CJ glanced toward him with surprise, and opened her mouth to say that wasn’t necessary, but before she could, Mac added, “Besides, your arrival this morning interrupted our breakfast and I didn’t get to finish. I’m kind of hungry too.”
“Me too,” Decker admitted. “We were too busy trying to track you down to have breakfast ourselves.”
CJ closed her mouth and swallowed back her instinctive protest. She’d feel like an ass if she refused now. Instead, she checked her wristwatch, half hoping it was late enough that she would have to say, “No, I’m sorry. I have that meeting with Jefferson and can’t be late.” Unfortunately, it was barely noon. The meeting wasn’t for a good three hours. She had no excuse to avoid lunch.
“How about it, CJ?” Mac asked now, smiling at her. “Can I buy you lunch?”
“If you’re hungry, we can stop for lunch,” she said carefully. She wouldn’t let him pay for her meal, but she would take them to a restaurant and sit with them, although she wasn’t hungry herself. At least, she wasn’t until they walked into the Sandford Pub and Grill and the delicious smell of steak, burgers, fish tacos, and fries hit her. CJ’s appetite immediately roared to life.
A waitress was at their table almost before they finished taking their seats, and if the woman had smiled any harder or giggled any more as she handed out menus and took their drink orders, CJ was quite sure she would have vomited right there at the table. Not because not one of those smiles or giggles were directed her way and she was treated like she was invisible, but because the woman was all over the men, especially Mac. The waitress was practically cooing at him and rubbing up on his arm and shoulder like a cat in heat. She leaned her hip into his shoulder when she was standing straight, and when she found an excuse to bend over the table, she did so in such a way that she could use her breasts to their best advantage. While passing out the menus, she leaned across Mac to pass one to Bricker, who was sitting kitty-corner to him and across from CJ, and if Mac hadn’t leaned back and to the side toward CJ in response, she was pretty sure he’d have ended up with the woman’s breast in his mouth.
It wasn’t just nauseating to witness; it was really kind of embarrassing too. CJ had seen obvious women before, but this was something else entirely. It was like Mac was catnip and their waitress was one big feline who wanted to roll all over him.
“Maybe you should have kept your pajamas on,” Bricker said with amusement when the woman finally went away to get their drinks.
“What?” Mac asked, turning to the other man with surprise. “Why should I have kept my pajamas on?”
CJ grinned at Bricker with amusement and answered for him. “You might have been safer.”
“Exactly!” Bricker agreed at once. “Our waitress would have thought you were a weirdo and given you some space. I swear she was trying to put her breast in your mouth with that one move,” Bricker said with a shake of the head.
“Hmm,” CJ murmured, thinking it was like the man had plucked the thought right out of her head. Instead of admitting it, though, she said, “The woman seems to have a balance issue. She was constantly leaning into Mac while standing next to the table. I’m just concerned she might lose it altogether and drop the drinks in his lap when she comes back. It would be a shame to ruin his new clothes.”
“If she does drop the drinks in his lap, it would only be so she had an excuse to mop his crotch,” Bricker said with amusement.
“No doubt,” CJ agreed, and burst out laughing at Mac’s horrified expression.
“Yes, fine, laugh it up,” he said. “I don’t know why you’re picking on me. She was leaning into Decker too.”
“Only at first. Then she noticed the wedding ring on his finger and shifted all of her attention to you,” Bricker pointed out, and then glanced at Decker when his pocket began to buzz, and he pulled out his phone.
“It’s Dani,” Decker announced. A grin curving his lips, he answered and said, “Hi, beautiful. Hang on just a minute.” Pressing the phone to his chest, he stood, saying, “I’m going to take this outside. If the waitress returns before I do, order me the steak, rare, with fries.”
When they all nodded agreement, he returned the phone to his ear and walked away talking into it.
“Dani’s Decker’s wife,” Bricker announced as they watched him push his way through the glass doors to head outside.
CJ merely nodded as she turned back to the table. She’d gathered as much, but it was good to have it verified that the guy wasn’t a douchebag who would talk openly with his girlfriend in front of others.
“My wife’s name is Holly,” Bricker added, and then continued, “Mac’s single though. What about you?”
CJ stiffened, but answered, “Divorced and completely off men.”
“Well, that sucks,” Bricker commented, his expression going solemn for the first time since she’d met him that morning. The man had been teasing and laughing throughout the shopping trip and the drive in the car. Now his face was grim as he said, “He must have been a real douche to turn you off men.”
CJ just shrugged, not willing to be drawn into a conversation on that topic. Fortunately, the waitress arrived then with their drinks and the subject was dropped as they gave their orders, including Decker, who returned before they’d finished and was able to give his own.
“Dani good?” Mac asked as the waitress left them.
“Good,” Decker said with a nod, and then took a drink of his iced tea before adding, “But she’s got a serious case of baby fever. Which reminds me, Mac, she wanted me to ask how your research is going. Whether you’re getting close or we should consider a surrogate.”
CJ’s eyebrows rose at that. “I thought your area was blood, Mac. What’s that got to do with infertility?”
She didn’t miss the glances exchanged between the men. It seemed to be some kind of silent communication. Whatever it was that passed between them, Mac narrowed his eyes, shook his head slightly at the other men, and then turned to her and explained, “Decker’s wife has a pathogen in her blood that could be passed on to her child.”
“A pathogen?” CJ asked slowly.
“A pathogen is a bacterium or microorganism.”
“I know what a pathogen is,” CJ assured him. “But what—?”
“Holly’s got baby fever too,” Bricker announced. “I blame it on the Port Henry babies. They see them, hold them, and want them.”
CJ bit her lip briefly as it occurred to her that asking what pathogen Decker’s wife had would have been rude. It was really none of her business and she supposed she was lucky Bricker had spoken up before she could finish putting her foot in her mouth. Now, she said, “What exactly are Port Henry babies? I mean, I know Port Henry is where Mac’s sister lives, but—”
“It is just the babies born in Port Henry,” Mac said simply. “Except that several members of our . . . family and friends there had children around the same time five years ago or so, and another group had babies again just recently. My sister was in the group that had them five years ago. There were three or four children born weeks apart. That round of kids is now in kindergarten. The latest group was just a couple months ago.” He shrugged slightly. “They call them the Port Henry babies because they’re having them there in groups instead of one or two.”
“Hmm,” CJ murmured, and just shook her head. She didn’t really understand why three or four kids born weeks apart would be worthy of such a distinction like “Port Henry babies.” Surely there were children born in Port Henry every year, maybe even every month or week depending on the size of the town.
“So, CJ,” Bricker said suddenly. “Mac mentioned you used to work for CSIS?”
CJ glanced at him and nodded mildly. “For three years before switching to the SIU.”
“That’s like what?” Bricker asked. “The Canadian version of the CIA or something? You were a spy?”
CJ’s mouth twitched with amusement at his eager expression and voice, but she said, “It’s like any other job, not nearly as exciting as it sounds. I mean, anything gets to be boring and commonplace when you do it all the time.”
“Yeah, I can see that,” Bricker said solemnly. “I mean, look at James Bond, having to visit casinos, drive fast cars, sleep with gorgeous women, and shoot the bad guys all the time. After the third or fourth movie it’s just like, yeah, so you have to save the world again. Big deal.”
CJ burst out laughing at his sarcasm and shook her head. “Yeah, well, I did visit a casino on one assignment, but I did not drive fast cars or sleep with gorgeous women, and I only shot one bad guy, so . . . yeah, I wasn’t Jane Bond, and I’m pretty sure nothing I did saved the world.” She shrugged. “Sorry to disappoint.”
“I’ll get over it,” Bricker assured her, and then grinned. “Besides, I suspect you’re downplaying what you did. Spies probably have to be secretive and can’t reveal all the exciting details. But,” he added, eyes twinkling with interest again, “you can tell us about being a police detective.”
“Not when we’re about to eat lunch,” she said firmly. She had been a homicide detective, not a subject likely to improve the appetite.
“Speaking of which, lunch is on the way,” Bricker said happily.
CJ turned to look around, her eyes widening slightly at what she saw. Their waitress was indeed on the way to their table, but three more were following her, each carrying a plate. That was some serious overkill. Even a non-waitress could manage to carry two plates. It seemed obvious this was simply a case of the other women wanting an excuse to approach the table. She hadn’t missed the way the waitresses had all kept walking past and smiling at the men since they’d sat down.
Rolling her eyes, CJ sat back in her seat and simply waited for their food to be placed before them.