McKenzie Cousins Box Set 1

by Lexi Buchanan

  Hearing, “Charlotte?” shouted through the bedroom door, my sobs become louder, and then I hear the door opening.

  He curses as he storms into the bathroom. His eyes roam over me, but in a clinical way, although I do catch a brief look of appreciation before he steps forward. He pauses before he reaches for me.

  “I should have taken some pain meds before climbing into the tub,” I hiccup. “I can’t get out.”

  Grabbing a towel, he wraps it around my back and then I feel his arms enclose me as he quickly lifts me against his chest.

  I cradle my arm close so it doesn’t jar my shoulder and sigh into the curve of his neck. He gently places me on the bed and gasps, dropping his ass to the bed when he sees my bruised body.

  He slowly reaches to touch me and pulls his hand back at the last minute. “God, Charlotte. I had no idea you hurt so badly.” Meeting and holding my gaze, he leans down and places a soft kiss against my hipbone, moving to the other.

  With the pain, my reaction shouldn’t be one of arousal, but that’s how my body reacts. My breasts swell, my nipples throb, and that’s nothing compared to what’s going on between my thighs. At least I’m not concentrating on the pain anymore.

  I tangle my fingers into the quilt under me and hold on so I’m not reaching for him. In the end, I give myself away when a moan escapes my lips while I arch into his touch.

  He stills and when his gaze rests and teases on my breasts, I feel his hands tremble as his breath rushes out. Grabbing the towel, he quickly covers me, closing his eyes. “I’m sorry.”

  I trace along his lips with my fingers. “Don’t be sorry.” I smile. “Thank you for rescuing me.”

  He lets out a shaky laugh. “Let me help get you dry and warm, and then we’ll get some pain meds into you.”

  “Sounds good.”

  “God, I never thought I’d have my hands on you again.” He places a large hand on my belly. “I want to hold and protect you Charlotte.”

  My fingers wrap around his wrist as my thumb soothes in circles over his pulse. “You will soon.”

  “Hmm,” he mumbles before he reluctantly pulls away. “Let me grab the robe. You’re probably dry now.”

  When he moves away, I don’t miss the heaviness at his groin and his eyes heat when he notices me looking. The man teases me when he saunters back, a huge grin on his face, which slips as he leans closer and presses a kiss to my shoulder. He turns his face and whispers, “I’m glad you’re here in my home.” After another kiss on my shoulder, he quickly, but gently, fastens me into a warm fluffy robe.

  “One minute.” He runs off and a few minutes later, he comes back in carrying a pair of thick socks. “I want you warm and comfortable,” he admits, slipping them on my feet.

  “Thank you.”

  “You don’t have to thank me for looking after you.” He kisses my nose and hovers. “That isn’t the place where I want or need to kiss you, but for now, and out of respect for you, I need to do everything right…until I’ve ended things with Emma.”

  Reaching out, I cup his face in my hands when I see the anger in his eyes. “What did she do to you?”

  He sighs and I feel the anger draining from him. “I’ve known Emma since high school, and we’ve been together ever since.”

  “A long time,” I mumble.

  “It is. I’ve changed a lot since then, and so has Emma. I think we’ve both just carried on because we got comfortable, at least, I know I had. It was easier. I’ve known for a long time that I don’t love her, which is why, when she was unfaithful to me, I was more angry that she’d done it without breaking up with me first. It’s a small town, Charlotte.”

  He runs his hands through his hair. “In the end, I stuck with her to keep the rumors at bay, but it was difficult…and then I met you, and for once in my life, I took something just for me. Something I craved.” He brushes my hair back and caresses my face as he continues. “That was you. The way we loved each other. The way you touched me as though you wanted every part of me. I’ve never shared myself in that way before.” Taking my hand, he brings it up to his lips and brushes a kiss across the back.

  My heart pounds at his words so I bring our joined hands to my mouth and return his gentle kiss. “You’ve turned me to mush,” I smile through my tears. “I’m supposed to be a business woman, quick on my feet, and wow…you say beautiful things to me and I can’t even remember my name.”

  His grin spreads across his face. “I like the idea of that.”

  I chuckle. “Thought you might.” Becoming serious, I admit, “I tried to move on, Tanner. I just couldn’t. We connected on a level that is unique, and I’m here because I believe you want me more than your…fiancée.”

  “I do.” He moves closer. “I haven’t lied to you about her, and I promise, as soon as I can get back into town, I’ll talk to her and end things.” Frowning, he adds, “I’m really hoping she’s going to be as relieved as I will be.”

  “And if she isn’t?”

  “I’m not changing my mind, Charlotte. You’re the woman I want to be with. So,” he stands and quickly hauls me into his arms, “I suggest that, while we’re stuck here together, we get to know each other better.”

  66

  Tanner

  I wanted to kick myself for becoming aroused at the sight of Charlotte naked. The curve of her bottom as her back was to me in the bathroom. The swell of her breasts, her rosy nipples, and the light patch of hair between her thighs as she laid on the bed had all been too much. No matter how clinical I was trying to be, my cock ached at having her laid out before me.

  Even now, as I lean against the countertop—my gaze wandering over her sleeping form—I still ache. She’s the most amazing woman I’ve ever met, and she’s like a drug to me. No other person has ever looked at me with pure happiness in their gaze before…and that’s how I feel when I look at her. I feel as though a great pressure has been lifted from my chest whenever I look at Charlotte. It’s as though being with her has given me a new lease of life. I certainly don’t feel angry anymore. All that’s gone with her arrival.

  “I can see you watching me,” Charlotte whispers. “You look hot.” She grins.

  I groan and let out a long exhale, hoping my arousal isn’t as obvious as I think it is when I move from the kitchen. Her eyes flicker to my groin, widening as I move closer and sit beside her hip.

  When she finally meets my gaze, there is a delightful blush coating her cheekbones, an answering one on mine. I laugh to hide my embarrassment. “I can’t hide what you do to me.”

  “I don’t want you to.” She holds her arms out to me in invitation. “Just lie with me. I need to feel you close.”

  Groaning, I position myself behind her on the sofa. She wiggles against me and uses one of my arms for a pillow while the other wraps around her waist. “You feel good.”

  “Hmm,” she mumbles, wiggling her ass against my arousal. Chuckling, she adds, “So do you.”

  Catching a breath, I hold her still. “We’ll do as much as that as we can once I’m free.” I kiss her cheek. “I promise.” I lightly kiss her ear and reining in my arousal, I add, “You need to recover as well.”

  “Um, I do ache…”

  “Woman!”

  She chuckles. “What on earth did you think I meant? I was referring to the bruising.”

  “Oh really.” I get comfortable, forgetting about the ache in my body, and ask, “Tell me what you’ve been up to.”

  “That one is easy. Work, work, and work.”

  I frown. “I hope you’ve been looking after yourself.”

  “I have a large family who make sure that I do. My brother, Michael, married his love, Brooke, not too long ago. She’s really nice and has become a good friend.”

  “Michael’s your twin, right?”

  “He is and he likes to remind me. He tells me, because of being my twin, that he should know everything about me before anyone else. It’s awkward sometimes.” I hear the amusement in her v
oice as she continues, “Sometime, I say embarrassing things to get a reaction out of him. It’s funny. He knows why I’m doing it and tries to carry on as long as he can.” She gives a small chuckle before her voice becomes serious. “He’s my rock, Tanner. I don’t know what I’d do without him, or my family. They’ve helped distract me, and talked me into coming out here to talk to you.”

  I pause before saying gently, “Leaving you that morning was the hardest thing I’ve ever done. I wanted to turn back so many times, but I knew prolonging what we had would have made it harder to deal with.” I bury my face into her neck and breathe her in. “Tell me more about your family…or tell me anything, I just want to hear your voice.”

  “My mom and dad are as much in love today as they were when they married. Growing up, I used to love watching how my dad would always treat my mom. He’d help her to cook. He’d take her shopping whether it was for clothes or food.” She smiles as she turns her head to hold my gaze. “I once asked him why he did everything with Mom because my friends’ dads did nothing in their home.”

  I kiss her neck, and answer for her, “Because you were his children. Because he lived in the home he was building with your mom. Because he loves her more than life, and respects her. Because he wanted her to be his wife and not his maid.”

  “Oh,” Charlotte mumbles before she falls silent.

  I gently help her turn so she’s completely facing me and cup her face with one of my hands.

  “How…”

  “I had a hunch you were going in that direction, and because you’d told me how much they love each other. It was obvious.” I kiss the tip of her nose. “I want that kind of relationship, Charlotte. The kind that’s shared.”

  She nods and burrows against my chest, as I admit, “My parents didn’t share a lot of things because Dad always worked long hours, but when he was home, he’d spend all his time with Mom and me.” I smile at a memory. “Every Sunday morning, he’d make our breakfast. Pancakes, sausage, eggs, French toast. Everything you can think of. I used to love that day.” Sighing, I continue, “After she died, he made sure we still had breakfast every Sunday. It was difficult at first, but then it became easier. He’s never come close to remarrying and if I’m honest, I’m not sure how I’d feel if he did.”

  “Don’t you want him to be happy again?”

  “Yes, without question. I’ve seen him happy with my mom and even though she died over ten years ago now, I can’t imagine him happy like that with someone else. I don’t want him alone though. Part of me wants him to be happy the way that I am now that I have you back in my arms.”

  “You’re such a romantic, making me swoon with your sweet words.”

  “Swoon? I hope you don’t expect me to dress up as a pirate.”

  She laughs and lifts her face. “How did you associate swoon with being a pirate?”

  “My mom used to read…a lot. Swashbuckling romance, she used to call them. I can’t remember the titles or authors, but I do remember them having pirates on the cover. My dad used to tease her about swooning over her pirates.”

  “Ah, I know the books.”

  My eyes widen and then narrow. “You do?”

  “Hmm,” she moves closer with a slight wince, her leg sliding on top of mine, “the hero’s are usually handsome rakes who have unruly dark hair and scruff on their faces. It would abrade the soft skin between the heroine’s thighs as he’d show her what she’d been missing.”

  All amusement has left my face as I watch Charlotte’s skin flush with arousal. It’s the same as what I’m feeling when the image of my face buried between her beautiful thighs, fills my mind.

  My body throbs as all my blood rushes south, giving me an erection, which she’ll be able to feel as I press against her warmth. Even through my sweats, I feel her, and that alone, causes my arousal to slowly seep from the slit of my cock.

  Her hips slowly start to undulate as her breathing becomes as heavy as mine. Our eyes connect and everything in me craves to strip us bare and plunge into Charlotte’s wet warmth.

  I close my eyes, trying desperately to get control of the situation, but I lose it completely when she shudders and moans, gripping my hips.

  The overwhelming need to be closer to this woman overrides all sense of right and wrong.

  67

  Charlotte

  Leaning against the wall, I watch Tanner as he loads the fire with logs, giving the room a romantic glow. We don’t really need the romance right now, but how can we not?

  I love him. It’s as simple as that. Although, I wish it really was just that simple. I wish he was free to be with me now, and not whenever the snow clears. I hate not being able to touch him when I want to, which is pretty much all the time. I want to be able to cuddle up to him in bed, and not be in a room alone. I want him to be free to love me.

  My eyes roam over his body and everything else fades into the background, especially when I realize he’s watching me just as intensely as I am him. The response in my body is instant and my heart feels like it’s about to jump from my chest. He may have given me an orgasm on the sofa, but we’d stayed fully clothed. And there is a part of me that is unsatisfied—I crave his skin against mine.

  Tanner slowly moves closer, his brown eyes never leaving mine as I watch need swirling in the dark depths of his. He slowly reaches out and caresses my plump lips with his thumbs, slipping the tips inside my mouth.

  My knees weaken as his mouth slowly descends. His lips brush across my brow before he places a series of slow, shivery kisses across my waiting lips. My senses reel as if short-circuited while I breathe lightly between parted lips.

  His lips graze my earlobe before he plants a tantalizing kiss at the pulsing hollow of my neck. Our eyes connect seconds before he takes my mouth with a savage intensity that is overwhelming in his need.

  I wrap myself around him, feeling his hands holding me securely against his taut body. Every hard inch of him is pressing against my most intimate places, making me feel a burning desire, an aching need, to be joined to him regardless of the situation.

  Breathing heavily, Tanner pulls away from the kiss. He makes sure my feet are planted firmly on the floor before he backs straight across the room from me—the sofa and coffee table between us.

  He leans his butt against the wall and stares up at the ceiling, closing his eyes.

  Afraid my legs are no longer going to hold me up, I grab ahold of the back of the sofa and keep hold as I drop on to it.

  Moments later, he meets my gaze. “I love you, Charlotte McKenzie, and I’m so damn tempted to take you. My body craves yours, just like my heart does.”

  “I love you too, Tanner.” I smile through the tears slipping down my cheeks. “You must know that?”

  “I hoped.” He drags a hand over his face. “The first time we met shouldn’t have happened…”

  I blink unsure if I heard him correctly as I feel all the color leaving my face. “My heart hurts hearing those words out of your mouth because that night was special to me,” I admit.

  He watches me and quickly moves, sitting on the coffee table. Tugging my hands into his, he holds them tightly. “That came out wrong. What I regret about that night is that I’d just broken up with my fiancée and things at home were still up in the air…I will never regret meeting you and being with you, I just wish I’d been free to stay with you. I hate that I did the same as what she did to me in a way. I’m not a cheater, Charlotte. Never before. I hate that I became one.”

  Sitting forward, I pull my hands away before placing them on his face. “You are not one, Tanner. You weren’t engaged when you arrived in Lexington for Sirena and Garrett’s wedding, right?”

  He nods.

  “From this point forward, we need to concentrate on us.” I press a soft kiss to his lips. “Once you’ve told Emma, then we can truly move on together. So,” I grin, “I promise to stop teasing you...for now.”

  He groans. “You don’t need to do anything.” He offe
rs a sheepish grin. “I only have to look at you, be near you, or even think about you, and I want you. My body reacts to thoughts of you, which could get embarrassing if I’m not careful.”

  Giggling, I climb onto his lap, wrap my arms around his shoulders, and bury my face in the curve of his neck. Placing a kiss against his pounding pulse, I grab hold of the hair at the back of his head and tug his face up to mine. “I love you, Tanner Jackson, and I can’t wait to be in this position with no clothing between us.”

  I catch his groan in my mouth for an all-too-brief kiss. “That will have to last us until you can get into town.”

  On legs that tremble, I slowly get to my feet, even though the need to stay where I am hurts badly. His hands slide in a caress up my thighs to my hips as he steadies me.

  “Charlotte, look at me,” he pleads.

  I shake my head.

  “Please look at me.”

  “If I look at you then I’m not sure I won’t break down.”

  He curses, and moving quickly, has me in his strong arms. “The minute the snow stops, I’m going to clear a path to the road. We’re off the main highway so that should get cleared before a lot of the side roads. We’re not talking long, okay?”

  Nodding, Tanner holds the back of my head, and places a long, hard kiss to my forehead. “Good…Good.” If anything, his arms tighten around me before he reluctantly let’s me go. “Dinner,” he mumbles. “I need to make us something to eat.” He clears his throat. “You’re hungry right?” He turns and makes his escape to the kitchen.

  With his befuddled antics, my heartache has turned into amusement as I follow him, or rather the noise of pans clattering.