Page 21 of Lost and Found Cowboy

Being friends didn’t usually involve the kind of things he was imagining. Although shehadbeen kind of flirty tonight, so maybe she might consider being friends…with benefits.

The teasing grin on her lips told him she knew exactly what he was thinking. “How about we just focus on the surprise?” She went into the kitchen and brought back a plastic tub with a blue lid. “I made these for you this morning.”

Mack shifted the baby on his hip so he could open the lid, and the delicious scents of peanut butter and chocolate wafted up to him. “You made me cookies?”

“Yeah, I saw that Reese’s wrapper in your truck, so I figured you must like peanut butter and chocolate, so these are basicallychocolate chip cookies with peanut butter chips mixed in as well.”

“Wow. I don’t know what to say. No one’s ever made cookies just for me before.” He gingerly lifted one out and stared at it. “Damn, I’m trying not to get choked up over a simple baked good, but this means a lot.”

“I’m glad,” she whispered, smiling up at him. And danged if her eyes weren’t a little teary.

He stuffed the cookie in his mouth, partly because it smelled so good, and partly to keep him from telling her he’d just fallen in love with her. He groaned at the mouthwatering flavors of vanilla, peanut butter, and chocolate. The cookie was just the right mix of chewy and crunchy, and he reached for a second one. “These are amazing.”

“Yeah?” She smiled up at him, but still a question hung in her eyes. “You really like them?”

“Hell yes, I do.” He grinned around another bite. “They kind of remind me of you. A little salty, a little sweet, kind of gooey on the inside, and just looking at them, I know they’re gonna taste delicious.”

She laughed. “You have quite the mouth on you.” Her gaze dropped to his lips and a rush of heat surged through him.

He leaned close to her neck, close enough for the scent of her to surround him and make his head a little dizzy. “Just say the word, and it could be on you.”

Her eyes widened, and pink flared her cheeks as a naughty grin teased the corners of her lips.

She’s considering it. Score one for the cowboy.

She looked up at him from below her long eyelashes, a coy smile on her lips. “You do tempt me, Mack Lassiter,” she whispered.

His gaze dropped to her lips.

Speaking of tempting.

She swallowed then pulled her bottom lip under her front teeth, and he almost groaned as hard as he had with the bite of cookie. He knew she would taste just as good.

It was taking everything in him not to cover her mouth with his. Although, the baby on his hip and the container of cookies were impeding him from slipping an arm around her waist and pulling her to him, he was still thinking about how good she felt against him.

“Come on, you guys,” Max called from the family room. “This pirate ship isn’t going to build itself.”

Mack breathed out a laugh, the moment broken, but he was pretty sure he’d still be thinking about her lips and the way her teeth bit into her bottom one when he was trying to fall asleep that night.

Lorna tilted her head. “We’d better get in there.”

“Yup,” he said, then lowered his voice as he leaned closer. “But just so you know, the booty on that pirate ship isn’t the only super sexy one I’m thinking about.”

She laughed out loud, giving her hips a little extra wiggle as she turned and walked toward the family room.

He laughed with her then tried to turn his focus to the remaining Lego’s left on the table. “It seemed like we were making such good process, so why does it feel like there are more pieces here than when we went in for supper?”

“Because there is over a thousand pieces to this thing,” Lorna said. “But I appreciate that you got Max something that would challenge him, instead of assuming he needed something smaller.”

“And if we don’t finish,” Max said, his focus still on the tiny cannon he was piecing together. “You’ll just have to come back over again tomorrow.”

Mack raised an eyebrow at Lorna.

She shrugged. “It’s up to you. I’m fixing tacos.”

He grinned, deciding that he needed to slow down the assembling process to insure they didn’t finish that night. “Another one of my favorite meals.”

Izzy was sitting in his lap again, and she squinched her face together for a moment then gurgled out a happy grin as the source of that smile wafted through the air.

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