Chapter 15
Chapter Fifteen
T heir date had started out rocky, but Lorna felt like things smoothed out after their food arrived and they had something else to concentrate on. Although, getting the baby back ribs might not have been the best choice since she ended up with a mortifyingly ridiculous amount of barbeque sauce on her face.
But instead of being grossed out or humiliated like Lyle would have acted, Mack just laughed it off and slid one of his ribs across his cheek to match hers.
They talked all through the meal and while they walked along Main Street eating ice cream and holding hands, as Maisie had instructed. She learned about the ranch where he’d been working, and he seemed genuinely interested in funny stories about Max as a toddler, what a hard time she was having getting Izzy to eat fruit, and the marketing ideas she had for the coffee shop.
For as much as they’d been talking nonstop for the past two hours, Mack was surprisingly quiet now as he walked her to her front door.
“I really had fun tonight,” she said, suddenly feeling like this date—and the awkwardness of deciding to kiss him goodnight or invite him in—was all too real.
“Me too.” He stuffed his hands into the front pockets of his jeans. She wasn’t sure if that was to show he wasn’t going to try a move on her or to keep himself from touching her.
She wasn’t sure if she was happy with either option.
That kiss the night before—and the one in the alley—had shaken her to her core. The passion and intensity they’d generated—in that first kiss alone—had heat flooding through her body and in places that hadn’t felt heat like that in a long time.
She couldn’t remember ever being kissed like that before.
And just looking at him now and wondering— hoping —if he might kiss her again, had her chest and face flushing like a furnace had been turned on inside her.
There were a million reasons why she should tell him ‘thank you and goodnight’ and send him back to his truck, the greatest being that her crazy, and dangerous , ex was back in town, and she had no idea what he was going to do when he heard people talking about her and Mack holding hands on Main Street. But also, because she was a single mom and a business owner who didn’t have time in her life for a relationship.
Or the strength of heart to fall in love and then trust that another man wouldn’t leave her again.
And those were just in the top five. There were other reasons to not invite this man inside, like not letting her kids get attached to someone else who might leave.
But there was one wild and reckless and completely unreasonable reason to open the door that seemed to outweigh all the smart, sensible ones.
She wanted this man.
With every fiber in her being.
She didn’t do reckless. Her first choice was usually comfortable shoes, and she made practical ‘mom decisions’ like using coupons at the grocery store and encouraging Max to eat broccoli and take swimming lessons.
But tonight was not about being a mom. It was about being a woman. A woman with needs and desires.
“Do you want to come in?” The words came out more quietly than she’d meant them to.
She watched his Adams apple bob as he swallowed, then he nodded slowly, as if he understood just what she was asking when she invited him inside.
They’d barely shut the door when she reached for him, pulling him close, then his mouth captured hers.
The kiss was deep and demanding as his hands roamed over her body, exploring her curves.
This wasn’t part of their pretend relationship or practicing their PDA. This was all raw emotion and sizzling heat, and a need for this man that overwhelmed all else.
Finally able to do the thing she’d been fantasizing about all night, she gripped the front of his shirt and tore the snaps open then bent her head to kiss the hard muscled chest she’d unwrapped.
“Take me upstairs,” she practically panted in his ear.
He paused long enough to pull off his cowboy boots and shrug out of his shirt, then he bent and swooped her up, cradling her body against his bare chest as he carried her upstairs and into her bedroom. She kicked off her sandals as he set her on the bed then pulled her dress over her head, tossed it to the floor and scooted back to give him room to join her.
For as long as it had taken her to choose the dress, she’d given little thought to her underwear, not anticipating that anyone would see it, and she’d worn her normal black bikini panties and a black underwire bra.
Mack seemed to appreciate them anyway, and a small smile played at the corners of his lips as his gaze raked over her. “Not that you’d hear me complain, but I’m awful glad you’re not wearing those same undies you had on at the wedding.”
She laughed. “Those were my spanx—they were for special occasion dresses. This is what you get on a normal Tuesday.”
“Tuesday just became my favorite day of the week,” he said, shucking off his jeans and crawling onto the bed in a pair of black boxer briefs. “I don’t care what kind of underwear you’re wearing, because darlin’, as far as I’m concerned, you won’t be wearing them long enough for me to even notice.”
It took him about two seconds to get her naked, and the look in his eyes as his gaze raked over her body sent heat rushing through every part of her. It was addictive—the pure desire he had for her, and she surprised herself with the brazen way she let him look.
Then touch.
His big hands covered her breasts, and she bit back a moan as his thumb grazed over the pebbled nub of one of her nipples. He bent his head, and she couldn’t hold back the next moan as he circled the tip with his tongue then drew it between his lips.
His mouth was warm, and the things he was doing with his tongue were sending surges of heat to her very core, like the string vibrating between two plastic telephone cups, except he was communicating in a new and exciting way.
He took his time, touching and caressing as he savored and sampled her, discovering what she liked and what made her squirm. He tantalized and teased, and every touch, every lick, every caress of his hands and his lips sent pleasure coursing through her, and she arched her back, willing him to take more.
Planting a trail of kisses along her belly, he moved lower, his breath warm on her most sensitive spot as he spread her legs then bent his head to taste and sample more. The scrape of his whiskers against the sensitive areas of her thighs had her wanting to cry out.
She let out a tiny moan, thinking she had to be quiet, than realized they were alone in the house, so there was no need to be quiet or to try to hold back. Something in her, some feral and wanton part of her, just wanted to let go, to feel, to give, to take, to let herself experience the pure sensual heat of this man’s head between her legs and the delicious things he was doing with his tongue.
The scrape of his teeth, the soft tug of his lips, sent desire straight to her core, and she surrendered to the pure pleasure of it.
She felt like she was drowning in him, but she didn’t want to be saved. She was lost in him, enraptured by the feel of his hands, his mouth, and the coil of heat building inside her.
She’d almost forgotten this feeling, this sensation of pure pleasure, and she abandoned herself to it, crying out as the exquisite waves of pleasure rocked through her.
She lay breathless, too many sensations happening at once as he rose above her. The pleasure he’d given her only seemed to amplify his own enjoyment, and she loved the way he looked at her, as if she were a prize that he couldn’t quite believe he’d won.
“You are so beautiful,” he whispered in her ear before he leaned over the bed, wrenching his wallet from the pocket of his jeans and extracting a foil packet. Covering himself, he settled in between her legs, then paused as he peered down at her. “Are you sure this is what you want?”
“I cannot think of anything in my life that I have wanted more.”
He growled in response as he entered her, holding her gaze as he set the pace, starting slowly then giving her more. And more.
She matched his rhythm, her body all nerve endings and sensation, heat surging through her as she gave in to desire and savored the sweet torment as he took her closer and closer to the edge again.
But there was something more happening, something beyond the pleasure and the sweet nothings he whispered into her ear, and for just this moment, this one night, she let herself go, let her trust this man with not just her body, but her heart.
She may regret it in the morning, but for right now, she could only cling to him, giving him everything she had, surrendering to him and crying out as he pulled her close, his grip on her tightening as his muscles constricted. His teeth scraped against her shoulder, and a growl tore from his throat as he tensed and shuddered, matching her release with his own.
Then he fell onto the tangled sheets next to her and drew her to him. She wrapped her body around his as he pressed a kiss to her forehead.
She snuggled into him, relishing the feel of his exquisitely muscled body, and thinking that for two people who were starting a fake relationship, their first date had ended in a way that was all too real.
But those thoughts were for tomorrow. For tonight, she was going to let go and enjoy this man, again. And again.