“Am I right?” He had hoped not to have to push her for an answer, but he couldn’t wait any longer.
“Yes. But are you sure, Mack? I’m afraid I’ll only bring trouble and worry into your life.”
“Some life.” He began spreading soft kisses around her face—on the faint scar over her left eyebrow, on her chin, by her right ear and at the corner of her mouth. “Besides, I come with plenty of my own baggage, remember?”
Then he sought the deeper kiss that ended the discussion. He’d heard what he needed to hear. With a new conviction, he quickly staked claim to the beauty that had captured his imagination under a blue moon, and had teased, tormented and haunted him every day and night since. At the same time, he invited her to be herself, but also the woman she wanted to be. He’d just witnessed another side of her passion while atop a black half devil, who probably dreamed of jumps that, once championed, would lead to the stars, and beyond to the pastures of Pegasus. He wanted her to embrace him with the same trust and commitment.
As she responded to the slow devouring of her mouth, she explored him as much as her injuries allowed. Her touch was as air light as a dragonfly’s wing as she stroked his hair, his throat and his broad shoulders.
“Don’t hurt yourself,” he warned, despite loving every caress. “I can wait until you heal.”
“I can’t resist. You’re as beautiful as Tanker.”
He couldn’t help but chuckle. “Tied with a horse.”
“Not just any horse. And I’ve never said that to any man.”
Her sincerity and adoration melted away more of his control, and Mack’s next kiss communicated that with its intensity. His own hands were barely touched by the fire and he could explore and stroke her all he wanted, bring her as much pleasure as she could bear. When he slid his leg between hers, she closed her thighs around him, seeking release from the sensual onslaught.
“Yes,” he breathed against her lips, “I like touching you, too. I’ve been dying to do this,” he said, gliding his hand over her breast and then brushing her nipple with his thumb until he could feel the telltale nub thrust against her T-shirt and bra. “And this.” He followed that by sliding her shirt up over her bra and then covering her with his mouth.
Alana’s breath caught and she arched to get closer to the sensations and him. He gave her what she wanted, and reveled in watching how quickly her body grew flushed as desire lit a fever in her.
“I need to see you again,” he said, easing the T-shirt the rest of the way over her head. “That shower last night almost killed me. I wanted to lift you off that bench and into my arms, slide your sleek, glistening body against mine. Taste you,” he said, undoing the turquoise bra that matched her shirt. As it, too, was brushed away to the edge of the bed, he did exactly what he’d promised himself would happen if she ever gave him that chance again.
Alana cried out at his slow, wet kiss, and again as he suckled her, then drew her even deeper into his mouth. “Mack, please...”
He understood her impatience; his own arousal was starting to feel more like pain instead of pleasure. But having never expected to find a woman like Alana, he wasn’t about to treat her as casually as he had every other woman who had passed through his life. Alana was the kind of woman to build a future with.
“Lovely,” he said, nuzzling her with his lips, then gliding his cheek down her midriff, where he also teased the taut skin above the button of her jeans.
“Can’t we get your shirt off, too?” she entreated him.
Relishing the idea of her doing the same things to him, he forced himself to sit up and did exactly as she’d asked. But when he started to turn back to her, she stopped him. Rising to her knees, she straddled his lap.
“Wet is wonderful, but dry is nice, too,” she said, rubbing herself against his chest hair, and then a little harder, until her nipples teased his.
“Yeah, it is.” Mack’s smile was almost predatory as he watched her. It gave him no end of pleasure to see her regaining some of her spirit and begin to enjoy herself. Her eyes half-closed, her expression dreamy, she’d never looked more seductive with her lips pink and already a little swollen from his hungry kisses. As that hunger grew into a tight coil in his belly and loins, Mack filled his hands with her silky hair and held her still for another life-changing kiss.
Alana wrapped her arms around his neck, and then tightened them as the kiss went on and on. Soon, the same urgent thrusts of his tongue were being duplicated by her rocking and swaying hips. With a need that edged on feral, Mack shifted his hold, gripping her bottom, so he could grind her against his arousal.
With a shudder, Alana reached between them for the button on his jeans. Just the brush of her warm fingers against his hotter flesh almost pushed him over the edge, and he rolled her beneath him and made short work of stripping her out of the rest of her clothes, followed by shucking off his.
For an instant they lay side by side gazing at each other with anticipation, their breathing shallow. Then, just as he began reaching for her again, Mack froze. With a wry twist of his lips, he said, “I’ll be back in a second. I almost forgot protection.”
Alana caught him by the arm, only to turn that into a caress. Sliding her hand to his nape, she drew him back to her. “I’m still on birth control pills. It’s the job. Mandatory per you-know-who,” she added, with a half shrug. “If...that’s all we have to worry about?”
The message and question clear, Mack enfolded her into his arms and slid himself between her thighs. “It is.” He would never allow himself to touch her otherwise. He had followed her into yesterday’s fiery hell to protect her, and even if this was all there was to be between them—which it wouldn’t be if he had any say in the matter—he would still want her to know her safety was all that mattered to him.
With that issue resolved, Mack locked his lips to hers for another kiss that he hoped would never end. He wanted to spend the rest of his life like this, holding the lovely being that was stealing his heart. He wanted to win countless smiles from her, and earn endless sighs and cries of pleasure, too. Those weren’t dreams but goals as he began to stake claim on their future together.
“Ally, tell me again,” he said, the urge to bury himself inside her mounting by the second. “Are you sure?”
“Never more so of anything.”
He’d never participated in this kind of intimacy—talking, coaxing, sharing. He wanted it all. “Tell me.”
“You’re my hero. Not just because of last night, although I’ll never forget what you did, your own selfless risk that you took. But because you won’t let me fail. You see something worth fighting for in me, and you make me want to fight, too.” She buried her face in the curve of his neck and shoulder and pressed an ardent kiss against his hot flesh. “If I can trust you with my life, I can’t help but trust you with my heart.”
The gently spoken, profound words were his undoing. Mack raised himself on his elbows and watched her as he slowly began their joining. He wanted to memorize this moment. She’d just given him the greatest gift he’d ever received. In a way, this was more difficult than soldiering; a gentle but strong woman who had been stumbling and feeling alone for too long was offering him all that she had left to give. She was looking at him as though he was all that mattered. In that instant, Mack knew he was hers, whether she changed her mind about this—them—or not.
Unable to stay still or quiet during his sensual invasion, Alana whispered his name as she wrapped herself around him. It was as though each limb was confirming and defining her desire and need for him. “Mack...this is so perfect. Don’t stop.”
“Hold me. Tighter.” He buried his tongue in her mouth, in the same way he had claimed her body and began an irresistible and thorough exploration of her core, just as he had every other silken inch of her body. Her passion was as hot as the flames that had almost succeeded in keeping this only a dream. He thrust himself deeper, and then slid his hands to her hips, asking for more. His heart was pou
nding so hard, it threatened to burst through bone and flesh, as his passion-slick body took all she had to give and then offered everything he was in return.
Just as pleasure unleashed inside him like some too-tight coil breaking free, Alana cried out in the midst of her own release. Mack drank those sweet sounds and, together, they rode the incredible waves of emotion and sensation to peace.
* * *
Alana felt so exquisitely sated and complete, it would have been sheer bliss to curl up in Mack’s arms and drift off to sleep—except that she couldn’t stop exploring and stroking him. She loved his body—even his scars, because they were evidence of how he had cheated death. Now that he was resting and healing—and probably eating more—his muscles showed greater definition. Dressed, Mack was impressive and intimidating, naked he made her mouth water.
“From now on, whenever I see you pampering Tanker, I’m going to be jealous as hell,” he drawled, under her self-indulgent exploration.
He was lying with his eyes closed, and he spoke with a deceptive laziness, but the moment he slid his hand down her back, all the way to where they were still joined, she knew he wasn’t anything close to sleepy. After a soft whimper as he brought her impossibly close to ecstasy again, she pressed a kiss into the soft mat of hair over his heart.
“You have nothing to be jealous of. I’m willing to do this any and every time you’ll let me.” As she helplessly tightened muscles inside in order to enjoy every last bit of him, she moaned softly. “Thank you.”
He lifted his lids only enough to see her beneath lashes that were shades darker than his hair. “Any and all thanks are mine, darling.”
“No. You make me feel—more than I ever have. More than winning those competitions or graduating with honors from the academy, or...”
As her voice drifted off, Mack’s turned into a wicked grin. “On second thought, I’ll take that last ‘or.’” But just as quickly, his expression grew serious and he tightened his arms around her. “Stay with me.”
She knew what he was saying. “I want to.” She wasn’t ready to return to the house, anyway.
“Call your uncle.”
“Maybe. Later.” Still stinging from his behavior, Alana explained, “I don’t want to listen to any more orders. He’s the one who forced leave on me.”
“At least tell him where you are.”
“As if he doesn’t know? I suspect as soon as he arrived at the crash scene and discovered you’d beat him, he had to draw some conclusions.”
Mack’s gray-green eyes lit with secret humor. “You’re right. I’ve been as subtle about my intentions as a meteor landing in his kitchen.” Then he added quietly, “You are the bravest woman I’ve ever met. He’s a wrung-out cop short on sleep, who almost lost the last member of his family yesterday—the niece he adores, when he’s thinking straight. You can’t be afraid to talk to that man.”
Alana wished she could make light of that, but this was too serious a matter. “I’m afraid of what else he’s likely to ask of me—or that he’ll keep heaping on the guilt. I’m grateful to him for a great deal, don’t get me wrong, but I’ve never failed to pull my weight on the force.”
“I never suspected otherwise.”
With a sigh, she settled her chin on his chest, doubt creeping into her mind nonetheless. “Was I wrong to refuse the interview with Walt?”
“Not if you believe he would bring up too much that’s painful about your past. From the way Duke described him, he doesn’t sound like a guy who plays fair.”
“It’s not only that,” she replied. “I don’t want any of this to bring you into the dialogue, and I just know it would.”
Mack took hold of one of her hands, his gaze concerned as he studied the wounds. “We’re together, Alana. I can’t help but become part of that dialogue. The challenge will be to deal with things on our terms.”
As he kissed each injured finger, Alana felt her heart constrict. “But what about your own situation? By now, half the town must know Fred Graves’s only son is back in town, and at least a few of them are surfing the web trying to find out what you’ve been doing all this time. That could trigger alarms in certain places.”
“I’m a reluctant medal recipient, not one of America’s Ten Most Wanted.”
“Which is so insignificant that you tried to blackmail me into keeping your identity a secret in order to agree to stay here?”
Mack slid his hands to her bottom and lifted his hips against hers, making it impossible for her not to feel that he wanted her again. “I was buying myself time with you, so I could figure out if you were half as sweetly noble as you were tantalizing. And guess what I discovered?” he asked, drawing her up to claim her lips.
Chapter Eight
“You know I’m not going to ask.”
It was Monday morning—almost lunchtime—and Mack came through the door looking as though he’d just stepped outside for a moment when, in fact, he’d been gone since shortly after she’d wakened and stepped into the shower. Once she’d emerged, she’d discovered, in rather slow process, that he was nowhere to be found. Fred’s white pickup was gone. Mack’s empty coffee mug was in the sink, and his billfold was missing from where he’d set it last night.
Finally, she’d gone back to the bedroom to find a note saying Back by noon. You still take my breath away with or without the frosted glass between us.
At the time, she’d been moved by that romantic gesture, but not now. Now she was thinking, Sneak, as he started to smile and look all too pleased with himself. She had just returned from caring for Tanker next door, and didn’t want to think about how handsome he looked in his black short-sleeved shirt and jeans. To stay busy, she continued to get ingredients for a salad out of the vegetable bin in the refrigerator. But inside, she was falling apart.
What had he done? Where had he gone?
Mack set his keys on the kitchen table and came behind her as she set the last items on the counter. Wrapping his tanned arms around her waist, he nuzzled the side of her neck. “I missed you, too. God, you smell good enough to eat, and you feel even better.”
They had been together nonstop since Saturday. It had been a fantasy world where they made love, cooked, made love, talked and made love again. He’d helped her with Tanker and the herd, then they’d both worked with Eberardo to tend to Fred’s mount, Rooster, and Eberardo’s Blanco. She’d sensed Mack was almost ready to hone the riding skills he’d only begun to learn as a child, and she looked forward to the day when they could ride around their properties together. But his unanticipated disappearance threatened to burst that happy daydream.
Unable to maintain her offended demeanor, Alana twisted around so she could wrap her arms around him. “Damn it, Mack—you worried me.”
“I left you a note.” He stroked her back and pressed her against the cabinets, suggestively rubbing his hips against hers to let her know how quickly she got to him. “I was inspired.”
“If you’d stayed, you would have seen me blush.”
Desire triggered green fire in his eyes. “If I’d stayed, the well would have run dry.”
Laughing despite her concern, Alana gave him a kiss meant to show him that she would have enjoyed at least trying for that. She couldn’t help herself. He was changing her life, and giving her hope. What he was doing was making her fall deeper and deeper in love with him.
With an appreciative groan, Mack tightened his arms and kissed her back. By the time he lifted his head to gaze into her eyes, she was ready to delay lunch.
“Are you okay?” she asked, searching his ruggedly handsome face for the truth.
“I am. By the way, your uncle sends his love.”
“You went to go see Uncle Duke? At the station?” Although Alana had called her uncle on Sunday, as Mack had urged, she had otherwise kept her distance, needing more time to come to terms with things. Ultimately, she loved Duke and would forgive him, but she didn’t know if she could continue to work for him. In fact, she didn�
�t know if she still wanted to be in law enforcement, either.
“No, but our paths crossed,” Mack said, his gaze admiring as he took in her lavender blouse and white shorts.
“So you were in town?” Alana knew that he felt that it was time to rejoin the community, but she was feeling selfish and wanted him to herself for a while longer.
“Part of the time.”
What on earth was going on with these cryptic replies? Where else could he have gone? Tyler? Longview? He’d been gone long enough, but for what reason?
“I sat down with Walt Biehl, sweetheart.”
“No!” Alana fisted her hands against Mack’s chest, only to realize she’d also filled her hands with his shirt. With a flustered shake of her head, she smoothed the material and struggled to continue with a calmer voice. “Mack, that was such a mistake. Why did you do that?”
“So that you wouldn’t have to. That was my deal with him.” He kissed her forehead and held her close, rocking her gently, clearly willing her to adjust to the idea.
“And you said I’m too brave for my own good?”
“It was worth it—especially once I’d made the decision that it was the best thing for us.”
Us. Alana couldn’t help but thrill at hearing him say that. But she worried still. “How bad was it? Please don’t tell me you told him about how you earned your medal when you haven’t even told me?”
“No, that was my other condition.” Framing her face with his hands, Mack forced her to meet his gaze. “The point is that there’s been enough state and nationwide news to push your heroism far enough behind other stories. That diminished Walt’s argument that he had ‘first dibs’ on at least one of the two scoops he’d been aiming for.”
That would be wonderful news, except for the story Walt had still wanted. “The worm. How bad was it?”
“I’ve been through worse” was Mack’s conservative reply.
Alana shook her head, knowing what he was doing. She’d have to read the damned article herself to know what Walt had wheedled and negotiated out of him. And Mack had done this so that she wouldn’t have to. Dear God, was there no end to this man’s nobleness?
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