Carly Phillips - Brazen

"You are so incredibly… beautiful."

In her soul, she knew he meant more than surface beauty and she tucked the knowledge away in a private space in her heart. But he had to stop before things became too serious between them. Before she did something stupid. Like fall in love with him.

She forced a laugh. "I bet you say that to all your women afterward."

He raised an eyebrow in blatant disbelief. "Right," he muttered. "And every woman I've ever been with is thinking about the others while I'm still inside them."

She cringed as a wounded expression flashed briefly across his face. She'd meant to protect herself, instead she'd hurt him. He started to withdraw from her when she realized she couldn't let him go. Not like this.

"Mac, wait." She curled her fingers into his back, stopping him. "I'm sorry. Please… Forget what I just said. Put it behind us, let's just pick up where we…" She glanced down. Their bodies were still joined and she felt him within her. Heat and desire swamped her again, along with a whole host of emotions she refused to name. "Oh, I don't know what I'm saying, except don't leave me."

"You're rambling," he said, and grinned. His cocky smile put her at ease. At least he wasn't angry. If she could put aside her emotions, they could, in fact, pick up where they'd left off. She felt the beginnings of a smile of her own.

"Rambling's a good sign," he said, his fingertips tracing her lips. Her tongue darted out to taste his salty skin. She watched as his eyes clouded even more.

"Why's that?" she asked.

"Because according to you, you're only nervous when you're with me… like this. So I'll excuse that reference to other women."

Part of her was relieved he was so willing to drop the subject, while another part wished he'd reassure her that there were no other women… none that counted, anyway. But she had no right to want what she couldn't offer herself.

"Relax, sweetheart. I won't hold it against you." As if to prove it, he paused for a long, hard, meaningful kiss. His tongue licked her lips, then probed at her mouth until she let him inside.

When he came up for air, Sam was gasping herself. "I'll be right back, and then we can pick up where we left off."

With Mac gone, Sam curled into a tight ball, wrapping the blanket around her. Then, despite the warnings her heart was giving her, she rolled against him when he came back to bed and cuddled into his warmth.

"Thank you," she murmured.

"For?"

"For not being angry, for being there… for being you."

He brushed a kiss over her lips. "I could say the same. You are something special, you know."

"No, I'm…"

"Yes, you are," he said firmly. "I've never known anyone like you."

"Mac, don't. You don't realize what you're…"

"You're right, I don't. You jump each time I get close, and I'm not talking about sex." He let out a frustrated groan. "But this time…" She placed her finger over his lips.

Her heart warred with her mind. She wanted to let him finish, to hear what he had to say and enjoy the closeness they were beginning to find. But that would be selfish because why let him in emotionally when she still had to walk away in the end? If the choice were hers, she'd stay in this bed forever.

The thought sent her plummeting back into reality. Hers wasn't the only life at stake. Her father's well-being and recovery hung in the balance. She needed his bills paid, his mind clear and his way of life assured. Marrying Tom was the only solution… even if she loved Mac. Oh, God.

Unable to cope with that, she thought of him instead. To let him in now would only hurt him later, and he deserved so much better than that. Pushing him away was the only form of honesty she could give, so she reached between them and grasped him in her hand, surprised to find him hard and aroused again. "You said something about 'this time'?" Her voice came out a husky purr.

Desire filled his eyes, but so did dismay. "I know what you're doing."

So did she. Distracting his emotions by turning him on. She wasn't playing fair, but in her heart, she was protecting him. She forced a smile. "I should hope so."

"Sam…"

She silenced him by stroking his flesh until he groaned and rolled her on top of him. His erection pulsed against her, making her wet, making her need him inside her.

She met his dark gaze. "I want you again."

He grinned. "Don't sound so surprised."

She'd meant to distract him and succeeded in arousing them both instead. She'd accomplished her goal, but instead of feeling good, she was aching inside for all that she wanted and all that could never be.

Not wanting to think anymore, she rubbed herself against him, coaxing him to do exactly as he suggested earlier. Sam lost herself with the man she loved, but couldn't claim as her own.

Mac woke with the sun, which meant he'd had little sleep the night before. Not that he was complaining. The naked woman now curled beside his equally naked body made a little lost sleep worthwhile. He stretched and rolled away from her gently. The sunshine beckoned. After pulling on his jeans, he went downstairs and walked outside, but the warmth he found there wasn't the same. Mac didn't care. The great outdoors offered him what he needed most.

Wide-open space and lots of it.

He sat on the wooden porch outside Bear's bar and stared at the empty stretch of road before him. Could a woman complete a man? Mac hadn't thought so, at least not before he'd met Samantha. But once his body had been held tight inside hers, with her wet, moist heat contracting around him, he'd revised his opinion. Not that he'd had the foggiest notion what to do about it except enjoy the moment, but he'd looked into her worried gaze and realized that the moment had passed. He'd have preferred to see passion or contentment filling her beautiful eyes. Instead she'd been troubled.

And then she'd spoken. Other women? He laughed aloud, the harsh sound echoing around him. Since meeting Samantha, he hadn't given other women a passing thought. Since making love to her, and that's exactly what he'd done, he didn't want to. But she sure as hell made it a point to remind him that he should.

He ought to feel slighted and was worried when he didn't. Because he understood Samantha. She wasn't like other woman he knew, which was what drew him to her in the first place. Figures. The first time he meets a woman who lacks pretense, who doesn't want anything from him, who likes the man he is and not the money he has, and she obviously wants nothing to do with him beyond…

Wednesday. Just a few more days.

Damn.

Understanding her the way he did, he knew the barriers she erected made her feel safe, so she raised them whenever he threatened her "other" world, which he seemed to do with increasing frequency. But that was only fair since she threatened not only his world but his sanity. Until now, he'd not only let her get away with it, he'd raised a few bafflers of his own because she had never indicated she wanted more than what they shared now.

Mac didn't kid himself. He'd sensed something unique from the start, but he'd allowed himself to enter a purely sexual relationship, hoping to build more. He had, and together they'd progressed beyond anything either of them had envisioned. For the first time in his life, he was ready to deal with those implications. Most women would swoon at his feet in exchange for a ring. They would be pushing for undying declarations of love while convincing him to fly them to Vegas for marriage.

Thanks to his misguided bragging in his youth and the number of repeat female clientele, most women knew more about Mac than they should. Not his Samantha. At this point Mac had no problem telling her, either. But she wouldn't let him in.