Page 24 of Mac
She was on the back of his bike with her arms around his waist and pressed against his chest. He wanted to pinch himself to make sure he wasn’t dreaming.
So many times he’d thought about having her this close. Having her wrapped around him.
And now she was. For real.
She also had no idea what she did to him. How she couldn’t after all this time, he didn’t know. But before the moon was high, she would know. She would know exactly what she meant to him.
He told her one night and that was all.
He meant it. Unless she wanted more. Unless she understood what he was offering her.
She laid her head against his back and he thought his heart might burst. The woman had no clue.
He could ride them from one end of the country and back again and never tire of her body plastered to his. He’d stay just like this for the rest of his life if practicality wasn’t an issue.
With each wind in the road, each bend, each hill, she moved with him and the bike. She flowed into him and she never let go.
Spring was his favorite time of year. There was so much hope of what was to come. New life springing up and all the flowers in bloom.
Kids were still in school, too, and he wasn’t pulling over drunk assholes as much as he would be in the summer.
And Jackie reminded him of Spring. He couldn’t pinpoint why, but when he looked at her, it was like looking at everything new and possible.
He took a soft left turn onto a small, barely there trail. No one ever saw it and that was the way he’d designed it. It was there, but not for anyone else to find.
Jackie lifted her head. What did she think of being deep in the woods? She came from the city, though had been in their neck of the woods for a long while. She had to have adapted to being a small town woman by now.
He eased into a worn patch of pine needles and parked the bike. Behind him, Jackie sat up, her hands still touching him at his waist. He turned the engine off in time to hear her gasp.
“What is this place?”
“It’s mine. My family’s owned the property up here for years.”
“Is that …?”
He smiled, knowing what had caught her attention. He couldn’t have timed it better, either. The generator kicked on and soft lights flickered up into the tree.
“Is that a treehouse?”
“It is.”
“Where did it come from?”
Mac chuckled and helped her off the bike, then did the same. “I built it. C’mon up.”
“Is it safe?”
“I’d never put you in danger. Have a little faith in me.”
He had an idea that it wasn’t him she lacked faith in, but herself. She was a smart, savvy business woman who had the heart of a newborn kitten. She was skittish, uncertain of her footing outside her business. She had good friends, but he was different, and had never made it into the inner sanctum. She didn’t joke with him. She didn’t tease with him. She could hardly stand him. On the surface.
He held a hand out to her and she took it almost immediately. That gave him pause, but he recovered and gave her fingers a light squeeze. He tugged her in front of him. “I’m right behind you.”
“I’ll just bet you are.”
Mac bit back a smile. Another first. Getting her out in the middle of nowhere seemed to be loosening her hold on herself where he was concerned.
“I meant that if you lost your balance that I’d be here to catch you, but if you insist I be behind you for other reasons … Well, I don’t have problem with that, either.”
