Page 28 of Wicked Flirt
Her adrenaline spiked, heart-racing, pulse-pounding excitement rushing through her at this new side of Marcus. “You want a woman to adore?”
He leaned close and smoothed her hair back behind her ear. “Actually, I already have a woman I adore.” He gazed into her eyes, warm and tender and sweet. And she melted. Just melted.
“Me?” she asked just to be sure.
He smiled. “Yes, you.” He wrapped his arms around her and hugged her. Not what she’d been expecting. She rested her cheek on his chest, his heart pounding under her ear. Was he scared like she was?
She looked up at him. “My ex cheated on me too. I found them in our bed. It was his place, so after we broke up, I lost my home too and our shared dog.” Her voice choked. Shelovedthat dog. They’d gotten Tig, a boxer, together, but she was the one who trained him and took care of him.
“Lex, that sucks. So sorry that happened to you.”
She swallowed over the lump in her throat. “I haven’t been with anyone since then, many, many months. I haven’t even been tempted.”
He gazed into her eyes, and she thought he might say something flirty about temptation, but he surprised her. “We’ll get your dog back.”
She sat up, her heart squeezing tight. “Thanks, really, that means…” Her voice cracked, and she coughed to cover it. “That means a lot, but my ex, he, uh, took a restraining order out against me. I could be arrested.”
“Back it up. Tell me the whole story.”
She told him the Tig story. After she’d caught Noah cheating on her, he’d kicked her out of his townhouse and kept Tig. Not one to give up on the love of her life, she’d tried to steal Tig back early the next morning. Noah had caught her struggling to get the big dog into the backseat of her Subaru. Tig hadn’t been cooperating, probably thinking he was going to the vet. Next thing you knew, Noah had the dog and she had a restraining order against her.
“And that was my short-lived life of crime,” she finished.
Marcus pressed his lips together, clearly taking her loss seriously. “If you give me the address, I’ll steal him back for you. He doesn’t have a restraining order against me.”
Her lips parted, breathless, her heart swelling with pure affection. “You’d do that for me? Breaking and entering, stealing?”
“Hell yeah. I get that love for your pet.”
Her lower lip wobbled and she bit it, her eyes stinging. “That is the nicest thing anyone has ever offered to do for me.” She wiped at the wetness leaking out of her eyes. “But the truth is, I don’t have a yard for Tig, and Noah moved back to his parents’ house. He lost his job. They have a huge fenced-in yard and a girl dog, a little Yorkie, that’s like his bestie. He seems pretty happy.”
He stared at her. “And you know all this because?”
“Well, I had to check on Tig.”
“So you stalked your ex?”
“No! I emailed him and he wrote back and sent me a picture of Tig with Sugar.”
He cupped her face with his big hand. “Aww, Lex. You’ve got a little sweet hiding in there, don’t you?”
“Shut up.”
“You shut up.” And then he kissed her.
And he was good at it.
Damn.
His lips moved over hers, smooth heat, his tongue tracing the seam of her mouth, seeking entrance. She opened for him and the kiss turned wild, all lips and tongue and teeth. She scrambled into his lap, wrapping her arms around his neck, pressing herself against his hard muscular body, losing herself in his taste, his scent, his glorious mouth.
His hands were under her sweatshirt, skimming up her bare back, bringing electric heat wherever he touched. She ground against him, the hard bulge in his jeans hitting just the right spot, drenching her with desire.
He broke the kiss suddenly, breathing hard. “I should go.”
She grabbed his head. “Are you kidding me?”
But he wasn’t kidding. He peeled her hands off him, set her off his lap, and stood. She reached for him, but he stepped away. “Lex, I want to take it slow with you.”
