Driven to Distraction & Winging It

by Tina Wainscott

  “Come with me,” said the spider to the fly he had once promised to be.

  Alec didn’t object when she led him from kitchen holding to the tie still draped around his neck. Besides, how could he? He was still lost in a foggy stupor from that soul-stealing kiss she’d just given him seconds earlier.

  Opening the door, she pulled him into her darkened bedroom. Welcome to paradise, Alec thought when she flipped on her bedside light and he found himself staring at a king-size bamboo canopy bed with gauzy mosquito netting draped around the high posters of all four corners.

  However, his interest in the bed instantly evaporated when Mackenzie stepped out of her dress and stood before him wearing nothing but two pieces of skimpy black lace.

  Mackenzie saw his eyes widen when her dress hit the floor. Her own heart was pounding so hard she thought it might jump out of her chest. But when Alec continued to do nothing but stand there, staring at her with a dumbstruck look on his face, she feared her heart might come to a complete stop. Was he disappointed? The lower half of his body sure wasn’t sending out that signal. Or was he now having second thoughts, just like she had been having from the moment the invitation to come home with her slipped off her tongue?

  Maybe she should just make a break for it while she still had the chance, Mackenzie decided. She could always make a dive under her bed. Of course, what she really wanted to do was act on the undeniable attraction between them and simply tackle the sexy hunk right where he stood before she lost her nerve.

  She had just opted for a disappearing act under her bed when Alec finally said in a voice barely above a whisper, “Dear God, Mackenzie, you’re so beautiful you take my breath away.”

  His response, though belated, helped Mackenzie make her final decision.

  Parting the heavy netting around her bed, Mackenzie slipped behind the privacy it offered, then stretched out on the bed with her hand held out, beckoning Alec to follow.

  He didn’t hesitate.

  Pulling off his tie and what was left of his already damaged shirt, Alec quickly stripped down to nothing but his boxer shorts, then parted the curtain and lowered himself onto the bed beside her.

  “What took you so long?” she whispered, then rolled on top of him and kissed him so passionately his eyes crossed.

  The passion raging between them was so primal it frightened Alec. It was primitive. Wild. Completely untamed. An unleashed force like nothing Alec had ever experienced before. And when the realization of what he felt when he held this woman in his arms finally got through to his muddled brain, it abruptly grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and jerked Alec straight back to reality.

  Surfacing from the long kiss he’d been drowning in, Alec quickly reversed their positions and pinned his temptress beneath him instead. He then looked down at Mackenzie as if she were a total stranger, asking himself over and over again, what in the hell have I been thinking?

  He’d been so caught up in his quest to win her over, it had never occurred to him until just now that his feelings for Mackenzie went much deeper than just some foolish ego match with John Stanley. For the lack of a better word, everything about Mackenzie felt permanent. Like she was meant to be a part of his life.

  What in the hell does that mean? Alec wondered.

  And he didn’t like the answer his heart came back with.

  No way! Alec told himself as Mackenzie’s tongue did a little snake walk up the side of his neck. Hell, wasn’t he the king of no commitments? The guy who had managed to sidestep beautiful women literally coast to coast? The type of man who would sooner take a bullet than hand over his freedom in exchange for wedding bells and baby booties?

  However, when she pulled his head back down and began teasing his left ear with the tip of her tongue, Alec realized he couldn’t be sure of anything at that moment except the huge dose of desire that was flaming out of control directly between his legs.

  Go for it! his body kept screaming, and he was only one step away from taking what she was willing to give him when she looked up at him with such trust in those big brown eyes of hers and said, “Make love to me, Alec. Make love to me now.”

  And God, how he wanted to.

  But dammit, he just couldn’t do it. Even if he’d had protection, which he didn’t, he still couldn’t do it. Not now. Not like this. And especially not when he realized that the feelings he had for Mackenzie Malone were much too strong for a quick roll in the hay.

  Looking down at Mackenzie again as if he had just seen her for the first time, Alec kissed her forehead tenderly, then he kissed her eyelids. He kissed both of her marvelous high cheekbones, and then he finally kissed the tip of her cute little turned-up nose. And with his heart filled with something so new Alec still couldn’t define it, he then rolled on his side and ran his finger lightly across her passion-bruised lips when he said, “As much as I do want to make love to you, Mackenzie, I think we’d better stop this while we’re ahead, don’t you?”

  STOP THIS? NOW? When they were both practically naked and panting for more? Was Alec crazy? Or was she? Maybe things had gotten out of hand because she wasn’t exactly herself tonight. Or had she really invited him to her bedroom for nothing more than the simple reason that she really was in love with this man?

  I am in love with him, Mackenzie finally admitted to herself.

  Unfortunately at the moment she didn’t know whether to thank him or spank him!

  Pushing Alec away from her, Mackenzie forced herself into a cross-legged sitting position in the middle of her bed. Reaching for one of the zebra-print pillows behind her, she whacked Alec over the head when she said, “Dammit, Alec! What happened to your freaking ‘I just don’t know how to say no,’ affliction?”

  Alec gently took the pillow she was using for a weapon from her hand, then pulled himself up and rested his back against the headboard. “And what happened to that ‘I don’t want to be a member of your fan club’ attitude of yours?”

  Mackenzie sent a pouting look in his direction, then grabbed another pillow, this time one that was spotted like a leopard. “Can’t a girl change her mind?” she wanted to know as she hugged the pillow to her exposed midriff.

  “Is that what you’ve done, Mackenzie? Changed your mind about me? Or is your sudden interest in me only because you’re upset about your parents getting back together?”

  Mackenzie blinked at his question. “Is that what you think? That I want to sleep with you as some sort of twisted revenge against my nutty parents?”

  “I think that has something to do with it, yes.”

  Smart guy!

  Okay, so maybe her parents getting back together had finally been the catalyst that prompted her to let her guard down and act on her feelings. But she did love the big dope. She just hadn’t expected Alec to be so damn analytical about it. No, she’d expected him to grab one of the dozens of condoms he probably kept on his person at all times and satisfy her sudden need to throw caution to the wind. Of course, there was always that nagging possibility that…

  Sending him a suspicious look, Mackenzie said, “What’s really the problem here, Alec? Don’t I measure up to the other women you’ve been with?”

  He leveled a stern look in her direction. “That question isn’t even worthy of an answer and you know it.”

  “What then?” she asked as relief washed over her. “Surely you have some protection.”

  Alec laughed. “Yeah, right, Mackenzie. I keep a dozen condoms pinned to the waistband of my boxers at all times.”

  Great. He can even read minds.

  Tossing the pillow aside, Mackenzie flopped down on her side, using her elbow as a prop while her head rested against her hand. Go ahead, she thought. Stare at my cleavage. Why do you think I chose this position? I hope you ogle until your eyes pop out.

  But out loud she said, “I guess I can’t blame you for being confused, Alec.”

  “I’d say confused is a pretty adequate description of how I feel at the moment.”

>   “I wasn’t lying when I said I’ve been attracted to you from the very beginning,” Mackenzie admitted.

  “But?”

  Mackenzie eased her hand out of his grasp and sat up to face him. “Truthfully?” she asked, stalling for time. When Alec nodded, Mackenzie took a deep breath and said, “I’m sorry, Alec, but I’d always be afraid you couldn’t say ‘no’ to the next pretty face that came along.”

  Alec leaned forward and kissed her. “And it never crossed your mind that if I had you, then I would have a reason to say no?”

  Mackenzie wanted to believe he was serious. “Don’t play games with me, Alec,” she warned. “I’m pretty fond of this heart I’ve been carrying around for twenty-nine years. I sure wouldn’t want to see it broken.”

  “I’m pretty fond of my heart, too, Mackenzie, so let’s make a deal,” Alec said, getting up long enough to pull back her leopard print comforter. He patted the bed then, motioning for her to slide beneath the covers. When she did, he tucked her in properly and sat down on the bed beside her. “No more games, okay? Let’s just take it slow, really get to know each other, and see where it leads us. Is it a deal?”

  Mackenzie stared at that magnificent broad chest of his, trying not to let her eyes follow the dark line of hair that trickled down to…what I’m not supposed to be thinking about now! “It’s a deal,” she finally agreed.

  “Good,” he said, then leaned over and kissed her again with one of those gentle, sweet, see-you-later kind of kisses. “You’ve had a rough day,” he said. “You’d better get some rest. I’ll call you tomorrow.”

  “Okay,” Mackenzie managed, suddenly struggling to hold back the tears at the thought of being left alone on this particular night.

  “And just for the record,” he added as he stood up and bent down to pick up his pants from the floor, “what I feel for you is more than a mere attraction, too. So when we do make love, Mackenzie, I want it to be for all the right reasons. Understand?”

  His statement caught her completely off guard. “Who would have ever figured you for such a nice guy?”

  He grinned. “I am a nice guy. Now hush and get some sleep.”

  Mackenzie blinked back the tears when he sat down on the side of the bed to put on his pants. “Alec?” she began, but when he turned back to look at her one tiny tear betrayed her and slid down her cheek.

  Without her having to ask, Alec simply tossed his pants on the foot of the bed, then reached over and turned out her bedside light. When he slipped into bed beside her, Mackenzie rolled on her side and Alec pulled her close in the darkness.

  “You only have to stay until I fall asleep,” she whispered, as they snuggled into a perfect spooning position.

  “We’ll see,” he whispered back, but something in the way he pulled her even closer, told Mackenzie she wouldn’t have to get through the rest of this night alone after all.

  5

  ALEC AWOKE TO THE illusion that he was surrounded by a white, fluffy cloud like the ones he normally saw from the window of his cockpit. But when he remembered the netting around Mackenzie’s high poster bed, he jerked his head to the left and found two yellow eyes staring back at him.

  “Well, good morning,” he said, only to be greeted by a hiss.

  “Is my breath really that bad?” he asked, then reached out and scratched his self-appointed observer gently behind the ears.

  Marmalade hesitated for a moment, then leaned into his hand and started to purr.

  “Yeah, you’re just like your mistress, all right,” Alec said with a laugh. “You don’t know whether to hiss me or kiss me.”

  When the big cat rolled over for a belly rub, Alec was glad to oblige his new buddy, but when he glanced at Mackenzie’s bedside clock, he was surprised to see it was only six o’clock in the morning.

  “And where did that temptress you live with run off to so early in the morning?” he asked his furry friend, and the sound of the front door closing in the distance gave him his answer.

  Alec vaulted from the bed and made it to the peephole in Mackenzie’s front door in time to see her headed for the exit. Dressed in short running shorts and a midriff top that had the power to jerk him wide awake, she paused for a moment to do a few leg stretches, then disappeared out the back door of the building.

  “I could use a good run myself this morning,” Alec said aloud as he stretched and rubbed his stomach.

  He then hurried back into her bedroom, snatched up his damaged shirt, his tie, his pants and his shoes from her bedroom floor, then winked at the cat who was now curled up in a comfortable ball in the middle of Mackenzie’s big bamboo bed.

  “Don’t get too comfortable on that bed, Lady Marmalade,” Alec said over his shoulder as he started out of the room. “I might have been a gentleman last night, but today happens to be a brand-new day.”

  MACKENZIE HEADED DOWN TO the beach, trying not to think about the man she’d left sleeping in her bed. It was impossible. Just as it had been impossible to move more than an inch away from Alec during the entire night. Each time she had tried to slip out from under that big, strong arm of his, he had managed to drag her back against him, molding her to that warm, rock-hard body that he was keeping to himself for all the right reasons.

  And if that hadn’t been sheer torture, Mackenzie didn’t know what could be.

  Of course, he had immediately captured her heart by being sensitive enough to realize that she really was too upset to jump into anything physical with him. But as for his statement about waiting for all the right reasons before they went any further, Mackenzie wasn’t exactly sure what Alec had meant.

  Love, maybe?

  She let the word love rattle around in her brain for a moment and found the possibility that she and Alec were actually falling in love was powerful enough to send a warmth spreading through her body that was hotter than the new morning sun making its first peek over the horizon now.

  But I’m not going to think about love or about Alec now, Mackenzie decided as she ran in place for a few seconds. No, her morning run was her own special form of therapy and the one thing that helped keep her sane. It was a time she treasured. A time when she could turn up her energy level, tune out the world, and simply let herself run.

  Pacing herself accordingly, Mackenzie started down the beach, enjoying those first rays of the warm morning sun on her face and the sound of her own footsteps splashing along the edge of the water. Her heart sank slightly when someone else’s footsteps pounded close behind her. But her heart soared right back into overdrive when Alec suddenly fell in beside her wearing nothing but his swim trunks and his usual devilish grin.

  Before Mackenzie could even ask how he’d found her, Alec’s “Race you to the pier,” was all it took to launch her swiftly into action.

  They sprinted down the beach, elbow to elbow, legs pumping, hearts pounding. And though the sight of so much raw, pulsing muscle left Mackenzie’s mouth dryer than if she’d swallowed a gallon of the saltwater they were currently running through, she raced up the beach beside him, matching Alec step for step. In fact, she had just managed to pull slightly ahead of Alec when he bumped into her playfully, purposely disrupting her stride.

  “Give it up, Malone,” Alec teased but his attempt to slow her down only made Mackenzie pick up her speed.

  Darting forward, Mackenzie had just pulled ahead of Alec again when a loud thud followed by a low moan forced her to an abrupt halt. Turning back around, Mackenzie continued to run in place while she eyed him suspiciously. Alec was now sprawled out on his back in the sand less than three feet away from her.

  “What’s the matter, Southerland?” Mackenzie called out. “Rather play dead than let a woman beat you?”

  But the instant Mackenzie saw the blood, she closed the distance between them in one easy stride.

  “Ahhhhhhh,” Alec yelped when Mackenzie cradled his left foot to inspect the nasty gash along his instep.

  “Are you in much pain?” Mackenzie asked, sending
Alec a worried look.

  “The pain I can stand,” Alec told her through clenched teeth. “It’s the blood I can’t take.”

  “Well, you shouldn’t have been running on the beach barefoot in the first place,” Mackenzie scolded.

  “If you don’t mind, I’d rather not have a lecture while I’m bleeding to death,” Alec told her, but the minute he sat up and looked at his foot, he turned pale even under his deep bronze tan.

  “Don’t look, if it bothers you, silly,” Mackenzie chided, prompting Alec to fall backward in the sand again with another loud moan.

  As luck would have it, on this particular morning there wasn’t another soul in sight Mackenzie could send for help. Alarmed by the amount of blood Alec was already losing, Mackenzie knew she had to act fast. Yanking off her headband, she doused it several times in the salty water, then promptly wound it tightly around her patient’s injured foot. She had just sat back on the heels of her Nikes to see if her makeshift bandage would stop the bleeding when Alec let out another agonizing groan.

  “Damn, Mackenzie, what kind of a sadist are you?” he grimaced when the salt water seeped into the gash along his foot.

  Sending him an annoyed look, Mackenzie lifted her chin defiantly. “That’s the best I could do for a temporary bandage, Alec, but my headband certainly isn’t sterile. I was hoping the saltwater might kill some of the bacteria.”

  “Well, thank you, Florence Nightingale,” Alec groaned, but he didn’t resist when Mackenzie extended her hand and helped pull him to his feet.

  “Lean on me,” Mackenzie instructed as she slid her arm around his waist.

  She shivered slightly when he slung his powerful arm over her bare shoulder, and when he pulled her close enough to use her as a human crutch, Mackenzie knew the sudden rise in her body temperature had nothing to do with the new morning sun.