Send Me Crazy (Hot in the City Book 1) Read online

  “We should get coffee,” I decided, standing up to head to the counter. “I’m buying. Karli, you want another?” I looked at her mostly untouched decaf—yeah, I wouldn’t be drinking that either, girlfriend—and then to our new friend. “Mack, what are you having? Let me guess.” I tapped my finger against my lip for dramatic effect. “Hmmm, soy, non-fat, two pump caramel Frappuccino, hold the foam… Just kidding, you want an Americano.”

  His eyes widened, my ability to guess his coffee order impressing him on what I thought was an obvious choice. “Um, yeah. But I think I should pay.” He reached for his wallet.

  “It’s fine, I’ve got it. And while I’m gone Karli can tell you all about me and my interfering.” Without giving either of them a chance to respond, I strolled to the barista hoping some caffeine might improve the situation. I mean, it could be worse. From what I could tell, Mack seemed like a decent guy and wasn’t sizing us up for a black market sex ring. Not to say we were going to be launching into a long lasting friendship, but he was hot in that I-have-daddy-issues kind of way. See, it definitely could have been worse, it was just a shame that—

  “You’re still here.” I hadn’t intended to say it out loud but I was so genuinely surprised that I couldn’t stop myself.

  Wow.

  Not sure where he’d been or why he was back but none of it was important. I’d been given a gift, a second chance, and I wasn’t about to toss it away without at least talking to the man.

  And Lord, what a man he was.

  If he’d been impressive from across the room, up close and personal was almost cruel. He wasn’t just good looking; he was breathtaking.

  He was a tower.

  An architectural wonder so genetically perfect I fought the urge to pull out my phone and tag myself at his location. I’d sure as hell love to check in, that was a certainty.

  Hard lines fought against the cotton of his shirt as a halleluiah affirmation that he probably worked out. “Hi.” A pair of warm chocolate eyes more sinful than a decadent fudge lava cake gave me their full attention. And I was never any good at saying no to dessert.

  “So red lace, huh?” He grinned, clearly not making any attempt to ignore the earlier spectacle. “A bit stereotypical isn’t it?”

  Not sure if his smile was unintentionally smug or he was just cocky by nature. But I didn’t know if he was trying to lighten the situation or make me blush, and not being able to read a person’s motivations unnerved me.

  I knew people.

  I could see their manufactured smiles and fake sincerity a mile away. It was innate, an internal gauge that called bullshit whenever someone wasn’t being on the level. But for some reason, I couldn’t get a fix on his—flying completely blind as to whether the hot guy was flirting or calling me a fake.

  Not a good place to be.

  Which was why I got defensive.

  “Of course it is, that was kind of the point. Not like I was going to send a pair of cotton high-waisted granny panties, that would have served zero purpose. But if you must know I do wear lace and look sensational in red.” My smile edged wider as I turned to the bewildered barista, “And I’m ready to place my order.”

  Quinn

  SURE, I COULD have giggled, batted my eyelashes and flirted shamelessly with the hot dude. Because really, what did I have to lose? But he’d already accused me of one stereotype, and I wasn’t going to give him just cause for a second.

  So without taking a full breath I rattled off my coffee order—including Mack’s boring Americano—and whipped out my credit card like I wasn’t secretly intrigued by what the hot guy would do next.

  He could walk—bored or offended—and take those delicious chocolate eyes and the rest of him right out the door. It was a big city, and chances of us running into each other weren’t great. Especially since I’d moved here five years ago from New Jersey and it was the first time I’d seen him.

  Or he could stay, and see where it took us.

  “Cotton panties get such a bad rap.”

  So option two it was, and I couldn’t get any more excited as I turned to face him. If his arms folded across his chest where anything to go by, he wasn’t in any hurry to leave either. “I’ve seen some pretty sexy ones.”

  He wasn’t wrong, and probably would’ve been interested to know that was exactly what I was wearing.

  Information I’d have shared if I were flirting.

  Which I wasn’t.

  I grinned, pretending to write on an invisible note pad. “Good feedback, I’ll tell you what. I’ll take that little piece of information and put it in the suggestion box for next time.” I folded the invisible note and tucked it into my invisible pocket.

  “Riley. Double shot cappuccino.”

  My eyes widened as he turned to collect his order.

  “Riley,” I repeated, unable to resist using the new intel I’d received. I ignored his drink choice as I watched him wrap his hand around it and bring the cup to his lips.

  He took a deliberate swallow before lowering his cup and smiling. “That would be me.”

  “Quinn,” the barista called out, three cups placed on the counter. “Americano, decaf soy latte and double shot cappuccino.”

  “Quinn.” Riley rolled my name around in his mouth before nodding toward the coffees waiting for me. “Double shot cappuccino? Interesting.”

  Interesting was one choice of words, or freakishly coincidental was another. But there we were, two caffeine addicts who’d just learned each other’s names and apparently shared an appreciation for underrated female cotton panties.

  We were clearly meant to be.

  “How do you know I’m not the one drinking the decaf?” I raised my eyebrow, wondering if he was a people reader like me. We were a rare breed, the skill diminishing with society’s preoccupation with perception rather than fact.

  “A woman who sends underwear in the mail isn’t the decaf drinking type.” He smirked, his eyes shifting from me—where I liked them—to the table where Karli was having an animated conversation while Mack looked on slightly confused. “I should let you get back.”

  The urge to yell, no, that Karli was more than capable of entertaining Mack while I mentally categorized every part of his body, was overwhelming. But I swallowed the urge—to speak, the categorizing was still happening—and instead nodded as I tried to juggle three cups of coffee and not end up in a burns unit.

  “Yep, Mack is probably already regretting his morning. I’ll go put him out of his misery,” I chuckled as I winked.

  I freaking winked.

  Who even does that anymore unless it’s an emoji? Still my attempt to leave casually had been a bust so trying to salvage it was just going to make it look worse. And I was just about to commit to my shady, awkward departure when I noticed Mack had come up beside me.

  “You were going to let her carry all of these by herself? What the hell is wrong with you?” He shot Riley an angry look.

  Not sure what surprised me more. That Mack felt the need to be chivalrous, and save me from the weight of carrying three coffees. Or that he accosted Riley with such vehemence, especially since Mack was at least two inches shorter, a few pounds lighter and at least fifteen years older.

  Trying to ignore I was both impressed and horrified, I straightened my shoulders. “Umm Mack, I’m fine. More than capable of carrying three coffees. You should see what I can manage at a bar—six beers, two hands—without even breaking a sweat.”

  There were a lot of things I could use a man for, and being my drink porter didn’t even make the top ten.

  “See, she was fine.” Riley smirked as Mack insisted on taking both his Americano and Karli’s latte out of my hands.

  Mack’s eyes narrowed, an inappropriate amount of hostility thrown at Riley. “I didn’t ask if she was fine.”

  Whoa.

  Maybe my assessment of Mack being a nice older guy had been premature, and he was really some crazy psycho with anger management issues. It wasn’t like I hadn’t experienced more than my fair share of those. Especially from men who liked the gym, the steroid use was usually responsible. Well for that, and the shrunken testicles.

  “Okay,” I waved my free hand, the second time today calling more attention to myself than I would have liked. “Not sure what’s going on here but I think we can safely assume it has nothing to do with coffee. Which is such a shame because this is a nice place and the drinks are great.” My cup lifted to my lips as I took a tentative sip. “Mmmm, so good.”

  The effort to diffuse whatever the hell was going on wasn’t my best, but it got both their attention. And as long as no one was threatening to take it outside, I think we were fairly safe. I glanced over at Karli who was on her feet, wide eyed and open mouthed, unsure of whether to get involved. She might look like a sweetheart, but her daddy taught her how to shoot a gun and hogtie a steer, so her ability to do damage was a little more than blessing-your-heart.

  There was a brief game of eyeball ping-pong before Mack took a much needed breath. “This was a shitty idea.”

  “Now, I wouldn’t say that,” Riley responded, an alternate conversation apparently happening both wordlessly and without my involvement.

  “You guys know each other.” It should have been a question, but it wasn’t. Because unless there was a serious man rage flu happening in the tri-state area, these two had at the very least a passing acquaintance.

  “We’ve met,” Riley answered, offering as little information as possible.

  Mack raised an eyebrow, seeming to be surprised by Riley’s admission. “We work together,” he clarified.

  Well that just made it a whole lot more interesting.

  Karli—who had largely been spectating from the table—decided she’d stayed idle long enough and wandered over. “Y’all just happened to be at the same place?”

  God love her, she was ever the optimist, assuming the chances of them being there had been some random coincidence. But I knew better. Or was more jaded. Take your pick.

  “No, they’re here together.” I shook my head, annoyed that I’d been so distracted by the hot guy I hadn’t seen it right away.

  His lack of hurry, lingering at the counter—he could have ordered, collected his double shot goodness, and been out the door before Mack had even pulled out the panties. But he didn’t. And I was secretly not so mad about it.

  “I think it’s sweet of you.” My lips edged into a smile. “You came here to make sure we didn’t kidnap Mack or take advantage of him.”

  Mack didn’t share the sentiment, raising his hands to protest awkwardly while hindered by the coffees he was still holding. “That’s not exactly what this is about.”

  Riley laughed, amused by his friend’s need to set the record straight. “Oh come on, Mack. I think we should come clean and tell them how I’m here to make sure you didn’t get into any trouble. And it looks like you had the same idea,” he nodded to Karli.

  Oh, so not the same. Not that I was angry at the development, oh hell no. I was ecstatic Mack had needed a wingman or Riley was being overly concerned. I didn’t even care which of them was responsible, glad it had somehow worked out in my favor.

  “Not really the same, but sure whatever. Since you’ve been discovered and no longer have to lurk in the shadows, why don’t you come join us?”

  Another wordless exchange passed between them, Riley not waiting for Mack’s answer—verbally or telepathically—and shot me a smile. “I’d love to, lead the way.”

  The four of us walked back to the table and took a seat. Mack handed Karli her decaf—to match the one she already had sitting on the table unconsumed—and took a swallow from his cup, stretching out the silence.

  “This is Karli, Karli, Riley.” I offered introductions, my bright and bubbly friend presenting her hand a little too eagerly. “But the panties were mine, I was just trying to get her laid.”

  “Quinn!” Karli’s eyes widened as she shook Riley’s hand. “I’d like to tell you that she’s not usually like this, but she is. Keeping up with her is almost like a fulltime job.”

  “Well, not sure what Hot Stuff’s problem is,” he winked at Karli, dazzling her a little before smirking back at me. “but it was definitely his loss.”

  She swooned.

  Right there in her chair in the Beans or Bust coffee shop, her chestnut-colored eyes got all glassy as a huge smile broke out across her face.

  “Awww, you’re just the sweetest.” A blush crept up her cheeks as she waved her hand.

  Riley shook his head, discounting Karli’s assessment. “Trust me when I tell you that I’m not being sweet. You’re beautiful.”

  His eyes momentarily swung back to me, a secretive grin playing on his lips as he surveyed his handiwork. He knew exactly what he was doing.

  Cue Karli melting into a puddle of goo. And it wasn’t just her. Every woman within hearing distance—one hot older guy and one scorching, ridiculously gorgeous twenty-something dude were bound to get attention—was heart-eyeing him with intent.

  Man, he was good.

  Not sure if charming was his baseline or he was just putting some extra effort in for us, but Riley could do nothing but grin and half the female population would volunteer to crawl through enemy territory just to please him.

  Not me, though. Because as good looking as he was, I couldn’t be dazzled by a sexy smile or enthralled by a few choice words. No, I’d seen the game too many times, usually staring down the barrel of my lens as I captured it for the masses.

  That didn’t mean I didn’t want to smash my mouth against his, and rub myself against that body of sin. Oh hell, given half a chance I’d leap into his lap and unashamedly purr like a kitten. But falling under his spell wasn’t on my agenda.

  Karli managed to put her swooning on the backburner and filled Riley in on my diabolical plan to capture poor Brad’s attention. And failing that, how we’d—i.e. me—decided to friend the random underwear recipient—Mack.

  “Well buddy, sounds like you won the jackpot.” Riley clapped his friend on the back. “And ladies, in case you’re wondering, he is single.”

  Mack shook his head, coughing asshole into his hand before adding, “Thanks.”

  I couldn’t quite work out their dynamic but it was obvious they were more than just colleagues. Sure, they worked together, but there was some sort of brotherly connection that needed to be explored.

  While his buddy squirmed under the scrutiny, Riley seemed to be enjoying himself, leaning back into his chair and grinning. The fabric of his T-shirt pulled against his torso, caressing his chest and giving me a better hint at what was hiding underneath. Sure didn’t need a full reveal to know I would very much like it. Yum.

  Careful not to let my eyes linger too long—or convey any indecent thoughts that were rolling through my mind—I met his gaze to find he had his own ocular exploration happening. He wasn’t even trying to be subtle, checking me out like I was a danish on the menu, and giving me an unapologetic cheeky smirk when it was obvious he’d been caught.

  He didn’t even bother to look away, raising a brow like an unspoken challenge for me to say something because he knew I’d been doing the exact same thing.

  “So you haven’t told us what you guys do?” I purposely avoided his telepathic dare and went for gathering more information. After all, if we were going to be friends, I should at least confirm they weren’t shady partners in an illegal drug gang or worse—parking inspectors.

  “We’re firefighters, in Hell’s Kitchen,” he answered, giving me as little as possible. “Mack’s the chief.”

  Holy.

  Freaking.

  Shit.

  Great, because I didn’t have enough trouble keeping my hormones in check, he needed to pour gasoline on the fire. And never had a metaphor been so freaking accurate, his commitment to extinguish blazes admirable considering he was probably responsible for starting most of them.

  God I hoped they had one of those calendars for charity, standing half naked, brandishing hoses. I was going to Google it the minute the conversation ended.

  “Wow, what a great job. So noble and heroic,” I mumbled out, pretending I wasn’t entertaining dirty thoughts. After all, it was kind of wrong to be objectifying him when he ran into burning buildings and saved people like a smoking hot Medal of Honor recipient. I was still going to get the calendar if it existed, because I might be polite but I didn’t have any saint like qualities.

  “It’s not as glamorous as it sounds,” Mack interjected, thumbing in Riley’s direction. “And keeping these guys in line is more time consuming than the call outs.”

  From the look of Riley’s grin, he wasn’t wrong, and I imagined it was one hell of a job. I couldn’t help but picture Riley all dirty and sweaty after responding to a fire, that image alone was probably going to feature as my fantasy for the next year, or two.

  If Karli had been impressed before, the new intel had elevated the level up by about twenty. Her doe eyes were filled with such adoration as she sighed. “Still, y’all put your life on the line, you both must be so brave.”

  Poor Brad.

  Not only did he miss out on a fantastic package, but he was going to have to up his game after Karli finished talking to those two. Fireman trumped antique book restorer every day of the week, and was five times hotter.

  Mack coughed, clearly uncomfortable with the hero worship. Or maybe he didn’t get out a lot and conversation with relatively strange women wasn’t his thing. His buddy sure didn’t have the same problem, lapping up the reverence as he smugly sipped his coffee.

  “And what is it that you do, Quinn, when you’re not sending your panties in the mail and meeting random men in coffee shops?” His smolder hit me with the full weight of its intent, making me swallow a few times as I tried to drink my own coffee and not choke.

  Through the course of hearing about Karli, and Brad—and his tendency to make her heart flutter—what Karli did to earn a paycheck had been revealed. Mine had remained a mystery so it was natural for him to ask.