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“The chalet in Vail?” Quinn suggested.
“No snow, and even if there was, I couldn’t ski. Torture.”
“An African safari?”
“Done that.” God, didn’t he sound like a spoiled brat?
“What about the Cap de Mar property?” Kade persisted.
He’d already considered Puerto Rico and he’d immediately dismissed that idea. Too hot, too isolated, too sexy...
“Are you nuts?” Mac rolled his eyes.
“No,” Kade replied, his voice calm as he ticked off points on his fingers. “Not big on ice hockey so you’ll be able to fly under the radar. Two, there’s sun, sea and beaches...where’s the problem? Three, you love it there. Four, Rory will go with you and she’ll do her treatment there.”
A vision of Rory dressed in nothing more than four triangles flipped onto the big screen of his brain and he shuddered with lust. This wasn’t a good idea. The property was empty, the cove would be deserted, he and Rory would be alone and living together. Whenever he thought of Cap de Mar he thought about sunny days and sensual nights, warm, clear seas and sex...
“You have to go, Mac,” Kade said, deeply serious.
Mac knew it was a reasonable option. Hell, he’d brought up the idea of leaving. But he couldn’t help feeling like he had as a kid. Powerless over his situation.
“My life sucks,” Mac grumbled.
“Yeah, poor baby. You’re heading for a luxury house on a Caribbean island with a hot chick.” Quinn mocked him by rubbing his eyes like a toddler. “Boo hoo.”
Mac still had the use of his good arm. A well-placed punch to Quinn’s throat would relieve a lot of his frustration.
Kade ignored Quinn. “I like the idea of you heading to the beach house for all the reasons I mentioned and one more.”
“Uh-huh?”
“Nobody will know where you are so you’ll be free of the media.”
“Always a bonus,” Mac agreed.
“And if something happens between you and Rory then they won’t pick up on that either,” Kade added.
Mac held Kade’s mocking glare. Okay, yeah, of course that was a factor. He would try to resist her but his willpower where she was concerned wasn’t a sure thing.
“It’s not going to happen,” he said, but he wasn’t sure whether he was trying to convince his friends or himself.
Quinn laughed. “You’re going to take one look at Rory in her bikini and be all ‘let me show you the view from my room.’”
A punch to the throat would definitely shut Quinn up and would make Mac feel so much better, he mused.
Five (#uca1e6103-1046-569c-9dc3-be7732d0a588)
“Sorry, I’m late.” Rory picked up her e-reader from her coffee table and shoved it into her tote bag.
“We’ve got time.” Mac, standing by the window, looked at his watch. “Not a lot but some. And if the jet misses its time slot, we’ll just request another.”
Private jets and time slots. Rory tried not to look impressed. But she was. She was traveling to the Caribbean in style. Rory tried to think calmly. She’d done most of her packing last night but she’d thought she’d have time to finish up this morning. Thanks to Troy’s mom going walkabout from her nursing home, that hadn’t happened. She and Troy had spent three hours looking for her and had eventually tracked her down in a garden center sitting on a bench between two cherry trees. Rory was glad Troy’s mom was okay but her temporary disappearance had put a serious dent in Rory’s schedule.
“Passport and credit card,” Mac told her. “You can buy anything else you need there.”
So spoke the man with far too much disposable income, Rory thought. She held up her hand in a silent gesture for him to be quiet. She needed to think, and him standing in her little apartment, looking so hot, wasn’t helping. All she could think about was that she was leaving the country with a sexy man who just had to breathe to turn her on.
Her eyes dropped to his arm, which rested in a black sling. He was injured, she reminded herself.
You could go on top...
Rory slapped her hand across her forehead.
“Tell me about Puerto Rico,” Rory said, hoping the subject would distract her from thinking about straddling Mac, positioning herself so that...argh!
“It’s an island in the Caribbean,” Mac replied.
“Don’t be a smart-ass. Tell me about the house where we’re staying.”
Mac leaned his shoulder into the wall and crossed his legs at the ankles. It was so wrong that he looked at home in her apartment, like he had a right to be there. “The house is situated about thirty-five minutes from San Juan, on a secluded cove near only two other houses. It’s three stories, mostly open-plan and it has glass folding doors that open up so you feel like you are part of the beach and sea.
“The owners of the other two properties are off-island at the moment so we’ll be the only people using the cove.” Mac added.
Rory swallowed at the low, sexy note in his voice. She’d be alone with Mac, on a Caribbean island, with warm, clear water and white beaches and palm trees. Utterly and absolutely alone. She wasn’t sure whether the appropriate response was to be thrilled or terrified.
Or both.
Sex and business don’t mix! He’s your patient!
Sun, sea, sexy island...sexy man.
Get a grip, Kydd. Not liking the cocky look in his eyes, the glint that suggested he knew exactly what she was thinking, she lifted her nose. “Well, at least we won’t disturb the neighbors with your screams of pain when we start physio.”
“Or your screams of pleasure when I make you fall apart in my arms,” Mac replied without a second’s hesitation.
Rory’s heart thumped in her chest but she kept her eyes locked on his, refusing to admit he rattled her. Instead of making her furious, as it should, his comments made her entire body hum in anticipation. Her body was very on board with that idea.
Rory folded her arms and rocked on her heels. “I hate it when you say things like that.”
“No, you don’t. You want to hate it because it turns you on.” Mac looked up at the ceiling. When he looked back at her, his expression was rueful. “Ignore me, ignore that.”
She couldn’t do as he asked. They needed to address the pole dancing, come-and-get-me-baby elephant gyrating in the room. “Mac, I don’t know what you think is going to happen in Puerto Rico, but us sleeping together can’t happen, won’t happen.”
“I know why I think it shouldn’t happen. I have a few solid reasons for thinking it would be a hell of a mistake, but I’m interested in hearing yours.”
Rory bit the inside of her lip. God, she couldn’t tell him she thought he was just like her dad, unfaithful. That the fact he’d dated her sister bugged her. Or her personal favorite: that he drove her crazy.
Rory thought fast and latched onto the first reasonable excuse that popped into her head. “I’m on sticky ground here. I shouldn’t treat you and sleep with you—that would be crossing some pretty big lines. I have to maintain professional boundaries with clients. I can’t misuse or abuse my position of authority—”
“You have no position of authority over me,” Mac scoffed.
“The point remains—” Rory gritted her teeth “—that if I engage in any nonprofessional behavior I can be pulled up before the board.”
Mac stared at her, his face inscrutable. “Okay, for the sake of argument, may I point out that you’ll be in a foreign country and nobody but us will know? And you’re on holiday.”
“I’d know,” Rory said, her voice resolute. “You might be a rule breaker, Mac, but that’s not a risk I’m willing to take.”
“You’re lying, Rory. Besides, last I checked, physiotherapists are allowed private lives.” Mac shook his head. “Not buying it.”
So much for using that as an excuse to keep some distance between them. Rory hated the fact that he could look past her cool, professional shell and see below the surface. And he was right. Nobody would believe she’d bullied Mac into having a relationship he didn’t want to have. Yeah, sleeping with Mac wouldn’t be professional but it wasn’t a death sentence either.
She’d forgotten how damn complicated men could be.
“So what is your reason why we shouldn’t scratch this particular itch?”
“God, I wish there was just one.” Mac dropped a curse and rubbed the back of his neck. “But I can’t remember any of them because I am too damn busy thinking about how you taste, how good you feel in my arms. I want to feel that, feel you, again. It’s not smart, or sensible, but...to hell with being sensible and smart!”
“Mac—”
“Come here, Rorks.”
She could say no, should say no, but she found herself walking toward him. Stopping when she was a foot from him, she tipped her head up to look at his face. His jaw held that sexy stubble, and the corners of his mouth suggested he was amused, but his eyes told her everything she needed to know. He was as turned on as she was.
Crazy chemistry.
Mac lifted his good hand, gripped the edge of her collar and pulled her toward him. Rising on her tiptoes, she kept her eyes locked on his, deciding whether she should kiss him or not. “I just want one kiss, Rory,” Mac murmured, doing his mind reading thing again. “Stop thinking for a second and be.”
He had a way of cutting to the heart of the problem. He was right; she was making far too big a deal of this. It didn’t have to mean anything! Kissing him just made her feel good. Like chocolate or a foot rub.
“That’s it, babe, stop thinking and kiss me.”
Rory moved her head so her lips moved across his ear, under his short sideburns, through his surprisingly soft stubble, slowly, so slowly, making her way to his mouth. Mac’s hand clenched her waist and she heard the low growl in the back of her throat as her tongue darted out to taste the skin on his jaw, to explore the space where his top and bottom lip met. She felt his erection against her hip and knew she had maybe five seconds before he exploded and all hell—possibly heaven—broke loose.
Rory moved her lips over his, her teeth gently scraping his upper lip, her hand grasping the back of his neck. She kept her tongue away, wondering how long he would wait before he took control of the kiss. Five seconds passed and then another ten. Rory sucked on his bottom lip.
He muttered something against her lips, something harsh and hot and sexy, and his big hand gripped her butt and lifted her up and into him. The time for playing, for teasing, was over. She’d never experienced a kiss so...sexual, Rory realized. This wasn’t a prelude to sex. This was just another version of the act. His tongue pushed inside and retreated, swirled and sucked, and Rory felt her panties dampen as she unconsciously ground herself against his erection, frustrated by the layers of fabric between them.
She wanted to get naked. Now.
“Plane waiting. Puerto Rico,” Mac muttered after wrenching his mouth off hers.
“You said you could get another time slot and the island isn’t going anywhere.” Rory snuck her hands under his shirt and scraped her nails across the skin covering the hard muscles of his abs.
“Rory...” Mac muttered a curse and slapped his good hand on hers to keep it from sliding lower. She looked up at him and half smiled at the seventy-shades-of-crazy look on his face. She’d put that look on his face, she thought, amazed. This sexy man looked like he couldn’t go without her for one more heartbeat.
“We really should stop,” Mac muttered. “We shouldn’t take this any further.”
“Why not?”
Mac looked rueful. “One reason would be because someone has been pounding on your door for the last minute. At least.”
Rory jerked back, surprised. Really? She hadn’t heard a damn thing. As the bells in her head stopped ringing she heard the rat-tat-tat on her doorjamb. Her heart dropped to the floor; there was only one person who used that particular combination on her door. As a child she’d considered it their secret code, as an adult—about to get lucky—it irritated the hell out of her.
“Problem?” Mac asked as she stepped away from him and pushed a hand into her hair.
“Yes, no...my father.” Rory pulled a face. She lifted a hand, waved it toward her front door and grimaced. “Give me a sec, okay?”
Bad timing, Dad, she thought as she crossed the room to the door. Or maybe he’d arrived just in time to save her from making a very silly mistake. Either way, why was he here? She’d called her mother last night, told her that she’d be out of the country for the foreseeable future. Her parents lived in a suburb twenty minutes from here, and since they weren’t close, Rory couldn’t understand why her father had made the trek to see her.
Rory checked the peephole to make sure it was her father and opened the door. “Dad.”
David Kydd had that sheepish look on his face that she was sure had charmed many a woman into his bed over the years. “There’s my girl.” He leaned forward to kiss her and Rory allowed him to brush her cheek. Since he wasn’t one for spontaneous gestures of affection, Rory had to wonder what he was up to.
Okay, she was cynical, but being cynical protected her. She’d learned that if she had no expectations of him then she couldn’t be disappointed by his behavior.
“Can I come in?” David asked.
Rory kept her body in the open space of the door so he couldn’t look into the apartment and see Mac. Her father was a fan and she didn’t want to spend the next hour listening to hockey talk. And, even if she begged him, she wasn’t sure her Dad would keep quiet about seeing Mac at her place. Her Dad wasn’t the soul of discretion at the best of times.
“It’s not a good time. I told Mom last night that I was leaving the city for a while and I need to get to the airport.”
“She told me.” David gave her another of his sheepish grins. “I thought I’d make the offer to feed your animals or water your plants.”
“I don’t have pets or plants.” As he was well aware. Rory narrowed her eyes at him. “Why are you really here?”
David dropped his eyes and shifted from foot to foot. Eventually he muttered an answer. “Your mother and I are going through a rough time.”
Rory felt that familiar, piercing pain shoot through her heart. A rough time... How often had she heard that phrase over the years? A rough time meant her mother had caught him again—sexting, cheating, an internet relationship...who knew? He was a master at all of them.
Rory knew how it worked. Her parents would separate for a month or six weeks. Her dad would get bored with his latest conquest and beg her mother to take him back. She liked the begging, liked the attention, and they swore to make it work this time.
“Anyway, we thought that since you wouldn’t be here for a while, I could move in to your place until you get back,” David suggested, utterly blasé.
“No,” Rory told him, her expression brittle. He needed to leave her, and her apartment, out of any games he was playing.
Rory stepped backward and rubbed her forehead with her fingertips. “I’ve got to go. I’m late as it is.”
“Rory, come on,” David pleaded.
“Sorry.” Rory closed the door in his face and rested her forehead against the wood, trying to hold back the tears threatening to fall. She needed a minute to find her center, to process what had just happened.
She heard her father’s footsteps as he walked away from her door. There went the reason why she found it difficult, impossible really, to trust that someone she allowed herself to love would not lie to her or abandon her. How could she put her faith in love after witnessing her parents’ skewed perception of the emotion all her life? As a product of their twisted love, was she even worthy of being in a monogamous relationship? If such a thing even existed.
She was so damn confused about the meaning of love and marriage. Why did her parents stay together after all this drama? What did they get out of it? Their love, their marriage, their entire married life had been a sham, an illusion...
Love was a sham, an illusion...
“Rorks? You okay?”
