Page 32 of The One With The Secret Crushes

"And I love you, Mackenzie." I bounced my hips, inviting her to take what she so obviously wanted.

"This is wild. We can just have sex whenever we want?"

After a lifetime of thinking we couldn't, it was a little confusing to have this much freedom, to be able to touch her any time.

"If you want me, you shall have me." I gripped her hips and ground my very hard cock against her. "But only if that's what you really want."

She plucked a condom from the nightstand. "Oh, it's what I want."

Eleven

Mackenzie

Don't regret chasing your dreams. Cherish what you've come home to.

Joanne cackledwhen I told her the news and congratulated herself on playing a role in getting us together. Scott moved an impressive amount of my stuff into his home—our home—in a few short days, leaving me with the difficult task of sifting through a family home that had been through too much.

But it was hard to feel the aches when I had a table full of family and friends. Everyone came to our first family dinner. Scott made lasagna and I made a chocolate cake. Sharon brought cheese, Digger brought wine, and I learned Travis brewed his own beer. There was laughter and stories and so much love I almost cried twice.

"Why do you look sad?" Aunt Sharon asked, brushing my cheek.

"I'm not sad. I'm happy."

"You are, but you're also sad. Trust me, I know what that looks and feels like."

There was a burning ache in my chest as I watched Scott shake his head at his friends. "No video games if you can't promise to keep it civil."

I rubbed at the ache, realizing what it was. "I didn't come home for so long because it hurt."

"True. But you were also living your life. Traveling, seeing the world, it's all you could talk about growing up. Your mother would be so proud of the way you chased your dreams. And I know your father was. We talked about it all the time."

He said as much to me over the years. He loved planning our next adventure and the quality time we got on those trips. "But I missed out on so much."

Joanne squealed when Travis tickled her, Maeve was giving Digger advice on sex toys of all things, and Scott was watching me very carefully from across the room. Paris was magical, but a room full of this was priceless.

"You can't experience everything. Not at the same time," my aunt said sagely. "Did you meet your person at a tender age? Yes. Sometimes that happens. And sometimes those people are together from that day until forever. It doesn't mean they were happy. Growing up together, in love, is a hard, hard thing to do."

Aunt Sharon was divorced. My Uncle Augustus was a good man, but I remembered how unhappy they were before their marriage ended. They were high school sweethearts who got married at twenty and had their first kid at twenty-two.

I tried to picture what it would have been like to move back home after college or even a year or two after that. I was still finding myself, learning all the ways my grief still affected my choices. I made mistakes but finally got my feet under me.

I was sure Scott had his own missteps. He was always the mature, fatherly figure, and I could only imagine that dynamic would have shaped our relationship if we'd tried to form one before we each grew up on our own.

Aunt Sharon squeezed my hand. "I saw the way you two were together. He took care of you and you looked to him for comfort. But the way you are now? He's a grouchy bar owner who knows when to step in and when to let people figure things out for themselves. You're my wonderful, strong, resilient niece who knows what she wants and that she can weather whatever life throws at her next. The way the two of you have come together, so confident and sure in what you have, that's the stuff that lasts, Mackenzie. Don't regret chasing your dreams. Cherish what you've come home to."

She pressed a kiss to my temple and squeezed me in a tight hug. "Can we grab lunch this week? Wednesday?"

"I'll put it on my calendar."

No one stayed late since everyone had work the next day. We locked the doors and turned off the lights before heading upstairs.

"You okay? You looked upset with Sharon earlier." Scott closed our bedroom door and took me in his arms.

"Not upset. I got emotional and she talked me through it."

"Oh yeah? Anything I can help with?"

I shook my head. "You've already done it."

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