Page 31 of Mac (Demented Souls #7)

Mac looked up and met the president's gaze for a moment.

"You may be right." He hadn't thought about that, but it made sense.

At first the time with Elyse hadn't been too bad, mostly because he'd not yet realized there was an issue.

It wasn't until almost noon he'd realized there was a problem.

That was the first time he'd tried to wake her and gotten no response.

It had been odd, but he'd assumed her sleeping so long was because of her headache.

He hadn't been entirely wrong, but he'd also not known what she'd taken, nor how much.

He wanted to tell her not to take any more of that stuff, but several things stopped him.

He was in no place to tell her what to do, and if he did tell her, and she listened, did he want her hurting as bad as she obviously had been?

Not taking the medication wasn't an option he was satisfied with, but he didn't know any alternatives that would help.

He sighed and went back to his lunch in silence.

Tuck said he had something to take care of and left Mac to his thoughts.

Nothing had changed by the time he finished, so he drained the last of his coffee from his mug and stood.

"Want something else?" Jailbait called out.

Mac shook his head and started for the door, stopping by the bar to speak to her. "It was good, thanks."

"Any time." She grinned at him then waved him off.

Mac left, walking the short distance back to his shop and the cars waiting for him.

H e turned down the familiar stretch of road leading home, his stomach fluttering as he wondered if she was home yet and how her day had been.

Disappointment made it feel like the bottom had dropped out when he spotted her empty driveway.

He pulled into his own, thumbing the button on the handlebars to open his garage door, then pulling the bike inside and hitting the button again so the door would close.

Inside he kicked off his boots and thought about the shower.

It had been hot and in the last half hour before they'd closed, they'd lifted an aging pickup onto the lift to change a fuel filter and he still wasn't sure how he'd managed it, but he'd been sprayed with about a half a gallon of gasoline.

He'd washed up as best he could at the shop and had debated going to the clubhouse for a real shower but had been impatient to see if Elyse was home yet, so had skipped it, planning to shower as soon as he got home, now he stripped off his clothes in the laundry room, dropping them straight into the washer and adding soap.

He'd add more to fill the load and start it once he was clean.

Buck naked he made his way through the house, his phone in one hand, having barely remembered to pull it from his pocket so it didn't get washed too.

He considered sending her a message before getting in the shower, but decided he would sound too desperate, too needy and the last thing he wanted was for her to think he was needy.

No. He was just worried about her. With one last glance at the screen, he set the phone on the bathroom counter and stepped into the shower.

He turned on the water and adjusted the temperature, letting the cool spray wash over him as the water warmed.

Cold showers weren't his favorite thing, but there were worse things in the world.

Water fell over him, streaming down his face and continuing down the rest of his body.

He picked up his bodywash and scrubbed the gas off him, rinsed off and did it a second time because he could still smell it.

He wasn't convinced he'd gotten it all, but he also wasn't sure it wasn't somehow burned into his senses and he was just thinking he was smelling it.

Hopefully he was mistaken, because he didn't know what else to do to get rid of it, short of cutting his hair until he looked like Tuck, minus the beard.

By the time he got out of the shower his fingers and toes had gone wrinkly, but he felt worlds better and not as tired has he'd been when he'd pulled in.

He dried off and pulled on a clean pair of jeans, not bothering with a shirt or shoes as he headed to the kitchen to see if he had anything he could eat for dinner.

He was standing in front of the open freezer when a knock sounded on his front door. He scowled and turned in that general direction, wondering who would be knocking as he closed the freezer and went to see who it was.

Mac ran his hand through his still wet hair and opened the door to find Elyse standing on his doorstep.

"Oh, good. You're home." He stepped back and made room for her. "Come on in. I was wondering how you'd handled today." She stepped inside and he closed the door.

"Is this how you always answer the door?" She looked him up and down with one brow cocked.

"No." Mac laughed and ran his hand through his hair again. "I just got out of the shower. I got dowsed with gas at work and was trying to get rid of the smell. I'm not so sure I got it all though. I can still smell it, but it might be just my nose."

She stepped closer and inhaled. "I don't smell anything.

" Before he could stop her, she closed the remaining distance between them, wrapped her arms around his waist and pressed her nosed to his chest, where she took a deep breath.

"Nope, you got it all. All I smell is you.

" She pressed her nose against him again and all he could do was watch her and shake his head.

After a moment or two he gave in, shook his head and wrapped his arms around her and just held on.

"I take it you made it through the day."

"Yep. I'm a little tired but other than that, I'm good." She tipped her head back to grin up at him, her arms around his middle not loosening. "I wanted to know if you've eaten yet."

"I was just getting ready to pull something from the freezer, come on back and we'll see what I've got.

" He started toward the kitchen, their arms still wrapped around each other as they walked together to the back of the house and the food he'd been trying to decide between.

"I was thinking about pulling out a frozen pizza, how's that sound to you? "

"Sounds amazing if I get to share it with you."

"I'm not inviting anyone else over so it's just you and me, a thasgaidh ."

"Then it sounds perfect. Do you cook it as is or do you add things to it first?" Elyse sat on one of the bar stools on the other side of the bar from where he stood putting the frozen pizza on a pizza pan. He turned on the oven, then went to the fridge.

"I usually doctor it, but is there something you want on yours?" He usually just added more pepperoni and cheese, so he pulled those out now, then went back to where the pie waited on the counter.

"Those are fine. I don't always add the pepperoni, but they don't put enough cheese on to suit me.

" She watched as he worked on their dinner then put the toppings back in the fridge.

When the oven beeped that it had reached temperature, he put the pie inside then set the timer and turned back to find Elyse still watching him, something hungry in her gaze.

He glanced down and realized he was still only wearing his jeans.

"Give me a minute, I'll go put a shirt on."

"Don't bother on my account. I was enjoying the view."

He scowled a moment, not sure if she was teasing or serious.

He started to go for the shirt anyway but another glance at her and he changed his mind.

Instead he moved to where she sat, tipped her chin up so she was looking up at him, then dropped a long, smoldering kiss on her lips. "Tell me about your day."

A soft smile curved her lips. "Not much to tell. I spent most of the day catching up on the paperwork and details that had popped up while I was gone." She shook her head. "It's amazing how much paperwork is generated in a single day, much less two or three."

"So, nothing too taxing?"

Elyse shrugged. "I'd rather have been in the shop dealing with customers. The paperwork is boring and kept me busy far longer than I wanted, but it's not my favorite part of the job." She propped her chin against his chest and stared up at him a few seconds. "Tell me about yours now."

Mac shrugged. "Not a whole lot different than yours I guess, only it was working on cars I got to do in between the bouts of paperwork, and thankfully, I have someone who takes care of most of the paperwork for me.

I only have to do a small percentage, and sign checks.

" He stared down into her gold eyes, noticing the pale green flecks he'd somehow missed before now.

He could stand here like this for the rest of the night.

The feel of her in his arms was just right, and he didn't want to let her go, not even to go next door to sleep.

The timer went off letting them know their dinner should be done, he reluctantly pulled away, dropping another soft kiss on her forehead.

On his way back to the oven he picked up the timer and shut it off, then grabbed a potholder and opened the oven.

Cheese bubbled and the savory, spicy scent of crisp pepperoni wafted up to him.

He took a deep breath and it occurredto him that as good as dinner smelled, it didn't hold a candle to the woman who had just been in his arms.

He pulled the pie from the oven and set it on the stove top.

After closingthe door and shutting off the oven, he dug through the drawer until he found the pizza cutter he knew was in there somewhere, then pulled a pair of paper plates down from the cabinet.

"One slice or two?" he asked as he cut the pizza then pulled the grated Parmesanfrom the fridge.

"One to start. I may want more, but I can never tell at first, so I get them one at a time."