There with You (Adair Family 2)

She stood and shut the washer, not looking at him as she wiped down the sink. “I had a hard time getting the flour out of the couch. I don’t know how it got over there. But I got it. I cleaned everything up.” Regan threw down a dish towel and grabbed her purse off the stool at the island. “I’ll see you Monday.” Finally, she looked at him as he refused to move from her path.

Her eyes widened at whatever she read in his expression. “Are the kids okay? You were up there awhile.”

Seething, he licked his lips and took his time so he didn’t lash out at her. “You cannot give me the cold shoulder in front of the children.”

Regan narrowed her pretty eyes. “I didn’t.”

“You did. Lewis picked up on it.”

Guilt flickered across her features. “Is he okay?”

“No.” Thane took a step toward her and another as she retreated. “He’s worried about you leaving.”

“I’m not going anywhere.”

“Yet. He needs to be prepared that you’ll eventually leave. But until then,” he said, bowing his head toward her as the island forced her to stop, “I expect a civil tongue.” His gaze dipped to her mouth, and his hands clenched at his sides. “In a civil mouth … from now on. At least in front of them.”

She jutted her chin stubbornly. “Does that mean you’re going to stop acting like a crazy person?”

“Excuse me?” he bit out.

“You … did we or did we not have a discussion this morning that cleared the air, only for you to act like a jealous ass over Jared McCulloch?”

“Just like you were jealous over the idea of me sleeping with Keelie.”

She grimaced. “And round we go again. Just admit that Keelie was a ploy. You were never going to sleep with her. You’re too much of a gentleman.”

The damn woman had a way of pushing him to the boiling point with very little effort. And for some reason, it pricked his damn male pride that Regan saw him as some buttoned-up, controlled, gentlemanly figure. If only she knew.

He leaned into her, their mouths almost touching, and she inhaled sharply. “How do you know I didn’t sleep with her? A man has needs.”

Hurt flickered in her eyes, but she buried it beneath fire. That he could deal with. She pushed against his chest to move him, but he pressed deeper into her personal space.

“Did you sleep with her?” she demanded.

“No,” he immediately admitted.

Satisfaction lit her expression, and then something more dangerous. “No, because sleeping with any woman would just be an attempt to screw away your problem.”

“And what problem is that?” he asked gruffly, heat pooling in his groin.

“That you can’t stop thinking about me,” Regan whispered, lowering her hand from his chest but only so she could move her body into his. He swallowed hard at the feel of her soft curves. Her breathing hitched. “We can go around and around in circles for days, weeks … but it won’t chase this away, Thane. You want me. It isn’t convenient. It’s complicated … but it’s unavoidable.”

“You’re my children’s twenty-five-year-old nanny,” he argued, even though the fight had left him.

“You keep saying that like I’m eighteen.” She reached up to cup his cheek, her fingernails scraping along his beard. “I’m not a child, Thane. I’m a woman. For Christ’s sake, there’s ten years between Robyn and Lachlan, and no one bats an eyelash.”

“It’s different. She’s older,” he said, even as his head bent toward hers. “This is madness.”

“Then let’s just be mad,” she whispered back before pulling his head that last inch down to her mouth.

She kissed him like he was water and she had been thirsty for weeks. Ravenous, deep, wild kisses that ignited his blood. Her hands were just as hungry, searching beneath his sweater. His stomach contracted as her cool fingers caressed his bare skin, and he groaned, losing all control.

He took over the kiss as he wrapped a hand tight around her nape and devoured her, while his other slid down her slender back and under her dress to cup her tight arse. He kissed her harder, reveling in the way she took as good as he gave, her thumbs rubbing his nipples.

Pleasure pain radiated from where his dick strained against his jeans zipper. Irritated by the tights in his way, he pushed down into them so he could cup one of her supple, round cheeks in his hand. He bent his knees ever so slightly as he pulled her into his erection, wanting inside her so badly he was about to come like a callow youth.

“Fuck.” He broke the kiss and released her.

Her hands were still under his top as she stared up at him, flushed, aroused. Confused.

Her fingers moved over his chest and just that simple touch sent a lightning bolt through his groin.