Fire & Vice: In His Sights

Chapter 7

He groaned and stiffened, leaned so close to her that if he tilted a few more inches he could have taken a bite too. She continued to eat the banana, watching him while he watched her, his arms braced on either side of her hips, his eyes hot on her mouth with every bite she took. He was right, the fruit did make her feel better. Though a little flushed.

Finally, when she thought he had forgotten the question she asked him, he said, "There's a lot I'd like to do with that ass of yours, starting with a spanking for flashing it around in that short skirt last night."

She froze mid-chew, her brown eyes widening.

"But I'm not going to. You're in the city to have some new experiences and partying at a club at the age of twenty-one is a pretty good one to have. Besides, with a bodyguard dogging your tail and a trigger-happy sister I'd say you're pretty safe."

A soft smile curved her lips. Mack understood what she'd been up to. "Thanks," she murmured.

"Besides, if I put my hand on your ass I wouldn't be able to stop there, and I don't think you're quite ready for the kind of loving I want from you."

Her mouth fell open. "Y-you want?" she asked breathlessly. Damn, this man knew how to suck all the air out of a room.

He took the banana peel from her hand and tossed it next to the empty water container on the night table then turned back to her, gripped her hips over top of the blanket and tugged, pulling her steadily down the bed until she was laying down while he crouched over top of her. He hovered over her, his big body covering hers without actually touching much of her. She didn't know what to do with her hands, leaving them flat on the bed on either side of her prone body.

"I want," he said huskily, his voice deep with purpose.

They lay like that for several heartbeats, just being together. She knew in her heart that he wasn't going to take things further. Yet. But he was warning her that he wanted to. He was breaking down the invisible barrier growing between them and their desire for each other. He was done ignoring the attraction that blazed up between them every time they looked, touched or spoke to each other.

"I want you so bad it doesn't make any f*****g sense, Lucy," he growled, searching her face while he spoke. "Tried forgetting you. Tried telling myself all the logical things. I'm too old for you, you're too innocent, too sweet. I'm too jaded, too hard for someone like you. But the truth is, I don't care about any of that. Don't even care that the Russians'll probably put a bullet in me the minute I make my intentions clear. I want you and I'm done denying us what we both want."

Lucy licked her lips. "What do we want, Mack?" she asked, her question a feathery whisper across his chin where he hovered over her.

"We want to be together," he told her. "For as long as this thing'll last."

She frowned and looked down, her long lashes sweeping the tops of her cheeks. She could feel her mascara from the night before making her lashes stick together and wanted to rub them apart with her fingers. It was not ideal to have his face this close to hers when she was still wearing last night's makeup.

"Okay," she said, trying not to sound timid because she knew this conversation was going to be important. Still- she was enjoying the press of his body against hers. Her burgeoning hormones were a little distracting. "But that sounds like you don't think that anything that starts between us will last."

Her direct stare and candor seemed to spark something in him. He brushed his thumbs over her cheekbones and pressed down, almost possessively, sending skitters of feeling fluttering under her skin until she didn't think she would ever properly catch her breath again.

"Got to be honest with you, baby," he told her. "I haven't been in a relationship since my ex-wife and that s**t was toxic. She was toxic. I don't know if I have it in me to be more than a black-hearted bastard." He stared down at her, taking in the shock that she tried to hide at hearing that he'd been married. He pressed his thumbs further down her face and tilted her chin, forcing her to look up. "Any of the women I've been with since her would agree."

Lucy winced a little, imagining all the women a man as good-looking as Mack would have access to. She nodded in understanding. The waitresses at the diner had warned her that a man Mack's age and disposition would definitely have a history. Heck, he was practically a walking cliché. Or so they assured her. Folks from her community just didn't get divorced though, let alone messy divorced as Mack seemed to have done.

"Don't look at me like that, baby," he growled, brushing his thumb across her cheek in a way that seemed to connect intimately with her n*****s.

She licked her lips and darted a glance at him. "Like what?"

"Disappointed."

"Ah," she murmured. "Well, I guess I am- a little."

"Why's that?" he asked huskily.

"You have to understand that yes, while I'm here to have fun, I still have a fiancé waiting for me at home, Mack. He knows I'm undecided about our future together and he's willing to wait for me, because that's what men like him do. But if I do something in this city, something irreparable to my reputation, I can't go back to him. I'm not willing to throw myself away on a man who can't commit past a romp in the hay."

His lips twitched a little and he brushed some hair off her forehead. "Damn, baby." He reached for the edge of her shirt and tugged it gently up. "We're having the commitment talk and I haven't even gotten you naked yet. This is all backwards."

She laughed and pushed at his hand. He refused to move it away, but he didn't force it any higher either. Instead he splayed his hand across her belly. She sucked in a stuttering breath as a bunch of butterflies went crazy in her belly. He watched her lips with hungry fascination.

"And f**k if I'm not tempted a little," he murmured, almost to himself. They stayed that way for a few more minutes in his cozy, warm bed just being alone together, touching, without the intense urgency of their first few meetings. "I really do want to keep you, Lucy."

She licked her lips again, loving the way his ice blue eyes lit with fire and followed the movement with an almost worshipful intensity every time she did it. "Then keep me,"she told him.

"Don't tempt me," he growled back.

"Why?" she whispered, rubbing her cheek against him with whispery soft strokes.

He stood up, flicked the blankets off her and reached out for her hand. When she was standing in front of him he looked down at her. Way, way down. Finally, he answered. "Because, Lucy baby, if I decided to keep you, I would never let you go. And for a girl who thinks she's looking for commitment, I don't think you're quite ready for all that entails."

He didn't even touch her. She could feel her heart stutter to a stop before kicking back into a too-fast beat. Then he took her hand in his, tugged her out of the bedroom and into the hall. In the light of day when she wasn't hiding under the blankets it became embarrassingly obvious that she was swimming in men's clothes.

"Umm, am I wearing your T-shirt and sweatpants?" she asked, already knowing the answer but feeling compelled to point out that someone had undressed her without permission.

Fire raced under her skin as he turned around and walked backwards down the hall. He brought the back of her hand to his mouth and brushed his lips along her knuckles then flashed her a devastating grin that she felt clear down to her toes with a handful of tingles stopping right around her vaginal region. She tried not to hyperventilate or stumble over shoes when they stopped by the front door.

"Yeah, you didn't look at all comfortable in that short skirt and too-tight top you were wearing at the club. I had to take them off," he admitted. "And they tore a little because, you know, delicate fabric, big hands."

Her mouth fell open for a moment as she contemplated him, embarrassment and amusement crashing through her. She couldn't help but laugh. "You did see me naked then!" she said accusingly.

He winked and led her out the door, slamming it shut behind them and locking it. "Then I guess our relationship is progressing nicely, wouldn't you say, Lucy?"