Page 146 of Rough and Rugged

He detected pride in her voice when she answered. “Yes. I make custom jewelry now. Mostly out of silver and precious stones.”

And for some reason, that made him happy.

“Thanks for helping. It’s important to keep this stuff dry.”

“No problem. Is there any more we need to do?”

Mac scanned the area, confirming that everything was in order and safe from the rain. Fortunately, everything was situated on an elevated concrete floor or was stacked on shelves.

“I think we’re done here. We better get back to the house and into some dry clothes.”

When they returned to the cabin, he noticed Marissa trying her best to clean off her mud-caked boots.

“Don’t worry about that. The good thing about these floors is that they’re easy to clean.”

“I’ll just take them off and leave them outside.”

“Suit yourself. I’m not worried.” He thought he detected Marissa trying to hide a slight shiver. “I think I’ll light a fire. Seems the rain has cooled things off. And you’re welcome to get out of those muddy clothes.” When he spotted her raised eyebrow, he knew he’d put his foot in his mouth. Even though he’d like nothing better, he wasn’t about to let her know that. “Don’t worry, you’re safe here. I only meant you might like a shower. I’ll find you something to put on while your clothes wash.”

“Thank you. That sounds nice.”

“You’ll find everything you need in the bathroom.” As he watched her paddle across the floor in her bare feet, he wondered how much longer he could act like he was still mad at her.

Mac scrounged through his dresser drawers looking for something that Marissa could wear. He settled on one of his worn button up flannel shirts since it would cover her practically to her knees. When she’d been standing in her bare feet he’d been reminded just how much taller he was, even though she was taller than a lot of women.

Once he heard the shower turn on, he went to the bathroom, threw in the shirt, and called out over the noise of the shower. “Here’s something to put on.” He didn’t try to look inside, as he knew his self control was slipping by the moment. He couldn’t help imagining what she looked like in the shower wet and naked, his dick twitching at the thought.

When she came out of the bathroom, she had her wet and dirty clothes with her. “If you show me the washer, I can throw these in.”

He took the garments from her. “I got it. Need to wash mine, too.”

“Good. The sooner I can get them back on, the sooner I can get out of here.”

For some reason, that irritated him, so he snapped back. “Hate to tell ya, but you’re not going anywhere anytime soon. When it rains like this, the creek rises so fast, it covers the bridge. No way will you be able to drive that fancy Mustang over it. You’ll have to wait for the water to recede.”

A look of horror crossed her face. “How long will that take?”

He shrugged his shoulders. “Don’t know for sure. Maybe a day or two.”

She began pacing the room like a caged animal. “But I have things to do. I need to get back to Chicago. I can’t stay here.”

“Sorry about your luck. And sorry you can’t run away like you did back then,” he taunted.

She stopped her pacing and walked up to him, poking him in the chest with a manicured finger. He couldn’t help but notice the sparkling diamond on the ring finger of her left hand.

“I didn’t run away, asshole. l left. You didn’t seem to care whether I did or not, if I recall.”

“I cared,” he growled.

“Could have fooled me. You spent the six months following the miscarriage drinking and freezing me out. And after I left? Radio silence. I hoped you would come after me, but you didn’t. When I did finally hear something, it wasn’t from you. It was from your lawyer!” The last sentence was shouted so loudly, it woke Mr. Rogers from his perch.

Mac lowered his face to hers and yelled right back. “You signed it quick enough, so that told me all I needed to know!”

Her next words came out in a whisper. “I thought that’s what you wanted. I didn’t want to hold you back. I figured you were ready to move on with someone else.”

Oh, how wrong she was. And God help him, because he couldn’t help himself. He couldn’t hide his real feelings any longer. Self preservation be damned. “Does it look like I moved on with someone else?”

When she opened her mouth to respond, he stole her words, not wanting to hear anything from her except surrender. He pulled her all the way into him and devoured her mouth with his.

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