“Thank you,” I whisper. “I know you don’t want to keep quiet about things, but I really think it’s best for now.”
His head turns toward me and he takes my hand, brings it up to his lips, and kisses it.
“I’ll respect that, but not forever. You’re mine, Tawny. And I want everyone to know it. We’ll figure out how this is going to work and then I’m going to tell the world that I love you.”
His voice is heavy with promise and I shiver. I want that so badly. I want to walk down the street holding his hand, I want to go out on dates with him, I want to kiss him wherever and whenever I want.
I nod, because I’m still too scared to tell him why I want to keep things between us for now. Thankfully, that seems to be enough for him, because he climbs out of bed and pulls on his clothes.
“Can you come back tonight?” I ask, suddenly anxious about when I’m going to see him again.
“I don’t know, T. I need to see what my dad needs from me first.” Mac walks around the bed and takes me by the shoulders. “Last night was amazing. Falling asleep with you, waking up with you, it’s everything I’ve ever wanted. If it were up to me, I would spend every possible second with you, loving you. But I came here to help my parents and I can’t let them down just because I’ve finally got you back.”
I can hear the regret in his voice, but he’s right. He needs to be here for his parents, just like I’m needed at the inn. I go into my closet and pull down a maroon dress to wear and some clean underwear. I dress quickly, needing the armor of clothes to try and hold back my desire for Mac.
Eventually, we’re standing at the front door of my house and I realize someone could see him leaving my house.
“Mac, how are you going to leave without all of my neighbors knowing you spent the night here?”
Mac chuckles before leaning down and pressing a hard kiss to my lips. “Guess we just have to take the risk, babe.”
He opens my door and walks to his truck without looking back. Once he’s seated, he looks up at me and gives me that smile that makes me weak in the knees. My smile. He waves and blows me a kiss before pulling out of my driveway.
Once he’s gone, my legs sag and I lean against the door jam for a moment before quickly locking my front door and going to my car. Before I drive away, I cast a quick glance around the street. It doesn’t look like anyone was outside to see Mac leave, but in a small town, you just never know. My whole motivation behind keeping our relationship quiet is the underlying fear that Mac’s life will take him away from me again. And if that happens a second time, I don’t want everyone I know looking at me with pity. I might have wished for support last time he left, but now the pain will be so much greater that I don’t think I could stand it if everyone knew Shawn Macdonald broke my heart.
At the inn, I don’t have long to dwell on my night with Mac. We’re fully booked this week and the restaurant is busy as well. I’m answering emails, manning reception so my team can have a break, checking on food orders for the kitchen, and dealing with housekeeping issues all day long. Before I know it, it’s after seven p.m. and Ella is pushing open the door to my office.
“Hey big sis, got time for me?”
I push back from my desk with a smile. “Always. Especially if it can be over a glass of wine.”
We head to the restaurant and go straight to the table that I always keep open in case my sisters come to visit. I grab a bottle of white wine from the kitchen, two glasses, and smile my thanks to my head chef when she passes a plate of appetizers into my hand. Smoked salmon puffs, crispy green beans, and a hot crab dip. Perfection.
Ella and I dig in to the food and the wine. I know why she’s here; she wants details on what happened with Mac. She’s the one who told him where to find me yesterday, so she must know we were together.
Sure enough, a few minutes in and just as I’m popping a salmon puff in my mouth, Ella clears her throat and gives me a pointed look.
“So, got anything to say about yesterday?”
I shake my head in an attempt to feign innocence, but Ella doesn’t buy it. She may be the sweeter of my two sisters, but make no mistake, she gets what she wants.
“Nice try, Tawny. I know Mac came over. How did it go?”
I sigh and Ella must hear something in that one breath because her eyes light up and she claps her hands. “Holy shiitake, he stayed over!”
As a kindergarten teacher, Ella only uses food names to swear. It’s annoyingly adorable.
“Yes Ella, my nosy sister, he stayed over,” I answer with a roll of my eyes to disguise my grin. Memories of Mac rolling me over and pushing into me brings a flush to my cheeks, so I duck my head down and take another sip of the crisp wine to try and cool myself down.
“Was it amazing? Oh, your first time together in such a long time, it must have been so romantic!” The hearts in Ella’s eyes fade as I start giggling under my breath. Her tone is defensive. “What’s so funny?”
Romantic isn’t exactly how I would describe last night. Emotional, passionate, lust-filled, sure. Romantic? Not really.
“Romance wasn’t high on our list of priorities.”
Ella’s eyes flare wide for a moment before she’s giggling, too. I raise my glass and we silently toast each other.Here’s to amazing sex.
“So, are you guys together now? Like, for real this time?”
