“Oh, Mac.”
He flexed his hand.
“I guess I won’t be playing guitar for a while.”
I looked at him in surprise. He played? The guy was the tough, silent type. I couldn’t imagine him doing something so delicate with those big hands of his.
“I didn’t even know you played.”
He gave me a slow, sexy smile that made my heart start to beat double-time.
“There’s a lot you don’t know about me.” He grabbed the belt loops on my jeans and pulled me to stand between his legs. “But you’re going to find out.”
I smacked his shoulder, hiding how flustered I felt.
“Not until you are cleaned up, I won’t!”
I pulled up a chair and put his hand over a bowl. Then I poured peroxide all over it. I knew it had to sting, but he was still grinning at me like a loon.
“What?”
“I like it when you’re bossy.”
I blushed. There was something dirty about the way he said that. I dabbed the back of his hand with cotton balls and poured peroxide over them again. His right hand, in particular, was chewed up.
“So.” I exhaled deeply. “Did he land any punches?”
Mac shook his head slowly.
“You’re going to lose your job over this.”
“Maybe. I don’t care.”
“I care,” I said as I squeezed some antibiotic ointment onto the bloody skin. I wrapped them carefully with oversized Band-Aids. “I don’t want to make problems for you.”
My chair made a screeching noise as he dragged my chair toward him. I was between his open legs again. Our chairs were touching.
He grabbed my face as I stared at him, helpless to look away from the intensity in his eyes.
“You are my problem.”
“Problem?”
“Problem. Solution. Distraction. Salvation. You are everything to me, Suzanna. Don’t you know that?”
“I am?” I said, suddenly out of breath. “Everything?”
“Yes, woman.”
He kissed me softly at first, little nibbling kisses on my lips that almost tickled. But it got heated fast. His tongue was doing filthy things inside my mouth. Things that made me want to do other things.
“I want you,” I breathed.
“I know you do.” He smiled tenderly. “But not when you’re drunk. Not the first time, anyway. After that, it could be fun.”
“I’m not drunk,” I said. I was astounded that he was making me wait again. He had just said I was his everything!
“Maybe in a few hours. Here.” He stood up and took a bottle of water from the fridge. “Have some water.”
I scowled at him but did as he asked. I was kind of thirsty from those salty margaritas. The water tasted so good.
“We can do other things while you hydrate.”
“Other things?”
He licked his lips and I felt heat pool in my belly.
“I want to taste you. I want to make you come.”
“Oh.”
He grinned at my obvious embarrassment and scooped me up, carrying me carefully up the stairs. He was so sure-footed, so confident in everything he did. But it was a quiet, oh-so-sexy confidence. Mac never bragged or showed off. He didn’t have to.
He found a bedroom and dropped me onto the mattress so that I bounced.
“Things are going to change,” he said as he started undressing me slowly. “I need you to understand before we take things any further.”
“Change?”
I could barely focus on what he was saying. The feel of his hands on my body was too distracting. And what he had promised to do… I shivered in anticipation.
“I don’t want you out there on your own anymore.”
“But–”
Mac silenced me with his lips, and for a moment, I forgot what we were talking about.
Chapter 22
Mac
I lifted my head and looked down at my woman.
My woman. It was a done deal. I had decided.
She was mine, and she would let me protect her. It was my job now. I was going to earn the right to share her life and her bed by keeping her safe.
“Mac. What are you saying?”
I pulled my shirt off to distract her. Then I pulled her pants off to distract us both.
“Drink,” I said, tossing her the water bottle I’d shoved in the waistband of my jeans. She caught it and took a slug. I nodded my approval by gripping her ankles and sliding my upper body between her legs.
“Mac!”
She squealed as I tore her panties off, tearing the thin cotton and elastic. I palmed an ass cheek in each hand, lifting her so I could get at her pussy.
“Hmm… been thinking about doing this all day.”
“Oh,” she sighed breathlessly as I started to kiss and tease her sensitive skin with my breath. I traced the edges of her pussy lips with the very tip of my tongue.
“I want you to move in with me.”
“Hmm?”
“You can’t stay in that place alone anymore.”
“But… my plants,” she moaned. “That house was my grandmother’s.”
“Maybe we can move it,” I said huskily as I moved up to her clit. “You can’t stay there.”