Chapter 28
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Tess sat propped up against the pillows next to Mac, the tray balanced on another pillow across their laps while they sampled the snacks she’d prepared for the evening. Mac was eating with gusto, but Tess felt too happy and pleased with herself to be interested in food.
She looked at Mac for about the hundredth time, a grin on her face. “We did pretty good, huh?”
He lowered the peach he’d been about to bite into and gazed at her. A slow smile eased across his face, and he nodded. “Yep. You look damn proud of yourself, too.”
“I am.” She picked up a cluster of red grapes and plucked one off its stem with her teeth. “I’m proud of us. I think we were awesome. Better than I ever expected.”
After swallowing his bite of peach, he gestured around the room. “I don’t know. Looking at all this, I’d say you expected a lot.”
“The books say a man is a visual animal, so I was trying to make sure you’d be properly aroused.”
He laughed so hard he almost choked on his peach. “Overkill,” he gasped. “Major overkill.”
She lifted her chin. “I don’t know how you can say that, considering how well everything worked out. Maybe if I’d left the bedroom the way it was, and worn an old T-shirt and boxers, you wouldn’t have been able to get an erection.”
He stared at her. “Tess, I had an erection driving over here just knowing what we planned to do tonight.”
“Yeah?” She smiled. “So the phone thing worked?”
“I knew you did that on purpose!”
“Of course. Just like you sent the gloves on purpose.”
“And you put that double-meaning message on the answering machine. I stood there listening to it with my mom watching me the whole time, if you don’t think that was tough!”
“Well, I didn’t want you to lose interest!”
“Fat chance of that, twinkle-toes.”
“Seriously, Mac. According to what I’ve read, women are a lot better at sustaining lustful feelings in the absence of the lover than most guys. Guys are more the out-of-sight, out-of-mind type. I didn’t want you to lose interest.”
“For your information, there was no chance I’d lose interest. I didn’t need that phone conversation or the message on the answering machine and your cute little reference to ice in order to get excited.”
“Oh! I didn’t remember the ice! I was planning to give you a special treat with that ice trick. But I was so carried away that I... forgot.”
He gave her a long glance. “I’ll take that as a compliment.”
Her heart beat a little faster, remembering the glory of the moment when she’d felt completely united with him, as if their souls had fused.
She’d lost all track of techniques and tricks in the wonder of loving Mac.
“It is a compliment. I couldn’t think of anything but what was happening between us.
” She held his gaze and heat invaded her secret places once again. “I guess we didn’t need the ice.”
“No. We didn’t need anything but each other.”
Even now, she could barely believe that he really and truly wanted her. “This is so new. Then you’re really turned on by me, the girl you’ve known forever?”
“Uh-huh.”
“Wow.”
“In fact, I’m getting in the mood again.”
And so was she, but she’d been hesitant to admit it. “I thought it took a while for men to recharge.”
“It does. It’s been a while.”
“Not that long. From what the experts say, a man would probably need some stimulation before he could manage another episode.”
Mac chuckled. “That reading may get you into trouble yet. Take my word for it, I could manage another episode. Maybe several. I wish I could stay here and make love to you all night, but I don’t know how we’d ever explain my truck being parked outside your house all that time.”
Tess glanced at the clock and sighed with regret. “You’re right. If you don’t leave soon, the neighbors would wonder and the gossip mill would start running.”
He nodded. “I could park outside somebody else’s house all night with no problem, but not yours. And we sure don’t want to awaken anybody’s suspicions.” He moved the pillow and the tray of food and swung his legs over the end of the bed.
Tess couldn’t resist glancing at the part of his anatomy that had recently delivered her from her virgin status. “You are ready again!”
“Surprise, surprise.” He reached for his clothes.
“Want a quickie?” Her blood raced at the thought.
He turned back to her, a smile on his face. “And what do you know about quickies?”
“Everything. You just forget about the foreplay and go for it.” Her nipples tightened in reaction. “It makes for variety. What do you think?”
He paused, his boxers in one hand. “Sounds tempting. But I guess I need the answer to my question first.”
“What question?”
He faced her. “Well, you’re not a virgin anymore.”
“No, I’m not.”
“So your project’s technically finished, right?”
Her stomach clenched with sudden anxiety. “You mean we could stop right here and never... make love again?”
“That’s what I mean. I need to know if this is the end of the fun and games or not.”
“What do you want to do?”
He gave her a wry grin and gestured toward his groin. “I think that’s obvious.”
“I’m talking about the long-term risk.” But as she spoke, she wondered if she fully understood the long-term risk.
She’d been concerned about their families and people in town finding out.
Maybe that wasn’t the biggest problem. After tonight, she felt bonded to Mac in a way she’d never experienced before, and yet she’d have to break that bond at the end of the summer.
The more they made love to each other, the stronger the bond would become.
“I’m willing to accept the long-term risk,” Mac said quietly.
A world of meaning lived in that statement “And we’ll still be... friends?” She wondered if that was the most foolish risk of all. If they made love all summer, could they possibly continue to be just friends?
His reply was soft and deliberate. “We’ll always be friends.”
He looked magnificent standing there. No woman in her right mind would turn down the chance to spend the summer loving Mac, no matter what the consequences. “I wouldn’t want to lose your friendship.”
“You won’t.”
“Promise?”
He smiled. “I swear on the tomb of old King Tut, take a willow switch to my butt.”
She took a deep breath. “Then I guess...” She paused and blushed. “I guess I’d like to expand my summer project and get more experience.”
His smile faded, and he gazed at her with that unfamiliar fire in his eyes. “Okay. Then that’s what we’ll do.” He started to put on his clothes.
“Wait. I thought we were going to have—”
“A quickie?” He pulled on his jeans and winced as he started buttoning his fly.
“Well, yes.”
He reached for his shirt. “If tonight had been the end of the road, we would have. In fact, I might have turned it into something a little longer than that.” He gazed at her as he buttoned his shirt. “But if we have all summer, then I don’t want to settle for a quickie.”
She wanted him so much she trembled, but she swallowed the words that would have begged him to stay.
Still, she couldn’t let him go without knowing when they’d make love again.
Her hunger for his touch both startled her and warned her of the dangers ahead.
“When are you free again?” she asked. No matter how hard she tried, the neediness in her voice seeped through.
He crossed to the bed and sat down. Leaning toward her, his shirt half fastened, he cupped her face in one hand. “Are you going to get all prissy and try to pretend you don’t want me so much you can’t see straight?”
Of course he could read her like a book. She should have realized that. “I—”
“Because that’s how much I want you. I’m practically blinded by how much I need you, how much I want to be inside you again.
I don’t want to leave tonight, but we both know I have to, and the sooner I go, the easier it’ll be for both of us.
” His thumb brushed her lower lip. “I want to see you again tomorrow night, and the night after that, and the night after that. Hell, I want to spend all summer here in your bedroom.”
“You do?”
“I can’t think of anything sweeter. But we have to watch it or we’ll make people suspicious. We need to wait a while before we get together again.”
She moaned in frustration.
“That’s better. At least you’re being honest about what you want.”
She gazed into his eyes, helpless in the grip of passion. “I didn’t realize making love would be so... so good,”
“It isn’t always.”
“I figured that, from the cautionary tone of the books. The first time is supposed to be pretty awkward because the couple isn’t used to each other.”
He caressed her cheek. “That’s where we have the advantage. We already know how the other one thinks.”
“Maybe not completely. You see, I was afraid that familiarity would make me boring for you.”
“Oh?” His eyebrows raised. “Why? Am I boring for you?”
“No, but I’ve never done this before. You have.”
“But not with you.”
“So having sex with me is not boring?”
He smiled. “Not by a long shot.”
“Good.” She smiled back. “Then how about we do it again Tuesday night?”
He shook his head. “Too soon. And Wednesday’s poker night. That should be quite a test, come to think of it.”
“Mac, you’re torturing me.”
“No more than I’m torturing myself. Listen, Thursday night’s a full moon. Let’s take a ride to the river.”
Her pulse rate skyrocketed. “Am I supposed to wear a dress with nothing on underneath?”
He grinned. “Good memory.”
“As if I could ever forget that dream of yours!”
“Well, I won’t ask you to do that. You’d be uncomfortable, and your hair’s too short for that particular fantasy, anyway.”
“I could wear a wig.”
His smile widened as he combed his fingers through her hair. “I like your hair the way it is. But you might wear as little as possible without making a big deal of it. And don’t worry about being thrown to the ground. I’ll bring a blanket. And a couple of towels.”
“Towels?”
“Ever gone skinny-dipping?”
“Of course not. My brothers would have had a fit if they thought I was swimming nude in the river.” She gazed at him. “Have you?”
“A time or two.”
“With a girl?”