by M. Piper
The girls both start laughing and I clap my hands together, breaking up their little pow wow.
“Alright Reag. As you can see, we were busy. So if you could kindly see your way out.” I nod at the door, pushing off the counter and Mackenzie slaps my arm.
“Don’t be so rude. I’d kill to have siblings who are so comfortable around me. Hell, I’d kill to have siblings. Period.” She smiles, then pushes past me and heads to the cupboards. “Which one’s the coffee cups in?” she asks, swinging open cabinet doors one by one.
“Left of the sink,” I mutter, then look over at Reagan who’s grinning from ear to ear, her arms crossed in front of her and wearing a look of pure satisfaction. “You can go now,” I whisper to her but all she does is laugh.
“I may stay,” she says, shrugging. “I like her.”
“I do too. A lot. But watching you two becoming best friends isn’t on the list of things I want to do today.”
My list is short. Fuck Mackenzie. All. Over. My. House.
“Ford,” Mackenzie blurts, then spins to look across the kitchen at me, holding two mugs in her hand. “Seriously?” Her eyebrows are high and the grin on her face is too fucking cute.
“I needed mugs,” I say, walking over to her. I need a reason to be near her. I need to touch her. I need my fucking sister to leave. “Don’t make fun of my style.”
“Bacon gives me a reason to get out of bed?” she asks, reading the mug before I snatch it away, then busts out laughing. “There’s a unicorn mug, too!” She waves it in the air and laughs harder. I glare over at Reagan who’s laughing right along with Mackenzie and growl.
“You two are evil. I love my mugs. And they were a fucking dollar, so deal with it!” I boast.
“You have a crazy expensive bike, and a Mustang, but you have to buy cheap novelty mugs?” Reagan’s adding fuel to the fire and Mackenzie bursts out laughing again.
“Reagan, go home,” I huff. “Mack, you can’t drink out of my mugs if you’re going to make fun of them.” I close the cabinet doors and lean against the counter, crossing my arms in front of me as Reagan laughs on her way out the front door. “Enjoy getting coffee,” I grin at Mack when the front door closes and she narrows her eyes at me.
“I’m not making fun of them. I’m jealous you have such awesome dinnerware, that’s all.” She wraps her arms around me and rests her head on my chest. “I really need that coffee, though, Ford,” she whispers, kissing my jaw.
“Are you going to make fun of my coffee mugs?” I groan when she pushes her body against mine.
“Not at all,” she murmurs, her hand snaking its way down my boxers.
“Fine,” I blurt, as soon as I hear Yellow barking to get in. “Have at them. But if you break them, you’re replacing them.” I grin at her as I walk over to let Yellow in and she laughs.
“I’m not sure I could afford your taste. I’ll be very, very careful.”
The back door slides open and Yellow comes barreling in, heading straight for Mackenzie. I watch as Mackenzie turns and smiles down at him, then she does something I never thought she’d do. She squats in front of him, giving him all the lovin’ he can handle, and smiles a very real, very carefree smile.
“You’re beautiful,” I mutter, not even sure if she heard me, but she is. The sunlight hitting her messy hair. The clothes two sizes too big, the makeup free face. She’s fucking perfect.
“I figure if I’m going to be coming around more I may as well make him a friend, right?” She stands and smiles at me.
“You’re gonna be coming around more, huh?” I can’t help but grin. “So does that mean you’re giving me a real chance? Not just a rebound chance, but a real ‘you want to date me’ chance?”
She shrugs and grins. “I have fun around you. A little fun’s never hurt anyone.” She bites her lip again, her gaze falling to the floor. “You know, I think everything I was ever told about you was just one huge lie.” Turning to the counter, she pours herself a cup of coffee and drops a few tablespoons of sugar and creamer in, stirring it silently. She’s deep in thought about something, and all I want to know is what the fuck she was told about me.
“What were you told?” I finally ask, sitting at the table. She spins, her cup in hand, and leans against the counter.
“That you were reckless. An alcoholic who didn’t know his ass from his elbow.” She shrugs, laughing. “I’m starting to think Eric was just jealous. Or worried.”
“Eric told you all this, huh?” I clench my jaw, because right now I’d love to kick his ass.
“Yep. All of it, then some. Shit about killing a girl, almost killing yourself. I think he was just worried I’d fall for you and leave him.”
My eyes go wide and I realize she has no clue about Caroline. I don’t know why she would, but I feel like it was such a big thing when it happened, that everyone here knows.
But Mackenzie wasn’t here when she died. She wasn’t here for the aftermath. She doesn’t know, and why would she?
“Well he was right to worry. Because I wanted you the first time I laid eyes on you. And back then, you were still with him.” My voice has too much emotion and I feel the anger starting to boil, so I stand abruptly and walk to the counter, grabbing my mug and making another Irish coffee. Alcoholic my fucking ass. You try losing the one person you’ve loved with your whole heart because of an accident that happened when you were driving and see how well you come out the other end.
“I’ll take some of that too.” She smiles at me and slides her mug over, so I fix hers up perfectly. “Thank you,” she says, grinning at me and bringing the mug to her lips. Her beautiful fucking lips I want wrapped around any part of me.
“Anything for you.” I take a drink, letting the smooth burn of the warm alcohol calm me.
We stand there in silence, each of us lost in thought and enjoying the quiet, for what feels like hours. I have to stop myself from thinking too much about Caroline. I’m not sure why this morning’s so bad. Yesterday I didn’t think about her at all, so I’m sure today has to do with the guilt and worry that I’m forgetting her. I can’t forget her. I never will.
When she died, I spent a lot of time at my gram’s house. She understood me. She could handle me. We bonded over my girl’s death, strangely enough. Now all she does is harp on me for being too hard on myself. ‘Accidents happen,’ she’d say. ‘It’s all in God’s plan,’ she’d preach to me. I never believed her and I still don’t. But the one thing she told me…that one day it’d stop hurting so much and turn into a happy memory of a loved one…that part’s starting to become true and it scares the piss out of me.
One of these days I’ll tell Mackenzie the whole story about Caroline. One of these days, when I’m confident she won’t leave me for handling life the way I do.
“I like your sister,” she finally says, breaking my train of thought that was headed nowhere fast. She walks across the kitchen and sits down in the chair, facing me.
“Me too. I have an older brother, too. It was a madhouse at our place growing up.”
“I bet. I’m jealous, I’m an only child and always wanted a live-in best friend.” She crosses her legs and leans forward, resting her elbows the table, my eyes flick to her long legs and I have to stop myself from fucking her right there on that table. I want to get to know this girl. I want to know what makes her tick, what her passion is.
“Why baking?” I ask, taking another drink of my coffee.
“I don’t do the baking,” she laughs. “My partner, Jules, is the master baker. I just create the designs.” She brings her mug to her lips and I grin.
“Okay, so why ‘designing’?” I ask, mocking her attention to detail even though it’s a quality I like and respect in a woman. Hell, in anyone. Caroline used to be like that…
I take a long drink of my coffee and watch Mackenzie shift in her seat, sipping her cup.
“I’ve always liked designing things. Ever since I was a kid, it was something I could do and I was
good at. I opened my shop in Florida with a friend out there just a year or so before moving here, so when I moved I knew I had to do it all over again.”
“Seems like business is doing good,” I say. “You must know what you’re doing.” I smirk and she returns the gesture, then sets her coffee cup down.
“We do okay for ourselves.” She nods, then bites her lip. “Can we talk about something other than work?”
“What do you have in mind?” I raise an eyebrow and take a sip of my coffee, eyes locked on hers and too turned on right now. Hell, I feel like being around Mackenzie is being turned on one hundred percent of the time, but I’m not complaining. It’s an exhilarating feeling.
She’s narrowed her eyes at me and grins slowly, uncrossing her legs and spreading them wide. I try to pry my eyes away as she slides a hand down the front of the pair of boxers she snagged from my drawer, but I can’t. When her hand dips lower, I grip the counter, wanting to take over but enjoying the scene playing out in front of me.
When she lets out a small gasp, her eyes squeeze closed briefly then fly open and she pins me in my spot.
“Maybe something like this?” She pulls her hand out of the boxers, bringing her fingers to her lips and wrapping them around it, moaning as she tastes herself.
I try to pride myself on being a man with good self-control, but the honest truth is I have none. No self-fucking-control. So of course, when she puts her soaked fingers into her fucking mouth, I don’t have a choice other than storm over to her and pull her out of the chair, slamming my lips to hers and taking what’s mine.
All I know is I need her. I need to claim her, again.
Then I need to make sure she knows it’s just us now. No one else.
She pushes my boxers down and grins at me, but when she tries to drop to her knees, I grip her elbows and chuckle.
“Babe, as much as I love your mouth around my cock, I need that pussy this morning,” I whisper, pushing my lips to hers and lifting her by her ass, her legs wrapping around my waist. I step out of my boxers and push her against the wall. Her moans coming out of her are erotic as fuck, but I still need to get these goddamned shorts off her so I set her down, then trail kisses down her body slowly, letting my hands roam every inch of pure smooth skin. As I push down the boxers she’s wearing, I press my lips to her pelvis. She gasps, then hums. Her fingers lacing through my hair as I press a warm, long kiss to the apex of her legs.
“Shit, Ford,” she whispers as I slowly make my way up her body, treating each nipple with the same amount of attention, flicking them with my tongue and nipping gently on them. When I make it back to her mouth, my hands grip onto her thighs and I lift, letting her wrap her legs around me once again. My dick’s straining against her pussy and I rub against her. She’s so wet already and I’ve barely touched the girl.
I lock my eyes on hers, our bodies pressed together as I slide into her and her breathing becoming heavier each time I pull out and slide back in.
“Holy fuck, Mack,” I huff, her hands gripping tight to my shoulders as she rocks back and forth on my dick. “Jesus,” I growl, slamming her against the wall harder and harder. Each stroke of my dick in her pussy is one stroke closer to losing my cool already. She’s too warm and tight to hold off, even after all the fucking we’ve done in the last twelve hours.
I pump into her a few more times, then pull out and drop her to her feet, pressing my lips to hers before spinning her against the wall, letting my hands roam her ass.
“Bend,” I growl, and she goes down without a word, her face up against the wall and her ass pressing back towards me. I bring my hand down once, then twice to one ass cheek, then repeat to the other. The slight pink tint to her ass makes me want to see just how much brighter I can make these before she can’t take it anymore.
“Harder,” she whispers, throwing me a look over her shoulder. A look I can’t ignore. She fucking wants it hard. I can give it to her hard. I moan, gripping my dick and slamming into her, forcing her to scream out, then slap her ass even harder than I had before. “Fuck yes!”
She’s vocal as hell and it turns me on, making me slam into her as hard as I can, all the way to the fucking hilt, and each time I pull out I land my hand on her ass, finding a perfect rhythm that sends her into the loudest orgasm she’s ever had with me. Her pussy clenches, then my dick is soaked as she screams through her fucking orgasm and I lose it.
“Fuck!” I bellow, slamming into her as my orgasm spirals out of control. I reach around and grab her tit as I fuck her, and when I come, I come so hard I have to squeeze my eyes closed because everything starts to spin.
Holy shit.
She fucking came! Like, squirt come, again! I knew she did it in the parking lot yesterday, but she just did it on my dick! I don’t think I can let this fucking girl leave my house.
How illegal is it to keep a girl as your sex slave?
“Oh my God,” she pants, letting out a giggle as I pull out of her. She stands straight, turns to face me, her face still laced with pure bliss from that orgasm, and pushes her lips to mine.
I wrap my arms around her, never wanting to let her go, and deepen the kiss.
“I need a shower,” she whispers, giggling. “I’m sorry I squirte—”
“Don’t fucking apologize for that,” I blurt, cutting her off. “Don’t ever think you need to apologize for something that hot, Mack.” I push her hair out of her face and cup her cheeks with my hands. She almost looks embarrassed and I want to junk punch the man who made her look this way. “I’m serious, that’s the best fucking thing right there.” I grin. “So never ever apologize for that. That’s a fucking gift.”
She grins, still embarrassed but trying to push past it.
“I think I need a shower,” she whispers, biting her lip and scrunching her face. “I smell like so much sex. And smoke from the bar last night.”
“You smell amazing. Sexy as hell.” She takes a step back and I huff, not liking the distance between us but dealing with it. “But you can use my shower before I take you home.”
“Thank you.” She tucks hair behind her ear and I step forward, pushing my lips to hers.
“I’ll show you where everything is, come on.” I take her hand and lead her to my master bathroom before leaving her to clean up without my hands all over her.
Because if I were to go into that shower with her, she wouldn’t be getting clean.
After dropping Mack off at her house, I stop by my grandma’s house on the way to the grocery store to check in. I spent a lot of time here right after Caroline. Her place, out in the middle of the country and on acres of beautiful farmland, always made me feel more at peace with everything. That, and gram didn’t care how much I drank in those following weeks as opposed to my parents.
“Girl got ya down in the dumps, child?” She opens the door wider and I laugh, walking in, then groan and sit on the sofa. “You called and said you needed advice, Ford. Last time you came to me for advice was what to wear to a funeral. You haven’t cared about things for years. So spill.” She shoves a beer at me and I take it willingly.
“Gram, you don’t know the half of it.” I sigh, popping open the beer she handed me and handing it back to her. “This girl’s different.”
“She may be different, but different is what you need before you drink your ass into an early grave.” She lifts an eyebrow and takes a long swig of her beer. “You’ve always been the difficult one, you know it? Your brother was the first-born old soul, your sister was the spoiled baby. But you were that lost middle child. I have to say, when Caroline passed I didn’t think you’d make it. She was your out. She was your savior. You don’t know how difficult it’s been watching my grandson go from as happy as you were, to rock bottom.”
“You don’t know what it’s like to be at rock bottom, Nan,” I mumble and she gives me a look.
“You must have forgotten about the whole me losing a child thing so I’ll forgive you. Life sometimes throws you curve bal
ls you don’t want to accept, but it never gives you something you can’t handle. The good Lord wouldn’t have it that way. He’s not vindictive.”
“He gave me a shit hand for no reason.”
“We gonna do this again? I mean, we can that’s fine. But I’d rather talk about the girl.”
I groan and lean back on the couch. “I have feelings for a girl who’s not Caroline and I’m guilty as fuck.”
“Why?” She plops into her chair and leans forward, resting on her knees. “You’re alive, Ford. Live like it. You have a long miserable life ahead of you if you don’t. Caroline wouldn’t want you like this, miserable on your gran’s couch. She’d want you to find love again.”
“You didn’t after grandpa died,” I say, finishing my beer.
“Because I was seventy three and over that part of my life. I had my lifelong love. You lost yours before your life even really started. Now it’s time for you to latch onto your second chance before it slips through your fingers. Finding someone who loves you for who you are. At your best. At your worst. That’s true love. Not this constant search for adventure you’ve been on lately. I feel like Mackenzie’s your best bet at finding what I think you really want.” She shrugs.
The old lady’s got a point…
“Are you going to be good for Uncle Ford?” Wren asks Carter but before he answers, Yellow runs into the room and the two of them take off for the back yard.
“Freaking Reagan for backing out tonight.” I grumble, but not really angry because I love my time with Carter.
“She had a date, dude. That takes precedence apparently.” He laughs. “Just take care of my little man.”
“He’ll be fine. We will be fine. You two go, have fun.” I pat Lincoln’s back and he looks weirdly at me. “What?”
“Hey babe, can you go check to make sure my phone’s in the car. I can’t find it.” He looks over at Wren and she makes a face, then rolls her eyes and grabs the keys before heading out the front door. He spins and looks at me again. “You’re not drunk, are you?”
“No!” I blurt. “Who the fuck do you think I am?”