it. Never had she been required to argue her case. She wasn’t about to tell him that men weren’t to be trusted. He wouldn’t accept that story. And something told her that he wasn’t going to let this go if she said it was in fact because she was overprotective.
Not by a little, but by a whole ton.
She definitely wouldn’t go into her whole backstory and tell him that if she picked the wrong guy, her parents might try to get her son back again. They cared more about raising him than allowing him to be raised by his own mother.
Her face heated, and she frowned at him. “It shouldn’t matter what my reasons are. As long as they make sense to me, that’s all that matters.”
He studied her for a moment, making her squirm beneath his gaze. She half-expected him to goad her into more of an explanation. But he didn’t. Instead, he shrugged and leaned back in his seat again. “Fine. Don’t tell me. I’ll figure it out.”
His dismissal irritated her more than she wanted to admit. “Let me ask you something,” she shot back.
Mack grinned. “Please do.”
“Why?”
For a moment, he actually looked confused. “Why what?”
“Why are you being so pushy about this? I’m clearly not interested. Why not cut your losses? Please don’t tell me you think you’re God’s gift to women.”
The way his lip quirked upward on one side made it evident she wasn’t too far off. But then again, there was something in his eyes that gave her pause. It was a flicker, a glimpse of something else that almost looked like insecurity. Had she found a chink in his armor?
Lacey didn’t get a chance to delve into that possibility before he chuckled. It was low and less filled with amusement than others had been. “Because I like you.”
