Page 158 of Here & There

I reach for the camel at my neck. “I was thinking of giving this to you,” I whisper. “I thought it might remind you of happier times with her.”

Mom shakes her head. “No. I like seeing it on you. That way, it reminds me of love.”

While Mom sits down at the table with Nate, I head over to grab Mac from his office. He had to head here to take care of a few things after the ride in.

“Come in,” he grunts when I knock on the door.

When I open it, he’s leaning over his desk, squinting at his computer. He grins wide when he sees me, like we didn’t just spend all weekend together.

“We’re here,” I say.

“I’m just wrapping up,” Mac says. He pushes back, opening his arms.

I walk around his desk and sink onto his lap.

He makes a sound of contentment as he pulls me into his chest. After tapping a few things around me into his laptop, he snaps the computer shut. “Good enough.”

He leans back and runs the flat of his hand over my hip, burrowing his face into my neck. “So, is it a yes?”

I laugh softly. He asks me this every other day. He’s talking about getting married. I told him I wanted to wait until we’d known each other for a year. I can’t exactly remember why, though, right in this moment, with him caressing my ass and nipping at my collarbone.

“Maybe.”

“How about being the mother of my children?”

My stomach flips. This is a new one he’s added into the rotation. We’ve talked about kids before, but only in passing. He said he was open to it, but that it was up to me. I think he felt like he might be too old. But ever since Nate started calling him Dad, he’s changed. And it’s doing things to me.

“It’s easy. All you need to do is say yes.”

“How does that work?” I ask.

“We fuck like crazy, with no condom, over and over again, until we make a baby.”

My lower half grows hot. “Mac…”

“Fuck, let’s just do that part anyway. We could start right now.”

“They’re waiting for us outside,” I laugh.

“They can wait another minute.”

He’s not wrong. I’d bet money they wouldn’t notice if we took an hour to get over there because they’ve jumped right back into the animated discussion aboutZeldathey were having on the way over. Nate introduced her to the game at Christmas, and she’s been playing it like it’s homework ever since. The fun kind.

“God, you smell good,” Mac says, his nose grazing my jaw.

I’m using the same soap and shampoo I always do.

“The man’s just…obsessed,” Deanie told me last night when we were at her place for drinks. She pulled me aside after Mac and her brother Raphael started bro-ing down about this obscure author they’re both super into. “First of all,” Deanie said when she pulled me aside, “please can you take Raphael? He’s driving me insane.” The oldest of her three younger siblings is staying with her for an indefinite period of time while he works on his PhD. “I’m only half kidding. I think being up there might chill him out. But second of all”—and here, she actually sighed—“you know when they say ‘he’s only got eyes for you’? Well, I swear your man wrote the book. It’s like you hung the moon.”

“Who, Mac?” I asked, my stomach swirling.

“Who the hell else would I be talking about?”

I glanced over just as Mac caught my eye. He gave me a wink and a little grin while Raphael waxed on.

To me, he’s just Mac. But as he utters a curse now, setting me up on his desk so he can cool off, I think she might be right.

He adjusts himself and then leans back in his chair, his eyes roving over me. Then he grows serious. “Hey, was Vita okay out there?”

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