Liv shut the door as quietly as she could, but the creak of the hinges brought a sharp breath behind her. She turned around. Mack lifted his head with a sleepy smile and raised the hand from his chest in a silent greeting. She crept closer to the couch, and he sat up straighter with a careful glance at each slumbering twin. With a wide yawn, he stretched his arms high over his head, and that was the thing that did her in. The yawn and stretch. Manly and vulnerable at the same time.
“How were they?” she whispered.
“Total devils.” He smiled when he said it, so she knew he was lying. “They were great. They ran around, got dirty, all the good stuff.”
“Thank you so much for doing this.”
“Stop thanking me.” He stood and stretched again, and this time his T-shirt lifted just enough to give her a glimpse of taut skin beneath a dusting of dark hair. “You hungry?”
“What?” She tore her eyes from his abs.
“Rosie brought food over. Want me to heat it up for you?”
“I can do it.”
“I got it. Let’s carry the girls in, and then I’ll feed you.”
They each picked up a sleeping twin, and Mack followed her down the short hallway to her bedroom. Liv avoided making eye contact with him as they laid the girls down and pulled the comforter over them. It was way too easy to imagine the two of them in there instead, and for all her sexed-up emotions right now, she wasn’t ready for that yet.
“I’m, um, I’m going to change my clothes.”
He nodded. “Food will be waiting.”
He shut the door partway when he left, and Liv fanned herself. Mack in her bedroom was not something her senses were prepared for yet. She changed into a pair of sleep shorts and a T-shirt.
“Wow, I could get used to this,” she said when she went back out.
He looked up from the kitchen counter. “What? Coming home to a warm meal or to an exquisite male specimen like this?”
“You had to make it weird, didn’t you?” Her annoyance was fake, though. She was grateful for the teasing and the sarcasm. It was as if he’d known she needed some lightness to rise above the heavy sexual tension blanketing the room.
Mack set a plate of tuna-noodle casserole—Liv’s favorite—and a glass of water in front of her. Then he claimed the chair next to her.
“So,” he said, way too casually, “since you’re obviously too much of a coward to talk about that kiss—”
“Um, excuse me?”
He leaned forward. “Maybe we should just talk about how you almost kissed me when I got here.”
Heat raced up her neck. Busted. “Um, you mean when you almost kissed me.”
“Darlin’, I know when I’m about to be kissed, and that was some serious kiss foreplay.”
“That’s not even a thing.”
He licked his bottom lip. “Oh, it’s a thing. And you were doing it.”
Liv crossed her arms, but her breasts were suddenly super tingly, so she tried to set her hands on her hips, but that was awkward because she was sitting down.
“You comfortable yet?” Mack teased.
She plunked her elbows on the table.
He nodded. “I happen to be an expert on these things.”
Liv snorted. “I’m sure you think so.”
“Aren’t you even the least bit curious how I knew what you were thinking?”
“No.” Yes.
“You probably think it’s because you looked at my mouth like you wanted to drink from it.”
“Wow, you really have read too many romance novels.”
“It wasn’t even the fact that your tongue darted out and licked the corner of your mouth.”
Liv rolled her eyes and took a bite.
“Nope. You looked at my pulse.”
Liv cocked an eyebrow.
“You stared right . . . here.” Mack reached across the short space between them and pressed the pad of his thumb to the hot pulse point in her throat. “It was your biggest tell.”
His thumb caressed her skin.
Her breath got stuck.
Then her food got stuck.
She started to cough. Liv glared and took a drink of her water. “I did not look there,” she choked.
He leaned back, all smug and satisfied. “You’re going to argue with the master?”
“Yes, because you’re forgetting one very important detail.” Liv inched forward until their noses nearly touched. “I don’t even like you.”
“I think we’re beyond that, don’t you?” His voice was a caress on her skin.
Liv ate several more bites before giving up. Her body was hungry for one thing only, and it had nothing to do with