Chapter 34
Chapter Thirty-Four
By the first week in August, Mac had come to the painful conclusion that he should break up with Tess.
He should have ended their affair long before this, in fact.
He was obviously good enough for her in bed, but not good enough to consider altering her career plans for, not good enough to let the world know about their love affair.
He’d watched for any wavering on her decision to move to New York, and there was none.
As he headed to her house for another night of lovemaking, the truck splashing through puddles left by a heavy afternoon rain, he cursed himself for being weak.
If he couldn’t treat sex with her as a casual roll in the hay, fun while it lasted but forgotten when it was over, then he should get out now and start putting himself back together.
In fact, that’s what he’d do, by God. Tonight. He wouldn’t make love to her. He ignored the sick feeling of disappointment in his gut at that thought and vowed to carry through with what was right, what would ultimately save his sanity.
He’d walk into her house and tell her this activity was eating into his time, causing him to get behind on some paperwork for the ranch. That much was true. He’d taken over the books for his parents a couple of years ago, and at the moment he was making a sorry job of it.
He arrived at the town’s traffic light as it turned red, and although his was the only vehicle at the intersection, he stopped anyway. As he sat waiting for the green, a horn beeped behind him.
Glancing in the rearview mirror, he spotted Rhino Blakely’s truck with Rhino driving and Hammer in the passenger seat.
Mac raised a hand in greeting and fought down the guilt that swept over him every time he unexpectedly met members of Tess’s family.
Tonight he didn’t have to feel guilty, though.
He was going over to Tess’s house, but he wouldn’t be there long.
It was over.
Rhino hopped out of the truck and ran forward to knock on Mac’s window.
Mac rolled it down. “What’s up?”
“Joan and Deena went to a movie, and me and Hammer feel like a darts tournament at the Ore Cart tonight. What do you say?”
Mac hesitated only a split second. If he had somewhere to go, that would force him to make the break with Tess. “Sure. I have to swing by Tess’s house for a few minutes, but I can be there in a half hour or so.”
“Great. Light’s green.” Rhino ran back to his truck.
Mac rolled up the window and crossed the intersection.
Fate must have stepped in to make him take this necessary step.
Here he’d been thinking of what he needed to do, and along came some help in the form of Rhino and Hammer.
If he ended it with Tess tonight, the brothers would never find out about the wild activities going on under their noses.
Even Tess probably needed some time to regroup before she went to New York. She might not realize it, but she’d probably have a tough time giving up what they’d shared this summer.
The rest of the way to Tess’s house, Mac ran through all the reasons to end the affair.
They were all good reasons, yet he felt as if someone had dropped a load of copper ore on his chest as he walked up the steps to her porch and opened the door.
Walking away from another night of wonderful lovemaking and knowing he wouldn’t make love to Tess ever again might be the hardest job he’d ever given himself. He’d have to be strong.
Exotic music with a pulsing beat drifted from Tess’s bedroom, and automatically Mac became aroused just wondering what she had in store for him. Whatever it was, he’d resist.
Not that resisting would be easy. With each rendezvous they planned, he always wondered what she’d come up with that would surprise the hell out of him. And totally turn him on. He and Tess had tried stunts that had never crossed his mind with any other woman.
Yet now that he thought about it, sexual adventure suited Tess perfectly. She’d tempted him with bold ideas when they were kids, too. The raft they’d built and almost drowned trying to ride, the wild-horse roundup, the cave exploration trip — Tess had thought of every one of those.
God, it wouldn’t be easy walking back out of here tonight and giving up the excitement of loving Tess, the pure fun of just being with her. But that was short-term thinking. For the long term he needed to start learning to do without Tess’s soft mouth, her warm, moist body, her...
He stood in the bedroom doorway and felt his resolve slip away.
Tess was dancing. And not just ordinary dancing, either. She wore the filmy, hip-hugging pants from her Jasmine costume when they’d gone as Jasmine and Aladdin for Halloween. The bra was from that outfit, too, but now it dripped with gold coins and sparkling jewels.
She’d added a gold armband and covered her nose and mouth with a thin veil. Tiny cymbals attached to her fingers kept time with the music as she rotated her hips in the most mesmerizing rhythm he’d ever seen.
“Surprise.” Her grin was faintly visible behind the veil.
“I’ve been practicing for weeks.” She continued to dance as she motioned him to a straight-backed chair in the corner of the room.
She’d obviously placed it there for her audience of one.
“And now I’m going to dance for you and drive you insane. Enjoy.”
The light veil had the most incredible effect, emphasizing the sultry look in her eyes and making him hungry for her mouth simply because he couldn’t see it very well. By covering her lips, she made them seem more exciting and forbidden, more of a prize when they were finally claimed.
Not that he would be claiming them. He had something to say, and that would eliminate the chance of kissing those temptingly disguised lips of hers.
But he couldn’t make his announcement immediately. After all, she’d been practicing this dance for weeks to surprise him. He ought to at least let her show him what she could do. Courtesy demanded it.
Besides, he couldn’t seem to take his eyes off the circular motion of her hips.
He wondered what that would feel like if...
no. He wasn’t going to make love to her tonight, so it didn’t matter what that would feel like.
Fantastic, probably. But he was ending it.
Definitely. Once she’d finished her dance.
He slouched in the chair and tried to look slightly bored as she danced slowly around him. When the beat became faster, so did the motion of her hips. He swallowed. Then she began adding a new dimension, a gentle shimmy of her breasts that made the dangling coins dance. He licked his dry lips.
She drew closer, brushing his arm with her hip as she danced.
Her shimmy increased in speed, and she leaned forward, shaking her breasts so close to his face he could see the tiny drops of perspiration in her cleavage.
The pearl necklace rested there, as it had all summer.
And looking at it never failed to get a response from him.
“Unfasten your jeans,” she whispered.
He glanced quickly into her eyes. This wasn’t going at all the way he’d thought it out. “No, Tess, I—”
“Do it,” she whispered more urgently, dancing around him, her hips keeping that maddening, erotic rhythm. “I want you now, Mac. And I can tell you want me.”
“But—”
“Now.”‘ Still dancing, she took off the finger cymbals and reached beneath the snug band around her hips for a small package she’d obviously hidden there earlier. She swayed closer, her arms undulating with the music, and tucked a condom in his shirt pocket.
He was lost. If he didn’t go along with her plan, she would be very disappointed. She had this scene all worked out and had gone to a lot of trouble to make it happen. Besides, he was so aroused he was in pain. He couldn’t walk out of this room now if his life depended on it.
He worked clumsily at the buttons of his fly, his heart pounding as he focused on the fascinating shimmy of her breasts and the amazing rotation of her hips.
He took the condom out of his shirt pocket.
Then he nearly dropped it when she reached between her legs and somehow made the crotch of the filmy harem pants come undone without missing a beat.
“Are you impressed?” she asked softly.
“Oooh, yeah.” And shaking with need. He managed to get the condom on as she danced closer, the coins jingling from the quivering rhythm of her breasts.
“Hold perfectly still,” she whispered. “I’m going to do it all.”
Incredible as her body looked as it moved, he was completely captured by her eyes. Emphasized by the veil, her eyes seemed to smolder with more fire than ever before. He couldn’t look away.
Still keeping time to the music with her hips, she braced both hands on his shoulders and straddled the chair.
Then she slowly lowered herself in a sensuous, rotating movement that made him gasp with pleasure.
Yet he wouldn’t, couldn’t close his eyes.
As she used all the sensuous dance movements to make unbelievable love to him, he focused on the blazing heat in her eyes, searching for the depth of emotion that rocked him whenever they came together like this.
And he found it. As her rhythm increased, her eyes told him that yes, she felt what he felt, that her heart had been branded as surely as his.
“I love you,” he said. For the first time in his life the words meant something special, something so real he could almost touch it.
Her eyes were pure flame. “I love you,” she murmured.
Joy surged so intensely through him that at last, he closed his eyes, afraid she’d see his tears of relief. She loved him. Everything would be okay. As her movements grew more uninhibited and her cry of release filled the room, he held her tight and abandoned himself to a soul satisfying climax.
They stayed locked together for many long minutes, Tess’s veiled cheek resting on Mac’s shoulder.
He gently stroked her back, unsure what to say next.
He really wanted the first words to come from her — something along the lines of I’ve decided not to go to New York.
I love you and I want to stay here with you.
They’d honeymoon in New York, he decided. They’d take lots of trips, in fact, to make up for the loss of her big adventure. They’d—
“Yo, Big Mac! Where are you, buddy?” The unmistakable sound of Rhino’s voice came from the direction of the living room.
Tess scrambled from Mac’s lap and ran to the bedroom door. She slammed it and plastered herself across the door frame, her eyes wide.
“Oh, God.” Mac stared at her. He’d completely forgotten he’d promised to meet Rhino and Hammer at the Ore Cart, and that he’d told them where he was headed in the meantime.
“Hey, Mac!” Rhino called again, this time obviously from the hallway. “What’s going on?”
Mac swung into action, jumping from the chair. “We’ll... I’ll be out in a minute!” he called. “Lock that,” he muttered to Tess.
“Why can’t you come out now?” Rhino sounded suspicious.
“Just give me a minute, okay?” When he heard the lock click Mac headed for Tess’s bathroom.
“What’s going on in there, Mac?” Rhino’s tone had changed from suspicious to angry. “Is Tess with you?”
“Yes, I’m with him, Rhino. Go on out to the living room. We’ll be there soon.”
Mac finished quickly in the bathroom. “God, I’m sorry, Tess,” he said as he returned, buttoning his fly on the way.
“It’s not your fault.” She’d taken off her jeweled bra. Topless, she pulled a plain one out of a drawer.
“Yes, it is my fault. I met them when I was driving over here. I told them I was on my way to your house but I’d meet them in a half hour for darts.”
She turned in the act of fastening the front clasp of her bra. “Why would you—” She paused. “You weren’t planning to stay, were you?”
“No.”
Her face grew pale. “You were going to end it, weren’t you?”
“Well, yes, I was, but I—”
“Never mind the long explanation.” Her voice quivered and she turned away from him. “Just get out there and talk to them while I get dressed.”
“Tess, dammit, I—”
“Go! I mean it, Mac!”
A knot formed in the pit of his stomach. “What do you want me to tell them?”
“You might want to start with the truth.” She cleared her throat. “There’s no way we can make up a story they’ll buy at this stage. We got caught, Mac. There isn’t any way we can pretty it up so they’ll like it.”
“The hell there isn’t. We could tell them we’re in love with each other.”
She pulled a T-shirt over her head. “Thanks for the thought, but I’d rather you didn’t.”
Raw as he felt right now, he didn’t have the courage to question her.
Maybe she didn’t want anyone to know she’d fallen in love with the guy who was merely doing her a service before she left for New York.
And the way she was acting right now, he was pretty sure she would go.
Maybe she loved him, as she’d said. But she’d leave him anyway.
Without another word, he unlocked the bedroom door and walked down the hall to face his inquisitors.