He rolled his wrist on the steering wheel to glance at his watch.
“No.” She laughed again. “It’s going to be a long day for you if that’s all it takes.”
He made a low, rumbling sound of irritation.
Attempting to redirect his attention, she asked, “Are you comfortable taking it out?”
“Take it out?” His glance was full of frustration. “I thought you shot me down. Now you’re asking me to take it out? The fuck, Day? I mean, I can multitask if you’ve changed your mind. But comfortable? Fuck yes.”
Cassidy returned his perplexed look before she burst into laughter, realizing what she’d asked. “No, I meant the boat. Are you comfortable taking the boat out?”
He released another low rumble to accompany his pout.
Still chuckling, she continued, “You have to take it out on the water, Mac. You test drive a boat just like you test drive a car. At least, you should.”
He tossed her a look to let her know he was clinging to his irritation over a missed opportunity. But he asked, “I have to drive it? He doesn’t do it? Does he go with us?”
She shrugged. “That’s up to him, I suppose.”
For the first time since they started, Mac appeared uncomfortable. “You want me to drive something I can’t and act like I know what the fuck I’m doing? I could get us all killed.”
Cassidy snorted. “That’s not going to happen. It’s a boat, not a plane. If nothing else, the dude figures out you aren’t a boat guy. Big deal.” She took a deep breath and said, “But he won’t. People see what they need to see.”
It turned out she was right.
The man selling the Viper, Devin, was close to Mac’s age, decent-looking, the stress evident around the creases of his eyes and tightness around his lips and in his thinning brown hair. Name brands dropped from his lips: Mercedes, BMW, Gucci. He was a man in over his head with debt and trying to sell his powerboat… “For a better one,” he was quick to tell them. “One with morethrust.”
Devin was the type of man to assume Mac knew what he was talking about and Cassidy was exactly who Mac introduced her as—his girlfriend. Devin hadn’t looked at her twice, had dismissed her as unimportant; she was the side piece, not the paycheck.
Even though it had been discussed, Cassidy had still thrilled at the descriptor, at the way he’d tucked her in tighter as he’d said it, as though adding visual possession to the word. And she’d been happy when the man had sneered her way. When he’d turned away, she and Mac exchanged knowing looks before following the man down the path toward the lake, Fred bringing up the rear.
Devin led the conversation, falling over himself to get out the information, trying his hardest to make a sale. He highlighted the features rather than the specs. Cassidy shot Mac a look which prompted him to interrupt with the questions she’d made sure he knew to ask. It threw Devin, but he gamely responded, his demeanor changing when he realized he was being askedactualquestions: how many hours on the water, how much fuel did it hold, and so on.
The boat was an impressive vessel. Cassidy had said quietly to Mac while they were still on the dock, “Good job. The pictures don’t do it justice.”
He smiled.
Mac and Devin toured the boat. Panels were lifted. Instruments were pointed out, quirks explained. Cassidy followed them, looking bored, running her hands over the screens and knobs, screwing up her face whenever Devin looked her way. She slipped down into the interior and poked around, looking for anything that would give her immediate pause about the boat.
She heard Devin ask Mac a question she knew he couldn’t answer and hollered up in what she hoped was an irritated,we-are-out-of-heretone, “Baby, this isnota king-sized bed.”
Conversation halted. She could imagine the two men exchanging startled looks, at a complete loss at her declaration. Mac would be trying not to laugh; Devin would hear a sharpness in her voice that might be ringing the death knell of a sale.
Then the magic words, “Do you want to take it out?”
“I want to see how it rides,” Mac affirmed.
Returning topside, she pretended to pout and asked, “Can I drive?”
Devin blanched.
“Maybe once we get out—”
She stomped a foot before heading toward the back of the boat. “Then I’ll be waiting for you in the car. And I’m taking the dog.”
“Don’t be like that, sweetheart.”
She heard the laugh he was fighting to stifle. Devin undoubtedly heard his cash flushing out to sea, as it were.