Seizing Mack: A Contemporary Love Story (Covendale Book 3)
Page 18
Epilogue
~ Mack ~
One year later...
Mack looked over the top of her tablet at her new husband, still somewhat shocked by the last quarter’s numbers. There was actually a waiting list for full memberships, and Booty Camp classes were booked for the next six months.
Nick was finishing off the last of the organic, gluten-free pizza — a new recipe Mack was considering for her latest nutritional guide — and holding the crust just out of reach of Kato. The lack of focus that had kept the big brute from being a professional drug sniffer didn’t seem to be an issue now. The dog’s concentration was absolute.
Kato was now a permanent part of their family. Nick insisted that adopting the goofy (but incredibly cuddly) furbaby would give him peace of mind for those times when he was working late, but Mack knew better. Nick had an ever bigger, softer heart than she did. She’d known from the moment Nick first brought Kato through the door that he’d found his forever home.
“You have to give it to him now,” she said, waving her hand at the dog. Each time Nick moved his hand, Kato’s eyes followed as though hypnotized. “Look, he’s sporting a total ear boner.”
Nick paused and shot her a disbelieving look. “Ear boner?”
“Yeah,” she nodded pointing to the way Kato’s ears pointed toward the ceiling. “See how they’re sticking right up like that? That’s called an ear boner.”
“You’re making that up.”
“Am not.”
“That is not a real thing.”
“Of course, it is. Google it.”
He thumbed his iPhone, doing just that. “Son of a bitch.”
“Doubter,” she smirked. “Go on, give him the crust at least. There is another pie in the oven for you.”
Nick tossed Kato the crust and stood. “Shit!” he exclaimed, slipping on his first step forward.
“It’s your own fault. If you hadn’t teased him like that, he wouldn’t have drooled so much.”
“Seriously?”
“Yeah. It’s like black ice. You don’t see it until it’s too late.” She reached over and grabbed a towel off the counter and tossed it to him. Nick grumbled a little as he dropped the rag on the floor and wiped with his foot, but Mack caught the discreet scratch behind the ear that he gave the dog.
“Speaking of hidden pitfalls, have you heard from your stepsister lately?”
“Yeah, she’s still pissed that I didn’t send her a housewarming gift.”
“She tell you that?”
“Sort of. She sent me this.” Mack held up her phone to show him the series of symbols that comprised Delilah’s latest text: (_*_)
“What is that?”
She grinned. “The emoticon for an asshole.”
Proving that karma was alive and well in the world, Dee and Kent Emerson had moved in together. The Playboy and the Princess. No one had seen that one coming, but no one was complaining, either. With Dee and Kent focused on each other, everyone else could breathe a sigh of relief.
“Yep. She’s pissed.” Nick pulled her into his arms and kissed her long and hard. “Your dad cut her off, for real this time?”
“Yep. He said since she’s living with Kent, she’s his problem now, and Catherine actually backed him up. After Dee’s juvenile stunt last year, I think Catherine’s finally seen the light.”
“You mean when Dee called her mother feigning some crisis to keep Catherine from having Thanksgiving dinner with us?”
“Uh-huh. Dad told me that Catherine genuinely regretted not coming, especially when he told her how much fun we all had without her.” Mack grinned. “Though it probably worked out for the best. Catherine has a gift for making people uncomfortable.”
“Well, all I can say is, Kent and Delilah deserve each other,” he said.
“That they do,” she agreed. “But you know what? I hope they both find happiness. As long as it’s not anywhere around us.”
“What about you?”
“What about me?” she asked.
“Are you happy, Mrs. Benning?”
Mack crawled up her new husband’s body, wrapping her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist. “Deliriously.”
“Yeah?”
“Oh, yeah. You?”
“Yeah.”
“Christ, you’re bare,” he muttered running his hands along her strong, shapely thighs. He held her with one arm, using the other to push down his sweats and free himself. Mack wasn’t the only one who went commando around the house. It proved convenient for when the urge to make love to his beautiful wife surged, whenever and wherever they were.
She nipped his bottom lip and stroked his hard shaft with her sex, doing some kind of body rolling motion she picked up in one of those stripper classes. “’Cause I think I could make you happier...”
Nick laughed as he shifted her onto the counter and slid home. “I doubt it. But I’d sure as hell like to see you try...”
Thanks for reading Nick and Mack’s story
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Abbie
If you liked this book...
... and enjoy hefty doses of sarcasm and humor with your sexy romance, then you might also like my snarky romantic comedy, The Realist:
“EARTH TO RISSA.” TRAVIS’ deep voice rolled through me like a wave, tugging me away from my reflections. His shortened address felt warm, intimate. No one had ever called me that before. “If you’re finished ogling me, I’m going to head back to my place.”
I felt the heat rise in my face. Yes, I had been ogling him, but I’d zoned out for the last couple of minutes. I don’t know what bothered me more – the fact that he’d caught me in the act or that I’d wasted several minutes of prime ogling time.
“I’m done,” I said casually, waving my hand in a shooing gesture. “You can go now.”
He grinned cockily. “Lasagne.”
“What?”
“That’s what I want for dinner. Lasagne. With lots of meat and that chunky homemade sauce of yours.”
I blinked, looking at him blankly.
“Our deal,” he reminded me. “You get manual labor. I get food. Your roof is fixed. And I’m hungry for lasagna.”
“Right,” I nodded. I knew that. I did.
He leaned down and petted Ripper, who had become my shadow. The scent of clean male sweat and heat-activated deodorant tickled my nose and I discreetly filled my lungs with it.
“I’ll be back around sundown. And Rissa?”
“Yeah?”
“Don’t stare at my ass while I’m walking away. It’s objectifying.”
I openly gaped at him, but he just winked and strutted – yes, strutted – out of my kitchen like a big male peacock.
I showed him, though. I stared at his ass the whole way.
Praise for The Realist...
“I loved this book. Loved the characters and the way the story was told. There was no bad guy, etc. just these two and how they come together. Great read. Very entertaining and I definitely recommend it. Feel good when you are finished reading!!” ~ Amazon Top 1000 Reviewer
“It was written with a lot of humor and quite a bit of dry wit. I loved it. I don't [know] if the characters were taken from real life, b
ut if they were, I would like to meet them. They are my kind of folk. Wonderful and very entertaining.” ~ Amazon Reviewer
About the Author
Abbie Zanders is the author of more than 35 published romance novels ranging from contemporary to paranormal and everything in between. She promises her readers two things: happily ever afters, always, and no cliffhangers, ever.
Born and raised in the mountains of Northeastern Pennsylvania, she has degrees in Computer Science and Mathematics. She worked for more than twenty-five years as a software engineer, designing and writing financial applications, though she has also held second jobs as a deli clerk, pub waitress, restaurant baker, and secretary that she draws upon to give real-life dimension to her characters.
Abbie has been crafting stories since elementary school, though she has only recently decided to start sharing them with others. When she's not escaping into another world of her own creation, she's a busy wife and mother of three, including a set of identical twins. Besides being an avid reader and writer, she loves animals (especially big dogs), American muscle cars, and 80's hair bands.
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