Page 26 of Forever Enough

I slid off the stool and started to reply, but Mackenzie beat me to it.

“I’m so sorry,” she said, as she glanced around the area. “Are you lost?”

Raine’s smug expression slipped, and she looked confused.

Glancing at me, Mackenzie said, “I wasn’t aware there was a high school near here.” When she turned back to Raine, she lifted her chin ever so slightly. “Shouldn’t you be in class right now? Are you even old enough to be in a bar?”

Just as confused as Raine and her friend, I looked between the two women.

“What the hell are you going on about?” Raine asked.

Mackenzie slipped her arm around mine. “You are in high school, right? I mean,” she offered an indulgent smile, “you have to be. Your maturity level suggests it. Then again…” She tilted her head and shrugged. “Some women just don’t ever grow out of that mean girl phase. That could be what’s going on here.”

Raine’s mouth dropped open.

“In any case, if you’ll excuse us. The adults are going to head on out.” Mackenzie grabbed her stuff and smiled up at me. “Ready?”

Trying hard not to smile, I slipped my coat on, then helped her get into hers.

As she slipped her gloves on, she looked back at Raine and her friend. “Enjoy your lunch, girls.”

Girls. Did she just call them girls?

The second we stepped outside, I started laughing. “You certainly know how to put a person in their place.”

Mackenzie winked at me. “I dealt with my fair share of bullies in high school. Who was she?”

I walked over and opened the passenger door of my truck and held my hand out. She looked up at me and waited for my answer.

“Raine Newhart. I took her out a few times in high school, nothing serious. She wanted it to be, but I wasn’t really interested in anything like that.”

The corners of her mouth twitched. “You must have left a strong impression for her to act like a toddler in a public restaurant, several years after high school.”

Leaning in, I put my mouth to her ear. She trembled, and I knew it wasn’t from the cold. “I’ve been told I’m a good kisser.”

Mackenzie laughed and pushed me away. She took my hand, and I helped her up into the truck.

Before I shut the door, she said, “Something tells me it wasn’t your kisses that left the impression.”

I threw my head back and laughed. “Damn, I really like you, Kenzie.”

She smiled and her entire face lit up. “I really like you too, Bradly.”

I shut the door and slowly walked around to the driver’s side, trying to determine if it was the sound of my name off her lips or her smile that had my knees feeling weak.

“Okay. You’ve brought me to a bookstore, where I spent way too much money on books. Took me to an art store to show me your cousin Rose’s work, which is breathtaking. I would love to have her paint me something someday, by the way.”

“She would enjoy that,” I said.

Mackenzie glanced my way and smiled. “Drove me by your old high school. And now we’re going to get a milkshake despite the fact it’s freezing out, because you claim they’re the best in Montana. Why do I get the feeling you’re stalling?”

“Because I am. I’m trying to let my stomach settle before our next adventure.”

She raised her brows. “That sounds…honestly, I don’t know what that sounds like.”

I laughed. “I don’t think I’ve laughed this much in a long time.”

“Me either,” she said softly.

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