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“You will?” She croaked. There was only one thing she wanted to dare him to do, but faced with it now, she shifted a little in her seat, suddenly paralyzed by nerves.
“What’s my dare, Katie?” He lifted her hand to his mouth and placed a kiss against her wrist, feeling the way her pulse was fluttering furiously.
She licked her lips. Be Brave, she urged herself. “I want you to kiss me.”
“I was hoping you’d say that.” His eyes flared with desire. “Come here.” He pulled lightly on her hand, and she obeyed, standing from the table and coming to straddle him in his seat. “Sit.”
“Oh!” She did as he said, but the dress she was wearing hitched up around her upper thighs, exposing the red silk underpants she wore. Their positioning also brought her inner most core into direct contact with his very hard penis. She groaned at the feeling of him between her legs, with only his jeans and her silky underwear between them.
He shifted a little in his seat so that he ground against her and he longed to touch her all over, starting with her most private part. He dug his hands into her hair, applying just enough pressure to pull her head down towards his. Her lips were soft like satin, and perfectly full. He pressed his against them hungrily, invading her mouth with his tongue, wanting to own every part of her. He wanted to obliterate thought from her mind.
He ran his hands down her back and cupped her bum, lifting her and rocking her against him in time with their kiss. His groin was strained beyond bearing and he wanted to rip their clothes off and make love to her on the kitchen floor. But he also wanted to be patient, to make this as memorable for her as possible. She deserved that. They both did. He slowly pulled away from their kiss and had the satisfaction of seeing the disappointment on her face.
He laughed throatily. “Patience,” and it was a reminder to her as well as himself.
Katie felt like her heart was about to burst, she was so turned on. “I know what my next dare’s going to be.” She said throatily, lifting her brows in sensual promise.
She went to stand up but Marcus shook his head. “No, stay.” He moved his hands to her thighs and ran them along the length of her upper leg.
“Your hands are calloused.” She said in surprise. “Strange for a school teacher?”
“I
s that one of your official questions?”
“No. Just an observation.”
“I do a lot of work outdoors.” He said lightly, not wanting to think of the thick ropes he’d had to twist loose to break free of his captors. Nor did he want to remember the ropes he had not been able to loosen. Not while he had this gorgeous, vibrant, very alive woman in his lap.
“Your turn, then.” She said smoothly, using every ounce of discipline she possessed not to lean down and kiss him again.
“Does Maxie’s father support you financially?”
She rolled her eyes. “Is that really what you want to ask, as one of your three questions?”
“Yes. Will you answer it, or shall we try another dare?”
“As tempted as I am by the dare, there’s no big secret here. Roberto doesn’t support us.”
“Not at all?”
“Not at all.”
Marcus swallowed down the lump of anger. “But surely you could pursue him through the courts, make him pay?”
“To what end?” She lifted her fingers and ran them over the sprinkling of hair at the base of his neck, visible above his shirt. “Roberto’s family is seriously wealthy. I was always worried that if they knew of Maxie, they’d try to take him away from me.”
“I thought you said you’d told the father.” Fingers of dread had started to curl around his gut. He was used to women who lied and schemed, but he didn’t have Katie Collins in that column.
“I did. But Roberto would chew through his own arm before admitting something like that to his parents. They seemed to scare the crap out of him. They were always on his back about being more responsible.” Her smile was humorless. “Though I can now concede they sort of had a point.” She took a sip of her tea. “So he flies under the radar and I do likewise, because there is no way on earth I am letting my baby go and be raised by strangers.”
“That’s… outrageous,” he stumbled. And confusing as all hell, too. The price he’d offered her for the house was more than reasonable. If she’d inherited it from her aunt, it would leave her with enough money to start a comfortable new life for herself and the kid, even if the place had a mortgage. So why had she been so stubborn?
“We do okay, Maxie and I. We’re flat out through Summer, and we live within our means through the colder months. It’s not glamorous, and it’s not what I thought I’d be doing with my life, but it’s fine. And Maxie loves the village. He doesn’t have a father, but he has a good group of friends, and we make it work.”
He felt his respect for Katie treble. “I’m impressed,” he admitted honestly.
She smiled brightly. “Thank you.”
