Closing the sketch pad, she blinked up at him, taking a moment to process what he’d said.
“Did you get Eli shot at?” she asked, almost expecting an affirmative answer.
“Not hardly.” The chill in his eyes warmed.
“That’s good.” She laid the pad and pencil on the small table beside her before turning back to him. “I’ve become rather fond of him.”
The statement was actually true. Eli was like a younger Mackay, still fun-loving, not yet hardened or as stubborn as her brother and cousins.
“You’re not exactly what I expected,” he told her, making his way to the couch, where he took a seat with more than ample space between them. “Even six years ago. I have to admit, I wouldn’t have thought you’d be quite so adventurous.”
“And what did you expect?” Her heart was racing; warmth flushed through her, unbidden memories of the fantasy lover she’d created years ago flitting through her mind.
“I’ve met Eve and Piper,” he stated. “Your elder sister is actually very quiet, very introspective.”
“She’s a writer,” Zoey pointed out. “And I don’t think I appreciate your efforts to seduce her the night Brogan broke up that little date with her.”
He chuckled at that. “Had I wanted to seduce her, I wouldn’t have taken her to the Mackay restaurant, sweetie. I merely wanted to push Brogan’s possessiveness buttons.”
She shrugged at that. “I’m not revising my statement.”
“Piper’s rather quiet as well,” he stated then, as though the subject had never changed. “Though Lyrica is a bit more social, still.” His gaze flicked over her, the lust in his gaze becoming more apparent. “My reports say none of them are leather-wearing, Harley-riding hellions.”
“I’m a hellion?” She was rather pleased with the description. “Eli said I hadn’t yet been promoted from troublemaker. I’m glad to see he was wrong.”
“It’s only an initial upgrade,” he informed her warningly. “It could be revised at any time.” She nodded sagely as though well understanding his dilemma.
“Ah well, I’m certain at some point my abilities have been overexaggerated,” she agreed, though she couldn’t imagine when. “Rather than underexaggerated.” She gave him a quick, impertinent grin.
He didn’t reply, merely stared at her, that gleam of hunger deepening in his gaze.
She’d never known a time in her life when she’d responded to a man as she responded to this one. When her pulse raced, her heart beat so hard it made her breathing harder, faster. Or when the look of hunger in a man’s eyes had actually had her sex responding with slick readiness.
“Are you going to try to seduce me, Doogan?” she asked then, licking her dry lips quickly, her heart rate increasing further as his eyes followed the action. “I hear it’s not quite advisable to allow you to do so. Eli would probably have a stroke. He gets rather upset where you’re concerned.”
“Try?” His lips quirked as one arm stretched out along the back of the couch, ignoring her observation on the other man. “I rarely try to do anything, Zoey.”
Well now, wasn’t he extremely confident?
“Think it’s a sure thing, do you?” Clasping her hands lightly in her lap, she didn’t balk at holding his gaze.
Her heart was racing double time now. And when his gaze flicked to the vein at her neck, she knew he was aware of the excitement flooding her.
“I’m quite certain it’s a consideration on your part.” His voice lowered, becoming a dark, brooding sound that stroked over her senses and had the oddest sensation attacking the girl parts that had rarely roused in the past year.
“A consideration?” she mused, adopting a thoughtful expression. “For a man I’ve not yet been properly introduced to? One I’ve only heard is prone to get his agents shot at? One who asked my sister out after that totally romantic dance with me where you never said a word or kissed me good-bye? A glancing thought is as far as I would go, perhaps.”
He shifted closer. “I’m going to kiss you before you leave here tonight, Zoey Mackay. Then you can decide if you’re just considering me or not.”
It would be more than a consideration and she knew it.
“That would be rather rude, don’t you think?” she forced herself to point out. “We’re still at a first-name basis. I rarely allow such liberties so soon.”
His gaze went to her lips again while the hand resting on the back cushion moved to tug at several curls that escaped her braid.
“Chatham. Bromleah. Doogan. The Third.” He came closer with each word until his lips were poised over hers, so close.
Zoey felt hers part. Her breathing became short, ragged, but his wasn’t exactly calm either.