Seducing The Matchmaker: One Man Rush / Taking Him Down / The Personal Touch. Meg Maguire

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       10

      MARISSA WAS IN SUCH a hurry to be with Kyle that she bolted out the back door into the alley behind the nightclub.

      “Wait up.” Kyle practically tripped her in his hurry to get in front of her.

      He put his big, muscular body between her and the outside world. She didn’t mind that she stumbled into his back. He was fun to hold on to, for one thing. And for another, she thought it was kind of charming that he wanted to protect her.

      “It’s okay.” She grabbed a railing on the landing outside the door where two steps led to street level. “I was just in a hurry to get to the hotel.”

      “Me, too, but this is still a dangerous neighborhood.” He tucked her under his arm, keeping her body glued to his as he hurried her toward the limo. “You can’t just prance out into some dark alley alone.”

      She might have protested the idea that she’d pranced anywhere. Except that she heard the worry in his voice. Felt his heartbeat racing under one ear where he held her against him.

      Her chest squeezed with unexpected warmth. The driver opened the door for her and Kyle ushered her into a vehicle that could have held at least ten more people.

      Kyle exchanged words with the chauffeur that were beyond her hearing. Probably instructing him to take them to the team hotel. Or hers. It didn’t matter to her where they went, as long as they excised this raucous heat that had been building inside her since the last time they were together. She just hoped being with Kyle eased the ache for him. The attraction that had started out so physical and out of control was starting to take on a new dimension.

      He’d urged her to take this trip with him, insisting she’d be helping him out. But she knew darn well he could have hired a publicist to place an article in the paper a whole lot more inexpensively than what he’d paid toward her mother’s medicine. She would repay him one day. But it helped her so much right now. It touched her that he’d given her a way to accept his help without feeling too guilty. Obviously, Kyle had a giving nature, a trait that was apparent in the way he volunteered time to charity, sought ways to help underprivileged kids and even helped her mother. The warmth she was starting to feel for him didn’t have anything to do with garden variety lust.

      “I told him to take us to my hotel,” Kyle explained as he slid into the seat beside her. “I’m on a floor away from the rest of the team.”

      A smoky blues tune played on invisible speakers while white lights ringed the roof, dimming slightly once the driver closed the door. Shut behind blackout glass, Marissa felt her heart hammering wildly, and her skin tingled with the memory of how he’d made her feel earlier today at the carriage house. She’d been so busy since then—making plans for the trip, arranging care for her mother and contacting reporters—that she hadn’t had time to think about what this new shift in their relationship meant. But he’d been so good to her. So considerate and incredibly thorough when he’d touched her.

      Kyle leaned forward and for a moment, she thought he was going to kiss her. But he reached past her for a remote control on the seat beside her.

      “Privacy window,” he said aloud before thumbing a button. “Locked.” The device clicked into place with an audible hitch. “Doors, locked.” Another electronic snap.

      He’d sealed them into complete seclusion.

      There were no club-hopping voyeurs here. No competition for his attention. But she felt a little embarrassed about the way she’d sprinted out to the street, so eager to be with him. All her barriers were falling away and she wasn’t doing a thing to stop them. She tried to steady her breathing.

      “A story will make it into the social pages tomorrow, for sure,” she informed him, tugging absently at the silk wrap dress that skimmed her knees. “Shawna owes me from a long-ago private interview with my mother.”

      The stretch limo eased away from the curb, crawling slowly through the dark streets. One blues song faded into another, but the sound Marissa was most aware of was her pulse pounding in her ears. Being alone with Kyle—heading to a hotel—made her light-headed with awareness.

      Part of her wanted to act on the sensual rush, while the other part of her feared the emotions winding around the attraction, intertwining with them, making her feel too much.

      “Thank you. But right now, I don’t want to think about tomorrow.” Kyle’s voice turned rough with a hunger she understood all too well.

      His green eyes roamed over her freely, heightening the awareness she already felt.

      “No?” She didn’t want to, either. She’d sent a text to Stacy to prepare her for the story that would run linking Kyle to Marissa, but she wasn’t sure how her former client would react.

      “No. I’m just so damn glad I talked you into being here with me.”

      His hand rested on the seat between them. Close but not touching. She swallowed hard.

      When he lifted his hand, he smoothed a strand of her hair where it rested on one shoulder.

      “Did I mention how fantastic you look?” He tugged gently on the strand, extending it toward a shaft of light from one of the overhead “stars” on the limo ceiling.

      “I don’t usually go all out—”

      “You don’t need to. You have no idea how attractive you are.”

      She hitched at the skirt again, oddly self-conscious.

      “It’s okay. I don’t need you to feed my ego. I know my attributes are more … understated. After standing in my mother’s shadow all my life, I understand that I didn’t win the genetic lottery or anything, but I’m comfortable with who I am.”

      Kyle was already shaking his head.

      “I don’t know where you got the idea that you ever stand in anyone’s shadow. You command attention, Marissa. You’re charismatic. Captivating.” He lifted a hand to cup her face and smooth over her jaw. “It’s the force of your personality, whether you know it or not. I think you have some of that famous Brandy Collins stage presence. People can’t take their eyes off you.”

      The idea surprised a laugh out of her. “Definitely not. But I think it’s nice of you—”

      “I’m feeling a long way from nice right now.” A growl rumbled in his chest as he pulled her against him, the sound so feral it vibrated right through her. “Believe it. Don’t believe it. It’s still a fact.”

      She didn’t want to argue with him now, when her blood heated at his touch.

      “I’m glad,” she murmured, her hands finding his broad shoulders and savoring the feel. “I have to admit I’ve been looking forward to seeing you ever since my plane touched down.”

      Her heart pounded with the admission СКАЧАТЬ