Maggie’s swiftly indrawn breath had Danny reaching to snag her waist and pull her close before she turned to walk out the door.
Tara lifted her chin to Danny and then tossed him the license.
Maggie’s hand shot up to grab it, but Danny’s longer reach won out. He held it above her head while he turned it over to read.
When he glanced back at Maggie, he bit out, “Seven years? That’s all you’re worried about? And here I thought you were a really well-preserved forty.”
“Forty!”
“Well, thirty-five when the lights were low.”
Her eyes narrowed, and she wriggled, trying to break his hold.
“You’ve had me jumping through hoops wonderin’ how to get you past the embarrassment of being seen with me. Damnit, you’re not even as old as my brother.”
“Seven years is enough. Let me go.”
“No way. Brand? Make sure our drinks don’t walk off; me and the lady are gonna have a talk.”
With his fingers biting into her waist, he forced her toward the dance floor where a three-man band played a slow ballad. He pulled Maggie around, clamped his arm around her back, and brought her up against his body—hard.
“So, Maggie-May, tell me what really bothers you about me.”
7
Maggie tensed at the predatory glint in Danny’s eyes as he drew her body flush with his. She would never call what they were doing “dancing.” His body crowded closer than was decent in public, his thigh riding high between hers, his hands pressing on her ass to force her to ride it.
She struggled against him but gave up fighting when his expression turned downright mean. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she said in a rush.
“Then think about it a minute. We’ve got all night.” He pushed his thigh higher, pulling up her skirt. His hands forced her harder onto his thigh, and he began to shove her up and down.
The movements were shallow, not something anyone might notice unless they looked really close. The dance floor was dark enough she shouldn’t have worried, but she didn’t trust her own reactions not to give them away.
Friction burned hot between her legs, which added to the sensitivity he’d left her with after their little tryst beside the road; Maggie feared she’d leave a wet spot on the front of her skirt.
“Don’t do that,” she whispered furiously.
“Do what? We’re just dancing.”
“You try to get off all the girls you dance with?”
“Miz Dermott, I can’t believe that came out of your mouth.”
The heated glare she aimed at him didn’t make him flinch in the slightest. “All right,” she said nastily. “You want to know what bothers me?”
Danny didn’t answer, but he bent his head closer to hers.
Maggie quivered in his arms, telling herself it was anger but guessing she was only lying to herself. “You don’t know me. I’m not this way—the way I am with you. When this thing burns out, what will I be left with? I’m not fool enough to think I’m some beauty who can hold tight to someone like you.”
“You think I’m too pretty for you?”
“You’re being silly now. You’re not pretty. You’re too manly, too virile. I’m just a chubby older woman. Nothing special. One day you’ll wake up and look at me on your pillow and wonder what the heck you coulda been thinking.”
Danny’s nostrils flared, and he bent even closer. “If that isn’t the most selfish thing I’ve ever heard,” he said, his fingers biting into her flesh. “I guess you’re right. I don’t know you at all. I thought we were working on that. Getting to know each other, getting close. But you’re so worried about your looks, all I can say is thank goodness you aren’t a beauty or you’d be a total bitch, Maggie Dermott.”
She jerked, and her body went rigid. Her breath gusted out in painful rush, leaving her shaking and slightly dizzy.
Danny’s eyes widened, regret instantly softening his expression. “I didn’t mean to say that,” he whispered.
“I’m cutting in before you dig a deeper hole, little brother.”
Maggie stood dazed as Brand waited beside his brother for him to release her and then gently took her hand and placed it on his shoulder.
Danny turned on his heels and walked away through the crowd, not looking back once.
“He cares about you, you know,” Brand said softly.
Maggie dipped her head, blinking moisture from her eyes. “I know.”
“He hasn’t looked twice at any woman, long as I can remember. I was getting worried he wasn’t all that interested until I saw the way he looked at you tonight.”
“Don’t tell me he hasn’t been with other women. He knows too much for that to wash.”
“Didn’t say he didn’t sleep with ’em. He’s a man. He has needs. But he’s never looked at a woman like she’s precious.”
Maggie closed her eyes and let Brand bring her closer to his chest. Her shoulders shook on a ragged indrawn breath. “He’s special to me, too. I just think it’s gone too fast. I want him to be sure.”
“You may as well give up on him taking his time. He’s determined to rush you right off your feet. Was it his idea or yours for you to lose your underwear?”
She stumbled over his foot and shot him a horrified glance. “You can tell?”
His gaze fell to her chest. “It’s what I would have done.”
“I’m gonna kill him.” Heat flared in her cheeks.
A grin stretched his mouth. “I’m not sayin’ you don’t have to take it easy on him. Fact is, fightin’s just an excuse to make up.”
Maggie snorted, feeling better by the second. Danny had looked as stricken as she’d felt after he’d delivered his blistering set-down. She drew a deep breath and gave Brand a grateful smile. “Congratulations, by the way.”
“Welcome to the family.” He danced her toward the edge of the floor and then took her arm to guide her back to the bar where Danny stood beside Lyssa McDonough.
Both their heads were bent close.
“That can’t be good,” Brand muttered.
“Why’s that?”
“The two of them, thick as thieves.” He shot her a sideways glance. “They’re plottin’ something.”
“Or comparing notes?”
“Maybe he’s seekin’ advice.”
“About how to deal with me?”
“Then he’s askin’ the wrong woman,” Brand said, his tone flat. “She’s only good at gettin’ into trouble.”
“He doesn’t need any help there.”
They both broke into wide grins. “I think I like you, Maggie Dermott. You have a level head on your shoulders.”
She bowed her head. “Thanks. I think.”
“Let’s go break this up.”
As they approached, Lyssa and Danny were so engrossed they didn’t notice, but Tara saw Brand and Maggie approaching and swatted Danny with a bar towel. Then she turned to give the two newcomers a broad smile. “All’s fair.”
Danny glanced up, his expression unreadable, but he pulled her under the crook of his arm. “I’m sorry about what I said,” he whispered in her ear.
“Me, too.” Then she pinched his waist hard and glared. “Your brother figured out I’m naked under this dress.”
Danny chuckled, though tension still etched his face. “He’s probably dying to know how you arrived in this state.”
“Bet he’s got a clue,” she muttered and then fell silent, wondering if they’d done permanent damage to their budding relationship with the harsh words they’d exchanged. The thought frightened her more than she was willing to admit.
Maggie tilted her head. “Can we go home now?”
His gaze searched hers briefly. “Guess you’re not having that much fun. Damn.” Then he nodded. “Right,” he said more loudly. “Early day tomorrow.”
She couldn’t stand the disappointment clouding his eyes, didn’t like the way her own stomach roiled. She lifted her hand and placed her pa
lm alongside Danny’s cheek and then rose to press her lips to his.
“Right in front of God and everyone,” he murmured when she drew away.
“Isn’t this what you wanted?” she whispered. “For me to admit I want to be yours?”
His slow, sexy smile lifted the clouds surrounding her, and she grinned back.
“Leaving so soon?” Lyssa asked, her voice laced with sly humor. “You just got here.”
“I think we’re done here, don’t you, Maggie?” Danny asked, his gaze never leaving hers.
Maggie’s glance darted toward Brand and Lyssa, and heat crept into her cheeks at the fascinated stares she got from them.
“You’ll have to come out to the ranch for dinner,” Brand said. “Give us a chance to get to know you better.”
“I’d like that,” Maggie said, realizing it was true.
Danny tugged her hand—hard. “Let’s go.”
Maggie fluttered her fingers at the other couple and let Danny drag her through the crowd. She was going to have to talk to him about jerking her around; then again, he only got that abrupt when he was in a hurry to get her naked. She hoped like hell he’d let her wait until they were in the privacy of her bedroom.
Her bedroom. Not hers and Doug’s. The first time she’d thought of it that way.
Well, hell. Maybe she really was ready to let go at last. Explore this new relationship with this inappropriate man.
“You’ve got it all wrong, you know,” Danny said quietly on the ride home.
“What are you talking about?”
“Me and you. This doesn’t have anything to do with who’s got years on the other person. You think you owe Douglas to be miserable.”
She sucked in a harsh breath. “That was a little brutal.”
“I don’t know any other way to say it. Things didn’t go well for the two of you. Maybe you even thought you needed to get out of the marriage, but you never got the chance for a clean break, did you?”
Maggie stared out the window. That wasn’t a place she liked to go in her mind—too much guilt and sorrow dwelt there. “I never thought about divorce, but I wasn’t happy. Maybe there just wasn’t time to figure out that’s what I wanted. I’d just faced the fact I wasn’t happy, and then he got sick.”
“What was wrong with him?”
“Prostate cancer.”
“That’s why you didn’t have kids?”
“He was already sterile by the time they found it.”
“You couldn’t leave him then.”
“Wouldn’t even have considered it. As horrible as it was for him, I felt like God was punishing me, too.”
“Maggie…”
“It’s all right. It’s just survivor’s guilt. But for the longest time, I didn’t think I deserved to be happy.”
“Come over here. You’re too far away.”
Maggie unbuckled her belt and slid along the seat, feeling under her hip, and his, for the center seat belt and then fastening it around her waist before she settled beside him with her head on his shoulder.
“I’m truly sorry, Maggie. As soon as the words were out of my mouth, I wanted to kick my own ass.”
She reached up and pressed a finger against his lips. “It’s done. We both feel like jerks.” She snuggled deeper against him and sighed. “This is nice.”
“Don’t get too comfortable.”
The sexy slide of his voice made her smile. “Don’t want me falling asleep on you?”
“Think it’s even possible?”
“Maybe I’ll wear you out this time.”
“I’d sure like watchin’ you try.”
Their lovemaking was different this time.
They started slowly, undressing without the usual rush, pressing intimate kisses as they bared their skin and hearts. When Danny finally rose on his arms above her and thrust inside her body, Maggie knew she’d never felt this full, this complete. He’d chased all the shadows from her soul, replacing them with hope for a future filled with all the things she’d ever yearned for—home, family, a man who would love her through all the trials they’d face.
How had it happened so quickly? She didn’t realize she’d said it out loud until Danny growled above her.
“You think this was quick? I’ve been waitin’ seven years for the time to be right.”
“You loved me even then?”
“I was crushin’ hard. Too young to know better.”
“It’s just as well. The circumstances needed to be right, or we would never have felt good about it.”
His mouth swooped down for a deep, wet kiss that left her toes curling in the air.
“Will I scare you if I tell you I’m halfway to being in love with you already?”
“Your love won’t ever scare me, Maggie.”
She tightened her arms and legs around him, undulating her hips to encourage him to move faster.
“I won’t ever get tired of this,” he growled. “Bein’ inside you. Your soft body under me.”
“Funny, it’s all your hard places that make me weak.”
A wry, pained smile curved his lips. “You know it’s not natural for a man to talk this much when he’s fuckin’.”
“I so love it when you talk dirty.”
“That why you’re blushing?”
“No, I’m thinking about what I’d like you to do to me.”
“Now? More than this?”
“Uh-huh.” She drove her hips upward, swallowing his cock with a sexy glide. “I’ve been wondering what the view’s like from on top.”
“You want to try it? Even when things start to jiggle that embarrass you?”
She didn’t get a chance to do more than nod before he rolled them both. When she caught her breath, she was straddling his body, his cock still locked inside her.
Pushing against his chest, she straightened, enjoying the way the action drove his hardness deeper inside her body. “This all right for you?” she asked, giving an experimental little stroke. “I know how you like to be in charge.”
“I’m lovin’ the view. Keeps my hands free, too,” he said, reaching up to cup her breasts.
“I should have known that’s what you’d go for.”
“Don’t want you hurting anything when you start to bounce.”
“I’m not going to bounce,” she teased. “I’m more graceful than that.”
“Baby, I can promise you won’t be able to resist.” His hands slid around to grasp her buttocks, and he silently encouraged her to rise on her knees and then come down again.
Maggie shuddered, discovering very quickly just the right angle and speed to build the friction between her inner walls and his thick shaft. Soon she was laboring above him, her breaths getting short and ragged, her fingers digging into his chest as she shoved up and down.
She couldn’t move fast enough, couldn’t draw in deep enough breaths to maintain the fiercely rocking motions that sped her toward her orgasm. “Danny…” she groaned. “Please.”
“It’s okay. Lift up a bit.” His head dug into the mattress, and he bent his knees and pumped his hips upward, spearing into her, his hands bracketing her hips to keep her poised above him.
Maggie, still braced against his chest, leaned over him, adjusting to take his upward thrusts, gritting her teeth as his groin hit her clit.
Sweat beaded on her forehead and upper lip, trickled between her breasts, and still she held on, silently giving thanks for his stamina as tension wound itself around her womb, tightening her thighs and belly until her body arched and her orgasm swept through her.
Danny continued to pump despite the burning in his thighs and buttocks. As Maggie let go, her mouth slackening around an anguished moan, her eyes squeezing tight, he was free to fill his mind with the sight of her. He’d never tell her, but her sweet, pillowy breasts jiggled with every hard thrust he delivered.
At last, she wilted, falling toward his chest, and he relaxed beneath her, resigned that his own release would be a while in co
ming.
Her cheek rubbed his shoulder like a kitten.
Danny sank his hand into her hair and held her close, loving the gentle ripples that squeezed his cock as her orgasm slowly faded.
“I love this part,” she murmured.
“So do I.”
“Sorry,” she moaned. “I fell down on the job.”
He smiled against her hair, even while fighting the urgent, painful fullness that made him want to flip her onto her back to find his own release. “I don’t mind,” he said truthfully. “It’s not terminal.”
“Would you like me to help?”
“You’ve already helped quite a lot,” he said, pretending not to understand.
“I mean. I could go down on you,” she whispered.
“Well, I guess. If you don’t mind. But I have to warn you, I probably won’t last two seconds I’m so hard.”
As she slowly slid down his body, he reached down and wrapped his fingers around the base of his cock, determined to wring as much pleasure from the experience as he could manage before he lost his mind.
The phone rang in the early morning hours. Maggie reached sleepily over Danny’s body and brought the phone to her ear. “Hello?”
“Maggie. I need to talk to Danny.”
Recognizing Brandon Tynan’s deep timbre immediately, she became instantly alert. The tightness of his voice told her there was trouble.
“Danny,” she whispered, shaking his shoulder. “Brand’s on the phone.”
“Wha—” He grabbed the phone from her, scraped his hand over his face, and sat up. “Brand? What’s happened?”
Maggie watched as his eyes widened and he sucked in a deep, charged breath. “Soon as I pack, I’ll be on my way.” He handed the phone to Maggie, scooted off the bed, and headed straight for the door.
She hung up the phone and trailed behind him, watching silently as he emptied the drawers of his dresser and tossed clothes at the bed. “What’s the matter? What’s happened?”
His jaw tightened, and he flashed her a glance filled with anguish. “Mac McDonough’s unit got hit yesterday by an IED. The army’s already medevaced him to Germany. He’ll be in Walter Reed tomorrow. I have to go home.”
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