Try - The Complete Romance Series (25 page)

“They told me I could leave my car here if
I had to,” Mackenzie told me. “I have tomorrow off, I can take the bus up here
from my apartment.”

“Hurry up and get in before you freeze,” I
told her, unlocking the car door. Mackenzie handed me the flowers and then
hurried around to the passenger side, and I realized that she had taken the
time to change into a pair of jeans and a sweater under her big coat.

In minutes we were out in the Chicago
traffic. Mackenzie turned around, peering over the back of her seat to talk to
Landon. “Do you know where we’re going for dinner?”

“
Ed
Debevic’s
!” Landon exclaimed, looking pleased with himself that he had
managed to get the name out clearly.

“Oh? Awesome!” Mack glanced at me and
grinned. “That sounds like the perfect place for everyone to find something.”

“There’s another reason for it,” I told
her, licking my lips and stopping as smoothly as I could at a light. I looked
at Mack, wondering if I was overplaying my hand a little bit. “It’s the first
restaurant that Joanne and I took Landon to, a couple of months after he was
born.”

“Really?” Mack looked at me sharply for a
moment and then her expression softened. “I’m flattered.”

“Obviously Landon wasn’t eating actual
food then, and we went during their quiet hours instead of during the dinner
rush, but Joanne had been craving their chili fries ever since she’d
delivered.” I smiled, remembering that we’d put off going in the hope that we’d
be able to use it as our celebration of successful treatment of Joanne’s
cancer; instead, when it became clear that the treatment wasn’t going to work,
we’d stopped the chemo and gone that same night to the restaurant, bringing in
a sleeping infant and going to town on all of our favorite foods until we were
uncomfortably full.

“She seems to have been a woman with very
good taste,” Mack said.

“Dad says she had horrible taste—she
married him.”

I snorted, shaking my head at what Landon
felt the need to contribute to the conversation.

“That was a joke Bud,” I told my son.

“Well I think she must have been a
beautiful, wonderful woman,” Mack said, looking from me to Landon. “Your dad
has worked hard to make sure you’re growing up to be a good kid, but I think
your mom must have been great for him to be so successful.”

We arrived at the restaurant; it was just
starting to get busy, with people coming in as much for the warmth as to eat
dinner, and I was glad that we were able to get a table—and that Mack hadn’t
needed another fifteen minutes, though I would have given them to her if she’d
asked.

I ordered the mozzarella sticks that
Landon wanted, but under Mack’s influence, my son ordered pot roast instead of
his usual chicken strips, and when I asked him whether he’d eat the vegetables
if I got it for him, he just gave me a look that told me I was embarrassing
him. Mack ordered the meatloaf, and I got a burger.

I had worried more than a little that
Landon wouldn’t be up to behaving himself through dinner, with Mack there and
with the noisy atmosphere of a restaurant after being so hyped up from his PT
session; but he was polite, letting Mack and me talk, sticking with his
coloring or playing with one of the toys I’d let him bring with him into the restaurant.
Mack made a point of asking him about school, about soccer, all the things that
Landon loved.

By the time we ordered a dessert to share,
I had relaxed completely. Landon was perfectly fine with Mack outside of the
session, and Mack was able to handle my son just as well in a restaurant as she
did while she was putting him through physical therapy. Everyone was happy—most
of all me. “I just have to drop him off at my sister’s,” I told Mack.

“Can’t I stay with you guys?” Landon asked
from the back seat of the car.

“Not tonight bud,” I told him. “Mack and I
need a little time alone.” I looked over at the woman I loved and grinned.

“Maybe next time we all do dinner together
we can go home and you and I can work on that kite,” Mack suggested. Immediately
Landon was on board, and the whole way to my sister’s house that was all he
wanted to talk about. I couldn’t wait to get him to Jess’ place so that I could
be alone with Mack—it had been far, far too long since we’d been alone
together.

Chapter Three -Mackenzie

“Are you sure you want to go home with me?
I mean—if you do, I’m totally thrilled, but I can drop you off at your car if
you want to wait a little bit.”

I grinned at Patrick as I fastened my
seatbelt. I was a little uneasy at the fact that I had started to become turned
on while Landon was still with us, but now that Patrick and I were alone
together, I wouldn’t have let him drop me off at my car if he paid me.

“I am absolutely sure that if you try to
avoid sex with me, I’m going to be disappointed no matter how great the rest of
the night has gone,” I told him. Patrick chuckled and turned the key in the
ignition, starting up the car. He pulled out of the driveway and turned onto
the street, and as soon as he straightened the car out, he reached over and
took my hand in his.

“I’m not even sure if the apartment is
worth seeing,” Patrick told me, shaking his head and smiling. “It’s pretty much
a constant disaster area, no matter how often I make Landon clean up after
himself.”

I shrugged, rubbing my thumb against his
palm. “You live with a five-year-old boy,” I pointed out. “I would be more
weirded out if your place was absolutely spotless.”

“As long as you know what you’re getting
into,” Patrick said, raising an eyebrow. I giggled and nodded.

“I can deal with some mess,” I told him
again. “I’m just glad to be alone with you again.”

“You have no idea,” Patrick told me, his
hand tightening on mine. “I kept wishing I could spend the day with you all
alone ever since the last date.”

“Even with how weird things were?”

I looked at Patrick sharply. It was hard
to believe that even when things had been strained between us—and I still
didn’t quite know why—he had been thinking about me, wanting to be alone with
me.

“That was my fault,” Patrick said, shifting
uncomfortably.

“How’s that?” I kept playing my thumb
against his warm, dry palm, tracing the lines as Patrick drove us out of
Jessica’s neighborhood and towards his place.

“I got all in my own head,” Patrick
explained. “I had been…well, I guess you probably realize that with Landon I
have to be pretty serious about anyone that I date. I can’t just have a lot of
casual flings.”

“I can get that,” I said, nodding.

“And things had been going so well between
us that I wanted to kind of—sound you out, I guess. See if you were looking for
something more than what we’d been up to.”

“Not looking for it exactly,” I said,
thinking about what he said. “But I’m not against the idea of things getting
serious.”

“I was trying to find out without being
direct,” Patrick said. He sighed. “That was why I asked you all those questions
about getting married and having kids. I wanted to know whether you’d be okay
becoming part of a family.”

“I’ve been thinking about that a lot,” I
told him. “I’m…” I took a deep breath and tried to think of how to say what I
wanted to say. “I was worried that you wouldn’t think I’d be a good part of
Landon’s life. And I don’t know if I’m exactly ready, but I’m not—I’m not
against the idea of becoming a more stable part of you and Landon’s life.”

“One of the things Jessica beat me up over
was the fact that I didn’t just ask you outright what you wanted—and what you
were comfortable with—in the relationship,” Patrick said. He shook his head
briefly. “I can see I was just being an idiot.”

“Well I wasn’t exactly at my best on that
either,” I said; I didn’t want him to feel completely horrible about how things
had almost gone wrong between us. It was only fair to take my own part of the
responsibility. “I didn’t really know what to say when you asked about family
and marriage…it’s been so long since I’ve really thought about it as something
I could have.”

“I’m glad that we had a chance to talk
alone,” Patrick said. “I’m not about to tell Landon that you’re going to be his
new mom, but I wanted to make sure everything was clear between us, and that we
both knew where we stood.”

“That’s a good idea,” I said. My heart
beat faster in my chest; I’d never been to Patrick’s place but from the way he
was driving I could tell we were getting closer by the moment.
 
He turned into a driveway outside of a
nice-looking clump of row houses, and let go of my hand long enough to park the
car before turning to me once more.

“I want you to know,” Patrick said slowly.
“I love you.”

I stared at him, stunned by his
confession.

“I know it’s really soon to say it, and
I’m not telling you to try and make you say it back, but I love you.”

“You do?” My voice came out in a squeak.

“I haven’t felt this way about anyone
since my wife passed away,” Patrick told me. “Joanne was a wonderful woman, and
if she had lived she would have been a great mom to Landon; but I’ve come to
terms with the fact that she’s gone and never coming back.” He licked his lips
and held my gaze for a long moment of silence. “I don’t want you to ever think
that I’m comparing you to her, or that you come in second, or anything like
that. I care about you. I want to see where this goes.”

“Thank you,” I said, smiling through the
tears that had started to form in my eyes at his beautiful words. “I—I don’t
know if I can say ‘I love you, too’ just yet—I’m still kind of jumbled up
inside. But I care about you a lot. I like you a lot; and I like Landon too. You’re
the best guy I’ve ever met.” I swallowed against the tight feeling in my throat
and suddenly my whole body began to relax.

Patrick leaned in close and brushed his
lips against mine. I kissed him back slowly at first, almost hesitating from
how strangely nervous I felt. Then as Patrick deepened the kiss, I wrapped my
arms around his shoulders, pulling him closer to me, pressing my body against
his in the little bit of space we had in the front of the SUV. For what felt
like almost an hour we did nothing more than kiss, holding each other, touching
each other all over, exploring each other’s bodies through our clothes as our
tongues slid against each other.

I felt the heat building up inside of me,
my muscles tightening, and every moment I became more and more turned on as
Patrick broke away from my lips to kiss along the column of my throat, down to
the collar of my sweater and then back up to my mouth once more. I felt like I
was on fire, tingling all over, and when I broke away from his lips to catch my
breath, I could see the condensation fogging the windows. “Maybe we should go
inside,” I suggested breathlessly. Patrick looked around, dazed, and then
nodded, chuckling lowly.

He opened the door on the driver’s side.
“Stay right there,” he told me quickly, and I nodded, even though I was too
turned on to be able to make sense of what he wanted from me. I watched as he
climbed out and then walked around to the passenger side, opening my door for
me. I unbuckled my seat belt and then somehow tumbled into his arms, bringing
my mouth up to his for another kiss. We stayed like that for a few moments
before the cold was too much for us both. I pressed my body against his, exploring
his broad back, tasting his lips over and over again.

Then Patrick broke away from my lips and
closed the door behind me, taking my hand in his and leading me quickly to the
entrance to his house. He dropped the keys trying to get the door unlocked and
cursed, bending over to pick them up off of the welcome mat. His second try was
more successful, and in the span of a few heartbeats, he had the door open and
propelled me through it. Patrick pushed me up against the door and kissed me
hungrily, his hands moving all over my body, touching and teasing me everywhere.
I moaned against his lips, my nerves tingling, getting hotter and wetter every
moment as I kissed him back and let my hands explored his body all over.

Somehow, I realized, my clothes were
starting to fall away; my coat was off, dropped to the floor, and I felt
Patrick’s fingers moving up along the buttons on my sweater. He pulled me away
from the door and broke away from my lips panting, his eyes dark with obvious
desire as he met my gaze. “We can stop any time you want,” he told me, looking
almost uncertain.

“If you stop right now I’m going to be
really upset,” I said, taking a moment to catch my breath. Patrick led me
through the living room and I glanced around quickly, remembering his remark
about the mess; I could barely qualify the few toys I saw scattered around the
room to even be messy at all. I dismissed the idea, pushing it aside as Patrick
stopped at a door. He turned the knob and pulled me through it in his wake,
bringing my hand up to his lips to kiss it lightly. He didn’t close the door behind
us, but just pulled me close to him in the darkness, wrapping his arms around
my waist. My heart pounded in my chest, and I felt myself heating up all over;
I could feel my inner muscles flexing with the thought of the sex to come, the
memory of how good it had been before.