Free Coach Maddie and the Marine by Blaire Edens

voice. He raised one eyebrow and a smile tugged at the corners of his mouth.
    She had no idea what to say, where to take the conversation. With Andrew several houses away and not coming home anytime soon, she had to think of something. Fast. No more kissing. That was out. No more flirting.
    Maddie was stuck with him as her assistant coach for the whole season.
    The only thing she could think of was to put distance between them.
    “Doughnuts,” she said, rising from the sofa. “I’ll get them.”
    In the kitchen, she took her time putting them on a tray. To ease some of the tension, she shoved a powdered sugar doughnut in her mouth and chewed fast, then went back into the living room. The sugar rush smoothed the edges. A little, at least.
    He was flipping through a magazine when she placed the tray on the coffee table. “Want me to refill your iced tea?”
    He looked up at her and smiled. “You cheated.”
    “What are you talking about?”
    He rose so that he stood just a few inches from her. Maddie felt the heat coming off his body in waves. “You cheated,” he repeated. He ran his index finger along her cheek. “You ate a doughnut before you brought the rest out here. What if you ate the one I wanted?”
    Damn the powdered sugar.
    “I…”
    He opened his arms and Maddie felt herself being drawn toward him, like her movements were controlled by some strange tide. He pulled her into the circle of his arms.
    She relaxed against his chest, a wall of solid muscle.
    He leaned into her and brushed her lips with his. His smell, distinctly his and 100 percent masculine, was like a powerful drug. He tasted like the cool, lemony iced tea. Every cell in her body vibrated with attraction and anticipation. The desires she’d held in check for so long, first because she couldn’t imagine being with anyone other than Frank, and then because she was afraid to ever feel passion again, flared to life with an intensity she’d never known. Like throwing a flaming match in a pool of lighter fluid.
    When she ran her hand down the length of his muscular arms, he deepened the kiss and nibbled gently on her bottom lip, and the temperature of her blood rose even higher. Her skin felt hot and flushed, her clothes too tight and restrictive.
    He settled a hand on the back of her neck. “These curls are driving me crazy,” he growled as he loosened her bun and took a handful of hair in his hand and used it to pull her even closer to him. His lips were insistent now, drawing out the passion she’d hidden from herself for so long. “If I don’t stop now…”
    Slowly, he drew his mouth away from hers, giving her small kisses until there was space between them. “It was the powdered sugar. I couldn’t resist.”
    Maddie wasn’t sure she could form a coherent sentence. Her head swam with the scent and the taste of him. “It’s okay,” she whispered.
    It was more than okay. It was fantastic.
    “Then maybe I’ll kiss you again.”
    His directness made the fire just below her stomach burn even hotter. Blue flames, now. He grabbed her waist and yanked her closer to him. When their lips met, every nerve in Maddie’s body shivered with the rush of him. Desperate longing swelled deep inside her and she began to take as much from him as he was taking from her.
    They explored each other as if this one kiss could slake the need that moved back and forth between them like lightning. When he finally pulled away, she wasn’t sure she would be able to stand on her own. Her lips were swollen with the kiss and her cheeks burned from the friction of his stubble.
    Maddie wanted the kiss to go on forever. But she knew it couldn’t. Knew it shouldn’t.
    “I didn’t plan to—”
    “I know,” she said. “I know.” She moved away and sat on the chair across the room from the sofa, desperate to put space between them. If she didn’t, she might not be able to stop herself from falling for him. That would be a total disaster. “I think that’s