Page 16 of Mac
"No, why?"
"Don't see youhanging out drinking much anymore."The club treasurer pulled out a chair and sat next to Mac, spinning the padded desk chair back to face Mac."Want to talk?"
Mac stared at Ruger for several long seconds without speaking.He sipped his scotch and set the glass back down.
"What makes you think talking will help?"Mac asked once they were the only two left in the room.
"I don't.It may or it may not, but you won't know unless you try."Ruger smirked, twisting side to side in his chair like a teenager.Mac turned away, staring at his glass for the space of several breaths.He hoped Ruger would give up and leave but he didn't.He just sat there smirking and twisting.
"Have you ever regretted getting involved with Krissi?"
Ruger frowned.After a moment he twisted the seat to face the table.He took a deep breath and opened his mouth then closed it without saying anything.He spun his chair to face Mac.
"I'm not going to lie.I've had moments, fleeting moments, of regret.But they've never lasted longer than it took to think the words."He took a deep breath and started again."I've thought it.But as soon as the words form in my head, I know that while somethings might be easier, they wouldn't be better, not for me, not for her.I take it you're asking because you found a girl?"Ruger was quiet a moment then spoke again."Or a guy.Either is good.I'm not judging."
That made Mac laugh.He shook his head and resisted the urge to smack the younger man."It's a girl.I just met her but..."he trailed off and shook his head again.How did he describe Elyse in terms that wouldn't make Ruger think she was just another piece of ass, or worse, that Mac was putting her on some kind of pedestal?
"Hmm...Have you talked to her yet?"
Mac scowled at Ruger.How was it the guy was both insightful in ways you'd never expect, yet still asked such dumb questions?
"Of course I've talked to her.What kind of green behind the ears fool do you think I am?"Mac shook his head and rolled his eyes."I have to be careful.She's my neighbor.The last thing I need is things to go sideways then I'll have a hostile neighbor, one who could cause trouble for years to come."
Ruger was quiet.He stared at Mac until Mac grew uncomfortable under the scrutiny.
"What?"he finally asked, more than a little irritable.
"When's the last time you had a girl?"
Mac felt his eyes go wide.Was Ruger actually asking that?
"I don't mean sex.We all do that.What I mean is when is that last time you had a girl you called your own.When was the last time you were in a relationship?Not took advantage of one of the club whores or picked up some chick for a one-night stand."
Wow.He'd missed the mark on that one.Mac tried to remember the last time he'd had a relationship, a real one, with a girl.When had he last had a woman he called his own?The last woman he could remember calling his own was Jennifer.But that had been.No way.He had to have had a woman of his own since then.
"That long huh?"Ruger's smirk grew until Mac wanted to knock it off with his fist.
"Let's just say it's been a while."Mac didn't want to admit it had been more than half his life since he'd been in a real relationship with a woman.He'd devoted himself to the club.To his brothers.To building his business.He hadn't had time or energy for relationships, and he hadn't been interested in them if he had.None of those things had changed, well, not much.The club didn't need him as much.He was one of the older members now, and while he still helped out and did things for the club, the younger brothers, the newer ones, like Ruger, Gizmo, Dumbass and even the prospects, did more.And then there was his business.It wasn't struggling anymore.He had mechanics, even someone who came in and helped with the books.Okay that was Krissi, but still.He didn't have to be there twelve or fourteen hours a day to make sure everything got done, and to his specifications, not anymore.
And then there was Elyse.She wasn't just the average woman.Mac couldn't tell you what it was about her, but something made him want more.It was her, he was certain, and not just that he was getting older and wondering where his life was going.He knew where it was going.Where it had been going for the last twenty years, or nearly.
Damn.Now he had to learn how to be in a relationship.He tried to remember what had happened with Jennifer, why they had broken up and what had happened.It had been a long time ago.Before he'd come to Tucson, which meant it was before he'd joined the Souls.Crap, it had been before he'd joined the Marshalls service, back when he'd still been with the Army.
Mac sat in the conference room, staring into his glass and trying to remember.He was barely aware of Ruger standing and leaving him to his thoughts.
Maybe he was too old to figure this out and he should just walk away now?But was he that old?Did he feel that old?Sure, he had mornings where it was harder to get out of bed than ever before, at least when he hadn't been hurt for some reason but that didn't mean he was ready for the grave just yet.He wasn't too old to learn new things.He wasn't ready for the club, nor the Marshalls, to retire him.Hell no.He still had a lot of good years left.
If he looked at the average age of men in this country, he still had more than thirty years to go.He didn't regret the way he'd spent the first forty-five years, but the idea of living the next thirty, or maybe more, without someone he could count on, well, aside from his brothers.There was no doubt they'd be there for him if they could be, but there was something different about having a woman around.Something that made things seem, he wasn't sure, fuller maybe?
The idea of going out hunting for a woman to round out his life, that had no appeal for him, but Elyse?She was appealing.Just about everything about her appealed to Mac.For a moment he couldn't help but wonder how she'd feel pressed against him.Would her curves fit against him like she'd been made for him?He already knew her heady scent made every thought but her disappear from his head.He wondered if she'd taste as appealing as she smelled.Would her touch make the rest of the world disappear, at least for a moment?Mac drained the last of the scotch from his glass and left it on the table as he picked up the bottle and carried it up to his room here.If he was going to stay here, not go home, and not knock on her door and kiss the breath out of her, then he was going to need at least another drink, if not several.
CHAPTER10
It didn't take Elyse more thanthirty minutes or so to get everything cleaned up and the kitchen back in order.That done, she took a quick shower, so she had less to do in the morning, then picked up her book and settled into her library.It had originally been a bedroom, but she'd lined the wall with bookshelves and found some of the most comfortable chairs she'd ever sat in.They were even more comfortable than the ones in her favorite reading nook in the store.She didn't care about matching furniture in her house and to her, that was part of the charm.Every seat had a lamp nearby, and she'd had the overhead light replace with a fan, to keep the place more comfortable and help with the atmosphere.
This was her favorite room in the house.And her house was decorated to suit her and no one else, so saying this was her favorite was saying something.
As she read, Elyse pulled the throw from the back of the chair and wrapped it around herself.It wasn't cold, but the small blanket wrapped tight was like being hugged and it was one of her favorite ways to read.
