“Then you should say it. Like it really is.” She made a little “come on” motion.
“You know that’s what I meant.”
She crossed her arms over her chest.
Apparently, they were doing this. “I like you. You know that part.”
“Keep going.” More of the “come on” motion.
“We get along.”
“Not so hard, is it?” She made the motion again.
“And I’d like to ask my friend, that’d be you, for a favor.”
“I love doing favors for friends. What is it that you need?” Her hands dropped to her hips.
“Would you make my mother’s Christmas wish come true and visit her?”
Kenzie’s eyes sparkled like theyou’re-screwedtwinkle lights in Jessica’s office. “When do we leave?”
“Christmas Eve?”
“Perfect.”
“Not so fast. Now it’s your turn.” He held up his hand, extended and curved his index finger in his own “come on” motion.
She raised one eyebrow. The muscle control in her forehead was really quite impressive. “My turn for what?”
“Way I see it, I’ve admitted twice that I like you.”
“Okay.” She dropped her arms and started to go past him to the threshold. “Good talk we’ve had here.”
He stepped in front of her, his hands shoved in his pockets so he wouldn’t reach out and touch what wasn’t his. “It’s your turn.”
She returned her hands to her hips. “To tell you I like you?”
“Yes.”
“What if I don’t?”
“Then you probably shouldn’t come home with me.”
She pressed her lips together. “I like you, Tucker.”
“Do you have a thing for me like I have a thing for you?” Might as well know up front, before they spent a week at his ranch.
“I thought we agreed we’re not doing that.” She said it, but she didn’t sound committed.
He shook his head. “No, you said that. I didn’t actually agree.”
“Well, I tell you what.” She sauntered toward him like the movie star she was. “Let’s go to Colorado and maybe you’ll find out.”
Then she lifted herself to her toes, and without an audience, Mackenzie Bennett kissed him, pressed herself along the length of his body, drank him in. He parted his lips, and the tip of her tongue touched his in exploration. He responded with a moan. He couldn’t help it. Didn’t want to try.
Kenzie had her lips pressed to his, her tongue in his mouth, and she smiled. Smiled like she had just won the prize. What the prize was, he had no idea. And he didn’t care. He slipped both hands into her hair, tilting his head to deepen the kiss further. This time, she made a deep noise in the back of her throat. It was his turn to grin. The palms of her hands slid up and over the muscles of his back to his neck.
As quick as it’d started, Kenzie released him. She grabbed her bag from the table by the door and stepped outside.
