Joss Wood - Maverick Millionaires - Trapped with the Maverick Millionaire / Pregnant by the Maverick Millionaire / Married to the Maverick Millionaire

He had a way of cutting to the heart of the problem. He was right; she was making far too big a deal of this. It didn’t have to mean anything! Kissing him just made her feel good. Like chocolate or a foot rub.

“That’s it, babe, stop thinking and kiss me.”

Rory moved her head so her lips moved across his ear, under his short sideburns, through his surprisingly soft stubble, slowly, so slowly, making her way to his mouth. Mac’s hand clenched her waist and she heard the low growl in the back of her throat as her tongue darted out to taste the skin on his jaw, to explore the space where his top and bottom lip met. She felt his erection against her hip and knew she had maybe five seconds before he exploded and all hell—possibly heaven—broke loose.

Rory moved her lips over his, her teeth gently scraping his upper lip, her hand grasping the back of his neck. She kept her tongue away, wondering how long he would wait before he took control of the kiss. Five seconds passed and then another ten. Rory sucked on his bottom lip.

He muttered something against her lips, something harsh and hot and sexy, and his big hand gripped her butt and lifted her up and into him. The time for playing, for teasing, was over. She’d never experienced a kiss so...sexual, Rory realized. This wasn’t a prelude to sex. This was just another version of the act. His tongue pushed inside and retreated, swirled and sucked, and Rory felt her panties dampen as she unconsciously ground herself against his erection, frustrated by the layers of fabric between them.

She wanted to get naked. Now.

“Plane waiting. Puerto Rico,” Mac muttered after wrenching his mouth off hers.

“You said you could get another time slot and the island isn’t going anywhere.” Rory snuck her hands under his shirt and scraped her nails across the skin covering the hard muscles of his abs.

“Rory...” Mac muttered a curse and slapped his good hand on hers to keep it from sliding lower. She looked up at him and half smiled at the seventy-shades-of-crazy look on his face. She’d put that look on his face, she thought, amazed. This sexy man looked like he couldn’t go without her for one more heartbeat.

“We really should stop,” Mac muttered. “We shouldn’t take this any further.”

“Why not?”

Mac looked rueful. “One reason would be because someone has been pounding on your door for the last minute. At least.”

Rory jerked back, surprised. Really? She hadn’t heard a damn thing. As the bells in her head stopped ringing she heard the rat-tat-tat on her doorjamb. Her heart dropped to the floor; there was only one person who used that particular combination on her door. As a child she’d considered it their secret code, as an adult—about to get lucky—it irritated the hell out of her.

“Problem?” Mac asked as she stepped away from him and pushed a hand into her hair.

“Yes, no...my father.” Rory pulled a face. She lifted a hand, waved it toward her front door and grimaced. “Give me a sec, okay?”

Bad timing, Dad, she thought as she crossed the room to the door. Or maybe he’d arrived just in time to save her from making a very silly mistake. Either way, why was he here? She’d called her mother last night, told her that she’d be out of the country for the foreseeable future. Her parents lived in a suburb twenty minutes from here, and since they weren’t close, Rory couldn’t understand why her father had made the trek to see her.

Rory checked the peephole to make sure it was her father and opened the door. “Dad.”

David Kydd had that sheepish look on his face that she was sure had charmed many a woman into his bed over the years. “There’s my girl.” He leaned forward to kiss her and Rory allowed him to brush her cheek. Since he wasn’t one for spontaneous gestures of affection, Rory had to wonder what he was up to.

Okay, she was cynical, but being cynical protected her. She’d learned that if she had no expectations of him then she couldn’t be disappointed by his behavior.

“Can I come in?” David asked.

Rory kept her body in the open space of the door so he couldn’t look into the apartment and see Mac. Her father was a fan and she didn’t want to spend the next hour listening to hockey talk. And, even if she begged him, she wasn’t sure her Dad would keep quiet about seeing Mac at her place. Her Dad wasn’t the soul of discretion at the best of times.

“It’s not a good time. I told Mom last night that I was leaving the city for a while and I need to get to the airport.”

“She told me.” David gave her another of his sheepish grins. “I thought I’d make the offer to feed your animals or water your plants.”

“I don’t have pets or plants.” As he was well aware. Rory narrowed her eyes at him. “Why are you really here?”

David dropped his eyes and shifted from foot to foot. Eventually he muttered an answer. “Your mother and I are going through a rough time.”

Rory felt that familiar, piercing pain shoot through her heart. A rough time... How often had she heard that phrase over the years? A rough time meant her mother had caught him again—sexting, cheating, an internet relationship...who knew? He was a master at all of them.

Rory knew how it worked. Her parents would separate for a month or six weeks. Her dad would get bored with his latest conquest and beg her mother to take him back. She liked the begging, liked the attention, and they swore to make it work this time.

“Anyway, we thought that since you wouldn’t be here for a while, I could move in to your place until you get back,” David suggested, utterly blasé.

“No,” Rory told him, her expression brittle. He needed to leave her, and her apartment, out of any games he was playing.

Rory stepped backward and rubbed her forehead with her fingertips. “I’ve got to go. I’m late as it is.”

“Rory, come on,” David pleaded.

“Sorry.” Rory closed the door in his face and rested her forehead against the wood, trying to hold back the tears threatening to fall. She needed a minute to find her center, to process what had just happened.

She heard her father’s footsteps as he walked away from her door. There went the reason why she found it difficult, impossible really, to trust that someone she allowed herself to love would not lie to her or abandon her. How could she put her faith in love after witnessing her parents’ skewed perception of the emotion all her life? As a product of their twisted love, was she even worthy of being in a monogamous relationship? If such a thing even existed.

She was so damn confused about the meaning of love and marriage. Why did her parents stay together after all this drama? What did they get out of it? Their love, their marriage, their entire married life had been a sham, an illusion...

Love was a sham, an illusion...

“Rorks? You okay?”

Dammit. She’d temporarily forgotten Mac was in the room. He’d witnessed that silly conversation. She turned slowly. How could she explain this without going into the embarrassing details? She managed to find a smile, unaware that it didn’t come anywhere near her eyes. “Sorry about that.” She made herself laugh. “My folks, slightly touched.”

Mac’s skeptical look told her he didn’t buy her breezy attitude. Yet there was something in his eyes that suggested sympathy, that made her want to confide in him, to tell him why her parents drove her batty. She had the strange idea that he might understand.

Rory bit the inside of her cheek, confused and feeling off-kilter. Since meeting Mac again, her life had done a one-eighty. She felt like she was standing in a fun house. The reflections didn’t make sense...

“Excuse me a sec,” Rory said before walking through her bedroom to the bathroom. Grabbing the counter in an iron-fisted grip, she stared at herself in the mirror.