“Where?”
She raised her shoulder and answered prissily, “I don’t know that I need to tell you that.”
“You want me to watch your dog.”
“I’m driving—”
“Okay, I’ll take him.”
She startled. “I didn’t even—”
“Don’t care, don’t want my dog on the road for two days; leave him with me.”
She tilted her head in annoyance. “Fred is not your dog.”
“Partly mine.” He pushed with a mischievous look.
God, she missed him. “Not even part. He’s at most a… foster.”
“Best fucking kind,” he said with meaning. Then, “When?”
Cassidy made a face. “Today?”
“Todaytoday? Seriously? Why not just send him over with a note around his neck?”
“I know it’s last minute, but—”
Mac waved a hand. “Forget it.” He smacked open the screen door. “Fred, get in here.” Fred raced into the cabin. Mac let the door drop back into place.
Cassidy watched her dog go before lifting her eyes to Mac. “Thank you.”
Mac waved a hand, brushing it off. “Forget it.”
Cassidy insisted. “Thank you.”
Mac turned from Fred happily sniffing the floor behind him to her, raking his eyes over her. “You good, Day?”
“Yes. Lawyers. Silas is going with me, so if you’d check in on Marge…” She grinned.
His eyes narrowed, but he was smiling, too. “Have fun.”
She didn’t want him to tell her to have fun. She wanted him to tell her not to go without him and Fred. “Intend to.”
He didn’t blink. Glancing behind her at the lake, he dipped his head. “All right, then. Get on out of here. Fred and I have some bonding to do.”
Taking a step back, she pointed at him and said with her best warning voice, “Do not ruin my dog while I’m gone.”
He grinned.
Mac, naked, grinning.
Cassidy almost caved. Instead, she spun on a heel. “You are impossible.”
“Later.”
At the bottom of the stairs, she glanced back over her shoulder. He hadn’t moved; he was watching her warmly as she retreated. She half-waved and turned away again, jealous of her dog.
Cassidy bought Mac a captain’s hat for watching Fred. Silas had stood in the novelty shop with her while she’d had it customized with his name, sucking on his teeth, giving her strange looks. She explained he’d done her a favor; it was the polite thing to do.