Chapter 9
Nine
Mackenzie
This is either the start of a long and happy relationship or one of those serial killer stories my aunt loves so much.
The gorge was like a giant hug. Nature surrounded me on every side. Trees strained towards the sky on mountains that rose up all around us. Sometimes when I got homesick, I would close my eyes and picture exactly this. It felt like melting into its embrace. The real thing was even better.
While Scott showed off his impressive fishing skills, I soaked my feet in the freezing water. His secret fishing hole was as quiet and peaceful as anyone could ask for. I didn't hear a single car or human sound except for us.
"We're going to stink at this dinner." I wrinkled my nose as he finished stowing his gear and took my hand.
"That's what showers are for, darlin'."
Darlin'. I liked that a lot. "You think I'm showering at the bar?"
"Nope. My house." He gave my hand a squeeze as he grinned down at me.
"You think I'm showering at your house?" Scott had spent years waiting. It was clear there would be no more of that.
"Yep. And I'm finally getting you into my Bigfoot Varsity Football t-shirt."
Well then. "Was this your plan all along? Get us smelly, get me into your shirt, and then...?"
"Feed you. It might be a boring life to some, but I like it nice and simple. Thoughts?"
"Sounds like heaven to me." If I went back to eighteen-year-old me and said ‘you can have Scott whenever you're ready’ this is exactly the life I would have pictured. I had a job I enjoyed, I worked with my best friend, and now my other best friend was going to be my what? Boyfriend? Husband? "We're not really going to run off and get married right away, right?"
He brought my hand to his lips. "I'm more than ready to start our lives together but I'm not insane. I just need to know you're mine. That you believe me when I say I'm yours. We'll do everything else one step at a time. Starting with showers and you promising that you sleep in my bed from now on."
My heart tripped over itself and fell down a flight of stairs. "This is either the start of a long and happy relationship or one of those serial killer stories my aunt loves so much."
"So I'm over-the-top." He shrugged and let go of my hand so I could navigate a narrow bend. "And it's fast, but Mackenzie, it's also been sixteen years. Half my life has been spent loving you from a distance."
True enough.
When we got to his place— our place?—he handed me clean towels and the aforementioned Bigfoot Varsity Football t-shirt and left me to shower alone. I worked his shampoo through my hair and liked that I would smell like him for the rest of the night.
Then I slid into a pair of too-big pajama pants and the shirt before heading downstairs. Scott had cleaned the fish and was assembling ingredients when he glanced up and smiled. "It looks as good as I fantasized."
I picked at the old cotton. "Is this from high school?"
"Sure is. You're making all my dreams come true today."
Scott fantasized about me wearing his shirt in high school? The past and the present collided like no time existed between where we'd been apart. My years traveling and his growing the bar and his craft were now footnotes on our story.
I glanced at the ingredients on the counter. "Can I help?"
"Nope. But you can figure out what you want to change when you move your stuff in. And before you second guess this, I saw the way you looked at my house the other night. You have ideas." He waggled his finger at me.
"I'm not second guessing anything. I just don't have much that's mine to move in." I'd spent the last decade traveling, moving from one city to another.
He pressed a kiss to my forehead. "That's not true. You have family photographs and your favorite bookcase. You have things."
He was right. I still thought of all that as Dad's. "I will redecorate in my mind while you shower."
"Good girl." He winked and sprinted up the stairs.
Home. Was this home? I ran my fingers along the kitchen counter and then toured the living room more closely. The gaming chairs the boys used were lined up beside the television. I wasn't a big gamer, but I loved the warmth I always felt when the house was full and the boys were goofing off.
I could picture us sitting in front of the fire on a cold day, swaddled in blankets while we read or watched a movie together. My bookcase would go there along the wall and my mother's sofa table lined with photographs fit perfectly too. It was like this house was waiting for me to complete it.
Yes, this was home, just as it was always supposed to be. I really believed that.
"I like that smile." Scott came straight to me for a kiss. It was quick and simple and perfect. "Hungry?" He was like a different person with wet hair curling around his ears. Instead of his usual uniform of jeans and a flannel he wore sweats and a plain t-shirt.
My mouth watered—and it had nothing to do with the mention of food. "I could eat." Our picnic lunch was light. Cheese, crackers, and nuts mostly.
"Then I'll cook for you." He took my hand and pulled me to the kitchen with him. "The menu tonight consists of fish caught by me." He waggled his eyebrows. "Have I proven my worth yet?"
I liked silly Scott. "Your ability to catch our dinner is impressive."
He waved at the ceiling. "I also provide shelter. A comfortable bed. I promise to be a generous lover."
"Yes, yes, I get it. You're all that is man. You can feed me, provide a home, and drug me with orgasms. I'm sold." There was no sense fighting the inevitable. I loved Scott and the only thing I wanted in this world was to finally have him.
I watched him whip up a quick meal that was so delicious I almost cried. It was seriously better than any meal I'd ever had in a fancy restaurant. "You could probably make a killing in a bigger city."
"Maybe. It's all a crapshoot. Location, traffic, reviews, the whims of social media...I could be a hit and then crash and burn. And where would I be then? A failure in a town that isn't mine? No, I'd rather take what I know and craft a lifelong business out of my community, something I can weather the storm in and can call home if it all goes down in flames because no matter what, Lost Creek is home."
I took the last dish from him and set it on the rack to dry, then slid onto the counter, beckoning him to me. When he was cradled between my thighs and my arms were around his neck, I sighed. Just touching him had me relaxing every muscle in my body. "Even with Aunt Sharon's meddling book club?"
His laugh rumbled his chest as he dropped kisses on my shoulder and the side of my neck, working his way up to my lips like we did this all the time. "Those meddling, murderous little book nerds are part of the package, yes. Can you live with the lost boys?"
I tensed. "Where are they anyway?"
His hands coasted down my sides to grip my hips, pulling me against him. "They've been warned away for the night."
I melted. "Then yes, I can live with them. It's nice knowing they take some direction."
"They always listen when I yell." His voice was rough and it made my insides flip and clench.
"Do they now?"
"I can be quite demanding."
"Is that so?" If we were just a little closer and had less clothes on...
"And quite convincing." His hand slid under my shirt to span my back.
I arched and gasped at the jolt of sensations it set off in me. "Scott."
"And you are quite responsive," he growled. He drew a single finger down my spine and the way my inner muscles clamped down made it feel like he was driving inside me.
I shivered. "This is incredible."
"I've had a long time to think of all the ways I want to worship you." He bent down and lightly bit the swell of my breast through the t-shirt.
It sent another jolt through me. My fingers dove into his hair, pulling. That earned me a groan which sent a surge of pride through me. I was more than happy to let him touch and play. He could demand and tell me exactly what was going to happen, but I needed to know I could do the same.
I lightly depressed my fingernail into his scalp and traced my way to his jaw, down his muscled neck, to his chest. Scott's entire body went taut and his pupils blew.
Then he pulled my hand away and kissed my palm. "You keep that up and we aren't making it to the bedroom."
"I don't mind." The counter was a great height for the things I wanted next.
"I do. Hold on." His hands kneaded my ass and then lifted me up and against him so that I could feel just how hard he was. Then he gently set me on my feet. "We'll have plenty of opportunities for kitchen sex, I promise. Tonight I want you in bed where we can be comfortable. I want my sheets smelling like us. Get moving." He swatted my ass and then wrapped his hands around my hips as he directed me to the stairs, following me up and into the bedroom.
With the floor-to-ceiling windows that looked out over the trees it felt like we were floating. The bedroom wasn't large. Just enough space for the bed, nightstands, and a bench at the end of the bed. There was another door opposite the one we entered that led to the bathroom, and beyond that, the closet. A plush rug covered a portion of the hardwood floors.
"Do you like it?" he asked, setting his chin on my shoulder. His arms wrapped around my waist as we looked out at the trees.
"I love it."
"Good, then you'll move in immediately?"
This room felt like mine. Ours. Like it had just been waiting for me. "That closet is awfully empty."
"I know you're not poking fun at my wardrobe and yet it sounds that way in my head."
I turned in his arms. "I love your flannels. Never get rid of them."
"And all my old t-shirts?"
"I love them too."
"Good." He drew the hem of my shirt up and over my head. "I have several I need to see you in. But right now, I really need you naked."
Goosebumps rose on my skin both from the cool air and from watching one of my favorite people devour me with his eyes. His gaze darkened as I pushed the pajama pants down and his jaw flexed as I stepped out of them.
I really did enjoy following his orders if it got that reaction.
He remained perfectly silent with his fists on his hips as he fought for control. Then with one hard swallow he stripped for me and before I knew it, I was in his arms in the deepest kiss of my life. It was like Scott wanted to crawl inside me.
And I didn't mind because I couldn't stop touching him. After years of wishing he'd see me as more than a friend, after months of thinking he forgot me, I had him in my arms and he wanted me. It was like a dream. It felt like a dream. But the way he sank his teeth into my shoulder felt very, very real.
"Mackenzie," he moaned, "say you want this. You want me. "
"I need you, Scott. I've always needed you."
"Oh fuck." He lifted me and walked us to the bed. He stopped with the backs of my knees against the mattress. "You've never been just my friend. You've always been the one ."
We tumbled to the bed all hands and lips. Every touch was an exploration of new territory. Something I'd thought familiar was now new and different. Scott was always a man of few words but in bed he used them with precision.
"Lift."
"Touch."
"Suck."
"Right. Fucking. Now."
I was such a goner. Done. Annihilated. I thought I was Scott's before we kissed but I had no idea. No idea . None. Scott took me apart and put me back together in a way only he knew. No other man existed now.