Rough and Rugged: A Meet Me In Milwaukee Charity Anthology

Chapter Five

Mac

Mac raced outside to his structure. In no time, the wind had picked up force and the rain was pelting him like multiple bee stings. The area around the workshop was already so muddy, his boots were squishing into the ground. Fortunately, he’d had the foresight earlier to wheel into the enclosure the large piece he’d been working on outdoors. The wood he used was just as delicate as a precious metal, and water damage would render it useless.

As he was unfurling the large tarps on all sides of the structure to keep the wind and rain from blowing in sideways, he heard Marissa approach, slogging through the mud, calling his name.

“Mac! Mac! What do you need me to do?”

Yelling at her over the wind, he shouted “Nothing! I told you to stay inside. You’ll ruin your clothes and shoes out here.” Apparently, she still didn’t know how to listen.

Marissa planted her feet in the mud and raised her arms and face to the sky. “As you can see, it’s too late.” Yes, he could see. And she never looked more beautiful to him with her soaked hair, mud streaked face and clothes, and wet shirt that clung to her upper body, outlining her nipples, and leaving nothing to the imagination.

“Come on, then.” He waved her over to help with the last section of tarp, then grabbed her hand and rushed them inside.

As she shook her hair of excess water, she asked “what’s all this?”

Mac rubbed the back of his neck, wondering if she noticed the sweat popping up on his brow. There was no hiding it any longer. “This is what I do now. I work with wood.”

As she looked around the area, he could see that she noticed the large sign with a logo on the wall.

“Wait. You’re the mountain man of Mountain Man Models? Your pieces are on display in the same gallery space I use. They’re fantastic!”

“Uh, yeah,” he grunted in embarrassment. He needed to change the subject. “Guess you put that art degree to use yourself if you’re in a gallery.”

He detected pride in her voice when she answered. “Yes. I make custom jewelry now. Mostly out of silver and precious stones.”

And for some reason, that made him happy.

“Thanks for helping. It’s important to keep this stuff dry.”

“No problem. Is there any more we need to do?”

Mac scanned the area, confirming that everything was in order and safe from the rain. Fortunately, everything was situated on an elevated concrete floor or was stacked on shelves.

“I think we’re done here. We better get back to the house and into some dry clothes.”

When they returned to the cabin, he noticed Marissa trying her best to clean off her mud-caked boots.

“Don’t worry about that. The good thing about these floors is that they’re easy to clean.”

“I’ll just take them off and leave them outside.”

“Suit yourself. I’m not worried.” He thought he detected Marissa trying to hide a slight shiver. “I think I’ll light a fire. Seems the rain has cooled things off. And you’re welcome to get out of those muddy clothes.” When he spotted her raised eyebrow, he knew he’d put his foot in his mouth. Even though he’d like nothing better, he wasn’t about to let her know that. “Don’t worry, you’re safe here. I only meant you might like a shower. I’ll find you something to put on while your clothes wash.”

“Thank you. That sounds nice.”

“You’ll find everything you need in the bathroom.” As he watched her paddle across the floor in her bare feet, he wondered how much longer he could act like he was still mad at her.

Mac scrounged through his dresser drawers looking for something that Marissa could wear. He settled on one of his worn button up flannel shirts since it would cover her practically to her knees. When she’d been standing in her bare feet he’d been reminded just how much taller he was, even though she was taller than a lot of women.

Once he heard the shower turn on, he went to the bathroom, threw in the shirt, and called out over the noise of the shower. “Here’s something to put on.” He didn’t try to look inside, as he knew his self control was slipping by the moment. He couldn’t help imagining what she looked like in the shower wet and naked, his dick twitching at the thought.

When she came out of the bathroom, she had her wet and dirty clothes with her. “If you show me the washer, I can throw these in.”

He took the garments from her. “I got it. Need to wash mine, too.”

“Good. The sooner I can get them back on, the sooner I can get out of here.”

For some reason, that irritated him, so he snapped back. “Hate to tell ya, but you’re not going anywhere anytime soon. When it rains like this, the creek rises so fast, it covers the bridge. No way will you be able to drive that fancy Mustang over it. You’ll have to wait for the water to recede.”

A look of horror crossed her face. “How long will that take?”

He shrugged his shoulders. “Don’t know for sure. Maybe a day or two.”

She began pacing the room like a caged animal. “But I have things to do. I need to get back to Chicago. I can’t stay here.”

“Sorry about your luck. And sorry you can’t run away like you did back then,” he taunted.

She stopped her pacing and walked up to him, poking him in the chest with a manicured finger. He couldn’t help but notice the sparkling diamond on the ring finger of her left hand.

“I didn’t run away, asshole. l left. You didn’t seem to care whether I did or not, if I recall.”

“I cared,” he growled.

“Could have fooled me. You spent the six months following the miscarriage drinking and freezing me out. And after I left? Radio silence. I hoped you would come after me, but you didn’t. When I did finally hear something, it wasn’t from you. It was from your lawyer!” The last sentence was shouted so loudly, it woke Mr. Rogers from his perch.

Mac lowered his face to hers and yelled right back. “You signed it quick enough, so that told me all I needed to know!”

Her next words came out in a whisper. “I thought that’s what you wanted. I didn’t want to hold you back. I figured you were ready to move on with someone else.”

Oh, how wrong she was. And God help him, because he couldn’t help himself. He couldn’t hide his real feelings any longer. Self preservation be damned. “Does it look like I moved on with someone else?”

When she opened her mouth to respond, he stole her words, not wanting to hear anything from her except surrender. He pulled her all the way into him and devoured her mouth with his.

Her whimpers soon turned to moans as she demanded more and more from him. His tongue sought hers, performing an intricate dance, as he scooped her up in his arms. She wrapped her legs around him. Since she was bare except for his flannel shirt, he could feel the warmth of her female essence burning through his clothing and searing his skin, as he carried her to the bedroom as fast as he could.