Page 52 of My Dearest Mackenzie

That’s nothing, Corey noted.

I didn’t respond. Rather, I met with my client, got them fitted with a suit for a fall wedding they were attending and several casual looks for an upcoming trip of theirs, and went straight home to get ready for Mack.

“Want to go for a swim?” Mack asked, an inviting smirk on his face.

“What?” I asked, inserting a coquettish lilt to my tone.

Two could play this flirting game.

It was after we’d eaten Italian takeout and caught up on the week, and the need and sexual tension between us was climbing. Mack had secured a new supplier for lily oil and explained a bit on how it was extracted from the flower. Which reminded me that I’d been wanting to tell him something about the bloom, but apparently we’d moved on to new topics.

“A swim?” Mack repeated himself.

I cut to the chase. “A naked swim?”

“It could be arranged…”

“Hmmm…I hadn’t thought about skinny-dipping. I did bring a swimsuit.”

Mack leaned closer, running his hand behind my hair, his palm settling at the nape of my neck, and kissed me. It was closed-mouth, soft, and tender. Our lips lingered for a while until Mack pulled back.

“Missed you,” he said as though this was commonplace.

“I don’t know what to say. My life was chugging along before you, and now it’s racing to places unknown.”

“Like the pool?”

His palm caressed my cheek. He might have been teasing with his words, but his eyes showed me that he got me. He understood my apprehension. Maybe he matched it in spades, but the pool and Mack naked sounded better than a serious chat.

“To the pool.” I stood, untying my dress at the shoulder and letting it fall to the patio. I stood in front of him in my lace thong and matching bra.

He stared for a beat, and then stood and made haste with his own clothes. “You still take new clients?” Mack asked, slipping his hand in his boxer briefs and shoving them down.

Earlier, I’d mentioned a new client at work. “Maybe. Depends on who refers them.”

Mack got close, invading my space, sliding my bra strap off one shoulder, leaning in and running his tongue along my clavicle. “What if I referred myself?”

He ran his tongue back up my neck, his lips meeting my mouth, and we stopped talking. His hand slid down my back and into the waistband of my thong, shoving it down. I helped, kicking off my flip-flop and lifting my leg out of the small panties. He unclasped my bra and it met the pile of clothes on the ground before he took my hand and led me to the pool.

Mack’s eyes seared into me as I traversed the steps into the water, grateful for it being warm and covering my belly. I was old enough to know not to mention those types of things in mixed company. I was never fishing for compliments, but it came off insincere and immature so I kept my negative thoughts at bay, locking them away.

The water rippled behind me, and then Mack was everywhere—behind me, sliding in front of me, walking me toward the wall, mouth on me as my legs came around his waist.

Gone was the worry over what was bothering him. We’d found out as much as we could on Paps, and there was nothing I could do to change his ending. I could have a few magnificent moments of my own with this man who’d come to mean something to me, so I did.

We kissed, the night sky darkening, the quiet murmur of the water, an occasional hum of a bird or insect littering the air, and our breaths swirling.

“I’ve never wanted to get back to someone when I was away. I only ever returned to Corey and my apartment.”

My hand slid up his damp back and I squeezed his shoulder blade. “I’ve never missed anyone,” I admitted.

We spoke through broken kisses and ragged moans. I felt Mack’s fingers tickle down my side, finding their way to my heat. Right there, in the pool, naked for anyone to see—not really, he had a very private backyard—Mack brought me to climax so quickly, I was a goner.

I’d never hit the crescendo so fast or furious, and I was ready for all of Mack. “Please,” I mumbled.

“You don’t have to beg. I’m here for your taking,” Mack told me, sucking on my earlobe and using a hand to guide himself inside me.

It was a heady sensation, the added friction of the water, our slapping sounds against the still evening…

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