Unforgivable Read online

  Alice gave her sister a look of horror that hardly had to be exaggerated. “He might be shit with telling me how he feels about me, but maybe he’s got the right idea about not saying anything. I don’t need to make a fool out of myself over Mick McManus again.”

  “But . . . you do. Don’t you? Love him,” Wendy said.

  Alice again stayed quiet. Her throat closed. Her eyes burned.

  “You should tell him, Alice. Maybe he’ll surprise you. And if he doesn’t . . . at least you’d know for sure. You wouldn’t have to wonder.”

  “I was stupid, wasn’t I? To think that just because time had passed that it would be different this time?”

  “You weren’t stupid, honey. You’re in love. Okay, maybe that’s the same thing,” Wendy said with a small laugh.

  Alice shook her head. “But I don’t want to be!”

  “Guess what,” Wendy said. “You don’t have a choice. It just happens to you, and you can’t do anything about it.”

  “I do have a choice. I can stop seeing him. End it before it’s too late.”

  “That’s not going to make you feel better, Alice!” Wendy looked sad. “You’re crazy about him. You know you are.”

  “Yeah,” Alice said bitterly, “and Mick is just having fun.”

  Alice to Mick

  Knock Knock.

  Who’s there?

  Nobody.

  Nobody, who?

  *Silence*

  —Alice to Mick

  Chapter 45

  The party at Bernie’s had been great, of course, lots of food and drinks and fun. But empty, for Mick at least. No Alice to sneak into his bedroom at night or greet him over coffee in the morning.

  No Alice for the whole week after, either, while she was at the beach. He’d texted her several times throughout the weekend, but got no answer. He’d called and left a few messages, but with no answer to those, he’d stopped. For the first time, Mick understood why, exactly, Alice got so bent out of shape when he didn’t reply to her right away. Still, the longer it went on, the more deliberate it felt, and the more irritated he got. Sure, he might’ve chosen to take his time responding to her messages in the past for one reason or another, and yeah, maybe once in a while he still didn’t answer her immediately, but he’d never gone this long while deliberately ignoring her.

  She was due home Saturday, but he didn’t know what time, only that they’d have to check out of their rental house sometime in the morning. Add in summer traffic and he figured she’d be back by the afternoon. So when dinner time rolled around and he hadn’t yet heard from her, Mick put on his big-boy briefs and called her again.

  This time, she answered. “Hey.”

  “Hey! Are you home?” He didn’t want to admit the feeling rushing through him was relief. That he’d started thinking maybe she simply was never going to answer him again, that it wouldn’t be ten years without Alice this time, but the rest of his life.

  She sounded tired. “Yeah. About an hour ago. Traffic was brutal. I rode with Wendy and her husband and kids, we stopped about a million times for the bathroom and to eat, just to break up the trip, but we were still in standstill traffic for hours. I’m wiped out. I took a shower and I’m heading for bed. So much stuff to do tomorrow before I go back to work.”

  “I want to see you,” Mick blurted. Silence was his answer. He listened to her breathing. Certain she was going to say no, his stomach dropped.

  He didn’t like this, whatever was going on. Something felt off. Something wasn’t right. But then she sighed.

  “Sure. But you’ll have to come over here. I’m not driving any more today.”

  “I’ll be there in an hour,” he promised, knowing the drive usually took at least an hour twenty.

  She was quiet for a couple of seconds. “You could wait until tomorrow, Mick. It’s only one more day.”

  “I can’t wait another day to see you.”

  More silence. He imagined her smile, though could hear nothing of it in her voice. “Okay.”

  It did indeed take him only an hour to get to Alice’s house. He’d brought along a bottle of wine, though it was probably too late now to drink it. A bag of chips and container of dip, because that was all he had in the kitchen. When she opened the door, all he could think about was kissing her, but instead he held out the bag.

  “I brought this for you.”

  Alice smiled and let him in. She took the wine and peeked at the chips. “Are you hungry?”

  He did kiss her then, thinking that was a better answer. She moaned when he touched her; when he dug his fingers into the hair at the back of her skull and tugged, her eyes went glazed and dreamy, and his cock got hard. He loved watching her get turned on by something so simple as his touch. No woman had ever responded to him that way.

  He’d stopped wanting any other woman to.

  “Upstairs,” he breathed into her mouth. “Now.”

  Alice broke the kiss for a second, looking hesitant, but only for the second or two it took for her to lick her lips. She nodded and turned, looking over her shoulder with another inscrutable glance. Mick followed, already thinking of getting her out of the silky pj bottoms and tank top.

  In her bedroom, Alice sat on the edge of the bed. Mick went to his knees in front of her. She let out a small, startled laugh.

  He lifted one bare foot and held it tight so she couldn’t squirm away. Making sure she was looking into his eyes, he kept her gaze as he kissed each toe. Then the other foot. By the time he was done, they were both breathing hard. Moving his hands up her legs and thighs, over the silky fabric, he found the heat of her center.

  He had missed her so damned much that finally being with her was . . . overwhelming. Shit, it was strangling him, almost, this desire to make love to her. Not just that, but to make her feel good. To make her scream and moan and cry his name. To make her want him as much as he wanted her, which was all the time and in every way.

  He kissed her through the fabric, first her thighs. Then the juncture between them. Her scent made him harder. He needed to taste her.

  Mick hooked his fingers in the waistband of her bottoms and pulled them down. Still kneeling between her parted legs, he bent to kiss her bare flesh. Alice jerked at the touch of his tongue. At the press of his lips, she moaned. When he parted her to ease a finger inside her while he sucked gently on her clit, her hand found the top of his head.

  It was too much effort to work his belt and zipper open while he made love to her with his mouth, sweet torture for his cock to press against the denim, and Mick couldn’t decide which he wanted more. To make Alice come under his tongue or to get his cock in his fist while he did it.

  Her pussy swelled under his kiss, the tight walls clutching at his finger when he stroked upward. She was already rolling her hips and pushing against him. Close. He could tell. Her taste flooded him, making his head spin. Urging him to moan her name, a command or a plea, he couldn’t be sure, only that he wanted and needed to know he was making her feel good.

  Her body tensed and twitched. She cried out, shaking. Her clit pulsed under his lips, and he eased the stroking as he slipped his finger free of her clutching flesh. With both hands free, he got himself undone, his cock leaping into his waiting fist for a few strokes before he sat back to look at her.

  She wasn’t looking at him. She lay back on the bed, one arm flung over her eyes. Her chest rose and fell rapidly with her breathing.

  So fucking beautiful.

  Mick shucked out of his jeans and briefs and T-shirt, tossing them to the side and crawling up over her. He slid his cock over her clit. Back and forth, teasing, until she moaned again. Alice opened her eyes and reached for him.

  “Kiss me,” she said.

  He kissed her. Sweet, hard, tongues sliding. She moved her hips. She was so slick and wet he moved easily against her. And then, with a small and subtle shift of their bodies, unexpected, he was inside her.

  He should hold out, he thought, but was helpless to s