“I’m so glad I stepped off that curb and collided with you. I still hate that you got hurt so badly, but when I think about how you could’ve ridden right by me. . . That I might’ve never known you or Thomas. . . That we could’ve come so close to each other but never had this. . .” His caressing hand found her belly.

Maddie arched into him, wanting him so desperately but not wanting to seem too eager. In the back of her mind, always, were the whispers, the innuendo, the rumors. She tentatively caressed his chest, running her palm over his protruding nipple before coasting down to his taut belly.

Mac gasped and shifted so he was on top of her. He buried one hand in her hair and devoured her mouth with deep sweeping strokes of his tongue that left her weak and trembling. Kissing his way down the front of her, he visited her ear and neck before moving to her chest. Maddie tensed. Here it comes, the part where he’ll want to touch me there. 

With his hands braced on her ribs and using only his tongue, he teased her nipples until the silk was damp and clinging to her fevered skin. He drew her left nipple into his warm mouth, but still he didn’t touch her with anything other than his mouth. Just when Maddie was certain that he would fill his hands with her breasts, he moved down, kissing her stomach, her hip bones and then her center.

“Mac. . . please. . .” She arched her hips, hoping to leave no doubt that she wanted him. Right now.

“I need you to say the words, remember?”

How could she forget? “Make love to me, Mac. Please make love to me.”

He moved to her ankles and ran his hands over her legs, raising the nightgown as he went. Any minute now she’d be naked and laid out before him. He’d see what she wanted no one to see. But he only raised the gown to her hips and settled between her legs. When she realized what he intended to do, she tried to sit up, but his arm across her middle held her in place.

“Wait, Mac. Don’t.”

“Shh,” he said, his breath fanning the hair that covered her. “It’s okay. Let me love you.” His broad shoulders forced her legs farther apart. “Relax, honey. I promise you’ll like it.”

Maddie wasn’t so sure but made an effort to relax the muscles in her thighs. However, when his fingers slid through the dampness between her legs, she tensed again.

“It’s okay,” he said. “I love you. I want to love you.”

When his tongue found the center of her desire at the same moment his fingers slid into her, Maddie’s heart surged, her skin heated and tingled, and even as she tried to remain still, her hips lifted in response to his deep caresses.