Нора Робертс - Happy Ever After

When they zipped down the long, curving drive to her house, she felt refreshed, content, and very friendly toward Malcolm Kavanaugh.

And when he cut the engine, silence rushed in, another lovely sensation. She swung off, pleased with how natural the move had become, and unstrapped her helmet.

She handed it to him, then laughed. “I have to say, that’s the easiest hundred I’ve ever won.”

“Same goes.” He walked her to the entrance portico. “So you enjoyed yourself.”

“I did.Thank you for—”

With her back against the door and his mouth feasting on hers, the rest of the words tumbled out of her brain.That hard, compelling body pressed to hers as he took her hands, held them in his at her sides, as his teeth incited wild thrills with hungry nips and bites.

Trapped, she should have objected, refused, but the sensation of helplessness, a touch of panicked excitement, of being carried off, simply dropped the ground away from under her feet.

She fell, without any attempt to catch herself, and answered the assault with equal fervor and a reckless greed.

The kick of her own heart shocked her back—or nearly.

“Wait,” she managed.

“Just give me another minute.”

He wanted more; he took more. And so did she.

It was that simmering, smoldering heat inside the cool package that had caught him from the jump. Now, as it hit boil, he was happy to have it burn him down to the bone.

He held her hands to prevent his own from streaking over that gorgeous body, to make sure he didn’t lose control and use them to pull off those classy clothes and get to skin.

When he felt that control begin to fray he lifted his head, but he didn’t let her go, didn’t step back.

“That ought to demonstrate I won’t be backing off.”

“I never said—”

“We made a deal.”

“That doesn’t mean you can . . .” She paused, and he watched her gather herself, steady herself.

Jesus, he admired that.

“That doesn’t mean you can just grab me anytime you want, or put your hands all over me when the urge hits.”

“Didn’t grab you,” he pointed out. “And didn’t put my hands all over you.” He gave the hands he still held a squeeze to remind her. “Thought about it though.”

“Regardless, I’m not going to—Would you please give me some room?”

“Sure.” Now he let go of her hands, stepped back.

“I’m not going to tolerate this kind of behavior.You can’t just push yourself on me whenever you like.”

“I might’ve pushed a little. So guilty.” In the dark his eyes gleamed like a cat—one on the hunt.“But, honey, you were right in there with me, and I figure you’ve got the spine to admit it.”

She said nothing for a moment. “All right, that part may be true. But just because I have a physical reaction to you doesn’t mean . . . What are you smiling at?”

“You. I just really like the way you talk, especially when you’re riding the high horse.”

“Damn it, you’re frustrating.”

“I probably am. I was going to say I have some kind of thing for you, and want to figure out how it works. But we can go with physical reaction if you like that better.”

“You better understand I take relationships seriously, so if you think I’m just going to jump into bed because—”

“I didn’t ask you to bed.”

He watched her eyes smolder and had to order himself not to press her right back against the door again.

“You’re going to stand there and tell me that’s not what you want, not what you intend?”

“Sure, I want you in bed—or any place that’s handy—and I intend to have you. But I’m not in a hurry.You jump in? It takes off the edge, and I like the edge. Plus, it’s hard to figure out how something works if you’re busy just banging.”

It was completely honest, and so damn logical she faltered. “This is a ridiculous conversation.”

“It seems sensible and civilized to me. That’s right up your alley. Do you want me to say I think about peeling you out of one of those fancy suits of yours, finding out what’s under it? Getting my hands on what is? About feeling you move under me and over me, and being inside you, watching your face when you let go? When I make you let go?

“I do, Parker. But I’m not in a hurry.”

“I’m not looking for this—you—this.”

“Everybody looks for this.You’re not looking, or you weren’t looking for this with me. I get that loud and clear. But I’m not backing off. Because it’s a solid fact we’ve got a thing, sorry, a physical reaction. And if you didn’t want me to make any moves on it, you’d have shut me down, taken me down. Maybe even enjoyed doing it.”

“You don’t know me as well as you seem to think.”

He shook his head. “Legs, I’ve only scratched the surface, and I’m coming back for more.”

The argument was—not really an argument, she realized, and whatever it was, she was losing it. “I’m going in.”

“Then I’ll see you around.”

She turned her back, half expecting him to move in again. But when she opened the door, he simply stood back in what she’d have called a gentlemanly manner if she hadn’t known better, until she stepped inside, closed the door.

She stood there a moment, trying to regain the equilibrium he’d managed to shatter. She heard the engine kick on, rip through the quiet.

Which was, she realized, exactly what he’d done. He’d ripped through her quiet.

Everything he’d said was true.

More, he understood her pretty damn well with that scratch of the surface of his. That was . . . frightening and gratifying at the same time.

Nobody, she admitted as she started upstairs, nobody she didn’t consider family knew her all the way through.

She wasn’t at all sure how she felt about Malcolm getting all the way through, and wasn’t at all sure she’d be able to stop him.

Mostly, she thought, she didn’t know what the hell to do about him.

ALTHOUGH IT HAD BECOME TRADITION, PARKER WOULD HAVE PREFERRED to skip the sexy breakfast story. But motorcycles had a distinct sound, one Mac had heard clearly while she and Carter had been enjoying some time on their new patio when Parker had ridden off on Malcolm’s bike.

Mac may have dragged herself into the home gym when Parker was nearly finished and Laurel well on her way, but she had more than her biceps on her mind.

And she’d dragged Emma along with her.

“I asked Mrs. G for pancakes,” Mac announced. “I especially like pancakes with a sexy breakfast story.”

“Who’s got one?” Laurel demanded.

“Parker.”

“Wait a minute.” Laurel whipped around to where Parker stayed a bit longer than necessary in forward fold position. “You have a SBS, and didn’t tell me?”

“It’s nothing. Plus we’re jammed for the next several days.”

“If it’s nothing, where did you and Malcolm go on his bike last night for almost three hours? No, don’t tell us now.” Mac only smiled, gave an exaggerated wave when Parker straightened. “We need the pancakes.”

“I don’t monitor your comings and goings, Mackensie.”

“Oh, don’t pull Mackensie on me.” Mac waved that off, too, and started biceps curls with the Bowflex. “Carter and I heard Mal drive in, and I saw you leave because I was outside. So yeah, I kept an ear out for you after.You’d have done exactly the same.”

“Did you have a fight with him?” Emma asked. “Are you upset?”

“No, I’m not upset.”After dabbing her damp face with a towel, Parker walked over to drop it in the hamper. “I just don’t have time for pancakes and gossip.”

“Unless it’s one of us in the spotlight?” Laurel cocked her head. “We share, Parker. It’s what we do. If you’re pulling back from that about this, it tells me you’ve got concerns about where it’s heading.”

“It’s not that at all.” Yes, it was, she admitted.Yes, it was exactly that.“Fine. Fine.We’ll have the pancakes and the rest, but I have a lot of work—we all do—so we’ll keep it short.”

When she walked out of the room, annoyance in every stride, Emma looked at the others. “Should I go talk to her?”

“You know she has to stew.” Laurel grabbed a towel, swiped her face, her throat. “She’s a little pissed, but she’ll get over it.”

“You’re right about her being unsettled over this thing with Mal.” Mac moved from biceps curls to triceps kickbacks.“If it was no big, she’d have told us, or laughed it off when I brought it up. When’s the last time Parker was unsettled over a guy?”

“That would be over nobody back in never,” Laurel stated.

“That would be the who and when. Good thing or bad?”

“Good, I think.” Since she was there, Emma ordered herself onto the elliptical. “He’s nothing like her usual, which would be part of the unsettled, and there’s nothing that would have gotten her to go out with him if she didn’t want to on some level. Plus, Mac said she was wearing jeans and that really cute chocolate brown leather jacket. So she changed her clothes to go with him.”

“I wasn’t spying,” Mac said quickly. “I just saw. I mostly just saw.”

“Who’s saying otherwise?” Laurel flicked it away. “If I’d heard her go off with him, I’d have done the same. Jesus, it’s a good thing Del doesn’t know. And let’s just keep it that way until we get a better sense of this. I don’t want him getting worked up over Mal and Parker the way he did Emma and Jack. Now I’ve got to go shower, and praise Jesus, he had an early breakfast meeting. See you downstairs.”

“I thought she’d get a kick out of it,” Mac told Emma when they were alone. “I didn’t want to upset her.”

“It’s not your fault. Laurel’s right, it’s what we do.”