Page 17 of Deadly North

Mack gestures at my TV. “This is fine. Chop got it for watching football, mostly. Mom says it’s too big to watch actual TV on. She hates it.”

We watch the movie in mostly companionable silence. Tedward joins us, sitting in the middle of the couch. I’m grateful for the sense of normalcy it gives me to just be sitting here vegging out in front of the television. I eat so much popcorn that I end up uncomfortably full and sleepy by the time the movie is over.

“You’re dead on your feet,” Mack observes, after my head snaps up from drooping one too many times. “You should go to bed.”

Instantly I’m irritated by him telling me what to do. A snarky comeback rises to my lips. But instead of letting it fly, I bite it back. No matter how I normally feel about Mack, I’m grateful for his presence here tonight. “I guess you’re right,” I mumble, a loud yawn cutting off my last word. Mack chuckles, then takes my popcorn bowl from me, nesting it into his. “Look,” he says, brows knitting together. “I think I should stay in here tonight instead of out in my truck. I can’t watch your backyard from out front. And if whoever threw that rock comes back, I wanna be right here.”

I try to keep the relief off of my face. Because I want him to stay. I don’t want to be alone in the house tonight. I pretend to consider his words. “Okay,” I finally say. “I guess that makes sense.

I go into my bedroom and grab his quilt and pillow, bringing it back out to him in the living room just in time to see Mack pulling his T-shirt off over his head. The sight of his bare chest stops me in my tracks. Tattoos accentuate his muscled pecs and arms. The treasure trail of his dark hair invites my gaze downwards, disappearing behind the top button of his jeans. My eyes slide further, landing on the bulge in his crotch. My lips part involuntarily.

Then, suddenly, I remember where I am.

My eyes fly upward to Mack’s face. He’s staring at me with an expression I can’t read.

“Here’s your bedding,” I babble. “You know your way around by now, so…” All of the easy comfort of our earlier conversation has disappeared, and I have somehow suddenly reverted to my awkward teenage years. “I’ll, uh, let you get to it. I mean… uh, goodnight.”

Turning, I scurry down the hall and into my bedroom before I can say anything else stupid. Jesus Christ, you would think I had never seen a man’s bare chest before. My face flames hot, humiliation radiating from every pore.

Usually, I’d go to the bathroom to brush my teeth and floss, but I can’t go out there right now and face seeing Mack again after what just happened. I do kind of have to pee, though. Crap. Maybe I can manage to hold it until morning.

I change into a loose tank and sleep shorts and scramble under the covers, flipping off the bedside lamp. In the darkness, I listen to the sounds of Mack moving around, getting ready to spend another night on my couch. A few minutes later, the silence in the living room tells me he has settled in.

And suddenly, I’m wide awake.

The image of his bare chest is locked in the forefront of my brain. I picture his strong, square hands as they handed me the bowl of popcorn. I close my eyes and imagine the heat of his skin against mine.

It has been a hot minute since I have had sex with anyone. Like, alotlonger than I care to think about. I have a healthy enough sex drive, I guess, but when I’m not getting any, I usually am not all that bothered by it. That’s what vibrators are for, after all. But being in close physical proximity with Mack Maxwell has made me uncharacteristically horny. I wish I could pretend it was for some other reason, but I can’t. There’s just something about him — King Asshole notwithstanding — that my body responds to. I think he was the first boy I ever had a crush on. I know he’s the first boy I ever imagined kissing. He was hot as a teenager, but now he’s practically volcanic.

And tonight, he’s just on the other side of my bedroom door.

A couple of nights ago, I woke up at three a.m. to a dream that had me almost as embarrassed as I was turned on. I was at a lake somewhere in the middle of nowhere, by myself. It was hot and sticky outside, so I went down to the beach and stripped out of my clothes to walk into the water. I dunked myself under, and when I came up, Mack was there in the water with me, as naked as I was. He took my hand, and we both swam like that to a wooden platform that was anchored in the middle of the lake. When we got to it, day had somehow turned into a moonlit night.

We made love on the platform in the moonlight. It was the most erotic dream I’ve ever had. And I’ve been trying to get it out of my mind ever since.

Tonight, after an evening of not-quite-hating him, the memory of that dream won’t leave my head. And as I lie in bed, it slowly morphs into a fantasy of me getting up and going out in to the living room to him. Of going to him, and pulling off my clothes to stand in front of him, naked in the moonlight.

And him, reaching for me… his lips on mine, hands on my body, touching me everywhere I need him to…

Gah!My body, so close to sleep just half an hour ago, is suddenly thrumming with pent-up desire for a man I keep telling myself I despise. No matter how much I try to push the thoughts away, and how much I want to feel his body on top of mine.

The Hitachi Magic Wand is back on the Body Bus, and it would be too loud to use anyway. Mack might hear it. Slipping one hand silently inside my sleep shorts and another under my tank top, I stroke myself until I arch my back and silently ride my orgasm, imagining it’s Mack touching me instead.

9

MACK

Gigi comes out of her bedroom the next morning looking like she can barely keep her eyes open. She yawns and rakes a hand through her bedhead hair as she half-stumbles into the kitchen. “Is thatbaconI smell?”

I point at the coffee pot. “Coffee’s on. Have a cup while I finish making breakfast. Eggs, bacon, toast. Scrambled okay?”

“Sure. Did I actually have all of that stuff?” Gigi frowns as she reaches into the cupboard for a mug. “I don’t remember buying any of it except the eggs.”

“The bacon and bread were in the freezer.”

“Wow. Go me.” Gigi takes her steaming mug of coffee to the kitchen table and sits down. “It smells amazing. I was hoping for cold cereal for breakfast, if my milk hadn’t expired.”

“I thought you knew how to cook.”