“We’re not testing the bed,” she informed him.
Grinning, he shrugged. “Nothing wrong with being thorough.”
Fighting her smile and libido, she asked, “What powers it?”
“The bed?”
She laughed. “Stop it. The boat!”
“I assume a key unless it’s modern and uses a push-button fob thing like most cars now.”
She laughed even harder. “Oh my god.”
“What?”
“Horsepower.”
Still teasing her, he said, “Equivalent to two, based on customer satisfaction surveys.”
She reached out and smacked his arm. “We aren’t far enough away that I can’t walk home.”
“You’re so easy,” he pointed out. “This is what I know: it’s white, it has Bluetooth, it looks super sweet in photos, says it has a new cockpit and full mooring cover… Whatever the fuck that is. The guy told me a whole bunch of other shit that could be bull. It’s why I need you.”
Cassidy looked over at him. “You aren’t kidding.”
He glanced at her. “Nah, I’m not kidding.”
“Okay then, we’ll make sure this guy didn’t bullshit you. Of course, he’ll try to bullshit me, being a woman.”
“Yeah, so we have to play this with that in mind. He talks to me; you listen.”
They were both quiet for a moment, the reality of the situation hitting them both, not that it was fair or right; it was what it was. Trying to lighten the mood, she teased, “You’re helping me buy my next car.”
Mac’s lips twitched. “You got it.”
Her lips curved up before she brought her coffee toward her; a pact. A team. Although it was a joke, it felt like something.
“Okay, here are the questions you ask.” And she launched into a series of specifications. Mac took out his phone and handed it to her, giving her his passcode so she could log in and pull up the picture and information he’d received. She read it, frowning at a few things, asking him about others. What he remembered, he told her; what he didn’t, she made sure he knew what to ask.
“What if he wants to talk to me about boats?” Mac asked. “The fuck am going to talk about?”
“Tell him you have one—it will also make you seem not too desperate to buy one.”
“I don’t have a boat. I know nothing about them.”
Scrolling through the pictures and specs still, she answered absently, “Tell himThe Caseliis yours. He won’t know.”
In her periphery, she noticed Mac take his eyes off the road to stare at her. Looking back at the road, he ventured, “Elijah’s boat.”
“Mine, too. But he won’t know.” Putting down the phone, she told him the make and model of her boat; the specs, adding, “It’s not as fancy as your Viper, but it’s a solid boat with good speed. You’ve moored it once, so you aren’t unfamiliar with it.”
“Fuckin’ turned the hell on right now. Hard as goddamn granite,” he mumbled.
Cassidy bit her lips to keep from smiling.
“Bringing you might have been a mistake if I can’t bang you on the Viper.”
She laughed. “No, you can’t.”