Mac kissed her lightly, running his hands up and down her spine. “It’s going to be fine, baby. We’ll figure it out.” Dropping his hand to squeeze the swell of her bottom, he added, “Now move it, woman. I’ll follow you to your place so you can change.”

When he started to pull away, Ava gripped his hand. “What about your . . . face? You look like you’ve been attacked.”

Raising an eyebrow, Mac said, “Rough sex?” For the first time that morning, she had a hard time smothering a grin. “What?” Mac smiled in return. “You know that’s exactly what Dom and Gage will think. Might as well let ’em enjoy it.”

In perfect sync, they finished their coffee before grabbing their shoes and keys. Mac followed her to her apartment and then insisted on walking her inside. He went through each room before leaving her on her doorstep, after a thorough kiss that left her feeling utterly befuddled. If he was trying to keep her mind off how she had attacked him in his own bed, he was doing a superb job. The problem was that once he and his magic mouth were gone, all Ava could think of was the long, angry scratches marring his handsome face. She felt a hum of dread. How could she be sure something like this would never happen again? She didn’t want to lash out at Mac while she was asleep and dreaming of the nightmare from her past. She had a sinking feeling that the bastard who had all but ruined her life was now going to take the only man she had ever loved from her.

*   *   *

Mac had to give his friends credit. He’d been at work for almost an hour and neither of them had mentioned his messed-up face. He was the first to admit that men weren’t the most observant of creatures, especially when it pertained to another man. A man might not notice a woman had a new hairstyle—like ever—but if the same woman got a boob job, he’d probably notice it within two minutes. The male sex just had different priorities in life. Sad maybe, definitely true. However, usually something as obvious as your friend looking as if three big-ass cats had clawed his face was at least going to get a comment if nothing else.

When they all took a seat at the conference room table for their morning roundup meeting, Gage looked first at him, then back at Dom. “Well, fuck, I’m just going to get it out there. What are you into these days, brother? I mean, we all know that the object of your affection is the demure little number a few floors above us. I don’t see her ripping your ass up like that, so who have you been playing with and does she have a sister?”

Dominic hooted with laughter, causing the chair that he’d been balancing on its back legs to wobble precariously. “I like it rough sometimes myself, but I try to limit the claws to my back. You look like you had sex with the damn female equivalent of the Lion King.”

“Funny,” Mac deadpanned. “Like you two have any room to talk. I’ve seen you both sporting black eyes on more than one occasion.”

In typical fashion, Dominic was easily distracted and turned on the man beside him. “Yeah, Gage, how about that hot little number on the second floor who kneed you in the balls last week? Might not have left a visible mark, but damn, I bet you were singing soprano all night long.”

When Gage actually blushed, Mac looked at him in surprise. “Whoa, when did I miss this?” Gage kept his mouth shut and continued to look uncomfortable. Mac turned back to Dominic, saying, “I know I’m going to regret this, but explain.”

Dominic smirked in obvious enjoyment. “Well, you see there’s this woman in customer service who our resident Don Juan has struck out with. Not only has he not gotten into her panties, but she attacked the family jewels when he grabbed her in the parking garage last week. Guess she didn’t hear him coming and when he put his hands on her, she thought she was being mugged or something. I saw the whole damn thing. Only wish I had gotten it on video. She was wearing some black kick-ass heels and a tight skirt. It was a fucking sexy vision when she laid our boy here out on the ground. I’m not one hundred percent certain, but I’m pretty sure I saw a tramp stamp on her lower back when she bent over to see if he was breathing afterward.”

“No way.” Mac laughed. It seemed as if he wasn’t the only one getting his ass kicked by a woman lately. Maybe it was twisted, but it made him feel much better.

“Yeah, yeah, laugh it up, ladies. My balls might have been up around my neck for about twelve hours, but I’m still more of a man than either one of you,” Gage grumbled.

Dominic snickered in reply. “That was weak, dude, but since you’ve been recently emasculated, I’ll let it slide.”

Gage whirled around in his chair, seeming to lose his usual good sense of humor. “Oh, really, Dom? Well, why don’t we talk about your lack of success with the woman you’ve been pining over like a little bitch?”

Mac watched in interest as the smirk fell off Dominic’s face to be replaced by a scowl. Shit, had he missed all the good stuff lately? Looking over at his frowning friend, he asked, “So, who are you lusting after now?” Truthfully, he was just relieved to hear that Dominic was interested in anyone else other than Ava. Unless . . . ? “Man, it had better not be my woman,” he warned.

“Boy, that’s hitting a little too close to home, isn’t it, Dom?” Gage taunted.

“Gage,” Dominic warned, “shut your damn piehole, man, before I shut it!”

Mac was starting to feel like a bobble-head as his eyes jerked from Gage to Dominic and then back again. “All right, you two are starting to piss me off.” Leveling his gaze at Dominic, he added, “Ava and I are together now, so you’d better not be sniffing at her skirt or I’ll kick your ass.”

Gage flopped forward onto the table, seeming to find the whole thing hilarious now that he was no longer the subject of conversation. “Go back a little further, bro,” Mac heard him gasp out.

“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” Dominic suddenly boomed as he stood up. “It’s Gwen, all right? Big-mouthed Nancy over there is talking about Gwen! Now go ahead and lose your shit so we can get past this.”

Floored, Mac repeated, “Gwen? You mean you like Gwen?”

Dominic looked at him warily as he said, “It’s been more like I lust Gwen, but I guess like plays a part in it too.”

“She does have a nice, big, juicy, round—ouch!” Gage howled as Dominic threw a pen at his head with perfect aim.

Still confused, Mac said, “So let me get this straight. You’ve got a thing for Gwen? How long has this been going on?” Mac knew the fact that he was more curious than upset was very telling about the level of his feelings for the woman he had just stopped seeing.