“I heard that,” Veronica reproved. “For once in your life, Mackey, behave yourself.”
He glanced at both girls. “Yes, ma’am.”
The girls giggled as they all made their way into the house.
Chapter Ten
“A lot of food for one person,” Scarlett noted. She kept slicing this, paring that, wrapping it up. A sideways glance. “Got some company going with you on this picnic?”
He’d given Rissa wide berth for two days now. He’d gone to see Ian’s dad. Worked some around their ranch. Helped out Veronica again.
But he missed Rissa. And she worked too hard.
He’d decided she needed some fun, and he’d enlisted Scarlett’s help. “You wouldn’t be nosey or anything.”
“Me? Of course not. I don’t stoop to gossip. I’m—” She began to laugh. “I’ve discovered a near-insatiable appetite for knowing what every last person in this town is up to.” She shook her head, her smile widening. “It’s a side effect of being at Ruby’s. Nothing goes on that doesn’t make its way through here at some point, and you know what? All my life I wished for a real home, a place to belong. I adored my mom, don’t ever doubt it, and I thought we were enough for each other, but…” One slender shoulder lifted. “If I’d known this place was waiting for me…”
“You wouldn’t have given up New York or Paris for it,” he said.
“I don’t know…” Her graceful hands stilled. She stared into the distance. Her head tilted. “I freaking love it. I adore this place.”
“C’mon. This is me you’re talking to. We’ve seen more of the world than the rest of this town put together.”
She turned big blue eyes on him. “But you know the old saying: if you like where you are, don’t regret the road that got you here. I can’t even think about not having met Ian or Nana or…” She grinned. “Even Cousin Crankypants.”
“She has a name, Scarlett.”
She studied him with new eyes. “Taking her side, are you?”
“There shouldn’t be sides. She isn’t—”
Scarlett touched his arm. “I get it. She’s coming to mean something to you. She means something to me, too, Mackey. She just doesn’t want to.”
“Yeah. Beats me how she can be so calm with the horses when she’s more skittish than any of them.”
“Life hasn’t been particularly kind to her.”
“She’s lonely.” And so am I, he suddenly realized. Wow. He glanced over. “You really think you can live the rest of your life in this little burg, after all you’ve seen of the world?”
“Anywhere can be lonely if your heart is missing. And nowhere can be paradise if the right person is in it with you.”
“So you’re stuck here.”
She grinned. “Like glue. But that doesn’t mean I’m not going to drag Ian off to see the world every chance we get. He has a library of travel books like you wouldn’t believe. I want him to see the real thing. Having a home to return to doesn’t mean you can’t ever leave, it just means you know where you belong. Home can be a person as much as a place. Home can travel with you.”
He took the large bag she handed him, his thoughts caught on the concept. He’d never known where he belonged. Never realized he would want to.
Except that wasn’t quite true, he thought, as he said goodbye to Scarlett and made his way back to his truck.
Sweetgrass Springs had felt like that place, that home. That’s why he’d refused to go with his family so that he could finish high school here.
So why had he stayed gone so long?
Rissa couldn’t let her control drop, no matter how tired she was. The day seemed endless, just as the last two had. Celia had brought her a sandwich and scolded her for not stopping for lunch, but she couldn’t stop. If she did, she’d start thinking. Start remembering that night…
Mackey’s hands. His raspy murmurs. The kisses he’d trailed over her body. Those green eyes as they’d locked on hers when he was inside her—
No. She straightened and pushed away from the fence where she’d begun to lean. “C’mon, Coyote, let’s go one more round. You’re nearly ready for the blanket.”
“You’re nearly ready to drop,” said a voice from behind her.
She jolted but didn’t turn around. “I’m busy.”
“You always are.” Mackey strolled into her line of sight. “But that horse doesn’t deserve to be overworked just because I make you nervous.”
She stiffened. “You do not. I don’t give you a second’s thought.”
He snorted. “Tell me another good one, Ris.”
“Your shoulders ever get tired, trying to carry around that monstrous ego?”
“Wanna know how I know?” He walked inside the pen.
“You stay over there. Actually, I’d rather you’d leave.”
He glanced at the colt. “He doesn’t mind.”
“I do. Go away.”
He ignored her and walked closer. “Wanna know, Rissa?”
“I don’t want anything from you.” The agitation in her voice made the colt dance on the end of the lead. “Mackey, please.”
He caught the rope and tugged it gently from her hands. “Go take a nap. I’ll finish with him.”
“A nap? I’m not a child!”
“Then quit acting like a cranky one. I’ve got this,” he said mildly. “You’re exhausted.” He bent to catch her eye. “I haven’t been sleeping well. I don’t think you have either. Not since—”
Her head whipped away. “I don’t want to talk about it.”
He held out his hand for the colt to lip, then proceeded to stroke him, rubbing the star on his forehead the way he’d discovered the little guy liked. “Fine. Don’t talk. Sleep instead. I’ll finish up and get everyone settled in the barn.”
He looked over at her, and she wished he had just one wart on his nose or thin, cruel lips or…anything. Whatever would make him not take her breath away every time she saw him. “I’ll sleep tonight. Alone,” she added, in case he had any doubts.
“That’s fine,” he said, as if he didn’t care. “But first we’re going on a little outing for relaxation. I’ll come get you as soon as I’m done with the chores.”
“Relaxation? I don’t have time—”
“Make time,” he snapped. Then he exhaled. “Rissa, you work as hard as any three men. This place runs a damn sight better than it ought to, given that your dad fights you at every turn and totally doesn’t appreciate all you do to keep it going.” His green gaze was hard as cut stone. “But just like a car needs an oil change or a horse needs time to kick up its heels in the pasture, you need a break. And you have to eat anyway,” he said over the protest she was forming.
Then he smiled. “Scarlett made us a picnic, and she swears it’s everything you like.”
“She doesn’t know what I like,” she said irritably.
He studied her. “Guess we’ll have to see, huh? And won’t you enjoy it if you can tell her she’s wrong?”
“I don’t really care.” Even she knew she indeed sounded like a fussy child. Maybe that would exasperate him enough to leave her alone.
Instead he grinned and approached, bending to her.
She tensed. “Mackey…”
But he only pressed a kiss to her forehead. “Somebody needs a nap.” Then he brushed his lips over hers, light and friendly. “Humor me, okay?” One hand came up to smooth his thumb over her cheek. “I’m supposed to be helping you. I won’t push for another night, Ris, not that I don’t want to. But let me give you some fun, okay?”
He didn’t understand. It wasn’t that she didn’t want another night with him—what, was she stupid? Mackey was an extraordinary lover, and she’d like nothing better than to go to bed with him for days on end.
But being left behind hurt, and she’d had enough of that. The only way she knew to protect herself was not to let herself get in deep enough that she couldn’t watch him walk away with no more than a tinge of fond regret.
“You’re not going to leave me alone until I say yes, are you?”
He grinned, though his eyes weren’t laughing. “’Fraid not.”
“Oh, all right.” She turned away with the memory of his satisfied grin. “But don’t let me sleep more than an hour, you hear me?”
“You got it. Sweet dreams, Rissa.”
No dreams. That would be better. Dreams were dangerous things to have.
“Where are we going?” she grumbled for show. “You let me sleep too long.”
“You need more.”
“What, are you my daddy now? Where are you taking me?”
“Somewhere.”
She smacked him on the shoulder.
“Ow!”
“Sissy. I didn’t hurt you.”
“Maybe you hurt my feelings, ever think of that?”
He was grinning, damn him.
“You are a pest.”
He waggled his eyebrows. “That’s not what you said the other night.”
“Before or after I said I can’t do this?”
Blast him, his grin only widened. “Do what?”
She’d never considered that she could blush. No one seemed able to get under her skin the way he could. No one else was so much fun. “Are you flirting with me?”
“Flirting?” he echoed.
“You are, aren’t you? This is what junior high boys do.”
“In case you hadn’t noticed—” His voice was a sexy rasp “—I’m not in junior high.”
Unaccountably cheered by the thought that someone was flirting with her—that Mackey, the object of her life’s worst crush, was flirting with her—she smiled. “You are, though. Flirting. In that awkward the-guys-will-make-fun kind of way.”
His brows snapped together. “I don’t give a rat’s ass what the guys say.” His voice turned silky. “The girls like me just fine.”
“Girls!” she scoffed. “Which reminds me, what’s up with Alicea Dayton, that little ho from Gossip Central?” She leaned across the seat. “You sweet on her, Mackey? You two look pretty cozy in People.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” But his eyes shifted to the side.
“Aww…you are sweet on her.”
Abruptly he sobered. “Don’t make fun of her, Rissa. She’s a troubled girl. Her life isn’t all it seems.” His jaw clenched. “And I’m sick of that crap.”
“What do you mean?”
He lifted one shoulder. “It’s one thing to do a favor by escorting someone to an event. I know I photograph okay, and usually it’s tit for tat, just generating publicity for both of us, keeping our visibility high in an industry where that’s life or death. Sometimes it’s even one of my friends, so that’s all right. But when some publicist cooks it all up so he can plant rumors that hurt good people…”
He shook his head. “Many actors aren’t that comfortable inside their skins, and doing promotional stuff is painful for them. They’re better at being someone besides themselves. Being a good actor means they’re living as other people so much of the time that quite a few of them lose their way. There are always vultures around, wanting to hitch a ride, but if you’re not careful, you’ve sold so much of your soul that there isn’t enough left.”
He glanced over at her. “Alicea attempted suicide not long ago. She should never have been anywhere near that premiere, but the producers insisted. It was all she could do to hang on in front of the crowd and cameras.” Another shrug. “She feels safe with me. When I heard the pressure they were putting on her, well, her assistant asked, and I agreed.”
“So that’s why you’re so close and you look all protective in the photos, because you are protective by nature.”
“I guess.”
“No guess about it. How many times did you take my side when Jackson considered me a pest? When he and Pen tried to ditch the little kid? You’re a born protector, Mackey.”
Amazingly, color stained his cheeks, but he didn’t respond. Instead, he turned off on a road she recognized.
“Are we—?”
“Going swimming? Best thing on a hot day, don’t you agree?”
“I don’t have a swimsuit.”
He rolled his eyes. “You don’t wear a suit here, Ris. You know that, surely. You spied on us enough.”
“I did not.”
“Liar, liar, pants on fire. Think we didn’t know you were there?”
“All of you?” Her voice was nearly a squeak.
He winked. “Don’t know about the others, but I could feel those big brown eyes on me.”
She caught her lower lip between her teeth. “I waited. I hung back until you were in the water, and you always made so much noise—”
“Shielding your virgin eyes?”
“I was eleven! I would never look!”
“Yeah, I’m believing that…uh huh…”
She saw the sparkle in his eyes, and her ire subsided. “You’re just deviling me.” She cocked her head. “The preferred method of flirting by prepubescent boys all over the world.”
“I made it through puberty,” he drawled.
I know. Boy, oh boy, do I know. “Your body maybe. Your juvenile sense of humor…I have my doubts.”
He pulled to a stop under some trees. “That could get you tossed in the water.” He exited the cab and strolled around to her side.
“Don’t you dare…”
“Dare what?” He yanked open her door before she could find the lock.
“Mackey!” She barely had time to squeal before she was summarily tossed over his shoulder. “You put me down this minute or—”
One hand caressed her bottom. “Or what, babe?” he chuckled and started removing her boots.
She beat on his back and kicked her feet. “Stop it! Mackey, I’m serious. You’d better not—”
Before she could finish, he slid her down the front of him with exquisite slowness. Every curve and valley on her body connected with the hard planes of his as he lowered her to her feet.
“I’d better what?” His green eyes looked deep into hers. “Better kiss you is all I can think.” He lowered his head but arrested it a breath above hers. “Let me kiss that sulky, sexy mouth of yours, Ris.”
She couldn’t breathe. Every micron of her body had fallen still in anticipation. When at last his mouth pressed to hers, it was all she could do not to eat him right up. “Mackey…” Even she heard the breathy moan in her voice.
This kiss was more tender than scorching, more gentle than hungry. She felt herself falling into it, sliding inside the glory of it with every moment that passed. “Oh,” was all she could manage. And sighed, opening wide to him, inviting him in.
Yet still he took it slowly, as though there were all the time in the world, as though she were something precious. There was a sweetness to this kiss that made it a thousand times more dangerous than the rip-your-clothes-off ones of that night they’d spent together.
The night when she’d lost her mind in his arms.
When she’d awakened wanting more.
When somehow she’d summoned a modicum of sense that had helped her back to what was sensible.
She needed that now.
“Damn that brain of yours,” he muttered as he pulled back the merest inch. “Gonna have to do something about that.”
And before she could recover, he’d stripped off her shirt, then his own. He’d made a move for the fastening of her jeans.
She smacked his hands. “I’m not shucking my clothes here, Mackey.”
“Okay.” He picked her up and tossed her in.
Rissa screamed when she hit the water.
Mackey roared with laughter.
Then divested himself of his boots and clothes and with a running dive, hit the water right behind her.
Mackey had never seen this Rissa before. He remembered the girl she’d been, but that girl, while a confirmed tomboy and bold, had been unscarred by time and tragedy. B
efore her mother had died and their world fell apart, she’d been the pesky kid sister determined to carve out her own path.
After their mother’s death, she’d grown quiet, but all of them had been so overwhelmed by the loss that he recalled little of the girl named Clary, really.
And then they’d all left. He’d returned to find a woman who was more brittle. Defensive and determined to hold herself apart.
He’d gotten through her shell on that night he would never forget. He’d penetrated through her bravado and glimpsed the sweetness he suspected she’d do anything to protect.
And now he was seeing the tomboy again.
She was a kick in the pants. A genuine delight.
She’d ditched her jeans and thrown them to shore, swimming in a make-a-grown-man-weep red bra and tiny bikini panties. She gave as good as she got, sneaking up on him to drag him below the surface, swimming like an eel to escape his own maneuvers. She splashed with abandon and never complained when he gave it right back.
But sometimes he caught her.
The feel of her flesh against his, wet and glistening…
He tried to keep his distance, since he had a hard-on that wouldn’t quit. He longed to snag her and press her close. Slip inside her body as his tongue laid siege to her mouth.
His fists clenched with the force of his need for her.
“What’s up? Wearing out, old man?” she teased, hair slicked back like a seal, brown eyes gleaming with challenge. “Can give it out but can’t take it, girly man?”
Play. We’re here to play. Keep it light.
But she knocked the breath right out of him.
“I’m hungry.” He seized on any distraction. “Race you to shore!”
“Bet you can’t beat me!” And she was off, swimming so fast he knew the endless hours of being in the water as a SEAL would be his only salvation.
Then he grinned, remembering their drown-proofing training. They’d had to stay underwater until their lungs were about to burst. With a smirk, he emptied his lungs fully, then filled them and slipped below the surface.
He could only faintly hear her calling for him, but more swiftly than he’d expected, she swam back and dove beneath the surface, feeling for him.
Texas Wild: The Gallaghers of Sweetgrass Springs Book 2 Page 12