Page 41 of Comeback
“You mind doing my back, Jack?” she asked as she tossed me the bottle of sunscreen.
Oh hell yeah.
Eagerly, I stepped behind her, my front pressing against her rear. I squeezed the bottle and squirted a dollop of the white cream into my palm. I set my hands on her shoulders and slowly, sensuously, rubbed the lotion into her skin.
“Finally,” I said, whispering into her ear. My cock began to limber against her round ass. “I’ve been waiting to get my hands all over you all morning long.”
“Don’t be dirty,” she whispered back—even as she discreetly pumped her rear against the bulge between my legs.
“You little tease,” I growled softly in her ear. My hands traveled lower until I held her waist between my hands. “I want you so goddamn bad, Emma.”
“Be patient,” she whispered again, “and maybe, when the time is right, you can have me.”
The patter of tiny footsteps came stamping up the stairs. Then, for the second time, Emma escaped my grasp.
“Fuck,” I grumbled, breathless.
Chapter 18
Emma
We were anchored in shallow waters, with the beach just visible in the distance. Jack blew up an inflatable raft that could easily fit the three of us. We grabbed our drinks and hopped onto the raft. Jack paddled us to shore, huffing and puffing as he rowed, his huge muscles swelling and his chest turning red as he worked.
We landed on the beach and he dragged the raft up the shore. I laid out a towel on the beach and soaked up the warm sun, watching as Jack and Mackenzie splashed and swam around in the shallow water. Mack was having an absolute blast, hooting and hollering as Jack tossed her through the air and into the water again and again.
We felt like a real family. In the years I was with Trevor, notoncedid he take me to do something like this—not before Mackenzie was born and certainly not after, either. It always felt like I was the only one interested in the three of us evenbeinga family.
But I didn’t feel that way with Jack. He really tried. The way he acted with Mackenzie, you’d never guess she wasn’t his own daughter. He talked to her, asked her thoughts on things, watched out for her. Hecaredfor her, and she knew it, and it was such a relief, such ajoy,to watch my daughter come out of her shell and let her personality shine through.
For the first time in a long time, I started to think,things are going to be fine.
And I had Jack to thank for that.
Yet … deep down, there was a small niggling voice in my head that doubted Jack’s story. I know it sounds horrible and cynical and suspicious of me, but I had to wonder—why would a former professional athlete be interested inme?
He obviously had money. He was tall and handsome and even though he was retired, you’d never know it by looking at his rippling muscles and sizzling abs. I was sure theotherrumors were true—that he slept around—because there was no way a sexy former athlete with a mansion on the lake and a million-dollar yachtdidn’tget all the women he wanted.
So … why was he trying to winmeover, of all people? I had a daughter. Don’t get me wrong, I love Mack more than anything in the world. But I’m not ignorant. I’ve heard the horror stories of single moms in the dating world. I know that most men aren’t exactly thrilled to jump into a ready-made family—that they see children from a previous relationship as “baggage.” That the only kids they’re interested in raising are those that share their own flesh and blood.
To see a guy like Jack, who haseverything,embrace the role of father figure so easily, so naturally, sowillingly?
What was I missing? What was wrong with this picture?
I would’ve feltsomuch better if he’d let me look up his name on my cell phone … but “captain’s rules” prevented that from happening. To be fair, it was a reasonable rule to have on a yacht. I just wished I could see a picture of him in his hockey gear to besurethat he was who he said he was. And not some con man who knew the fastest way to a single mom’s heart was through her daughter.
The funny thing was, as soon as Jack was by my side, all those worries and doubts vanished. Some guys just have a simple, honest, genuine air about them—and that was Jack to a tee.
Jack came for me, with Mackenzie riding on his shoulders, not a moment too soon.
“Hey!” he said, dropping his knees into the sand next to me. “How’s the sun?”
“Great,” I purred.
He checked his watch. “I was thinking we head back to the boat soon so I can check the ribs.”
“Let’s do it,” I said. I stood, pleasantly aware that my small bikini had ensnared Jack’s full attention.
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