Hot and Bothered

  And instead of welcoming that love into her life, she’d slammed a door on it.

  Swallowing, she walked toward her car. The sound of the carnival coming to life made her heart ache—the screech of metal as the Ferris wheel cars were tightened into place, the mechanical rings of the game booths, the melody of the carousel as it whirled around on its test runs.

  No, she wouldn’t be attending this year, she decided as she unlocked the driver’s door of the old Chevy. Not when she still hadn’t spoken to Will. Not when she didn’t know if he would be there.

  When she’d called him this morning, she’d gotten beeped over to voice mail. She left a message asking him to call her. He hadn’t. She’d called an hour later, left another message. Called a third time. A fourth. And still he hadn’t answered.

  And each time she’d heard his voice on the message, her panic had escalated. What if he’d left the country? What if she was too late?

  By the time afternoon rolled around, she’d been ready to rip her own hair out. So she’d gotten in her car, driven into town to fill up the tank, and was now about to make the drive to Coronado. Screw his voice mail. She needed to see him in person. She had to make sure he was okay

  Gripping the steering wheel with icy fingers, Mac inhaled a calming breath and tried to reassure herself that Will was simply avoiding her calls. He hadn’t left town. He wasn’t sitting on a chopper right now, and he was not dead.

  The mere word—dead—sent panic soaring through her and brought tears to her eyes. No, she refused to think about the vision. Will was fine. Of course he—

  A loud honk drew her out of her anxiety. When she turned her head in the direction of the intrusive noise, her anxiousness transformed into pure relief.

  An olive-green Jeep pulled into the parking space in front of hers.

  Will’s Jeep.

  Before she could stop herself, she was out of her car and bounding toward the Jeep on shaky legs. Unease, relief and excitement pounded in her veins.

  She reached the driver’s door just as Will was getting out.

  The sight of him caused her belly to do a funny little flip. God, he looked good. So unbelievably good in faded jeans and a close-fitting black T-shirt. But clothes didn’t make the man, and she knew from recent personal experience that Will didn’t need a stitch of clothing to look good. In fact, he was a female’s wet dream when he was naked. Her cheeks burned at the memory.

  “You’re here,” she blurted out.

  His dark eyes softened at the sight of her, but then his expression grew shuttered. “Couldn’t miss the carnival,” he said lightly.

  “I…I called you.” The twinge of desperation in her voice made her want to cringe. “I left a message.”

  “Did you?” His tone was cool. “I haven’t checked my messages today.”

  Okay, so he was still angry with her. The stiffness of his impossibly broad shoulders and the distant look in his eyes confirmed it. And he hadn’t shaved in days, she noticed. Thick stubble dotted a jaw that was visibly tensed. She wished she knew how to make it better, how to bridge this awful distance between them.

  “Will,” she murmured. “I’m…sorry.”

  “Yeah, you said that last week.”

  “I still feel it.”

  His dark gaze swept over her face. For a second she glimpsed a glimmer of regret, a flash of desire, but then it snapped back to chilly and distant. “So do I, Mac.”

  She opened her mouth to respond, but whatever she’d been about to say—she wasn’t even sure what—died a fiery death when a flicker of movement caught her eye. Shock barreled into her as she watched someone get out of the passenger side of Will’s Jeep.

  Not someone.

  A woman.

  And not any woman, but a gorgeous one. A beautiful green-eyed brunette in Capris and a tank top, who marched over to Will’s side and possessively linked her arm through his.

  “Are you going to introduce me to your friend?” the woman asked with a teasing lilt to her voice.

  Mac was frozen in place, unable to take her eyes off their interlocked arms. Will had brought a woman with him? In all the years she’d known him, he’d never shown up in town with someone on his arm. Never.

  Something fierce and ugly reared up inside her. She suspected that something was jealousy, but there was also a spark of resentment. He was dating someone? He’d had sex with her last weekend and now he was dating someone else?

  “Holly, this is Mackenzie,” Will said gruffly. “Mac, Holly.”

  “It’s nice to meet you.” The lie flowed smoothly out of Mac’s mouth, while the anger flowed just as smoothly through her veins. Damn him for bringing a woman home. How could he do that after everything he’d said and done last week?

  I want you, Mackenzie. Now. Always.

  Ha!

  “So you’re the friend Will told me about,” Holly replied with a warm smile.

  A genuinely warm smile. Which meant that Will hadn’t told his new girlfriend about the body-numbing sex he’d had with his friend.

  Mac pressed her hands to the sides of her jeans, resisting the urge to use those hands to wring Will’s neck. “Will and I have known each other for years,” she answered with forced casualness. “How do the two of you, uh, know each other?”

  Holly tightened her grip on Will’s arm, her green eyes twinkling as she got up on her tiptoes and brushed her lips over his stubble-covered cheek.

  Mac noticed how short the other woman was, and a pang of insecurity tugged at her gut. Compared to Holly’s petite, pixie frame, Mac felt like a giant. Suddenly her height of five-eight seemed enormous, all wrong for Will. Will and Holly looked perfect together—tall, muscular Will and little, perfect Holly.

  It made her want to throw up.

  “We actually just met, um…” Holly tilted her head thoughtfully, “…last Sunday. I work at a restaurant near the base, and Will showed up for lunch. He came back to the kitchen after his meal and complimented my cooking.” Holly’s cheeks flushed in an annoyingly cute way.

  She was a cook. How delightful. Mac couldn’t even make an omelet without burning something.

  Before her confidence could take another hit, her brain stumbled on what Holly had said—last Sunday. Will had met this girl the day after he’d rocked Mackenzie’s world. One day! Was that all he’d needed to put the entire incident out of his mind? Was that why he hadn’t called her this week, because he’d been too busy rocking someone else’s world? And to think, she’d been frantic about his safety. Obviously he was perfectly safe with his new girlfriend.

  “Holly just graduated from culinary college,” Will said, shrugging his arm from Holly’s and slinging it around her shoulder instead.

  Mac tried not to stare at the careless way his fingers caressed Holly’s bare shoulder. “That’s nice,” she said. “So…you two are in town for the carnival?”

  “Yep,” he replied, expressionless.

  “Will was telling me all about it,” Holly spoke up as she snuggled closer to him. “I had the weekend off, so when he said he wanted to show me where he grew up, I couldn’t pass it up.” With a naughty smile, Holly trailed one finger across Will’s chest. “I want to know everything about you, babe.”

  Okay, Mac was officially going to be sick.

  Taking an awkward step back, she feigned a smile. “Well, you’ll have fun. The carnival is always fun.” Another step backwards. “I’ve gotta go. I left my car running.” Right, because there was actually a chance one of the straight-laced Hunter Ridge residents might hop into her beat-up Chevy and commit grand theft auto.

  “Will you be at the carnival tonight?” Will asked politely.

  She continued inching away from the perfect couple. “Um, I’m not sure yet.”

  “Oh, come!” Holly said with another real-looking smile. “I’d love to get to know Will’s best friend.”

  “Uh…”

  “We’ll save you a seat on the Ferris wheel,” Will told her.

&nb
sp; She swallowed down a hysterical laugh. Yeah, like that would inspire her to show up. Sitting on a Ferris wheel with Will and his new girlfriend was about as appealing as sticking pins in her eyes.

  “Yeah, maybe,” she said noncommittally. “If I decide to go, I’ll find you guys. Anyway, um…bye.”

  Tearing her gaze from the two of them, she stumbled back to her car. As she slid into the driver’s seat, she was irritated to see that Will and Holly weren’t even paying attention to her anymore. Will had planted his hands on Holly’s slender hips, and the brunette’s arms were now locked around his strong, corded neck. Their bodies were pressed together, their faces inches apart.

  Mac averted her eyes before she could witness something she didn’t want to see—Will kissing another woman. But the mere thought of it sent waves of jealousy to her gut.

  Damn him.

  Clenching her teeth so hard her jaw ached, she pulled out of the parking spot and drove away from Main Street as fast as she could.

  WILL STARED at the rear bumper of Mac’s car as she sped off. Satisfaction settled in his chest, along with a knot of pain that tightened his throat. He’d been so tempted to pull her into his arms when she’d hurried over to his Jeep. She’d looked so relieved, so happy to see him, and as annoyed as he was with her, he’d been happy to see her too. He always felt so empty when he was away from her.

  But he’d restrained himself from embracing her, from planting a usual peck on her smooth cheek. He’d brought Holly here for a reason and he wasn’t about to blow the charade in its first five minutes. Mac needed to see he wasn’t kidding around. He’d waited more than a decade for her. Any other man would’ve given up already, focused his attention on a woman who actually wanted to be with him. But Will had exercised patience, waiting for Mackenzie to get over her fears, hoping she’d finally open her eyes and see that he was the only man for her.

  Not even amazing sex had managed to sway her. And the relief he’d glimpsed in her pale blue eyes when she’d walked up to him just now told him she assumed things could go back to normal, that he could put the sex out of his mind and go back to being her best bud. Well, that wasn’t going to happen.

  Mackenzie would either get all of him or none of him, and hopefully seeing him with another woman would be the kick in the butt she needed. The catalyst that pushed her to take that final step and admit she loved him.

  “She is pissed,” Holly said with a grin, dropping her hands from his neck.

  He stepped back, his gaze still on the now empty road. “Furious,” he agreed.

  “Should we high-five?”

  He laughed. “Not yet. She’s still not ready to make a move. I bet right now she’s probably trying to convince herself it didn’t bother her to see me with you.”

  Holly shook her head. “If this was me and Carson, and I saw him with someone else, I’d bitch-slap the woman and claim my man.”

  “She’s scared.”

  “To be loved?”

  “To be abandoned.” He swallowed. “Every guy she’s dated has dumped her when the visions got too scary for him. And this last break-up…it hurt her pretty badly. Dan—the guy she was with—said some seriously shitty things when he broke up with her.”

  “Like what?”

  “She didn’t give me all the details, but I got the feeling it was bad. Her vision really freaked him out.”

  He frowned, wondering if maybe he ought to pay a visit to dear old Dan in the hardware store. Normally he tended to avoid the men Mac dated, but Dan had always rubbed Will the wrong way. And after Colin Garber died in that fire, Dan had definitely made Will’s shit list. Instead of comforting Mackenzie, the bastard had thrown her away like a piece of trash.

  Then again, the break-up was the reason Mac had kissed him, and the reason he’d driven to her house last weekend. So maybe he should be thanking Dan.

  Will shrugged. Nah. He still wanted to unleash a right hook in that creep’s jaw.

  “Doesn’t she know you’re a Navy SEAL who doesn’t freak out easily?” Holly asked.

  “All she knows is that I’m the only man who’s always stood by her. She thinks she’ll lose me if she opens herself up fully.”

  “Well, I think she’s silly.” Holly glanced around the quaint street. “Is there anywhere good to eat around here?”

  “There’s a bar around the corner. Serves some pretty decent chicken wings. But the diner is where I usually go. All-day breakfast.”

  “Are you buying?”

  “Of course.” He chuckled. “Don’t tell me Carson makes you guys go Dutch.”

  “We don’t usually go out to eat. The food I cook is better than anything you’ll get in a restaurant.” She beamed. “Well, my restaurant is the exception, but that’s because I’m the chef.” She slung her arm through his and pushed him toward the curb. “Come on, let’s go. I’m starved.”

  “YOU ARE NOT GOING to the carnival,” Mackenzie muttered to herself, absently wandering around her kitchen looking for something to eat.

  Her pantry was stocked with canned food, her freezer loaded with homemade lasagnas that Paula brought over once a month, but nothing looked appealing at the moment. Hard as she tried, she couldn’t stop thinking about all the junk food she could have if she went to the carnival. Greasy hamburger, spicy fries from Walter Halton’s booth, cotton candy.

  She refused to give in to her stomach’s demands, though. The last thing she wanted to do was see Will and Holly, arms around each other, secret smiles, kisses…oh God, she didn’t even want to imagine them kissing.

  Sighing, she opened the fridge and peered inside for the third time, but like the two previous glimpses, it remained empty save for a carton of milk and a few condiments. She was just closing the fridge door when her hands started to tingle. Her temples ached, and a wave of dizziness sent her swaying toward one of the tall-backed oak chairs by the kitchen table. She sank down, breathing deeply, helpless to stop the vision.

  His head was buried in her breasts. Licking, kissing, biting, filling her with pleasure and making her clit swell.

  Deft fingers moving under her waistband, into her panties, seeking her aching clit.

  Pressure.

  An explosion of bliss.

  Mackenzie gasped, snapped back into the present, back to her big empty kitchen. Her brain hummed erratically, like the engine of her old Chevy. Her fingertips tingled.

  The dull ache in her head signaled that the vision was over, and for the first time in her life she experienced disappointment at that notion. She didn’t want it to end. These erotic visions were way better than the grim ones. And this one had been amazing… The feel of Will’s mouth and tongue on her breasts, his fingers stroking her.

  What did it mean, though? She never had visions of the past, only the future, which meant that Will’s delicious exploration of her body was actually going to happen again. When? How? He’d brought someone home with him, and Will wasn’t the type to cheat. He was too honorable to fuck around with another woman when he was in town with someone else.

  But Mac had no doubt it would happen. The sights and sounds had been too vivid—

  the scent of cotton candy on his breath, the faint melody of the merry-go-round in the distance. Whatever she’d just seen would happen at the carnival. Tonight or tomorrow.

  With a sigh of defeat, she got to her feet and headed upstairs to get dressed. An hour later, she was back in her car, driving to town again.

  Call her vain, but she hadn’t been able to resist dressing up. In place of her usual ripped jeans and baggy sweater, she’d worn a tight, long-sleeved shirt, the same shade of blue as her eyes and with a deep vee neckline that showed a generous amount of cleavage. Skintight jeans and knee-length black leather boots showcased her long legs, and she’d even dabbed on some red lip-gloss. Her hair was loose, the way she knew Will liked it, hanging down her back in shiny waves.

  He’d probably know she’d dressed up for him, maybe even take it as a sign of seduction, but s
he didn’t care. This time she wasn’t going to be caught with unbrushed hair and old sweats while in the vicinity of beautiful little Holly.

  What she was trying to achieve with the get-up, she still wasn’t sure. In fact, she should avoid the carnival altogether.

  Yet she couldn’t stay away.

  He brought another woman home. You’re just setting yourself up to be humiliated.

  She shoved away the thought. Fine, so maybe he was seeing someone else. But she and Will had slept together last week. And they were still best friends. Holly or no Holly, Mackenzie needed to fix things between her and Will. She needed to look him in the eye and know that the sex hadn’t destroyed what they had.

  She also needed to tell him about the vision, the one of his helicopter crashing. Maybe if he knew, he’d stay home. He’d stay alive.

  She sighed again, knowing the chances of Will not going on the mission were slim. He was a junior lieutenant. He couldn’t tell his commanding officer to screw off. And even if his superior gave him leave, she knew Will would do the mission anyway. He loved being a SEAL and he took his duties seriously.

  Fifteen minutes later, she reached the heart of Hunter Ridge and easily found a parking spot in front of Paula’s store. Most of the other residents lived in the quaint residential streets surrounding the town; Mac was one of the few who lived on the outskirts. She liked the distance, though, the privacy and serenity of her farmhouse and rolling acres of land. Her sister Alice had left Hunter Ridge when Mackenzie turned eighteen. Alice had always hated small-town life, fleeing to San Diego the moment she didn’t need to be Mac’s legal guardian anymore.

  Mac didn’t blame her sister. Small towns weren’t for everyone, and Alice’s move hadn’t hurt their relationship. They still spoke often and saw each other whenever they could. And when they did, Alice always made sure to chastise Mackenzie for not dating Will. Her sister was convinced—as she had been for fifteen years—that the two of them belonged together.

  Letting out a breath, Mac shut off the engine and got out of the car. Maybe Alice was right. Maybe she should be with Will. But just as the thought floated in, a memory did too. Her last vision, the one that had finally scared Dan away.