The Other Side of Us - By Sarah Mayberry Page 0,57

was. Better yet, the expiry date was good. She extracted one condom and slid it into her pocket, then added another for good measure. Just in case.

Feeling brazen and bold and terrified as all get-out, she left the house.

CHAPTER TEN

TRAVERSING TWO GRAVEL driveways in stilettos prevented Mackenzie from dwelling on the slightly sick/excited feeling in the pit of her stomach, but there was no denying the swoop of adrenaline that washed through her as she climbed the stairs to Oliver’s front porch.

She shook her hands, blowing out a breath.

He’s a good guy. Trust him. And trust yourself.

She knocked. A beat of silence followed. Her throat was so tight with nerves she wondered how she would keep breathing. Then footsteps sounded on the other side of the door. She closed her eyes for a brief moment, reaching for courage. The door was swinging wide when she opened her eyes.

Oliver stood there in his tank top and jeans, his feet bare. Her gaze dropped to his hips. The stud on his jeans was open, as though she’d caught him in the act of undressing.

“Mackenzie.” His gaze traveled over her face before dropping to scan her body. A small, confused smile tilted his mouth. “You heading out?”

She opened her mouth to tell him why she was there—an expurgated version, anyway—but nothing came out. Nerves squeezed her diaphragm and chest. She felt a little dizzy.

I don’t think I can do this.

She could feel her courage draining away. Driven by desperation, she reached out and clenched her hand into the fabric of his shirt. Then she used her grip to yank him toward her. His eyes widened as they bumped chests. She was already lifting her head, her mouth finding his unerringly, instinctively. Her free hand landing on his shoulder for balance, she closed her eyes and kissed him with all the urgency and need in her soul.

For a horrible, too-long moment his mouth was still against hers, then his arms came around her and his lips opened. The hot, knowing slide of him inside her mouth made her knees weak with lust.

He tasted like coffee and desire, and his stubble rasped against her face as he angled his head and deepened their connection. One of his hands slid down her spine to cup her backside, curving around it possessively before pulling her into more intimate contact with his body. She felt his hard-on against her belly, a thick, firm ridge that made her moan with anticipation.

She needed this. Needed him. She wanted the mindlessness of sex, the beauty of being in the now, the carnal joy of giving in to her animal self. Her hands grasped at his tank top, searching blindly, desperately for the hem. Once she found it she slid her hands onto the firmness of his belly, her inner muscles tightening as she felt the shiver of need that rippled through his body. His skin was still slightly damp from their yard work and she rubbed her hips against his as she remembered how good he’d looked, working and sweating on her behalf.

Vaguely aware they were still on his doorstep, she urged him backward, not stopping until she had him pressed against the hall wall. Utterly focused on getting him naked, she kicked the door shut and started tugging his shirt up his torso. She needed to touch and see and lick him. Now.

He broke their kiss, his hands finding hers to halt their progress.

“Mackenzie,” he said, his voice thick and low. “I haven’t had a shower—”

“Thank. God,” she said, kissing him again.

She wanted him hot and sweaty. She wanted him exactly as he was.

He laughed but let her have her way, ducking his head and lifting his arms obligingly so she could tug the top over his head. She let it fall to the ground, eating up his shoulders and chest and belly with her eyes. Her gaze zeroed in on the hollow at the base of his neck that she’d wanted to lick earlier and she leaned close and tasted him. Salt and heat and man. She wrapped her hand around his biceps and pressed herself against him as she tasted him again.

He muttered something under his breath and the next thing she knew she was moving backward, and then she was the one with her back against the wall on the other side of the hall and he was pinning her there with his body weight.

“Are you trying to kill me?” he asked her as he looked into