Always my protector.It was the truth.
“Remember that time we went joy riding in Mr. Craig’s old-ass Cadillac?”
“That goddamn boat was impossible to maneuver,” I said with a laugh.
“So what I’m hearing is that he was always a heathen?” T-Bone teased.
“Nah,” she shook her head. “He was always responsible and sweet. I thought all guys were like that and I was really fucking disappointed when I realized he was a unicorn.” Hergaze locked with mine across the garage and something shifted inside my chest. The heat mixed with the sadness of all she’d gone through and the anger over all our years apart had turned into something else.
She belongs here.
She held her own with my brothers all day, giving them shit and taking it like a champ. Macy deserved so much more than the world had given her, better than survival mode relationships and learning to accept disappointment as normalcy. “A unicorn, huh?”
She nodded, her expression a dare. “Yep.”
“Then I guess it’s lucky for both of us that you found me.”
I tried to focus on work after that, but getting lost in an engine or sliding under a car only kept my hands busy while my brain drifted back to my bedroom. Her mouth and hands on me, the way she’d unraveled my resolve in seconds.
How good and how perfect it had been.
Sledge elbowed me when I torqued a bolt too hard. “You good, man?”
“Yeah,” I muttered. “I’m fine.”
“Right,” he said with a smirk.The bastard.
By the time the afternoon wound down and my shift ended, my patience was shot and my restraint was hanging by a thread. Macy leaned against a workbench, chatting with Hollywood like they were old friends. Like this wasn’t a temporary stop on her way someplace else.
And I realized something terrifying and inevitable.
This wasn’t just a bubble anymore.
It was a life.
Chapter Sixteen
Macy
Istared at myself in the bathroom mirror like I was about to do something reckless. Which was fair because I was pretty sure that what I was working myself up to do was reckless. Reckless AF, some might say.
Steam fogged the glass, curling around the edges where I’d wiped it clean with my hand. My reflection looked calmer and more resolved than I felt. My hair was damp from the shower, clinging to my flushed skin, and my eyes bright with nerves and desire. I hardly recognized myself.
You can do this. Just go to him and say the words. Please fuck me.
I grimaced.
Or should I say please make love to me, instead?
No that wasn’t quite right. I loved Drew, of course I did and I always had but that wasn’t what this was about. Even if there was a small part of me that wanted it to be more than a fuck. More than a small part. But I pushed those thoughts away. This isn’t about promises or declarations, this was about want and need, about choosing Drew. About finally asking for something instead of waiting to see what I was allowed to have. This was for me.
Just for me.
I had already taken a hot shower, removed hair from all the inconvenient places and slathered my skin in body lotionthat smelled like a summer fantasy. I stepped into a pair of red lace panties, one of the pairs Drew had bought, and tried not to feel self-conscious about the way half my ass cheeks were exposed.
Still, wearing them made me feel sexy and desirable. Heat pooled low in my belly, and I knew I was ready. I just had to act the part now.
You can do this. You want this.
