Chapter Sixteen #2
He crossed the room in a few strides and sprawled in the over-stuffed chair beside the window. The curtains were drawn to block the night and, she supposed, to protect from drones and snipers. “What’s up?”
“There’s something I want to talk to you about.”
Though Mollie was out of practice when it came to relationships and dating, she recognized the phrase and the tone.
She’d heard it before when a guy she’d been dating wanted to break up.
Or when he wasn’t happy. Or when he wanted a change.
Brusquely, she cut to the chase. “Tell me what’s bothering you. ”
“We’ve had some lies and half-truths between us. I want that to end. In the interest of full disclosure, I should explain what happened when I met Madison.”
She squeezed her eyes closed and rocketed back in time to the first boyfriend who dropped her because he was in love with her sister. Not Spence. He’s smarter than that.
“I thought she was you,” he said. “I saw her striding down the hill toward the Clover Clubhouse in a short, short skirt, which looked great but bothered me because I couldn’t figure out how you got a change of clothes. And I was mad because you’d broken your promise to stay safe in the house.”
In a twisted way, he seemed to be trying to blame her for whatever came next. She opened her eyes but avoided looking at him, didn’t want to notice his scar and know that it stood for bravery.
He continued, “She came to the cottonwood and yelled at me to get down.”
“Why were you up in a tree?”
“I thought it would be a good place to hide and observe the clubhouse. Yeah, I know it wasn’t a great plan.” He shrugged, trying to brush off his foolish move. “Back to Madison.”
“Sure, why not?”
“She pretended to be you. And she flirted, told me we ought to take things to the next level, which didn’t sound like something you’d say. I was starting to get suspicious.” He grumbled an unintelligible comment under his breath. “And then, she grabbed me by the lapels and kissed me.”
Mollie braced herself for the worst. Prepare to be dumped. The Spence ship is sailing. Anchors aweigh.
“Right away, I knew,” he said. “Her kiss felt wrong.”
A glimmer of hope appeared on her mental horizon. “Are you saying that you didn’t like the way she kissed?”
“That’s not it. I mean, there was nothing messy or incompetent about that kiss.”
“I get it,” she interrupted. “Madison is an excellent kisser.”
“But I wasn’t excited,” he said. “Not like the times when we’ve kissed or held each other. Mollie, you can get my motor revving by holding my hand. And here was your sister, kissing me for all she was worth, and I felt nothing.”
Unbelievable. Fantastic. “Are you saying that I’m a better kisser than my sister?”
“Exactly right.” He rose from the chair. “I just wanted to be up-front and honest about what happened so you didn’t get the wrong idea. You and Madison look alike and sound alike, but she doesn’t affect me.”
Mollie bounced off the bed and stood before him. “That might be the best compliment I’ve ever had in my whole life.”
He arched his imperfect eyebrow. “You’re welcome.”
“Maybe I ought to kiss you right now. You know, to make sure you still think I’m the best.” She smiled to show him she wasn’t being bossy, but the grin slipped off her face.
Not joking, she really cared about this guy.
Knowing she excited him gave her a reason to hope that everything in her complicated, confusing life would be all right.
“Or maybe we shouldn’t kiss. I don’t want to push you into anything.
I should just let nature take its course. ”
He rested his index finger on her lips to silence her. Slowly, he lowered his head, moved in for an extreme close-up. His mouth slanted across hers and tasted. He caught her lower lip in his teeth and tugged, and then he probed with the tip of his tongue.
Trying to pay attention to what he was doing, she mentally recorded each move.
This nuzzling must be what he liked. She noticed the pressure and the wetness and then she forgot to study his kiss.
Swept away by an unexplainable, primal urge, she kissed him back.
She opened herself to him. And took everything he had to offer.
Without being aware of how they got there, she was back in bed, still fully dressed, with Spence holding her against his chest. His strength aroused her.
He was everything she wanted. Last night, he’d been naked, and she had barely peeked at his fine body with the Oregon duck tattoo on the shoulder.
The time had come to remedy that unnecessary modesty.
When she separated from him to take a breath, she managed to speak. “I came up here to take a bath.”
“You’re wearing too many clothes.” He slid his hands under her T-shirt and wriggled the fabric up her torso to reveal her practical white bra. He reached behind her back and snapped the elastic. “May I take this off?”
“Oh, yes. Please.”
Mollie had never wanted anything more than to make love with him.
She relished each caress, each nibble and every kiss.
When they were finally naked under the comforter, their hearts beat as one.
She wished this night would go on forever.
Who knew how close they had come to dying today?
They clung to each other as if this night could be their last.