I hope you enjoy this chapter. Let me know what you think.

Chapter 4

On Saturday morning, Mac woke up to her cell phone ringing. She saw J.J.'s picture on the screen and hit ignore before rolling over. When her head landed on the second pillow she was surrounded with the smell of Dick. She hadn't heard from him since Thursday night when she went by his house.

Mac knew that they whole situation was just a misunderstanding, but when Dick reverted to his old ways of saying hurtful things to cut her down it was hard for her to consider making an effort to fix it.

After laying in his smell for a few minutes, Mac heard a knock on her door. She groaned before sliding out of bed to see who it was.

J.J. stood there is a pair of swim trunks and a tank top. "Hey sexy. We're going to the beach."

"Um…no. I'm going back to bed."

"No your not. You were in a pissy mood yesterday at lunch and it's my job to cheer you up." He pushed his way inside her apartment. "It's time to put your cute behind in a hot bikini and get some sun. Vitamin D will cheer you right up."

Mac shut the door and slowly walked into her bedroom before closing the door. She face planted into the bed. Maybe if she stayed quiet, he would take the hint and go away.

About two minutes late the bedroom door opened and she felt a slap on her backside. "Get up. We are meeting Avery at the beach. And you know I don't like to keep my man waiting."

"It's too early." Mac whined.

"It's after ten." J.J. went to her dresser and opened a drawer. "And just for making it difficult, you are now wearing this little number that you are scared to wear in public."

When Mac looked up, he had tossed a bikini at her. It was electric blue and was a tiny tube top with itty bitty bottoms. "Oh no. It doesn't have straps. I don't want my boobs to pop out in public."

"Maybe it will help you get laid." He turned to the closet. "I'm going to go make coffee. If you come out of this room with anything other than that bikini and…" He pulled out a very short, stripped cotton dress. "this dress, then I will hold you down and dress you myself." He went to the door and turned to point at her. "And you know I will do it."

Mac sighed. "Unfortunately." During a rough time a few years back, J.J. had try to cheer her up by taking her out to a club, but she refused to wear the dress he picked out. She learned that night, that he did not make empty threats.

Mac had met J.J. the year after she had graduated college through a co-worker, Karen, at her first job. She had attended a party at Karen's home and when she got there she was instantly thrown with J.J. Karen thought they would be perfect for each other because they listened to some of the same obscure bands. She didn't realize J.J. was not going to be interested in any female. Mac and J.J. did hit it off and have been best friends every since that night.

Once Mac was dressed, she headed out to brush her teeth before going into the kitchen.

"Okay, I'm dressed." Pointing out the bikini poking through the deep v in the dress.

"Here is your coffee to go."

A few minutes later, they were walking to the beach from the parking lot. Avery had already laid out the blanket with a couple of low chairs and cooler.

"Finally. I thought you guys were never going to come." Avery was about as tall at J.J. and kind of resembled Ryan Gosling. Mac had worked with Avery at Kane industries and was the one who introduced him to J.J.

"Princess here didn't want to come." He gave Avery a quick kiss.

Mac pulled off the cover-up. "Princess still doesn't want to be here." She sat down on the blanket and began covering herself in sunscreen.

"But look at all the great looking guys walking around without shirts on."

She laid back on the blanket with her sunglasses on and closed her eyes. Mac wanted to be at home alone with time to think. While she should have yelled that Jeff and J.J. were the same person, Mac only saw red after Dick accused her of using him. It stung so much, because Mac knew it was partly the reason that she slept with him the first time. But over the past few weeks, she knew that it wasn't the reason she continued to see him.

Mac enjoyed the time she got to spend with Dick. She looked forward to getting text messages from him throughout the day. In the past few weeks, they had spent more nights together than apart. She missed the way his arms felt wrapped around her at night when they laid in bed talking before falling asleep. She missed the way he laughed at her jokes and loved the way he could make her laugh. Wait…love?

"Mac!"

She felt cold water splash on her. "What the hell?" J.J. had poured some water out of his water bottle and thrown it on her.

"I've been calling your name, but you weren't answering." He pointed towards the water as a shadow fell over her. "You're friends from the other night are here."

Mac looked up to see Logan standing over her with a surfboard in his arms. "Hey Logan."

Logan stood the surfboard in the sand. "Howdy Mac."

Mac noticed a figure behind him and sat up to see Dick. "Hello Dick."

Dick slammed the end of his surfboard into the sand. "Mac." He scowled and was avoiding looking her in the eyes.

Jeff stood up and put his hand out to Logan. "Hey man. It's good to see you again." He motioned to Avery to join them.

Mac closed her eyes and composed herself before standing up among the four men.

"Avery, this is Logan and Dick. They were at the concert Thursday night." Jeff turned back to the other two men.

"Which was awesome by the way." Logan said.

"Thanks man. I really appreciate that. You'll have to come out again to see another show. I'm always trying to get Mac to come join me on stage more. Maybe if you guys drag her with you, I can get more duets with her." He put his arm around Mac.

She smiled at J.J. and tossed his arm off of her. "Maybe if you asked instead of just dragging me up there, I would come to more shows."

Avery placed his arm around J.J.'s waist. "But you did promise to sing at our wedding. J.J. gave plenty of notice on that performance. Even if no one will tell me what you two are singing."

J.J. wrapped his arm around Avery's shoulders and kissed him on the head. "It's a surprise."

Mac took glimpses of Dick throughout the conversation. She noticed the moment that realization hit because Dick closed his eyes and leaned his forehead into his surfboard. When he opened his eyes, he turned his head to look at Mac with an apology in his eyes. She clenched her jaw.

She wasn't as mad about what he had said to her, but that he didn't trust her and wouldn't give her the chance to explain. She wanted more than just sex from Dick, but nothing good can develop without trust.

"Mac, what time are you meeting Veronica tonight for the break in?" Logan asked from next to her.

"Around five and last I heard it was just surveillance." Mac smiled at Logan knowing that tonight's plans did involve a little B&E.

Logan laughed. "You caught me. I wanted to make sure she wasn't downplaying anything."

"V would never do that." Mac grinned at Logan before looking at J.J. "What time is it?"

"It's just after one."

Mac nodded. She picked up her cover-up and threw it on. "I need to get home and finish some things before I meet V." She picked up her bag. "See you guys around." She gave herself a mental high five for insisting on driving to the beach earlier. Avery had his car there too, so she wasn't stranding anyone.

An hour later Mac was getting out of the shower when she heard a knock at her door. She figured that it was J.J. come to fuss at her for bailing on the afternoon. Mac grabbed her robe and threw it on as she went to the door. She unlocked the door and removed the chain before swinging the door open.

Dick stood on the other side with one hand in his pocket and the other on the back of his neck. Mac tensed and debated on slamming the door in his face.

"I fucked up." Dick ran a hand over his face. "I'm sorry."

Mac relaxed and leaned her head on the doorframe. She wanted to accept his apology and run into his arms, but her pride told her to stay angry. After a few beats, she opened the door further and allowed Dick to come in.

They stood facing each other as Mac leaned against the kitchen island.

"I…that night…seeing you…" Dick took a deep breath and composed himself. "We've been sneaking around for almost a month now. I haven't seen anyone else the whole time and I don't want to. That's not normal for me." He was rocking on his feet as he rambled. "When I saw you that night, I wanted to stand up and kiss you, but I couldn't. When I saw Jeff, or as I now know is also J.J., come up behind you and hug you, I got jealous because I couldn't. I mean it's okay for me to be in love with you behind closed doors, but we act indifferent in public." Dick continued to ramble on.

Mac's mouth dropped open. She was focused on what he had just said about behind closed doors. She could hear him rambling on, but didn't comprehend anything.

"Time out." Mac put her hands in a T.

Dick stopped talking and looked at her.

"What did you just say?"

He looked at her. "Basically that I was jealous."

"Yeah, I got that. I'm talking about what you said about behind closed doors."

Dick's face dropped. "I don't know. I was just rambling."

"Bullshit."

"Fine." Dick rubbed his face hard with his hands. "I love you. I know it's too soon and it'll probably scare you, because it scares me, but there you go."

Mac placed a finger on her lips as she stared at him for a moment before closing the distance between them. Dick looked nervous as she approached. She cradled his cheek in her hand and stood on her tiptoes to place a reassuring kiss on his lips.

The kiss was supposed to tell Dick that his confession didn't scare her, but when Mac pulled away she realized in this kiss that she was in love with Dick too. He stared into her eyes and Mac had never felt more seen before in her whole life.

Dick wrapped his arms around her waist and pressed himself to her. Mac moved her arms around his neck as Dick moved his lips to her neck. She felt the belt of her robe loosen and Dick pushed the robe off her shoulders to fall to the floor. Mac placed her hands under his shirt and pushed it up to his chest. Dick stood up straight and pulled the shirt off as Mac unbuttoned and lowered the zipper of his jeans.

Dick picked Mac up and she wrapped her legs around his waist as he walked them to the bedroom. After lowering Mac to the bed, Dick quickly removed his shoes, pants, and underwear.

He lowered himself on top of her and looked into her eyes as he pushed inside her. Mac smiled at him, which caused his face to light up in a goofy grin. The kisses they shared were tender and loving. The sex was not hurried with the need for release, but slow with the need to be as close as possible.

When Mac finally came, she felt a long shudder throughout her body and the feel of Dick filling her up. Afterwards, she opened her eyes to see Dick watching her. He leaned down and kissed her softly before rolling off.

Mac cuddled next to him and laid her head on his chest listening to the beat of his heart as she ran her fingertips on his stomach. They laid in silence for a few minutes.

"I meant what I said. I love you." Dick was running his fingers up and down her back.

"Why?"

"I don't know." Dick sighed. "Actually I do know. Because you're the most amazing woman I've ever met. You're beautiful, smart, and funny. You took me out of my comfort zone, where I began to care more about the person I was with than just having sex. But god, the sex is incredible. You call me on my bullshit. When I'm not with you, I'm thinking about you and I'm always excited to see you. Even today at the beach, I was jealous to see you with Jeff but I had to force myself not to just stare at you because you are all I want to look at."

That was it for Mac. She was done; there was no more denying to trying to understand her feelings. "I love you too." It was barely a whisper and she wasn't sure if Dick had even heard her except his fingers stopped moving.

She considered whether she should say it again when he pulled her face up so he could see her. She saw his eyes search hers like he didn't believe what she said.

"What did you just say?"

Mac bit her lip. "I said, I love you too and I mean it."

Dick smiled covered his face for a few seconds before his lips crashed into hers. He pulled away and pressed his forehead to hers. "You do realize you will never get rid of me now?"

"Yeah, well, I'm okay with that." Mac brushed his hair out of his face.

Dick's face fell and he became more serious than she had ever seen him. "I don't think we should be a secret anymore."

"Okay."

"Just like that okay?" Dick looked confused.

Mac bit her nail. "I was okay with us not being a secret weeks ago, but I was kind of scared of bringing it up."

"So have I." Dick gave an uncomfortable laugh. "Okay, new rule for us. We need to be honest with each other even when we are scared to."

"Fine, but we also have to have the rule that if one of us is mad at the other, then we at least give the other a chance to explain." She looked pointedly at him.

"Yes. I know. I should have let you explain." Dick grabbed her hand brought it to his lips. "I'm sorry about what I said. I was hurt and wanted to hurt you. I wish I could take it back."

"I know."

Mac's phone started ringing with Adele's Skyfall from the charger on her nightstand. "That's Veronica." She groaned and rolled over to get the phone.

"Hello."

Hey Q. You still planning to come?

"Um…It's not even four yet."

Actually, it's ten after five.

"Shit!" Mac flew out of bed and went to her dresser. "I'm on my way."

"Everything okay?" Dick sat up in the bed.

"Yeah. I'm just late to meet Veronica." She pulled on a pair of underwear and bra as she walked to her closet.

"Do you plan to tell her about us?"

Mac stopped and turned back to the bed. "Well yes and no." She crawled onto the bed when she saw Dick wasn't looking at her. She pushed his face up to look him in the eyes. "I won't be telling her while we are staking out this guy, but normally afterwards she and I go get food. I'll tell her then."

Dick smiled. "Then I can tell Logan tonight?"

"I highly recommend you do that." She kissed him and stood back up. "Or we could get the two of them to meet us for lunch tomorrow and tell them together. That could be entertaining."

Dick laughed. "I would like to see Ronnie's face when you tell her that we have been seeing each other for a month."

"Then we will do that." Mac pulled on a pair of military green pants and a black tank top. She pulled a thin long sleeved pullover from her closet but paused before she put it on. "I don't want to be like Veronica and Logan."

"Um…okay?" Dick looked confused at her statement.

Mac sighed. "I don't want to lie to you about what I do because you're going to freak out." She sat back down on the bed.

Dick moved behind her and kissed the back of her neck. "Then tell me the truth."

She took a breath and turned to face him. "We are breaking into a suspect's home. I'm going to hack into his computer."

"Why can't you hack into it from here?" Dick clenched his jaw.

"Because he has a secret computer that isn't online. I will have to access it in person."

"What's the case?"

"A missing 12-year old."

"Okay." Dick rubbed his hand over his face.

"Okay?"

"What else can I say? I don't like the idea of you putting yourself in danger. Now I understand why Logan wants to put Ronnie in a hamster ball."

Mac giggled then started laughing hard. "Keith says that too." She put on the pullover, and then placed a hand on each of Dick's cheeks. "Thank you."

Dick kissed her. "I love you."

She smiled. "I love you too."

There is more to come. :)