“Maddie swallowed hard and tried to channel… which actress? Damn, she couldn’t think of anactress to save her life! She was on her own.”

“Mark.” She fisted her hands in his hair and pulled his mouth to hers, her entire world anchored on his finger. When it slid inside her, she thunked her head back against the door and panted. Then his thumb brushed her in a slow circle.She cried out against his lips, arching into him, yanking his hair. She couldn’t help it. She was going up in flames. He merely pressed her hard to the door, locking her in place. Continuing the torture, he added another finger. She came hard and fast, the power of it sweeping over her like a tidal wave.”

“It’s good to see you as well,” she said, her mouth against his ear, her lips brushing the lobe.He went still at the contact, then instead of trying to pull free, merely folded her into his arms, trapping her against him. And damn if her body didn’t burst to life, as if all this time it’d been just waiting for him to come back.“Yeah, you’re different,” he murmured, doing as she had, pressing his mouth to her ear, giving her a shiver. “The little kitten grew up and got claws.”

“Where did that flashlight come from?" Chloe asked. "My purse."Chloe looked at Tara. "She carries a flashlight in her purse.""For emergencies," Maddie said, trying to see into the yard."You have any chocolate?" Chloe asked hopefully. "For emergencies?""Of course. Side Pocket, next to the fork.”

“He didn't see anything."She rolled to her feet. "I was in your bed! We could have scarred him for life!""Grace, we weren't doing anything. Well, I wasn't. You were snoring.""I don't--" She smoothed her dress down and searched out her sandals, shoving her feet into them. She glanced at herself in the mirror over his dresser and groaned. Hair, wild. Lips, swollen. Face, flushed. Nipples, hard."Dammit!" She clapped her hands over them. "It's like they're broken!”

“I don’t want to scare the guests with a big old guard dog,” Tara protested.“Safety is far more important than worrying about what anyone else thinks,” Sawyer told her.“You’re right, of course.” Tara looked at her sisters. “We’ll think about both an alarm and a dog.”“We can borrow Izzy from Jax,” Maddie said.“Sure,” Tara said. “And she can lick the next bad guy to death.”

“You’ve read your press, right? You know they call you a hard-ass.” She lifted her hand and touched his face. “But they’re wrong.” She pressed her face to his throat and inhaled him...”