Page 31 of Never Fear (Whiskey Ridge)
“Why, then?” I asked, my voice bordering on a throaty whisper as curiosity got the best of me. “Tell me the answer, and I’ll do it again.” I tried to inch closer, but she held me at bay by the strands of my hair.I’ll do anything to make you touch me like you want me, I wanted to add, but figured I should stop myself before I started sounding sick.
McKenna seemed to be the type of woman that would be disgusted by a man pining after her.
This? This was only stalking.
Nothing huge like love.
Her gaze narrowed as she studied me, something akin to pity in her eyes. “You really are obsessed with me.”
“I never claimed not to be.” I moved one hand from her ass to wrap it around her slender neck, pinning her to the door. She tightened her hand in my hair, but this time, Ididn’t allow her to hold me back. I hovered my lips over hers and inhaled through my nose. “Did you like the coffee, kitten?”
Under my palm, she swallowed. My thumb coasted over her pulse point, my teeth aching to dig into her soft flesh.
“It was fine,” she gritted out, trying her best to paste on some false sense of anger. It was her defense mechanism to portray indignation rather than to let someone past her carefully fortified guard. But that was fine. I could deal with that.
I dropped her to the ground, using my now-free hand to grab her wrist, the one gripping my hair, and pulling it away until it was pressed against the door, right above her head. Blood smeared her skin as she pulled away from my grip, but that tiny spark in her eyes gave me the approval I needed to lean in and brush my lips against the shell of her ear. To trail my tongue along her jawline and down the side of her neck, stopping at her pulse. “You like when I take care of you.”
McKenna’s entire body froze, like she wasn’t expecting me to keep pressing the matter. Too bad for her, I quite enjoyed pushing her buttons.
I moved my lips back up to her ear at the same time as she said, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“How I made you coffee,” I murmured, noticing the goosebumps rising on her flesh.
“You didn’t even make it the way I like, so don’t flatter yourself.”
The corner of my mouth twitched. So stubborn. “Yes, I did.”
She huffed out an irritated breath.
“I’ve been watching you, McKenna. I know exactly how you like your coffee. How you cook your eggs.” Slowly, my hand around her neck glided down her chest, between her breasts and to her stomach that fluttered under my touch. “How you like to shower in candlelight.” I moved lower, fingertips trailing over her bare thighs right at the base of her skirt. “How you secretly liked me killing your boss because he’s been harassing you for years.” My fingers disappeared between her legs, rubbing along her wet panties and her swollen clit. “How you’re soaked right now because of it.”
“You’re so cocky,” she said, the words full of breath and need.
I nipped at her ear lobe. “You love it.”
My nose ghosted her cheek as I moved back to her mouth. Right as my lips brushed hers, she shoved my chest with her free hand. My foot moved to catch myself, and I dropped her wrist, staring at her.
“Talk to me when you’re not covered in some other man’s blood.” Then she opened the door and stormed out, leaving me in a room that, without her scent to mask it, was starting to smell a lot like blood and piss.
My tongue ran over my bottom lip as I stared at the door. Without a glance back, I followed in her steps, pulling out my phone to dial Booker and Henley. I didn’t have time to clean this shit myself.
I had a woman to chase.
Chapter 14
McKenna
The first thing I did when I reached my car was dig through my center console and pull out a piece of gum. The nerves had slowly trickled in, and if I hadn’t walked away from Austin when I did, he’d have seen right through my mask of indifference.
He’d hit it right on the head when he’d rattled off his ridiculous list of things I liked. Number one being that secretly, I did like when he took care of me. But I enjoyed my independence, so the thought of even accepting that fact had bile rising up the back of my throat.
What pissed me off more was the fact that I’d been the one to clear out the diner and encourage the cook to leave before I’d stepped foot in that office. I’d covered his ass, and he returned the favor by calling me out.
Heavy footsteps sounded behind me where I stood with my driver’s door open, facing away from Austin as he approached.
“Booker and Henley are going to come take care of the body,” he announced like it was just another Tuesday.
I swung around, teeth biting through my gum so hard, it was a surprise none of them cracked. “Is this all a joke to you?”
