Free Mac's Angels: The Last Dance: A Loveswept Classic Romance by Sandra Chastain Page B

I thought she was your lover.”
    “And you were jealous?” He lifted his chin and closed his eyes, then grinned as he moved close to her. “Give me your hand, Sterling.”
    “Why?”
    “Because I’m asking you to.”
    She wasn’t ready for her response, for her traitorous body to cause her to lift: her hand independent of her command and rest it in his.
    “Now stand.”
    “I’d rather not. Yesterday was pretty exhausting. I try not to overexert myself.” What she couldn’t say was that she wasn’t certain her legs would hold her up. He was too close. With the sunlight behind him, his dark eyes were shaded and veiled.
    “Stand up, Sterling,” he repeated, then added, “please?”
    He wasn’t going to allow her to refuse his—request.
    “I have to put up the footrests,” she said, her voice tight, trying not to show the nervousness coursing through her body.
    “Let me.” He knelt, twisted the metal plates to the side, and placed her feet on the floor. “Now.” He held out his hand again.
    “No, I stand alone,” she said. Taking a deep breath, she slipped toward the front of the chair, placed both hands on the armrests, and pushed herself up.
    As she stood, her breasts grazed his body. He hadn’t stepped back as she’d expected. Now they were touching, just enough to send an unwelcome ripple of response down her spine, which sometimes refused to register sensation at all.
    She looked up at him. “Now what?”
    “Now? This.” He kissed her, a low groan accompanying the pressure of his lips. She resisted for a second, then felt her own lips part. The kiss changed, his mouth nipped at hers lightly, then recaptured hers with restrained desire. There was no mistaking his control, until she moved against him and felt his body throbbing as she swayed.
    His body was firm. His arms as tight as steel bands. No escape was possible, and for just a moment she allowed herself to give in and be the desirable woman she had once been.
    She knew he hadn’t brought her to his office to ravish her. Why would he? Conner called her a “dish,” but Conner always teased her. Sure, some of the men with whom he’d had business had sent out feelers, but she’d turned them all away. She’d been in love once, truly in love. And when her fiancé rejected her, she knew there was no such thing as forever. And she had no intention of taking any chances with her hard-earned peace of mind.
    Jerking away, she pushed Mac back and droppedinto her chair. “Why did you do that?” she asked, cursing her breathlessness.
    He frowned slightly as if he were considering his answer. “Surely you know. I wanted to kiss you last night, but I didn’t want to take advantage of you.”
    This time she was the one confused. “But why didn’t you kiss me last night?”
    “Because I’m supposed to be protecting you, and right now you’re vulnerable. Besides, I couldn’t let you know that you scare the hell out of me.”
    She could only look at him in amazement. “I scare you?”
    “Oh, lady. You do. And if you don’t want me to kiss you again, we’d better get out of here and into your office.”
    “My office?” Like some kind of echo, she kept repeating his words. “You’re taking me home?”
    “For the time being, you
are
home. Conner and I talked. We decided that you’d be happier if you were busy, so we connected your computer at Paradox, Inc. with a computer at Angel Central. All your calls will be relayed here and nobody will be the wiser.”
    “I didn’t know you could do something like that.”
    “And we’re banking on nobody else knowing that we can.”
    “Surely you don’t plan to keep me here forever, Mac. I have a life of my own.”
    “Sure you do. Just like me and Jessie even though it is one closed up in a building. There’s justone difference. So far as I know, nobody is trying to kill us.”
    “I’ve set up your office close to me,” Mac said, indicating a small room adjacent to his own office. He