“It’s not your fault. I shouldn’t have assumed he was okay to be alone.” Her eyes closed, blocking tears. “Was I too hard on him? I was just so mad.”
“Maggie, if anything, you weren’t hard enough on him. It was a terrible thing to do, and he should apologize for tonight for the rest of his life. That’s no way to speak to your daughter.”
“It’s no way to speak to you, either.” She shook her head and sniffled. “I didn’t mean for it to come out when it did.” Her broken voice nearly sent me crumpling to my feet.
“Mean for what to come out?” I brushed a stray hair out of her face and behind her ear, keeping my voice soft. My chest pounded at the thought of what she might say next. Could I possibly be lucky enough to hear those words again?
“The words I said to my dad. The ones I should have said to you first.” My breathing stopped. She stepped closer. The floor could have fallen from beneath us, and I wouldn’t have noticed. Her voice dropped to a whisper—so low that I wasn’t even sure I was supposed to hear. “I love you, Jack.”
I stood silent for a moment. Was this real?
There were no words to describe what I was feeling right now. I had never felt more exhilarated in my life. The woman I knew I didn’t deserve, knew that I was terrified of loving, but loved anyway, had just given me the only words that could stop me from drowning. The only words that could save me from everything the world threw at me. The little girl I had grown up two doors away from, the teenaged girl I hooked up with without the knowledge of what it meant, the beautiful woman who started as my employee, the mother of my child, my fucking wife…lovedme.
And she said it out loud, too.
If I died tonight from that bottle hitting me in the face, I would die a happy man.
Chapter twenty-six
Jack
Istood in my bathroom between Maggie and the vanity, trying my fucking hardest to keep my sanity at bay. My beautiful wife, standing before me, had just whispered the most meaningful words I had ever heard. Ones I never thought I would want to hear a woman say to me. My mind was in shock, unable to reciprocate the same words back to her, but my body reacted accordingly. I held her head in my hands and pulled her lips to mine, crashing into them with everything I had been suppressing for the last few months. I wasn’t holding back anymore. This woman was mine and only mine.
Maggie threaded her hands through my hair, holding onto me like a lifeline, matching her desperation and need for my kiss. Her mouth molded into mine as if it were the last time we would ever hold each other like this. Tight grip. Hot breath. An inexplicable spark dancing between us, threatening to ignite.
She kissed me differently than she had before. Everything we did to each other used to be out of pure, carnal lust. Exploration. Curiosity. But this washonest. Everything we had been holding back. At that moment, I needed Maggie, and she needed me.
My grip on her hair tightened as I turned and pressed her into the counter. I let my hands drag from her hair, down her back, and onto her waist. Couldn’t resist running my thumbs along her bump along the way.
I was claiming this woman.
My tongue traced the seam of her lips, begging for entry. A moan escaped them as she parted for me. As soon as she let me in, I ravaged her.
Fuck being gentle. Fuck being sweet. This wasMaggiefuckingHennickeI was kissing. My damn wife.
My girl.
I kissed her with every ounce of intensity I had felt for her for months. With the love that we spent so much time tiptoeing around, trying to do what was best for our baby.
It was ironic to think we loved each other—our family—so much that we refused to admit what we felt, so as not to ruin it—and yet, this was exactly what we both wanted.
Consistency. Love. Standing in the fire until the damn house burned down because that was just what you did when you loved someone.
Maggie clutched her fingers behind my neck, and I lifted her onto the counter, pressing my groin into hers. Our bodies were pinned together from the lips down, and it still wasn’t enough. She gasped and wrapped her legs around my waist, pulling me closer. I tilted her head for better access to her mouth, and her tongue tangled with mine. Pure, sweet need poured out of me and onto her soft, luscious lips.
I slipped a hand under her—my—sweater and let it run across her soft skin. When I caressed her bump, my cock swelled. I was fucking overcome with possession for this woman.
But I wouldn’t back off now. My fingers gripped the hem of the massive, gray polo sweater she had so sneakily stolen from me and lifted it off her body. In the split second that it flew behindme, I caught a slight whiff of my scent on the wool mixed with hers—my body wash crossed with her sweet honey—and my cock reared against my zipper. God, this woman was everything. I needed inside of hernow.
Maggie returned the favor, grasping handfuls of my shirt, telling me she wanted it off. I didn’t hesitate. I wanted her to take what she wanted from me all the time.
Her gaze never left mine. “Bedroom,” she whispered between kisses. Her short nails dragged down the skin of my chest. I reached back to grip her legs secured around my waist, but hesitated when I remembered I hadn’t cleaned up since my game. I didn’t care, but I wasn’t doing a thing to Maggie without her full enjoyment.
“I haven’t showered yet.”
Maggie groaned into my neck and pressed herself against me. “Then let’s get in the shower.”
I pulled back to see her face. I couldn’t tell if she was serious or not.
