Bring on the Rain (44 page)

Chapter 24

Max didn’t tell her much until they
were at the steak house. After they had eaten and were sitting
quiet beneath a whirling ceiling fan. He started telling her about
his day.

Madeline listened, sometimes asking a
quick question, but interested in how the Coburn’s treated him, how
Mitch explained his past, and if he explained his initial reaction
to the news.

When they arose, and went out to the
parking lot, Max told her about the offer to have
dinner.

“
I’ll come. Ask him what
time he thinks everyone will be back from the lake. I’d rather you
and he went there together. I want to finish up things for Brook.
She wants those thank you cards mailed out Monday. I need to run to
a couple of her friend’s houses and drop off some things they left
at the house.”

As they were driving home, the top
still off the jeep he asked, “Do you know how much Jason likes
you?”

“
Yes. He’s a case. I think
he must have been ornery as a boy.”

Max laughed. “He says he
was.”

When they were in the house again,
before they went to bed, he said, “I’m not pushing y’all
together.”

“
I know. I realize we all
have to start somewhere. We’re establishing a new relationship now.
I want to go.”

~*~

Madeline dropped off a half a dozen
things Brook had set aside as having been borrowed or left by her
friends. She visited with them, assuring them Brook intended to
write and send her address. Gee Gee had a laptop and they would
doubtless start getting e-mails from all over.

She sat on the porch and finished the
thank you cards, addressed others that Brook had gotten for people.
She put them in the mailbox at the end of the yard, raised the
flag, and showered.

She dressed in a plain square neck top
of light lavender, a skirt and comfortable slip-on sandals, blow
dried her hair, tucked it behind her ears. Put on light makeup. Max
had taken his car, so the Coburn's could check it out. He was
nervous about it, afraid they would have the thing taken apart to
see the inside of the engine.

At five P.M., she left the house and
drove to Copper Creek. Driving down the black top lanes with her
mind trying to remind her not to look at Mitch too long, or be
alone with him. The chemistry between them was always high. She did
not want to end up forgetting that.

She pulled into his drive, beside Max’s
car and Jason’s truck. Madeline noticed Mitch’s was parked at the
side yard. She walked up the steps, glancing up at the thump from
the porch. The three of them were there, standing now, watching her
arrive.

Madeline slid her sunglasses up and
kept going, until she was standing on the porch, looking at
them.

“
Madeline,” Mitch smiled and
greeted her. “You look nice.”

“
Thank you.” She eyed them
dryly. “Y’all look like you’ve been up to something.”

They all laughed. However, Max
explained, “We all ended up at the lake. Once the rest of them
found out he was going, someone brought water skies and a boat.
Mitch called Jason…”

Jason picked up, “I forgot about the
roast, we got to messing around…”

She crossed her arms. “You guys aren’t
going to feed me, are you?”

Mitch chuckled. “We are. It’s just that
the home-cooked meal I’d planned is shot to hell. We all got
cleaned up, Max to had borrow Jason’s clothes, and I had to get
Jude to run out to the store.”

“
So what are we having?” She
grinned, shaking her head at their wet hair and fresh shaved faces.
Now she noticed drying shoes on the banister, muddy shirts hanging
beside them and someone’s breeches torn all to pieces, lying on the
porch floor.

“
Tacos.” Mitch’s brow went
up hopefully.

“
I love tacos.” She
laughed.

“
Come on in.”

It was a buffet style, help yourself
meal, with sauce on the stove, the other stuff cut up on the bar,
and paper plates at the table. They sat down, relaxed and laughing,
drinking sodas, and wincing as Jason poured hot sauce to his. Max
gave up trying to keep his in the shell and ended up making a taco
salad.

Everyone cleaned up afterwards and
Madeline wiped the table, listening to the three of them talk,
joke, telling fibs on each other, apparently replaying who was the
best swimmer, the best on the water skis, and who fell off the dock
trying to push someone in.

It sounded like a wild day, a cut-lose
kind of thing.

After dinner, they sat on the porch,
drinking coffee. Madeline sat in the swing facing them. They sat in
rockers, with their feet propped on the banister.

Mitch was nearest to her. As at dinner,
she caught him looking at her often, as if he was trying to discern
how she was taking it all.

He murmured, under Jason and Max’s
conversation, “Sorry about dinner.”

“
I enjoyed it.”

“
Today was good. He fits in
well. I swear, they tried to kill him. You know how they can be. He
showed their asses up though.”

“
Sounds like you all had a
good time. Did I hear you mention Renee?”

“
Deena was bent because
Dovie left the house to Renee. They haven’t ever got along.
Apparently, Renee’s dad stepped in and took her side. I’d like to
feel sorry for Deena, but I can’t. She’s had the chances to
change.”

“
What will Renee
do?”

“
Right now, she’s cleaning
everyone’s houses. She has had a hit or miss education. She’s smart
though, hard working. Now Deena isn’t around for her to rebel
against. I think she’s going to start a cleaning business. She’s
talking about learning the old ways, maybe selling vegetables and
stuff on the side and canned homemade jams. She’s a case… Looks and
acts like a city slicker, but she’s fascinated by the stuff at the
farmhouse, the old farm equipment, and the quilts Dovie made. I
think somehow she’ll make it here.”

“
I hope she
does.”

Mitch was able to capture and hold her
gaze. “I'm sorry about the other day.”

“
It was understandable.” She
shook her head, feeling a tingle from the intensity of his light
eyes. He’d turned darker in the sun today. Mitch looked good, in
his old, soft, Levi’s and a short sleeve shirt half unbuttoned,
barefoot as yet.

“
Madeline?” Max drew her
attention.

“
I’m going down to
Jude’s.”

“
Oh, Max. Don’t.”

“
Hey, I’m having a talk with
Coy. I don't want him thinking he should sit around and wait for
Brook to come back. She and I talked about it. No matter what the
explanation, he ended this between them. He can’t expect she’s
going to show up and forgive him. We both know Brook probably won’t
come in for a year or so.”

“
Don't hit him.”

Max laughed. However, Jason said, “I’m
going with him.”

She watched them stand up, pull on
shoes, and talk about which car to take. “Don’t say more than Brook
would want you to, Max. As much as we are tempted to, we can’t
speak for her. The best thing is to simply make it clear she’s not
coming back anytime soon.”

“
I know.” He smiled at her.
“But I figure we’d better clear the air. I did punch
him.”

“
All right.”

“
Don’t leave until I come
back, will you? “

She looked at Mitch, then away, but
said, “All right, I’ll stick around.”

After they driven off down the road,
Mitch and Madeline talked a bit about Karla and that situation. She
told him she intended to stay friends with Jenna, she didn’t blame
Jenna for the things Karla had done. Jenna was going through a hard
time, and they were all hoping the law caught up with Tony
Singleton.

Evening was settling down, people were
heading off to Sunday night services. Madeline heard a horse
whinny, the bleat of sheep from up the road. Old Nipper was
barking, making rounds of all their properties, checking on the
animals.

There would probably be a rain shower
later tonight; the wind seemed to carry that smell.

The chains on the porch swing creaked
as she moved it slowly.

Mitch had been looking at her; not
hiding it now that Max and Jason were gone.

“
Can we do it right this
time, Madeline?”

Her brow rose.

“
Can we date and talk? Can
we spend time together?”

She swallowed.

Her struggle must have
showed.

“
Let it happen, Madeline,”
his voice was soft. “Please.” Mitch pulled his chair close, until
they were facing, knees touching. He leaned forward and laid one
hand on her thigh; the other was touching her cheek. In a deep,
quiet tone, his eyes burning into her, he murmured, “Let me in.
Trust me. I’ll go slow and easy.”

She was guilty of remembering those
words a few times during their first sexual encounters. She knew he
meant it another way, but given how much he turned her on, she was
breathing a little shallow and delicately, because they sounded
more intimate.

Mitch kissed her, malleable, open,
easy. He kept going, slanting his head, raising one hand to cup the
back of hers. The other hand slid to the side of her thigh. He
pulled her closer and closer.

Erotic hunger flared and sharpened
their senses. Madeline devoured the taste of his mouth, moaned over
the wonderful warm texture of it. His fingers spread on the back of
her head. He delved deep with his tongue.

Mitch reached then, sliding her
completely on his lap, facing him. Her legs were astride his, her
hands, touching him too. She had one on the side of his throat, one
under his nipple, with her thumb teasing the hard flesh. It didn’t
take much before they were opening their mouths more, raking their
teeth against each other’s lips, or capturing a tongue, and sucking
lightly. Starved, feverish, so damn hungry.

Madeline could feel him against her,
hot flesh straining, rubbing and seeking. She kissed his jaw, the
side of his throat. Mitch leaned back in the chair.

She had his shirt open, laving, biting
across his shoulder, reveling in the tang of sun kissed skin and
manly soap.

Breathing louder now as the sun was
setting. Mitch’s hands were all over her torso, grabbing her hips
and holding her against him.

Hers were skimming, kneading, running
through his hair. Her mouth, leaving love bites on the side of his
sinewy throat. They were making sexual sounds, lost in the
incredible fog.

Mitch whispered against her ear,
murmured husky pleasure, and couldn’t seem to get enough of her
touching and laving his throat. Madeline made little sighs every
time his hand kneaded her backside or slid between them to massage
her breast. She was arching in, he was spread legged, and Madeline
astride his zipper, where his hard flesh could feel her hot and
wet.

His eyes, feverish as hers, they stared
at each other. Breathing with a faint, choppy intensity, with lips
damp, lids half closed, and their bodies tight with sexual need.
Mitch slid his hand under her shirt, rubbed her breast, swallowing
a couple of times. Madeline touched his cheek with trembling
fingers, before trailing them across his lip.

He captured one and held the tip in his
teeth, flicking his tongue over it. Madeline felt it between her
legs, to the tips of her breasts.

She lowered her hand to his shoulder.
Her back arching to accommodate him after his fingers pulled down
the flimsy bra cup. They kissed again, airy, a touch of tongues,
barely. They fanned each other’s lips with scalding, fluid
breathing; bodies were undulating, and simulating sex.

His hands were on her hips, Madeline’s
on the chair back. His feet were braced on the porch floor, his
head back, hers bent to catch light passing of lips, a flat lave of
tongue.

The rockers moved accommodating their
cadence.

A hot whisper escaped him,
“Madeline…baby…you’re so damn sexy.”

She moaned and ground against his
elongated sex, only the thin worn denim barely covering it. “I
ache…”

“
I know— me too.”

They kissed, and moved and moaned.
Madeline was in a cloud of desire.

~*~

To the two men who reached the top step
it looked like they were having sex. It sounded like they were
having sex. Max and Jason looked at each other, and hastily, both
turned, going two steps down.

Jason whispered, “Should we make a lot
of noise and interrupt?”

“
What’s the protocol for
catching your parents making out?”

“
Hell if I know, other than
having me, I doubt Dad and Ronda ever did.”

“
My adoptive parents had a
separate wing.”