NINA CHECKED HER watch for the fifth time in as many minutes. She was back at the main convention building at the fairgrounds. Now that she’d made her decision to be with Mack, the clock’s movement had slowed to a crawl. She wondered if she could push the second hand to make time speed up so she could steal him away and have him all to herself.
“Everything okay, Nina?” Bethany asked from a spot at one of the sinks in the kitchen. She’d dropped by to help with the catering prep while Nina had been out in the rowboat. Nina had put her to work cleaning and sorting navy beans once she returned. “You seem distracted.”
Understatement of the year.
“Just trying to make sure I’ve got all the necessary components for the catering,” she fibbed as she cleaned a vat for a brine to soak the brisket. “The kitchen is fairly well stocked, but we’ll have to bring in the right spices and condiments, plus serving items and a generator...” She set aside the large kettle and dried her hands. “I’ve got a list going somewhere.”
Country music played through an outdated PA speaker as someone tested the fairgrounds’ sound system outside while volunteers set up a smoker for brisket. No matter how much Nina’s food service volunteers cleaned the kitchen, dust continued to be swept in from the parade of trucks delivering supplies to the kitchen and all the extra traffic on the main driveway from farmers donating hay bales for the straw maze. A couple of groundskeepers for the fair property had dropped in during the afternoon to make sure Nina had everything she needed, but right now the kitchen was quiet except for Bethany, Nina and Gram, who shuffled to the sink to take over Bethany’s bean-sorting duties.
“Do you have enough volunteers?” Bethany zeroed in on Nina’s half-completed list that she’d left on a countertop. “I can tap some friends if you need more hands in the kitchen.”
Nina only listened with half an ear. Her mind was on this evening and being with Mack again. Would she have time to change? At least the underwear she was wearing was nice, a fact she was foolishly grateful for. If only she had perfume. And what about condoms? It had been two years since she’d been with a guy, so she would have been rattled anyway.
But this wasn’t just any guy. This was Mack, and that somehow made the stakes higher at the same time it seriously ramped her up.
He’d convinced her not to overthink it. What had her caution-first policy done for her anyway? Lately the more impetuous decisions she’d made—coming home, deciding to stay—had been the best ones of her life. Plus, she’d been agonizing about him—and the consequences of being with him—for so long, it wasn’t exactly an impulsive decision. So she was okay with this. She wouldn’t think about his whole “no kids” boundaries right now. Being with him now wasn’t about a future together. It was for fun. For pleasure.
“Nina?” Bethany stared at her.
“Oh, er, sorry.” Embarrassed, she tried to remember what Bethany had been saying. “Extra help would be great.”
And it would be. Aside from this crazy idea to be with Mack, she was also in over her head with the work at the Harvest Fest. She wouldn’t let Mack down, of course, so she would pull it together by the weekend. But perfecting cupcake décor was a focused art she knew well, whereas creating specialty seasonal dishes for the whole town felt daunting.
“Great.” Bethany pulled a pencil from the back pocket of her slim-fitting khakis. “I’m adding wood to the list of items you’ll need as soon as possible since the brisket takes a long time to cook in that smoker. I can have one of the guys from the shop deliver some tonight to make sure we don’t run out.”
“That’s very generous of you, but I don’t want to put you to work when Mack is in town to give Scott a break and to help you two spend more time together.” Nina remembered that she might be inadvertently thwarting his efforts to bolster Scott and Bethany’s marriage. “You could both use a vacation.”
Gram didn’t look up from washing the first colander full of beans as she said, “Marriages need tending, just like anything else you want to grow.”
“I’m fine.” Bethany hardly glanced up from Nina’s list as she continued to make notes. “I’m right where I want to be. Working.”
Nina couldn’t ignore the unhappiness in the other woman’s voice.
“Bethany.” Nina strode closer and gently pried the list from her friend’s fingers. “No one wants to work this much. You’re wound so tight I’m worried about you.”
Gram shook the water off her hands and turned her walker toward them. “She’s not the only one.”
“I hate being at home,” Bethany admitted. “Scott’s never there anyway.”
“You tell him he has to be there.” Gram frowned. “Remind him that marriages don’t fix themselves. You have to put in the work. Obviously, the two of you don’t have a problem with that. You just have to put all your effort into the marriage instead of stores and politics and volunteering.”
Nina silently cheered her grandmother for effortlessly putting into words what would have been so difficult for Nina to say. Plus, Gram’s age gave her an authority Nina couldn’t hope to match. For a second, the only sound in the kitchen was the twang of the steel guitar over the PA system.
“You both want the same thing, right?” Nina prodded. “To stay together?”
Nina was a romantic at heart. She’d been cheering on happy-ever-afters since her parents’ divorce had devastated her. She’d gotten into a business called Cupcake Romance because she loved the weddings and being part of a bride’s special day. So she couldn’t help rooting for Scott and Bethany. She’d always envied them and the solid foundation they’d built for their daughter. She wanted to build that kind of life for herself and her children one day, too.
But Bethany’s eyes were shadowed when she met Nina’s gaze.
“I’m honestly not sure anymore, Nina.” She shook her head, her shoulders drooping. “I just don’t know.”
Her hurt was so palpable, Nina felt it, too.
“Talk to him,” she urged, unsure what else to say. But then she remembered Mack’s words from earlier in the day about seizing the moment and taking more chances. “Don’t let a marriage slip away without at least seeing if there’s some spark still left.”
“You should kidnap him and be sure to wear your sexiest, do-me-baby underwear,” Gram suggested with a straight face.
“Gram!” Nina tried not to be scandalized that her grandmother was thinking along the same lines as her. Bethany let out a surprised laugh.
“I’m serious.” Gram pushed the walker closer, moving with a little more ease today than she had the week before. Maybe her new meds were making a difference. Her physical therapist had said she’d noticed some improvement when she’d come over the day before.
“Kidnap a grown man?” Bethany twisted her long, dark hair into a makeshift bun and jammed a pencil through the knot. “Against his will?”
Gram harrumphed and tsked. “What grown man resists his wife when she promises to have her way with him?” She wiggled her eyebrows in a way that would have been amusing if Nina hadn’t wanted to bury her head in the sand. “Tell him you packed lingerie and that he’s driving wherever you tell him to go.”
“I don’t know what’s gotten into her,” Nina stage-whispered to Bethany, shielding her face in mock-embarrassment.
“It’s not a bad idea,” Bethany admitted. “If only we didn’t have to talk.”
Nina’s jaw fell open. “Okay, you two. I’m clearly way too virginal for this conversation.”
Gram peered down her nose at Nina. “You’ll fool no one with that talk, missy. As for you,” she turned to Bethany and then leaned forward on the arm supports of the walker “why do you need to talk?”
“You did say I should talk to him,” Bethany reminded them, fanning herself as the noise level increased outside.
Through a side window, she noticed a construction crew had started working on a second stage that Mack had pitched to the Harvest Fest committee as a way to bring in more performers. In fact, she could see Mack in a hard hat talking to a guy running a forklift.
The hard hat did nothing to detract from his appeal, although it did seriously beg for him to take off his shirt to complete the Hot Construction Guy fantasy Nina was having.
“Well, if you’re not ready to talk, then sex and lots of it is your best bet.” Gram winked. “That counts as communication as far as I’m concerned.”
With the visual of Mack still sizzling Nina’s insides, Gram’s wisdom suddenly had a whole lot of appeal for her, too.
“Whatever works,” Nina added, hoping she’d put in enough hours on the Harvest Fest prep today to justify leaving shortly. She was more than ready for more with Mack. “That is, I think you should try it, Bethany. I’ll finalize the details on the Harvest Fest. You take your man and run.”
Bethany tilted her head and seemed to weigh the idea. “Ally did text me to say she’s staying overnight at her grandmother’s house tonight.”
“See? It’s like this plan was meant to be.” Nina grabbed her list from Bethany and tucked it in her pocket before putting the sorted beans in a kettle to soak overnight. “Out the door you go and leave the rest to me.”
Both women stared at her.
“What?” She cleaned off a counter with a paper towel and tossed it in the trash. “I’m a romantic. What can I say?”
“You sure came around in a hurry, honey. That’s all.” Gram fished in her purse that was strapped around a bar of the walker and came up with her cell phone.
“I’m going to try this.” Bethany picked up her car keys from a spot on top of a chest freezer. “Wish me luck, ladies.”
“Good luck!” Nina peeked out the window again, hoping for a glimpse of Mack. She wanted to find him before she lost her nerve. Or her mental image of him without a shirt. “Gram, are you ready to go?”
Smiling down at her phone, Gram shook her head. “No need to worry about me. Harlan is on his way to deliver another load of hay for the maze and he said he’d take me out for ice cream afterward.”
“Really? You’re sure you’re not too tired?” Nina didn’t want to neglect her granddaughter duties now that she was finally back in town to help out more. “Your therapist said to build up slowly to longer outings.”
“A new man in her life puts a spring in a woman’s step.” Gram arched an eyebrow. “You ought to know.”
“No comment.” Nina kissed her grandmother’s cheek. “Why don’t you sit out in the front of the building until he gets here at least? There are more comfortable chairs there.”
She backed through one of the swinging kitchen doors and held it open for Gram as she pushed her walker into the main gathering area of the hall.
“Well, look who’s here!” Gram cast Nina a sly glance as the front doors opened and Mack strode through, a hard hat under one arm.
A surge of longing hit Nina so hard she nearly tripped.
“Are you almost ready?” he asked, his voice a sexy rumble in the room that made her blood run hotter.
“All set.” She couldn’t take her eyes off him as he kicked aside a small throw rug so it wouldn’t get in Gram’s way.
“You two run along.” Gram settled in her seat with her phone and gestured for them to leave. “Harlan will be here any minute.”
Nina exchanged a look with Mack and just that shared glance set her body on slow burn.
“Okay, Gram.” Nina wasn’t about to argue. She looped her hand around Mack’s arm, not caring who saw or what the town thought. She needed to touch him. “Would you mind driving?” she asked him.
His molten stare made every one of her nerve endings come to life.
“I thought you’d never ask.” He pushed open the door for her and held it as they walked out into the purple light of the sinking sun.
Nina couldn’t help but remember her grandmother’s advice to Bethany as they hurried toward the Eldorado and the privacy they’d wanted all day.
She’d definitely be communicating with Mack a whole lot tonight.
* * *
MACK PUT THE old V-8 engine to the test on the way home.
Nina in the seat beside him, casting him looks that provided excellent motivation to channel his inner Dale Earnhardt. The prize at the end of this ride beat any race winnings, that much was for damn sure.
He would have gotten her back to his place faster, but he had to make a drugstore run for condoms. Amazing how the purchase still seemed illicit, especially when he had to buy them from the same old guy who used to sell him root-beer barrels when he was ten. The package of condoms rested inside Nina’s purse now, even though she’d been too chicken to enter the corner store with him.
He pulled into the access road that led to the converted barn at the back of his family’s property.
“It’s been a long time since I’ve been here.” Nina stared up at the turn-of-the-century white dairy barn that used to be a part of the Finley farm as he parked the car on the gravel driveway. “I’d forgotten how pretty these old barns are.”
“Are they?” Mack noticed only her. Could think about only her.
He levered open his car door and jogged around the hood to get her door while she stared up at the massive structure in the twilight.
“They really are. Look at the big shutters and sliding doors. And the stone foundation adds a lot of character, too.” She took his hand and he drew her out of the car, her long, lean body a feast for the eyes.
“I’ve got a better view right here.” He wanted to kiss her then and there, to lay her down on the long hood of the Eldorado. He’d love to see her like that, her honey-blond hair spilling over the white paint.
“Oh?” Nina twirled a strand of hair around one finger. “Keep talking like that and we’ll never make it to your room.”
His thoughts exactly.
“Come on.” He slid an arm around her waist and walked her to the main doors. There was a regular entrance to the building on the other side, but he let himself in the side by sliding one of the huge doors on the metal track.
Her vanilla scent went straight to his head. She wore some kind of lightweight, gauzy blouse that had distracted him all damn day, his eyes roaming the fabric for hints of her skin beneath.
“Wow.” Nina’s eyes went wide in the dim glow from a cast-iron pendant lamp, her voice echoing in the empty expanse of concrete flooring and wooden walls. “Where did everything go?”
“Scott sold most of the equipment.” Mack stepped around her toward the door which led to what had once been the field hand’s quarters. “It’s odd to think the dairy barn was built for cows but hasn’t had an animal in here besides Luce for over fifty years.”
“This would make a great bar, wouldn’t it?” She spun in a slow circle, staring up at the massive wooden frame of the building beneath the tin roof. “You’d put Lucky’s to shame with this place.”
He laughed as he opened the door and flipped on the light switch. “I’m not sure there are enough residents of Heartache to fill it. Come on in.” Stepping aside, he gestured for her to enter the small living quarters, careful not to touch her yet. Once he did, there’d be no stopping and he wanted to seduce her thoroughly. “Keep in mind I wasn’t expecting company.”
Turning on her heel, she stalked toward him with slow strides. Or maybe it only seemed slow to him because he couldn’t wait to close that door behind them and have her all to himself for the night. The moment seemed too damned good to be real.
“I’m having major déjà vu,” she admitted, pausing just a step before the threshold.
He could almost feel the tension thrumming from her as her fingers shifted positions on her handbag, her breath escaping in a rush. How was he going to wait until they got upstairs?
“Yeah, big-time.” His pulse slugged hard through his veins, every heartbeat demanding he touch her. “Except now, I think I’m a whole hell of a lot more nervous.”
She edged closer, as if maybe she was going to walk through the door. But her gaze held his. Then, before he knew what hit him, she flung both arms around his neck and kissed him.
Oh, yeah.
All the nervous tension shifted, channeling into desire as full awareness made him appreciate the nuances of having her body all over his. Her lips nipped and licked his in a sexy assault on his senses that left him reeling. She tasted like cinnamon mints, her tongue playing over his while his brain fought to catch up.
He reveled in the return of this side of her—the wild, impulsive, in-with-both-feet Nina who’d burned a swath through this small town and turned heads wherever she went with her infectious laughter and passion for everything she did. She’d changed in eight years, and she’d obviously made an effort to tamp down this side but...wow. She’d set it free now, though, as she pressed against him as if she couldn’t get close enough.
Then his body took over. He wrapped both arms around her waist and lifted her, carrying her into the converted apartment while the door closed shut behind them. He fumbled to find the handle and lock it, and then his attention was all on Nina. Setting her down, he gently pried her handbag out of her fingers then set it on a hallway table, grabbing the bag of condoms from inside.
“I’ve missed you,” he told her between kisses, walking backward with her toward the stairs to the loft, the creaking boards of the old planked floor newly refinished and still smelling faintly of sealant even after a week.
“I’ve missed us.” Her words, so damn honest and real because she never could be anything else, shot right to his chest and lodged an ache there.
They got as far as the stairs when he stopped to cup her face in one hand, trace her cheekbone with his thumb. He dropped the bag with the condom on the stairs, needing to touch more of her.
“Nina?” He studied her in the light reflected from a lone lamp in the living area behind them. “I hope you can stay all night.”
He knew one time wouldn’t possibly be enough to satisfy them. His hands already traveled her body in a fast, restless scramble to memorize every new curve and hollow, every sensitive spot he’d forgotten.
“You’ll have to kick me out of that bed.” She looked over her shoulder, the movement shifting her featherweight blouse to expose a new expanse of lightly tanned skin below her collarbone. “Assuming you have one somewhere?”
“I’m not sure we’ll make it that far.” He lowered his mouth to taste the skin at the base of her throat. So. Good. “The seconds crawled by like hours today.”
She arched her neck to give him better access. “I stared at you out the kitchen window instead of watching the clock. Anyone ever tell you that you look incredibly hot in a hard hat?”
“Not as hot as you look in the apron you wear in my fantasies.” He hooked a finger in the V of her blouse and popped the first button.
“An apron?” Her fingers clenched his shoulders so hard he felt her nails right through his T-shirt.
“And nothing else.” His lips followed the path of his fingers as he unfastened buttons.
Her heart raced beneath his kiss, her breath coming fast against his neck.
“Sounds impractical.” She lifted up on her toes, bringing the curve of one breast nearer his mouth.
“Not for what I have in mind.” He shoved the open blouse off her shoulders until she had to let go of him to slide it down and off her arms.
The impatient shimmy did mouth-watering things to her pink-lace-wrapped curves. Her breasts were more generous than he remembered. He must have stared a second too long because she smiled with a knowing grin.
“Like what you see?” She reached for the button on her jeans and undid it with a deft flick. “There’s more, you know.”
He spotted a hint of pink lace as she eased down the zipper and then he pulled his jaw off the floor. Reaching for her hips, he drew her to him, wanting the feel of her skin against him.
“You’re too much.” He hooked an arm beneath her legs. “Hold on to me.” He lifted her until her ankles locked around his waist, then he reached for the condoms he’d left on the stairs.
“With pleasure.” She rolled her hips against him and kissed him, her fingers spearing through his hair.
“I can’t see where I’m going.” He paused on his way up the steps, completely disoriented between the growing dark from the loft level and the full-throttle seductive efforts of the woman in his arms.
“Me, either,” she whispered against his lips in a warm puff of air. “But we’re not worrying about that today, remember?”
Right. He charged ahead, feeling into the dark with one hand to make sure he didn’t run into anything. When one shin hit the front of his bed, he loosened his hold on her waist and fell sideways into the unmade tangle of sheets with her still half in his arms.
The scent of her skin beckoned. He gripped the silky straps of the bra and nudged them off her shoulders, just enough to loosen one lace cup. He captured one freed nipple in his mouth. She gasped and writhed beside him, her legs shifting restlessly against his.
“You smell incredible.” He inhaled the fragrance along her neck and let it go to his head. “Vanilla, right?”
“I had to find a fragrance that didn’t clash with the scent of cupcakes.” She slid her hand beneath the hem of his tee and skimmed the fabric up his chest. “I can’t see enough of you.”
He yanked the shirt over his head and tossed it. “Better?”
“No. It’s too dark to appreciate what I’ve just uncovered.” Her hands smoothed over his pecs and down his abs, slowing as they reached the waistband of his jeans.
He rose up on one knee to pull the string on the blinds over the bed. The window was high enough to let in the moonlight without exposing them to anyone who happened to be out in the field. When he looked down at Nina, she was illuminated in a white glow as she wriggled her way out of her pants.
Now nothing but pink lace covered her skin.
Her eyes followed him as he moved toward her. “You’ve been taking mighty fine care of yourself since I saw you last.”
“Sexual deprivation sends me to the gym a lot.” He unfastened his jeans and ditched them, leaving on his boxers. “It’s been a long time for me.”
“Sexual deprivation only makes me eat more cupcakes.” She reached for him, palming his waist and dragging down the waistband of the boxers. “It doesn’t seem fair.”
He wouldn’t have thought he could get any harder, but when her knuckles skimmed along the flesh beside his erection, his skin became impossibly tight. Lightheaded, he tugged off the boxers and covered her.
She was soft everywhere. Her skin, her hair, her breasts. A flash fire sizzled over his skin, the need to be inside her so strong he couldn’t think about anything else.
“Next time I’m going to take such good care of you,” he promised.
Nina was already crinkling the bag of condoms and tearing into the package with one hand. “Next time, you won’t remember your own name. That’s how good I’m going to be to you.”
He would have laughed if he hadn’t been hanging on to his control by a thread. His pulse pounded so hard it was like a tidal wave surging.
“Let me.” He took the box out of her hand and tore off the plastic, partially crushing the thing in his hurry.
Nina swiped aside the discarded paper with an impatient arm. Her fingers trailed a path along his hips, driving him out of his ever-loving mind. He rolled the condom on with all the finesse of a teen, his hands uncoordinated and awkward.
Her breathy sighs were a siren’s song in his ear, a damp heat against his skin. The past and the present merged in his brain, flashing a vivid memory of a teenage Nina stripping her clothes off in the peach orchard as she ran from him, a teasing game that had ended with their first time in the back of her truck bed.
“Everything okay?” she asked now, making him realize he’d stopped.
Emotions collided. Good and bad, he shoved them all aside, focusing on this moment. On Nina and her gray, trusting eyes staring up at him in the moonlight.
“Yeah.” He smoothed her hair off her forehead and forced himself to slow down long enough to peel off her underwear, taking his time dragging them down her legs. “Everything’s beautiful.”
“Mack. Please hurry.” She trembled beneath him, her legs quivering as he edged them apart to make room for himself there.
She was amazing. So much a part of everything he’d once dreamed about.
He dragged in a steadying breath and skimmed a hand up the inside of her thigh, her skin hotter the higher he went. He cupped her sex in his palm, slid a finger inside her and then another. Her breath caught sharply and she wrapped her arms around him. She whispered a litany of seductive persuasions in his ear about what she wanted next, her habit of speaking her mind incredibly gratifying in the bedroom.
By the time he edged his way inside her, she was threatening sensual repercussions if he didn’t take her. But all her teasing coercion ceased when he pushed deeper. And deeper still.
Breathless, he started a slow thrust. Nina met each one, her back arching as she lifted her hips off the bed. Her thighs flexed as she squeezed him tight. Sensations bombarded him from the tight clench of her feminine muscles around him to the restless play of her fingers over his shoulders. Watching her find her passion pushed him higher, the sight of her head tossing from side to side on his pillow an aphrodisiac like nothing else.
“You feel...” She gasped between words. “So. Amazing.”
Likewise. He thought the word but couldn’t edge it past his lips. His mouth was dry, his brain waves slowing down as he expended all his energy on giving Nina pleasure.
Except she wouldn’t lay still for long. She shoved at his shoulder, levering him away until he turned with her so they lay side by side on the bed. Her eyes zeroed in on his in the half-light, her expression challenging. Nina had always liked to be active in bed. Some things didn’t change.
“I want it to last,” she whispered, kissing his shoulder and dragging a touch up his thigh, her fingers flexing hard against his skin.
“The first time?” He shook his head. “You don’t want much, do you?”
“But I waited all day for you.” She bit his shoulder softly and wrapped her leg around the back of his thigh.
“I’ve been waiting for you since I watched you dance with Kaleb at Lucky’s that night.” He realized he hadn’t even taken her bra off and addressed that now, tugging one strap down her shoulder.
“Oh, really? I don’t recall doing any sexy dancing with Kaleb.” She rolled her eyes.
He hooked a finger down the front of one pink lace cup and rolled it down the curve of her breast, exposing one taut nipple. He circled the tip with his thumb, watching her expression shift, her eyelids falling to half-mast.
“You didn’t have to. Just seeing some other guy touching you brought home how damn much I needed to be with you again.” He watered down that explanation, remembering the fierce possessiveness that had rocked him that night.
Her eyes fluttered open wide again. She levered up on one elbow and he let her push him onto his back. Looking up at her was pure pleasure. She put both hands on his chest, the move pushing her breasts together in a way that cleared his head of everything but sex. Lifting up on her knees, she paused. Waited. Then lowered herself slowly.
Heat flared up his spine. His breath hitched and held.
Holy. Hell.
His release was inevitable, so damn close he didn’t think he could hold it back. On instinct, or maybe some old memory, he touched her between her thighs, circling lightly. She stilled above him, and he looked up to find her head thrown back. He thrust hard and held her hips tight to him as wave after wave of release shuddered through him.
Nina’s shout mingled with his, her back arched hard as she rode through the sensations, her orgasm squeezing him hard and wringing every last aftershock from him until she collapsed against him. For long minutes, he didn’t move. Couldn’t speak. He just breathed in the scent of her skin and the feeling of rightness to have her in his arms.
Awareness returned a little at a time. First, Nina’s hair brushing over his shoulder and tickling his neck as a strand stroked up and down with her breathing. Then a ceiling fan clicking overhead that had apparently been running all day. A cool breeze drifted over them from a window that must be cracked open somewhere. The sounds of the night—crickets and rustling leaves—reminded him of other fall evenings they’d lain together.
It emphasized a quiet that, in the past, they would have filled with words. Declarations of love. Devotion. All promises they’d failed to keep....
When Nina cleared her throat, he tensed. Not ready for whatever came next this time.
“It’s the craziest thing,” she started, lifting her head from where it had been resting. Her honey-blond hair made a veil down one side of her face. “But my sexual hunger just morphed into real, physical starvation. Wouldn’t it be a great time for a cupcake?”
She slid off the bed and reached for an ancient flannel shirt hanging on a hook near the bed. And, just like that time she’d done an impromptu striptease in the orchard, he was struggling to keep up with her.
Clearly, there wasn’t going to be any talk of promises or what came next. Considering the intensity of what had just happened between them, that was probably for the best. Because no matter how much he wanted Nina back in his life, he wasn’t any better equipped to keep her than he’d been eight years ago.