Maggie snorted. “And we’re back to talking about Shane. Wait a minute. You said you have to remind yourself to play hard to get? You? The man smiles at you and you drop your pants like Pavlov’s dog.”
“Huh? Dogs wear pants?”
“I meant…never mind.” She wasn’t exactly sure what she meant. The margaritas were finally kicking in. “So what do you really think about Mac?”
“Ha! I knew you were still thinking about him.” Shelby sounded a bit too rational, and Maggie realized she’d imbibed much more than her friend.
She retrieved a half full bottle of wine from the refrigerator and two cups then rejoined Shelby in the living room. She poured them both wine and handed a cup to Shelby. “Drink up, schoolgirl.”
Shelby accepted the glass. “Mac’s in major lust with you.”
Which made it so difficult to keep her distance. Maggie called him Jameson. She frowned and glared, keeping a tight watch on his many ex-girlfriends to remind herself she didn’t want to join their ranks.
“And you want him, bad.” Shelby refused to shut up. “But that might be because you’re so asexual now.”
Maggie groaned and drank. She had been doing her best not to talk about her lack of a sex life, but the booze and need to share broke her restraint. “I know. At first it was hard, but now it’s getting easier to not want sex.” At least, when I’m not around Mac. And that scares me. “I’m almost thirty. What’s going to happen when I’m in my forties and fifties? All my good years will be gone, and I’ll go through the change and never want sex again. I’ll be a dried up has-been.”
“Not to hear my mother tell it.”
“I love Mimi.”
“Yeah, well, she talks too much.” Shelby winced. “Trust me. She way over-shares. But here’s a good thing. She told me that since I’ve found a man she finally approves of, she’s decided to work on your sorry love life. She and Ron are going to find you the perfect man.”
A vision of Mac wearing a white towel and not much else danced across Maggie’s vision. “Great. I suppose this is payback for me helping you find your true love.”
“Yep.”
“You don’t have to look so gleeful about it.” Maggie frowned. “I mean, you got Shane out of the deal. You owe me.”
Shelby smirked. “Oh, I intend to pay you back. In spades.”
“Hell.”
Shelby chuckled. “I’ve been feeling up your obsession for weeks now.”
Maggie huffed. “He’s not my obsession. And might I remind you that you’re a professional. I thought legitimate massage therapists were more clinical about their patients.”
“Well, I’m not giving him happy endings. Those I save for my man.”
Maggie snorted with laughter. “You need help.”
“And I get it regularly.” Shelby wiggled her eyebrows. “Did I tell you about Shane helping me out at work? God, that man is sexy.”
Maggie stared, wide-eyed. “By helping out, you mean…”
“He had me naked and splayed out on a table. My own personal massage.”
“You, Miss Professional, had sex in your clinic? Oh man, I am so jealous. Tell me.”
As Shelby shared a few naughty details, like the good best friend she was, Maggie felt both stunned and envious of her friend. Shane had certainly brought out the adventurous girl in Shelby, and it was about time. Shelby had been so hurt by her ex that it had soured Maggie on relationships as well. Shelby’s pleasure showed Maggie that not all men were scum-sucking jerks.
Maggie longed to have someone to trust, to fill her emotional and physical needs and validate her sense as a woman. For so long she’d tried dating men who turned out to be all wrong, and those mistakes triggered a fear that she’d never find someone special. She had looks but no great wealth, and someday her looks would fade. Most men didn’t take her seriously because of her blond hair, that and being an artist. Even in this day and age, stereotypes remained. For all that men complimented her face and form, she had yet to find a significant other.
“…so then he flipped me over, and I’m all out of breath, and he—”
The front door opened, cutting Shelby off mid-sentence. Shane walked in and stopped short at seeing them both lolling on the floor with a bottle of wine between them. He stared hard at Shelby, who wore a pair of tights and a tank without her bra. Then he blinked at Maggie, who wore her favorite ripped jeans and a soft, holey tee-shirt.
“Please tell me I didn’t miss any girl-on-girl action.”
Shelby laughed so hard she knocked the empty bottle over.
Maggie got to her feet with the grace than a three-legged goat. She nearly tripped before Shane steadied her. “And this is why I kept my bra on.”
He stared, open-mouthed, but said nothing. The looks he kept giving Shelby spoke for him, however.
“Okay, you two.” Maggie sighed. “I don’t think I can drive home. So I’ll be in the guest room. Please, no loud noises while you’re getting it on. Have pity on me.” So saying, she teetered her way to the bathroom, took care of business, and found the bed in the guest room.
After three tries she shimmied out of her bra and jeans but kept her shirt on for modesty’s sake. Though to be fair, Shane wouldn’t care. He only had eyes for Shelby. Man, her friend was lucky.
Before she knew it, her eyes had closed and she snuggled under the covers. She smiled as a vision of Mac, wearing no more than a pair of his own ripped jean shorts, entertained her throughout the night.
And into the morning.
Maggie woke the next day with a pounding headache and a vague sense she needed to be somewhere. On a groan, she rolled onto her back and blinked as a stream of bright sunlight hit her eye. Thankfully, a large body blocked out most of the sun and gave her a moment to focus.
Mac Jameson stared down at her with an intense look on his face.
She blinked up at him. “Shouldn’t your shorts be ripped?” Still not sure if she was awake or asleep, Maggie grazed Mac’s thigh and felt cotton under her hands. “Sweatpants? What happened to the jean shorts?”
Mac’s lips curled into a grin. “Jean shorts? This sounds good.”
Maggie realized the dream had come and gone. This Mac was real.
Quickly sitting up, she made sure to keep the cover over her lower half.
His gaze lowered to her chest, and his smile widened. “I really missed a party, didn’t I? Saw a wine bottle and drink mix in the kitchen. The clean police are still sound asleep, and there’s a gorgeous blond in my room.”
“Um, your room?”
He licked his lips and returned his gaze to hers. When she saw the heat melting the blue ice of his eyes, she froze. “Yeah. When I visit, I get the guest room.”
“In Shane’s house maybe. But this is Shelby’s.” The pair had decided to keep separate residences until they made the big move to share a home. Maggie figured they’d eventually move into Shane’s house because he had more space.
“Her house, his house. What’s his is mine. Sort of.” Mac ran a callused finger over her cheek, and Maggie found it hard to breathe.
His gaze returned to her chest and lingered. “You are really turning me on.”
Stupidly, she stared at his crotch, not surprised to see him hard and growing behind the sweats. “Y-you…ah…”
“Yep. Hard as a rock, just like those pretty nipples.” Mac’s husky voice snapped her out of her daze.
She realized he hadn’t been leering the way he normally did. He could see her nipples through her tee-shirt because she’d taken off her bra last night.