“I hardly remember her.” She waited for him to say something about losing his parents when he’d been a boy. He didn’t and she straightened and handed him the Crown Royal. “Sorry. It isn’t as good as Bushmills 21.”
He took the bottle from her and unscrewed the cap. “Company is better, though.” He poured three fingers of whiskey over the ice.
“You don’t know me.”
He put the bottle on the counter and raised the glass to his lips. “That’s one of the things I like about you.” He took a drink, then added, “I didn’t sit next to you in second grade. Your sister isn’t friends with my sister and your mama wasn’t best friends with my mama.”
No, but she’d been pretty good friends with your daddy. “Tanya wasn’t raised around here.”
“True, but she’s too uptight. She can’t just relax and have a good time.” He lowered his glass and looked out into the living room. “This is one of the older houses on the lake.”
“The realtor said it was built in the forties.”
He leaned forward a little and looked down the hall toward the bathroom and bedrooms. “It looks different from the last time I was here.”
“I was told that the kitchen and the bathrooms were remodeled last year.” Maddie took a drink. “When were you here last?”
“Oh, I don’t know.” He straightened and looked down into her face. “I was probably about fifteen. So about twenty years ago.”
“Did you have a friend who lived here?”
“You could say that. Although I don’t know if I’d call Brandy Green a friend.” A smile tugged at one corner of his mouth as he added, “Her parents were at the Pendleton Rodeo in Oregon.”
“And you had your own private rodeo?”
The little smile turned into a wicked grin. “You could say that.”
She frowned. “Which room was Brandy’s?”
He’d probably carved his initials into the ceiling beam.
“Can’t say.” He rattled the ice in his glass, then raised the glass to his lips. “Spent most of our time in her parents’ room. Their bed was bigger.”
“Oh, my God! You’ve had sex in my bedroom.” She put her hand on her chest. “I haven’t even had sex in that bedroom.” The second she blurted that out, she wished the floor would open up and she would fall through. She didn’t embarrass herself often, but she hated when it happened. Especially when he tipped his head back and laughed. “It’s not funny.”
“Yes, it is.” After a few more moments of hilarity on his part, he said, “Honey, we could take care of that right now.”
If his offer had felt the least bit threatening or smarmy, she would have kicked him out of her house. Instead it was simple and straightforward and made her smile even when she didn’t want to. “No, thanks.”
“You sure?” He took another drink, then set his glass on the counter.
“I’m sure.”
“I’m a lot better at it than the last time I was here.” The smile he gave her was filled with an irresistible mix of charm, confidence, and pure sin. “I’ve had lots of practice since then.”
She hadn’t had any practice lately. A fact brought home to her by the tightening in her breasts and the warm tug in her stomach. Mick was the last man on earth for whom she should fall off the sexual wagon. Her head knew that, but her body didn’t seem to care.
He reached for her hand and brushed his thumb across the backs of her knuckles. “Do you know what I like best about you?”
“My Crown?”
He shook his head.
“That I don’t want a white wedding, picket fence, and a baby maker?”
“Besides that.” He pulled her toward him. “You smell good.”
She set her glass on the counter and thought back to the lotion she’d put on earlier.
He lifted her hand and smelled the inside of her wrist. “Like cherries, maybe.”
“Almonds.”
“Yesterday it was chocolate. Today it’s almonds. It makes me wonder what you’ll smell like tomorrow.” He put her hand on his shoulder.
“Peaches.” Probably.
He pushed one side of her hair back and low ered his face to the side of her neck. “I like peaches about as much as I like chocolate and almonds. You make me hungry.”
She knew the feeling. “Maybe you should hurry over to your sister’s for some pea casserole.” She felt his soft laughter against her skin a moment before he placed hot openmouthed kisses on the side of her throat. A shiver ran down her spine and her head fell to one side. She’d have to stop him, but not now. In a minute.
“Maybe I should just eat you.”
Her eyes closed and she knew she was in trouble. This couldn’t be happening. Mick Hennessy could not be in her house, telling her he wanted to eat her and making her have bad thoughts about where he should start. Making her want to run her hand up his chest and her fingers through his hair.
“Do you know what I’d do to you if I had more time?” His hands grasped her waist and he drew her against him. She felt the swell beneath his button fly, and she had a pretty good idea.
She swallowed hard as he lightly bit her earlobe. “Try to get another look at the master bedroom?”
He raised his head and his sexy blue eyes had gone all sleepy with desire. “Who needs a bedroom?”
That was true. Her hand slid across his shoulder and up the side of his neck. Perhaps it had been a mistake to go without sex for so long. The press of his body felt so incredible she didn’t want him to stop. But he had to, of course. In a minute.
“You’re a beautiful woman, Maddie.” He brushed his lips lightly across hers. “If I had more time, I’d untie your dress for you.”
“I can untie my own dress.”
One side of his mouth lifted at the corner. “It’s more fun if I do it.” Then he kissed her, a soft and tantalizing press of his mouth. He teased her, drawing out the kiss until her fingers combed through his short hair to the back of his head and her lips parted. His tongue entered her mouth, wet and so good; he tasted like whiskey and lust. Liquid heat pooled between her thighs, and she slid her free hand up his flat stomach, feeling the hard contours of his chest. It had been so long. So long since she’d touched a man like this. Kissed him. Wanted to glue herself to him. Since her skin felt itchy and tight and made her want to tear at his clothes and feel the press of naked skin. It had been a long time. Partly because she’d given up on this, and partly because no man had tempted her like Mick.
His hands slipped up the sides of her waist. His grasp tightened and his thumbs pressed into her stomach just below her breasts. He tilted his head to one side and lightly sucked her tongue into his mouth, where he was warm and slick. Her fingers curled in his hair and she pressed herself against his hard body. Her nipples tightened against his hard chest and he groaned deep in his throat. This was quickly spinning out of control. A whirling cyclone of need and greed and long-denied pleasure, building deep inside and working its way out. Growing and threatening to overpower her.
She pulled back. “Stop.”
He looked as dazed as she felt. “Why?”
“Because…” She took a deep breath and let it out slowly.
Because you don’t know who I am and when you find out you’ll hate me. “Because you have to go have dinner with your sister.”
He opened his mouth to argue, but then his brows lowered as if he’d forgotten. “Damn.” His grasp on her tightened a fraction before he took a step back and dropped his hands to his sides. “I didn’t mean to start something I can’t finish.”
“I didn’t mean to start anything at all.” Maddie licked her lips and debated whether to come clean. Right there. Right now. Before he heard it from someone in town. “This is definitely not a good idea.”