“Is this group therapy now?” I ask.
“Kat’s smart,” Mac replies and smiles lovingly at his wife. “I don’t think she’s steered anyone wrong yet.”
“Yeah, well, I’ll think about it.” I stand and reach for my wallet, but Kat shakes her head.
“I’ve got this.”
“Thanks.”
“I didn’t mean to run you off,” Mac says. “Stay.”
“Nah, I’ve had my limit. Have a good night.”
Once I’m inside my house, I can’t sit still. I’ve avoided being home for anything other than sleep since that night with Maura. It’s just too fucking quiet without her.
And everywhere I look reminds me of her. My couch, the kitchen, my bed. Her laughter, her hands, the words she trusted me with.
“I miss her,” I mutter and push my hands through my hair. “I fucking miss her.”
* * * *
“Are you looking for a gift?”
I turn to find a saleswoman standing behind me in a department store the next morning. I’m in the makeup section.
“Yes,” I reply. “I was looking for a simple tube of lipstick, but you have about five hundred of them.”
“Yeah, beauty is way more involved than men give it credit for. What does she look like?”
“Who?”
“The girl you’re buying a gift for.”
“Oh. I suppose fucking gorgeous isn’t descriptive enough?”
“It’s sweet, but no.” She smiles and taps her finger on her lips. “I know, I’m going to sell you a tube of red. There’s a new blue-red that works with just about any skin tone, and most women need a good red in their makeup bag.”
“Great.” I nod, already completely overwhelmed by colors and smells, and I’m ready to get the hell out of here.
Five minutes later, I’m in my car and I snap a photo of the black tube and send it to Maura.
You forgot this at my house.
There. It’s out there. If she responds, great. If she doesn’t, I need to move the hell on with my life.
Chapter Twelve
~Maura~
“Are you still in bed?” Tommy asks on the phone.
“It’s Saturday morning,” I remind him. “It’s my day off.”
“That doesn’t mean that you get to spend it in bed.”
“The last time I checked, I was a grown-ass woman and I was making my own decisions. And today’s decision is to stay in bed for as long as I want.”
To drive my point home, I burrow down further into the covers and cocoon myself.
“Come to the movies with me.”
“Nah.”
“Let’s go shopping.”
“I’m still paying off the last shopping excursion.”
He sighs in my ear and I grin.
“I don’t like that you’ve been mopey.”
“I’m not mopey. I’m tired.”
He laughs. “Did you ever call him?”
“What am I supposed to say? It’s been close to two weeks, Tommy. Am I supposed to just call him out of the blue and say, Hey, sorry I walked out on you two weeks ago. Let’s bone?”
“No to the boning part,” he says. “Besides, that’s not what you want to talk about.”
“Why not? It makes it so much easier if we just have sex—the best sex I’ve ever had in my life, I might add—and go about our way.”
“We’ve talked about this,” he says with a disappointed sigh. “You’ve moved past the sexual chemistry.”
“I’ll never move past that sexual chemistry, Tommy. The man could make me come by just looking at me.”
“Damn.”
“Yeah.”
My phone beeps with an incoming text.
“Hold on, I need to read a text.”
It’s Chase. You forgot this at my house.
“It’s Chase.” My voice sounds hollow to my own ears.
“What does it say?”
“It’s a photo of a tube of lipstick, with the seal still on it, and it says that I left it at his house.”
“Did you?”
“No.” I smile and bite my lip to keep the tears at bay. “What do I do?”
“You go get that lipstick, sweetheart.”
“Okay.” I end the call, but Tommy calls me right back. “What?”
“Listen to the man, Maura. Don’t freak out.”
“Yes, sir.”
I hang up again and reply to Chase’s text.
On my way over.
I jump out of bed and rush to the bathroom, then come to an abrupt halt when I look in the mirror.
Jesus, I look horrible.
I take the quickest shower of my life, then waste twenty minutes blowing my hair dry. I brush on a minimum amount of makeup, pull on jeans and a sweater, and hurry out to my car.
I’ve missed him. I realized on Monday that I was sad because I missed Chase. But I was too damn stubborn to call him.
I thought about telling him that I still had his mug, but I just couldn’t do it when I remembered the look on his face when I woke up that morning.
But he reached out to me, and I’m anxious to hear what he has to say.
I arrive at his house, park, and walk up to the front door. Before I can ring the bell, he opens the door.
He’s in jeans and a Stanford sweatshirt. His hair is messy, as if he’s been running his fingers through it.
He’s holding the lipstick.
“Hi,” he says with a smile.
“Hello.”
If he gives me the lipstick and shuts the door in my face, I’ll kill him.
But he doesn’t. He steps back and motions for me to come inside. He leads me to the living room and we sit on the couch, at opposite ends, just like that last night.
“How are you?” he asks.
“Great.”
He nods.
“I didn’t forget that lipstick here.”
He smiles and holds it out to me. It’s not a cheap brand of lipstick. It probably set him back at least twenty-five bucks.
“It’s red.”
“The sales lady said that all women need a good red in their makeup bag.”
“Huh.” I set the tube aside and wait for him to talk, but it’s not happening. “Chase, I’m here. What do you need to say?”
He swallows hard and leans his elbows on his knees. “I don’t like that I enjoyed the sexual chemistry with you.”
I blink rapidly, sure that I heard him wrong. Before I can answer, he keeps talking.
“And I definitely didn’t like that we had so much in common.”
“Well, I didn’t like that I kept telling you that we wouldn’t keep having sex, and we did anyway. You pinky swore.”
“I didn’t like that I always had to pursue you. And it was always a fucking argument. The only time you weren’t yelling at me was when I was inside you.”
“That’s crass,” I reply, narrowing my eyes at him as we both stand, facing off.
“It’s truth. We said we had to tell the truth. I’ve lived my life with no reservations my entire adult life, Maura. I fuck who I want, I travel where I want, I live where the fuck I want. And I don’t like that now you factor into every move I make.”
“Well, I didn’t like that I fell in love with you, you giant douche bag!”
We both stop, breathing hard, watching the other.
“Say that again, please.”
“You’re a douche bag.”
“That I know. The other part.”
“I didn’t plan to fall in love with you. Or anyone else. I told you that.”
“That’s not what you said.”
I take a deep breath and pace away from him, then turn back. “I’m in love with you. I hate it. It makes me feel afraid and unsure, and you’re probably going to rip my heart out of my chest and stomp on it before this conversation is over, but damn it, that’s my truth.”
He’s still, watching me, and then before I know it, he’s swept me up in his arms, kissing me like his life depe
nds on it. Finally, he rests his forehead against mine.
“Say it again,” he whispers.
“I’m in love with you.”
His eyes close for a moment, and then he carries me to his bedroom. We’re rushed, urgently stripping each other out of our clothes. The bed is too far away, so he just boosts me up against the wall and buries himself inside me, making us both gasp with immediate joy.
“I’ve never known what it feels like to be inside someone without a condom,” he says and cups my cheek. “I’ve never felt this connected to another human being in my life, Maura.”
He kisses me, his tongue tangling with mine, and begins to move in short, quick thrusts, hitting that spot that drives me wild over and over again, until finally we’re a sweaty mess and I’m coming apart in his arms.
Our breathing calms and rather than lowering me to my feet, he tucks me into his bed, wrapping himself around me.
“I love you too,” he says and I roll over so I can see his face. “I’ve missed you badly since you left here that morning.”
“I’m sorry—”
“You don’t have anything to apologize for, baby. I wanted to talk, but I could see that you wanted to leave, so I let you. I’ve been dedicated to giving you space, but I’ve reached the end of my rope.”
“Good.” I drag my leg up his and hook it around his hip.
“You weren’t in my plans, Maura. Not just you, but anyone.”
“I know,” I say. “Me either.”
“It scared me,” he admits. “But I’ve done a lot of thinking. I thought I’d be okay if we walked away and I didn’t see you anymore. But that was a lie. I’ve thought of you every day.”
“You could have called.”
“Putting one’s heart on the line isn’t exactly easy.”
I smile. “I get it.”
“We argue all the time.”
“I like it,” I admit. “It kind of turns me on.”
He kisses my lips gently. “You turn me on. That’s a given. But you also turn me on intellectually. You want the same things in life that I do.”
“Weird, huh?”
“I’ve never met anyone like you,” he says with a nod. “I didn’t think you existed.”
“And here I am.”
His eyes move over my face and his arms tighten around me. “I don’t want to lose you, sweetheart. I want to be with you, to try to make this work.”
“We need to communicate better. Bickering is fine, but we also need to be able to always be honest. Ask questions. Check in with each other so we stay on the same page.”
“Agreed.” He kisses my forehead. He hasn’t stopped touching me, and I’m soaking it up like a sponge in water. “Move in with me.”
“Whoa.” I pull back, staring up at him in surprise. “Moving a bit fast, aren’t you?”
“No. I’ve just spent the better part of two weeks without you, and I don’t want to do it anymore. If you want to wait a few weeks, that’s fine, but I want you with me.”
“Okay. I think we should date, a lot, and I’ll give notice on my house. Sixty days’ notice.”
“Thirty days.”
“Sixty days,” I reply and bite his lower lip.
“Fine, but you’ll be spending most of those nights with me anyway.”
I smirk. “That’s fine.”
“You’re a stubborn woman, Maura Jenkins.”
“You have no idea, Chase MacKenzie.”
Epilogue
~Maura~
One Year Later…
“I’m so happy for you,” I say to Tommy on a gorgeous autumn day. He and Eduardo just said “I do” in front of all of their nearest and dearest and I was the best woman.
It was not a traditional wedding, but it was wonderful and my best friend is so in love that it oozes out of his pores.
It’s amazing and inspiring.
“I think the official hashtag for this wedding should have been #relationshipgoals,” I say with a grin. Eduardo is dancing with his mother, and Tommy is dancing with me because his family abandoned him when he came out. I’m the only family he has.
“He’s good for me,” he says. “And the age difference doesn’t bother me anymore.”
“Nor should it. He’s a great guy, Tommy. I’m glad you gave him another chance.”
Tommy’s gaze sweeps the sidelines of the dance floor and he smiles. “I think the only thing keeping me alive right now is that I’m gay. Chase is watching us intently.”
“He’s protective, but he loves you and Eduardo too.”
“I know.” Tommy leans in to whisper in my ear. “You’re amazing, Maura. I love you as a sister, and I’m so happy for you.”
I frown up at him in confusion when he pulls away, but before I can say anything, he passes my hand to Chase, who has joined us on the dance floor.
Chase pulls me into his arms and we dance for a moment. He’s gazing down into my eyes with love and humor.
“What do you have up your sleeve?”
“Nothing in my sleeve,” he says and kisses my cheek. He stops dancing and lowers to one knee, and suddenly, the whole world slips away. “I love you, Maura. You challenge me every day. You have brought more to my life than I ever dared hope for. Please do me the honor of being my wife.”
My mouth has dropped open, and I can’t feel my legs. He cocks a brow, waiting for my response.
“Say yes!” Tommy yells from the sidelines, but all I can do is sit on Chase’s knee, wrap my arms around his neck, and lean in to whisper in his ear.
“Yes, I’ll marry you. Any day of the week and with no reservations.”
He slips a beautiful pear-shaped diamond on my finger and then kisses the hell out of me in front of a room of ninety-three people.
This is going to be an adventure.
* * * *
Also from 1001 Dark Nights and Kristen Proby, discover Easy With You and Easy For Keeps.
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Adam Spencer loves women. All women. Every shape and size, regardless of hair or eye color, religion or race, he simply enjoys them all. Meeting more than his fair share as the manager and head bartender of The Odyssey, a hot spot in the heart of New Orleans’ French Quarter, Adam’s comfortable with his lifestyle, and sees no reason to change it. A wife and kids, plus the white picket fence are not in the cards for this confirmed bachelor. Until a beautiful woman, and her sweet princess, literally knock him on his ass.
Sarah Cox has just moved to New Orleans, having accepted a position as a social worker specializing in at-risk women and children. It’s a demanding, sometimes dangerous job, but Sarah is no shy wallflower. She can handle just about anything that comes at her, even the attentions of one sexy Adam Spencer. Just because he’s charmed her daughter, making her think of magical kingdoms with happily ever after, doesn’t mean that Sarah believes in fairy tales. But the more time she spends with the enchanting man, the more he begins to sway her into believing in forever.
No Reservations: A Fusion Novella Page 9
