Page 54 of Protecting What's Mine
Mack shook her head. “I don’t fit in here.” There was more to the statement than a moment of doubt. And Linc was going to get to the bottom of it. Very carefully.
“You feel just fine to me,” he said, drawing her an inch closer.
“You make it very difficult to resist you.”
“Why deprive us both?” he insisted and then felt lighter when she laughed. “Dreamy, you don’t have to try so hard.”
“If the next words out of your mouth are ‘go with the flow,’ I might murder you right here,” she warned him.
“Just consider my offer. That’s all I’m asking. I’ll literally show you a good time.”
She snorted. “That’s the worst line ever. I expected more from you.”
“I’m off my game. I’ve got a beautiful woman in my arms and a lot of dark fantasies in my head.”
She bit her lip. “I’m not going to ask you about those fantasies,” she announced.
“I’ll write ’em down for you. Maybe draw some illustrations.”
Her watch vibrated against his shoulder. “I should go,” she said.
“Got a hot date?”
“It’s my get ready for bed alert. I’m trying to be healthy and make good choices, remember?”
“I’ll walk you to your car,” he offered.
“Why? Does the crime rate skyrocket in the parking lot after dark?” she teased.
“You’d be surprised.”
They paid their bill and said goodbye to Sophie before heading outside.
“Feel free to be overcome with gratitude,” he said, opening her car door for her.
“If I swoon, I have ammonia inhalants in my med bag,” she said with a slow smile designed to devastate.
Linc wasn’t one to back down from a challenge or a guaranteed disaster. “I really want to kiss you right now, Mackenzie.”
She cocked her head, considering. “You’re just going to keep chipping away at my defenses until there’s nothing left but rubble, aren’t you?”
He boxed her in with his arms, careful not to touch her.
“That’s the plan.”
He watched her make the decision and reveled in it when she slowly, deliberately slid her arms around his neck. “It’s working,” she said on a sigh before pressing her lips to his. She tasted of wine and hot sauce and lust.
His hands tightened on the door frame, still not touching her anywhere but that wild and wonderful mouth.
She wasn’t delicate or dainty. She didn’t need to be coaxed. No, Mackenzie dove into the kiss like jumping off a cliff. With an aggressive surrender that drove him mad.
And she gave him permission for more when she sagged against him, when she pressed that long, lean body against his. Then and only then did he finally let himself touch her.
That mouth, sharp and sarcastic, worked its magic against his as she tasted him and let him savor her. Her teeth scraped over his bottom lip, and the world went black.
A surprise. The continual surprise of Dr. Mackenzie O’Neil.
His hands fit her waist, her hips, her back. Seeking out new curves with the intent to memorize. Crushing her to him, he heard and felt the sexy vibration of a whimper when she sidled up to his erection.
