Running Back (New York Leopards 2)

“So... Why didn’t you discuss it with them?”

“Look, all three of us need to sign for you to excavate there. Since I already knew I wouldn’t, it was a moot point.”

“Yeah, but... There are two of them.”

“This isn’t a democracy.”

I narrowed my eyes at him. “Do they know that?”

He took a step closer to me. “What are you doing here, Natalie?”

I had to crane my neck back to see his face. “What do you mean?”

“You did knock on my door. Was it to try to change my mind about Kilkarten?”

My breath came short and fast. “I wanted to talk.”

“You talked. Now what?” He braced himself against the armchair’s wings and angled his upper body toward mine. “Are you going to tell me that you should go?”

My mind blanked and I could barely consider his last words. Instead of thoughts, emotions filled me, warmth and want and joy, so powerful they drowned everything else out. I curled my legs beneath me so I could rise to meet him. He slid his hand around the back of my neck, leaned down and kissed me.

I wrapped my arms around him and leaned up into the kiss. He was warm and bright and untamed, and heat unfurled deep in my belly, spreading like wildfire all through my body. It consumed me, urged me closer to him, striking up a conflagration of desire that would destroy us both.

Which was why I had to draw back. I braced my hands against his chest and looked down. My breath came hard and fast from two sources of adrenaline. “Are you sure this is a good idea?”

He lifted my chin and kissed my jawline. His breath sent shivers down my spine. “It’s a great idea.”

It was very hard to think with those warm, large hands slipping under my shirt and caressing my waist. Calloused finger pads dragged over sensitive skin. I sucked in a deep breath as his thumb stroked under my belly button. “Mike.” A shudder of pleasure shook me, and then I drew back. “I’m just not sure...because of Kilkarten.”

Now he drew away. “Why are we still talking about this?”

I shifted. “I don’t know. What if something changes?”

“What do you mean, ‘something’? Nothing’s changing. You’re not digging there.” His expression shifted to horror. “Wait, you don’t think that if you slept with me I’d let you excavate—”

“No!” I broke in, hot with embarrassment. He kept staring at me like I’d honestly just offered to prostitute myself. “No, I told you. I talked to your sisters, and they seem in favor of the excavation.”

“And I told you, this isn’t a democracy.”

I shrugged. “I just don’t want to make things messy.”

He lifted my chin. “Hey. Do you like me?”

I nodded as much as I could with his hand holding my head up.

“Good. Because I like you. So why can’t we just focus on that?”

“Because things don’t exist in a vacuum.”

“Can’t we say this room does?”

His eyes were so warm, so pleading, and filled with such heart that I had to close my own to shut them out. But deprived of one sense made me all too aware of the others, of his fingers slowly stroking my jaw, of his scent enveloping me. My body wanted to wrap around his. So, I was afraid, did part of my heart.

My brain was another story. “I should—”

“I know.” He withdrew, and the air around me went cold.

And then I left.