Bold (8 page)
Authors: Mackenzie McKade
“Really?” She beamed.
Reece shoved the key in the door, twisting, and opened it to allow her entrance. “Really.”
She bubbled with excitement and spun to face him. “I have so many ideas.”
“I have a couple too. Race you to the bedroom.”
Giggling, she burst into a run, Reece hot on her trail.
Catching her at the edge of the bed, he pulled her into his arms. While his randy cock begged him to lay her down and take what was his, his mind stopped him. “We probably should talk about where we go from here.”
She frowned, glancing up to him. “What do you mean?”
“I made a couple of commitments before we got together that I have to see through. Devon and I leave next week for Denver on a job. We’ll probably be gone for a couple of weeks. Devon can stay behind and I’ll return to Whispering Cove. But I’ll need to go back to Denver within a week.”
“Reece, I don’t want you to change what you do. It’s who you are. You love it. I just want to be a part of your life.”
“Does that mean you’ll go with me?”
“I’d follow you to the ends of the world, if you asked me to.”
“Damn. How did I get so lucky?”
“You think that’s lucky?” Tabby pushed him onto his back and fell atop the bed. She moved to join him, throwing a leg over to straddle him. “I’ll show you lucky.” She angled her hips and took his cock deep inside her. “Just lie there and I’ll show you how this Easterner can ride.”
“God, woman. I love you.”
“I love you too.” She beamed above him, and then her smile grew sultry. “Now shut up and kiss me.” Her body moved in sensual waves as she rode him.
“I’m all yours.” Reece hissed as the head of his cock skimmed the back of her pussy. “Forever.” Then he closed his eyes and let her take the lead.
“Well, you barnacle-pluckin’ ol’ goat, you did it.” Byron raised his glass, toasting Harold. “To you.” As Errol joined their friend, Harold proudly preened.
Sitting backward on the bench, he leaned against the picnic table located on a large patch of grass in the Town Square while he watched the activity flow around them. The sweet scent of cotton candy touched his nose as a small child ran past holding a big blue glob of spun sugar on a white paper cone. Not only had he brought Reece and Tabatha together, but the youngsters were hearing wedding bells.
He’d outdone himself.
“I hope he doesn’t break his arm, patting himself on the back,” Errol growled.
Bringing his glass up to eye level, Harold swirled the golden liquor around just short of spilling over the top. “Errol, it looks like you’ll be buying the rum.”
“Now don’t you go spinning a yarn.” Errol pounded the tip of his cane against the ground. “Ye’ve yet to have me over a barrel, so why should I be jumping in the water before the ship sinks? Remember I have till the end of the festival. Besides, by the time I’m through with Josie and Adam, your two couples will be chasing them down the aisle.”
Byron and Harold began to hee-haw.
“Pipe down, you two blustery ol’ gales. Here comes the lad now.”
Adam Collins strolled past, offering them a causal nod, looking about as unaware of what was to come as a boat beneath clear skies heading directly into the path of a storm.
Harold raised his glass. “To you, my friend. May the wind be at your back.”
“Hear. Hear,” Bryon added and took a sip of his drink.
Errol used the table and his cane to rise. “If you will excuse me, I best be taking care of business.”
Harold watched his friend join Adam and he laughed. If he knew Errol, the firefighter would never know what hit him until it was too late.
A taste of the erotic, a measure of daring and a hint of laughter describe Mackenzie McKade’s novels. She sizzles the pages with scorching sex, fantasy and deep emotion that will touch you and keep you immersed until the end. Whether her stories are contemporaries, futuristics or fantasies, this Arizona native thrives on giving you the ultimate erotic adventure.
When not traveling through her vivid imagination, she’s spending time with three beautiful daughters, three devilishly handsome grandsons and the man of her dreams. She loves to write, enjoys reading and can’t wait ’til summer. Boating and jet skiing are top on her list of activities. Add to that laughter and if mischief is in order—Mackenzie’s your gal!
To learn more about Mackenzie, please visit
www.mackenziemckade.com
. Send an email to Mackenzie at
[email protected]
or catch her on her Facebook (
www.facebook.com/MackenzieMcKade
) and Twitter (
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) sites. You might want to stop by the Wicked Writers’ Facebook site (
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Whispering Cove
Wild
Coming Soon:
Sand Angel
Memories made her run. Family forced her home. Only love can make her stay.
Wild
© 2012 Mackenzie McKade
Whispering Cove, Book 1
Ten years ago, a tragic accident drove Andie Adair away from her family, friends and fiancé in Whispering Cove. A dark secret has kept her away from the sleepy seaport village, until she receives an ambiguous telephone call from her grandfather. He’s in the hospital. Desperate to cling to her only living relative, she races home—and straight into the arms of the one man she can’t bear to face.
Sheriff Brody McGrath built a life without the woman of his dreams, but when the prowler he catches turns out to be Andie, he isn’t prepared for the onslaught of emotions—grief, regret, heartache, and love. There is no denying the old spark between them still burns brightly, but love may not be enough to defeat Andie’s demons and allow her to live again.
Warning: Add one part high-school reunion, one part poker bet, mix with three meddling, matchmaking grandfathers. Result, one long-overdue romance with enough heat and sparks to burn up the pages.
Enjoy the following excerpt for
Wild:
For the longest time they walked the beach without talking, sand crunching beneath their feet. When Brody couldn’t stand it anymore, he again broke the silence. “Why didn’t you answer my telephone calls or letters?” Not a single one. When Andie left Maine she severed all ties, at least with him.
Something had died inside him the summer she left. A year in pursuit of her failed. Even a visit to Los Angeles to speak with her, ask her to come home, had ended poorly. A business trip had taken her to New Orleans, their paths crossing unnoticed in the LAX airport. After that Brody had joined the Marines. When his tour of duty was up he attempted to call her, facing a clerk insisting that Andie was unavailable. Not contacting her from that point onward had been the hardest thing he had ever done. At times it had nearly killed him.
“Brody, let’s not go there.” Was it anger or annoyance that made her tone tense?
“I think I deserve to know.” His feet slowed, pulling them both to a halt. “Did I do something wrong that night?” The threads of his control were unraveling like a pair of old cutoff jeans. “Tell me, Andie, did you ever love me?”
Dammit.
What they’d had been special. How could she walk away? Leave him? Like her grandfather, Brody had been more than willing to help her get through the loss of her parents.
With a sharp tug she jerked her hand out of his. He offered no struggle. Her pale blue eyes appeared black and cold in the twilight.
“Too much pain.” She glanced away, presenting him with her back. A heartbeat of time passed, and then she whispered, “Yes. I did love you.”
An invisible force slammed into his chest. He staggered, fighting to breathe. “Did?”
She hung her head. “Brody, please.” Her hair provided a curtain of defense, blocking her expression.
When he recovered enough to clearly understand the impact of her words, he glared at her back. “Please what?” His fingers curled into fists. “Forget that you left me. You shattered my heart in a million pieces? Threw away our future? Our lives together?” His jaws locked together to fight back saying something he would regret.
Andie spun around. Faced him.
Her silence was a spark to his temper, and red-hot resentment rushed through his veins. He shook with fury, with ten years of unspoken words and unanswered questions. “Or maybe you don’t care to hear how each time I’ve attempted a new relationship, your memory blocked me from taking it to the next level?”
How about that he couldn’t think of another woman? Couldn’t get Andie’s touch, the feel of her body, out of his fucking head?
She had been his first true love. He wanted her to be his last.
Andie started to walk away but he grabbed her arm. “No. Don’t. Please.” Even he heard the desperation in his voice.
A pregnant pause filled the gap between them.
The long, low bellow of a horn and then another announced that several fishing boats had taken to the ocean. In the distance their lights flashed red and white. A flight of seagulls squawked overhead and ocean life began to stir. Several crabs crawled across the sand, making their way toward the water’s edge. The shadow of an alley cat appeared from out of nowhere and the chase was on.
Still the quiet between them remained, until Andie glared at his hand wrapped around her arm. Slowly she raised her gaze to meet his. “Maybe I should leave in the morning.”
Maybe she should. And maybe, just maybe, she should twist the knife already plunged into his heart and get it over with.
But the thought of her walking away, of knowing this would be the last time he would ever see her, nearly undid him. Everything inside him screamed to stop her. He wanted to let her go. Free him from the chains she had wrapped around him since they were children, but he couldn’t. If this would be the only chance he had to make things right with her, he would climb mountains and swim oceans to get her back.
“Andie. Please.”
Were those tears rolling down her cheeks? “Brody, I didn’t come back to hurt you.”
The ironic laugh that pushed unexpectedly from his mouth earned him a frown.
She swiped heatedly at the fallen emotion.
No. She hadn’t come back to hurt him. Andrea Adair came back to haunt him.
“I’ll leave in the morning.” As she pivoted to turn, her heels sank into the sand. She stumbled falling into his arms.
Brody did the only thing he could. He kissed her.
Andrea struggled not to respond, her palms plastered against Brody’s chest in an effort to stop him. But the hot, passionate caress of his unyielding mouth welded to hers overloaded her senses and melted any resistance. With quick, sharp movements, he released his hold around her waist to stab his fingers into her hair and cup the back of her head, deepening the kiss. Their teeth clashed, tongues a whirl of motion, sliding along each other, pushing and shoving and tasting.
She returned his fervor, needing to make at least one memory a reality.
Broken cries seeped between them. At first Andrea thought the wrenching grief belonged to her. Then she realized the strangling sound was coming from Brody. Beneath her touch he trembled, his breaths short and rapid. His hold on her was tight, too tight.
Something was wrong, dreadfully wrong. Another throaty murmur and then Andrea recognized the sound.
Pain.
Oh God.
His pain. It was so deep, so raw it threatened to eat her alive, consumed her.
Breathless, Andrea tried to pull away, but his fingers closed around her hair. Fear clashed with the sudden sting. “
Brody!
” When she screamed his name, he released her faster than if she were a hot welding rod.
Taking several hasty steps backward, she stood there staring at him, her heart pounding. The hint of morning peeking over the waves provided just enough light for her to see his eyes were bright and moist, rimmed red with despair. Features so tight they appeared brittle, as if they would shatter like glass at any moment.
Brody hurt. And she had been the catalyst for his suffering.
“Please, And—” Choppy breaths stole her name from his mouth. “
Don’t.
” The vein down the center of his forehead bulged close to bursting with tension. “I need to touch you.”
His plea made her chest ache. If she had had a heart it would have broken.
“Please, Andie, don’t walk away from me.”
Dammit.
Her chin quivered. His sorrow was too much for her to bear.
Then a single tear rolled down his cheek.
Control slipped through her fingers like running water. She reached for him—a need to end his suffering.
In his haste to close the distance between them, a piece of driftwood tangled in his feet. On his descent, Andrea caught him, but it was too late. Both of them were going down. The impact of the sandy ground jarred her, but it was Brody’s weight landing atop her that forced an unladylike grunt.
Lying beneath him, the hard length of him pressed to her belly, she managed a chuckle. “I don’t remember you being so heavy.”
“Was that a fat joke?” His jest held no humor, but at least he was trying. Still, there was no denying the wariness in his eyes. It left no doubt in her mind he still expected her to refuse him. But Andrea knew something he didn’t.
She wanted him.
Too many memories and lonely nights. No one to hold her when she cried. In the remaining ashes of the night, she would take whatever he offered, because it would have to last her a lifetime.
