“She doesn’t hate you.” He released her hand and looped a strand of her hair around his finger. “She just doesn’t know you very well. Yet.”

“You aren’t really going to make me go there for dinner, are you?”

“It’ll be fun.”

“It’ll be torture.”

“I’ll be right there with you the whole time.”

“Promise?”

She couldn’t get over the way he looked at her, as if she was everything he’d ever wanted. How was that possible? The warmth she saw in his cool blue eyes made her heart flutter with desire. If this was one of her crazy dreams, she hoped she never woke up.

“I promise.” He caressed her face for a long moment before he leaned in to touch a tentative kiss to her lips.

Even knowing she could be making the biggest mistake of her life, Maddie reached for him. Even knowing if he left her the way the others had, she might never recover, she kissed him. Even knowing he had a power over her that she’d never given anyone before him, she caressed his tongue with hers and loved the groan that rumbled through him.

Mac rolled them so he was on top of her and then froze, tearing his lips free of hers. “Oh, man. I’m sorry. I got so carried away I forgot for a second about your cuts.”

“It’s okay.” She sank her fingers into his hair and brought his mouth back to hers. Suddenly, she was starving for more of the way he made her feel. She slid her good leg free of the sheet and hooked it around his much longer leg.

“Maddie,” he whispered, his lips hovering just above hers. “God, you make me so crazy.” Rocking against her, he drew a gasp from her and recaptured her mouth for the most carnal, sensuous kiss of her life. He used everything in his arsenal—tongue, lips and teeth—to devour her. She clung to him, certain that if she let go she’d be hurtled into space. Just when she thought she couldn’t bear the intensity of the desire he’d stirred in her for another second, he softened the kiss and destroyed her with tenderness.

His lips sank into hers before moving over her face, her nose, her eyelids and then down to her neck.

Maddie shuddered as sensation after sensation zipped through her, settling into a throb of desire between her legs. She wanted him just as much as he wanted her, but still the fear outweighed the desire.

“I could kiss you forever,” he whispered, “and never get enough.”

“You frighten me,” she replied in the same soft tone.

His entire body tensed. The mouth that had been toying so deliciously with her ear went still. He raised his head to meet her eyes. “I do?”