The sound made Gage look up from his own dessert, his dark eyes almost gold in the candlelight. She smiled at him.
“When you asked me to have dinner with you earlier today, you said you needed to get to know me better so you’d feel more comfortable with me hanging around the compound.” She ran her toes up and down his leg again. “Did it work?”
“Mostly,” he said. “I just have one more question.”
His face turned so serious that she stopped moving her foot and lowered it to the floor. Maybe she’d been wrong to try and mix business with pleasure. What if he thought her flirting was a game to get him to agree to let her hang around the compound? She wasn’t above flirting to get a scoop, but that wasn’t what she’d been doing with him. She was seriously attracted to Gage.
“Okay,” she said. “What’s your question?”
He was silent, as if he was searching for the right words. His eyes were so intense it almost took her breath away.
“Would you print the story of a lifetime if it meant that innocent people got hurt?”
She’d expected him to ask her if she was playing games with him to get what she wanted. She hadn’t expected a philosophical question like that.
But looking into Gage’s dark eyes, she realized it hadn’t been a philosophical question about a hypothetical story. He was asking if the story she was planning to write about SWAT would hurt the people he cared about—his men.
“I would never write a story if it meant innocent people would get hurt—no matter how big it was.”
He regarded her in silence for so long she thought he didn’t believe her. But then the corners of his mouth curved. “Then consider me completely comfortable with you hanging around the compound.”
Mac almost sagged with relief. “Are you sure the department won’t mind?”
“They won’t mind.” He took a bite of the rich dessert. “They’re always trying to get me to do more community outreach. They’ll be thrilled.”
Until they see the story on the front page.
He gestured with his spoon. “Eat your soufflé before it gets cold.”
She spooned another scoop of the scrumptious chocolate dessert into her mouth, chewing slowly as she wondered whether she should go back to playing footsie again when she felt Gage’s hand on her knee. The sigh she let out this time had nothing to do with how good Emile’s soufflé was. She thought for sure the sexual thermostat had been turned down for the evening after what they’d just discussed. Guess she’d been wrong.
Mac forced herself to play it cool while they talked about her newest obsession—pita chips—and the sweet older lady who lived in the apartment next door to hers. But it was nearly impossible not to sigh with pleasure as Gage made slow, little circles on her knee with his finger. He never ventured more than an inch or two up her thigh—even though she silently prayed he would—but it still felt heavenly. The tingling she’d felt before had disappeared, replaced by a warm rush of heat between her thighs.
She bit her lip. Damn, she really needed to get out more. All Gage did was caress her knee and she got wet. If he touched her anywhere else, she’d probably pass out.
But she was willing to risk it.
It was in that moment of bliss that Emile decided to come over and wish them a pleasurable evening. Mac had to bite her tongue to keep from telling the man that she and Gage were already in the pleasurable part of the evening—thank you and please go away. She almost groaned when Gage took his hand off her knee so he could shake the man’s hand again. She pushed herself up on weak legs to do the same.
“Dinner was delicious,” she told him. “I loved every bite.”
“I’m so glad you enjoyed yourselves.” Emile hugged her, putting his mouth to her ear. “You make Gage happy, Mackenzie. And it would make me very happy if you came with him the next time he eats here.”
She laughed. “I might just do that.”
Mac glanced at Gage out of the corner of her eye to see him flush beneath his tan. She didn’t know how he could possibly have heard Emile’s whispered words, but apparently he had.
Emile put his beefy arms around both of them as he walked them to the door. “Don’t do anything foolish with this one, Gage. She’s special.”
They didn’t talk much on the drive to her apartment, so Mac relaxed back in the seat and used the quiet time to replay the evening. Between the fantastic food, intimate conversation, and sexy footsie under the table, she wasn’t sure how the night could have been any better.
Well, that wasn’t exactly true. She knew exactly how it might get better. And it’d start with inviting Gage into her apartment. Once inside, they might make it to her bedroom, but they might not. If they didn’t, the floor anywhere along the way would be just fine, too.