Page 46 of Save the Last Dance
He pressed a kiss to the top of her head, allowing his lips to linger against her silky blond hair longer than he probably should have. She fit against him as though she was made for him. As though she’d never left his side. He steeled himself against that line of thinking; they had a past they couldn’t change and a future they could never share. So right now, he just wanted to offer her a shoulder.
“I still say your home is wherever you make it.” He guessed her grandmother would have gone with her to New York, but he understood why Nina wouldn’t ask.
“For me, maybe. But not for her. For Gram, home is where she lived with my Gramp, where she raised her sonand, eventually, me. She likes being close to the fruit trees so she can make jam and pies.”
She lifted her head to look at him, her eyes full of emotion. Her lips within kissing range. His gaze dipped down to her mouth. And stayed there. Just like she was staying in Heartache.
“You’re really moving back here.” He realized he hadn’t really let himself believe it that first night when she’d told him under the stars in his convertible. It would take a while to sink in.
“I really am.” She sounded so damn sure of it. So steady.
His heart slugged a hard rhythm against his chest, his fingers moving over her shoulder, down her upper arm along the sleeve of a silky shirt until he touched bare skin.
It was an old dream of his for her to say these things to him while he held her tight. But damn it, he didn’t even want the same things anymore. Still, he’d dreamed it for so long he couldn’t deny the fierce grip the moment had on him…. The thought of her here, in Heartache.
And Nashville wasn’t as far away as New York… Damn it, what was he thinking?
Except he didn’t want to think. Hadn’t they agonized about their relationship enough? He only wanted to feel, unable to resist the full-on draw of Nina. AlwaysNina.
With his free hand, he cupped her chin. Cradled her face. Gave her plenty of time to back away. Instead, her eyelids fluttered and closed.
Something about that small acquiescence hit him square in the chest. She’d been so scared of being hurt again. No matter how much he wanted her, he had to keep her safe from that. Keep her safe from him. But right now, he couldn’t possibly stop himself from kissing her.
His lips brushed over hers once to remind himselfhow good she tasted. Another time to savor the exquisite softness of her. And a third time to make sure she knew how much he wanted her and how combustible they could be together. It wasthatkiss that kicked things into high gear. He teased her lips apart with his tongue, needing more of her taste. She met each stroke of his tongue with one of her own, answering his kisses with a fire all her own. And suddenly, it didn’t matter that they were floating in a tin boat around a little lake at the back of the fairgrounds.
The moment was all about Nina.
Mack wrapped both arms around her, his palms meeting at the small of her back. He cupped the curve of her waist and followed the delicate flare of her hips with his hands. She arched into him, her fingers sliding around his neck to lace together there.
He breathed her in, the sweet edible scent of vanilla urging him to find the source of the fragrance. He kissed along her jaw and to the delicate hollow behind her ear, making her gasp with pleasure.
Reminding himself to explore that spot further later, he kissed lower, nipping a path down her neck to find the root of that scent that was making him crazy.
“Mack.” Her fingers gripped his shoulders now as she clutched him tight. “What if someone sees us?”
A damned legitimate concern.
“We’re adults now.” He found a spot along her neck that made her sigh and traced it again. And again. “No more sneaking around in the orchard at night.”
She was quiet for so long he wondered if she was still worried about a possible PDA. Lifting his head from the decadent indulgence of kissing her, he glanced back to the fairgrounds.
Only to realize they’d floated toward the far shore, their boat already half-hidden by trees surrounding a quiet inlet.
“Look where we are.” He spoke into her ear, watching her face as she opened her eyes slowly and got her bearings. A smile curled her lips before she peered up at him. “It’s almost as if the universe conspired to give us this one anonymous kiss.”
“Or this one anonymous hour,” he said, pressing his luck, not letting the moment slip by him. “No one will come searching for me any time soon.”
“You? Mr. Festival Coordinator and a Finley at that?” Her fingers sketched a light touch along the back of his neck that made him want to row the boat to the closest shore so he could take her home with him. Stay in bed with her for days.
He was too consumed with the thought to answer. She smiled as she continued to tease him.
“Someone is going to be desperately searching for you any second with an urgent matter, like the haunted house ran out of spider webs. Or there’s been a rash of worms in the apples designated for bobbing.” She leaned in to place a kiss under his jaw, her lips catching on the five o’clock shadow he wouldn’t have noticed if not for the way Nina skimmed along it.
High, firm breasts pressed against his chest, making him forget completely where they were and what they were supposed to be doing. Heat rocketed through him and he recalled how potent her touches could be. She channeled all the passionate hunger she brought to life into the way she kissed. He remembered she did the same in the way she made love.
“It’s going to take a whole lot more than an apple bobbing issue to tear me away from you.” He slid his hands up her spine and back down, memorizing the feel of heragain. And then, deliberately, he forced himself to pause. “But only if you’re sure this is what you want.”
She stilled, blinking. Her lips parted as if to speak and then snapped shut again.
