She smiled again, head mostly down, hand coming up to tuck that wonderful errant hair away.

Wow. Where have you been all my life? Mack wondered. She was confident yet careful. Of course. Every male in four states, and probably some girls, would be after her all the time. She probably got hit on ten times a day. A cautious approach was warranted. He took another bite, this one much smaller, and chewed thoughtfully. Pretending to study his notebook, he watched her in the edge of his vision.

She ate her smoothie bowl at a steady pace, neat but not acting overly dainty. He liked that. After a few bites, she too pulled a book from her bag. Accounting. Thank God. If it had been Calculus, he’d be done for, but double entry accounting had made sense to him when he’d taken the course last year.

She frowned prettily at whatever she was reading. He let himself look up, pretending to just now catch sight of the title.

“Weird stuff, accounting,” he suggested.

“I kind of understand it, but just when I’m feeling comfortable, I get confused all over again.”

“What’s tripping you up?”

“I’m getting confused about clearing accounts receivable when the bill is paid,” she said, looking at him with a little furrow between her eyes.

“Oh, I can help with that. I’m Mack, by the way,” he said, holding out a hand to shake.

She smiled at the formal gesture, then sat up and held out her own hand. “I’m Lilly. Thanks for your help.”

Reluctantly dragging his eyes from hers, he looked down at the book, gulping just ever so slightly as he did. Without hesitation, she slid it his way and he leaned closer to see the page, catching her perfume. Something exotic, something that made him think of foreign lands under hot suns. Sandwich all but forgotten, he focused hard on the book. This wouldn’t work at all if he couldn’t actually help her. And he so wanted it to work.

Chapter 5

“Mr. O’Carroll, thank you for coming down so quickly,” Detective Sergeant Schulz said to the lanky young man in front of him.

“No problem, Detective,” the college student said, glancing at the woman in a deputy’s uniform next to him. “I told Darci that I would help any way I could, although I think this is more Chris Gordon’s area than mine.”