by Ava Miles
“Please tell me you have a condom.”
He felt along the ground for his pants. Yanked out his wallet and pulled out a packet. She grabbed it, tore it open, and unrolled it over his length. When she slid onto him, she cried out at the fullness. His hands locked around her hips, deepening their connection. When she’d taken all of him, her moan fluttered out into the grove.
“Look at me, Peg,” he ordered, his voice husky and tender.
Her eyes opened. The dark ground framed him. She noticed a few rocks by his head and wondered for a split second if he were uncomfortable. Then he touched where they joined, and all thought evaporated. Her lids fluttered shut.
The first drops of rain touched her shoulders. She opened her eyes to see steam rising from the ground as the gentle rain fell. The water felt cleansing, and it cooled her heated flesh.
“The drought’s over,” Mac murmured, raindrops plopping on his chest.
Yes, she thought, it was. She fit their fingers together, telling herself she needed leverage. But as she slid up and down on him, she knew better.
She took him home—and found a place there for herself.
Huffing and puffing from exertion, she curled onto his slick chest as the warm rain continued to fall. His arms twined around her, as gentle as the rain falling on her back.
The earth’s musky fragrance—and their own—tickled her nose. She allowed herself to be held as she came back from the distant place he’d helped her find.
“I’m going to need a real shower when we get back inside,” he murmured, nuzzling her neck. “You’ll have to wash my back. I’ve felt at least three bugs crawl under me.”
She levered herself up reluctantly and pushed back her wet bangs from her forehead. “You afraid of some little bugs?”
He sat up too, wrapping his hands around her hips, almost hugging her. “Nah, I just want you to wash my back.”
She tried to untangle herself from him, but his arms tightened around her.
“Give it a sec. Listen.”
She cocked her ear, on alert. “Someone coming?”
His laughter reverberated against her body. “No. The rain.”
The crackle of rain against the leaves and trees sounded like its own percussion when she finally tuned in. And after its long absence, Peggy welcomed the summer shower.
“After being in the desert, it’s nice to be back in the mountains.”
She wiped away the droplets off his chest. “After this, I refuse to watch some boring nature show when we get back inside.”
His fingers tucked her hair behind her ear. “I’ve already had my nature show. And it wasn’t in the least bit boring.”
She stood, feeling a blush darken her cheeks as the realization dawned on her. She was standing naked outside in the rain. The squirrels even stopped their rain dance to check her out. Her foot kicked in their direction. “You. Move. There’s nothing to see here.”
“They’re simply admiring you.”
Her face flamed. “Hah! Why don’t you…” She gestured to his clothes.
He tucked his hands behind his head. “In a sec. I like watching the rain kiss your flesh. You really are beautiful, you know. Soft, white skin. Curves in all the right places. And your breasts—”
She made a raspberry sound. “Feel free to sleep out here and grow mold. Personally, I’m heading back.”
He pushed off the ground, his naked body streaked with water and dirt. She lost her balance while putting her damp shorts back on, hopping a few extra steps before she firmed her feet on the ground. God, she liked men with a little grime. Isn’t that why Aragorn from Lord of the Rings was one of her favorite heroes? The dirtier he got, the hotter he looked. She needed help.
Walking over, Mac kissed her lightly on the lips. “Maybe someday you’ll believe me when I tell you you’re beautiful.”
Peg couldn’t repress a Gallic shrug. “And maybe someone should get his pants on before those squirrels over there decide to run up his little tree trunk and hide from the rain.” She gestured to his penis.
“Little? Now, Peg, there’s no need to be mean.”
“Well, compared to the tree where they’re hiding, it is little.”
His hands tugged on his clothes. The corner of his mouth winged up. “Be glad I’m not insecure, or I’d have to give you a lesson on how mighty my oak can be.”
Her insides quickened again. Jeez, how long could a girl stay horny? “Maybe after
you shower. You look pretty wet and dirty to me.” At this rate, she’d be lucky to have a drop of moisture left in her mouth.
His finger stroked the pounding pulse in her neck. “We aren’t going to make it to the shower, are we?”
Her heart rate doubled. “We’re sick. Truly sick.”
His eyes crinkled. “I wouldn’t want it to be any other way.”
“Let’s head inside.”
He took her hand again as they walked back through the rain. “I’m glad you came over tonight. Next time, you’ll have to stay over. I want to wake up with you.”
Her mouth went even drier, but not in a lust way. Rather like a someone–pulled–a–gun–on–her way. “We’ll see.”
He stopped in his tracks, making her stop, too. “I’m not your son, Peg. You can’t satisfy me with empty promises.”
She stared at the mountain’s tree line on the adjoining ridge dotted with rain clouds, not wanting to make eye contact. “I’m not ready for that yet.”
“Then all you need to do is say so.”
A nod was all she could manage.
They walked back to the cabin, the crickets squawking around them as if even they were happy about the rain. Did crickets squawk?
“I still don’t know if I can do this…” she said into the silence.
His hip bumped her. “You’re doing fine. We can take it slow.”
She pinned him with a stare. “You don’t seem to be.”
“I’ve always been faster than the average bear.”
“Speaking of bears, has Rhett seen any?” She pretended to scan the yard.
“No, and no moose either. Although I’ve become pretty fond of them.”
She’d thought about giving him her motion–activated moose as a joke, but giving him a present seemed to imply something…permanent between them.
“Come on. Your movie awaits. Plus, I still need my popcorn.”
“We need a shower.”
He stopped before the French doors. Placed his hands on her shoulders. “So you’re going to scrub my back?”
“If you want.” Her pulse increased, imagining his muscles all wet and steamy beneath the hot water.
“I want.” His hands framed her face. “You. Now.”
“You changed your mind?” Her thighs clenched. “I could care less about the movie.”
“We can watch it after I have you all hot and slick in the shower.”
He lifted her effortlessly. The woman inside her stretched out in his arms, basking in his attention. What would it be like to wake up next to him? Have morning sex? God, she couldn’t remember the last time she’d woken up that way.
“Maybe I will stay over next time.”
His eyes smoldered. “Good.”
As he carried her through the house to the shower, she waged a war with herself. She wanted him. She didn’t want to want him. She could do this. There was no way she could do this.
He stripped their clothes off and nudged her into the shower.
“Stop thinking,” he said.
His mouth took her nipple in the sweetest suction of her life.
Yes, make me stop, she thought, and totally surrendered to what she’d come to expect—and want—from him.
His first name fluttered out without any thought, and to her ears, it sounded perfect.
Chapter 27
Mac tapped the steering wheel in time with the rap song on the radio while Dustin fidgeted next to him. Usually their shared love of rap led to spontaneous jam sessions in the ca
r.
“What’s up?” he asked his unusually silent nephew. “You nervous about dribbling down the soccer field all of a sudden? Have you developed a phobia against giant bugs?”
Dustin kicked at the glove compartment, his shoes making a dust print. Since he didn’t make a crack in return, Mac let it slide.
“What gives?”
The kid tugged on the seat belt like he was wrestling a python. “I…I have something to tell you. Just don’t get mad, okay? I didn’t do it.”
This didn’t bode well. Mac turned the music down. “We’ve had this conversation before, Dustin. I can’t promise not to get mad, but I’ll listen.”
His nephew turned sideways in the car. “Seriously, this is so not my fault.”
When was it? “Okay, let’s hear it.”
The kid inhaled as if he’d just emerged from deep water. “I know who made the bomb threat.”
Mac’s hands jerked on the wheel, and the car veered to the right. “You what?” He pulled to the shoulder and parked.
“Seriously, it’s just a kid who knew I was upset about moving here. He was pissed I had to leave. I don’t know why he did it. He was just…pissed.”
This was…unbelievable with a capital U. Mac ejected his seat belt and turned to face his nephew. “Since I know your friends, who are we talking about here? Jeremy?”
Those familiar eyes bugged. “I don’t want to give you a name. You’ll kill him.”
Smart. He was already ordering a gravestone. “Look, I know your friends, and I can read you like a book. Jeremy is enough of a punk to pull this shit. How did he know when the tournament finished?”
His shoulder hiked up. “I texted the play–by–play to all my friends like I always do.”
A haze of red descended over him. “Even though I’d confiscated your phone? ”
“I…kinda volunteered to hold Rhett’s while he played.”
Fuck. Damn. Shit. Mac’s exhalation filled the car. He counted to ten. It didn’t work. “Gimme a sec.”
He opened his door and conducted a solo Chinese Fire Drill, circling his car, hoping it would help him rein in his desire to lose his cool with an idiot teenager. The wind slapped his face. Dustin craned his neck to follow his movements. Cars passed, probably wondering what the hell he was doing. He thought about making a sign. Will Trade This Child. Then Abbie came to mind. He didn’t know how she was going to take this. She might laminate the sign for him. He firmed his shoulders and got back into the car.
“Please don’t be mad,” Dustin pleaded. ‘You’re right. He’s an asshole, but he’s my friend. He didn’t mean to hurt anybody. It wasn’t like there was a real bomb.”
Mac’s ears burned. The heat spread to his face. “It wasn’t like there was a real bomb? And you think that makes everything okay? What universe do you live in, Dustin Maven?” His cool snapped. “I had to evacuate hundreds of people from the hotel on my opening weekend. People were terrified. Hell, even I was scared. And you think it’s okay because—”
“You don’t have to repeat it. I know. I’m sorry! Okay?” His T–shirt wrinkled when he yanked it. “He’s my stupid friend, and he did it for me, okay? I’ll make it up to you. I’m not going to be friends with him anymore, but please don’t send him to jail.”
Mac laid his head back against the headrest. Closed his eyes. The bomb threat had been made by some dumbass teenage friend of Dustin’s. He wouldn’t have put money on that one.
“Was Jeremy the one who called in the bomb threat at your old high school?”
“No, but he knew that guy. He probably got the idea there. It’s not hard…”
He wisely trailed off. Mac kept his eyes clenched shut.
“How did you find out? More importantly, when?”
“A friend of ours heard about the reward. He needs money for college, so he was thinking about telling you. I begged him to let me do it instead.”
His head turned, locking eyes with him. “That was brave.” The menace couldn’t be missed.
“No shit. You’re like some black panther when you’re pissed. Scares the crap out of most people. I told him you wouldn’t kill me.”
He made a humming noise. “Not yet.”
“I’ve done stupid stuff before. You’ve forgiven me.”
Oh, shit. The Forgiveness Card. Sometimes he wanted to rip it in two. “I have to. You’re family. Now Jeremy…”
“He’s messed up, okay? He hated me leaving, and he knew I hated it, too. He was trying to get back at you for me.”
That comment was a direct hit to his heart. “You wanted to get back at me?”
Dustin ejected his seat belt and rested his elbows on his knees. “I was so pissed about coming here. Every time I get settled, we move. This time I just wanted to…stay with my friends. Finish high school with them.”
Ah, fuck. Mac stayed silent for a long moment. “I know you hate it,” he said after a while, “but I promised your mother that we’d always be together. Someday I hope you can understand why.”
His fist punched the air. “I’m old enough now! I don’t need you to pretend to be my dad anymore. I know I don’t have one.”
If a heart could burn, his was on fire. Mac put his hand on Dustin’s arm. “Are you telling me you’re totally fine with that?”
“Sure.”
“Look. I had the shittiest dad around, and I’m still not fine with it.”
“Maybe I’m smarter than you.”
He snorted, the red–hot burn fading from acute to annoying. “Maybe you’re full of shit. Dustin, I tried to give you what a normal dad might—even though I had to read about what the hell that was. It’s not fun being treated like you’re nothing, and I never wanted you to feel that way.”
Dustin looked at his feet. “I sometimes did when we moved.”
Mac pressed back against his seat. Oh, Jesus.
“I thought the hotels were more important than me.”
That slap across the face made him think of the Robert Burns’ quote about the best laid plans of mice and men.
“Look at me,” he said. “The hotels are what I do. You and your mom are part of who I am. Nothing is more important than that.” God, let him believe that.
Dustin’s Adam’s apple moved like a river changing course. “So you aren’t going to squash Jeremy like a bug?”
Right. “I haven’t decided what we’re going to do about Jeremy yet, but the whistle blower will get his college money. Who was it? Henry?”
“Jesus, what are you, a mind reader? Yes, it was Henry.”
Mac put his seat belt back on. “That kid always struck me as a rule follower.”
“He wants to be a lawyer. Thinks it’s his civic duty.”
At least someone walked the straight and narrow. “Bully for him. You’re still going to have to tell your mom. I will not be the messenger on this one.”
“She’s going to cry, isn’t she?”
Buckets, kid. “She might. You’ll have to hug her.”
“Shit.”
Exactly. Mac pulled the car away from the curb. They drove in silence for a few minutes.
“Thanks for believing me when I said I didn’t have anything to do with it.”
He sounded like a man who’d just been saved at a Baptist revival. Mac tried to stop thinking about all the repercussions—how he’d need to alert Aaron, figure out what to do with that punk kid, Jeremy, and tell Peg…something.
“You’re welcome. Besides, you know I’m a mind reader, right? It would be stupid to try to slide something like this by me.”
The kid rolled down his window. Cranked up the music. “Why didn’t I get that gene?”
“Don’t worry. You might grow into it.” And since the lyrics provided him with the opportunity, he punched Dustin in the arm, rapping, “And I love you like that. ” That was what it came down to, after all.
Dustin bobbed his head to the music and chanted the refrain back to Mac.
He grinned at him.
His nephew might be a teenager, making mistakes, but he’d done the right thing.
Something to be grateful for.
Chapter 28
As predicted, Abbie cried. Dustin hugged her while Mac stood with his hands shoved into his pockets, fingering his lucky piece. He finally walked over and wrapped his arms around them both. They were a unit, a family. Dustin was right. Forgiveness was an essential ingredient.
When she pulled away, he handed her the monogrammed handkerchief he’d tucked into his pocket, knowing she preferred them in such moments. If I’m going to cry, she always said, I like to have something durable to catch my tears.
“I’m so sorry, Mom!” Dustin chanted for the tenth time. “Jeremy’s a total jerk.”
“So why is he your friend, then?” Mascara dripped at the corners of her eyelids. She dotted them with the handkerchief, staining the white linen black.
His foot kicked out. “I don’t know. We both like soccer. Pizza. Girls.”
Mac refrained from telling Abbie an eternal truth about men—they didn’t over–think their friendships.
“Well, maybe you should start looking a little more closely at people.”
Since Mac could feel a lecture brewing, he decided to throw Dustin a line. “Abbie, he did the right thing, coming forward. I’m sure he’s learned a lot from this.” Please God.
Dustin’s eyes glistened suddenly. “I would never hurt the hotel, Mom! And I’ll be more careful about choosing my friends. Promise.”
She blew out a shaky breath. “I wonder if you would have told us if Henry hadn’t called you about the reward.”
“I didn’t know until Henry told me, I promise.” Dustin continued to pat Abbie’s back. “And I’m never going to talk to Jeremy again, Mom. We’re done.”
Abbie sank onto the plush sofa, clutching a blue pillow. “What are you going to do, Mac?”
Dustin hunched over his knees, his eyes pleading.
“I told Dustin that Henry deserves his reward. I have some ideas about Jeremy I’d like to discuss with you.”
The handkerchief formed a ball in her clenched hand. “Dustin, will you please go to your room while I discuss this with Uncle Mac?”
“Am I going to be punished?”
