Mac ran his hand over his jaw. “I’ll deal with Delia if I have to. If that doesn’t work I’ll talk to her mother-in-law. Victoria used to be reasonable. ”
“You’re going to talk to mommy-in-law?” Jethro snickered.
“Mommy-in-law could chew you up and spit you out for breakfast,” Mac informed him as he restrained a shudder. “But she can be reasonable. ”
“And if she’s not?”
Mac’s smile became feral then. “Then I pull out the badge and put the fear of the Bureau in their asses. If that doesn’t work, then you can bring the Bureau down on them. With Delia, subtlety doesn’t work so well. ”
He should know. He had tried subtle from the age of sixteen to eighteen with the manipulating little witch. What Delia couldn’t possess, she tried to destroy. He had learned that lesson well during their youths.
Mac had recognized the trait in her easily enough. She reminded him much too much of his father. The rabid determination to win at all costs and to possess rather than to love.
“Maybe I should slip into town tonight and see what I can see. Hear what I can hear. ” Jethro moved through the foyer toward the stairs. “Loan me the Harley. Dollars to donuts I come back with info. ”
“But will you come back with the Harley?” Mac grimaced.
“We’ll both return unharmed,” Jethro promised with that damned smug smile of his.
“It’s not you I’m worried about, bro,” Mac growled as he pulled the key from the key ring he dug out of his pocket. “That Harley is second only to Keiley. Take care of her or you die. ”
Jethro flipped him the finger as Mac flipped him the key.
“Keep the bird in hand, Jeth, and the Harley on her wheels. ”
“She’ll fly like a bird and land like a cloud,” Jethro promised on his way out the door. “Like a cloud. ”
Mac winced. Jethro and motorcycles, they were chancy things. He just prayed his friend took better care of his Harley than he did of his own.
9
Keiley stood beneath the shower’s spray, allowing the warm water to wash over her as she leaned her head back, allowing the water to soak her hair.
Her body was incredibly sensitive, her rear still tender from the night before, her flesh tingling with the memory of the dominance he had displayed. He knew his own hungers, and it seemed he had guessed hers far better than she could have imagined.
Because she had fantasized. From the day she had heard the first rumors about his supposed membership in the very exclusive men’s club in Virginia, and had met his friend Jethro, she had fantasized.
She had imagined Mac’s lips and hands caressing her. Holding her. Restraining her as Jethro moved between her thighs. Or the other way around. The two men controlling her passion and her responses until she was screaming, begging for release.
She closed her eyes, gritting her teeth as she felt the ache in her clit and her vagina build. Mac had fueled the latent arousal simmering inside her all day. The strength of his body and his lust as he trapped her against the wall downstairs had her creaming furiously. And yet it had her pulling back.
She had seen the deliberate restraint in Mac’s face then, and realized he had been employing that restraint for more than three years. She had sensed it, and for a long time she had refused to tempt it. But for the past year she had been dealing with her own restlessness. With the need to push that careful control she knew Mac was employing.
Had she known what it would come to?
Shaking her head, Keiley quickly washed her hair before soaping a sponge and washing her body. She felt too restless, her flesh too sensitive.
Her marriage was changing, and she could feel it. The implications of it kept her on edge. She wished she could say Mac was changing, but she had a feeling that all he w
as really doing was removing the kid gloves he had touched her with all these years. It was up to her to decide now if she could love and still live with the man he really was, rather than the man he had let her see.
If she could handle his hungers.
The ménage wasn’t an either/or. She had no doubts that if she said no, he would respect it. He wouldn’t force her. He would try to seduce her. But if he sensed for even a second that she didn’t truly want it, then he would draw back. The sex would still be harder. Mac would still let the darker part of himself free.
Unfortunately, she couldn’t convince herself that she didn’t want this. And her fantasies over the years assured her that she did want it. With Mac. She wanted every sensual, forbidden promise she had seen in his eyes in the past three days.
Rinsing quickly, she shut the water off before wrapping a large towel around her body and stepping from the shower. A quick blow-dry of her hair before she brushed it in place quickly and dried off with swift, economical movements.