Secrets of Ugly Creek Read online

  “It worked. She seems to have irritated you, but she made me furious.”

  “Yeah, I was more than irritated too.”

  He smiled and took my hand in his. “Forget her. Let’s just enjoy the rest of the day.”

  When the car pulled up in front of the B&B where he was staying I was surprised, but he winked and told me to stay in the car. Before I could wonder too much about what he might be going after, he was back, laptop in hand. I felt like smacking myself in the forehead. The photo memory card. Duh! Get your mind out of the gutter, Madison.

  Mac pulled out and soon we were on the Interstate headed toward privacy. As he drove, he made a couple of quick phone calls, cancelling the afternoon shoot. When he was finished, he took my hand in his, and my heart quickened in hopeful anticipation.

  The drive toward Knoxville would have been relaxing, if the man next to me weren’t stirring my hormonal flames. I was amazed what being two feet from Mac could do to me. He was certainly sexy. It was more than physical, though. I realized now that I couldn’t have been more wrong about the man beside me. A reporter was never supposed to make assumptions, but I’d made a big one. I’d tried and convicted Mac with nothing more than what I’d learned about in the news. Some reporter I was.

  Unless there was a reason for my belief he was a bad guy. Maybe I didn’t want to admit any reporter could be caught up in a scandal. Was it possible what happened to him spooked me more than I’d like to admit? He squeezed my hand with his, and I let go of the questions. I was determined to enjoy my time with him. With our busy lives, this might be the only chance we’d have.

  When we reached the outskirts of Knoxville and the traffic got heavier, he let go of my hand and focused on the driving. Soon we arrived at our destination.

  I gotta hand it to Mac, he had good taste in hotels. The one he pulled up in front of was seriously nice without being over the top. Together we walked into the lobby, and he registered. The staff must have realized what a couple without luggage was likely there for, but they were too professional to let on. We took the elevator to the third floor, and Mac used the key card to open the door to room three-twenty-four.

  It felt funny, being in the room alone with him. I would have sworn we knew each other pretty well, until we were shut away from the world and it was only the two of us. For once in my life, I had nothing to say. Actually, I was feeling rather shy.

  He either didn’t share the feeling or chose to ignore it and booted up his laptop. My curiosity quickly overcame the strangeness of being alone with Mac. He was still the same person, after all. I pulled up another chair and sat beside him at the table designed to double as a desk.

  His hands moved quickly over the keys, and soon we were staring at several photos of the two of us making out in the woods. I gotta admit, in spite of my anger at Dani, seeing the pictures had me breathing a little faster. Clearly, I’d been focusing way too hard on my career to the detriment of my dating life.

  Then again, the only man I wanted in my life right now was the one sitting beside me at the hotel room desk. I glanced toward him, and he looked back. His eyes were dark behind his glasses and I heard him take a long, slow breath.

  “You don’t always wear your glasses,” I said, then wondered where that had come from.

  “I don’t like wearing them in front of the camera, but I hate my contacts.” He shrugged, still watching me. He licked his lips, and I almost grabbed him. Getting hold of myself, I turned my attention back to the computer screen, and he followed suit.

  He deleted the pics of us and scrolled through the rest of the shots on the card. Oddly, there were quite a few of Dani herself. I have to say, the insight into my high school rival’s personality both amused and unnerved me. There she was, making faces at the camera like a thirteen year old. There were also photos of Mac, in the distance, and closer. Lots of photos of Mac. Then there were the really unnerving shots, of Dani in various states of dress.

  “She must think she’s hot stuff,” I croaked.

  Mac only closed the file and began shutting down the computer. “I did steal the card from her. Maybe she made those pics for her boyfriend.”

  “Or you.”

  He met my gaze. “She needn’t bother. The only woman I want to see naked is right here with me.”

  I gulped. A full-on, wide-eyed gulp. So much for the sophisticated woman who’d lived in the nation’s capital for almost five years.

  He chuckled, the man actually chuckled. Then he pulled me out of the chair, held me tight, and kissed me long and thoroughly. I melted against him, and his strong arms held me snugly.

  He pulled back a little and looked into my eyes. “Relax, Maddie.”

  “Impossible,” I gasped, and pulled him back.

  He kissed me deeply and well while his strong, warm hands stroked my back and buttocks into a state that was a microsecond away from ecstasy. He pulled back enough to speak. “We can stop if—”

  I stopped him with a finger to his lips. “Shut up and make love to me.”

  There was no hesitation as he pulled me against his hard body. I held on tight as my legs melted under me.

  Then we were on the bed. Mac leaned over me and slid his hand over my body. Tingles followed his touch, and I felt my breath and heartbeat go into overdrive. His hand slid under my top and I almost went over the edge. Chuckling, he unfastened my front-hook, lacy, pink, Victoria’s Secret bra and lowered his mouth to my nipple. I nearly came off the bed.

  Deciding this one-sided play had gone far enough, I reached for Mac’s belt buckle. I fumbled a bit, but then I got his pants unfastened and slipped my hand inside to feel his warm, hard erection.

  Mac gasped, then jerked my pants off my body. My panties were right behind my pants, and he was pulling at my top.

  Once my clothes were off, he stood and pulled off his shirt. Meanwhile, I jerked his pants down and was pretending a particularly nice part of him was ice cream and I wanted it before it melted. “Stop, Maddie,” he gasped. “I want this to be a mutual experience.”

  He managed to pull on a condom, then slid between my waiting legs.

  ****

  The sound of my cell phone pulled me out of an extraordinarily relaxing sleep. My mom. Oh boy! I felt like a teenager who’d just been caught making out on the sofa. “Mom, is something wrong?”

  “That’s what I was wondering,” she said. “I know you’re a big girl and all, but it’s after midnight and you haven’t called.”

  “I’m fine, Mom. I’m sorry. I didn’t realize it was that late.”

  “No problem, sweetheart, I just wanted to check in. Tell Mac hello for me.”

  She hung up, and I clicked off the phone and stared at it.

  “Something wrong?” Mac asked from beside me.

  “My mom says hi,” I told him, while contemplating a single line of light reaching across the dark ceiling.

  He grinned. “I like your mom.”

  I groaned and Mac chuckled.

  “I should have called her. I’m sure she was worried.”

  He brushed a lock of hair off my face. “You’re a big girl.”

  “True, but I’m staying at her house. I should be considerate enough to let her know when I’m going to be this late.” I swiped at my eyes. “I don’t want to cause her anymore worry.”

  “More? What, were you a wild child or something?”

  I shook my head. “Not really.”

  He hooked a finger under my chin and turned my head to face him. “What’s wrong, Maddie?”

  The warmth in Mac’s eyes had me wanting to tell him everything. I couldn’t trust him, though. Could I? “Nothing,” I managed.

  He put one hand against my face, while he looked deep into my soul. “I’m asking as a friend, not a journalist.”

  At that moment, I believed him. Maybe I was making a serious mistake, but I sorely needed to get a few things out of my system. “I left them. I just walked away.” Tears threatened and I swiped at my eyes.r />
  “Left who?”

  I swallowed hard. He wouldn’t understand unless I started at the beginning. “My father was a wonderful man. The whole town loved him. It almost killed me when he—” I had to take a moment to shove back the emotion that threatened to overwhelm me.

  “What happened?”

  “There was a fire. At our senior prom. Daddy was a volunteer fireman.” My chest was tight, and I couldn’t breathe. Maybe I was having a heart attack.

  “He was there, at the prom?”

  I managed to nod. “He came rushing in to save people. He saved Kristy and Mark and Jake.” Tears filled my eyes and ran down my cheeks. “I ran outside. Other kids helped get people out. Steve made sure Liza got out. But not me. Daddy died in that fire, and I ran outside and stood there while it happened.”

  “Your dad wouldn’t have wanted you to put yourself in danger.”

  I looked into Mac’s eyes and told him the rest of the ugly story. “Jake was my date that night. He’d gone to get us some punch when the fire broke out. I saw Steve go get Liza and get her out, I saw other kids grab their dates. I saw teachers working hard to get people out. I knew I should see if Jake was all right, but all I thought of was getting outside.”

  “You were just a kid. You said the teachers were getting people outside. You were just doing what you were supposed to.”

  “Daddy pulled Jake from under a beam that fell on his legs. Jake’s legs were crushed, and he was burned.” Tears ran from my eyes, and I swiped at my face.

  “So you couldn’t have gotten him out anyway.”

  “But I didn’t even try.” The tightness and pain in my chest should have worried me, but I figured I deserved the heart attack or whatever.

  “All these years you’ve held all that guilt inside you.” Mac wiped at my tears with the tips of his fingers.

  I looked into his eyes and saw compassion, but I didn’t deserve that. “My dad saved my friend. Daddy made sure Jake was safe, then he went back inside to save somebody else. I was safe outside for all that time, and I was still outside when my dad died.”

  “Maddie,” Mac tried to pull me into his arms, and I wanted badly to lean into him, but I had to finish what I started. “As soon as I graduated high school I headed off to college. I left my mom alone to deal with Daddy’s death. Jake was still in the burn unit when I left—he hated me for that for a long time. I ran because I thought I couldn’t handle things, but so many people didn’t have that choice.” With that, all my energy ran out, and I let Mac hold me while I cried for the lost opportunities.

  When I finally got myself together and looked at him, he was looking at me with compassion. “Feel better?”

  I nodded. “Thanks.”

  “I do have one important question.”

  I looked at Mac, worry rapidly expanding in my chest. “What?”

  “This Jake dude, obviously he’s important to you.” Mac studied the wall for a moment and when he looked at me again, I saw worry in his eyes. “What kind of relationship did you, do you, have?”

  “I grew up with him. Jake, Liza, and I lived on the same block. We were almost like triplets.”

  “Triplets?”

  I couldn’t help but smile at his worried expression. “He’s like a brother to me. In fact, Jake and another good friend of mine, Stephie, are on their honeymoon as we speak.”

  He let out an actual sigh of relief. “Good to know.”

  “I need to get myself together,” I told him, and headed for the bathroom. Yeah, I enjoyed feeling his eyes on my naked body as I went. As soon as I blew my nose and cleaned off the running mascara, I headed back to bed. “Miss me?”

  “No.”

  I smacked his shoulder, and he retaliated by tickling me. Then he kissed me and heat flared. We didn’t get much sleep, but we had a very interesting time.

  The next morning we showered, ate a quick breakfast, and headed back toward real life. Sigh.

  ****

  I rushed home, changed, did my makeup, apologized to Mom, and headed out to watch the filming.

  The morning passed without incident, as I sat wondering if everybody around me could tell what Mac and I had done. He smiled in my direction several times, but the shoot was fraught with minor problems. There were issues with one of the two cameras, then something went wonky with the sound equipment. Mac sent Kate out to bring back lunch, shooting me a “sorry” expression as he did. I slipped out to grab a burger for myself, then settled back in my folding seat to eat it.

  The afternoon was quiet. No rocks, explosions, or firecrackers interrupted the pleasant flow of taping, discussion, set-up, taping. Mac’s crew worked together with a calm camaraderie that was nothing like the Capitol Spy Weekly brand of strained courtesy with an edge of never-ending competition.

  I was contemplating how nice it would be to work without the cutthroat atmosphere of a large paper in our nation’s capital, when I caught a glimpse of shimmer that had to be a faery wing. Dang it all. What was the issue with all these folks? I tried hard not to let on how closely I was watching the edge of the woods. Nothing else appeared, and I finally relaxed again.

  By the time the sun was low on the horizon and Mac called an end to the shooting, I could see the lines of fatigue around his eyes. I knew he needed rest, but I still secretly hoped for a dinner invitation. None was forthcoming, so I headed back to my mom’s house.

  The car in the driveway had me grinning with anticipation, and I headed through the door and into the living room where my friend was waiting. “Liza, good to see you.” I pulled her into my arms for a quick hug.

  She squeezed me back, then pulled away with a laugh. “You realize you saw me yesterday.”

  “Yep, but I don’t get to see you very much anymore. I miss you. A big problem with DC is its unfortunate lack of friends.”

  “You do have friends there, right?” Liza’s forehead was drawn into a frown.

  I sighed as we sat on the couch. “More like acquaintances. There’s too much backstabbing for my co-workers and me to get close, and I don’t have a lot of extra time to socialize. Since Stephie left I’ve been pretty much alone.”

  “That’s sad.”

  I nodded. “Besides, there’s nothing like being with a person who once drew a cat on your forehead in it-won’t-come-off-till-it wears-off purple marker.”

  The familiarity of her high-pitched laugh wrapped over me like a familiar blanket. “You drew a pig on my cheek, or at least you said it was a pig.”

  “It was.”

  “Except it looked like a tree.”

  “At least Jake didn’t draw a spider on your arm.”

  She shuddered. “Too bad the only one of us with drawing talent was a boy.”

  I giggled. “A boy who like to draw spiders and snails.”

  “And snakes!” She exclaimed.

  “Even with the trouble we got into, I’m glad Mom caught us before he put a cobra on your forehead.”

  “Just call me Cleopatra.” Liza did an Egyptian hand thingy.

  We laughed again for a time. When we settled down, Liza wiped at her eyes. “We had a great time as kids.”

  “Yes, we did.”

  “So how about tonight we have some adult fun?”

  Intrigued, I narrowed my eyes. “What about Steve?”

  “Working late.”

  Excitement was twirling in my stomach. “What did you have in mind?”

  “Jo’s Place.”

  Well, that explained why she was wearing a black pencil skirt and that seriously cute sapphire blouse that did great things with her coloring. “Sounds great, but I don’t know if I brought anything appropriate to wear.”

  “Let’s go find out.”

  We headed up the stairs to my room.

  Chapter 12

  An hour later, we were sitting at a small round table in one of Ugly Creek’s institutions. Jo’s Place, named for its owner Josephine Browning, had been around for as long as most people could remember. The dé
cor had gone through some changes through the years, from disco to ultra-modern, to the current rustic warm. Jo, though, always looked the same. Jeans and a black T-shirt, long gray ponytail, and a laugh that could lighten the heaviest heart in the place.

  It felt so good, sipping piña coladas and laughing about the days when we had tried, and failed, to talk our way in for an underage drink—or just a peek into the adult world. “I needed this,” I told Liza.

  “Me too,” she admitted.

  I leaned closer. “You know I’m a little jealous. You and Steve have a great relationship. Stephie and Jake had a wild, crazy romance and got married. Yet, here I am, single and alone.”

  “You do know marriage is hard work? For instance, Steve can be a real pain in the tokus.”

  “But you wouldn’t give him up for anything.”

  Liza grinned. “Not a chance in hell.” Her expression became more serious. “Steve’s a good guy. He drives me crazy sometimes, but he is a man, after all.”

  “You’re lucky.”

  “I know.” She touched my hand. “You’ll find the right guy. Just hang in there.”

  I nodded, the voices inside of me arguing both that I would never find the right man—and that just maybe I already had. I was on the verge of asking Liza how, given that they all drive you crazy, you know who the right man is, when a familiar voice sent a tingle of exasperation up my spine.

  “Maddie, imagine running into you here.” Greg smiled brightly.

  “What are you doing here?” Yeah, kinda bitchy, but hey, girls night out here.

  “Looking for entertainment. There’s not a lot to do in this village.”

  Clearly he didn’t recognize bitchy when he heard it.

  He held out his hand to Liza. “Hi, I’m Greg.”

  “Liza,” she said, giving his hand a tiny shake before turning her attention back toward me.

  Greg kept his gaze on her. “You live here?”

  “Yes.” She met his gaze with her hard one. “I do.”