Sex, Lies & Lipstick (A Moonlight and Magnolias Novel Book 2) Page 26

  “For the love of God,” Mimi spat. “I did. I’m getting too old for this shit. Do you want to cuff me or something?”

  “Who did you shoot?” I asked frantically.

  “Who the hell did you think I shot? The dick.”

  “What?” I asked.

  “He was trying to get away. Now listen,” she began with a calm demeanor. “I know two wrongs don’t make a right, but they sure as hell even things up a bit. He’s out there rolling around on the back lawn, probably getting blood everywhere.”

  Leo shouted out the front door to the agents who were beginning to pile in. “Call an ambulance. We’ve got a suspect down. And call the meat wagon.”

  I sat in a heap, trying to process everything. I took a deep breath and looked up. “Mimi, where did you get the gun?”

  “Well…” she hesitated. “Miss Nancy kept pearls and letters in her safe.”

  “Yeah?” I asked, shaking my head in confusion.

  “I kept Smith and Wesson.”

  34

  SAMANTHA

  The last of the agents began to file out of Lone Oak, one by one – each giving their condolences and their accolades to the ladies of the house.

  Mac’s study had been taped off and would remain a crime scene for a few days longer. But I knew I could handle anything now that Hector was gone for good.

  “Micah,” I smiled as she stopped at the front door to give Mac a hug goodbye. “What would we have done without you today?”

  She shrugged her shoulders and glanced back to Mac. “I was just protecting the people I care about.”

  I nodded, knowing that she would always love Mac. And for now, I was okay with it.

  “Micah,” Mac sighed as she took his hand before she walked out the door.

  “You don’t have to say anything, Mac. You’d have done it for me.”

  They gave each other a forced smile before she walked down the sidewalk to the black sedan. Micah was on her way back to D.C. to find a new agent to assist. I secretly hoped she’d someday be an agent herself.

  Leo had asked to stick around for a few days. I decided he had more than wrapping the Hector Quintes case on his mind.

  Richard would be prosecuted for aiding a known fugitive and Mimi would forever be known as Deadeye Dick. She smiled when Leo gave her the nickname, and I knew she liked it.

  We shut the front door to Lone Oak and I sat in an ornate chair in the front hall, exhausted.

  “Is it over, Mommy?” Dax asked as he crawled into my lap.

  “Yes.”

  “And is Coco okay?”

  “I’m afraid you won’t see him anymore.”

  Dax nodded. “He was a nice man, Mommy.”

  I held my tongue knowing there was no way to explain how sick Hector really was.

  “You’ll have to have friends over to play instead, okay?”

  “And I can play with Daddy in the walls.”

  I nodded and turned to Mac who sat motionless at the bottom of the stairs. Still in his rumpled suit and dirty shirt, he was far away from Lone Oak and his family.

  “Dax, why don’t you find Miss Celia or Polly? I need to talk with Daddy.”

  I watched Dax shuffle past Mac, giving him a confused look. The always put-together and handsome Mac Callahan now looked like he’d been on a three-day bender. “How are you doing?”

  “I should be asking you that,” he replied, refusing to take his blank stare from the wall.

  “I’m okay.”

  Mac dropped his shoulders and looked to the floor before standing abruptly. He startled me as he went from defeated warrior to disgruntled man. Without acknowledging me, he shook his head and walked away.

  “Where are you going?”

  “I need a shower,” he replied.

  “I’m glad you think so,” I teased, hoping to bring a smile to his face. “I was starting to worry that you thought this was acceptable for a proper gentleman.”

  “No,” he replied.

  The lack of expression made me worry. I knew the feelings of grief that were plaguing his mind. Now that Hector had been caught, Mac had a chance to think about losing Nancy. I didn’t want him to get to the point where it hurt so horribly…he didn’t feel anything at all. I knew it could happen. I’d been there myself.

  I shut the door to Katy’s nursery and let out a heavy sigh. Lone Oak was quiet. There were still agents on the grounds, but everyone was out of the house including Polly, who’d had run off somewhere with Leo. Celia had gone home, exhausted from the past week and Mac was nowhere to be found. As I walked through the house, each creak of the old floorboards reminded me I was finally by myself.

  I whispered his name as I entered each part of the house, thinking I would find him sitting quietly, drinking a sweet tea with a smile on his face. But at every turn, I only found dark rooms.

  Finally I walked out onto the veranda. The strong breeze blew through me, catching my dress in its whirlwind. The tents from the wedding and reception were now down and the backside of Lone Oak was hushed. Just like the house.

  I wandered out through the garden and saw a tiny flicker of light in the gazebo and was drawn to it like a moth to a flame. I knew Mac was there.

  A single candle lit the small table and chair where he sat in the middle of the white wooden dome. The vines and flowers from the wedding were still intertwined – the only evidence left of our big day.

  “Mac?” I called to him.

  He sat, papers in his hand, blank stare across his face.

  “What are you doing out here, sweetheart?”

  He pulled his gaze to look at me. The look on his face told me everything I needed to know. He’d read the letter from his mother.

  “Are you okay?”

  He wasn’t emotionless. He just wasn’t there. I dropped to my knees and buried my head in his lap. “I love you.”

  I looked up and into his eyes glistening with the emotion he’d been holding in for days and waited for him to tell me he loved me too.

  “Why did you agree to marry me?”

  “What?” I asked, pulling away from him. “Why did I marry you?”

  “Why did you ever think I could provide a safe and loving environment for you and the children?”

  “Because I know you.”

  “So you bought my whole line of shit when I promised I could protect you?” he scoffed.

  “I guess I didn’t think it was shit.” I replied. “Why are you doing this?”

  “What if Hector isn’t the only asshole out there that wants to hurt me or our family? I’ve put some dangerous people away, Sam.”

  “Then we’ll deal with it.”

  “Really? Because I’m pretty sure you didn’t sign up for this when you agreed to be my wife.”

  “I agreed to be your wife because I love you. I agreed to spend the rest of my life with you because I not only believed you when you promised to protect me and the children, I believed in you.” I took his hands and brought them to my face, begging for his attention.

  “My mother told me not to lose sight of the important moments in my life,” he revealed as he touched the handwriting on the thick linen paper. “Said I’d know them when they happened.”

  “And you think you’ve missed them?”

  “No,” he admitted. “I understand what she meant. I don’t want to miss the important moments because my head is somewhere else. I need to remember not to define my life by what I do, but by who I love.”

  “I love you,” I whispered. “I love you more than you’ll ever know.”

  “I want to be your everything, Samantha.”

  “You are.”

  He shook his head and looked at me.

  “What if in order to protect you, I need to stay away from you?”

  “I’d find you.”

  “I can’t stand to lose another person in my life. I wouldn’t survive losing you or one of the kids. I’m a different man than the one you met a year ago.”

  “And I
’m a different woman,” I whispered as I stood and pushed my body into his. Parting his knees, he cradled his head on my chest and for the first time in days I felt him let down. “I’m not letting you go. Ever.”

  Mac stood and pulled me close. I nuzzled my face in his neck and began to rock back and forth.

  “Darling you…” I sang softly as we swayed. “Send me. I know you…send me. Darling you…send me. Honest you do, honest you do, honest you do…”

  “You… thrill me,” Mac sang with a rasp. “I know you, you, you, thrill me. Darling you, thrill me. Honest you do.”

  I pulled away from him and took his hands in mine. “No matter what you say. No matter where you go. I’m going to be right beside you. No matter what.”

  “Until death do us part,” he nodded.

  “Until death do us part.”

  “You know we’re the Callahans now – me and you, Dax and Katy.”

  I nodded.

  “I think my parents would be proud.”

  “They are proud.”

  “My Dad’s saying, Son, take that woman inside, pack her bags and take her to Paris for a proper honeymoon.”

  “I’d settle for you taking me to bed for a proper honeymoon.”

  I watched the light come back into Mac’s face as he nodded and nuzzled my neck.

  “I have a surprise for you,” he murmured into my ear.

  “What?”

  “I was saving it to give to you when we got home from Paris, but…”

  “But what?”

  “I have an idea.”

  Mac grabbed my hand and walked me down the stairs of the gazebo and began to make his way back to the house.

  “What are you up to?” I giggled.

  “No questions.”

  As we made the turn for the house, Mac stopped short at the second garage and keyed in a code. I’d never been in there, but I knew it was where the vintage Bentley Timms drove Nancy around in had been stored.

  Before opening the door, he turned and gave me a kiss. It was a real kiss, something he’d not done in days and I felt him coming back to me.

  “This is for you. Just for you,” he said as he ushered me into the dark garage before hitting the lights.

  Sitting in the dark garage next to Nancy’s car was a black convertible. It almost sparkled under the spotlight aimed at the hood and was covered in an enormous red bow.

  “What is this?” I gasped.

  “This is a Bentley Continental GT V8 S. Complete with a back seat for little people.”

  “What?”

  “My mother had a Bentley,” he explained. “And even though you drive and she didn’t, I wanted you to have one too. This is your new car.”

  “I don’t know what to say,” I uttered in shock.

  “C’mon. Let’s take her for a drive,” Mac whispered into my neck as he hugged my waist from behind.

  “Okay,” I squealed.

  He laughed at my excitement and I could tell he loved that he’d surprised me.

  35

  MAC

  Samantha roared down the small lane and I turned to see Lone Oak lit up in the distance. Her ponytail was flying in the breeze as I lowered the top and turned on some music.

  “What would you like to hear for your first drive in the new car?” I asked.

  “I just like the roar of the engine,” she smiled as she picked up speed.

  I nodded and dropped my head on the seat. The stars were out and the heavens seemed illuminated.

  “Where are you going?” I asked Sam as she turned onto the old road that led to the backside of our property.

  “My favorite place,” she smiled.

  We pulled onto the hill and Sam shone the bright headlights into the valley below.

  “It’s too dark to see anything out here, sweetheart,” I laughed.

  “For what I’m planning on doing, you don’t need to see.”

  I gave her a smile as she turned off the car and pulled on the emergency brake.

  She grinned wickedly. “Are you up for some adventure?”

  “I’m up,” I smiled, adjusting myself. “Believe me. I’m up.”

  We got out of the car and Samantha wagged her finger come hither, beckoning me to her.

  I met her in between the headlights that shown brightly over the valley and Samantha went to work without saying a word. She unbuckled my pants and pushed them down around my ankles fast and furiously. I had already sprung into action.

  “Oh yeah, baby,” she whispered as she opened my shirt one painfully slow button at a time.

  She turned me, wrapping her arms around me from behind as she ran her hands over my chest, she found her way down to my hot, swollen flesh.

  Her hand was cold against my skin and I flinched at her touch. I moaned and reached back to pull her hips to meet my ass.

  Grinding her hips into me, she stroked my rigid shaft until I could no longer take it. I quickly turned her around and pushed her up against the hood of the car as the lights continued to shine between our bodies.

  Grabbing under her knee, I lifted her leg to meet my straining sex and pushed myself against the fabric of her dress. “I need you,” I ground out.

  “You do?” she purred as she kissed my mouth and ran her tongue along my bottom lip, sending me reeling.

  Frantically I began to lift the layers of her full sundress to get to her delicate softness.

  She leaned against the car and moaned as I found her panties and pulled them down her sexy legs and to the ground. I slid my hands up her body, taking the dress with me. Pushing myself against her again, pulsing as if we were already making love, tipping her hips and exploring her with my fingers.

  I made quick work of the three buttons that held the top of her dress together, releasing her waiting breasts. Her tight nipples were hard against my chest and with each heaving breath she took, I could feel them brush against me, making me harder and fueling my need for her.

  I kissed her, encompassing her mouth in mine, frantic for more of her.

  Bending my knees, I pushed up and entered her in one deep thrust as I laid her beautiful body barely wrapped in what was left of her dress across the hood of her new car.

  “Mac,” she moaned as I began to create a rhythm between our bodies and the gracefully gliding suspension of the freshly waxed black sports car.

  “Jesus, God,” I groaned as I pulled her knees to my chest to reach deeper. Her gasp for air told me everything I needed to know as I buried myself deep inside her.

  Slowing my pace, I looked into her eyes to watch her.

  “Yes,” she whispered. “Yes,” she said again as she arched her back, allowing only her hips and head to touch the car.

  I felt her tighten as she answered my thrusting hips. I knew we would both give into it, leaving the last week behind us.

  “Yes!” she shouted as I quickened my pace, wanting to join her in that final glorious moment of rapture.

  “Oh God, Samantha,” I ground out through my teeth as our bodies collided in euphoria.

  Convulsing in spasm, I erupted as she pulled me by the shoulders into her body, panting with satisfaction.

  I moved into her over and over, unable to finish as everything I had inside came pouring out in fits of elation. The intensity made me dizzy. I was high on the white-hot eruption and my perfect union with Samantha.

  I fell into her body as we lay on top of the car. I smothered her small frame beneath me. “Can you breathe?” I huffed, still out of air. “I don’t want to crush you on top of your new car.”

  “Don’t leave me,” she whispered.

  “Never,” I promised as I kissed the top of her head and pulled away just enough to see her beautiful face.

  A single tear rolled down her cheek and I kissed it, catching the salt in my mouth. “Don’t cry, sweetheart. It’s all over now.”

  “It’s just beginning,” she smiled. “Our whole life is just beginning.”

  I lifted her body, picking her up o
ff the car by her perfect bottom and stood naked from the waist down as she wrapped her legs around my waist.

  I kissed her deeply, knowing I would never be satisfied. I adjusted her in my arms, never wanting to let her go.

  “We’d better get back before an agent sees the light back here and comes to investigate,” I smiled. “Can we continue this in the bedroom?”

  “More?” she laughed. “You want more?”

  “I’ll never have enough of you,” I promised as I sat her on the ground and picked up her panties, tucking them in my shirt pocket before pulling my pants up.

  “What are you going to do with those?” she asked as she buttoned up the front of her dress just enough for us to make the trip home.

  “I’m gonna hang them from the rearview mirror of my Aston Martin,” I laughed.

  “You mean your dad’s car? Pussy Galore?”

  “I mean my car. We are the Callahans. It’s time I started acting that way.”

  She shot me a sexy smile as I climbed behind the driver’s seat to drive us home.

  The engine roared to a start and I leaned in to kiss her sweet-smelling neck. “Besides, you’re the only Pussy Galore I’m ever gonna need.”

  36

  POLLY

  I was happy that Leo had decided to hang out for a few days. Especially since I was planning on leaving Shadeland after Mimi’s one-hundredth birthday party.

  Sam had begged me to stay in town and offered Mimi’s house as a place to live, but I knew my time with Samantha and Dax had come to a close.

  I’d been looking at Ph.D. programs across the country, and it would take some time to apply and get accepted. I didn’t even know where I wanted to go.

  “Cher,” Leo smiled as he joined me at a balloon-filled table. “What are you doing over here all alone, lost in thought?”

  “I don’t know,” I sighed. “Thinking about my next move, I suppose.”

  “And?”

  “Sam and Mac are leaving tomorrow for Paris. Miss Celia is now officially in charge of the children and it’s time for me to be on my way.”

  “Why?” he asked.

  “Because my work here is done. Sam is settled into her new life–”