Love Rehab
Page 24
She gripped my shoulders, clinging to me. I never wanted her to let go.
My movements were small but the bursts of pleasure intense, as if they’d been squeezed and concentrated.
“I like it like this, too.” Her voice quivered as she spoke. “It feels like us.”
Us. Yes, we felt like an us. We would always be an us, whatever happened.
We rocked together, our skin sliding together, our tongues reaching for each other. The pleasure built in spirals around us, cocooning us, passing from me to her and back, intensifying and pushing, growing louder and louder as our breaths got sharper and sharper.
I was unable to tear my stare from hers, desperate to dive deeper into her as I watched her climax, her eyes determined and wild.
Mackenzie always looked good in the wild.
Mackenzie
On my second trip to Christie, just like the first, Barrett was there to pick me up from the airport. But this time, instead of going to Love Rehab, alone, devastated and looking for a fast fix, I returned whole, content and with the love of my life.
Much to Barrett’s amusement, Blake insisted that we both sit in the back of the truck. Secretly pleased not to have to spend two hours without touching him, I didn’t say anything. I was pretty sure Blake could sense my mood by the smile on my face and the grip of his hand against mine.
“You don’t think this is too soon?” I whispered as we turned off the freeway as the sun began to set, painting the Oklahoma sky in streaks of orange and purple.
“Too soon for what?” Blake asked.
“You know, for me to meet your family?”
“You’ve already met my family—most of them anyway. And no, of course it’s not too soon. Why would it be? I said when I moved to Boston I wanted to make getting back to Oklahoma for a visit a priority, and I’m not spending the weekend without you, so this is how it is. I’m a biochemist, not a quantum physicist—I can’t be in two places at once. And my mom really wants to meet you.”
“Your mom wants to meet me?” Had he been talking to his family about me? Did she approve? I clutched his hand tighter.
“Of course. She told me so last Christmas.”
“But we hadn’t even met.” I shifted my head to get a better look at him. Was he joking?
“I know. She just said that she wanted to meet the girl, the one who is it for me. So, here you are.”
I wanted to slip onto his lap and kiss him like it was my job. “I’m it for you?” I shouldn’t be shocked because I felt the same way. Every moment with him was the best kind of surprise. I never believed I could feel so connected, as if whatever happened to Blake, happened to me too—the good and the bad.
He shrugged. “You know it. You’re not my girlfriend. You get that, right?”
I punched him on the arm. “If I’m not your girlfriend, then what am I, your dog walker?”
“You’re more than my girlfriend. You’re it.” He said it simply, as if it were just a universal truth so obvious it couldn’t be questioned.
“Okay, I’ll take that.”
Two months had passed since I’d found Blake loitering outside my apartment. We’d barely left each other’s sight since. We spent most of the time at his place because it was bigger, but some nights we came back to mine. I’d race him home each night. If he made it first, he’d be waiting for me with a glass of wine or a bubble bath or just ready to talk for hours and hours and hours. Last week when I’d made it home a full hour before him, he arrived to find me testing out my new stove in nothing but an apron and high heels. I’d burnt dinner.
I still saw Rose and Kennedy at least every week, and occasionally Blake came along and our threesome become a foursome. Hopefully, Big John’s shaman powers would kick in soon and Rose’s and Kennedy’s futures would find them, and our four could become a six. So far, they were both doing well—Kennedy working on her political future and Rose, who’d been at her new job three months, had avoided an office romance.
“Whose truck is that?” Blake asked Barrett, the sun already lost to the evening, leaving behind a world of purple, gray and a thin band of pink.
“Looks like Big John’s.”
My stomach tumbled. I really didn’t want to run in to the shaman again. He’d obviously seen my future differently, and I didn’t want him saying anything that would make me feel uneasy.
“You okay?” Blake asked.
I smiled, and nodded.
“Hey, don’t be nervous.” He released my hand and slipped his arm around my waist. “About anything.”
I wasn’t sure if he understood that running in to Big John had overtaken my nerves about meeting his family, but then I doubted I could keep anything from him even if I tried. He seemed to be able to read every thought, preempt every move I made.
“Come on.” He jumped out of the truck and held his hand out to me.
“Hey, John,” Barrett said. I tightened my hand in Blake’s.
“Hey,” John replied. I glanced up to find him smiling at me. “Thought I’d be seeing you again with my man Blake,” he said as he shook Blake’s hand.
Had word got out so quickly that we were together?
“You can’t hide anything from this old shaman,” he said, grinning at us. “I got told with a kick in the ass by the spirits not to mess with you two.”
“You did?” I asked, a little confused.
“Sure. I told you you’d already found your man. Spirits don’t lie.” He gave me a salute and headed to his truck.
My heart soared, as if it were attached to a hundred balloons. I turned to Blake. “You’re the one?”
Blake chuckled. “I keep telling you that I am.”
“The one that my dead ancestors said I’d already met?”
“Apparently so. Makes sense though. They knew before we did.”
I turned toward John’s truck as he started the engine. “Thank you,” I called out.
Every girl needs a little shaman in her love life.
––––––––––
“Mom, will you excuse us? I just want to—” Blake said, interrupting a family dinner that was unfamiliar but so welcoming. Everyone was here, Blake’s parents sneaking glances at each other, Brianna and Barrett teasing Blake about what a geek he was. It was a family dynamic I wasn’t familiar with but loved already. We’d spent the afternoon with his mom and Brianna catching up and helping prepare dinner. Now with everyone around the table, I was overwhelmed and happy and relieved that everything was as relaxed as Blake had promised me it would be.
“There’s no need to explain, son,” Blake’s dad said. “I know what it’s like to want a little one-on-one time with your girl.” He patted his wife on the arm. As much as I loved his family, I was exhausted and grateful that Blake had suggested an early exit for us. I had the whole weekend to get to know the McKenna family better.
“Ewww,” Bentley said. Blake winced. Blake’s mom smiled back at her husband and I flashed forward to Blake and me in thirty years. The thought wound through me, warming and comforting me.
“See you later,” he said, reaching for my hand. “I’m taking your keys, Barrett. Thanks for dinner, Mom.”
“Thank you so much, Mrs. McKenna.”
“Call me Fran!” she yelled as Blake pulled me out of the kitchen. He took long strides across the living room, through the door and out to the truck.
“Where are we going?” I asked, half running to keep up with him.
“Anywhere.” He slammed my door to the truck closed and rounded the hood to climb in beside me. “I just needed you to myself for a little bit, and I thought you might appreciate a breather.”
“So how was your welcome to the McKenna family?” he asked as he sped down the track toward the main road.
“You have a wonderful family, Blake. You’re lucky.”
“Barrett’s a pain in the ass.”
“He is not. And it was so nice to see Brianna again. She seems really happy that we found each other.”
We knew what we had together was special, and we wanted to do everything we could to hold on to it. There were no games, no power plays, no hiding what we were thinking. We talked about everything, including where we wanted to raise our family. But we’d set no dates. No questions had been popped. We hadn’t been together long, but we didn’t need time to know we would be together for the rest of our lives. Instead of a plan, I just had faith that things would work out how they were supposed to.
It wasn’t long until Blake pulled into a familiar-looking lane and I realized we were headed to the lake. To our lake.
He parked facing the water. There wasn’t the slightest ripple on the surface of the lake, and the reeds that framed our view stood still, no breeze encouraging their usual dance. “I wanted to come back here with you, but I didn’t have time to do the lights and champagne—”
“Hey, it’s being here with you that’s special.”
We climbed out of the truck. “I did manage a blanket and some beers.” He reached into the back of the truck and took out an ice chest and a blanket.
“This is our place.” I smiled up at him.
“Always.” He bent to kiss me.
We straightened the blanket out and opened a couple beers. We settled in, lying on our sides opposite each other. Blake pulled open another blanket and spread it over our legs. “It’s getting cold.”
I leaned over and kissed him on the jaw. Being here reminded me of our first and last night in Oklahoma during Love Rehab. I’d thought I’d never see him again. I shivered at the thought that we might have lost each other.
“What are you thinking about?” he asked.
“When we were here last.”
Blake’s smile turned serious. “You know I said I’d never keep anything from you.” My stomach tumbled. What was he going to say? Things were so perfect between us, but I was used to things going wrong just as I got comfortable. “Well, I just want to let you know that I’m planning to propose. Soon.”
The pressing of my chest lifted and I had to stop myself from laughing I was so relieved.
“I mean, I’ve not quite worked through the details, because I want it to be a story we can tell our grandchildren, but I wanted to give you the heads-up.”
Our pact to not keep things from each other probably could have had an exception made for such moments, but in a funny way, it was one of the most romantic things he could have done. We were a partnership and he wasn’t about to make plans or start our lives on a new path without letting me know. Because we were an us forever and in everything. “Don’t plan too much. I like this living in the moment stuff.” I smiled up at him. “But, in the interests of transparency, I’m going to say yes.”
His smile widened. “You are?”
“Did you ever doubt it?”
He shrugged. “I suppose not.”
“And please, no big wedding—I hate the idea of all that pomp and everyone looking at me.” I’d always assumed I’d have to have a wedding with the big dress, enormous cake and a crowd of spectators, but with Blake, I just wanted to be with him forever. I didn’t need a white dress to prove that. “I just want it to be about you and me. Maybe we can do it here with Big John officiating.”
“I don’t care as long as you marry me.”
“And we’re going to have to talk about the name thing,” I said, turning serious myself.
“The name thing?”
“Yeah, the name thing. Your surname is McKenna. I can’t be Mackenzie McKenna; it sounds ridiculous.”
Blake groaned, rolled me to my back and bent to kiss me. “It sounds incredible.” He kissed me again and propped himself up on his elbow, looking down at me. “But I don’t need you to change your name. I want us to be married. You don’t need to change who you are for that.”
And that was why Blake was perfect for me. He knew me, the real me. He saw every part of me and he loved me anyway—or maybe even because of—who I really was.
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