Page 67 of Mack

Soon, the long shadows of the day filtered through the windows. Mallory felt Mack touch her hair and looked at him. He was staring at her, and she couldn’t look away as he lowered his lips to hers, then he pulled across his lap and deepened the kiss.

When he finally lifted his lips from hers, she kept her hand against his cheek.

“I am so crazy about you, Mallory.” He said it quietly, like it was just a fact he was getting around to stating.

“I feel the same about you.”

“I’m happy to hear that.”

She looked at him. “You make me feel things I haven’t felt before. Good things, Mack. Things I didn’t think I was going to get to feel.”

“That’s exactly how you make me feel.” He covered her hand with his. “Both of you.”

She smiled. “I’m happy to hear that,” she said, throwing his words back at him.

After T.J. woke up, Mack fixed grilled cheese sandwiches and soup, then they relaxed until it was time for Mallory to head home.

Chapter Ten

Monday morning Mallory waved as her mother carried T.J. out to the car, then turned back to the counter and her inventory list. The holidays were coming and she needed to stay ahead of it. She sold out of half her stock every year if she wasn’t careful.

The bell above the door chimed.

“I’ll be right with you,” she called without looking up.

She looked up when she heard the door close and the blood left her face. The one person she feared more than anything in this world stood inside her shop, and she did her best to keep her face neutral.

When he didn’t say anything but continued to stare at her, she fidgeted and he smirked. He knew exactly what he was doing.

“Get out, Troy,” she said. Her voice came out steadier than she felt.

He laughed. “Look at you.”

“I mean it. Leave or I’ll call the sheriff.”

“Is that who you’re fucking?”

She felt the heat rise in her face and kept it out of her voice. “That is none of your business. Not anymore. Get out.”

He moved through the shop slowly, picking things up and setting them down in the wrong places, taking his time, and she recognized it for what it was. He’d always done that. Made himself at home in her space to remind her he could.

“Everything you do is my business. I’ve seen you with him, Mal.”

“Don’t call me that.” She kept the counter between them. “And what I do has nothing to do with you.”

He crossed to the counter in a few strides and leaned on it. Then he straightened and looked around the shop like he was considering buying it.

“I’ve thought about you a lot. These past three and a half years.”

“I don’t care.”

“I do.” His eyes came back to hers. “You belong to me. You always will.”

“I divorced you.”

“Doesn’t matter.” He smiled. “I think you, me, and the boy would make a nice family.”

“Stay away from my son.”