Free Designer Genes - The Boyfriend Cut by Harley Brooks

had done it a million times, familiar with every bend and angle. Heat ripped through my veins like fire chasing a stream of gasoline. No one had ever kissed me like Jordan. I never tingled all over before . It was as if I inhaled air for the first time and my lungs wanted more. Something clicked between us—bolts sliding effortlessly through locks. I never wanted our kiss to end, or Jordan to leave my arms.
    His lips tickled the spot below my earlobe and my bones turned spongy. "Marli Davis—don't break my heart."
    Through my lashes I studied his flushed face, eyes eclipsed to dark moons, his mouth swollen, moist, and I imagined it covering mine one more time. Leaning closer, I anticipated the heat of his lips, but before they touched…the back door slammed.

5
    BUSTED

    "M arli? What the hell?"
    Company appeared in the doorway , raging mad.
    "Sam!" I pushed him into the laundry room to talk privately. "What are you doing here? Why didn't you knock?" I asked quietly, hoping to diffuse his anger. It didn't work.
    "School? Remember? And I did knock, but you were too busy sucking face with some strange dude to hear." He punched the doorjamb. "How long has this been going on?"
    "Sam, let me explain."
    He shrugged away from my touch and wrenched the door open. "No! I don't need an explanation . I know what I saw."
    I ran onto the back porch after him, but he'd already jumped in his jeep. The tires squealed backwards, leaving two indelible black streaks on the driveway. Rick would be livid.
    Jordan's calm demeanor shifted when I marched into the kitchen, seething. Angry tears pooled in my eyes. I pushed my hand hard against my nose to stop the floodgates from opening, but it proved useless.
    "I-I'm so embarrassed."
    He pulled a white handkerchief from his pocket and blotted my cheeks. "Don't worry about it." He pressed a light kiss to my forehead. "Who was he, anyway?"
    "Just my—" My what? Did I dare say "boyfriend?"
    The sound of keys jingling in the lock of the front door rousted Muffy from her sunlit spot on the rug and saved me from answering. My father walked in not noticing Jordan or me, and yelled up the stairwell.
    "Mars?" Is that a Porsche parked out front? And what's with Sam racing down the street?"
    Dad's eyes narrowed when he spied me in Jordan's arms, crying. He moved with lightning speed across the dining room, his glare fixed on Jordan, whose arms fell away instantly. I stepped back, putting weight on my bad leg and hissing against a jolt of pain.
    Feeling a current of jagged heat race through my body when Jordan's arms wrapped me again, I ignored the tyrant marching our direction. Until the tyrant yanked me from Jordan's embrace and plunked me on the nearest chair, rather hard, I thought.
    Rick knelt before me, clicked open his medical bag and proceeded to examine my wound. Jordan stood behind my chair, the light pressure of his fingertips on my shoulders keeping my mind off the stringent searing my scrape.
    "Care to tell me what's going on, Marli? Let's start with the stranger intimately holding you when I walked in. Could this , by chance, be responsible for the permanent black marks on my driveway?"
    "Muffy tore off for Mr. Baxter's stupid cat again. When I tried to reel her back, the leash broke and I crashed to the sidewalk. Jordan almost hit us both with his car."
    "Jordan?" Dad glanced from me to the handsome hunk standing behind me. He rose to a guarded stance. "Let me guess—you're Jordan?"
    Jordan extended his hand. "Jordan Mason, sir."
    " Mason? Marli's Jordan Mason?" My father's brusqueness diminished somewhat. "The Porsche—yours?"
    "Yes sir, guilty on both counts." Muffy nuzzled her head under Jordan's arm. "I'm just glad I didn't run over either of your girls, sir."
    "Drop the 'sir.' It's Rick and I owe you an apology." He leaned into the kitchen counter, asking the inevitable. "So what happened with Sam?"
    My face twisted in agony, but before I could confess, Jordan answered. "He walked in on