About a Dog

by Jenn McKinlay

  Carly lifted her shot up in the air and called, “May all your ups and downs be between the sheets!”

  Zach let out a raucous cheer and the girls clinked their glasses and swallowed their shots down. Another round was bought but Mac knew when she’d had enough. She passed hers off to a couple at the next table and caught Emma doing the same. They shared a wink and went back to their group.

  When the pub was crammed to bursting, Emma declared it was time for the girls to go for their walk on the boardwalk. Mac felt the sweet relief of knowing that she would soon escape Gavin with their healthy boundaries intact. Nothing had happened, she had made sure, and life was good.

  “We’ll come with you,” Brad said.

  Mac felt her hopes dash against the rocks. No, no, no!

  “Shouldn’t you bachelors be out dropping singles in strippers’ G-strings or something?” Mac asked. She was desperate.

  “We already did that,” Zach said. “It’s no fun when two of the bachelors spend all their time in the parking lot smoking cigars and talking about their feelings.” He looked at Brad and Gavin. “Pathetic!”

  Brad shrugged and hugged Emma close. “I just know what I want.”

  “Me, too,” Gavin said.

  He was standing behind Mac and he whispered it so that only she could hear it. Mac felt her heart clutch in her chest but she pretended she didn’t hear him and let Carly grab her hand and drag her out of the pub.

  “So, if I can’t get Emma to wear the veil . . .” Carly said as they walked but Mac interrupted.

  “No.”

  “You don’t even know what I’m going to say.”

  “Yes, I do,” Mac argued. “You’re going to throw the maid of honor under the bus and make her wear the veil. No!”

  “Just give it to Zach,” Jilly said as she joined them. “He’ll wear it.”

  “Genius!” Carly said and she dropped Mac’s arm and hurried back to Zach.

  Jillian and Mac exchanged a laugh when Zach squealed like a girl and slapped the tacky veil on top of his shaggy blonde head like it was exactly what he’d always wanted.

  “I swear he will be a twelve-year-old boy forever,” Mac said.

  Jillian tipped her head to the side as she considered the big goofball. “I don’t know. I think there might be some hidden layers under all the boisterousness. I get the feeling he’s overcompensating for something, but what? I know, I’ll go ask Sam.”

  She dropped Mac’s arm and walked away. Judging by the wiggle in her hips, she probably should have passed on the last round as well. No matter; Sam looped an arm about her waist and the two of them led the way to the boardwalk. Carly and Zach joined them in the lead while Emma and Brad meandered behind the group, gazing into each other’s eyes in a seriously sickening display of besotted bride and groom.

  Mac wondered if she should ghost out of the party. The aunts were watching Tulip, and she was all too aware of how that had gone last time. They were forbidden from watching any movies with shirtless McConaughey or any other pec-worthy actor, but still it was getting late. She paused by a storefront that was closed for the evening and pretended to be looking at the window display. She tracked the group out of the corner of her eye until they disappeared around the corner, then she stepped back, planning to jet in the other direction.

  She slammed into a hard body right behind her and her gaze shot up to the window to see Gavin’s reflection behind hers in the glass. His hands were on her hips, keeping her steady on her ridiculously high shoes.

  “Busted,” he said.

  “I have no idea to what you are referring,” she said. She tried to sound haughty but it just came out guilt ridden.

  “You were going to ghost right out of Emma’s bachelorette party,” he said.

  Mac hung her head. She knew there was no denying it, so she went for vague. “Maybe.”

  She was aware that he had not let go of her hips and she was still pressed up against his back. That brought images to mind that had no business being in her head, so she stepped forward and turned around, putting some space between them.

  “Are you worried about Tulip?” he asked.

  She nodded. It was partially true; besides, it sounded so much better than telling him she was avoiding him because she was inappropriately warm for his form.

  “Don’t be,” he said. “I texted Miss Sarah and she assured me Tulip is fine.”

  “You texted my dog sitter?”

  “Tulip is my patient,” he said. He took out his phone and showed her the texts—several of them—between him and Sarah. “I was concerned, you know, especially after last time.”

  It was about the sweetest thing she’d ever heard of a man doing and she wanted to hug him, really badly. She didn’t. Instead, she handed his phone back and punched him on the shoulder. There, that was a boundary builder if ever there was one.

  “Well, aren’t you something?” she asked.

  He opened his mouth to reply when there was a shout from the corner, drawing their attention that way. A shaggy blonde head covered in a mid-length veil appeared around the side of the building.

  “Yo, what’s taking you so long? We got tickets for the Ferris wheel! I’m going to try and puke off the top. It’ll be epic!” Zach yelled.

  “On our way,” Gavin shouted back. He looked at Mac as they began walking in the direction their friends had taken. “Looks like you missed your window.”

  “At least I know Tulip is okay,” she said. “I didn’t want to text for fear that they would think I didn’t trust them, so thanks for that.”

  “Sure,” Gavin said. He was staring straight ahead where the light from a streetlamp illuminated Zach’s head. “Is he wearing . . . hmm . . . does it have . . .”

  “Sparkly purple penises on it?” Mac asked. “Yes, yes it does.”

  They followed Zach and his snazzy headgear to the line at the Ferris wheel, where all of their friends were queued for the next ride.

  “Where were you two?” Emma asked. “You almost missed it.”

  “Window shopping.” Mac grimaced. “You know me when something shiny catches my eye.”

  “Like this?” Brad asked and he jerked his thumb in Zach’s direction.

  “Yeah, that’s actually more of a repellent,” Mac said. She glanced at their group, trying to figure out how she could land a seat with one of the girls.

  “Oh, now you have to admit, he does wear it with a decided panache,” Sam said.

  “Only Zach could carry it off,” Emma agreed.

  “Tickets!” the ride engineer shouted.

  “Here!” Emma slapped two tickets into Gavin’s hand. “That’s for you two. Go!”

  She hurriedly passed out tickets to the rest of the bridal party and just like that Mac was climbing aboard a rickety metal bench with a clamshell-shaped canopy and a footrest beside Gavin. The gatekeeper fastened the bar across their laps and they set off up into the air.

  Heights had never bothered Mac as much as deep dark water, but she wasn’t a huge fan of them either. Still, it wasn’t cruising up above the amusement park that had her pulse racing. No, it was definitely the man sitting beside her who looked too big to be contained by the narrow bench. He moved one arm along the back of the bench seat and rested the other on the lap bar as if he was trying to find enough space for his limbs but couldn’t.

  “You okay?” he asked.

  “Yeah, I’m good,” Mac said. She wedged herself into the corner to give him more room. “Oh, look, here come Zach and Carly.”

  Gavin leaned forward and set the bench to rocking, which made Mac grab the bar in her lap.

  “Sorry,” he said. “Man, I haven’t been on this thing in years. I forgot how rickety it was.”

  “Not helping,” she said.

  “I didn’t know you were afraid of heights.”

/>   “I’m not, but I do have a healthy fear of falling.”

  He smiled and took her hand in his. “Come here, it’s better if you sit in the middle for more even weight distribution.”

  She gave him a dubious look. He ignored her and pulled her close so that their sides were pressed together and he had his arm around her shoulders, locking her in place. The swing swayed with their movements and Mac closed her eyes. Nope, that didn’t help either.

  “All right, let’s take your mind off of it,” Gavin said. “You ready? I spy with my little eye, the pointy part of a church.”

  Mac looked from him to the ground, swallowed hard, and then saw the two churches off on the town green. They looked very self-important with their nighttime spotlights illuminating their facades.

  “Abiding Savior,” Mac said and she pointed to one of the churches on the town green.

  “Close but I was thinking of St. Stephen’s,” he said.

  Mac gave him a look that said she didn’t believe him and he shrugged.

  “Your turn,” he said.

  Mac scanned the town from their perch. They were inching upward as each car was loaded with new passengers.

  “I spy with my little eye, a big white tower,” she said.

  Gavin looked toward the rocky cliffs on the north side of town. “That’s easy, Bluff Point lighthouse.”

  They continued the game, making the chosen objects farther and farther away as they rose higher and higher into the sky. After a few more rounds, Mac realized she wasn’t nervous anymore as she scoured the landscape for a flagpole that Gavin had referred to as sexy. Then she spotted it on the far end of the pier, hoisted above the Bikini Lounge. A bright yellow flag with a pair of pink bikini bottoms as an emblem flying high over the popular night spot.

  She turned around, looked at him, and laughed. “I don’t think I ever noticed that flag before.”

  Their faces were just inches apart, and Mac found herself longing to trace the outline of his mouth with a fingertip and feel the rough stubble on his chin graze her palm. She quickly looked away.

  “I spy with my little eye a mermaid,” she said. She could feel Gavin’s gaze on the side of her face. Then she felt his hand move from her back to her hair. He ran the ends of it through his fingers, sifting it as if he was trying to learn its texture.

  Mac glanced down. The Ferris wheel was still loading as more people climbed aboard. How much longer until the ride actually started? Would she be able to make it without ruining the healthy boundary she had been trying to maintain between her and Gavin? Maybe she should jump. The idea had merit except she wasn’t one for self-inflicted pain.

  “The mermaid is painted on the Belmont Park sign,” he said.

  Mac felt the breath she didn’t know she’d been holding whoosh out of her lungs. They were back to the game. This was good, very good.

  “I spy with my little eye”—Gavin paused as if he was searching for the perfect thing before he continued—“a patch of grass on a hill, beneath two old copper beech trees, where a pickup truck can park all night and no one will find it.”

  Chapter 22

  Mac gasped and turned to look at him. His fingers were still tangled in her hair. His gaze was steady, full of affection, and heat, and cloudy with tender memories she had sealed away forever.

  She knew she could no longer pretend their past didn’t exist or that the night between them had been less than what it was. It wasn’t fair to either of them.

  “Oh, Gav.” She sighed. “Don’t . . .”

  “Don’t what? Remember? When I look at you, I can’t do anything else. I remember kissing the tears off of your face,” he said. His voice was a low gruff rub against her skin. “Following their wet trail from the corner of your eye, down your cheek, to catch them on the tip of your chin.”

  He let go of the lap bar and rubbed his thumb across the point of her chin. Mac stopped breathing.

  “You shivered in my arms and I knew,” he said. “I knew I would take you right there under the stars and make you mine.”

  She looked into his eyes and saw the possession in them. He still considered Mac his and way down deep inside a tiny part of her cried yes.

  “I remember the smell of your hair, coconut and ginger, the feel of your skin, so soft, and the curve of your hips when I gripped them and slid into you.”

  Everything went gray and Mac started to see spots.

  “Breathe, Mac,” he said.

  She did, sucking in a breath like she’d been underwater too long and was about to drown.

  “I only have one regret about that night.” He moved in close and his breath tickled her ear. “I lost you. I never got over losing you, Mac.”

  The ride kicked into gear and they began to pick up speed. The lights below them whirled in a kaleidoscope of neon and Mac felt as if the colors were shooting out of her fingertips and the ends of her hair because that was how magical Gavin made her feel.

  It was inevitable, she realized, as she leaned into him. This. Only this existed in this moment and time. She pressed her mouth against his. His lips were warm. The kiss was soft and lovely and not nearly enough.

  She parted her lips and felt his hand release her hair and cup the back of her head, bringing her in closer, holding her in place while he deepened the kiss, pushing his way into her mouth while coaxing her out to meet him.

  Mac grabbed the front of his shirt and pulled him flush against her. Then she twined her arms around his neck to lock him in place. She could taste whiskey and cigars on his tongue and it made her blood pressure spike as the familiar citrus scent of him filled her senses.

  His hand slid under her shirt and she arched into his touch. He gripped her hip and a blast of heat rocked Mac’s insides as she remembered that night together with his hands on her hips as he took her completely. He moved his fingers up her side to cup one breast and run his thumb over the achy tip.

  Mac moaned and she felt him smile against her skin as he worked his way down her throat toward the nipple that had puckered for want of attention. He was tugging the neckline of her shirt down to gain access to her flesh when the ride began to slow.

  “Damn,” he muttered. He pulled her shirt back up and moved his mouth back to hers. Between kisses, he said, “I’ll just have to be content with kissing you senseless . . . for now.”

  She wasn’t sure how long they kissed; seconds, minutes, or several spectacular hours. But she felt it when the Ferris wheel slowed to a stop, and she had the presence of mind to pull her mouth away from his.

  They stared at each other for a moment and then he grinned at her and it warmed her all the way through her skin to her core.

  “What?” she asked.

  “You.”

  “What about me?”

  “So much better than a memory,” he said.

  Mac ducked her head. He was right. She had never allowed herself to savor the memory of their night together but the feel of his lips on hers had been so deliciously familiar, and provoked such a crazy heat inside of her, that she could no longer deny that their shared night so long ago had been something extraordinary.

  But this, tonight, was fraught with danger. First, she had no idea how Emma would feel about her hooking up with her “baby” brother and, second, she didn’t even know how to go about starting that conversation. But she needed to make a decision and quick before something bad happened.

  It occurred to her that at the moment the most likely “bad thing” was going to be her, ripping off all of his clothes and having her way with him. And that would be very, very bad given they were in the middle of the amusement park—tempting as hell, but very, very bad. She had to talk to Emma.

  “Hey, you okay?” he asked.

  Mac forced herself to meet his gaze. He looked concerned and she really didn’t want to be the one to turn it into a look
of hurt by rejecting him. Mostly, because she realized she didn’t want to reject him. Man, she had truly bollixed this one. Cripes, what if someone had seen them?

  “I’m good,” she said. She glanced around to see where the rest of their people were.

  “Don’t worry, no one saw us,” he said. “I know you don’t want to do anything that might impact Emma’s big day. How about we keep this on the down low until we figure it out. Okay?”

  Mac sagged in relief. He understood. “Yes, that would be great. Thank you.”

  When the ride engineer popped up the lap bar, Mac hopped out of her seat and hurried down the runway. She wouldn’t feel okay until she saw the others and knew for certain that their make out session hadn’t been witnessed by anyone else.

  They found their people around a basketball arcade game. Brad was shooting to win Emma the giant panda bear. It didn’t look like it was going his way. Zach took the spot next to him and prepared to shoot, giving Carly a double thumbs-up as he went.

  In short order, they were rejected with no panda to show for it. Sam stepped up next and said to Jillian, “Don’t worry, I won’t let you down.”

  She put one hand on her hip and said, “I’m sorry, are we a couple? Because I don’t remember us becoming a twosome.”

  “I’m your groomsman,” he said. “I’m better than a boyfriend because after the wedding, you’re rid of me. Plus, now I can waltz.”

  “You just stick to waltzing,” Jillian said and gestured for him to step aside. “I got this.”

  Sam gave her an impressed look and stepped away from the booth. Jillian stepped up to the line, grabbed a basketball, and palmed it like a pro. Being almost six feet tall, she had played on the high school volleyball team all four years and had been team captain her senior year.

  “Look at that,” Zach said. “She has some serious ball handling skills.”

  Carly hooted with laughter and Jillian gave them both a look that said they were going to eat the ball if they weren’t careful. She tossed the first one and it bounced off the rim; she tossed the second to the same result. Zach started to make a drumroll noise with his mouth and Sam started chanting, “Jilly! Jilly! Jilly!”