“I’m so sorry.” The words seemed inadequate in the face of all that love and sorrow.
Granny blinked away her tears. The smile on her lips was forced. It trembled slightly. “I didn’t say that to make you sad. I love Raoul with a kind of love that only comes once in a lifetime. Though I can’t see him, I know he’s here. I know he’s waiting for me, and when my work here is done, we’ll be together again. I just wanted you to understand that life doesn’t stop moving just because you do. You and Mac have something as special as Raoul and I. It’s a precious gift. Take it in both hands and cherish it. If you have to, fight tooth and nail for it, but never take it for granted. Putting off the inevitable won’t stop it from coming.”
Jessie stared hard at this woman that life had never managed to subdue and suddenly knew the truth. If Mac died tomorrow, she’d be still referring to him in the present tense twenty years down the road, because like Granny said, some loves were just a miracle. And she was letting hers slip away by being passive. By hoping rather than acting. By being too damned chicken to take the bull by the horns. What in hell had she been thinking? That was so not happening. “You’re right,” she agreed. “Mac hasn’t been the only fool.”
Granny’s smiled knowingly. “Found your feet, have you?”
“Yup.” Jessie took the dress Granny was loaning her for tonight’s rehearsal dinner off the hanger. As she dropped the square-necked flapper dress over her head, she said, “Ever since I met Mac, I’ve been aware that what we have is special. So special, I’ve been walking on eggshells so I won’t lose it.”
Granny took the hand Jessie extended and stood beside the younger woman, a tiny, wrinkled example of indomitable will. “Everyone knows the surest way to break an egg is to worry about dropping it.”
“Almost everyone,” Jessie corrected as she took her hair down and let it fall around her shoulders, her gaze flashing to the Reverend’s house, and the two men still standing outside. “But before I’m done, we’ll be adding Mac to the list.”
“Do you have an idea?”
“Not yet.” Jessie slid a bead-fringed headband over her forehead.
“Are you working on one?” Granny asked hopefully as she arranged a feathered headband on her sparse white curls.
“I’m definitely working on one.” She looked in the mirror to straighten it.
“Promise me one thing.”
“What?” She glanced up under a fringe of black beads to meet Granny’s gaze in the mirror.
“When you do come up with something, make it outrageous,” she answered, tweaking her feather into position. “Life has gotten pretty dull around here lately.”
Jessie chuckled and linked her arm with Granny’s as they prepared to head over to the grange hall where the party was being held. “I promise that if Mac absolutely refuses to see reason, I’ll come up with something so out-there, tongues will be wagging for years.”
* * * * *
“How long do you think this shindig is going to last?” Mac whispered into her ear, his fingers resting on the inside of her arm. He’d never in his life seen anything as beautiful as Jessie walking down the aisle to his side during the rehearsal, her face composed, her eyes glowing with love. He wanted to take that vision to bed. Now.
A delicate flush tinted her cheeks. A trail of goose bumps sprang up beneath his fingers on the flesh of her arm as he kissed her neck behind her ear.
“Stop it,” she hissed, a little shiver taking her from head to toe. “There must be three hundred people sitting out there just waiting for an opportunity to embarrass us.”
“I don’t care,” he whispered back, taking a sip of his wine to wet his dry mouth.
Her flush deepened. “Well, I do,” she hissed, nodding at Henry as he raised his glass in a silent toast, “and I am not going to disappoint these people by being rude. The whole town went to a lot of effort to make this rehearsal party special.”
“And showed up for it, too,” Mac grumbled despite the deep sense of belonging he got from being part of this close-knit community. The room began to resound with the tinkling demand of forks against glass. First one and then a hundred utensils picked up the request for the couple to kiss. Bowing to the inevitable, Mac slid his hand beneath Jessie’s hair. He didn’t have to coax her head back, it just naturally fell into his palm, just as her lips naturally parted for his, and what was supposed to be a polite kiss for the satisfaction of the onlookers exploded right out of sight as her taste, her scent flooded his senses. Loud hoots broke through the moment. Jessie’s hands on his chest pressed him back. Reluctantly, he allowed her lips to part from his. He kissed the corner of her mouth, “I want you.”
“Oh, God!” Jessie moaned right back, as always, her passion spiking to meet his. “I want you, too, but there isn’t anything we can do about it right now.”
His mouth slanted over hers in a short, hard kiss. “Like hell there isn’t.”
Zach tapped his glass, demanding a speech. The crowd picked up the chant until, seeing no way out of it, Mac stood. The room was slow to fall into silence. “I’d like to make a toast. Here’s to Nathaniel Price of the What You Need employment agency for ignoring what I asked for, and for sending me exactly what I needed—the most contrary woman a man was ever lucky enough to take to wife.”
There was both laughter and approval in response to that toast. Before Mac could sit down, Jessie caught his hand and held on tight as she rose to her feet. An elegant, laughing sprite, with eyes full of love. For him. The wonder of it never ceased to amaze him.
“I just wanted to thank you all for taking me into your hearts the way you have. By now, you all know how Mac and I got together.” She chuckled ruefully. “Round the Bend’s grapevine is nothing if not efficient. The man led me a merry chase, but I finally backed him into a corner he couldn’t get out of.” The laughter that greeted that comment drowned out her voice. She was forced to wait while jokes and one-liners bounced around the room like rubber balls gone crazy.
Mac squeezed Jessie’s fingers encouragingly. He knew how much she wanted to belong. He was glad that he could offer her that.
Her smile was soft and tremulous as she continued, “When I stepped off the bus in Round the Bend, I found more than I ever expected. Here I found a husband,” she reached up and touched Mac’s cheek. She turned to face Granny Ortiz, “A grandmother.” When that woman accepted the tribute with a regal nod, Jessie smiled. She glanced down the table to the two older versions of her husband. Men who bore the same stamp of honor. They also shared his wicked sense of humor. “I now have a father and a brother, and though she couldn’t be here, a sister.” She choked to a stop and tried to swallow back the tears of happiness that threatened her speech. “Cord and Jake made me feel welcome from the start. When they heard about my lack of relatives, they grabbed me up and told me I wasn’t alone anymore. That I am a Hollister now. I’ll never forget that as long as I live,” she promised the two men. “Not ever.”
“Does that mean,” Cord asked, his wicked grin slashing across his dark face. “That next time I steal an apple pie you’ll forgo the rap on the knuckles?”
Everyone laughed at that.
“Not hardly,” she retorted. “An accountant you might be, but you’re a Hollister and I’ve been around them long enough to know if you give them an inch, they’ll take a mile.”
“You’ve got that right!” Will called out.
Jessie accepted the response with a regal nod of her head. “Thank you.” She waited for quiet before continuing. “It wasn’t only the immediate Hollister family that made me welcome. You have each in your own way made me feel special, starting with and not limited to this beautiful rehearsal party.” She looked at the hall, the people, and the food, “But I’ve got to tell y’all something…” All eyes were riveted on the podium. “You’re going to have a tough time topping this party next week when the actual wedding takes place.”
“Heck, Jessie. You haven’t been in Texas long enough
if you think this little shindig is the best a Texan can do when faced with a challenge,” Rafe called out.
“In that case,” she laughed, “let me say thanks and make my toast so we can get down to some serious celebrating.” She raised her glass. “To the residents of Round the Bend, Texas. The best damned family a girl ever had.”
Resounding cheers doubled when Mac took her tear-wet face in his hands and kissed her with all the bittersweet love in his soul. His time with her was so short, he thought. So damned short. He kissed her deeper and she melted into his embrace like butter on a hot stove. He brushed his mouth over her ear before ordering hoarsely, “Excuse yourself to repair your makeup.”
Blindly, Jessie did as ordered, too caught up in passion and excitement to question why. She didn’t have long to find out. Two minutes after she entered the little room set aside especially for the ladies, Mac walked through the door, his eyes glittering, his face tight, and his mouth unsmiling. Jessie put down the compact of face powder she was applying.
The lock fell into place with a gentle click.
“Mac?” she questioned, backing up. The leap in her pulse and the raggedness of her breathing made the question unnecessary. Her body knew instinctively what her mind was just grasping. He wanted her.
He stopped when his big, taut body pressed hers up against the wall. His hands cupped her cheeks holding her face still for his kiss. “I need you,” he moaned.
At first, she thought he was joking, the intimation being too reckless to be real. Then she looked into his eyes, saw the agony there, saw the apology in his strained smile, and knew he was serious. Thoughts raced through her mind. People would guess. Her dress would get ruined, but she didn’t care. He needed her. She reached up and smoothed the apology from his lips. “How?”
He caught her hand in his. The kiss he pressed into her palm was hot and warm, full of emotion.
“It’ll have to be quick.”
She smiled, stroking his cheek with her finger as he nipped the pad of her thumb. “I have no problem with quick. You’re the one always dragging things out for maximum pleasure.”
He laughed. A raw sound that indicated more than words how he felt. His forehead dropped to hers. “You, honey girl, are one strange lady.”
“Lucky you.”
Mac rubbed his nose against hers, bringing his hips to hers, he pulled back far enough to see Jessie’s face. He expected to see a little resentment under the other emotions, but all he saw was acceptance and even pleasure. She was a wild woman, his Jessie.
“Yeah,” he agreed, his voice sounding tight and hard to his own ears. “Lucky me.”
He put his mouth to hers, reining in his need to crush her to him, to mark her, to ensure she stayed with him, and gave her tenderness instead. He nibbled at her lips, coaxed them open with the brush of his tongue, nurtured her passion with tenderness. She didn’t have to ride the wild man all the time.
She grabbed his hair in her hand and pulled him closer. “I thought you were in a hurry.”
“I am.” Her frown sparked his smile. That was his Jessie. Impatient, wild, demanding and giving. So damned giving he thought as her hand slipped down over his chest. He eased his tongue into her mouth, ignoring her efforts to increase the intensity. She really needed to learn to slow down. To take his lead. To let him guide her.
Her hand worked lower until she cupped his shaft, sliding down his length. But maybe just not right now, he decided as a bolt of sheer lust stabbed him in the gut. When it eased, he let out the breath he didn’t remember holding on a soft groan. She glanced up at him. Her eyes flirted with his, green mischief sparkling from beneath her long lashes. The panic he felt inside leveled out as the familiar hum of desire kicked up his heart rate.
Very tenderly, she unzipped his pants, her gaze locked with his the whole time. Her soft hand worked inside his boxers until she could wrap her fingers around him. She squeezed gently as she eased her arm down his pants leg until she cupped the crown in her palm. She squeezed again. His cock surged and his balls pulled tight. He dropped his head back as he sucked in a breath through his teeth, fighting to hold back when all he wanted to do was let go.
“You poor baby,” she whispered, milking the head, catching his pre-come in her palm, smoothing her movements with the silky fluid. “So hard and hurting.”
The feeling of her smooth little hand on his hard flesh was divine. He closed his eyes and savored the moment. The scrape of her nails made him jump. “Oh yeah, honey girl. Do that again.”
She did and then kissed his chest through his shirt. Giving his cock one last loving cuddle, she said, “Let’s get you comfortable.”
With the side of her cast, she pushed into his stomach.
“Easy,” Mac ordered, frowning at her when she did it again, catching her cast in his hands, cradling her arm. Jessie licked her lips and sent him a quick smile. He felt the tension in her arm that signaled another push. He took the step before she could complete the gesture. He could only take baby steps because her hand was still in his pants, stroking the inside of his thigh as she urged him backwards. Two more pushes and his calves came to a halt against something firm.
“Sit,” she said with a final push.
He raised his eyebrow at the order. A quick glance indicated that she wanted him to take a seat on the low hassock resting against the wall. It was a long trip for a man of his height, especially when his woman had his aching balls in her hand, massaging and squeezing them. He had to pause twice, so close to coming he wasn’t sure he was going to make it, only to look up and catch her gaze on him. Happy, soft and knowing.
“You’re making this as difficult as possible, aren’t you?” he asked as he shifted his feet wide and settled back against the wall.
“Just keeping things humming along,” Jessie countered with a smile that had his cock leaping in his pants.
She slid her hand around his hip under the waistband of his pants. “I like that you get all hot and bothered by me.”
He touched her soft cheek. “I’m glad.”
He was more than glad. He was amazed. He’d never expected to find a woman who could match him sexually. He’d always thought he’d have to curb his bedroom preferences when he fell in love. In Jessie he faced the opposite dilemma. She was more than his match in bed. It was outside the bedroom where he was having his doubts. That wild streak of hers went a mile wide and he just didn’t know if she could be content with the lifestyle he offered.
A tug on his pants brought his attention back to what she was doing.
“Let’s get these out of the way.”
“God, yes.” He lifted his hips so she could slide his pants clear.
The cool air in the room was almost painful on his hypersensitive cock, so he caught his length in his hand as she stepped back. She paused as he did so, one foot behind the other, balance slightly off, the way it was when caught by surprise. The beading over her bodice swayed with the suddenness of her stop. Her tongue flicked out to lick her lips as he stroked his hand along his aching cock. As he lazily cupped the crown she slowly straightened, her gaze glued to his hand. He watched her eyes as he stroked his hand down. They flared and then narrowed. The silk of her dress shimmered with her rapid breaths as he did it again. His balls throbbed. A bead of come welled over the tip as he smoothed his hand up his shaft, circling his fingers around the stalk just under the crown. He tilted the broad head with its offering toward her. She uttered a sexy little whimper that had more come leaking from his cock.
It was his turn to smile. Damn she was hot. “Come here, honey girl.”
Two steps had her at his side. He caught her by the hips before she could kneel. “You’ll ruin your dress.”
“Who cares?” she muttered, catching his cock in her hand before it could drop.
“You will about five minutes from now,” he said to the top of her head. Her eyes caressed him with the touch of a lover as she stroked gently. Her hand was much softer than his. Hotter. Infi
nitely more desirable. Promising so much pleasure. So much peace. Another pulse of fluid escaped his control.
On a muttered “Steady me,” she bent down. If his reflexes had been slower, she would have fallen on his cock. As it was, he was just in time to control her descent as she bent at the waist. Her shoulders under his hands felt small, delicate. Her mouth on the tip of his penis, as hot and tempting as sin. She took her time taking him in, working the head past her teeth and humming in satisfaction as she snuggled him against her tongue. She sucked and lapped as he jerked beneath the whip of sensation, piling on more, humming louder with every lapse in his control. Finally, he pulled her off. “Not in your mouth,” he said in answer to the question in her eyes.
She smiled that seductress smile. “Okay.” She turned in his hands, her grip rotating on his cock, keeping it where she wanted it. He naturally took her weight against his palms as she swung a leg over his thighs. As delicate as a butterfly she brought her hips down. He expected to feel the barrier of her panties, was reaching to pull it aside when his cock slid into the moist valley of her vagina.
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