39. Mack
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
mack
Boston in July traps heat between the brick and just leaves it there, drifting through open windows along with traffic and music and people talking too loud three floors below because nobody wants to be inside if they can help it.
By the time I get back from my forty-eight, my shirt’s clinging to my back and the stairs feel more like a cardio workout than they should. Every muscle in me is already calculating the shortest distance between me and the shower.
All I want is ten minutes of peace before the boys inevitably start another group chat discussion about the Red Sox bullpen.
I hear the water running upstairs before I’ve even got my keys back in my pocket, stopping me halfway up the stairs. I take the rest of them two at a time and drop my bag in my room, already peeling off my clothes on the way to the ensuite.
Steam has already fogged the mirrors by the time I push the door open. Darcy stands under the spray with her head tipped back, rinsing shampoo from her hair, her wet curls darker against her shoulders as the bathroom fills with the scent of coconut and something floral.
I stand there for a second, watching her, and realize coming home to this has already started to feel normal.
Apparently this is my life now.
The glass door slides open. Darcy turns her head, catches me watching, and smirks over her shoulder. Whatever restraint I had left snaps at the sight. I step in under the spray and press my lips to her slick shoulder.
“You’re home.”
“Mmm.”
Water slides down her throat as she looks up at me, her shoulders loose beneath my hands, her whole body soft and unhurried.
I used to think peace meant never needing anything to be more complicated than it had to be. Now it’s this—her shampoo in my bathroom, her voice carrying through the apartment, finding her under my shower when I get home.
“How was shift?” she asks.
“Long.”
I rub my nose along her neck while my hands settle at her waist, feeling the familiar curve of her beneath my palms. She shifts closer without thinking, fitting herself against me like she already knows where she belongs.
“Tyler’s not home yet?”
“Soon. Had a thing with Coop.”
“A thing?”
“Claimed it’d be quick,” I say against her skin. “Which means I’ve got you to myself for about twenty minutes, and I plan on using every one of them.”
She smiles, tipping her head back against my shoulder.
“Is that so?”
“Twenty minutes,” I remind her.
“You’re very confident for a man who just got home.”
“That a challenge?”
I wait, but she just smiles.
“That’s what I thought.”
I laugh, and she turns enough to catch my mouth with hers before she pushes her ass back against me.
“Darcy…”
“Mack…”
I let my hand drift lower between her thighs and whatever smartass answer she had disappears. Her fingers close around my wrist, but she doesn’t stop me. She just leans into me, trusting me with what comes next.
I take my time with her, letting the water run over us while her breathing becomes ragged until she finally says my name like she’s run out of anything else worth saying.
“Mack—”
“Use your words, baby.”
“You know what I want,” she whines.
“I do.” My voice comes out rough. “Still wanna hear you say it.”
She makes that frustrated little sound under her breath that makes my cock pulse against the small of her back.
When she finally gives me what I want, I reward her for it. By the time she comes apart on my finger, shaking against me and calling my name like it’s the only thing she can still remember, one arm is locked around her waist and my face is buried against the side of her throat.
Mine.
Ours.
That distinction matters in a way I didn’t know I wanted it to before her.
A few minutes later, the apartment door opens downstairs.
“Bathroom!” Darcy calls.
Tyler’s voice carries up the hallway.
“Of course you are.”
I grin.
The door opens another inch, and Tyler leans against the frame, halfway through pulling his shirt over his head.
“Room for one more?”
Darcy crooks a finger.
“Always.”
Tyler steps into the steam, and Darcy reaches for him before he’s even fully inside. He catches her around the waist and kisses her, and she sighs against his mouth.
Tyler catches my eye over her shoulder.
“You plan on sharing?”
“Depends.”
Darcy rolls her eyes.
“You two are ridiculous.”
“And yet,” Tyler says, looking at her, “you keep us around.”
We move on her together, the water cooling around us as Darcy’s laughter gives way to breathless sounds and whatever composure we had left disappears with it. When she comes again, one hand tangled in Tyler’s hair and the other gripping my arm, she says both our names before going taut between us.
Tyler laughs against her shoulder, and for a moment there’s nothing but the three of us breathing hard beneath the water.
“I love you,” Tyler says against her neck.
Darcy turns her head enough to look between us, her smile softening.
“I love you too. Both of you.”
I answer her with a kiss.
Darcy rests against me, Tyler beside us with his eyes closed, and none of us is in any hurry to be anywhere else as the water starts running lukewarm.
I could get used to this.
Except I already have.
“We should probably get out,” Darcy murmurs eventually. “Water’s freezing.”
“Probably,” Tyler agrees.
I tighten my arm around her and close my eyes.
“In a minute.”
We stay.