Page 6 of Last Resort

Here in her room there was no work, no clients, no danger. There was only the two of them surrounded by darkness. The pressing weight of him on top of her, the slow glide of their bodies coming together, the touches that anchored them together as they climbed.

Everywhere he touched, her skin burned. It had never been like this with anyone else. She shouldn’t have been surprised. There was no one else in the world like Chance Patterson. Even when he drove her mad, he made her feel more than she ever had before.

It always made her wonder how hard it would be to survive when he eventually got tired of her, when he realized how bad she was for him.

He nipped his teeth against her collarbone, his palm warm against the side of her throat. “Stay with me, Maci.”

He knew her. He may not have known the details of her past, but he knew her need to overthink things that could get the best of her during inopportune moments.

She pressed her lips to his temple. “I’m here. I’m here.”

He pressed a kiss over her throat, then continued along the side of her neck, driving her higher until she was gasping for breath. Her nails dug into Chance’s back as she found herself falling over the edge. He whispered praises with every sweep of his hips until they were calling each other’s names.

As always, there was a moment afterward where they clung to one another. Their breaths mingling, their bodies soft and warm and pliant.

Their hearts unguarded.

It was both too much and never enough for Maci when Chance looked at her then. She had too many secrets to guard, and he was too close to discovering them. Too close to walking away once he did.

Sated and relaxed, Chance pressed a kiss to her head, rolled to the side and tugged her into his arms. Maci tried to pull away, to give them some sort of space so the lines wouldn’t blur come morning.

She needed a minute. Just one to rebuild the walls he so easily broke through every time they were together like this. Usually, he let her have some space, but this time he was having none of it.

“Stay with me,” he whispered into her hair.

She wanted to. How she wanted to. No matter how short this passion with him lasted, she wanted him with a fierceness that made her feel weak.

Maci Ford was weak for almost nothing, but Chance Patterson was the exception to that hard-won rule. It was as surprising as it was oddly delightful.

When he squeezed her tighter, she smiled and let him drag her close enough that there was no space between them. “I’m not going anywhere.”

She didn’t want to go anywhere.

She wanted to stay with him.

She rested in his arms and let contentedness wash over her.

But as he fell asleep and the darkness around them became heavier, she knew she couldn’t stay. Knew she should’ve never let this happen again, no matter how much she wanted it. Knew she had to walk away from him—from this.

It was the only way.

Wakefulness came in fits as Maci reached her arm across the bed, expecting Chance’s warm skin. At the feel of cold cotton sheets, she frowned and pried her eyes open.

She was alone. Of course she was. She hadn’t been with Chance in that way since she’d snuck out of his bed two months ago. She’d made sure he’d known the physical aspect of their relationship couldn’t happen again. Even though that had been damn near the hardest thing she’d ever done.

Second only to seeing him every day at the office and trying to pretend like she wasn’t interested in him. That they were nothing more than professional colleagues.

She peeked at the alarm clock on the bedside table and groaned. 5:45 a.m. Not enough time to go back to sleep if she wanted to get to the office on time. She spent five minutes glaring at the ceiling—frustrated and wishing that dream had been real—before she tossed the covers off her body. She made her way out of bed and to the kitchen and started the coffee with half-opened eyes.

At least the coffee would give her enough energy to get through the day. Another day with Chance.

Maybe she should get a new job.

She shut down the thought almost immediately. She couldn’t do that. Wouldn’t. She owed the Patterson brothers for being so good to her. Who else would have hired a twenty-five-year-old with a shiny new GED and no experience?

No one. The Patterson brothers were all upstanding, honorable men. Even before she’d slept with Chance and they were bickering all the time she’d still respected him. She respected all of them. She didn’t want to give up her job.

She would have to find a way to continue working for San Antonio Security despite her very nonprofessional feelings for Chance. Which she thought was becoming easier until whatever had happened yesterday when the guys went to meet with Nicholas LeBlanc.

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