Carly Phillips - Brazen

Instead of trying to draw out his emotions, she hid behind sex. Which, he reminded himself, wasn't necessarily a bad thing. Most men would enjoy continuous and varied lovemaking with Samantha. Lord knows Mac did, just not when the lady in question was avoiding him in other ways.

He placed his hands behind his head and leaned back. From his reclining position, he could see the bottom of the balcony, and the memory of Samantha flinging her shirt over the rail replayed itself in his mind. He pushed himself to his feet, but he already knew he hadn't stumbled across the garment this morning.

"What kind of wildlife would be interested in a shirt?" he wondered aloud.

"You looking for this, boy?" Zee's laughter broke through the early morning air.

"I should have known." Mac snatched the cream-colored top out of the old man's grasp. "Don't you ever sleep?"

"Nah. Especially when I figured you could use a hand cleaning up after last night. How is she, anyway?"

He glanced up at the closed window and tried not to picture Samantha as he'd last seen her, naked, one bare leg and an even more enticing bare cheek sticking out from beneath the covers. "Still sleeping."

"Wore her out, did you?"

"Not now, Zee."

The older man followed Mac up the wooden porch and leaned against the corral-style railing. "So you finally fell in love. How's it feel?"

"Like hell," Mac muttered, grateful to have a friendly ear.

"Welcome to the world, boy." Zee grinned. "Just don't tell Bear. Once he gets his woman, I want some grandbabies to bounce on my lap. But yours would be equally as good, so tell the lady the truth and live happily ever after."

"I can't get her to relax enough to tell her my first name," Mac muttered.

Zee shrugged, then placed a gnarled hand on Mac's shoulder, a gesture he'd done so often through the years. "Maybe you haven't tried hard enough. If you want something, go after it. If you don't, you really don't want it that bad."

Mac mulled over that piece of advice while he tossed her shirt into the bar and rejoined Zee on the porch.

"You clean up from last night?" the older man asked.

"Not yet."

"Well, get outta here. I got Hardy and Earl coming by. They've got nothing to do, anyway, and they'll be more than happy to help."

"I can't let you do my work for me."

"You don't, and I'll tell Bear you're leaving ladies' lingerie all over the damn bar. If I had a sexy woman waiting for me, I wouldn't be down here soaking up sunshine. I'd be upstairs soaking up something else." The old man choked on laughter at his own joke.

"Okay, but I owe you one."

"Introduce me to the next lady you meet at The R-"

"So tell me, where's he picking up women, Zee."

At the sound of Samantha's sexy voice, Mac turned. She stood in the doorway, hugging the frame.

"Well, hello, Sammy Jo." After his greeting the older man grew silent. Unusually silent. For the first time, Mac witnessed Zee at a loss for words and realized the older man was protecting his secret.

"Details," Samantha said. A spark settled in her eyes that Mac strove to comprehend. "I want to know where and when." One part determination, he decided, the other part jealousy. He hoped.

"About what?" Zee asked.

It wasn't like Zee to play dumb, and Mac felt bad putting the old man in the middle. "He wants me to introduce him to the first good-looking lady I meet on our trip today," Mac answered for him.

"Trip?" She swung herself out the door, excitement tingeing her voice, a renewed bounce to her step. The yellow tank-top dress she wore clung to her curves in a way that had him drooling. It'd be a long day watching her without touching, but that was exactly what he planned to do.

Once again, for both their sakes, he had no choice.

"Where are we going?" she asked.

"Someplace relaxing, where we can get away from the bar and you can enjoy the weather." He knew just where to take her. Sometime after Zee made his offer, Mac decided Samantha needed space from the intensity they'd shared.

She was on vacation and needed to feel like it, not to mention the fad that he could use a breather himself.

Sam hadn't realized how much she needed to get away for a while until Mac suggested they do just that. She'd woken up alone, and a whole host of insecurities had greeted her. They came back to haunt her now. So what if it had been good for her? Maybe it had been lousy for him. She bit down on her lower lip, recalling the times and ways they'd made love. Three condoms' worth plus some other imaginative maneuvers. Who'd have thought they came in packages of a dozen? Mac, that's who. No, it had definitely been good for him, too.

But maybe he'd had enough. That was possible. How many men wanted to wake up with a woman once they'd… consummated their relationship, let alone spend another few days with them? Perhaps this trip was more about getting away so he wouldn't have to…

She shook her head to dislodge that horrible prospect. "What do I need to bring?" she asked.

"Yourself."

She glanced at his serious expression. No sexual innuendo danced in his eyes or sounded in his voice. In that moment she knew something had changed between them. "Okay." Her throat grew suddenly dry. "When are we leaving? After we clean up the bar? Because I started while you were outside talking to Zee, and I got as far as-"

"Zee's taking care of things around here today." Zee was awfully quiet, too, she realized. No banter, no jokes from either man. Why did she feel like she'd walked into an episode of The Twilight Zone.

"Okay, what's wrong?" she asked the two men.

"Not a thing. Just too much partying yesterday," Mac said. This time his eyes met hers, and hot passion shimmered in their depths. Last night hovered between them. Warm bodies, hot sex, a release and a sharing she'd never forget.

Apparently he hadn't put it behind him, either. Which meant whatever was bothering him had nothing to do with regret. She hadn't realized how much she feared his turning away from her until she thought he had.

Relief swamped her, and she let out the breath she hadn't been aware she was holding. Blood began to flow back to her fingertips because she'd unclenched her tight fists. She shouldn't be bouncing off his emotions, but she was. And until she heard how he felt, she wouldn't be truly at ease.

Zee cleared his throat. "You go get yourself ready. Me, Earl and Hardy'll finish up around here." The older man gestured to the pickup truck bouncing into The Hungry Bear parking lot.

"Are you sure we shouldn't stick around and help out? We could get started a little later on."

"Positive. Zee and I have an agreement. Anyway, let 'em earn their keep," Mac said with a grin. He gestured inside the bar and she turned, assuming he'd follow.

She took two steps and trod on the shirt she hadn't noticed in her earlier haste to meet up with him outside. She scooped it into her hands.

"Can't have you making a habit of leaving your clothes around this bar, Sammy Jo." His warm breath caressed her ear, and the teasing note had returned to his voice.

"No, we can't," she agreed. She turned around, grasping the shirt in her hand and wringing it like a wet towel. "Listen, Mac. If you're feeling obligated, like you have to shuttle me around until I leave, don't. I can take care of myself and find plenty to do. I can even check into the hotel a couple of days early… assuming there's a room, and if not I can find a motel…" His firm hand clapped gently over her still-moving mouth. She tasted warm, salty skin.

"Everything is fine. You hear me? Fine. And you're not leaving for that conference until the last possible minute."

Relief made her overstressed muscles turn to mush. "It's just that you…" Spit it out, Sammy Jo. There was little-enough truth between them, on her part, anyway. She didn't need to hedge now. "It's just that you seemed so distant when I got out here, so I thought… well you know what I thought."