“I received this house as payment for a debt that was owed to me.”
“What kind of debt?”
“Somebody who owed me a lot of money for a shipment he was supposed to keep track of, but it was stolen before he could deliver it to me.” My breath caught. What could someone owe him that was worth the cost of an entire house?
“What kind of shipment?” I asked hesitantly.
Mack growled. “Jonna, don’t make me tell you. Please.”
I turned my back to him and he immediately wrapped himself around me.
“Parts. A lot of expensive car parts.”
“No kidding.” I snorted and hugged the pillow closer to my chest. “They must have been quite expensive in order for this house to be offered up as compensation.”
“Look, I’ve done a lot of shit I’m not proud of, but I’m trying like hell to get it all behind me.”
“So in the meantime, you kick someone out of their home? Yep, that sounds like something a person on the up-and-up would do.” I scoffed, and Mack let out another long breath.
“When I was handed the deed to this house, I took it because I knew it didn’t really mean anything to the guy. He flips houses as a way to make money when he’s not doing jobs for me. When I saw this place, I don’t know, something about it drew me in. I decided to keep it instead of selling like I’d first planned.” I couldn’t disagree with him. It was a great house, however, the reason he acquired it didn’t sit well with me.
“Mack, what you’re doing is dangerous.”
“I know. There was a time in my life where I didn’t have a choice. My father was a piece of shit drunk who could never keep a job and my mother couldn’t seem to stand up for herself and leave him. She worked two jobs and was hardly ever around, so my brother and I pretty much raised ourselves.” My heart ached for him. I was lucky to have such a loving and supportive family, sometimes I forgot that not everyone was as fortunate as me. I felt like such a brat for not always appreciating it.
“My brother and I figured out pretty early how to hustle suckers into racing us for money. At first it was just to help keep the lights on in the house and food on the table. We’d find our marks at gas stations, auto parts stores, or sometimes car shows. After a while, it wasn’t hard to hustle people out of all kinds of other things, too. It was cool at first, we had so much money we couldn’t spend it all, but we got greedy and started getting involved in things that reached much deeper than we realized. Now, we’ve got all kinds of heat on us. This is why we need to back away before one or both of us gets locked up for a long time.”
I twisted in his arms to face him. I thought I would feel better if he’d opened up to me, but all it did was make me worry even more.
“Jonna, I’m doing my best to get my shit together. You asked if I still lived in both places, and the answer is no. I don’t go to the Charleston house much anymore. It was my parents’ house, and I’ve always hated that place. I plan to get it sold as soon as I can. Sorry I upset you. I’m so used to always being on guard that my first instinct is to evade.”
I had so many questions I wanted to ask, yet I was terrified to know the answers to them. I was way out of my league, but at the same time I couldn’t make myself leave this bed. The way his body felt next to me seemed worth all of the uncertainty. It was like being surrounded in quicksand. The more my heart struggled to flee, the deeper it settled in.
“Thank you, Mack, for sharing that with me.”
“You’re not just some girl I fuck, Jonna. I’ll do better.” I nodded, feeling a little choked up by his words. I touched my lips to his, and he winced. That’s when I saw the slight swelling of his bottom lip and tiny red teeth marks. I gasped and sat up on my elbow to look at his mouth.
“I’m sorry.” I lowered my face and lightly kissed each nick. Mack shrugged.
“Aside from that part, the rest was kind of hot.” He laughed lightly, but then his expression grew serious. “We didn’t use anything.” My eyes went wide with shock. He was right. I’d gotten caught up in the heat of the moment and I’d forgotten about that part.
“I’m on the pill and I’m clean,” I said, and Mack nodded.
“I’m clean, too. I get checked regularly, plus I’ve never done it before without protection.” He brushed curls away from my face, and I felt my body relax.
“Okay.” I smiled at him and lowered my head to rest on his shoulder.
“Okay.” He wrapped me tightly in his arms. “Are you always like that when you’re angry? I have to remember to piss you off more.”
I slapped his stomach, and he coughed out a laugh. “Don’t you dare, Mack King.”
“Oh, baby, you’d be surprised at the things I’d dare to do.” Before I could reply, he rolled me over and was covering my mouth with his. Anything else I’d wanted to say was forgotten.
Chapter Twelve
I woke the next morning alone in Mack’s huge bed. There were no curtains covering the large windows, and bright sunlight filled the room. I sat up and rubbed my eyes before sliding out of bed. On the way to the bathroom, I stopped to admire the breathtaking view outside. The blue water sparkled in the distance while the trees swayed in the morning breeze. A large black iron gate surrounded the perimeter of Mack’s property and separated his backyard from several feet of tall grass and sand that led to water. There was a wooden dock, and anchored to it was a cabin cruiser. Not only did he have two houses, but also a boat? Unease settled in the pit of my stomach.
This wasn’t a millionaire romance where having two houses and a small yacht was expected. A man like Mack King, with no known occupation, didn’t acquire assets like these legitimately. Drew’s words filled my head, “All you need to know is that Mack King is a criminal and all of his shit will catch up to him sooner than later.” I pushed away those thoughts and turned from the window.
Mack must have brought my overnight bag upstairs because it was lying on the floor at the foot of the bed. I grabbed it and went to the bathroom. When I was done showering and getting dressed I went downstairs in search of him. The house was very quiet. Since it was relatively empty, my footsteps echoed off the walls as I padded barefoot from one room to the other.
“Mack?” I called into the emptiness but didn’t get a response. I opened the kitchen door and stepped outside. I heard music coming from the detached garage several feet away, so I made my way across the stone path to the open door.
“Mack?” I hollered again and stuck my head in and looked around. That’s where I found him leaning over the open hood of his Ford Shelby, wearing a white T-shirt and jeans. He straightened, stepped backward, and used the bottom of his shirt to wipe his brow, his delicious rippled abdomen in full view briefly before the shirt was dropped back into place.
“Right here,” he answered as he reached in his back pocket and grabbed a hand towel, then used it to wipe the grease smudges on his forearms. His black hair was tousled as if he’d just gotten out of bed and didn’t bother to do anything with it. The morning stubble on his jaw gave him a roughness that was very sexy. I swallowed the drool threatening to seep from the corner of my mouth and shifted my focus around the garage where I saw a total of three cars. A black pickup truck, the red Ford Mustang GT he used for racing, and the vintage black Ford Shelby, but the red definitely stood out among the black cars.
“Morning,” I said as I stepped into the garage and walked over to get a better look around. I weaved my way through the cars and equipment while staring around the space with my mouth agape. I thought my family’s garage was well stocked, but this place was impressive with mounted racks from the ceiling, an alignment machine, a four-post lift, and an entire wall covered with everything one could ever need to work on a car.
“Wow,” I breathed. It was clear where he’d spent most of his time during the month since he’d moved in. His house was barely furnished; however, the garage was fully stocked. “Ouch,” I yelped as I stubbed my toe on something heavy and solid on the flo
or. Before I could reach down to soothe the hurt Mack was instantly in front of me and lifting me up, and at the same time shoving aside items on the countertop.
“What are you doing in here with bare feet?” he scolded me as he sat me down on the elevated surface and lifted my foot to inspect the damage. When he seemed satisfied that my injury wasn’t serious, he placed a soft kiss to my sore toe. Heat gathered in the pit of my belly, and the muscles between my legs clenched. He gave me a wicked grin that said he knew exactly what he’d done before lowering my foot. He parted my thighs and stepped between them and wrapped his arms around me. He smelled of motor oil mixed with a hint of tobacco, and I breathed him all in. He ran his nose up the side of my neck and inhaled me too. With the tip of his tongue, he licked the area of skin at my pulse before lightly biting down. I threw my head back, exposing more of my neck to him.
“Sail” by AWOLNATION began playing through the mounted speakers on the wall. I slid my hand under the back of Mack’s T-shirt, craving the feel of his hot skin. My body ached for him, even though it had only been a few hours since he was last inside of me. He lifted my legs, and I wrapped them around his waist as he pushed up the hem of my shirt, exposing my black lace bra. With quick fingers, he undid the clasp in the front and my breasts fell free. I gasped as he sucked my nipple into his mouth while massaging the other breast. I ran my fingers through his hair and held him close, loving the feel of his tongue swirling and teasing me, before he pulled the tight point between his teeth causing me to cry out. He repeated the same delicious torture to my other nipple as I moaned his name. The loose skirt I was wearing fell away from my thighs making my matching black lace thong visible. Mack slid his fingers along the edge of the lace before dipping two fingers inside. It was all I could do to not pull a repeat of last night and push him against the car and fuck him senseless again. This time I knew he was enjoying the control.
He lifted me off the counter, and I placed my feet down carefully before he spun me around, flipped up the material of my skirt, and gave my exposed backside a slap.
“Oh, my . . .” I gasped as he smoothed a hand over the area he’d just hit before placing a smack to the other cheek. “Ah,” I cried out. He then got to his knees and pressed kisses to both cheeks as his fingers tugged down my panties. His tongue ran along my skin, from the top of my hips, to the round globe of my ass, and finally along the wetness that was already trailing down my thigh.
“You’re so perfect,” he murmured as he licked his way up my inner thigh and along the seams of my wet opening. “So fucking beautiful.” I pressed my palms against the counter to steady myself.
“Mack,” I moaned. “Please.” My plea coming out as a whimper. While the torture was divine, I really needed to feel him inside of me.
“What do you want, baby?” His voice was husky as he continued to swirl his tongue around every place except where I needed him the most.
“You. I want you. Inside of me. Now.”
“Anything you want, Jonna. You can have anything you want from me.” My heart lurched, and I forced myself not to think about what he could mean by those words. All I wanted, and the only thing I needed, was him.
I heard him push down his pants, and when his warm thighs were against mine, he lifted my hips higher. I arched my back as he rubbed the head of his erection along my opening, and I tried to push myself back onto him. The wait was agonizing as he pushed in a few inches and then pulled out. He did this twice more, going a little deeper each time, but not fully to the place I desperately wanted him.
“Please, Mack. Harder,” I begged. “I want all of you.”
“Then take it.” He grabbed my hips and plunged all the way in. I grabbed ahold of the counter and screamed. It seemed impossible to feel this needy for him, but I couldn’t get enough. My inner muscles clenched down tightly on his cock. I held myself steady while he pumped into me. His pace was hard and measured as if he knew just where to stop, which way to move his hips to make sure I felt him with every movement, and in every place that ached for him. Release found me rather quickly, and I didn’t even try to prolong it. I came hard and fast, my muscles clenching tightly around him, ringing out every blissful sensation. Mack rested his front against my back as he groaned and stiffened behind me with my name falling from his lips over and over.
I turned around and stared at him. His eyes were lazy and his expression relaxed. It was the way he always looked after sex, and I loved it.
“That look.” He pulled me to him and brushed my curls behind my ear as he stared into my eyes.
“What look?” I asked meeting his gaze. I didn’t know I had a look, too.
“That one where you look at me like”—he paused and turned his head away—“like I’m somethin’ special.” He shifted his eyes to stare at the wall behind me.
“But you are, Mack.”
When he looked back, I could see he wanted to believe me. His lips turned up at one corner, then he brought his mouth to mine and kissed me tenderly. I let out a long sigh and allowed my body to melt into his. When the kissed ended so did that moment we’d just had. He became slightly withdrawn as he stepped back to zip up his pants.
“Are you hungry?” I blinked several times and tried to focus on his question. I actually was hungry, and as if on cue, my stomach growled.
Mack chuckled. “I’ll take that as a yes.” When I nodded, he grabbed my hand and guided me out of the garage.
Chapter Thirteen
We didn’t put Mack’s new kitchen to use; there wasn’t anything in his refrigerator except beer and leftover takeout containers. Instead we went out for breakfast. We got into his Ford Shelby and drove to a place not far from his house and right near the Key City ferry dock. In fact, Mack’s house was just a little farther down the bay. It was walking distance on a nice day, however, he wasn’t the kind of guy you would see taking a twenty-minute morning stroll into town.
Mack seemed distracted during the entire drive. He was constantly checking his rearview mirror and even turned almost fully in his seat to have a good look around when we’d reached a stoplight.
“Is everything okay?” I asked, unable to ignore how nervous he was making me feel.
“Yeah, yeah,” he said before shifting the car into gear and taking off as soon as the light turned green.
When we reached the restaurant, he asked the waitress to seat us in a booth away from the window, and Mack sat opposite of me so that he faced the room. I attempted to make small talk after we ordered our food, but he seemed disinterested and only gave short answers, so I stopped talking. I noticed the way his eyes would catch sight of something and stare for a long moment before he would focus his attention back on me. We ate in silence, and the food was tasteless to me. This wasn’t the man I’d just spent the last twelve hours with. It was hard not to feel like I was the reason for his behavior. Was he worried that we’d be seen together? While I was mostly sure that wasn’t the case, part of me couldn’t discount the idea completely, so I decided to get it out in the open.
After putting down my fork, I took a sip of my orange juice, then another sip before I felt my voice rise to the surface, and I cleared my throat.
“Mack . . .” That’s when his phone rang.
“It’s about time,” he barked into the phone and turned his face away. “Did you get my text? Yeah . . . All morning . . . How the hell am I supposed to know?” The conversation continued with one-sided answers, and I had no clue what he was talking about. When the waitress arrived with the bill, Mack threw some cash on the table and grabbed my hand as we exited the restaurant. He motioned for me to get into the car while he walked a few feet away, lit a cigarette, and paced while talking on his phone and looking around.
Crossing my arms, I rested back against the seat and waited. The car was immaculate. The leather seats were polished, the chrome shined, and not a speck of dirt on the floors. I ran my fingers along the smooth contours of the dash admiring the beauty of
the car, and that’s when the glove box popped open and out poured a pile of colorful material. It took my brain several seconds to comprehend that a mountain of panties just fell onto my lap. Red, black, white, and turquoise panties were everywhere, but what really caught my attention were the pale pink satin panties I thought I’d lost at the hotel. Feeling enraged, I shoved them all to the ground. I pulled open the door and stormed over to Mack, waving my stolen panties at him.
“What the fuck, Mack!” I screamed. He whirled around, his eyes growing wide as he watched me approach. Then his stare went to what I was holding in my hand, and his face went pale. He said something quickly into the phone and then ended the call.
“Jonna, hang on a minute. I—”
“Collect panties like some kind of perv?”
“No, it’s not like that.”
“Okay, so do you wear women’s panties then?” My voice reached a higher octave as I tried not to go into hysterics. Oh God please say no. Please don’t let him be into wearing women’s underwear.
“Fuck no,” he shot back and actually had the nerve to look offended.
“Well, if you feel insulted by that imagine, how I feel finding my panties hanging out with a group of other panties. So I’ll repeat. What the fuck, Mack?”
He ran a hand over his face and stared at the ground, then he mumbled something I didn’t hear.
“What?” I said, wanting him to repeat himself.
“It’s a superstition thing,” he said a little louder.
“Explain.” I put a hand on my hip and tapped my foot expectantly.
“It was something stupid Brando and I started doing. We were young and getting our first taste of women. At first the panties were a bragging thing. We couldn’t keep them in the house because our mother would find them, so we started keeping them in the glove box of our cars. When I first got the old Shelby it was all I had, so I drove it every day and raced with it. Except it wasn’t very fast. Then without thinking I put a pair of panties in there one night after a hookup and won a race that night. Brando is superstitious so he had me convinced that it was the reason I’d won. So after that I kept collecting them, and I kept winning.”
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