Free Stay With Me (The Montgomery Brothers) by Samantha Chase Page B

happen and more, she’d be shocked.  “You’re a family friend and you’re here to visit your ailing father.  The last t hing you need is someone mauling you when you were simply offering a small kiss of gratitude.  I’m sorry.  It won’t happen again.”  There.  He’d said it.  Mac was known for his iron clad control so he had no doubt that he could pull this off.
    “What if I want it to happen again?” she asked defiantly.  “What if I want that to happen again more than once?   And more?”
    “It’s not going to happen, Gina.  It can’t.”
    “So you’ve said,” she snapped.  “I’m a grown woman, Mackenzie.  And for the record, you weren’t mauling me.  I don’t need you getting all righteous and whatnot.  I knew what I was doing and I know what I want.  I don’t see why, if we’re both attracted to one another, we can’t explore that while I’m here.”
    He raked a hand through his hair.  This was not going the way he had planned.  She was supposed to be thankful for him showing some self control and they’d agree that it was a mistake and he’d be on his way.  Why was she tempting him with the things he couldn’t have?
    “Gina, you can’t honestly stand there and tell me that you think it’s okay for us to have a short term affair while you’re in town.  That’s crazy.”
    “Why?” she demanded.  “Why is it crazy?  Do you have long-lasting relationships with all of the women that you date?”  His lack of response said it all.  “That’s what I thought.  So tell me why this would be so different?”
    She was going to keep poking at him until he gave her a response so he gave her one that was certain to stop her in her tracks.  “Because you’re Arthur’s daughter!” he yelled.  “Your father is like an uncle to me.  We grew up together and I am not so self-centered that I would sleep with you while you’re in town because your father is dying!  I’m not that much of a bastard no matter what people may think!”
    If he had slapped her he couldn’t have had a more powerful effect.  Gina could only stare at him for a long time and when she finally spoke it was with a level of calmness that she really didn’t feel.  “Okay.  I didn’t realize that you felt that way and I’m sorry if I’ve put you in an awkward position.  It won’t happen again.”  She looked around the room again, distracting herself with all of the new additions.  “If you don’t mind I think I’ll watch that movie now and I’d like to check out some of the photography software.  Thank you, again, for helping me get all of my things over here.”
    He was being dismissed and as much as he wanted to tell her that it was all a lie and that he wanted her; wanted to spend the night with her, he knew that she needed more.  Hell, everyone knew that she needed and deserved someone better than him.  His father was right when he said that Mac didn’t have staying power.
    It just never bothered him until now.

 
    Chapter Five
     
    Four days later Gina was standing at her easel painting.  She had gone through half of the canvases that they had brought over as she tried to find her muse.  Looking at what she’d done so far
,
there was a landscape of Monica’s garden, a still-life with the requisite bowl of fruit , numerous random abstracts and then there was a semi-abstract portrait of a man with an intense gaze and short hair who looked ready to jump right off of the canvas at her.
    Mac.
    She painted him as she saw him most in her mind; like he wanted to devour her.
    They hadn’t seen or spoken to one another since he left that night and Gina found that she missed him.  Not just his physical, sexy presence, but their conversations.  When she wasn’t at the hospital with her father, she was familiarizing herself with her passions.  Music was playing in the background and she swayed in time with it while wearing one of her cowboy hats painting.  She was wearing a