Page 52 of Off the Grid
Something else? Oh, I know!
McKenzie reached down and tore her socks off, not entirely sure why every idea she came up with included the removal of another item of clothing. But this was good. She had a feeling Leo would like this one. “Okay, so you know the movieTitanic?”
“A classic.” There wasn’t a hint of sarcasm in his voice.
“Exactly,” McKenzie said, equally as serious. Rose and Jack were the stuff of legends, and for once, she was happy not to have to argue with her Fed.My Fed?McKenzie shook her head. “Well, I loved that movie as a kid. It was one of the reasons I couldn’t wait to learn pointe when I first started ballet.”
“Ooh, you can do the thing!” His eyes widened.
McKenzie smiled. “I can do the thing.”
She rolled her ankles, loosening the joints, wincing as a pang traveled up one of her calves. It would be fine. She’d only be on pointe for a few seconds.
“I haven’t done this in a while,” she prefaced, then aligned her feet in first position, with her heels together and her toes facing to the side. She held her hands before her waist, just like in the film, and lifted, first her hands, then her body, higher, higher, higher, pushing from the balls of her feet, to the edge of her toes, and up, until all her weight rested on the very tips of her big toes. When she was still regularly going to ballet, the move didn’t hurt, not really. She’d been used to spending hours practicing on pointe every week, but it had been a long time since then. After a few seconds, a sharp pain seared from her twisted ankle. With a yelp, McKenzie fell, balance suddenly gone.
Leo was there.
She didn’t know how he jumped off the counter so fast, but one second she was falling, and the next he was catching her in his strong arms, just as she’d come to expect he would. The hands that had been above her head fell around his shoulders. McKenzie looked up, Leo glanced down, and just like that, all her willpower faded.
She leaned up and kissed him.
Leo’s arms tightened around her and he pulled her closer. McKenzie’s fingers dug into his hair. He tasted of sugar and spice and oaky afterburn. She shifted her head slightly to the side to deepen the kiss, needing more. His lips were soft yet demanding. His tongue went on the attack, and McKenzie met him fire for fire.
“We shouldn’t—” He broke away with a pant.
She’d rarely agreed with him before, and now didn’t seem like a very good time to start. “Why not?”
“Because, because…” He darted his gaze back and forth, looking everywhere except her eyes. “I had alotof reasons.”
“You can tell me when you remember.”
McKenzie sealed their lips together again. With a groan, Leo gave in. He dipped his hand beneath the edge of her shirt, hot fingers grazing the curve of her hip. She inhaled sharply, but the sound was lost in his lips. Leo sank the rest of the way to the ground, taking McKenzie with him. She landed straddling his lap, which worked just fine for her—she had no problem taking charge. Her fingers found the hem of his shirt and tugged it up.
“This isn’t our house,” he stammered as she broke apart for the brief second it took to yank the cotton over his head. “That was one of the reasons.”
“I’ll pay for damages,” McKenzie murmured, unable to focus now that his chest was on full display. She’d been fantasizing about it in the back of her mind since the second they stepped through that door, and now those hard edges were all hers for the taking.
“Damages?”
McKenzie was too busy peppering kisses down the side of his neck to answer. Her fingers gained a life of their own as her palms flattened against his stomach and ran over the deep grooves carved into his abs. She loved the way his muscles flexed and tensed beneath her touch. Next thing she knew, her shirt was hoisted over her head.
“Jesus,” Leo muttered with an almost pained voice.
No bra, McKenzie thought, grinning into his skin as he gripped her hips. Leo rolled so she was beneath him with her spine flush against the wood floor. Her thighs tightened on instinct, wrapping around his waist. His forearm rested on the floor, taking most of his weight as his other hand traveled up the soft curves of her stomach. McKenzie gripped the backs of his shoulders, imagining how the wings painted into his skin writhed beneath her touch, wild and untamed.
He broke away again, yanking his face up and meeting her gaze through the shadows. “You’re in shock.”
McKenzie pushed against his chest and rolled them back over so she was on top. “I know exactly what I’m doing.”
“You’re—”
“Leo,” she cut him off, pressing her palms against his pecs to hold him to the floor. She was heaving, half-naked, and highly aroused. She didn’t have time for this bull. “Either shut up and kiss me, or shut up and get the hell out. Either way, for once in your life, stop talking.”
He stared at her, at war with himself.
McKenzie stared right back.
Leo sat up so they were at eye level and searched for something in her gaze. She wished she knew what—what words she could say, what emotion she could share, what she could do. For once in her life, she wanted to be enough. She wanted someone to stay. Everyone left her. Everyone abandoned her, discarded her like trash in a bin, as though there were something wrong with her. Not her looks or her body—hell, the flannel pants were thin enough that she knew the truth of that. Something else, something rotten inside, something she didn’t know how to fix. For a moment, McKenzie thought he was going to leave.
