Rose and Jacob
Lucas walked out of the bathroom and looked back and forth between the two of them. “What’s so funny?”
“Um, Thomas just told me a grown-up joke!” Mack replied quickly.
Dean lifted his hand to caress the side of Mack’s face. “It’s the first time you’ve laughed today. Let’s go home. We can eat on the way back.”
“Yeah! Does that mean I don’t have to tuck my shirt in anymore?”
She didn’t know whether to leave or stay. “Thomas, would you mind taking Lucas over to get a drink for a minute, please?”
Thomas and Lucas headed over to the refreshments as she turned to Dean. “These are your family and friends, and I don’t want you rushing away because I’m uncomfortable. If this is going to work between us, then I have to get used to them.”
“Babe, the only family here right now are my folks and none of these people are my friends. Hell, my sister isn’t even here. I know most of them, yes, but my friends help me relax, and I’m not relaxed here. All this isn’t me. I’m more comfortable shooting pool or in a cottage in Cape Elizabeth with the woman I’m in love with.”
He lifted his hands to Mack’s face and used his thumbs to wipe her tears away. “Come on, we’re leaving. I’ll talk to my grandfather and arrange a time to visit them.” He smiled. “I’ll tell him I want to bring someone special to meet him and my grandmother, which will guarantee they won’t go anywhere else.”
“Let me just wash my face in here.” Mack dragged Dean into the bathroom with her.
She walked over to the sink and washed her tears away, then used the towel Dean passed to her to dry her face. She opened her purse and applied some more mascara and lipstick while Dean lounged against the door with his ankles crossed.
He suddenly realized Mack was up to something and straightened slightly. She sauntered toward him, her lithe movements reminding him of a cat stalking her prey.
Standing in front of him, she moved in very close. She placed her hands on his chest, and moved them upwards in a caress, “So you love me, huh?” she asked huskily, taking his face between her hands, bringing his head down to hers.
First, she nibbled on his bottom lip, and then moved up to the top one. She continued her assault on his senses and used her tongue to trace the seam of his lips. He opened his mouth and she sealed hers to his in an explosive kiss. Dean was lost. He took over the kiss and lifted her up toward him. He then turned around to pin her to the door with his hips.
Mack wrapped her legs around his waist. He deepened the kiss even more, only to be abruptly brought back down to earth with someone banging on the door.
Breathing heavily, he rested his head against the door, his mouth attached to Mack’s neck, which made her shiver. “Yeah?”
“Are you about done in there?”
“No!” he whispered into Mack’s neck.
“Give me five,” Dean shouted to his father on the other side of the door.
“Okay, son, take your time. Tell Mack that Thomas and Lucas are sitting in the car.”
Mack began to unwrap her legs from around Dean’s waist, embarrassed that James had caught them very nearly going at it.
Dean laughed, placing a tender kiss on her nose. He edged Mack away from him, helped to straighten her clothes, and then opened the door.
He took Mack’s hand and walked her over to say goodbye to his parents before he practically dragged her to the car, laughing.
“I’m sorry about my mother.”
She frowned and looked across at Dean. “Why are you laughing?”
“My father was embarrassed at catching us in the bathroom together. He doesn’t embarrass easily so I can’t help but find it funny.” Dean helped Mack into the car.
“Auntie Mack, why did you pull Dean into the bathroom with you?” Lucas asked from the backseat.
“You saw that, huh?” Mack asked, glancing at Dean.
“Oh, yes. We saw that,” Thomas replied.
Chapter 29
They made a quick exit from Dean’s parents’ house, forgetting the scanner and his laptop in their rush, and headed back up the coast. Dean pulled off the interstate into the McDonald’s in Biddeford at Lucas’s request, of course.