Page 54 of Getting Lucky

Iris held up her phone. “There’s this newfangled thing called texting. I showed him a few photos I’d found on Pinterest, and he said he’d hook me up.”

“Why am I suddenly terrified?” Maisie asked.

“You?” Jack retorted with a laugh. “You’renot the subject of the photos.”

“I thought the dogs were the subjects of the photos,” Maisie teased. “Areyouavailable for adoption?”

Iris shook her head as if she found them tiresome and headed for the door with the beard in hand. “Come on. Let’s get started. Dustin said he set up in the playroom.”

She headed in that direction, well-versed on all the locations in the shelter now, and left them to follow.

“You forgot the Santa coat,” Maisie called after her, picking up a flimsy red piece of fabric with tacky white fur attached to some edges.

“I’m supposed to wear that?” Jack asked in disgust. “How old is that thing?”

She propped a hand on her hip as she held up the coat. The way it was wadded into a ball didn’t increase its appeal. “River wears it and never complains.”

“Well, good for River, but I can’t imagine Finn wearing it.” He was too impeccably well dressed to agree to such a thing.

She made a face that told him he was right.

He motioned toward the jacket. “The only way I’m wearing that is if you delouse it first.”

“Dramatic much?” she asked with a grin. “You’re not going to catch lice.” Her grin spread. “But I can’t guarantee you won’t get fleas.”

“Maybeyoushould try it on first,” he said, his voice turning husky. He hadn’t meant for it to sound like an innuendo, more like a taunt. But now all he could think about was Maisie taking off her shirt, and what she might be wearing underneath. If anyone could make that Santa coat sexy, surely it was her.

From the way her mouth parted, a soft whoosh of air escaping her lips, he knew she was thinking about changing in front of him too.

“Are you guys coming?” Iris called out from down the hall.

“We’re getting the Santa jacket,” Maisie said, her gaze still locked on Jack’s.

“Leave it,” Iris said, her voice fading. “We don’t need it.”

A grin of victory spread across Jack’s face, and before he could stop to think about what he was doing, he pushed Maisie backward a couple of steps until her back was to the closet wall. His hand grabbed her hip, pulling her to him to satisfy his desperate need to feel her close. His other hand cupped the side of her face, and she stared up at him in such shock he nearly laughed. It took a lot to catch her off guard, and he considered it a small victory.

He lowered his face, inches above hers, and slowly slid his hand up her side, stopping short of the curve of her breast.

“I’ve been aching to touch you since Sunday,” he whispered. He knew he shouldn’t be doing this. Hell, Iris was twenty feet away, but Maisie made him drop his usual reserve and forget reason.

Something flashed in her eyes and she grinned. “Just since Sunday, huh?”

He grinned back. God, he loved her quips. She always kept him on his toes.

His thumb brushed her lower lip, and she sucked in a breath. Images of that night at her house flashed through his mind. But he was greedy. He wanted new ones.

She nipped lightly at the pad of his thumb and the remaining blood flow to his brain shut off, and it all flooded down south.

He lowered his mouth over hers, and their lips came together in a crash of heat and lust.

She wrapped an arm around his neck, holding him close, as her free hand roamed his chest and arm.

“Jack!” Iris called out. “What’s taking so long?”

Hearing his sister’s voice was like being doused by a vat of icy water. He took a step back, horrified that he’d wanted Maisie so badly he’d been willing to do God knew what in the closet. What had gotten into him?

“Maisie. I’m sorry.”

---