Just My Type by Erin Nicholas

now…”
    “It’s been a while since it was that simple.”
    Sara would have thought that admission from him would make her heart leap and cause little cupids to begin dancing on the tabletop.
    Instead, she felt relieved.
    “So,” Mac said, after the silence had stretched several long moments. “Now what?”

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    Erin Nicholas
    Now what? She looked at him. That face that she loved, that body that she wanted, that character she needed.
    “I know what you want me to say,” she told him. “But I don’t want to go back to the way it’s always been. Not with the way I feel about you.”
    He looked angry. “You’re going to keep on trying to seduce me and making me turn you down?”
    “You’ll eventually say yes.”
    He glared down at her. “God, I wish…”
    “That you’d done more last night?”
    Heat, which could have been anger or lust, flared in his eyes. “That you would have had even one person, ever in your life, say no to you.”
    “Ready to order?” The waiter had returned.
    “No.” Mac’s tone was enough to send the man quickly back to the kitchen.
    Sara felt much braver than she probably should. But not having Mac in her life forever was simply not an acceptable option and she refused to even let him consider it.
    “I think you know what’s going to happen,” she told him.
    He stepped closer, shoving the chair between them out of the way. The scrape of the wood leg against the wood floor grated. He glared down at her. “You think if we have a fling you’ll get over me and these feeling and then we can go back to how things need to be?” Sara closed the remaining inches between them and risked touching his chest. He did not pull away from her hand and she found her courage and optimism bolstered. “Mac, I know for a fact once we make love, nothing will ever be the same.”
    He pulled in and let out a long breath. “Dammit, Sara,” he swore. “What the hell do you think you want here? You want to fuck me? I can maybe live with that. You want to date me? That’s stupid. You want to move in, spend every waking moment together, be the only woman I ever look at again? You’ve got to know that isn’t going to happen.”
    She didn’t flinch, she didn’t blink. “Yes. I want all of that.”
    “And it’s that easy in your mind?”
    “Yes.”
    “Your brother will kill me if he even finds out I’ve seen you half-naked. If we sleep together, he’ll…never forgive me.”
    Sara stood strong, but she had to dig her fingernails into her palm. She saw the pain it caused Mac to think of disappointing—or betraying and losing—his best friend. But she believed Sam wanted her to be happy. Once he understood that Mac was the answer to that, he’d come around.
    “Sam wouldn’t kill the man I love.”
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    Just My Type
    Something flashed in Mac’s eyes and he leaned toward her. Just when she was sure he was going to kiss her, he pulled back. His eyes narrowed. “You have this happy little picture in your mind of how this is going to go. We date. Everyone is overjoyed for us, no problems, no resentments. I buy you flowers and candy. You cook candlelight dinners. We walk on the beach at sunset. Blah, blah, blah.” Other than the fact she didn’t cook and there wasn’t a beach within a hundred miles of Omaha, the whole thing sounded pretty good.
    “This is so typical.” He pointed his finger at the tip of her nose. “You’re thinking about you. What about everyone else? Our friends have feelings you know. They need our group too. And if we change anything it changes everything. For everyone.”
    She knew that. She was living it with her brother and sister. It was inevitable things were going to change—she’d accepted that—but she was going to be sure any change with Mac was in her favor.
    Typical? Maybe. Selfish? Maybe. Still her plan no matter what? Absolutely.
    “I love them too,” she said softly.
    “Do you? This could