McCarthys of Gansett Island Boxed Set Books 1-3 (23 page)

“I only have four condoms. Well, three now.”

“Why didn’t you get more today?”

“You wouldn’t have found that a tad presumptuous?”

She couldn’t deny that he had her there. “What’ll we do? Neither of us can buy them in this town. It’ll be all over the island before we’re even out of the store.”

“Don’t worry, honey. I’ll think of something.”

“You do that.” She tugged on his hair to bring him close enough to kiss. “And get the big box while you’re at it. The biggest box they have. Maybe two of them.”

Mac laughed as he finally withdrew from her. “You got it.”

“And you’ll take care of this tomorrow?”

“First thing,” he said, still chuckling.

“Good because we’ll need some for tomorrow night.”

“I knew it,” he said with a deep, dramatic sigh. “You’re really going to kill me, aren’t you?”

She could tell she astounded him when she pushed him onto his back. Her lips hovering above his, she said, “Or die trying.”

Mac held her tight against him as she slept. After what they’d shared, he should have been exhausted, depleted, drained. Instead, he was exhilarated and making plans that he couldn’t wait to share with her.
 

They would be married as soon as possible. He’d adopt Thomas and give him his name. Thomas McCarthy had a nice ring to it. Next, he would build them a house—a great big house with a huge bedroom, a brand new bed and a view of the water. He’d take over his father’s business and make a life right here on the island with his new family. They’d even find a way to send Maddie to college. Maybe if she spent two days a week on the mainland, she could chip away at a degree over the next few years. He wanted her to have everything she’d missed out on before now. After waiting forever for her, he’d do anything he could to ensure her unending happiness.

She stirred, murmured in her sleep, and pressed her lips to his chest.

Mac smoothed a hand over her hair.

“What’re you doing awake?” she muttered.

“Thinking about you.”

“What about me?”

“About the life we’re going to have together.”

“Tell me about it.” She caressed his chest, focusing on his nipple, which reawakened another part of him. “I want to know all about it.”

He went through the whole plan, from marriage to college.

Maddie propped herself up so her chin rested on his chest. She stayed like that for a long time, studying him with those caramel eyes that made him melt.

“What? You don’t like the plan?”

“I love the plan.”

“Then what’s wrong?”

“I just keep waiting for the other shoe to drop. No one can be this perfect.”

“Maybe I’m just perfect for you. Did that ever occur to you?”

“Oh, many times.” She shifted so she was on top of him and began to pepper his chest with soft kisses that made his blood boil. No one had ever fired him up the way she did. Her tongue circled his nipple, and he sucked in a sharp deep breath. “Babe, don’t forget. We’re out of condoms.”

“I know.” She moved to give his other nipple the same attention.
 

By now, Mac was hard as stone and pulsating against her belly.

Maddie shocked him when she sat up, reached for the hem of the silk nightgown and lifted it over her head, exposing her breasts to him for the first time. Nothing she could’ve done would have told him more about how much she’d come to love and trust him.

“You’re so beautiful,” he said, his voice hoarse. “Like a fantasy come to life.”

“Touch me, Mac.”

His hands coasted over her ribs to cup her breasts. “I know you hate them, but I think they’re magnificent.”

Maddie laughed. “I thought you were an ass-and-leg man.”

“
All
men are breast men.”

She rolled her eyes. “Tell me something I don’t know.”

Mac drew a nipple deep into his mouth and swirled his tongue back and forth.

“Mmm, that’s good.”

He held back the overwhelming urge to squeeze and lick and bite, not wanting her to think he was fixated on the part of her she hated most. That was fine, because she seemed to have other plans anyway.

Wiggling out of his grip, she dragged her breasts over his chest and kissed her way to his belly. Under the sheet, her soft hand found him hard and ready, as if he hadn’t already had her four times. “Maddie,” he gasped.

“Hmm?” This she said against the head of his penis, the vibration nearly undoing him.

“God,” he uttered.
 

Her soft laughter was accompanied by sweeping strokes of her tongue.

“Honey, wait. . .”

“Relax, Mac. I want to kiss you everywhere.”

“You can’t use my own words against me.”

She glanced up at him, a wicked glint in her eyes. “Oh no? Watch me.”

He loved her like this—confident and trusting, loving him enough to expose herself to him, to take him into her mouth and give him something special. She probably hadn’t done this before, but her enthusiasm more than made up for her lack of experience. It didn’t take long for her to drive him to the point of no return. With his hand buried in her hair, he tried to stop her.
 

“Maddie,” he panted, “stop. Baby, come on.” But rather than stop, she stroked him faster and took him deeper. By the time she drew a long, intense orgasm from him, he was sweating, breathing hard and his heart raced. Just opening his eyes took all the energy that remained in his body. When he did, he found her watching him with a very satisfied look on her face.

“Welcome back. I thought I’d finally killed you.”

“Damn close,” he said, reaching for her.

She snuggled into his embrace. “Was it okay?” she asked in a small voice that tugged at him.

“So much better than okay there isn’t even a word for it.”

“I’ve never done that before. I always wondered what it would be like.”

“And?”

“I really,
really
liked it.”

“Maybe I have died and gone to heaven after all.”

She giggled, but then she got very quiet. “Thanks, Mac.”

“What are you thanking
me
for? After that,
I
should be thanking
you
.”

She tilted her head so she could see him. “For not going all nuts over the girls the way most guys would have.”

“I wish you didn’t dislike them so much.” He flashed a salacious grin. “I think I could come to be
very
good friends with them.”

Smiling, she caressed the stubble on his jaw. “I don’t dislike them. I hate them.”

“I don’t want you to take this the wrong way, because I mean it when I tell you you’re perfect in every way to me.”

“But?”

“If you want to have them reduced, I’d happily pay for it, but only because it would make you happy.”

“I couldn’t let you do that. You’ve already done so much for me.”

“You don’t have to decide right now. The offer is on the table, now or later when you and Thomas are on my insurance. Whenever. I wouldn’t change a single thing about you, but it’s not about what I want.”

“I really, really love you,” she whispered.

“And I really, really love you. There’s nothing I wouldn’t do for you—or Thomas.”

As if he had heard his name, the baby chose that moment to let them know he was awake. Mac kissed her one last time and pulled the covers up over her, hating to end what had been the best night of his life. “My time with him.”

“If you bring him to me and I nurse him, he might go back to sleep for a while—and then we could, too.”

“As much as I love my mornings out with him, that sounds too good to pass up.”

He retrieved Thomas from his crib, changed the twenty-pound morning diaper, planted some noisy raspberries on his belly that made him laugh like crazy, and then carried him to his mother. For the first time, he got to watch as Maddie guided the baby to her breast.
 

“God, that’s amazing,” he said, awestruck by the way the baby’s little mouth latched on and went to work. He’d never seen anything quite like it.
 

Maddie stroked the baby’s downy soft hair and smiled at Mac. She looked like a warrior queen, proud and strong, and he loved her so fiercely. “Can I ask you something about that?”

“Sure.”

“How come, before, when I, ah, did that, nothing happened?”

Maddie laughed at his exquisite discomfort. “Because the milk doesn’t really come in—at least for me—until he wants it. Some people leak like crazy, but I never did. And now that I only feed him once a day, there’s not as much.”

“I see.” He slipped back into bed and shifted her so he could hold them both. “Thomas needs a sister. Maybe a brother, too. Possibly even a couple of them.”

Maddie laughed quietly. “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.”

“But you want more, don’t you?”

“Let’s have one more and see how that goes.”

“I guess I could live with that.” He ran his hand over her belly. “I want to see you round and pregnant with my baby.”

She groaned. “I was big as a house with Thomas, pregnant from head to toe.”

“I can’t wait to see that.”

“My back hurt like crazy for months.”

“I’d rub it every day.”

She rolled her head back on his shoulder so she could look up at him. “You’re sure you really want to saddle yourself with all this? A woman you’ve known a week, a baby who isn’t yours—”

“I want him to be mine. I mean, look at him.” Mac ran a finger over the baby’s milk-dampened cheek. “He’s so perfect. I want to see him walk and run and swim and talk back to us. I can’t wait for all of that.”

“What if it turns out to be too much for you? A few months down the road, what if you start to feel confined or unhappy—”

Placing two fingers gently over her lips, he said, “All I can tell you is I’m almost thirty-five years old, and I’ve never felt anything even close to what I feel when I’m with you. Both of you.”

 
Maddie’s eyes glistened with tears. “I don’t know what I did to get so lucky.”

“You crashed into me on that big old bike of yours.”

“I’m fairly certain we’ve determined ‘the accident’ was your fault.”

Brushing his lips over her forehead, he continued to watch intently as she moved Thomas to the other side. “That ‘accident’ might turn out to be the best thing to ever happen to me.”

“That’s funny,” she said, “because last night I had the very same thought.”

Mac awakened ninety minutes later to someone banging on the door. Groaning, he willed whomever it was to go away and leave them alone.

Maddie stirred next to him, and wanting her to sleep a while longer, he quickly got up, pulled on a pair of shorts, and went to the door.

“Mom,” he said, shocked to see her.

“Mac.”

“What’re you doing here?” he whispered as he stepped onto the porch and closed the door behind him.

He watched her take a quick survey of his bare chest and whisker-roughened jaw. “I’ve come to get you.”

He ran his fingers through his hair, hoping to bring some order to it. “Get me? What’re you talking about?”

“This is entirely unseemly.” She gestured to the apartment. “The whole town is talking about you sleeping with her. I won’t have it.”

Mac laughed, which seemed to infuriate her. “Is that so? You do realize I’m almost thirty-five, right?”

“I don’t care how old you are, Malcolm John McCarthy Junior, let me just tell you—”

This was bad if she was bringing out the big Malcolm gun. She was the only one who ever called him that awful name. “No, Mom, let
me
tell
you
. I love her, I’m going to marry her and adopt her son, so you’d better get onboard or get out of the way. Your choice.”

Her blue eyes almost popped out of her skull. “
Marry her
? You’re going to
marry her
? Have you lost your mind?”

“I’ve lost my heart—finally—and you can either be part of it or not. That, too, is up to you.”

“This is the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard—”

Mac held up his hand to stop her. “This conversation is over. I’m going back inside now, and you need to be on your way. In fact, I’d appreciate if you found someone else to cover for Maddie this weekend at the hotel. We need to spend some time together. We’ve got a lot of plans to make.”

“I don’t know what’s gotten into you—”

“Love, Mom. That’s what’s gotten into me, and it’s the best thing to ever happen to me. Maybe we’ll stop by this weekend to see you and Dad. If we do, I’d advise you to be nice to my future wife and son. Have a good day.”

Leaving her staring at him with her mouth hanging open, Mac stepped inside the apartment and closed the door. His heart racing fast from the burst of adrenaline, he stood there for a second until he heard her car drive off, sending gravel flying in her wake.