“You’re scaring me,” she whispered.
His brows lowered further. “Do you think I’d hurt you?”
She could see the conflict in his expression. His desire warring with his love for her. If there was one thing she knew about Mac, she knew he loved her.
“Where would this leave us, Mac?” Keiley tried to still the trembling of her lips, the sensual fear weaving through her mind.
She felt more confused now than she had felt the first time Mac kissed her. The first time he had touched her.
A sibilant whimper left her lips as his hand framed her face.
“Do you think I’d force you?” He leaned forward, touched his lips to hers, electrifying her with the velvet rasp of his lips over her own.
“We need to talk about this.”
“What’s there to talk about?” His arm moved around her hips, pulling her to him, lifting her to the cradle of his thighs as he nipped at her lips. “You’ve known it was there, just beneath the surface. You wouldn’t have questioned me otherwise, Kei.”
“No.” She shook her head, shuddering as she felt his erection wedge between her thighs, the heat of it barely contained by the denim between them.
“You saw it, didn’t you?” he asked her then, one hand threading through the hair at the side of her temple while his lips drifted to her jaw. “You saw the restlessness, and you had to start pushing. Such a curious little cat.” He raked his teeth down the side of her neck.
Keiley tightened her hold on his shoulders as her head fell back and the familiar weakness Mac caused inside her body began to build. She could just drift here, in this pleasure. Let him take control. Let him—
“Enough.” She was out of his arms before he could stop her.
Pushing her hands through her hair, she stared back at him in shock, seeing the glittering purpose in his eyes, the amused, indulgent certainty in his expression.
“You weren’t honest with me, Mac.” Surprise glittered in his eyes as she made the accusation.
“Did I have to put it in words, Keiley?” He leaned against the wall as he crossed his arms over his chest and watched her with that half quirk to his lips that always made her crazy with lust.
“It would have been nice,” she pointed out a shade sarcastically. “Excuse me here, Mac, but I don’t think it’s exactly common practice for most friends to show up on the doorstep expecting to share a couple’s bed. I believe that is highly unusual. Not in the least standard matrimonial fare there.”
His eyes gleamed with laughter, and she didn’t appreciate it in the least. But they were also filled with banked hunger. Moving over her face, her br**sts, her thighs, with carnal intent.
“Go entertain your company,” she snapped. “I have work to do.”
She turned to look for the dress, only to screech in surprise when she found herself sitting atop the washing machine instead and her husband wedged firmly between her thighs.
He didn’t give her a chance to protest. His lips were on hers, his hands were beneath the shirt, palms cupping her br**sts, fingers rasping over her ni**les as she cried out in pleasure.
It was depraved. Jethro was most likely still in the kitchen. One hard moan and he would know what the hell was going on. And Keiley wasn’t exactly a quiet lover. She never had been. Keeping quiet while in Mac’s arms was impossible.
“You knew what was coming,” he growled as his lips left hers to follow a broken path down her neck. “You’ve sensed it since the beginning, Keiley. Admit it.”
She shook her head rashly. “No—”
“Don’t lie to me.” Then he did something she couldn’t have expected to enjoy. Something he had never done before. His teeth caught her nipple, nipped the tender peak, sending pleasure exploding in her womb with enough force to steal her breath.
It was a sharp little nip. Bordering on painful. An agonizing pleasure that had her yelping in surprise.
“I’ve tried to hold back.” He licked the tender peak. “I’ve tried to be the husband I thought you wanted.” His head lifted, his eyes nearly black with hunger. “I’ve tried, Keiley. And it hasn’t worked. Now you have the man I am. It’s up to you to decide if you can live with him.”
“Do you think you can frighten me into giving you what you want?” She pushed against his shoulders. Not that he moved, but his eyes narrowed and his gaze became sharper. “Not likely, Mac. Don’t try threatening me—”
“You think that’s what I’m doing?” he growled in return. “I don’t have to threaten, Keiley. I’m giving you fair warning. Because I know you. I know you. And by God, I know the needs I have aren’t too damned far off the mark from yours. Deny it. Deny the fact that if Jethro were in here watching right now you wouldn’t be hotter than hell. Go ahead. Lie to me.”
Lie to him. She had never lied to him.