Free Messing With Mac by Jill Shalvis Page B

it was damn good.”
    â€œYeah.” Turning her head, she found him studying the clouds floating overhead.
    â€œThere’s Bambi,” he said, and with his free hand pointed to a cloud.
    Taylor had to laugh. “Bambi?”
    â€œYeah. There. And see that one? That long, sleek one to the right? A sailboat.”
    â€œMmm.” She was lying here with a rough and tumble man who saw shapes in clouds. “You always find things in the sky?”
    â€œIt’s relaxing, don’t you think?”
    â€œWell, it’s not a relaxation technique I’ve used much.”
    He let out a soft laugh. “Tell me, Princess, whenwas the last time you laid in the grass like this and relaxed period? ”
    â€œOkay so it’s not a relaxation technique I’ve used ever, ” she admitted.
    He tipped his head back, trying to catch as much of the view as possible. “It’s always been cheap therapy for me.”
    She rolled to her side and came up on her elbow so that she could look at him lying there, all sprawled out, looking so perfectly at home. He was long, lean. Wet. His clothes clung to his sinewy strength but that strength was far more than purely physical, because he had an inner strength as well. “What does a man like you need therapy for?”
    â€œA man like me?” He turned his head toward her, smiling as he reached up and pulled a piece of grass out of her hair. “What does that mean, a man like me?”
    â€œA man like you,” she repeated, her voice a little breathy at the way he was looking at her. “Strong. Intelligent. Your own boss. You run your own life the way you want, the hell with anyone else, so yeah, what does a man like you need from cheap therapy?”
    â€œYou’d be surprised.” He pierced her with a look she couldn’t quite read. “Do you remember that night at Town Hall?”
    How could she forget? “Yes.”
    â€œThe kiss. Do you remember the kiss?”
    Only every living second.
    â€œYeah,” he said to her silence. “I thought so. Look, we both walked away that night telling ourselves that that was as far as this would go.”
    â€œI know.” He was lying there, prone and wet, soaking up the sun, so close and yet so far, and for some reason she didn’t want to think about too hard, she needed to touch him. She ran her finger over his shoulder, down his arm.
    His eyes heated. “This wasn’t going to happen again, we decided. Did something change for you?”
    Good question. Beneath her finger his muscles leaped. “Well…I liked that water fight.”
    â€œFight? That was a massacre.”
    â€œYeah.” She smiled. “And it was so cathartic, I guess I’m feeling…reckless. I want to know more about you, Mac.” She was shocked, shocked to the core, to hear the words come out of her mouth and find that she meant them.
    â€œWhy?”
    She understood the question. They’d both said this wasn’t going anywhere. They’d agreed, she knew that, and nothing should have changed.
    Except it had. She had this new desire…a desire to know him.
    Mac grimaced and caught her hand in his. “Taylor…”
    One look into his wary face and she knew. He didn’t feel that same desire. Mortified, she tried to tug free. “I know, nothing has changed for you,” she said flatly, turning her head away.
    â€œWait—”
    â€œNo. You don’t have to explain why you don’t want me.”
    His sigh conveyed volumes. “Could you look at me? Please?”
    She blinked up into his intense gaze.
    â€œNo, I mean really look at me,” he said, his voice tight.
    Not understanding, she ran her gaze over his body. Over his chest, his flat belly, his— “Oh,” she said faintly, catching sight of a very impressive erection straining the button fly on his jeans.
    Her mouth went dry, while between her legs her body