“You’re playing with fire, you know that?” He put his arms around her waist and pulled her in tight. “You feel so right, Mack, in my arms and in my life.”
“That’s the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me.”
With one of her arms wrapped around Dean’s waist, she snuggled in tight and started to drift off to sleep. She was snuggled against the man she loved and the world was right at this moment.
Thomas splashed in the chilly surf with Lucas and realized it was a lot of fun. Fun, something Thomas had only started having again since he’d met Mack, Lucas, and Dean. When he was a boy, he used to spend all his free time at either the beach or fishing with Levi and Walt. What fun they used to have.
Thomas spotted some small pebbles as he looked down at the water around his ankles. He bent down to pick them up.
“What have you found?” Lucas questioned.
“Just some small pebbles. When I was a kid, Levi, Walt, and I used to spend a lot of time skipping pebbles across the water.”
“What does that mean?”
“I’ll show you.” Thomas stood to the side, moved his arm back, and then brought his arm and whole body forward as he released the pebble. They watched it bounce a few times across the water before it sank beneath the blue depths. He glanced at Lucas and started to laugh. He was just standing there with his mouth wide open. “I take it you liked that then?”
“Wow! Yeah! Will you teach me?”
“I will, but it takes a lot of practice so don’t be too disappointed if you don’t get the hang of it today, okay?”
“I won’t.”
After about half an hour of practice, Lucas finally managed to get the stone to bounce twice before sinking, much to his delight and Thomas’s relief. He had visions of still being there at midnight with one very determined young man.
Chapter 30
Yesterday had been a tiring day, and Mack had been as tired as Lucas by the time they arrived home. Strangely, she hadn’t been ensconced in Rose Cottage all that long, but she was already calling it home.
Thomas had gone back to his cottage, and Dean had carried Lucas up to bed.
Dean and Mack showered together, before heading to bed, where Dean made love to her before they both fell asleep, entwined together and exhausted.
In the morning, Dean had gone home to shower and change, saying he would be back shortly. So, as she was standing in the kitchen waiting for him, she heard rustling at the back door. Mack turned in time to watch Thomas walk in with another bunch of flowers.
“For a beautiful woman!” Thomas held out a lovely bunch of carnations he’d brought for her.
She took the flowers from him. “They’re lovely. You’re already in my heart, you know, and I’ll still feed you, even if you run out of flowers.”
He winked at Mack. “I’ll never run out of flowers for you!”
“Are you trying to pinch my woman again?” Dean asked as he entered the kitchen, going straight over to Mack laughing. He planted a very possessive kiss to her lips, then asked, “Where’s Lucas?”
“Living room.”
Dean disappeared into the living room, no doubt to play on the Wii with Lucas for a short while to let Mack finish breakfast.
She started to stack the pancakes, letting Thomas sit and get lost in his own thoughts.
“After breakfast, Mack, do you think, Dean would look after Lucas for a time so we can talk? I need to tell you what happened that night.”
Thomas had taken Mack by surprise. She’d hoped that Thomas would talk to her about the night Rose died, but she wasn’t expecting him to do that today. It hadn’t even entered her head this morning.
“I’m sure he would. Thank you, Thomas.”
With a nod of his head, he took his seat at the kitchen table.
She shouted for Dean and Lucas to come for breakfast. After everyone had washed up, they sat down to eat the feast she’d made.