He hummed and ducked his head against her. “Skill’s got nothing to do with it, sweetheart. You drive me crazy, and I’m not responsible for my behavior, skills or no skills.”
She tensed, then pulled his arms around her, and he was more than happy to comply.
“Either way,” she said in a carefully indifferent tone that didn’t fool him, “your pickup lines need work.”
“I beg your pardon?”
“Oh, come on. You had to know that was cheesy.”
He shrugged against her and held her tightly, burying his head more securely between her neck and shoulder. “Yeah. But, in my experience, women like cheese.”
“This time,” she replied smugly as she leaned more fully into him. “Now, shut up. The sun is about to come up.”
Hunter didn’t move from his position and felt his breathing slow and deepen. His body relaxed fully against and with hers, more comfortable than he had been in years.
“You’re missing it,” Mal whispered, and he could hear the smile in her voice.
“No,” he mumbled sleepily against her. “I’m not.”
She let him doze for a while. Then, as the morning began to warm, stirred and got to her feet. “Come on, let’s get back. Lots to do today.”
He grumbled and reached for her, but she only laughed and kept carefully away. She grabbed his hand and hauled him to his feet.
“Cruel woman,” he muttered, rubbing at his eyes and shoving his hands into his pockets.
She smiled and nudged him with a shoulder. “Not gonna hold my hand?”
He glared at her. “No. You’re being mean.”
She laughed out loud and slung her camera over her shoulder as they headed back to the truck. “What are you, seven?”
He sighed and allowed himself to smile back. “If I touch you, Mal, you might not go anywhere all day. I’m feeling very possessive today.”
Her eyes widened, and she pursed her lips, then took a measured step away from him.
He nodded once, looking at the truck even as his hands fisted in his pockets. “Good idea.”
“We have got to work on your intensity,” Mal muttered, shaking her head.
Hunter opened the truck door for her, then got in on his own side. Nothing was said as they drove back down to Mal’s cottage, and Mal was surprisingly fidgety. When he was more coherent and alert, he would have to talk to her about that. If she was really put off by his intensity, he could back off.… At least, he could try. He hadn’t been lying; she really did drive him crazy, and he almost didn’t recognize himself.
Almost.
They pulled up to the cottage, and he threw the truck in park, glancing over at her, looking so small on her side of the truck.
“This is your stop,” he said, leaning to poke her with a finger in her thigh.
Her lips quirked, and she looked up at him with an unreadable expression that stopped his heart. Before he could think, she reached over, slid a hand around the back of his neck, and tugged his lips to hers for a soft, thorough dismantling of every single brain cell he had. She broke off and took advantage of his stunned silence by giving him a crooked smile and a suggestive lift of her brows, then she scrambled out of the truck and went into the house.
Once sanity, sense, and sensation returned to him, he managed to put the truck into drive and get back on the road.
That little minx…
So much for sleeping.
It was two o’clock in the afternoon at a remote resort in a roomful of people, and Mal was ready to come out of her skin. She should have been seven levels of controlled here, in her zone, assistants at her side, and a multitude of amazing photo-ops at her fingertips. But her fingers were twitchy, her palms were sweating, and pretty much every word being said sounded like a buzzing in her ears. She had just enough focus to take quality shots, but conversation and smiles were completely beyond her.
It was all the fault of the ridiculously good-looking man in a blazer and T-shirt with those just-tight-enough stonewashed jeans. He had been staring at her all flipping day, the same smoldering, patella-pulverizing look that made her wish she was wearing a muumuu. She was grateful he was the one giving the tour and thus had to be up front and speaking most of the time. His tone was perfectly professional and controlled.