spend time with her. She made him feel smart and real, and when she looked at him like she had the other night, he felt like one of the good guys. He’d never really been the good guy, and selfishly, he didn’t want that to stop.
“Hey,” Marc said, taking her face between his hands and raising it to his.
She took in a deep breath, opened those mossy-green eyes, and bam…he felt her slide into every cell of his body. Despite everything that he wanted to say, everything that he should say, he found it impossible to talk. Maybe if he was able to keep her around long enough, he’d figure out how to become that guy, the one that he was right now with her in his arms.
“Oh God,” she whispered, and he almost asked her if she was feeling the same thing. Then he noticed her face was pale and her lower lip was trembling. “No, no, no. Natasha and the junior league are coming out. And Mrs. Balldinger is right behind them.”
She tried to scramble off his lap, but he made it clear that that wasn’t going to happen anytime soon. Selfish intentions aside, he’d set out to help her, and that was what he was going to do.
“Marc,” she hissed, still jerking around on his lap. “What part of them making fun of me in front of my ex-mother-in-law don’t you get?”
He might not understand what was happening between him and Lexi, but he got women. And the best way to shut one up was with a kiss.
“Trust me?” he whispered, fisting his hands in the front of her jacket and dragging her up against him.
She stared at him for a minute and then nodded, her eyes wide and full of trust, and just like that, Marc knew he was fucked.
“Thank God,” he mumbled before he captured her sweet lips and dropped one hell of a kiss on her. He felt her breath catch and her mouth stiffen under his.
“Play along with me here, cream puff,” he said against her lips. “If you don’t start acting like you want me, my delicate man feelings might get hurt.”
“I’m not good at this,” she said, turning her head slightly.
“At kissing?” Marc almost laughed, then realized she was serious.
“At, well, all of it, I guess,” she whispered, the tears finally filling her eyes, and Marc wanted to beat the crap out of Jeff.
“I think you just haven’t had the right partner.” He framed her face between his palms and dropped a gentle kiss on her lips. “Lucky for us, sugar, I’ve been told I’m a great teacher. So let’s start with the basics, and we’ll work up to second base by the time the crowd gets to us.”
“That’s fast.”
“No, I’m that good.”
“Yeah?” Her eyes dropped to his lips. Hot need slowly filled his chest and sank down to settle in his groin.
“Oh yeah. Just relax your lips.” He gave a little nip, and she nipped back.
“Like that?”
“Just like that and—”
That was all he got out before her lips started moving against his, and hot damn was she incredible. She was sweet and trusting and sexy as hell. Her lips could drive a man insane. Add to that the way she was pressing her body up to him like shrink-wrap, or the little moans she released when he got it right, but when she opened her mouth and made the first incredible pass with her tongue across his lips he was lost.
Realizing that this might be his only chance, Marc gave it everything he had.
Somewhere between her nails clawing though his scalp and her thigh rubbing up against his dick, Marc forgot that this was a game. Apparently so did Lexi, because when ChiChi cleared her throat, Lexi jumped. She blinked up at the crowd that had gathered and then back to him.
“See,” he whispered, tucking a handful of hair that had come out of her braid behind her ear. “I’m good.”
“Well, if you’re done groping that poor girl in public, Marco, I’d like to give her the good news.”
“Good news?” Lexi sprang off of his lap, but not before straightening her jacket and smoothing down her hair, which was a colossal waste of time. She looked like she’d just been caught making out behind the bleachers.
Marc smiled. She had.
“Well, yes. It seems we are at an impasse.” ChiChi took a deep breath, her bell hat bobbing with anger as she shot a gaze at Mrs. Balldinger—whose smug smile left no