landed on his shoulder. She leaned down and dropped a kiss onto his forehead.
“Thank you for a great time.”
He watched in tense silence as she disappeared through the door.
“Mackenzie. Wait.”
She was waiting for him in the darkness of the hallway. He could smell the vanilla sweetness of her and the urge to pull her into his arms was almost undeniable.
He resisted it, leading her silently to the front door. She rested a hand on the door frame for balance as she slipped on her boots, Strudel sniffing around her ankles with interest.
“Will you be okay getting home?” he asked awkwardly as she straightened.
She laughed. “Yeah, I think so. Good night, Oliver.”
She made her way down the stairs, then she was swallowed by the darkness of the night. He listened to the crunch of gravel beneath her boots and didn’t shut the door until he heard hers close.
Strudel was already waiting on the bed when he returned to the room. He pulled off his jeans and slipped between sheets that smelled of Mackenzie and sex. He rested a hand on Strudel’s soft head and closed his eyes and told himself that everything would look clearer in the morning.
With a bit of luck.
* * *
MR. SMITH WAS WAITING by the door when Mackenzie let herself in. She gave him a small smile and waited patiently while he did his happy dance, giving him a reassuring pat. He trotted after her as she walked to the kitchen to put out some food for him. She propped her hip against the counter as she watched him eat, trying not to think about the scene she’d walked away from next door.
Oliver, sitting in the dark at his kitchen table, head in his hands, shoulders hunched.
It had taken every ounce of pride she possessed to make a gracious exit from his house. And then some.
Thank God he hadn’t been beside her when she woke up. She’d been so warm and sated and pleased with herself, there was no telling what she might have said.
That he was a wonderful lover, powerful and intuitive and generous.
That he made her feel beautiful and sexy and happy and wild.
That his easy, casual acceptance of her flawed body had felt like a benediction and the most precious gift she’d ever received.
Thank God, also, that she’d chosen to dress before she went looking for him. The thought of having to pull on her clothes after that chat in the kitchen made her toes curl in her shoes.
Mr. Smith gave his bowl one last, snuffling lick before sitting on his haunches and looking up at her.
“Outside, little guy?” she asked, crossing to the French doors to let him out.
No lights were on next door and she guessed Oliver had gone to bed. Now that the coast was clear.
Don’t. Don’t do it to yourself. You knew going in what it was. Like you said to him, you knew it wasn’t forever. It was just sex. It doesn’t matter how he reacted afterward. You’re not in a relationship. It’s nothing to do with you.
Except it was. Of course it was. It was everything to do with her. Something had happened when they were skin to skin. Something intense. At least, it had been intense for her. Intense and tender and funny and hot and mind-blowing, all at once.
Not what she’d expected, by a long shot. Not what she’d been looking for, either. But it had happened. For her, anyway.
Oliver, apparently, had had a very different experience. The kind that induced a man to retreat to the coldest, darkest room in the house and put his head in his hands.
Mr. Smith bounded up the deck steps and trotted into the house. She locked up and made her way to her bedroom. She stared at her bed, thinking of that other bed next door, the one where Oliver had made her come twice and then held her so lovingly afterward. He’d even kissed the nape of her neck before she’d drifted into sleep. She hadn’t imagined that.
I don’t know that I’m a great bet at the moment.
Oliver’s words came to her, along with the troubled, guilty, confused expression in his eyes. Some of her regret and hurt drained away as she saw past her own feelings and put herself in his shoes. Oliver was such a good guy, so rational and laid-back, it was easy to forget that a mere handful of months ago his life had been turned inside out by the one person he should