She seemed about to say yes, when she hesitated. Then she sighed. “Probably not. It really helps that my brothers look like they’re going to stay in Copperville forever.” She sent Mac a look of deep sympathy. “You can come and visit me anytime you want. I’ll show you New York in style.”
“Thanks. Maybe I’ll take you up on that.”
“We could have a great time. The top of the Empire State Building, the Statue of Liberty, Central Park, Times Square. Promise me that you’ll come to visit me, Mac. It would be so wonderful to have that to look forward to.”
“Okay, I promise.” His heart wrenched at the thought of how much they probably would enjoy themselves. And then he’d have to come home again and leave her there. Well, he’d just have to get over it. His life was here, and hers would be there, and that’s the way it was meant to be.
“I feel so much better, knowing that you’ll come to visit me.” Her eyes glowed. “I guess I always pictured seeing some of those things with you. Maybe I’ll wait until you get there before I do some of that tourist stuff, so we can both experience it at the same time. I’ve heard Ellis Island is very moving. And the Metropolitan Museum of Art will be beautiful, and we could save our money and eat at one of those pricey restaurants, at least once, and—”
“I’m not taking you to a pricey restaurant unless you can do better on the food than you’re doing here.”
She glanced at her plate and picked up her fork. “I guess I’m distracted. I can’t seem to think of anything except this move, and getting ready for it.” She pushed her food around and glanced up at him. “Mac, I know you think I’m crazy for wanting this one thing before I go.”
“Not crazy.” He laid down his fork and gave up all pretense of eating. God, she was beautiful. Not cute, not attractive, not passable. Beautiful. He’d never admitted that to himself before, but he’d probably always known it on some unconscious level. He’d been entranced watching her talk about their future adventures in New York.
“Then you understand?”
“Yes.”
She sagged against the table, and her sigh was heavy with relief. “Thank goodness. I wondered if I’d ever convince you.”
“I’m convinced.”
“Then you’ll help me? You’ll find someone and introduce us?”
Maybe he’d known all along what he had to do. Maybe he’d just needed time for the inescapable truth to settle upon him. But now he could see no other way. It was dangerous, extremely dangerous. A great deal was at stake. Still, it was the only answer, and he was man enough to accept that, along with the consequences.
He took a deep breath. “I don’t have to look for someone. I already know who will do it.”
“You do?” Her eyes grew bright, her cheeks pink. “Who?”
“Me.”
CHAPTER FOUR
TESS GASPED AND put her hand over her mouth. She felt as if someone had dumped a bucket of warm water over her. Oh, God. Mac. Could she do it? Her imagination quivered and danced around the idea, unable to focus on the possibility. Her heart beat so loudly she thought he might be able to hear it. Mac. Oh, dear. How delicious. How impossible. How frightening. How lovely.
“Unless you don’t want me to.”
She was having trouble breathing, let alone talking. “I—I—”
“It’s okay if you don’t. I might not be…what you want.”
“I…have to think.”
“Sure.”
Although she was caught up in her own turmoil, she sensed his vulnerability. “I’m honored,” she choked out.
“Honored?”
“That you’d even consider…that you’d even be willing…”
“Better me than anybody else I can think of.”
“Is it…” She paused and squeezed her eyes shut. “Such a sacrifice, then?” At his astonished laughter, she opened her eyes.
“Are you kidding?” He stared at her in wonder. “If word got out that you were in the market, the line outside your door would stretch all the way to the Nugget.”
“You think?” He’d never, ever given her such an extravagant compliment about her sex appeal. His compliments on that score had been nonexistent, come to think of it.
“You could have your pick,” he said. “You don’t have to settle for me. I just thought—”
“That I’d feel more comfortable with you. Thank you, Mac. And I probably would. Once I get over the shock.”
“Take your time.”
“You won’t change your mind?”
He shook his head.
“But what about my brothers?”
He let out his breath in a great gust. “I won’t pretend that won’t be tough. But I’ve kept our secrets from them before.” He gazed at her. “I guess I can do it again.”
She’d never been so impressed with another human being in her life. “I don’t deserve such a good friend.”
He gave her a crooked smile. “Don’t go giving me too much credit. This wouldn’t be the worst assignment I’d ever drawn in my life.”
“So you think you could have…fun?”
“I think I could manage that.”
Tess leaned back in the booth and fanned herself with her hand. “Wow. This blows me away.” She glanced at him with his fresh shower, shave and clothes. “Did you decide this before you showed up tonight?”
“No. I honestly didn’t know what I was going to say to you when I got here. Then, while we were talking, I finally decided this was the only solution I could live with.”
She hesitated, feeling unbelievably shy. “The reason I asked is that I wondered, considering that you’re all cleaned up, if you thought that we’d just…take care of it.”
He coughed and cleared his throat. “Is that what you want?”
She couldn’t seem to control her racing pulse, and every breath was a struggle. “I don’t know. I realize this is my project, but I’m not feeling very much in charge right now.”
He gazed at her. “I have a suggestion.”
She swallowed. He was the sexiest man she’d ever seen in her life. How had she missed that in all these years? “Okay.”
He leaned forward and beckoned her to do the same. He lowered his voice and his eyes grew smoky blue. “Maybe we need to work up to this. We could take a drive, park somewhere, do some old-fashioned making out and see how it goes. And to take the pressure off, we’d agree not to go all the way this first time.”
He was so close that his breath caressed her face. His hands—hands that had positioned her grip on a baseball bat, picked her up when she fell off her bike and pinched her when she’d dropped the frog down his back—had taken on a whole new significance. And they lay less than an inch from hers on the Formica tabletop. As she looked into his eyes, her heart beat so fast she thought she might have a heart attack. This was a Mac she’d never met before. “I g-guess we could do that, but…”
“But? And how were you envisioning the process?”
Her cheeks grew hot.