“You’ve spent the last couple of months teaching me how to behave. It might be fun to turn the tables for a little while. Because I can definitely teach you how to be wild. That sounds better than nice, right?”
Damn, he wasn’t sure where the words were coming from, but the fact McKenna appeared to consider his offer let him know she wasn’t fighting this thing between them as hard as he feared.
“It’s just sex,” he said, those three words composing the biggest fucking lie he’d ever told another person.
She bit her lower lip, her desire for him clear as day on her face. But…the practical, logical, professional side of McKenna was a powerful force to be reckoned with.
He could see her compiling a list of a million reasons why they should not have sex again, something he couldn’t let her do.
Tank grasped the back of her neck in one large palm, pulled her toward him, and kissed her, working overtime to wipe every thought out of her head that didn’t include him and a bed.
McKenna stiffened for only a second before responding the same way she always did. Hell, better than she usually did, because she was hardcore kissing him back, her fingers digging into his shoulders, her nails stinging the skin.
This past week had been hell on her libido, too.
“I want you, Mouse,” he whispered, his lips brushing against hers as he spoke. “Sex between us can mean as little or as much as you want.”
McKenna’s brows furrowed.
Tank tried to figure out how to dial that offer back, but he couldn’t. Or more accurately, he didn’t want to.
He needed to play this a hell of a lot cooler, which should have been easy, since the Tank he’d been prior to McKenna’s steady presence in his life was a master when it came to casual affairs. But somewhere along the way, he’d lost his mojo.
So, he kissed her again, deciding the best way to make it across this minefield was by shutting up and not saying a damn thing.
McKenna, mercifully, let his misstep slide, her hands slipping beneath his shirt, seeking out bare skin.
“God, I love your hands on me,” he murmured.
“I want you too. More than I should.”
He responded to that by drawing his lips along the side of her neck, his hands cupping her breasts. They were both wearing too many clothes.
He was about to rectify that when she said, “Just…one more time.”
Tank paused, lifting his lips away from her skin so he could look her in the eye. McKenna fisted his shirt, trying to pull him back where he was, but he resisted.
“No.” He’d already made one concession tonight, allowing her to believe this thing between them wasn’t real. She wasn’t ready to risk her heart yet.
He wanted to blame that solely on the men in her past, the high school boyfriend’s cheating, Dale’s emotional abuse, Eddie’s rejection, but Tank knew plenty of the responsibility lay with him too. Because of the way he’d acted this past season, revealing himself as a callous, immature man only capable of thinking with his dick.
Hell, hadn’t he told her point-blank that he had no intention of settling down until after he retired from hockey?
Even if he took those words back, telling her he’d changed his mind, he didn’t think McKenna would believe him.
“Tank,” she said, her tone proving she was about to insist.
He wasn’t moved. “This isn’t going to stop after tonight.” If she pushed him away, he’d have to let her, because he refused to make a promise he couldn’t keep, refused to compound the lies.
McKenna fell silent, but this time, he didn’t seek to shut down her thoughts with distracting kisses. It was going to take time to convince her that he wasn’t like any of the men in her past, but he couldn’t do that if she hid from him, avoided him.
“This is a mistake,” she finally said, the slight grimace on her face letting him know she wasn’t going to press the issue.
He hadn’t won the war—not yet—but at least the battle was still ongoing.
“Maybe,” he said, with a playful grin as he pulled her glasses off, placing them on the coffee table. “But we’re going to have one hell of a good time making it. Over and over and over again.”
Finally, at last, McKenna smiled, laughing softly. “You’re impossible. I swear I’m an intelligent woman, and yet with you…”
