Getting to Me

Chapter Thirty

The next morning when the two of them woke up, Mandy couldn’t deny that she was just a little more than sore between her legs. It was a good kind of pain to her, though. She knew that she didn’t regret making love with Zacky. And that was exactly what it had been to her—making love. It hadn’t been just sex. There was emotion in the way her boyfriend had touched her, the way he had kissed her. She could feel it through the way his fingertips burned against her skin that he loved her. She shifted slightly to look up at his face when she heard him emit a loud groan, and she couldn’t help but giggle when she saw a small trace of saliva forming into a small puddle on the corner of his mouth. She reached up and wiped it away before cleaning her hand on the sheets, taking a few moments to watch as he slept peacefully beside her.

It hardly seemed possible that she had reached this point with Zacky. When she had first met him, she had thought he was mildly attractive, but very off limits. She had told herself that he was only her brother’s friend, and that as such, she couldn’t have anything to do with him romantically. It just wasn’t right, and besides, it normally didn’t work out. That was what she had told herself, and she was so glad she’d thrown caution to the wind and decided to give him a chance.

She knew that he had been just as wary as she was about getting involved with her. In fact, she wouldn’t be surprised if he told her he’d been even more worried than she had been. He hadn’t just been dating any girl; he had been dating his best friend’s younger sister. And no brother liked his friends to date his sister. She didn’t understand it, but she knew it was pretty universal in the book of ‘man code’ that friends didn’t date friends’ sisters. She was just glad that Zacky hadn’t listened to that universal code.

“What are you looking at?” Zacky’s voice startled her, causing her to blink and look up at him again, this time with a sheepish smile and a red-tinted face. He smirked when he saw that he had caught her staring at him, and he pushed some stray strands of her hair out of her eyes before he leaned over to brush his lips over hers. He didn’t care that they both had morning breath. When you loved someone, you ignored those things.

“You,” she admitted quietly, her cheeks turning a darker shade of red as she cleared her throat. “You were drooling in your sleep. I thought it was cute,” she murmured softly. Zacky gave her a strange look and then chuckled before shaking his head, bringing his hand up to prop his head up so that he was better able to look down at her.

“If one of us is cute, it’s you,” he muttered, bringing his hand up to the side of her face, letting it rest there for a few moments. Mandy brought her hand up to touch his and she felt her heart skip a beat as she did so. This was what love felt like, she just knew it. There was no denying the attraction, chemistry, and emotion that seemed to exist between the two of them.

Neither of them wanted to ruin the moment by speaking, so instead, they just filled the silence by kissing one another again. Zacky couldn’t get enough of her, and Mandy was eager to give him whatever he wanted when it came to her affection. He shifted their bodies so that Mandy was straddling his hips, and he reached his hands to hold her lower back as she bent over so that her lips were grazing across his. He loved the way she would let him take full control of the kiss, as if she was still naïve at kissing and needed him to show her the ropes. He groaned when she moved her mouth away from his, instead leaning her forehead against his as her hands came up to the sides of his face.

“I love you,” she whispered, keeping her eyes focused on his green ones. Zacky looked back up at her, and he knew that she was telling the truth. He always knew she was telling the truth when it came to her feelings. Mandy Haner wasn’t a woman who lied about how she felt. She’d tell it to you the way it was, and he loved that about her. In fact, Zacky didn’t think he’d be going too far to say that he loved everything about her. He knew that a fight was inevitable. They would argue at some point, just like they had a few days before. And he had no doubts that words would be minced that both of them would later regret. But he also knew that, after the dust had settled and their tempers had cooled down afterwards, they would come back to one another and apologize. And that, to Zacky, was what told him this was true love.

Before Mandy, he’d never seen himself falling in love with one woman. He’d always been somewhat of a player in Fargo. He’d never been outright rude, and if a girl called him back for another date, he wouldn’t turn it down. But he’d never been the type of guy to allow himself to be tied down. Before Mandy, he hadn’t felt the need to have one girl. And there was no amount of words that could say how thankful he was that she had come into his life.

“I love you too,” he murmured against her mouth before jumping when his cell phone went off on the nightstand. It was loud in contrast to the sharp silence of the winter morning, and it had startled him more than he would have liked to admit. Mandy giggled and shifted off of his body so that he could answer the phone, and then stood up to start pulling on some clothes. Just because she’d had an amazing time with Zacky last night didn’t mean that the chores didn’t need attending to today, and she and Zacky would both need to work together to get things done.

She heard him mumbling a few things into the phone and then turned around to see a dubious look on his face, but he finally ended the conversation by saying that they’d try, and call back when they knew for sure what was going to happen. She had no idea who he was talking to, or what it was about, but she didn’t ask. She turned back to the closet to continue getting dressed, and then smiled when she heard Zacky get out of the bed as well so that he could get dressed.

“Who was on the phone, baby?” She asked him, turning around to face him as she buttoned her jeans, pulling up the zipper before she crossed her arms over her chest, watching as he reached onto the floor to find a pair of clean jeans. He looked up at her and then chuckled before shaking his head.

“Michelle went into labor last night,” he told her before a huge grin formed on his face. “It turns out that you have a new little nephew or niece, but Brian isn’t telling me which. He wants us to try to get to Fargo, if it’s possible.

Mandy let out an excited squeal, and then jumped up happily. She hadn’t known Michelle for long, and at first, she had even been a little dubious that the woman wouldn’t be good enough for her older brother. But her instincts had been proven wrong, and Michelle had proven herself to be just the woman Brian needed to tie him down to reality and pull his head out of the clouds.

“Do Mom and Dad know?” She asked him, reaching into the closet to pull out a sweater to put on over the shirt she was wearing. Zack nodded, and then leaned against the doorway before letting out a loud yawn.

“He said they were called last night, and that they tried calling us, but we didn’t answer the phone. I didn’t bother filling him in on why,” he chuckled before meeting her gaze. Mandy’s face heated as she looked down at the floor, memories from the night before flashing through her mind. She felt a surge of heat forming in the pit of her stomach again, but she ignored it. There was too much to get done right now and today to worry about having another rendezvous in between the sheets with Zacky.

“Well, I don’t know if we’re going to be able to get off the farm. I think the plows were here earlier this morning and cleared off the main road, so if we can get the Suburban to that, we can probably make it to the highway. But we’ve got to make sure the horses get fed. Cheyenne will have to go over to Mom and Dad’s place, too.”

Zacky nodded, and then the two of them made their way out to the kitchen to start the day. Mandy was excited about getting to Fargo, if she could, because she wanted to meet her new little niece or nephew. She knew that her parents had probably already left this morning with McKenna, and that someone had probably already been called to tend to the horses. She knew that she could call a friend of hers to make sure her own horses got fed, and hopefully, she and Zacky would be able to get on the road within two or three hours.
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I’ve got some new stories starting this week. The first one is a co-write with my friend Whitney, and it’s called Between Truth And Lies. It’s a Zacky story, and we’re both stoked about it, so if you’d like to check it out, we’d appreciate it. Also, I’m starting my first full-length Johnny story. It’s called Take Me Away.