CHAPTER SEVEN

MACK

My hands skim along the sleeves of her sweater, the soft material gliding under my fingers. Her face tips up expectantly. I claim her glossy lips.

She tastes of mint, cool and fresh.

Kissing Sadie is both exciting and familiar. The way our mouths fit together perfectly, each lick and flick of her tongue against mine sending my desire higher, feels like this is something we’ve done a hundred times before and something I hope we’ll do a million more.

Her tiny moan brings an answering one from my throat. Slim fingers clutch my shirt, keeping me tight against her.

I move my hands up her arms, to the firm rounded curve of her shoulders, holding her close as our kisses move from passionate to ravenous. At the feel of Sadie’s hands sliding to my ass, her fingers clenching it, a groan breaks free from me. Burying my face in her hair, breathing in the soft feminine fragrance of her, I work to control my need as my cock strains for release.

“Sadie.” Her name leaves me on a hoarse exhale. With effort, I pull myself from her, needing the space to clear the raging desire that is urging me to toss her down on the uncomfortable couch and fuck her silly.

“Mack? Is something wrong?” she asks, gliding her tongue along her wet lips. I wonder if my taste is as addictive as hers is.

“Nothing is wrong. Everything is positively right. I’m about to take out a beautiful woman on a date.”

Her smile is instantaneous.

I’m thankful the drive to the park is short because Sadie chatters the entire way and while I’m happy to listen to her, I’m having problems following the conversation until I turn the radio completely off.

“It was distracting,” I murmur, tossing her a grin.

“Am I talking too much again?”

“It’s because I want to concentrate on what you’re saying that I turned the radio off,” I answer honestly, even as a bit of panic beats in my chest.

No more putting things off. I need to get in with my doctor to see what’s up with my hearing. I had a bad ear infection once as a kid, but I recall having a lot of pain with that. I haven’t experienced any pain at all. Something is obviously wrong, though.

Pulling through the open gates of the park, I feel Sadie’s curiosity. “Might be a little chilly for a walk,” she says.

There’s an enclosed glass gazebo along with cabin rentals here at the park. I rented the cabin with the gazebo once I started planning this date. At this time of year, nobody really books the cabins so getting the one I wanted at the last minute wasn’t an issue. Since I hope to be here with Sadie after dark, having something to block the wind and chill is important. Even so, I came earlier and set up a portable heater.

“We won’t be walking far,” I assure her, reaching for her hand.

Driving the final distance through the park to the cabins with our joined hands on her warm thigh has my thoughts moving to the cabin that I also paid for. My hormones are on overdrive being near her and I know it’s only a matter of time before I give in to the need to have her.

“Camping?” Sadie asks as I pull my truck up to the assigned cabin and park.

I laugh and bring her hand up to my lips, kissing her knuckles. “Not quite.” Nodding my chin to the left, I indicate the glass gazebo. “I thought a picnic dinner would be fun.”

A grin of delight brightens her face. “That sounds lovely!”

Slinging the blanket over my shoulder, I grab the cooler of food while Sadie dashes ahead to check out the gazebo.

The wind pulls at my clothes as I make the short walk to the gazebo and I’m glad I had the foresight to have the heater at ready.

Sadie is inside twirling around as she looks up at the sky through the domed glass ceiling. “Mack, this is amazing! How did you know this was here?”

I place the cooler down and flap the blanket up to spread it on the floor. “I go hiking in the park a lot and saw it on their page a few years ago.”

She bounds over to me and throws her arms around my waist. “Thank you, thank you for bringing me here!”

Laughing, I hug her back, warmth filling me at her happiness over the simplicity of this. The way she’s acting, you would think I gave her a diamond necklace or something.

“You are very welcome. Ready to eat? Or do you want to walk around the park some first?”

Eying up the cooler, she grins. “Eat. I’m starved.”

Since I brought far too much food, I’m happy to hear that.

We dig the food out of the cooler and it’s only after we have most of it laid out on the blanket that I realize I neglected to bring utensils. Most of the food can be eaten with our fingers, but the banana pudding is going to be a problem.

Piling our plates with food, we eat, and Sadie tells me about her time in girl scouts when she was younger.

“Was that why you named your cat Cookie?”

Her blue eyes light up. “Yes! And I was the best seller in the troop three years in a row.”

“Imagine that,” I tease.

Her pink lips purse up as she crinkles her nose at me. “Are you picking on me because I talk so much?” Her giggles rock her entire body. “Because everyone says that, so I’m used to it.”

“You have an amazing personality. I’ll never tell you that you’re talking too much.”

“You say that now but give it a bit and you might change your mind.”

Smiling, I hand her the container of fruit. I don’t see how anything could change my mind. Sitting here with her is the happiest I’ve been in quite a while. I’ve been content with my life. Good job, money in the bank, Charlie to come home to. Yet I’m realizing now that being content is different from being happy.

“I grew up in the city. I had zero interest in boy scouts. Hockey, video games, and hanging out were all I cared about.”

Fishing out a piece of watermelon, Sadie pops it in her mouth and sucks the sticky juice off her fingers before she chews. “How did you end up doing tattoos instead of, I don’t know, being a video game designer or playing pro hockey?”

“You’re greatly overestimating my hockey skills. I wasn’t that good at it. As for being a game designer, I never gave it much thought.” I take the container from her and get a wedge of pineapple. “My uncle had a lot of tattoos and saw me doodling in a notebook one day and asked me to draw him an eagle clutching a skull.”

I laugh at Sadie’s expression. “Hey, you’d be surprised at how popular skulls are.”

She gives a delicate shudder. “No, I get that. Everyone has different tastes. I just can’t imagine one of my uncles asking me to draw such a thing.”

Crunching into the pineapple, the tart sweetness floods my mouth. I swallow and pull out my phone, scrolling through my pictures until I come to one of my Uncle Ed. Holding the phone out to her, I chuckle at her gasp.

It’s a common reaction when people see him. The man is more ink than untouched skin and I’ve lost count of the number of tattoos I’ve done for him or how many total he has on his body.

“Look on his left shoulder,” I instruct, enlarging the picture for her.

Sadie leans closer. “Is that the one you drew?”

“Yes.”

Her eyebrows shoot upwards. “Wow. That is impressive.”

Pulling the phone back, I exit out of my photos and toss the phone onto the blanket. “I’m not the one who tattooed it. Just drew it.”

“And it’s still impressive. How old were you?”

“Thirteen.”

“So you’ve always been talented.” She heaves a sigh. “I’m so envious of people with natural talent. I don’t have a creative bone in my body.”

I shuffle closer to her. “And how many other people were top cookie sellers in their girl scout troops three years in a row?”

With a laugh, she shoves at my shoulder. “Stop. You’re just picking on me now. I’m serious. I can’t draw, sing, or play an instrument. I’m hopeless at most things.”

“Everyone has different talents. You’re warm, friendly, and vibrant. That’s a talent too, you know.”

She scoffs. “Not much of one. That’s just me not knowing when to shut up.”

My smile fades. “Whoever told you to shut up is an idiot.”

Sadie stares at me, her eyes wide.

In the blink of an eye, she launches herself at me, taking me off-guard and I pitch backwards, landing on my back with Sadie on top of me. Her mouth attacks mine in the sweetest of assaults.

With a moan, I wrap my arms around her, banding her tightly to me and realizing I never want to let her go.