“Leave me alone,” she said, trying to free her arm.

He tightened his grip and dragged her to the narrow alleyway that separated Paula’s general store from the hair salon. A single bulb bathed the alley in a pale yellow glow, revealing Mac’s wet cheeks and eyelashes that were spiky with tears. Her gaze flitted all over the place, landing on everything but him.

“Look at me,” he demanded.

“No.”

He edged closer, slowly backing her into the brick wall, one hand still on her arm, the other now on her chin. He forcibly made her look at him. “What the hell do you want from me, Mackenzie?”

She let out a small sob. “Nothing.”

“Bullshit. What do you want?”

A few more tears spilled out of the corners of her eyes. “I don’t want anything to change.”

“Too bad, it has.” He wiped the tears away with his thumb, then lowered his fingers and rubbed her bottom lip. “Everything changed the moment you kissed me. Not when I showed up at your house during the storm, not when I slid my c**k into you, but when you kissed me.”

“I already told you, I was upset about Dan and—”

“You were attracted to me,” he cut in. “You’re still attracted to me.” He dragged his fingers along the slender column of her throat, across her collarbone, down to that enticing ‘V’ of her chest.

“Don’t,” she whispered.

He dipped his fingers into her cle**age, stroking the upper swell of one breast. “Don’t even pretend you want me to stop,” he whispered back.

She gasped as he moved his palm underneath the lacy cup of her bra and cupped her breast. “This isn’t right.”

“It’s right,” he disagreed huskily. “Baby, it’s always been right.”

He let go of her arm, moving his other hand underneath her shirt. He cupped both br**sts, stroking, dragging his thumbs over her ni**les. Her breathing quickened, her blue eyes dark with arousal. Knowing she was turned on, that he turned her on, made his c**k thicken and strain against his zipper. Anticipation coiled inside him, tight and urgent like a rattlesnake about to attack. With a groan, he lowered his head to those enticing br**sts, nuzzling his cheek against one stiff nipple before catching it in his mouth and sucking deeply.

Mac gasped with pleasure.

“You like that, don’t you?” he murmured then scraped his teeth over her hard bud.

She didn’t reply, only released a little moan, and it was all he needed to hear. With his face on her br**sts, tongue licking a nipple, he slid his hands down to her ass and squeezed her firm bu**ocks, stroking and caressing, the intimate massage making her moan again. His c**k jerked when Mac’s fingers found their way into his hair, tugging on the dark strands, keeping him trapped against her br**sts. God, he would never get enough of this woman.

He moved a hand to the button of her jeans, skillfully popped it open and let his fingers go exploring. He rubbed her pu**y through her panties, the heat of her searing his skin. His groin clenched. Fuck, he could come right now if he let himself, just from the feel of that hot mound under his palm. Mac started rocking against his hand, urging him on with soft little sounds, thrusting her br**sts into his face.

With a strangled groan, he shoved aside the crotch of her panties and found her clit, applying pressure with his thumb.

Mac threw her head back and climaxed, a rippling explosion that covered his fingers with moisture and made every inch of him ache with raw, uncontrollable desire.

“I’m taking you home,” he ground out, barely able to breathe, let alone speak. “Right now.”

She looked up at him with glazed, sated eyes. “What?”

“I’m serious, baby. I need to be inside you.” He took his hand out of her panties and quickly tugged her bra and shirt back into place.

“But…” She shook her head, as if trying to snap out of a hypnotic trance. “What about Holly?”

It took him a second to realize what the hell she was talking about. His supposed new girlfriend. “You don’t need to worry about Holly. Just get in the car and drive home. I’ll follow you there after I talk to her.”

“Will—”

He cut her off with a harsh kiss, his tongue filling her mouth. Just as she began to respond, he pulled back. “Go home, baby. And you better be naked when I get there.”

Mac was fully clothed when Will walked through the front door of her farmhouse nearly half an hour later. During the drive home, and the subsequent wait for Will to settle things with the woman he was currently dating, Mac had had plenty of time to think and ask herself a few important questions. The main one being, what the hell was she doing?

It was bad enough that she’d let Will bring her to orgasm in public, but agreeing to spend the night with him again? It was crazy. And foolish. Without the haze of sexual attraction fogging up her brain, she had a clear line of vision to the reason she’d always kept Will safely in the friend zone. Their friendship. Sex was temporary, but what she and Will had, well, that wasn’t something she was willing to give up.

And considering what she’d seen, she couldn’t allow sex to complicate her fragile relationship with Will. If he died in that crash—she refused to use the word when—then she didn’t want their remaining time together to be messy and complicated. She didn’t want to fight with him, or have sex ruin their friendship.

She wanted the familiar. Stable, comfortable Will, her best friend.