He groaned as he slid his hands into her hair and fisted the strands. His tense grip tugged on her scalp, not hurting, but riding the edge. If he pulled just a bit harder, his hold would tip into painful. But he didn’t. He held her with just the right amount of pressure, not letting her have control. She was fully aware of his power, his presence, his ability to crush her if he dared.
But all he did was give her pleasure.
Everything but the boozy taste of him, the heat from his body, the tickle of his stubbled chin faded away. Mak was no longer a woman with a thousand responsibilities pressing down on her shoulders, she was just a woman.
For the first time in her life, her body overrode her mind and came to life in a way she’d only read about. It was real. The breathy, consuming pleasure that felt so wonderful it made a person greedy for more.
“Fuck,” Thunder whispered against her mouth. “Knew you’d taste so goddammed sweet.” He let out a little growl as he kissed her again, and the next thing she knew, something hard was grinding into her stomach.
Abort, abort, abort, her brain screamed at full internal volume while the throbbing between her legs seemed to shout more, more, more.
Something jingled in the distance, as though down a long tunnel. Too far away to concern her. All she wanted to focus on were the delicious shivers Thunder brought her.
“Ignore it,” Thunder said with a groan, sliding his hands from her hair down to her back.
Huh?
Mak chased his lips as her fuzzy brain processed the ringing. Oh, shit. That was her phone. For one split second, she almost gave in. Almost let the ringing die out in favor of plunging back into the pool of erotic sensations. But at the very last second, something snapped to attention in her head.
“Shit!” she muttered as she wrenched out of Thunder’s hold with a near-violent jerk.
“What the—”
“I need to see who it is.” As she turned her back on Thunder, she pulled her phone from her back pocket. Leif’s name flashed across the screen. “Shit,” she mumbled again. Mak hit answer then held the phone to her ear as she put some distance between her and the man who almost made her ignore her family.
“Swear to God, Lee, if you’re calling because you’re sick of watching the kids, I’m gonna kick your ass,” she said in a harsh whisper. Hopefully, Thunder couldn’t hear her.
“Come on, Mak. It’s been hours. I got this girl calling me. There’s a party—”
“Absolutely not.” She rubbed at an ache forming across her forehead. “Seriously, Lee, no. I have another two hours of work. I can’t leave. We need this money. You know that.”
When he groaned in annoyance, tears prickled at the corners of Mak’s eyes. It was so easy to forget he was eighteen—still a kid. Just learning how to be a man. He’d had terrible male role models his entire life and now had none. His only “parent” was a twenty-three-year-old woman just as clueless about life as he was. He’d been robbed of a childhood and now, was saddled with the responsibility of being the man of the house. Mak tried not to put too much on him, but it was inevitable as the oldest male. All his life, he’d been responsible and serious beyond his years. Now he seemed to have taken a leap backward and turned into a rebellious teenage boy. Freedom had made him realize what he’d missed out on, and now he made up for lost time by partying and dating.
Could she blame him? No. Which was why she forced herself to keep from nagging him and overloading him with responsibility. But sometimes, like tonight, she just needed help. Sometimes doing it all on her own wasn’t possible.
He’d survive a missed party.
Her eyes fell shut, and she shook her head. Whenever she thought about what must go on at those parties, her stomach hurt.
“Please, Lee,” she said. In reality, he was an incredible brother. More mature than most eighteen-year-olds, but still…
“Fine,” he grumbled. “But I’m going out as soon as you get home.”
Geeze, it’d be after two by the time she got home. But what could she do? She wasn’t his mother. He was technically old enough to do as he pleased, and if she ever pushed him to the point he left, she’d be completely screwed. “Fine.”
She ended the call, straightened, and turned back to find Thunder leaning against the building with his arms folded across his chest and a smirk on his kiss-swollen lips.
“Boyfriend?” he asked, not sounding at all like he minded if she was in a relationship.
Should she say yes? Maybe it’d deter him. Send him sniffing around someone else. Lee’s call had been a stark reminder that her life wasn’t her own. Four other people, three of them helpless, depended on her and her ability to provide for them and keep them safe. Relationships, even just making out with an attractive man, wasn’t in the cards for her.