Christa’s eyes bugged out. Did he think of her as a sister? Was he that stupid?
He lifted his gaze and blinked. “What? Shit.” He swallowed around another bite. “Did you think she was some old girlfriend or something?”
Christa’s mouth fell open, but she couldn’t begin to think what she might say. For starters, Tina could hardly be an old girlfriend. She wasn’t old enough to have dated Mack and then split from him.
He continued. “She’s just a kid. My parents and her parents were best friends when I was growing up and I used to get stuck babysitting her when they’d all go out. She was like a daughter to my mom who didn’t have one. Both our sets of parents moved to Florida together. Tina’s come and gone from this house her entire life the same as her own.” He winced. “I guess that would seem kind of strange if you don’t know the story.”
“Ya think?” Oh, yeah, sarcasm leaked that time.
He laughed. “My bad. Well, now you know. Don’t worry about Tina. She’s like a mother hen. She can’t stand to be idle. She often cooks or cleans or even does my laundry when I’m not home.”
Christa gasped.
Mack shrugged. “Like I said, she’s my sweet kid sister.”
“She’s not a kid, Mack.” She’s in love with you. Christa held back those last words.
He sighed. “Well, to me she is.”
“Why does she call you B.B.?”
He smiled. “Short for big brother. She started calling me that when she was about two.”
Mack would have been in his teens when Tina was two. Obviously, the nickname had been innocent back then, but somehow Tina had Mack wrapped around her finger now. The man had no idea Tina’s intentions were no longer strictly platonic.
Beyond uncomfortable, Christa stood and pushed the chair in. “I’m gonna shower.” She fled the room as fast as she could, shutting herself in the guest bathroom five seconds later.
She leaned against the door, breathing heavily. That had been the most bizarre half-hour of her life. She should have known Mack was too good to be true. If he was so dense that he didn’t realize Tina from next door was a conniving bitch who doted on him in an effort to get him to notice her, then he was dumber than a rock. She didn’t have time for that.
She quickly showered, cursing herself for not bringing clothes into the bathroom. Wrapped in a towel, she darted across the hallway and locked herself in her bedroom without glancing either direction. She dressed in a hurry, gathered her uniform and everything she would need for work later tonight, and then shot a text off to Bex.
Hey, you busy? Can I come over for a while before we head to work?
“Please, please, please, please, please…” she murmured while she waited for Bex to respond.
Sure. Come on over. I’m just cleaning and doing laundry.
“Thank God.” Christa took a deep breath and opened the door. She moved quickly down the hallway, through the living room, and into the kitchen. Mack was at the sink washing the pan from his delicious treat. Christa felt like gagging.
He turned when she entered the kitchen. His expression fell. “You’re leaving?”
“Yeah.” She tried to sound nonchalant. “I’m going over to Bex’s for a while before work. We work the same shift. We’ll drive to the airport together.”
He wiped his hands on a towel. “Oh. Okay.” He stepped closer, his eyes narrowing. “Are you mad about something?”
She swallowed. The last thing she wanted to do was discuss Tina. “No.”
He set one hand on her hip and lifted her chin gently.
She couldn’t do anything because she held her bag in one hand and her uniform in the other.
His lips lowered to hers and kissed her gently. “I had a great time last night. I’m sure I’m going to pay for it when I can’t sleep tonight and I have to work tomorrow,” he joked. “But, I had fun.”
She slowly exhaled. “I did too,” she murmured. She wasn’t kidding. She’d had a lot of fun with him. And his kiss reminded her how much chemistry they had. Perhaps it was ridiculous of her to be angry about Tina. He obviously had no idea Tina had ulterior motives. Should she be mad at him just because the girl next door wanted to get in his pants?
“Good.” He kissed her again and then reached over to the counter, picked up a key, and held it up for her to see. “You’ll need this in the morning when you get back.”
“Oh, right.”
He reached down and slid it into the front pocket of her shorts, his fingers lingering, stroking her hip. “Wake me if you want when you get home.”
She swallowed back her lust. “I usually go to sleep pretty quickly.”
“Okay. Well, if you change your mind or can’t sleep. Otherwise, I’ll see you when I get off work tomorrow night.”
“Yep.”
He frowned. “You sure you’re okay? Are you mad about Tina? Because there’s no reason to be. I’ve never looked at her that way. I swear. I’ve never touched her. In my mind, she’s still a child.”
Christa nodded as Mack set his hands on her waist again and then eased them up until his thumbs were touching the undersides of her breasts. She drew in a sharp breath at the contact.
He smiled. “We okay?”
“Yes.”
He kissed her again. “Good. Enjoy the redeye. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
Chapter 9
“You don’t think you read too much into it?” Bex asked. She was sitting cross-legged on one end of the sofa.
Christa was pacing her living room, running a hand through her hair. “No way. I’m telling you that girl was a conniving bitch. You should have seen her face. It’s like she’s playing house, waiting for Mack to notice her.”
“That could be, but he obviously hasn’t and isn’t going to. If he was the least bit into her, he wouldn’t have brought you there to stay.”
Christa sighed. “Yeah, you’re right, but it was unnerving. No woman wants to wake up and walk into a man’s kitchen to find another woman. I’m pretty sure my stomach dropped down to my knees.”
Bex giggled. “I wish I could have seen your face. I bet you were all kinds of red.”
Christa groaned. “I’m sure. And that probably told Miss He’s-Mine-Don’t-Touch-Him that she had the upper hand.”
Bex laughed harder. “Probably. Forget about her. He said he’s not into her. Let it go.” She jumped up. “Come on.”
“Where are we going?” Christa followed Bex down the hallway to her bedroom and into her bathroom.
“We’re going to fix your hair and makeup so perfectly that every man in first-class can’t keep his eyes off you. It’ll boost your self-esteem. You’ll be smiling when you return to Mack’s place tomorrow.”
“Hey, did you get that email from Open Skies yesterday?” Christa asked as she followed Bex.
“Yeah. Freaked me out a bit. I hate thinking that could be happening right under our noses. I mean, we take training classes to know what to look for, but we also take classes to learn how to safely exit a plane that’s landed on water. Both instances are pretty farfetched to me.”
Christa nodded. “I know. I’m going to be looking at every damn kid now, wondering if they belong with their supposed parent or guardian.”
“I agree. And not just kids. Sometimes it’s women or teenage girls.”
Christa shuddered. “That is so hard for me to understand.” She had thought about the idea as she fell asleep last night. The email had focused mostly on kids because apparently, they’d gotten a tip about an imminent risk. But the email had included the signs for women, too.
Christa shook the horrifying thoughts from her mind as Bex went to work on her hair and makeup. By the time she’d finished, Christa felt like a million bucks. “Why can’t I do that?”
Bex giggled. “You can. You just don’t like to take the time.”
“True.” Christa wasn’t very fussy about her appearance. She did enough to look good, but rarely took the time to go all-out. There was a good
reason for that, too. People noticed, and she wasn’t fond of the extra attention most of the time. Especially unwanted attention from crude men.
Tonight she liked the way she felt though.
“See?” Bex said. “You’re going to knock Mack’s socks off when you get back to his place.”
Bex wasn’t wrong. When Christa got back to Mack’s house at six o’clock in the morning, she felt far less frustrated. It didn’t hurt any that he’d texted her three times during her flight out. First to tell her to have a great night. Second to tell her he couldn’t sleep and thought her midnight jogging idea might grow on him. And third, to give her the garage door code so she could park inside the garage.
Christa glanced at the house next door while she punched in the code. There was absolutely no reason for her to be jealous. Tina was no threat to her. And besides, Christa had only been out with Mack technically two times, if she counted staying at his house as a second date.
She really needed to grow up. She had the upper hand here. She was sleeping under his roof. Not Tina.
It would help if the man would stop being so chivalrous and invite her into his bed. Maybe if Tina saw her coming out of his bedroom, she would catch a clue.
Christa was smiling as she quietly entered the kitchen. She eased through the house toward the hallway, noticing there was a light on in the master bedroom. The door was open, too.
She dropped her bag next to the guest room and tiptoed down the hallway. She didn’t want to wake him if he’d fallen asleep with the light on, but maybe he was awake and waiting for her.
When she reached his room, she leaned in and found him propped up in bed, several pillows behind him. He was sound asleep, his head tipped back, his mouth slightly open. An open book had fallen onto his thighs.
She watched him for several seconds. His bare chest was a work of art. Wide and muscular. An intricate tattoo covered his left biceps. A navy-blue sheet was pulled up to his waist, hiding his legs, which was a shame because she knew from their jog last night how fine those muscles were.
Eventually, she glanced around, taking in his surroundings. His furniture was mahogany. A large dresser, armoire, and two bedside tables all matched the king-sized, four-poster bed. The bedding was navy, even the sheets.
Finally, she sighed and reached in to flip off the overhead light. As she turned around, she heard him shift, and then he spoke. “Hey.” His voice was gravelly. Sexy. “You’re home.”
She grabbed the doorframe and faced him, unable to see him now that the light was off. Her eyes hadn’t adjusted to the darkness. “Yeah. Sorry. Didn’t mean to wake you. You left your light on. I was turning it off.”
“Come ’ere,” he murmured.
She drew in a breath and shuffled toward him, setting her hand on the edge of the bed to guide her the last few feet.
He reached out and grabbed her around the waist, pulling her closer as he leaned forward. His hand came to her cheek, and seconds later his lips were on hers.
She melted against him. She was a sucker for his kisses. Every damn time. They scrambled her brain.
When he released her lips, his hands wandered up and down her back, patting her in several places for some reason. Finally, he leaned over and turned on the lamp on the bedside table, his gaze coming back to her. A slow smile spread across his face. “You’re still in your uniform.”
“Yeah. So?” She narrowed her gaze at him.
He jerked the sheet off his legs and swung around to face her, his feet on the floor. “It’s sexy.”
She rolled her eyes. “It can’t be sexy. It’s a damn skirt and blouse. It’s actually rather prudish. I feel like I’m sixty when I wear it.”
He reached for the airline logo on the blouse above her breast and fingered it. “But it’s so official,” he teased. “If the skirt were shorter and you unbuttoned the blouse to show some cleavage, it would be like a naughty schoolgirl uniform. Or a naughty stewardess.” He wiggled his brows and started unbuttoning her blouse from the neck.
“Flight attendant,” she corrected, but she couldn’t keep from grinning. If he wanted to pretend her uniform was sexy, she wasn’t going to stop him.
“Hm hmm, I’m not feeling politically correct right now.” He lifted his gaze. “I’m pretty sure if you look on a costume website, you’ll find something like this called naughty stewardess.”
She giggled and grabbed his shoulders when he lowered his hands from her buttons to her skirt. He gathered it at her hips and lifted it several inches until it barely covered her butt.
“There. See? Naughty stewardess.”
She glanced down. He’d undone about four buttons, enough that the lace of her white her bra was showing. Her thighs were completely exposed, too. He wasn’t wrong. She looked sexy. She gripped his shoulders with her fingers as she pressed her legs together.
He met and held her gaze for several seconds before dropping his face and leaning in to kiss her cleavage—what there was of it. She wasn’t well-endowed enough to have actual cleavage.
He released the skirt and gripped her hips, drawing her between his legs.
She tipped her head back, her mouth falling open as he licked along the edge of her bra. “Is there really a mile-high club?” he murmured against her chest. “Do people really have sex on planes?”
She leaned into him, shivering at the touch of his tongue when he dipped it under the edge of her bra this time. “I don’t think so.” Her brain was scrambling. If he asked her many more questions, she would be tongue-tied.
Mack tugged her blouse out of her skirt and reached under it to flatten his palms on the bare skin of her waist. His thumbs grazed the undersides of her breasts, and he held her tighter as he nuzzled her breast, finding her nipple with his tongue and flicking over it.
Christa gasped. She was so aroused. She’d imagined this would happen with Mack if he went further than a kiss. She’d actually envisioned it so fully that she’d used the image to get herself off every night last week after their date.
She hadn’t been wrong. He was talented with his tongue.
He pulled his hands out from under her blouse and quickly undid the rest of the buttons, shoving the silky material off her shoulders and tossing it to the floor.
She shivered as he stared at her chest. He trailed his fingers along the edge of the lace where his tongue had been just seconds ago. “I need to see you. May I?” He lifted his gaze.
She nodded, biting her bottom lip.
He reached around and unfastened her bra, sliding it down her shoulders. After dropping it absently, he danced his fingers along the edges of her small breasts until her nipples became stiff points.
“Mack…” She didn’t sound like herself. She sounded wanton. She was. This was unexpected first thing this morning, but she wasn’t disappointed. It was about time he made a move on her.
When he cupped one breast, reverently, and then brought his lips to the nipple and sucked it, she drew in a sharp breath and rose onto her toes. Jesus. She was taking leave of her senses. Her lack of control unnerved her. Her panties were soaked, and no matter how hard she gripped her thighs together, she couldn’t stop her clit from throbbing.
When he switched to the other breast and started suckling the twin, his free hand slid to the zipper on her skirt and lowered it. The material fell to the floor around her feet, leaving her in nothing but white lace panties.
Mack released her nipple with a pop and leaned back, his gaze trailing up and down her torso. “You’re like porcelain. I can’t keep my eyes off you.”
“I’m not breakable though,” she informed him.
He smiled slowly and then grabbed her waist, lifted her off the floor, and spun to the side to toss her on her back beside him on his bed.
She squealed. Yes. Finally.
He chuckled as he removed her pumps and then climbed up beside her. He stroked her face, nudging her legs apart with his knee and then dropping it between them. His hand came to her cheek. He was
shaking as if it were hard to control himself.
Did he not understand that she didn’t want him to control himself?
She bit into her bottom lip and he plucked it out from between her teeth. “I have no intention of breaking you, Christa.”
Well, damn. Why not?
His lips came to hers, and he gave her yet another one of his panty-melting kisses, this time making her writhe under him. She wanted to turn toward him and plaster herself to his chest, but it was impossible to rise from her back with his knee between her thighs. She only succeeded in rubbing her clit against his thick muscles.
She grabbed at his biceps with her free hand, trying to get him to budge, either to roll onto her or to roll back and let her climb over him.
He stopped the kiss and grinned against her lips as he reached blindly for her wrist and drew it over her head. He pressed it against the mattress. “Don’t move your arm,” he demanded.
She sucked in a breath at the demand, a rush of wetness coating her already-soaked panties.
“You can’t touch me. Let me make you feel good,” he murmured as he kissed his way down her jaw and found her nipple again. His hand slid lower until he dragged his fingers along the edge of her panties.
She arched her hips upward, fisting her hand in the sheets in an effort to remind herself to keep it there.
His mouth came back to hers, more urgent this time. His tongue dragged along the seam of her lips, demanding entrance.
She opened for him, moaning into his mouth as he flattened his palm on her pelvis and stroked his fingers over the soaked lace covering her sex.
“God, I love that sound,” he whispered against her lips before sucking on her tongue gently and then devouring her again. He found her clit and flicked over it several times.
She writhed beneath him, needing more. Wanting him to reach under the panties. Take them off. Do something. Anything.
He did none of those things. Instead, he continued stroking her clit over and over through the lace while she squirmed and dug her heel into the bed. She was going to come any second. The pressure kept building, shocking her with its intensity. She’d never been this aroused, this uninhibited with any man.
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