Page 60 of The Keeper
“I’m sitting in my car in the parking lot outside of Target.”
“Can you meet me somewhere?”
“Anywhere,” he responds, lightning fast, like he has nowhere else in the world he wants to be other than next to me, wherever I am.
Fifteen minutes later, I pull my car into a space in front of the Glendale Recreation Centre. When I walk towards the main building, I can see Mack in a secluded corner, leaning on the backrest of a bench seat on the other side of a fountain.
I should notice what perfect weather we are having, or the cute kids running around on the grass in the park across the street, or even the fact that the water in the fountain is a really strange color blue. But the only thing I can focus on is the man over there that I want next to me and the steps I need to take towards him to make that happen.
When I’m within a few feet of him, he looks up from his phone. His eyes flicker over my face and down my body and then back up to meet my eyes again. But in just those few seconds I’ve already eaten up the pavement between us and I’m slinging my arms around his neck and pulling him close to me.
“I just want to be clear about something,” I whisper into his ear.
His hands brace on my back, his hold strong, his head tilted down and mouth resting on the space between my shoulder and neck.
“I don’t miss out on things because I have to keep us a secret.” I lean back in his hold, just enough to look into his eyes. “I’ve gone on first dates with five guys since I started college. Things happen around me that I don’t care about. I was never really invested or interested, so I’ve never considered myself to be someone that’s missing out. I had other things to focus on.”
My hands move to his neck, my thumbs reaching and lightly touching that day-old scruff on his jawline that I love so much.
“But you, I care about. With you, I’d be missing out.” I lean closer and lightly press my lips to his. “I’m invested.” Kiss. “And interested.” Kiss. Kiss. “And my focus is on you.”
Mack’s eyes search mine for just a second before his lips tick up just slightly, and he presses our mouths together again. They part on an exhale, and it feels like we are breathing assurance into each other’s bodies.
My hands stay gripped on his neck and my fingers twine into the short pieces of hair I can reach. I hold his face to mine because I want this glorious kiss to go on and on. And on.
“I’ve never felt like this,” I whisper, as his kisses begin moving along my jawline and down my neck. “Never. About anyone.”
“Me either.”
He rests his forehead against mine, but keeps his eyes open. He stares into my eyes as his hands drift, slowly but with confidence, down my sides, coasting over my hips, and then back to my ass.
He grips me tightly and then walks me backwards a few steps until I feel my back pressed on scratchy stucco wall of the Recreation Centre building. His mouth returns to my neck, where he licks and sucks, causing me to moan and squirm.
I can feel him pressed up against me, hard and firm, and I drop my hand between us almost out of instinct.
“Fuck,” he hisses out as my hand rubs against him through his jeans. He moans and rolls his hips, his head falling back just slightly, his teeth biting into his bottom lip. I love that I can do this to him, that I can make him swear and moan and pant for me. It’s empowering and I almost get just as turned on as when he’s focused on me.
But then he’s stepping back and away from my body, and I’m instantly hit with the cool air around us in the shade of the building. Then, just as quickly, I’m flooded with heat as my blood flushes my neck and cheeks.
Mack adjusts his jeans and rubs a hand over his face as he takes deep, long breaths.
“As amazing as that was, we should probably cool it on the physical stuff, right?” he asks.
I swallow - or, I try to swallow but I end up making an awkward gulping sound instead - and nod, still trying to catch my own breath.
“Sorry if I pushed too far,” I say, my voice barely above a whisper.
Mack laughs, more to himself than at me.
“RJ, you could never… and I meannever…push us too far,” he says, taking steps back towards me and wrapping me in his arms. “I just want to make sure you realize I’m in this because of who you are and how I feel when I’m around you. Not just because I want in your pants.”
“But it’s still alittlebit about getting in my pants, right?” I ask with a cheeky grin.
He laughs again and kisses the top of my head.
“You are too much.” He steps back and takes my hand. “Lets get you home, miss.”
I smile up at him and grip his hand tightly as he walks me back to my car.
