Page 159 of Here & There

Mac was stiff around my mom at first. He knows how fraught our relationship was, how much hurt I carried because of her. But now they’re like best friends. He can see how hard she’s working on herself. Sometimes they even joke about therapy together.

Mom came up here for the holidays but didn’t make it to the Dinghy. I told her about the portrait of her mom that was hanging here plus theVitasandwich we named after her. I think she was too overwhelmed to handle it then.

“She will be,” I say. “She wants a print ofThe Widow.”

Mac smiles. “That’s great. And you?”

I lean forward and kiss his nose, just because I want to. Then I lower myself back down onto his broad, muscular thighs, this time straddling him. I guess I’m obsessed too. “I’m better now,” I say.

When I grind myself into his lap, Mac makes a low warning growl.

“Is this a problem?” I do it some more.

“Careful, Ponytail.”

I’m not careful. I slip my hands into his hair and plant my mouth on his.

Mac meets my kiss by intensifying it, coaxing my lips open and flicking at my tongue.

I moan and break the kiss. It’s the same move he makes when he goes down on me. “Guess I deserved that,” I say breathily.

I could say yes. I could say yes right now.

Mac chuckles, then slides his hand down my front, toward my waistband. “I think they’re probably okay out there for a few more minutes. Just long enough for me to make you?—”

There’s a knock on the door.

“Fuck me,” he breathes.

“I draw the line at fucking you in your office when my mother’s here, anyway,” I whisper, getting off his lap. I take a grounding breath, then walk to the door.

Mac readjusts himself again and gives me a nod.

It’s Lana. And she’s not alone.

“Hey, girls!” My heart warms to see her two daughters with her.

The little one, Aurora, waves. “Hello!” She’s five.

Her seven-year-old, Nova, is quieter, but smiles shyly. “Hi.”

“Sorry, I didn’t know Mac wasn’t alone,” Lana says awkwardly.

“No worries,” I say, hugging her. “We’re just about to have lunch with my mom and Nate out there.”

“Oh, I won’t keep you, then,” Lana says. “I just came by to grab my stuff to wash since I called in today. Mac, thanks again for getting my shift covered.” To me, she says, “These professional development days are going to be the end of me.”

“It’s all good, Lana,” Mac says. “Rock!”

Nova wraps her hand around his fist.

Mac glares. He’s leaning over with his elbows on his knees, losing horrifically at rock, paper, scissors, as he always does with these two.

“Paper gets rock,” Nova says softly, a big smile on her face. Aurora jumps up and down, cheering.

Something inside me throbs. I think it’s my ovaries. I clear my throat. “So you haven’t found a replacement sitter yet?” I ask Lana.

Lana shakes her head, looking stressed. Her regular babysitter moved a few weeks ago, and she’s had poor luck since. “The one I hired for today called in sick five minutes before I was supposed to leave for my shift. Hence your man here helping me out.”

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