Page 31 of The Maxwell Brothers
“There’s no need to. I can find my way,” I said.
“I know you can. I want a few moments alone with you, without my brothers watching me.”
My heart skipped a beat. I glanced around us as discreetly as possible, and yeah, everyone was looking at us, even Beatrice. “Why are they staring at us?” I asked.
“My brothers have… ideas.”
That was clear as mud. And he was flashing me a mysterious smile. I opened my mouth before closing it again. I wasn’t sure Iwantedto know what he meant.
He walked me through the house, and the second we closed the door to the backyard, I felt a shift between us, like the air itself was different—hotter and full of tension.
As we reached the front door, he put a hand on my arm. My skin sizzled. He turned me around, holding my gaze. “We didn’t talk about last night.”
I bit my lower lip. I didn’t want to talk about any of it, if I was honest. What good would it do? I knew all the reasons why this wasn’t going to move forward.
Come Monday, we had to find a way for things to go back to employee and employer. But right now, my mind was pulling in one direction and my heart in the complete opposite.
“I don’t know what to say,” I said.
He came closer, bringing a hand to my face, touching my cheek with the backs of his fingers. “Thinking about you wearing my shirt all night had a very positive effect on me.”
“Did it now?” I whispered.
“I barely kept myself from coming upstairs and knocking on your door. I thought about you all night.”
A tremor went through my body. “I did the same.”
He groaned, bringing his mouth close to my ear. I pressed my thighs together as heat pooled between my legs.
He groaned again, touching his lips to the side of my neck, moving them up and down. “What am I going to do with you, Lexi?”
“What are the options?” I asked in a lighthearted tone.
“Kissing you against this door or taking you upstairs.”
I laughed nervously. “I don’t think either is a good option. Your family is in the backyard, remember?” I had a visual of the whole family pressing their noses against a window, trying to see what we were up to.
He groaned again, pulling back. “Right. How could I forget? If we stay here any longer, I bet someone will burst through that door.”
“Tate,” I whispered, my voice soft. “We shouldn’t.”
“I know.” His gaze instantly turned from playful to serious. But he kept touching my cheek with his fingers. The skin-on-skin contact was almost too much. He frowned, looking at my mouth. “You’re dangerous for me, Lexi.”
My eyes widened. “Why?”
“You make me feel.” He pressed his thumb on my lower lip. “You make me want.”
I swallowed hard, breathing in deeply.
He stepped back, letting go of me. “But you’re right. We shouldn’t. I’m not sure I have it in me to do the right thing. Not when it comes to you.” He opened the front door, looking at me intently.
My body buzzed with adrenaline and a bone-deep yearning to close the distance between us.Oh, sweetheavens. In that moment, I knew I didn’t have it in me to do the right thingeither. How could I when he was looking at me with so much heat?
And that sexy smile? It made my underwear combust.
Panties? On fire.
Bra? Up in smoke.
