“Am I in your way or something?” she asked. She started to slide to the left but Mack moved with her.
“No. You’re not in my way.”
She paused at his words, her head tilted toward him and her eyebrows furrowing like she was confused.
“I’m right where I mean to be,” he clarified. When she didn’t try to pull away again, he dropped his hands to the counter on either side of her, caging her in.
That got him another little breathy inhale as her eyes searched his. Fuck, but it made his balls tight when she did that.
“You are?” Her eyebrows went up slightly. Her surprise seemed genuine. Then her eyes dropped to his mouth.
“Fuck yes I am,” he all but growled. Her eyes flicked between his and then again to his mouth, like she couldn’t stop looking at it.
He was close enough he could smell the clean scent of soap on her skin. He would have known she’d just come from the shower even if her light brown hair hadn’t still been slightly damp. But it wasn’t any flowery shit. Just a crisp, clean smell. Her skin was tan and there was a scattering of freckles across her nose.
Her chest rose and fell with each breath. Mack couldn’t help his eyes tracing down her swanlike neck. Even in the shapeless T-shirt, he could see the outline of her pert little breasts, especially where the hard peaks of her nipples poked out. Was she just chilled? Or aroused?
Mack couldn’t remember the last time he’d felt such an instant, animal attraction. And it wasn’t just his cock responding to her. Even exchanging as few words as they had, he could tell she wouldn’t be just another easy lay. There was more to her. She seemed real.
Had it been long enough, finally? Could he go to bed with a woman without all that other bullshit interfering?
One of her hands shot up to lay flat on his chest, over his heart. Like she meant to push him away. But she didn’t put any pressure behind it. She just kept it there and the longer she did, the more it felt like a scorching iron of connection between them.
Mack couldn’t help shifting his pelvis forward and her eyes widened when she felt his hardness through his jeans against her stomach. But they didn’t widen in alarm. Instead, a flare of heat blazed.
That was the last straw. He was only a man for Christ’s sake. Mack lifted his right hand from the counter and he cupped her cheek. He wasn’t delicate about it either. He gripped her graceful jaw and traced his thumb over her bottom lip, tugging it down slightly. If he thought her little breathy noises from earlier were sexy, it was nothing to the way she gasped and leaned in to his touch at this. Jesus, she was responsive.
He’d just decided he needed to spend the next few hours exploring exactly how responsive when suddenly there was a racket outside the back door. Calla’s face swung that direction moments before the door was shoved open and that bloody fucking Irishman’s voice filled the kitchen.
“Not my fault I forgot me fecking keys at the bar. You’re the one who thought a drinking game was a good idea. If you thought I was going to lose to some pansy-arsed American, well I fecking showed ya!”
Liam staggered into the kitchen, followed up by the twins, Tweddle dee and Tweddle fucking dumb.
Before Mack knew it, Calla had jerked away from him and tugged at the bottom of her shirt as the voices quieted. His housemates might be drunk as skunks but they were all brought up short at the sight of the beautiful woman all but in Mack’s arms. A woman he’d been a hairsbreadth away from claiming for the night before these fucknuts stumbled in.
“Who’s that?” one of the twins asked at the same time Liam took a lunging step toward where he and Calla stood.
“Hey, it’s you.” Liam pointed a finger toward her face. “You really aren’t a dude. Huh. When’d you get so pretty?”
Calla had pulled away from Mack, but he still felt it the instant her back went ramrod straight. Her mouth dropped open and she looked horrified.
Mack’s fist was flying toward Liam’s face before he could even think it all the way through. He didn’t know exactly what the fuck the bastard was on about, but it was clear he’d upset Calla.
And Jesus but it was satisfying when his fist connected with Liam’s jaw. He barely registered Calla’s small shriek or the other guys shouting. All he knew was he’d wanted to punch the fucker from almost the moment he’d met him.
Rich bastard parading around, playing at being a cowboy when the rest of them were here to earn a living. It made Mack fucking sick. So when Liam’s head was knocked sideways and he stumbled backward a few steps before falling on his ass, Mack felt only the glow of gratification.