CHAPTER 15
This was going to be the best fucking tasting of his life.
Mackenzie was standing there in his sweatshirt, covered in flour, and looking like a sexy cupcake begging to be licked, so his brain was having a hard time figuring out if this was harmless flirting—which he hoped to God it wasn’t—or if he’d just won the lady lottery.
Then she’d gone all seductive baker on him, offering a new and tempting option on tonight’s menu, and he sent up a silent thank-you to the universe. Because what she was offering broke rule one and, he was pretty sure, obliterated rule two, making him the luckiest SOB on the planet.
The heat from the oven hung thick in the air, adding to the hot ball of fire already raging. Nothing between them but fabric, a few inches, and frosting made for a whole hell of a lot of chemistry. Because it was a lip full of frosting, right there for the taking. And he wanted to be the guy to take it, he really did, but beneath the sexy offer of hers lay a hint of uncertainty that had him pausing.
Mackenzie had made it more than clear that when this was over, they’d go back to their separate lives. It was no secret she’d been stuckin a revolving door of disappointment, and he refused to be another person who let her down.
Blowing this wasn’t an option. If they went there—neither was walking away.
“Be sure, Mackenzie, because this is a game changer. Once this happens, there’s no going back.” He gave her a moment to weigh the outcome. A moment to make sure this was really what she wanted.
Because he knew whathewanted. And it was more than one night.
Hunter had taken the past few weeks to slowly uncover the many different shades of Mackenzie, and he wouldn’t stop until he’d uncovered them all. Which could take a lifetime. Something he was okay with.
In fact, he preferred it.
Mackenzie wasn’t a burn-hot-and-fast kind of woman. Nope, she was beautifully complex, an intoxicating mix of sweetness and fire meant to be savored. And he wanted to be the guy lucky enough to experience each and every nuance of Mackenzie. The new, the old, and everything in between.
“I’ve spent most of my life looking back. When I’m with you, all I want to do is move forward.” Threading her fingers in his hair, she gave him a taste of what was to come. And if her tongue in his mouth wasn’t a clear affirmation of just how far tonight was going to take them, then the way her body shrink-wrapped to his sure was.
Proving to her that she wasn’t in this alone, Hunter did his part, eating off every inch of frosting, going back for a second pass just to be sure. And when her head tilted back, he trailed little kisses down her throat, tugging at the collar of the sweatshirt to get a hint of the creamy cleavage he’d been dreaming about.
Christ, she looked good in his shirt.
Feels even better,he thought as he walked her backward and up against the counter. Soft and curvy and so fucking perfect his handsshook as he molded them over her body. She didn’t seem to mind, since those talented fingers of hers were doing a little molding of their own.
Down his chest to his abs, carefully exploring his stomach before dipping under the hem of his shirt. Her warm skin on his sent one hell of a thrill through his body that settled right behind his button fly.
“I want to feel you,” she said, her hands tugging at his shirt.
Always the gentleman, Hunter gave her what she wanted. Scooping her up, he sat her spectacularly stubborn and sexy ass right there on the counter, then pressed himself between her legs. Making sure she felt all of him.
Front and center.
“I meant lose the shirt, but that works too,” she said with a sweet smile.
“You’re right,” he said. “Where are my manners? Shirt first.Thatsecond.” Hunter eased his thumbs under the hem of her sweatshirt and slowly tugged it up, his thumbs reaching the underside of her breasts when she stopped him.
“Yourshirt,” she clarified.
“Sorry, where I come from, it’s always ladies first.” With a final tug, it was over her head and on the floor and—a-fucking-men—what a sight.
There weren’t enough words in the dictionary to accurately describe the view. In fact, he was pretty sure it qualified as the eighth wonder of the world. Her pink lace showed just enough peaks and valleys to officially blow his mind.
“Well, where I come from, it’s ladies’ choice,” she whispered and gave his shirt a hard tug. “Lose the clothes, Hunter.”
“Lucky for you I’m a compromising man.” He yanked his shirt off with one hand as the other went for the frosting. “How about ladies’ choiceandladies first?”
“I’ve always had a secret love of duets,” she admitted.
“Well then, it seems we’re perfectly matched.” And man, that sounded good. “With so many interesting options, what do you choose first? Here?” His finger, thoroughly frosted, traced her lower lip. Next came the valley between those perfect tens. “Or here?”
Mackenzie let loose a surprised but sexy little moan that drove him crazy, so he decided to take a little detour and frost one pink-laced peak, then the other, loving how ragged her breathing became with each stroke.
