Are you home? I tried the front
and back door, but both are locked.
I waited about five minutes, turning the car on for the heat.
Nothing.
Then I tried calling. Straight to voicemail.
“Hey Mack, it’s me. Um, Frannie. I’m at your house, I thought we said seven, but maybe I got the time wrong? Anyway, I hope everything’s okay. Give me a call when you can. I guess I’ll … just head back home. I’ve got groceries.”
I drove home slowly, stopping at every yellow light, checking my phone often, and taking a circuitous route. But Mack never got in touch.
Back at home, I unpacked the grocery bags and decided to cook the dinner I’d planned on. When the shells were in the oven, I texted both April and Chloe, asking them if they wanted to come over for dinner. But Chloe was out with friends, and April had already gone home for the night and didn’t feel like making the drive.
I ended up eating alone with the television on, but even a sappy Valentine’s movie on the Hallmark channel didn’t ease my mind. What on earth had happened? Was everyone okay? Why hadn’t he at least called?
By ten o’clock, the dishes were done and the leftovers put away, but I knew there was no way I’d be able to sleep. I was too scared something awful had happened. My dinner was not sitting well in my stomach. Throwing my coat and boots on again, I jumped in my car and drove back to his house.
As I turned onto his street, I noticed lights on in his living room window. Slowing down, I pulled up along the curb and put the car in park. What the hell? Was he home? Why hadn’t he returned my messages?
I got out of the car, hurried up the driveway, and knocked on the back door.
Mack
I was prying the cap off a much-needed beer when I heard the knock. My gut clenched, and I went to answer it.
As expected, it was Frannie. Her usual warm, friendly expression was a mixture of relief and what-the-fuck.
“Hi,” I said quietly. “Come on in.”
She stepped into the house and I shut the door behind her. Crossing her arms over her chest, she eyed the beer bottle in my hand. “What’s going on? Where have you been?”
“At the ER with Winnie,” I said grimly.
Frannie gasped and dropped her hands. “Oh no! Is she okay?”
“Yeah. She fell down the stairs at my sister’s house. Knocked a tooth out and split her lip. Luckily, it was a baby tooth, but …” Shaking my head, I exhaled heavily. “There was a lot of blood and she needed stitches. She was pretty terrified.”
“Oh my God. That’s awful.” Her pretty features contorted in sympathy. “The poor thing. Where is she now?”
“She’s in bed upstairs. We got home about twenty minutes ago.”
“And the other kids?”
“Still at my sister’s in Petoskey. Frannie, I’m so sorry,” I said, pinching the bridge of my nose. My head was pounding. “This day has turned into such a fucking disaster.”
“It’s okay, but … why didn’t you call?”
“I can’t find my fucking phone. I don’t even remember where I had it last. I know my sister called me on it, frantic and crying, and then I jumped in the car, but I don’t know if I had it with me or not. I didn’t even realize it was missing until I was already at the ER.”
“Did you check the car?”
“Yeah, just a few minutes ago. But it was dark in the garage, and I didn’t want to leave Winn alone upstairs too long. I’ll search again tomorrow when it’s light out.”
“Oh, Mack. I’m sorry.” She slipped her arms around my waist and hugged me tight.
“I feel like such an asshole for doing this to you.” I wrapped my arms around her big puffy coat and kissed the top of her head. “This is exactly what I was talking about. This is the shit that’s going to happen.”
“Hush. You’re not an asshole. You’re a dad. I get it. It’s not like you stood me up on purpose.”
“No, but it still sucks. Want to come in for a beer? I know it’s not the night we planned, but now that you’re here, I’d love it if you could stay a little.”
“Sure.” She stepped out of her boots and unzipped her coat, which I hung up for her.
In the kitchen, I grabbed another beer from the fridge and popped the cap off before handing it to her. “It’s so fucking scary when something happens to one of them. There’s nothing worse than seeing your child in pain and being helpless to make it better. And it was worse because I wasn’t there when it happened. I feel so guilty, especially because I’d been so glad to have them out of the house for the night.”
Frannie took a sip from her beer and leaned back against the counter. “You shouldn’t feel guilty, Mack. You take care of them twenty-four-seven. Anybody would be glad for a break.”
“I guess.” Rationally, I knew my unhinged excitement at another all-night fuck-a-thon with Frannie hadn’t caused Winnie’s accident, but something in my gut would not let me be. “Then once she’d been treated and my head was clear, all I could think about was you out there in the cold, knocking on the door and waiting for me to answer. I let you down too.” I set my beer aside and pulled her into my arms. “Do you have frostbite?”
She chuckled. “No, silly. I’m tougher than that.”
I leaned back and tipped her chin up. “I was really looking forward to tonight.”
“Me too. But life happens.” She kissed me and placed a hand on my chest. “I know what I’m getting into, Mack. Okay? I know there will be nights like this, where we have plans that fall through because one of the kids needs you. Yes, it’s disappointing, but I understand, and I still want to be with you. You’re worth it.”
There was no way that could be true, but my feelings for her deepened at hearing her say it. “Thanks.”
My stomach chose that moment to rumble loudly, and she glanced down at it. “Hungry?”
“Starving.”
“Let me get you some dinner.” Setting her beer down, she went over to the refrigerator and pulled it open. “I should have brought leftovers with me. I had a ton of food.”
“What did you make?” I asked, knowing it would be torture to hear the answer.
“Spinach and ricotta stuffed shells with meat sauce.”
I groaned long and loud. “That sounds so fucking good.”
“It was.” She rummaged around in my fridge and took out a few things I’d bought earlier today. “I’ll bring you some this week. I made plenty.”
“You don’t have to make a real dinner for me,” I told her as she set a cutting board on the counter. “I can eat something quick. I’ll stick a frozen pizza in the oven or whatever.”
“No, you won’t.” She began mincing a clove of garlic. “I enjoy cooking. When I’m done with these sliders, if you still want a tasteless frozen pizza, be my guest.”
“Sliders?” I asked, eyeing the roast beef and provolone on the counter as my salivary glands went into overdrive.
“Mmhm. With roast beef and caramelized onions. Can you grab a can of beef broth from the pantry? I’m pretty sure I saw one in there last week.” She turned the oven on to preheat. “Oh, and I’ll write my number down on that notebook by the phone. That way it’s there in case of an emergency.”
As I stood there watching her, my heart began to feel like a jackhammer in my chest. Clearing my throat, I headed for the pantry before I did something crazy like tell her I loved her.
But honest to fucking God, I almost did.
Frannie sat at the dining room table with me while I ate, slowly sipping her beer and telling me about the conversation she’d had with her sister Chloe about starting her own business.
“You already know I think that’s a great idea,” I said between bites of the delectable roast beef sandwiches. “I’ll help you any way I can.”
“Thanks.” She smiled gratefully. “I still have a lot of research to do, but I’ve been working on it here and there over the last few days.”
“Have you ta
lked to your parents?”
She sighed. “I brought it up with my mom and we argued about it. She trotted out her same old arguments about my health and the stress, blah blah blah. In the past, I’ve always backed down, but this time I won’t.”
“What have you asked for in the past?”
She pulled one leg up, wrapping her arms around it and setting her chin on her knee. “Mostly I just wanted to be like other kids. Go to school. Run around at recess. Play soccer.”
I paused with a slider halfway to my mouth. “You didn’t go to school?”
“I was homeschooled.”
“Ah.”
“Later I wanted to go away to college. Backpack around Europe like my sisters had. Do you know that I’ve never even been out of the United States?”
“No?” I asked, surprised.
She shook her head. “No. I have a passport and everything, gathering dust in a drawer.”
I reached for the last slider. “Where would you go first?”
“Hmmm.” She thought for a moment, pressing her lips together. “France. I’ve always wanted to go to Paris, of course, but I’d also like to visit other places. We had a French pastry chef at Cloverleigh years ago, before you came on, and he was from a little town in the Loire Valley that has the castle that inspired the fairy tale of Sleeping Beauty.”
“Oh yeah?”
“Yes. Château d’Ussé,” she said with perfect French pronunciation. “He’d tell me all about it, and I’d dream that one day he was going to pluck me from my humdrum life and whisk me away to his enchanted castle, where we’d live happily ever after.”
I laughed as I stuck the last bite in my mouth. “Didn’t happen?”
Giggling, she shook her head. “Alas, Jean-Gaspard did not prefer women. Eventually, he moved back to France, leaving me alone and heartbroken. But I learned a lot from him.”
“Well, I’m no French pastry chef, but I have total confidence that you can start your own business.” I sat back and tipped up my beer. “Christ, that was good. Thanks for making dinner for me.”
“You’re welcome.” She smiled happily. “The bride from the wedding at Cloverleigh last weekend offered to help me, did I tell you that? She’s a commercial real estate agent, and she said she sometimes invests in female-owned small businesses. When she gets back from her honeymoon, she’s going to get in touch.”
“That’s awesome,” I told her. “See? The universe wants you to do this. All signs point to success.”
She laughed. “Maybe. We’ll see.”
I finished my beer, picked up my plate and took it to the sink. “I should go check on Winnie.”
Frannie rose to her feet too, stifling a yawn. “Yeah, it’s late. I should get going.”
“Wait, don’t go yet. I’ll be right back down.” I touched her back as I passed her on my way to the stairs.
Hurrying up to Winnie’s room, I looked in on her, double checking that she was breathing easily and her lip hadn’t started bleeding again. I picked Ned the Hammerhead from Shedd up from the floor, tucked him in next to her and pressed my lips to her forehead a moment, thanking God again that she was okay. I’d never take the health and safety of anyone I loved for granted. I’d seen too much for that.
Quietly I left her room, leaving the door all the way open and the nightlight on in the hall. I’d sleep in Winnie’s room tonight just in case she woke up and called for me. But first I wanted to say goodnight to Frannie and walk her to her car.
Downstairs, she was loading dishes into the dishwasher. Affection and gratitude for her overwhelmed me. What had I done to deserve the kind of devotion she showed me? I came up behind her and wrapped my arms around her waist, burying my face in her sweet-smelling hair. “You’re the best thing that’s happened to me in a long time, you know that?”
She placed her arms over mine. “That makes me feel good.”
“And I wish you didn’t have to leave.” I kissed her shoulder.
“Me too. But it’s late, and you’ve got—Mack … what are you doing?”
One of my hands had wandered beneath her sweater, and the other had moved between her legs. The feel of her warm bare skin, of the heat beneath my palm, sent blood rushing through me. The crotch of my pants was growing tight. “Don’t go,” I whispered, rubbing her through the tight-fitting denim. “Stay with me a while longer.”
She made one small sound of protest, but stopped when I undid her jeans and slid my hand inside her underwear, stroking her gently with my fingertips. “Oh, God,” she whispered. “That feels so good.”
My other hand found her breast and I filled my palm with her perfect round flesh, then teased her pebbled nipple through the lace of her bra. That’s when I noticed I could see our reflection in the window over the sink. Her eyes were closed and her mouth open as she began to writhe against my hand. By now I knew exactly how she liked to be touched, and I loved making her feel good.
“You want to come for me, don’t you?” I spoke low in her ear. “You want to come for me right here, standing at the window.”
Her eyes flew open and she noticed our images on the glass against the darkness of night. I had no curtains or shade to hide behind.
She struggled to get loose. “Mack, stop,” she whispered frantically. “Someone could see in.”
“If there was anyone in my yard at this time of night, I’d break his fucking neck with my bare hands.” Anchoring her in place with the arm across her chest, I slid two fingers inside her. “You’re not going anywhere until I make you come.”
“But—”
“Shhh.” She was hot and wet, and I fucked her easily with my fingers. I knew from the way her hips were moving that her body wanted it, even as she told me to stop. “I’ll stop as soon as I make that sweet little pussy come all over my fingers,” I told her, rubbing her clit hard and fast. “As soon as I hear you make that sound—the soft little moan you make when I’m fucking you, and my cock is so deep it hurts, and you feel me start to come, and your body—”
Suddenly she cried out, her knees buckling, and she would have gone down if I hadn’t been gripping her so tightly. I did my best to hold her up and keep my fingers moving until I was positive she’d come, while she braced herself against the counter and gasped for air.
“Good girl,” I whispered, keeping her pinned against me. “Now let me taste you.”
In the glass, I saw her eyes pop open and she watched as I brought my fingers to my mouth and sucked them clean. My cock bulged painfully in my jeans. “Fuck,” I growled in her ear. “Do you know how hard you make me? Do you want to feel it?”
“Yes,” she whispered. “Please.”
I forgot all about my promise to move away from the window and yanked off her pants, and then mine. Taking my hot, swollen dick in my hand, I rubbed the tip over her plump little ass, then pushed inside her, making both of us moan.
“Fuck yes,” I muttered through clenched teeth as I grabbed her hips and watched myself slide in deep.
Frannie fell forward but kept her legs together, which made her feel even tighter around me. She whimpered and clutched at the edge of the counter as I fucked her harder and faster than I’d intended to, but her ass was so perfect and her pussy so wet and her sounds were making me crazy and the taste of her was still on my tongue and in no time at all I was erupting inside her with the force of a nuclear blast. I felt young and powerful and virile—fucking invincible.
When the spasms subsided, I pitched forward, covering her back with my chest. My pulse was thundering. My body rippled with aftershocks.
“Oh my God.” Frannie shivered. “That was … intense.”
“Yeah.”
“And I can’t believe we did that in your window,” she whispered, bending forward so far her cheek was resting on the edge of the sink. “Someone could have seen.”
“No one saw,” I assured her.
“What about Mrs. Gardner?”
I laughed. “She’d probably be thrilled. She�
�s always threatening to set me up with a nice young lady that works at her beauty salon.”
“She is?”
“Yeah. She tells me all the time how she was the one who got Stella and Woods together. She’s pretty smug about it.” I carefully tried to disengage myself from her without making a mess, but didn’t have much luck. “Sorry. Let me get you a towel.”
“It’s okay,” she said, scooping up her pants and hurrying for the bathroom. “I just need a minute.”
While she was in the bathroom, I pulled my jeans back on and turned off the kitchen light. Standing there in the silent dark, I got a little nervous that I’d been too rough and demanding with Frannie. Hopefully she wasn’t traumatized. I wasn’t even sure what had possessed me to say that stuff to her in the first place—I’d never really gotten off on sexual power play. But she brought it out in me. Maybe it was the age difference or something.
Or maybe I was just an asshole. Shit.
The bathroom door opened and she tiptoed into the darkened kitchen. “Hi.”
She looked so innocent and sweet, I felt even worse. “Hi. You okay?”
“Of course.”
“Was I too mean?”
“Mean?” She laughed. “No. Why would you say that?”
“I don’t know.” I rubbed the back of my neck. “Because you said to stop and I didn’t. I don’t want to be that guy.”
She shook her head. “You’re not that guy, believe me.”
“Good.” I pulled her into my arms, loath to see her go.
“Actually, I like that you got bossy with me. It was hot.” She paused. “Although you owe quite a bit of money to that swear jar over there.”
I twisted her around in my arms, binding her arms tight against her body so she couldn’t escape, and whispered in her ear. “Hush, little girl. If you want to be with me, you’ll have to put up with my dirty mouth.”
She giggled. “You know I like it.”
I groaned. “God, I wish you could stay over. There are so many things I want to do to you.”
Irresistible: Cloverleigh Farms Standalone Page 13