Mack Daddy(48)

My heart felt like it was ready to explode.

He placed his hand on mine. “I remember it all—the good and the bad—and I wouldn’t trade any of it.” Looking down at our fingers now wrapped together, he asked, “Is this okay? My holding your hand?”

Touching him felt really good. Even though it should have seemed like an innocent gesture, the contact was disconcertingly arousing.

I answered, “Yes.”

We were quiet for a long while until he said, “No matter what happens, all of those memories will stay with me until the day I die. But I’d prefer to make new ones. It’s f*cked-up, but I didn’t think I could want you more than I did back then. But now that you’re with someone else, now that I may lose you a second time—forever—it’s a whole different level of wanting you.”

I broke the contact of our hands, stood up, and walked over to the window. It was foggy, preventing me from seeing outside.

“Before he left, Victor said he wants to marry me,” I suddenly blurted out. “And have kids. He’d never said those words before, but I think he feels threatened by you.”

“He does, does he? Are his feelings warranted?”

Did Victor have a reason to worry? The way my heart was beating, the fact that my panties were wet from the mere touch of Mack’s hand, meant that Victor had every reason to worry. I still reacted to Mack the same way I had eight years ago. Nothing in that respect had changed. Every part of me that wasn’t logical wanted Mack and only Mack. But this wasn’t just a decision for my body and heart. My mind kept reminding me that there was a child and a bitter ex involved. Not to mention the fear that went along with giving someone a second chance when they’d already broken your heart.

But I answered him truthfully, “His feelings are warranted, yes. But I’m very confused.”

He got up and walked slowly toward me. “It’s weird how the roles have reversed. I used to want to be with you but stopped what felt natural because I didn’t want to hurt Torrie. Nothing and no one is holding me back now. I don’t care about him, but I respect that you do, because I care about you. I can relate to what you’re going through. I’ll do whatever you truly want. Your happiness is all that matters. You’re holding all the cards, Frankie—every single, last one of them. But just be aware that I have no issue with showing you exactly how much I want you right now.” He moved in closer, to the point where I could feel the heat from his body. “The next time you ask me to kiss you, I’m going to f*cking kiss you.” He pointed to the bed. “In fact, I’d love nothing more than to be making your eyes roll back right now.”

I let out a slight audible gasp. The muscles between my legs instinctively tightened.

“Well, you said you weren’t gonna hold back. I guess you weren’t kidding.”

“I’m not gonna pretend, no. I’m not gonna lie to you about my feelings. I’m not going to hide the fact that I want to make love to you more than anything.”

His phone vibrated, disrupting the tension.

He looked down. “Shit. It’s Torrie. I’d better take this in case it has to do with Jonah.”

“No problem.”

I listened as he spoke to her. His ex’s calling in the middle of our moment was a timely reminder that being with Mack would always mean having to deal with Torrie being in the picture.

He put the phone back in his pocket. “I’m sorry about that.”

“Everything okay?”

“Yeah. It had nothing to do with Jonah. She wanted to confirm what time the winter festival was this weekend.”

I swallowed the lump in my throat. “She’s gonna be there?”

“Yeah. She wants to go, apparently.”

I tried to make light of it. “Well, that’s one sure dunk in the tank for you.”

He chuckled. “You can bet on that.”





The following Thursday afternoon, Mack was parked outside of the school waiting for me at five; my staff meeting had run late.

He’d had to cancel seeing me the previous two days because Torrie got unexpectedly called out of town for a work-related emergency. Since Jonah had to stay with him, there was no way for us to spend time together after school. He’d been extremely apologetic, even though I’d told him it really wasn’t necessary to be sorry about something he couldn’t control.

When I entered the car, he looked morose. “I’m so f*cking sorry, Frankie.”

“I told you, it’s fine.”

He looked around to make sure no one had spotted us before driving off.

“No, it’s not fine. We only have this week. This time has been like a gift, and I just lost two whole days with you. Now, we just have tonight.”

Jonah’s weekend with Mack started on Friday afternoons through Sunday evening. So, aside from the fact that I’d see him at the winter festival on Saturday, tonight would be it.

“We’ll make the most of it.” I smiled.

“I’ve been dying to see you,” he said.

The words were at the tip of my tongue. I wanted to tell him that I’d thought of nothing but him for the past two days, but I needed to be careful. I didn’t want to give him false hope, because admittedly, I was still torn about what was going to happen once Victor returned. This limbo wasn’t really fair to either of them, but I vowed not to let my confusion ruin tonight. It was my one night with Mack, and I needed to focus on the moment.