Outside on the curb next to her car he paused and drew in a deep breath. “So, I had a good time.”
This was it. Goodbye.
“So did I. Maybe we can do it again some time.” Shocked at her own boldness, she waited for his reply.
“Yeah, maybe.” He leaned in and pressed a hard kiss to her lips, plunging his tongue against hers as her body tightened in response.
It was a quick kiss but damn it was a good one. It made it almost less painful when he pulled away and let his hands drop. “Bye.”
She was breathless as she said, “Bye.”
When he stood, not moving, obviously waiting for her to leave first, she realized she’d better find her car keys. She started digging through her bag as he stood by patiently.
Finally she lifted her oversized and overloaded purse and shook it near her ear. She heard a jingle. Once she knew in which general area to search, she finally located the keys. She pulled them out and held them up for him in triumph.
He tipped his head and treated her to a small, lopsided lifting of his lips.
There were no more excuses for delay. Lydia walked around to the driver’s side door.
“All right. So, see ya.” She shot him a smile she wasn’t feeling.
“See ya.”
She wasn’t going to let his response get her excited. He was simply parroting her, not promising anything. She really wasn’t cut out for this kind of thing. This hook up and move on, one-night stand kind of lifestyle.
If her first sexual encounter hadn’t proven that, this one did. Stupid girl that she was, she was half in love with Mack already.
Must have been the orgasms. Some sort of biological reaction that stemmed from the days of the cavemen to insure the proliferation of the species. She was a slave to her hormones and the whims of human nature.
Being a Biology major, she should have realized that immediately. Her womb-deep craving to be with this man was nothing more than Mother Nature making her will known for the survival of the species.
The theory helped her feel a little bit, but not completely better. It still sucked to be leaving him with not much more than his see ya as plans for their seeing each other again.
As she glanced up and saw Mack straddling a motorcycle her gut twisted tighter.
He rode a Harley. That figured. As if he wasn’t hot enough before, now she had that image in her head.
Yup, she was no good at this hooking up thing at all.
She was definitely not a love ’em and leave ’em type. She figured chances were good that he was.
As she pulled the car into the street, she got a glimpse in the rearview mirror as he fired up his Harley without even another look in her direction as she drove away.
With a deep exhale she forced herself to focus on the GPS. She’d gotten herself all turned around by getting off the highway and following the glow of the neon last night. She had to get back on track and to her mother’s place.
The buzzing in her purse had her sighing. Her phone.
She’d forgotten to check it this morning—and last night—just as she’d forgotten to check in with Marissa.
There was a good chance it was her roommate, concerned about her. Though it could also be her mother, calling to ask how close she was to arriving.
Either way, Lydia had to get it.
With too much to do at once and the time ticking on toward the brunch, she risked it and continued to drive the direction the car’s navigation told her to, while rummaging through the bag for the phone.
She found it one handed and glanced at it long enough to hit the button to answer. She was breaking the law by pressing the cell to her ear as she drove. “Hello.”
“Hi, sweetie. Where are you?”
“Not too far. About half an hour if the GPS is right.”
“Oh, good. I—” The computerized dashboard voice telling her to stay right ahead cut her mother off.
That was probably for the better. The longer this conversation went on, the more likely Lydia would be pressed into having to lie to her mother about why she didn’t end up driving down last night instead of this morning.
“I’ll let you go so you can concentrate on driving.”
Relieved on more than one account, Lydia said, “Yeah, thanks. I’m not really sure where I’m going so that’d be good.”
“Of course. We can talk when you get here.”
“Great.” She hoped her mother didn’t hear the sarcasm she’d been unable to hide. “See you in a little bit.”
“Okay, sweetie. Bye.”
“Bye.” Lydia lowered the phone and took her eyes off the road one more time to see the button to disconnect the call.
Another glance at the read out told her she had a missed call and a bunch of texts, all from Marissa.
She needed to call her friend back. She had promised to last night and never had.
In Lydia’s defense, she’d been a bit distracted by Mack. The memory brought a smile to her face, as did the idea of telling Marissa about it.
She couldn’t read the texts while driving, but she managed to hit the right button to dial Marissa.
“Where are you?” Marissa didn’t even answer with hello and instead launched right into the question.
“Leaving the place of the guy I spent the night with.” Lydia wouldn’t have admitted that to anyone else on Earth, but she and Marissa were more than roommates. They were best friends. This was the one person she could be perfectly honest with about last night.
“Oh my God! Tell me everything.” Marissa sounded about as excited as Lydia thought she would.
“He was in that bar I stopped at last night.”
“And you just like walked up to him and picked him up?”
“Nope. Actually, some jerk was bothering me and wouldn’t go away so he came over and took him out. I mean like literally. He had the guy face down on the ground with his hands pinned behind his back.”
“That is so hot.”
“I know, right?” Lydia knew Marissa would understand. “So I shouldn’t feel bad I went home with him?”
“Of course not. He sounds perfect. Like some kind of knight in shining armor.”
“Yeah, if the armor is a leather jacket and instead of a horse he rides a Harley.”
“No way. Are you serious?”
“I swear.”
Marissa groaned. “Now you’re just trying to make me jealous. You know that’s like my dream guy.”
“Sorry.” Lydia smiled, not feeling all that sorry.
“It’s okay. I’ll forgive you. So what does he do for a living?”
“I’m not really sure. We didn’t get around to talking about that.”
“What’s his name?”
“Mack.”
“Mack what?”
“Um, I never asked.” Now Lydia was really starting to sound and feel like a slut. She sighed. “I’m really not good at this stuff.”
“No, you’re not. But it sounds like it worked out for you last night anyway.”
“Yeah.” Except that she knew next to nothing about the man she’d spent the night with and she hadn’t worried about that at all. At least, not until now as the things she didn’t know about him began to outweigh what she did know.
Maybe it wasn’t so bad. At least she knew where he lived . . . She rolled her eyes at herself for being so foolish last night and letting her hormones get the best of her.
“So are you going to see him again?” Marissa asked.
“I never got his number.”
“But you gave him yours, right?”
“Uh, no.” The chances of her ever seeing Mack again were pretty much zero.
Marissa sighed. “You’re right. You aren’t good at this. No more going out without me. Okay?”
In light of the mounting evidence, Lydia couldn’t argue that point. “Okay.”
“Are you coming back tonight?”
“Yeah, I think so. I don’t have class until afternoon tomorrow but I don’t think I’m going to feel like hanging around here any longer than I have to.”
“Good. I’ll be home.”
“Still working on your paper?”
“Ugh. Yes.” Marissa’s dissatisfaction about the whole thing was clear.
“Okay. I’ll see you at home then.” She just had to get through brunch and then she could drive back to school and commiserate with Marissa about her stupidity over take-out Chinese food and maybe a pint of ice cream.
It wasn’t a great plan but it was the best one she had so it would have to do.
CHAPTER 7
The vibration of the phone in his pocket had Mack sighing. He knew who it was. There was no doubt in his mind.
It would be his father, making sure he was on his way.
He wasn’t even late. He knew that because he’d just checked the time on his cell. Mack knew damn well he’d had enough leeway to stop at the store. Not trusting his father to have any in the house, he’d grabbed a six-pack of beer.
He’d known he was going to need a bit of libation to get through brunch with good old dad and the new fam. The turmoil of his strange feelings and behavior around Lydia had only added to the day’s surreal nature and his stress about it.
He’d just safely stowed the beer in the Harley’s saddlebags and was about to strap on his helmet when he’d felt his phone vibrate.
Mack rested the helmet on the seat. He was ready to get on the road again. Now, he had to dig into his pocket for his cell instead.