Chapter 28 Arro
ARRO
Heart racing, my skin coated with a light sweat, I moaned as Mac pulled out of me and rolled onto his back.
We laid panting in my bed, gazing up at the ceiling as we tried to catch our breaths.
I’d never experienced anything like the past week.
So much for going slow!
Mac and I had spent every night together since our date at North Star on Saturday.
Now it was the following Sunday, and I swear to God, I had definition in my abs from all the sex.
So much sex.
Like six years of lusting after each other, culminating in a week of so many orgasms, I’d lost count and was possibly suffering the effects of an endorphin haze.
This morning Mac had woken me up to make love. It was slow and gentle and beautiful, but I was also a little sore from last night.
“Last night,” I murmured out loud in awe.
“I know,” Mac replied, sounding smug.
He should be smug.
We both should be smug.
“We could win awards for last night,” I panted softly. “That thing you did when my legs were over your shoulders …”
“Aye, we’ll need to do that again.”
“And that other thing. I didn’t know my body could bend that way.”
“You’re satisfyingly flexible.”
I preened. “We both are.”
“We’ll need to do that one again too.”
“As much as I’m looking forward to it”—I moved onto my side to face him—“I’m a wee bit sore.”
Mac turned to me, frowning. “Why didn’t you say?”
“Because I wanted sex,” I answered. Obviously.
He smirked, but there was still concern in his expression as he slipped his hand between my legs. I shivered as he petted me. Mac touched me with no inhibitions, like my body was as much his as it was mine. Oversensitized, I grew taut as he prodded gently at my opening.
“Here?” he asked hoarsely.
I nodded, biting my lip to stifle a moan.
He moved upward to my clit and circled it with his thumb. “Here?”
I shook my head, pushing into his touch. “We can’t.” My mouth argued with my body. “We’re due at Thane’s soon.”
“Let me kiss you all better first,” he growled hotly, moving down me to push my legs apart. And then his tongue was on my clit, and I couldn’t resist. Watching Mac go down on me was one of my favorite things in the world.
But I didn’t know if my heart could take much more.
Apparently, it could.
A few minutes later, I’d come again, and Mac kissed his way back upward. He gave my breasts a lingering kiss each before he rolled off the bed and sprung to his feet with a spryness I admired.
“What about you?”
“I’m good,” he promised as he pulled on a pair of jogging pants. “I’d suggest a protein shake to get you going, but I know what the answer will be.”
“Coffee,” we said in unison.
I chuckled, curling on to my side, loving the way his gaze drifted over me.
Mac had been here so much this week, he had spare clothes in my wardrobe and his very important protein-shake powder in my kitchen so he could drink it before he left for the gym.
He rose at the crack of dawn, and while I struggled to wake up for my workday, Mac would already be at the gym working out before his shift at the estate.
Today was the first morning we’d lazed around in bed. Watching Mac’s fine arse stroll out of my bedroom, I squirmed with glee.
Best goddamn week ever. Other than the sex, my favorite moment was actually two nights ago when he sat in my armchair, and I curled up on the sofa, and we both read.
Nothing but the sound of our light breathing and pages being turned.
I’d looked up from my book, watching Mac’s eyes move across the words, and I thought to myself, I could do this forever.
The perfect contentment of that moment had scared the shit out of me. Just as it did when Mac told me he loved me. My throat had closed, blocking any possible answer. He hadn’t said it to me again since last Monday.
Shaking off my sudden melancholy, I focused on the good. And there had been so much goodness this week, I was like I was floating through life.
But now it was time to return to the real world.
Except for my work colleagues, the only person I’d seen was Mac.
My family had grown antsy, even though it had only been seven days.
They wanted us over for Sunday breakfast, an occasional occurrence either at Lachlan’s or Thane’s.
This week, I was a hundred percent positive Mac and I were the reason for the get-together.
Our family was nosy and wanted to see for themselves how things were progressing.
I smiled smugly as my gaze fell on a tube of lube on my nightstand.
Oh, if my family knew what Mac and I had been up to, they’d die of horror.
The thought made me chuckle evilly as I reluctantly rolled out of bed to prepare to face them.
“Ready?” I asked Mac as we rounded his SUV.
He reached for my hand, drawing me into his side as we stared up at Thane’s home. “Ready when you are.”
Mac didn’t look the least bit nervous, so I decided I shouldn’t be either. However, it was different from walking through the village together (something we hadn’t done as a couple yet) because I couldn’t care less what the villagers thought.
I cared what my family thought.
So yes, I was a wee bit apprehensive, even though my brothers seemed happy for us.
Thane’s front door opened and Regan appeared, smiling that dimpled smile. “Are you just going to stand out there all day?”
Mac and I shared another bolstering look before we strolled up the steps. He released my hand to step back and let me go in first, but I reached behind me, needing him. Seconds later, my hand was engulfed in his again.
Regan’s gaze dropped to where we joined together, and she beamed. “Aww.”
“Shut up,” I ordered, even as I grinned.
“Everyone’s already here. Come in, come in.” Regan sauntered ahead of us, walking out into the open-plan living space of their large home.
Everyone sat scattered around the living and dining area.
“Aunt Arro, Uncle Mac!” Eilidh cried out, jumping off Lachlan’s lap to rush us.
“I feel rejected.” Lachlan looked glumly at his wife.
Robyn chuckled. “Thrown over for my father. How horrifying.”
I laughed at my big brother’s mock glower just before Eilidh hit me. Mac released me so I could swing Eilidh up into my arms. My biceps strained. “Oof, you’re getting too big for this.” I chuckled as she clasped my face in her hands.
Eilidh grinned. “Aunt Arro, I missed you. Where have you been? Have you been choppin’ down lots of trees because my teacher said we shouldn’t chop down lots of trees, and I wanna talk to you about it because I think you might need to be something other than a tree-chopper.
You’re too good for it.” She patted my cheek solemnly, like she was my eighty-year-old aunt.
I could feel the vibrations of Mac’s chuckle against my back as I struggled not to laugh, wondering how to explain a forest cycle to a six-year-old and cursing her teacher for clouding the reality of my job.
“Uncle Mac!” Eilidh turned the rays of her effervescence on him. “Hugs!”
I transferred her to Mac before she fell out of my arms with her struggling. Her long legs dangled as Mac held her against his hip.
“How are you, Bonny Blue?” Mac asked her, using the adorable nickname he’d used ever since she first opened those big blue eyes and stared up at him.
“Uncle Mac, I got star pupil for the third week! Though Ms. McGuinley says I need to”—her voice dropped to a loud whisper—“learn to talk really quiet, but I said”—her voice rose again—“but then no one will hear me!”
Mac grinned at her. “Don’t worry about that, Bonny Blue. People can hear you in Inverness at that octave.”
Eilidh considered this and cackled loudly, making us laugh.
If there was a God, I hoped he’d give me a kid just like Eilidh Adair.
Still carrying my niece, Mac followed me into the sitting room. I ruffled Lewis’s hair as I passed the armchair where he played his Nintendo.
“Hi, Aunt Arro.” He looked up with a small smile. “Uncle Mac.”
“Hey, wee man.” Mac nodded at him. “You doing good, kid?”
Lew’s expression lit up. “Made it to Kingdom 15.”
Mac replied, “Nice.” He lowered Eilidh, who immediately took my hand and pulled me down beside Thane on the large couch.
Arran sat beside him, and both my brothers seemed to study me, their eyes moving back to Mac as he pulled a seat from the dining table and sat next to Eredine. I smiled at my friend before I took in Lachlan, also focused on me.
Minutes seemed to pass in silence, though I’m sure it was only seconds.
“Why is no one talking? You’re all staring at Aunt Arro and Uncle Mac.” Eilidh’s little brows puckered as she snuggled into my side.
I cleared my throat, not sure how to explain our change in relationship to a six-year-old. Or if I should. Glancing at Lewis, I saw him looking up from his game like he sensed the strangeness in the room too.
Then I took in Mac’s solid presence, his calm demeanor, and his expression that said he’d follow my lead.
Really giving this relationship a proper shot meant not hiding from our family.
Taking the risk. If it fell apart, it fell apart, but the kids were in my life a lot, and I didn’t want to stop being affectionate around Mac whenever they were with us.
“Well,” I said, exhaling slowly as I looked between my niece and nephew, “Uncle Mac and I are dating now. We’re together.” At their blank expressions, I continued, “Romantically. We are to each other like your dad is with Regan.”
Eilidh wrinkled her nose and pulled away to look up at me in confusion. “But I thought you always were.”
“Me too.” Lewis shrugged and returned to his game.
Robyn’s snort broke the silence. She grinned at her father. “Out of the mouths of babes.”
“So?” Eredine sidled up to me in the kitchen.
Arran took the kids outside to play after Thane had told Lewis he’d had enough game time for the day. When Lewis grumbled about it, Arran swept in to distract him. But not before I grilled my brother about the Gloaming.