“Playing hard to get?” I couldn’t help but smack the desk in frustration. The action made her jump, and I instantly regretted the rash behavior, but I wasn’t standing down from the point. “You were just here, damn it. You felt what we have, Taylor—just like I did.” I copied her move, shoving a hand back through my own hair, albeit in frustration. “You’re making me crazy!”
And she certainly didn’t help my efforts otherwise with her quick snip of laughter. “I think you had some of that going on well before you met me, dude.”
I had an answer for that, but it was clutched tight in my throat. Instead, I simply stared at her. Hard. Then harder, letting the quiet of the room thicken like a damn death pall. Holy fuck, maybe it was. At least it helped to punctuate the gravity of what I had to say, muttering it as I parked my ass where hers just had been. “Fuck it. Just fuck it. The truth is…I’m scared to death.”
Well, at least that finally caught her whole attention. Taylor rushed back over, wasting no time in cradling my face in her hands. “Why?” she charged. “Why the hell would you say that?”
I raised my head. Formed my hands over hers, treasuring the feel of her skin against mine. “I’m petrified you’ll walk away from this moment and freeze me out again. I don’t think I can take another round of the Taylor Mathews Ice Age.” I swallowed and didn’t hide a single undulation of it. “I’m pretty fucking positive it’s more than I can bear, actually.”
“You’re going to be fine.” She rushed it out while pressing her fingers into my hairline. “We will be fine, Mac. But I can’t just go headlong into the wall again. That’s more than I can bear too, to use your words. We both really got hurt, and I don’t want to feel that way again. Ever.”
I turned my head, sliding my lips firmly against the center of her palm. Then the other. That was the most honest she’d ever been with me about her feelings. Taking the moment lightly wasn’t an option. “Thank you,” I finally whispered.
Her brows knit. “For what?”
“You know damn well what. And in return, I promise I’ll do everything in my power to protect you from hurting. Everything, Taylor. If you are in pain—any kind of pain—I will heal you. If I don’t do it with my hands, then with my heart. Let me be that for you, love. I’m on my knees here.”
She reacted as I anticipated—by directing a sardonic stare down the length of my body. I indulged her the dramatic moment, mostly because I was still half-clothed with my dick hanging out, but before she could slide in a glib remark about the whole thing, I sealed my lips over hers again. The kiss was full and deep and passionate, and after a few mutual tongue rolls, we were both groaning hard and deep with skyrocketing lust.
But as much as I wanted to take things further—along with a thorough round two with her lady parts—I had to clean up and get downstairs. I pulled back and kissed her closed eyelids, consumed with obnoxious male pride while she swooned from our contact. God, I relished doing that to her. It sent me to the moon and back too. I loved every speck of the physical effect I had on her—and had no hesitation about using it against her if I had to.
“Hey. Sassy…”
“Mmmm…?” she replied with a misty glow in her eyes.
“Regrettably, I need to get downstairs. Like five minutes ago.”
“Well, just tell Devon you were with me. She’ll forgive you. She likes me.”
“That she does. And who would blame her?” I quickly finished getting dressed by snagging my tie and white coat from the floor.
“I can find my way out,” she offered. “Get going so you’re not late.”
I shook my head. “I have to go down through the lobby anyway. Come on; I’ll walk with you that far.” I held the door open for her and made sure it locked behind us.
We held hands while we walked, just like we used to. We stole kisses in the elevator, groaning against one another’s lips when other people came on board. I kissed her knuckles as we landed on the lobby floor and the elevator doors slid open. A quick walk across the foyer and it was time to say goodbye.
But before we did…
“Promise me, Sassy.”
“Hmmm?” She looked up for an explanation.
“No Ice Age.”
Her gaze sobered. The look was exhilarating and terrifying to the pulse I still couldn’t regulate into normal territory. But at least she murmured, “I’ll…I’ll do my best.”
I stepped in, looming over her, and pressed a little kiss to her temple. “That’s all I’m asking for.”
“Just don’t hurt me again, Mac. We won’t survive. I won’t survive.”
“I know.” I took her lips beneath mine this time, with soft and committed purpose. “And I won’t.”
She pushed her head up toward me, seeking another kiss. I surrendered it with soaring elation—despite abhorring my job with a vengeance I never thought possible. Was this really me, resenting the crap out of the profession I loved so much? But I did, and I barely clamped back my raging roar.
But nothing mattered more in that moment than Taylor Mathews. We were teetering on the edge of a turning point. It was real. It was imminent. It was goddamned awesome. A few more hours in one another’s arms, and we’d truly be back on solid ground with each other.
“So…maybe I could come over tonight?” I just needed to be near her.
To my delight, her face lit up at the prospect—only to darken fast with disappointment. “Text me,” she muttered. “I’m supposed to go to the fucking gym with Talia, but I don’t know exactly what time yet. I swear, that wench is trying to kill me.”
Quick chuckle. “Okay, baby. I’ll talk to you later, then.” I relinquished the laugh in favor of getting to buss her one last time. She pulled away with an adorable giggle.
I mouthed the words I love you, and she smiled before turning for the door. I stood watching her as she went through the sliding-glass panels, the sun glowing around her silhouette like it’d been lucky enough to capture an angel in its beams. But who was I to argue the point, when it was so beautifully close to right?
Chapter Five
Taylor
The sun blazed high in the sky when I came out of the hospital, warming my skin to match the temperature of my heart. I hadn’t realized how badly I had missed Mac until I was in his arms. Well, maybe I knew deep inside, but I had a great way of denying what was right in front of me, even to my own detriment.
Searching through my bag for my sunglasses, I grabbed my phone and noticed the icons on the home screen.
“Sixteen messages… What the… That can’t be right,” I mumbled to myself as I crossed the lot to where Sally was parked. Thankfully the blood drive was over, so the Bloodmobile was no longer occupying a large part of the coveted spaces. The last thing I wanted was to do the walk of shame in front of John. I subconsciously reached for the bandage on my shoulder, grinning when I touched it through my T-shirt.
Fucking Maclain Stone. He was unraveling me, thread by thread, and I was pretty sure he wouldn’t be content until I was nothing but a patch of threadbare material, transparent to all those around me. I wanted to trust him again and recommit my faith in us. And yes, I went ahead and openly admitted it: I craved to have something together similar to what my friends had with their husbands. But more than that, I wanted it with Mac.