by Judi Fennell
She had to lick her lips before she took the bite.
When he stared at her mouth, she did it again just for kicks.
“You’re killing me.”
“Good.” She tapped his hand that was holding the empty fork and pointed to her plate.
“You want me to feed you?”
“Don’t start something you can’t back up, Nolan.”
“Oh I can back it up.” He scooped more egg onto the fork and held it up.
She took her time opening her mouth around it and sliding it off the fork, making sure she licked off every last drop.
“Damn, woman. That was good.”
“Isn’t that supposed to be my line, since you cooked the breakfast?”
“Mac, if you eat eggs like that, I’ll cook you breakfast every morning for the rest of our lives.”
The thought of waking up to him after a night of sleeping with him—in all its connotations—was enough to make her lose her appetite. Well, for food.
“Are you going to want the English muffin?” Jared held it up.
“Why? Hungry?”
“Yes.” The way he was staring at her said it wasn’t for food.
So she took a bite of the muffin just because.
Butter ran out of the corner of her mouth and she flicked out her tongue.
Jared beat her to it.
Chills raced over her when he licked it off.
“Want some more?” he asked.
“Yes, please.” She wasn’t talking about any muffin.
“You really want to finish this?” Jared held it to her mouth again.
Not really. “Hey, a deal’s a deal.”
“Then hurry up, woman, because you’re holding up the biggest deal of our lives.”
She made it through three more bites of the muffin before she gave in.
Chapter Thirty
THEY brought everything back to the kitchen, cleaned up, checked on the kittens—so there’d be no interruptions—then dealt the cards. The highest stakes poker game of her life had just started.
But Mac was having a hard time concentrating and it was all Jared’s fault. He kept touching her. First it was his foot on hers. Then that wayward foot started rubbing her ankle. When he slid it up her calf as he crossed it over his other knee, she realized he had a plan.
“You’re trying to break my concentration.” She resisted the urge to see her hole card. Five-card stud was all about the luck of the draw; the only way counting cards would help was to give her a vague guess at his hole card. And even then, there wouldn’t be anything she could do about it.
“Hardly, Mac. I’m definitely trying to get you to concentrate on something. But it ain’t cards, Princess.” He stuck a toothpick in his Prince Charming smile and waggled his eyebrows.
Even being silly, he was sexy.
He tapped the table between them. “Ante up.”
“I didn’t think we were putting money into this equation.”
“We’re not. But you have other things you can wager with.”
She didn’t trust the look in his eye. “Oh?”
His gaze slid down her body.
“You don’t mean—You’re not thinking—”
He was. The sly dog.
Mac had to bite back her smile. Strip poker. The guy had all the moves.
But so did she. Jared shouldn’t underestimate her. Especially when he was in only a pair of shorts and a jersey.
She reached up and removed an earring. One of five.
She had to bite her lip really hard not to smile when he rolled his eyes.
Then she had to bite it even harder when he removed his jersey. For a completely different reason.
He made a big production of balling his shirt up and putting it on top of her earring—which only highlighted the way his pecs rippled. He’d definitely rehabbed himself back into shape. All over.
He really was trying to distract her from the game.
He dealt the next card up. Queen for her, three for him.
He didn’t say a word as he reached beneath the table, and Mac resisted the urge to see what he had left to remove. Jared probably went commando, in which case, this game was going to be over real quick.
His flip-flop joined the pile.
He dealt the next card. Ace for him, ten for her.
She thought about calling his bluff—his very buff bluff—and take off her shirt, but she wasn’t quite ready for that yet.
A second earring joined the pile.
Jared arched an eyebrow, but merely dealt the next card. Four for him, two for her.
She added the third earring.
“Up or down?” He held her next card.
“Up. Might as well see what we’re dealing with.”
She could’ve sworn he muttered, “I’m trying to,” as he put her ten faceup. She had a pair showing. Looked like Jared would be down another shoe.
Yup, his six made that a reality.
One or two pieces of clothing were all he had left, and she wasn’t going to ask him what that exact number was.
“Let’s see it, Mac.”
It took her a second to realize he was talking about her hole card.
Mac flipped it over. Five. So far, she had the winning hand.
Until he turned over a king. Pair of kings beat out a pair of tens.
“No more earrings, Mac. I won, I get to call.”
“Should’ve made that stipulation before we started.” She’d learned a thing or two about getting all the fine print out before any game began.
She took out the hoop from her right earlobe.
Jared sighed and dragged his pile of clothes and her earrings to his side of the table. “You play hardball.”
“You’ve known me for years. Did you really expect anything different?”
“That’s the thing, Mac. I didn’t really know you. Or I would never have put you through the hell I did. I’m sorry.”
He kept apologizing and while she appreciated it, it was no longer warranted. “Jared, no more. I accept your apology. I’m a big girl, I know people say and do things they don’t mean. I also know people don’t not like someone on purpose. You had your reasons and they’re in the past. You were right. Let’s start from here. Who we are now. How we feel about each other now.” She held out her hand for the cards. “But I’m still going to kick your ass.”
He set the deck in her palm, then closed his hand over it. “Let’s make it interesting.”
It was her turn to run her gaze over his body. “I’m kinda thinking it already is.”
“Oh, trust me, Princess. It’s going to get real interesting. And quick.” He let go of her hand and sat back in the chair, his fingers interlaced on the table between them, looking as if he were discussing which movie to see. “Clothing only. And shoes don’t count.”
“I don’t have enough on to make it through the game if I lose each hand.”
“Now you see why it’s interesting.” He leaned forward and motioned for her to lean in as well. “And I have even less on than you do.”
She ought to be embarrassed. She ought to be nervous, but she wasn’t. The image that jumped into her head . . . She wanted Jared naked. She wanted her naked.
Go big or go home.
“Deal.” She shuffled the cards, never taking her gaze off him.
“Then game on.” He balled his shirt up and dropped it into the center of the table. “Ante up.”
Mac pulled a Flashdance move and removed the cami beneath her golf shirt, thoroughly enjoying Jared’s glare.
She dealt the hole card to each of them, then flipped his first faceup card vertical but didn’t reveal it.
“Ready for this?”
“Like you wouldn’t believe.”
She li
ked the sound of that.
She played the card. Seven.
Hers was a two.
Jared’s smile couldn’t possibly get any bigger. “So what else do you have hidden under there?”
Doing one better than her previous move, she toed off her shoes and shimmied her work pants to her knees, then wiggled her thong to the point where, with some judicious gymnastics, she could manage to get out of it while sitting and not reveal too much.
Of course, when she put the thong on the pile, the expression on Jared’s face said it didn’t matter; his imagination was working triple time.
“Just full of surprises, aren’t you?”
“You have no idea.” Damn, her voice was a little huskier than she wanted.
“I won’t mind finding out, though.”
She put the next card down. King for him. Her only hope was to get a pair of something showing.
Eight.
“Off with it, Mac.” Jared flicked the sleeve of her shirt.
“Hang on there, Mr. Impatient.” The work pants came next. Thankfully, the golf shirt was long enough to cover anything embarrassing.
“Jesus, Mac, if I’d know you were such a tease, I never would’ve suggested this.”
“But you did. And now you have to honor it.” She flipped over his next card. Two.
Unless she got an ace, Jared Nolan was going to be sitting naked across from his childhood nemesis.
She got a four.
He planted his hands on the table. “Wanna help since I’m injured?”
No, she wanted to help because she wanted to get her hands on that body. But he was enjoying his loss way too much. She’d wanted Jared for years; she wasn’t going to make it too easy for him. The guy had to pay for the angst he’d put her through.
“You should probably sit down and take them off. We don’t want you toppling over. You might damage something.”
“Chicken.” But he stayed seated and with some interesting jiggling around, his shorts magically appeared on top of the pile.
“Last card. Up or down?”
“Don’t you want to see if I have anything left?”
Not particularly. Because she didn’t have much left—and she wasn’t talking about clothing. “Up or down, Jared?”
“Now you know, Mac, that that question could be taken a whole bunch of different ways.”
“The card game, Jared. Focus.”
“Oh I’m focused all right.”
She flicked his card. “Up or down.”
He sighed and shook his head. “Up. Let’s get it all out in the open.”
“Seems like you’re already doing that.” She put the card down.
Queen.
He had King high showing; she needed a pair to beat him.
“Turn it over, Mac.” Jared’s voice was husky and he flipped his hole card over before he finished the sentence.
Pair of kings.
It didn’t matter what she had.
“I win.”
“Yes, you do.” Mac tugged her shirt down and walked around the table. “Now what are you going to do about it, Jared?”
He stood up slowly. “What do you want me to do about it, Mac? Because I don’t want to do anything that’ll make you uncomfortable.”
“Standing naked in your grandmother’s kitchen is comfortable to you?” She tilted her head with a smirk, trying to keep her eyes on his face.
“I know someplace it’d be a lot more comfortable.”
“Oh? And where’s that, exactly?”
He pointed up.
“So now you’re Spiderman, too?”
He laughed at that. “God, Mac. I love that you don’t take things so seriously.”
“Now that’s where you’re wrong, Jared. I definitely take standing naked in Mildred’s kitchen seriously.”
“You’re not naked.”
She whipped off her shirt. “I am now.”
After that, it didn’t matter who said what. Jared hauled her up against him and kissed her.
Mac didn’t have a chance to get a breath, not that it would’ve mattered since he stole it anyway, his tongue doing amazing things to her mouth, his hands roaming her back, and one very insistent part of him poking her in the belly.
Then one hand slid down her backside.
Jared wrenched his mouth away and leaned his forehead against hers.
“Jesus, Mac. You feel so incredibly good.” His other hand slid to her other cheek and he shifted, lifting her. “Wrap your legs around me.”
“But, Jared, your leg—”
“I got this, Mac.” He braced himself with a palm on the kitchen table behind her. “Wrap your legs around me.”
She did and his cock was right there. Just a few judicious movements and she’d have him inside her.
“Condom,” she managed to get out before he kissed her again.
It was a short-lived kiss. “Damn it,” he gritted out. “Upstairs.”
“Then let’s go.”
She unwound her legs and flew out the door.
Jared was as motivated as she was, managing to stay right on her heels all the way to the stairs, then up them and into his bedroom, where he scooped her into his arms and, in half a stride, tossed her onto the middle of his bed. Then he yanked open the drawer on the nightstand and dumped a carton of condoms onto the sheet.
“Take your pick,” he said as he slid onto his hip beside her.
“Please tell me these aren’t flavored.” She’d never understood that concept—either you liked the taste of your partner or you didn’t. Wild cherry was not going to make the sex hotter.
“No, they glow in the dark.”
“Oh yeah, because that’s what I want to see in the middle of the night. Some blue-lit lightsaber coming at me.”
“Hey, baby, I’ll give you any color lightsaber you want.”
She rolled her eyes as he picked up the nearest one. “Purple? Really? That just brings to mind too many old bodice-ripper clichés.”
“And how would you know about old bodice-rippers?”
“Hey, a girl’s gotta have some fantasy life.”
“I want to be the only fantasy you have.”
And when he kissed her again, sliding his hand from her collar bone down to her thigh, then spanning her belly from hip to hip and delving lower, he was. Oh he so was and he was taking her straight to heaven.
Chapter Thirty-one
JARED was in heaven, loving the feel of her stomach muscles as he skimmed his palm across her skin. None of the other women he’d dated had felt as good as his very own terror-of-the-tree-fort.
God if he’d only known back then—
He slid his tongue into her mouth. Those earlier kisses were nothing compared to this. Mac rubbed her tongue against his, then sucked it in deeper, and he felt that motion all the way down to his balls. He better get that condom on soon because he wanted nothing more than to be inside her right now.
Then she ran her hand down his chest, swirled it over his nipple, and skimmed it along his obliques.
Okay, maybe there was something he wanted more. He wanted Mac to touch him. He wanted her hands on him. Anywhere. Everywhere.
His ass was a good place to start. She slid her hand down his back and curled one leg over his and he shifted, arching against her, his dick throbbing. Hell, there was a reason for those clichés.
He dragged his mouth from hers. “Where’s the condom?”
She swiped her hand over the bed behind her head.
“Didn’t you have one, Mac?” he panted, his own hand sweeping the covers as well. Where the hell were the damn condoms?
“I think we’re lying on them.”
He chuckled and shook his head. Smooth move, Nolan. The first woman it really mattered with and he�
�d trapped the condoms off the playing field.
“Hang on.” He didn’t mean that literally, but he was glad she took it that way as he did a push-up over her and her leg and hand stayed gripped to his ass. “There. Grab a few.”
“Got ’em.”
Mac was tearing the foil with her teeth while he resumed his place next to her, then she rolled that condom on like a pro.
He shook his head, not wanting to think about Mac doing this with anyone else. Mac was his. She’d always been his; he’d just been too stupid to realize it. Had always taken it for granted that she’d be there. That she’d wait.
Thank God she had.
“There we go.” She gave his dick a nice squeeze, but it wasn’t enough.
Not nearly enough.
“No, baby, here we go.” He rolled her onto her back, moved on top of her, and slid inside.
Yeah, heaven.
“God, Mac, you feel incredible.”
She nibbled his ear. “You’re right. I do.” She clenched her muscles around him and Jared had to suck in a breath so he wouldn’t come right then.
“Hey, slow it down, sweetheart. I don’t want it over too soon.”
“You have more than enough condoms for us to do this again, Jared. Right now, I want you to move. I want to feel you pounding inside of me.”
Jesus. In that moment she was no longer Liam’s little sister, which took that out of the equation. Right now, from this moment forward, she was Mary-Alice Catherine Manley, the woman he wanted.
The woman he loved.
He surged into her. She felt so damn good. Hot and tight and wet around him and he wanted to just move and feel her go with him.
“Yes, Jared. That’s it.” She pulled her legs back, pressing on his ass with her heels. “God, yes.”
She was moaning beneath him now, matching her movements with his, the perfect yin/yang. He should have done this years ago.
He’d worry about the past later. Right now, there was only the here and now.
He surged back in, loving the way she held on to him, and rode the sensation with him.
“Oh . . . Jared . . .”
“That’s it, baby. Let me hear how much you want this.”
“God, Jared. Yes. Yes.” She arched into him when he ran his tongue around her nipple and grazed it with his teeth.