Chapter Thirty-Seven

Mac woke up alone. He glanced at the clock and saw it was nearly 9:00 a.m. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d slept so late. He wondered why Grace hadn’t woken him when she got up.

He got up and threw on a T-shirt and boxers as he hadn’t bothered to put anything on after fucking his sexy wife in their incredibly comfortable new bed last night.

He thought he’d find her in the library, but when he looked, she wasn’t there. He sent her a quick text.

Hey, where are you?

Her answer came back immediately.

I’m in the breakfast room. I let you sleep in since it’s Saturday. You were so tired, baby.

Mac headed down to join his wife to find her sitting in a sheer royal blue nightgown.

“You look delicious, darling, but I think you might want a robe. Some of the staff might be uncomfortable seeing more of your exquisite body than they should,” Mac said, wiggling his eyebrows.

“I told the staff not to come in until noon today. I said they’d still be paid for the time but that we had some things to take care of this morning,” Grace said before taking another sip of her tea.

Mac frowned. “What do we need to take care of?”

Grace rose from the table and took Mac by the hand. “Follow me. I’ll show you.”

She led him into the kitchen and boosted herself up onto the gigantic quartz-topped island in the middle of the kitchen. She lifted the nightgown over her head and spread her legs.

Mac’s arousal was quite evident as his raging hard-on pressed against his boxers.

“Take those off before you rip them open with that big, hard cock,” Grace mused. “Then taste me before I die of need!”

Mac wasted no time removing his boxers and his T-shirt. He took a leg in each hand and opened her wider to reveal her glistening pink folds. He planted sensual, wet kisses slowly from her ankles to her inner thighs before finally teasing her silky-smooth mound with his tongue.

“Oh, fuck, Mac! I need…”

But she couldn’t find words to finish her sentence once his tongue worked its way around her juicy pussy until it found the prize. He flicked her hard little nub and slid a finger inside her, eliciting sighs and moans.

Grace arched her back as Mac nibbled and sucked her to the first orgasm of the morning.

“Holy fuck!” she cried out.

Mac grinned. “You’re a fucking genius for delaying the staff’s start time today. Flip over on your hands and knees with your ass in the air, baby. I’ve got an idea.”

Mac grabbed a slotted spatula from the utensil collection and said, “You’re a naughty little slut, and you need a good spanking.”

Grace feigned a protest but made no attempt to move. Her ass was practically begging for attention.

Spank! Spank! Spank!

“Yes! Yes! Yes!”

Clearly, his hot little wife was enjoying herself, which made his dick throb.

Spank! Spank! Spank!

Mac noticed her juices starting to drip while he swatted her creamy white ass until it was a bright pink hue. The slots created stripes on her ass cheeks that looked erotic as fuck!

His shaft was like a heat-seeking missile as he climbed up on the island and kneeled behind her. He took two fingerfuls of her nectar and coated his rod before slipping it inside her. He grabbed her hips and moved inside her with firm, deliberate thrusts.

“Your pussy is so fucking tight and wet!” Mac yelled, loving that there was no reason to be quiet. “It feels so good to pump into you, giving you all of my cock.”

“Oh, God, yes! Fuck me harder, faster, deeper!”

Mac picked up the pace until he was thrusting like a jackhammer into her.

“I’m fucking you hard, baby! And I’m gonna fucking explode inside you!”

He felt her body tense while his balls tightened. Then their bodies enjoyed simultaneous release as they screamed out each other’s names.

Moments later, as he held her on the countertop, Mac whispered into Grace’s ear, “You are the most amazing wife in the universe.”

Grace giggled, “It was fabulous for me too!”

“We should make this a regular thing.”

“Fucking on the kitchen island?” Grace asked.

“Nope, late-start Saturdays. That way, we can fuck anywhere we want in the house, including the kitchen, and be as noisy as we please!”

Just then, they heard the lower-level entry door open. With panicked looks on their faces, Mac scooped up his naked wife and made a beeline to the elevator. Just as the doors closed, he caught a glimpse of Suzanna coming up the stairs from the lower level.

“I guess Suzanna didn’t get the memo,” Mac said, annoyed that their kitchen fun had been cut short.

“I sent everyone a reminder this morning. What the hell?” Grace was more than annoyed; she was pissed. “There is something off about her, Mac.”

The lift doors opened on the sixth floor. “What do you mean?” he asked as he followed her into the bathroom.

“She acts so jittery around me, and she watches me like a hawk. I find her in the oddest places, and she stutters when I ask her what she needs.”

“Do you think she’s stealing from us?” Mac asked, frowning.

“No, nothing is ever out of place. It’s just odd. She isn’t rude, but she isn’t friendly either. I just can’t put my finger on it.”

“Alice hired her while we were in Europe. So, we haven’t had time to develop a rapport with her yet.”

“Mac, when was the last time Marcus was here?”

“Hell, maybe a year ago, why?”

Grace tilted her head. “Didn’t Bentley say that the former housekeeper quit because she was uncomfortable with how handsy Marcus was?”

“Yeah, so?”

“Well, why would she have waited several months after his last visit to quit? And why wouldn’t she have contacted you directly?”

“I just assumed she waited until we were in Europe because it made her feel awkward to confront me about my father’s, I mean Marcus’s, inappropriate behavior.”

“Was she pretty?” Grace asked.

“Who?” he asked back, looking confused.

“The former housekeeper, was she pretty?”

“Oh, well, yeah,” Mac said, blushing. “She was very attractive if you go for blondes. I happen to prefer redheads.”

“Mac, it’s okay if you thought she was pretty. What was her name?”

“Sophia.”

“A pretty blonde with a sensual name, I’ll bet Alice got rid of her while you were gone because she would see her as competition.”

“She wouldn’t…” Mac stopped and sighed. “Okay, maybe she would. But Suzanna is attractive and blonde.”

Grace rolled her eyes. “Please, Suzanna is the poster girl for wholesome girl next door types. Alice wouldn’t see her as a threat.”

“You’re right, maybe not. But how does that explain her seeming off to you?”

“You haven’t noticed it?”

“No, but then again, I haven’t interacted with her much,” Mac said, shrugging. “Wait a minute. Now that I think of it, I found her in the walk-in closet of the Front Terrace Bedroom last week. When I asked her what she was doing there, she said she was looking for more hangers for the laundry. It seemed logical, so I didn’t give it another thought.”

“Well, should we shower and get dressed, then go have a chat with her before the others get here?” Grace asked.

“Sounds like a plan.”

Chapter Thirty-Eight

It was 10:00 a.m. when Mac walked into the kitchen to make tea for himself and Grace and found Suzanna huddled in the pantry texting furiously on her smartphone.

“Suzanna, why are you here before noon?” Mac asked pointedly.

She nearly jumped out of her skin. “Oh! Um, well, I, um…”

Suzanna stood frozen, eyes wide like a deer in the headlights, unable to finish her sentence. She realized she was still holding her phone out in front of her and quickly tucked it in her pocket.

Mac stared at her, waiting for an answer.

Suzanna swallowed hard and said, “I didn’t get the text.”

Grace entered the kitchen as smoothly as a lioness, moving slowly, deliberately until she stood uncomfortably close to Suzanna.

“Then how did you know I sent the message via text?” Grace asked. “And why does my phone indicate that you not only received the message but read it as well?”

Suzanna’s face became pinched, and then big, fat tears rolled down her cheeks. “I’m sorry. I told her I couldn’t do this anymore!”

She crumpled into the chair that Mac grabbed quickly from the breakfast room when he saw her going down. Then she sobbed uncontrollably while Mac and Grace stared at each other, wondering what the hell was going on.

Eventually, the tears subsided as Grace handed Suzanna a glass of water.

“Why don’t we all sit down,” Mac suggested. “Who and what are you talking about?”

They went into the breakfast room and sat at the round slate-gray table. The open curtains let the sunlight peer in through the large atrium windows and wash across the room, creating what should have been a cheery scene. But the misery on Suzanna’s face was evident and stirred pity in Grace’s heart. However, she suspected that someone might be Alice.

“How about I tell you what I believe is going on, and you can confirm or deny my speculation?” Grace asked coolly. She didn’t want to make the woman cry again, but she did want to make it clear she expected honest answers.

Mac sat back and watched his wife in action. There was something arousing about the way she took charge, but somehow still managed to have empathy.

“But I need you to look at me when I am speaking to you, Suzanna,” Grace instructed.

Suzanna looked up, her eyes red and swollen from crying, and gave Grace her attention.

“Now, I suspect that you were hired for the position of our housekeeper by Alice because she had prior knowledge of you, yes?”

Suzanna nodded.

“Are you and Alice acquaintances or friends?” Grace asked.

Suzanna bit her bottom lip and looked over at Mac. Then she looked back at Grace and said, “We’re friends. We’ve known each other since elementary school.”

Mac inhaled sharply. Damned if Grace wasn’t right again!

“Did she fire Sophia so that she could hire you?”

Another nod.

“And did Alice tell you that you needed to spy on us?”

“Only on you,” Suzanna blurted out, then she clapped her hands over her mouth as if she’d let the cat out of the bag.

“Continue, please,” Grace said wryly. “What specifically was Alice trying to find out by having you spy on me?”

Suzanna’s face scrunched up again as she tried not to cry again. “She said she needed me to find something about you that Mr. Stewart would disapprove of so that she could make him see that he’d made a terrible mistake choosing you over her.”

“I see. And what have you told Alice so far?” Grace asked, annoyed.

“I told her that you were wonderful,” Suzanna said, surprising both Mac and Grace. “I did mention that you liked to have noisy sex in odd places around the house, like on the dining room table. But I also told her that you were kind and fair and that I didn’t want to keep spying because you and Mr. Stewart seem to be well-suited for each other.”

“And how did Alice respond?”

“She told me that I needed to keep watching and not let up until I found flaws that she could use against you. Oh, Ms. Grace! I’m so sorry! You’ve been nothing but kind to me, and I’ve been horrible, watching and reporting back to Alice on your actions,” Suzanna said as she started crying again.

“Excuse us for a moment,” Grace said. Then she motioned with her head to Mac to follow her into the front foyer.

“I’ve had enough of Alice!” Grace hissed. “Not only is she still poking her nose in where it doesn’t belong, but she’s manipulating that poor, sweet girl into doing her dirty work for her. Suzanna is supposed to be her friend!”

“How do you want to handle this?” Mac asked. It was hard not to feel like this was his fault for not seeing Alice for who she really was before it was too late. She’d been a remarkably efficient and reliable administrative assistant. How could he not have noticed that she had deep feelings for him? He’d dismissed her affections as some sort of puppy love. An assistant having feelings for her boss wasn’t unheard of, but usually, that was the end of it when those feelings weren’t returned. Apparently, Alice was delusional. How could she even think that he’d cast Grace aside for her at this point? There would be nothing he could discover about his wife that would ever make him leave her.

“I want you to do something about Alice! She needs to understand that she’s gone too far and that this unhealthy obsession needs to stop!” Grace said in a tone that Mac had never heard before. “I’m tired of her trying to sabotage our relationship!”

“Hey, Gracie,” Mac said, taking her hand. “Nothing she could say or do will ever tear us apart, okay? She’s rear-view-mirror history!”

He had hoped to lighten things up a bit, but Grace didn’t smile. She looked at Mac and said, “Just remember, objects in the mirror are closer than they appear.”

Mac wasn’t sure how to respond. But he knew she was right; this shit with Alice needed to stop!

“What are we going to do about Suzanna?” Mac asked.

“Her connection with Alice is unfortunate. I feel sorry for her, but I can’t have her here. I can’t live always wondering where her loyalties lie.”

Mac nodded. “It’s my fault she is here; I will handle firing her.”

“Thank you,” Grace said as she turned to head up the stairs. “Make sure you get her keys back. But I think we should call a locksmith and have our locks changed. I don’t trust that Alice hasn’t made copies.”

Mac could tell she was seething with anger, despite her cool demeanor. He would make this right, whatever it took.

Chapter Thirty-Nine

McKinley Stewart had a strong knack for how to handle business issues. Personal troubles, especially when women were involved, were a bit trickier. And now he had to fire the housekeeper and then convince his former admin to meet with him so he could set her straight on this whole notion of hers that she could somehow get him to choose her over his wife. His head was spinning.

He suddenly wished that Grace hadn’t headed upstairs. Then he shook his head and stood up. He was the owner of a global technology firm, for goodness’ sake! He had fired employees before. Why was this any different?

He sighed. He’d never had to fire a member of house staff, and this one’s only crime was allowing herself to be manipulated by a devious woman who was supposed to be her friend. But Grace had a good point. How would they ever be able to trust Suzanna again? He went into the breakfast room and sat back down at the table.

Suzanna looked up, misery all over her face. “I’m so sorry, Mr. Stewart. I needed a job, and Alice made it seem as if your wife had stolen you away from her. She told me that Ms. Grace was conniving and deceitful. But all along, it was Alice who was lying, wasn’t it?” she sniffed.

“Yes, Suzanna. Alice lied to you. I think you realize that I have to terminate your employment based on the fact that you’ve been spying on Mrs. Stewart, right?”

Suzanna nodded, and the tears started again. “I understand. I’d do the same in your place. But just so you know. I had planned to tell Alice that I wouldn’t spy anymore for her after today.”

“It’s a shame you didn’t make that decision much sooner. If you’d come to me when we arrived home from Europe instead of being dishonest, we could have worked things out. But you’ve made us feel uncomfortable in our own home. That’s just not acceptable,” Mac said firmly but kindly.

“I know. I truly am sorry. Are you going to press charges?” Suzanna asked tearfully.

Mac hadn’t even considered that, but he decided to use it to his advantage. “Grace and I discussed that possibility. However, we both feel that’s unnecessary, as long as you do not let Alice know that we are on to her.” This poor girl really was naïve. He hated taking advantage of that, but it seemed like a good strategy.

“Thank you, Mr. Stewart. I promise not to say a word to Alice. I’m so angry at her; she used me! She wasn’t always like this. I guess sometimes people just can’t let go.”

After Suzanna left, Mac went up to his office and made three calls. The first one was to the locksmith, who said he could be over later that day. The next was to Sophia, the former housekeeper, to see if she would be interested in her old job, with a significant pay increase, of course. He was relieved that he got her voicemail and was able to leave her a message. And, finally, he called Alice.

“Hello, Alice? It’s McKinley,” he said after she answered.

“I know who this is. What do you want?” Alice asked abruptly.

“I was hoping that you and I could meet and have a chat. I don’t like the way things were left between us, and I feel like meeting in person would be better than just a phone conversation.”

Mac held his breath while Alice silently contemplated what she should do.

“What about your wife?” Alice asked shortly.

“We can discuss everything when you come over. You will come over, won’t you, Alice?” he asked persuasively.

She hesitated for another moment. Then she sighed. “Yes, I will come over. What time?”

“Are you available now? Or is there another time that would be more convenient?”

“I can come now,” she answered quietly.

“I’ll call Randall and send the car for you,” Mac said.

“No, I don’t need a car. I can get there on my own.”

“Okay. Well, then I will see you when you get here.”

Mac got up from his desk and wandered into Grace’s office.

“I spoke with Alice,” Mac said. “I asked her to come over now so we could discuss things.”

Anger flashed in Grace’s eyes for a moment, and then they went cold.

“I’m not sure it was wise to have her come here to the house. But I did ask you to take care of it,” Grace answered coolly, raising an eyebrow.

Mac winced. He hated when she used that tone. It had been a long time since they’d felt at odds with each other like this. But hopefully, he could take care of the Alice problem today and move on.

“Do you want to confront her together? Or do you want me to take care of it?” he asked.

“Whichever you think is best. I trust your judgment.”

“Do you, Grace?” Mac asked curtly.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

Mac was striking out at the wrong person, and he knew it.

“Nothing, I’m sorry. I’m feeling defensive and broody, neither of which is your fault. I’m sorry I snapped at you,” Mac responded. But he’d drawn the first arrow, and it landed right on target.

Grace inhaled sharply. “I know this is upsetting to you. But imagine being in my shoes. I’m the one Suzanna has been spying on and the one she’s been trying to find dirt on for Alice to use against me.”

“You forget, darling, that she got a good look at me, too, while we were fucking on our own damn dining room table!” Mac shot back, raising his voice more than he had intended.

Grace looked surprised by his sharp tone. “Which is disconcerting, I won’t argue. But you’re not the one being judged here, are you? It isn’t you that Alice was trying to find fault with; it’s me. It’s been me all along.”

Grace stood up and continued, “Do you know that Alice originally told me that I was too old to interview for the position of your escort? She took one look at me and decided I wasn’t good enough for you. I had to literally refuse to leave until she allowed me to meet with you.”

Mac heard the hurt and frustration in her voice. “I’ll always be grateful for that stubborn streak of yours. I can’t imagine my life without you, Grace. Please, let me fix this. I’m going to call Michael Stone and ask him to start the process of filing a restraining order against Alice.”

“What good is that going to do? She wasn’t anywhere near us; she had a spy planted in our house!”

Mac’s irritation grew. He was trying, wasn’t he? What more did she want?

“Look, I know this is partly my fault, but I’m doing my best to resolve things. If you have some sort of brilliant solution up your sleeve, please, by all means, enlighten me!” Mac shouted.

“Trust me, if I had some bright idea, I’d have shared it with you!” Grace yelled back.

“Oh, for once, the amazing Grace doesn’t have an answer to a problem?”

And just like that, the anger in Grace’s eyes turned to hurt. She felt like she couldn’t breathe for a moment. Then she bit her bottom lip and fought the tears that were welling up in her eyes. “Well, Alice has succeeded in one thing. She’s found a way to make us snipe at each other without even being in the room. You’re right. I don’t have the answer here. But thanks for lashing out at me when I’ve done nothing wrong. I will say this; you are partly to blame because you were careless with Alice’s feelings. So, only you can fix this. And since the staff arrives at noon, I hope you have a plan to handle things quickly and quietly.”

She turned and walked away. And left Mac feeling like a complete asshole.

Chapter Forty

Alice arrived at nearly 11:00. It felt odd to ring the bell and wait on the porch to be admitted. She’d spent years jogging down the steps to the right side of the main entrance to use the lower-level door.

Suzanna’s last text had indicated that she’d ignored Grace’s memo to come in at noon. Alice was pleased, thinking that would be an excellent way to find something out of the ordinary going on. She’d hoped that it meant Grace had a secret lover on the side that she was fucking while McKinley was out of town. But since he had to invite her to the house to talk, that wasn’t a very likely scenario.

She wasn’t foolish enough to think that McKinley was about to admit his undying love to her. But she hoped that talking with him in person would allow her to explain how she felt and make him see that Grace could never love him as much as she did.

How could anyone love him more? She knew him better than anyone else. Surely, he’d see that, right?

McKinley answered the door, and Alice felt her heart flutter. God, he looked sexy in jeans and a casual pull-over sweater. He’d never dressed so informally when she’d been a part of his life. He’d always been sort of stuck in work mode in both his actions and his attire.

“Hello, McKinley,” Alice said softly. A weak smile slowly emerged as he moved aside to let her in.

“Hello, Alice. Please come in,” Mac said. “I thought it would be best if we met in my office. The house staff is set to arrive in about an hour, and if our conversation takes longer, I’d rather we had privacy to finish up.”

She felt a little giddy when he indicated that they would have privacy. She walked toward the elevator, but McKinley stopped her. “Let’s take the stairs.”

Alice cocked her head in surprise, but she followed her former boss up the stairs to the second floor. When they headed back toward his office, she couldn’t help but notice that what had once been a waiting area was now set up to be an office space with her old furniture.

“Is this Grace’s office?” she asked curiously.

“No,” Mac answered. “It’s our new admin’s space. Grace has your old office.” He stopped short of telling her what a lovely job of redecorating Grace had done. It would serve no purpose to rub salt in the wound.

When they entered his space, he nodded toward the visitor chair on the opposite side of his desk. “Have a seat, Alice,” he said politely. “Would you care for some water?”

Hmm, no offer of tea. Perhaps his wife didn’t know that he liked tea first thing in the morning and the poor man had to resort to drinking water.

“No, thank you, I’m fine.”

Mac reached into the small fridge and grabbed himself a bottle of Aquafina. Alice raised an eyebrow when he cracked the cap to open it. “Your wife doesn’t keep Perrier in stock for you?” she asked in a rather condescending tone.

“I stock my own water, Alice. I prefer whatever brand is available at a good price.”

“Perhaps your new admin will take care of that for you.”

“I didn’t invite you here to talk about water, Alice. I was hoping that we could clear the air a bit and put an end to…”

“Clear the air?” Alice interrupted. “Yes, let’s clear the air, McKinley. Let’s skip over the pleasantries and get right to the part where you apologize for letting me go over the telephone without giving me a chance to explain. And after everything we had been through together!”

“What is there to explain?” Mac asked incredulously. “You sent me on a wild goose chase to Florence, knowing damn well that Salvatore had no interest in selling his firm.”

“His accent is a bit thick at times; I must have misunderstood him. Even so, how is that a reason to fire me?”

“You knew damned well that Grace had a history with Sal, and you wanted to make sure you rubbed it in my face. And even though it was you who set me up, it was Grace who apologized for something that wasn’t even her fault.”

“Well, I should hope she apologized to you! After all, it would have been nice for her to come clean about the fact that she was fucking him for money before you bought her that expensive bracelet. She’s a whore, McKinley; a prostitute who fucks wealthy men for obscene sums of money. Why don’t you see that she’s using you?” Alice asked, near tears.

Mac shook his head. Alice would never understand.

“Look at how she managed to get you to force me out so she could take my place. All I ever did was work hard for you, take care of you, and love you, damn it! Why wasn’t that enough for you?”

He was stunned. God, he’d been so blind!

Alice continued her rant. “You always told me you didn’t know what you’d do without me. Then, mere months after that slut comes waltzing in here, demanding an interview, you let her take my place. You bought her fancy clothes, took her to incredible hotels, and treated her like a queen. It should have been me on that trip with you; it should have been me that you fell in love with. But you let her red hair and her big tits turn you into a dog in heat, fucking her on the god damned dining room table that I helped you pick out!”

“Why would you still want a man who has hurt you the way I have, Alice?” he asked her pointedly.

Tears streamed down her face now. “Because I love you, McKinley! I’ve loved you from the first moment I laid eyes on you. I knew that, eventually, you’d fall in love with me. Your mother picked Louise for you, but I knew that wouldn’t last. So, I bided my time and waited.”

Mac felt pity for her and searched his brain for when he had done anything to give her false hope. He told her that he couldn’t take her to Europe because he wouldn’t sleep with her. Didn’t he make it clear it was because he didn’t have feelings for her? Had he been careless, like Grace had suggested?

“Alice,” Mac said softly. “I apologize for not noticing that you were in love with me. I’m sorry that I don’t feel the same way about you. I always appreciated your efficiency and ability to handle anything I threw your way and found that invaluable. But I didn’t mean to make you think it was anything more than a boss feeling grateful for an amazing employee. And, yes, I did come to think of you as a friend, but never more, and I’m so sorry that I couldn’t love you like you deserved to be loved.”

Alice wept silent tears. After a moment, she asked, “Why her? Why Grace and not me?”

Mac pondered that for a moment. “I could say that Grace is my soulmate, but that just sounds cliché. I can only tell you that, from the moment she sat in that chair where you are sitting now, I felt something I’d never experienced before in my life. Instead of it being all about me, I wanted to know everything about her. Something inside me shifted, and I became a different man, a better man, I’d like to think. Grace taught me about recognizing a woman’s feelings, and she chastised me for being careless with yours. I didn’t realize how right she was until this morning.”

Alice looked confused as she wiped her face. “Grace said that?”

“Yes, she recognized from the start that you had feelings for me, and I dismissed it as nonsense. I feel terrible about that, as well as firing you over the phone. But you have to admit, you were trying to sabotage my relationship with Grace from the start.”

Alice nodded sadly. “What else could I do? I wanted you and felt like I could have convinced you that you wanted me, too, with a little more time. But then Grace came along, and that was that. It’s so unfair!”

God, what would Grace say here? If only he’d insisted that she be a part of this confrontation. She’d know what to say to make things better. Then he looked up, and Grace was standing in the doorway.

“Alice,” Grace said softly. “Why on earth would you want a man who doesn’t want you back? Why would you waste your time loving someone who doesn’t see you as important as the air he breathes? I’m sorry for you that Mac fell in love with me instead, but all the scheming and spying isn’t going to change the fact that he and I are happily married and deeply in love. All it does is wastes time that you could be finding a man who appreciates and adores you.”

“But I love him, Grace! And he would have been mine if you hadn’t shown up!” Alice hissed.

“Would he? How many years did you spend loving him without having those feelings returned? Would it really have been any different if he’d hired the woman who interviewed before me and never met me? Would he look at you and make your insides turn to butter? Would he touch you, and make your body melt? Don’t you deserve that, Alice? With or without me, McKinley Stewart was never going to be that guy for you. Look me in the eyes and tell me you don’t want that passion?”

Alice covered her face and sobbed. Grace crossed to her and put a gentle hand on her shoulder. Then she bent down and leaned close to Alice’s ear. “Do you really think that if I walked away now, Mac would love you?”

Alice shook her head.

“Good,” Grace said. “Now that you understand, you need to leave. I’ve had enough of your shit. Find your own goddamn man and leave us alone.”

Then Grace looked at her watch, then at Mac. “The staff will be here in twenty minutes. I want her gone before they arrive. So, wrap this up quickly.”

Mac watched Grace walk out of the room and wished it weren’t bad manners to applaud. Then he looked at Alice.

“Well, I guess you’ve made your choice, then,” Alice said haughtily. “You apparently have no taste, and your slut has no class. But she is right about one thing; I deserve better. Goodbye, McKinley.”

Then she got up and left, and Mac stood there for a moment, trying to process what just happened.

A few minutes later, Mac found Grace in the kitchen, toasting some bagels.

“We missed breakfast, and I’m starving,” she said matter-of-factly. “Which is a damn shame because if my stomach hadn’t growled and I didn’t feel so bitchy, I would have suggested an encore of what happened in the kitchen, only this time on the breakfast room table.”

Mac pouted. He was starving too, but he could picture his sexy wife on the table with her legs spread.

“Of course, there’s always later when the staff leaves for the day,” Grace said, wiggling her eyebrows.

Mac decided to take charge here. “Nope. Turn off the toaster, Gracie. All I need is ten minutes. Get your ass on the table and open that pussy for me!”

Grace tilted her head and grinned. “Well,” she said winking, “since you put it that way.”